Chapter 60: Widow [Please read on! ]

A team of people hurried to the scene of the crime. Liang Yue looked at Lao Hu's anxious look and whispered to Chen Ju, "The dead man is a businessman. Why is Lao Hu more nervous than when Zhen Changzhi died last time?"

Chen Ju said: "This piece of calligraphy has a great origin, it may be more important than a sixth-rank official."

Along the way, Chen Ju introduced Zhang Xingkai's situation to Liang Yue.

This person also comes from a scholarly family and is a descendant of officials.

He was a scholar in his early years, but his family was convicted and he was exiled to Yuezhou. After he was pardoned for his meritorious service there, he simply stayed there to do business in the construction industry.

At that time, not long after King Dinggou Jiang Zhenye led his army to destroy the Nanxiang Kingdom, the territory of Yuezhou in the southeast of the Yin Dynasty expanded a lot. The imperial court changed the prefectural system there, rebuilt the city, and moved a large number of people there.

During this trend, Zhang Xingkai won many official construction projects from the imperial court. He made a fortune in the past ten years of city construction and became the president of the Yuezhou Chamber of Commerce. He only recently moved to Longyuan City for development.

When he returned to Longyuan City this time, he was no longer the same person as before. He had transformed from a family member of an exiled criminal to a wealthy man with a fortune.

It is said that the Yuezhou Chamber of Commerce intends to develop real estate in Longyuan City and has purchased many properties in South City.

Unfortunately, he died before he could get any chance to show off.

Hearing this, Liang Yue suddenly remembered that the old couple in the tavern had said before that the person who was going to buy the shop on Linmen Street was a businessman from Yuezhou.

Could it be this Zhang Xingkai?
Is the acquisition of Chengnan Real Estate by the Longya Gang also related to him?

Hu Tiehan may have heard them talking, so he came closer and said, "When Zhang Xingkai first arrived, he hosted a banquet for all the guards stationed in the southern part of the city. During the banquet, even the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works came to support him. It was obvious that he was showing us his strength so that we can get more convenient things in the future. If he died of natural causes this time, it would be fine. If he died suddenly, it would be a big trouble again."

Seeing Lao Hu's worried look, Chen Ju smiled and said, "Brother Hu, I have a plan."

"What?" Hu Tiehan looked over.

Chen Ju said: "No matter if it was an accidental death or not, let's just treat it as a natural death. No matter how he died, we can say he committed suicide. That way there won't be any trouble."

"You kid..." Old Hu sneered, "You're hoping that my little guard officer will be dismissed so that you can get promoted, right?"

"Yeah." Chen Ju smiled playfully, "You actually guessed it."

"You have some ideas, but not much." Liang Yue said from the side.

A group of people soon arrived at a warehouse area. In front of the huge gate hung a plaque with the words "Yueyang Trading Company". A servant was already waiting at the door and led the troops of the Imperial Guards over.

"Zhang Xingkai had no parents or relatives, and no children. Now he has died suddenly, so his wife should be in charge here." Old Hu added, "When you meet Madam Zhang later, you should all be respectful."

He looked at Chen Ju again, "Especially you."

Chen Ju was praised by name, and he immediately looked up and said, "What does it have to do with me? Although I like beautiful women, there are also rules for lust. How could I possibly do that to a widow..."

As he was speaking, he suddenly stopped talking.

Because they walked to the middle of the warehouse area and came to a large, charred and dilapidated warehouse where a group of people were waiting, and a woman in a black robe was surrounded among them.

As everyone arrived, the woman raised her head to greet them.

When Chen Ju saw the other person's face, the words on his lips suddenly stopped. After a long pause, he said to himself: "Widow...ah...what was I going to say just now?"

After thinking for a while, he slapped his forehead and said, "Yeah, it's not impossible to be a widow."

……

The woman was tall, wearing a loose black robe that covered her head, but could not hide her curvy figure. When she raised her head, she revealed a plain face. Although she had no makeup on and her face was slightly swollen after crying, her eyebrows and eyes were still charming.

Needless to say, she was naturally the widow.

The warehouse at the back had half of its roof collapsed, with many dark holes, obviously having caught fire.

Was the person burned to death?
"Madam Zhang." Old Hu stepped forward and said, "I am Hu Tiehan, the junior guard officer stationed at Fukangfang. We have met before."

"I remember. Thank you, Commander Hu, for your help this time." Mrs. Zhang's voice was a little dull and hoarse. It seemed that she had been crying for a long time.

"Madam, please tell me what happened at that time." Hu Tiehan went straight to the point.

Mrs. Zhang turned around and pointed at the warehouse, saying, "He was checking the accounts in it that day. Because he liked to be quiet when he was working, the accountants were not inside. From what they described, he suddenly started to light the surroundings with a candle, and no one noticed the fire until it got big."

"Did anyone see it with their own eyes?" Liang Yue interrupted.

"That's right." Madam Zhang pointed to the people behind her and said, "The accountants all saw it with their own eyes."

The people behind her nodded and said, "Yes, we rushed into the fire to rescue the boss, but he beat us out and rushed back into the fire. By the time we called Qin Huyuan, the fire was already very big."

At the end of the team stood a tall old man with a short white beard. He looked quite tough and indeed had a chivalrous air.

This person is the security guard of this warehouse, Qin Youfang. He said solemnly: "When I rushed in, the warehouse collapsed and the boss was trapped inside. It was too late..."

"Where is the body?" Hu Tiehan asked again.

"It's inside." Mrs. Zhang led everyone into the warehouse.

The mess in the warehouse should have been cleaned up, but the scene was kept as much as possible. The entire ground was charred by the fire, and on the other side there were many pieces of tiles and stones that fell from the roof.

A corpse was lying on the charred ground, covered with a white cloth, its limbs were curled up, and there was a charred candlestick next to it.

Probably to facilitate the investigation, the body was not moved, only the beams and brick and tile rubble on it were cleared away.

There was a circle of yellow talismans pasted around, which should be some method of lowering the temperature to keep the corpse fresh. Strands of cold air seeped out from the circle of talismans.

Hu Tiehan glanced around, then turned back and asked, "Xiao Liang, what do you think?"

Liang Yue wanted to reply that there must be something fishy about this matter, but he felt that this was not the time to respond.

He still stepped forward in person and said, "Let me examine the body."

As he spoke, he approached the frozen victim and slowly uncovered the white cloth.

Mrs. Zhang seemed to want to say something, but Hu Tiehan spoke first, "Xiao Liang is the most capable guard in our station. Nothing will go wrong, so please rest assured, madam."

When he heard the word "Zhengwei", the corners of Liang Yue's mouth rose slightly unconsciously, but immediately retracted.

The exposed part of the body was covered with red and black skin damage and was completely unrecognizable. Liang Yue used a cloth to pad the body's mouth and gently opened it, only to find that it was full of traces of burns and charcoal ash.

He died of fire indeed.

He opened the corpse's curled up palms one by one, but found nothing, except a circle of white marks on the left thumb.

He looked up at Mrs. Zhang and asked, "Are you sure this body is your husband?"

"Okay." Mrs. Zhang nodded without hesitation.

He then asked, "Did the deceased have any enemies during his lifetime?"

"My husband has been in the business world for more than a decade. It would be a lie for him to say that he has no enemies. But we are new here in Longyuan City, so we definitely don't have any enemies. His enemies in Yuezhou would rather he leaves, so they probably won't chase him here." Mrs. Zhang said slowly.

"Did he practice cultivation during his lifetime?" Liang Yue asked again.

Madam Zhang continued, "Master has Confucian cultivation, but it is very weak, only at the second level."

Liang Yue blinked.

The second realm is the second realm.

What does very weak mean?
I felt insulted for no apparent reason.

However, let alone a Confucian cultivator of the second realm, even a dog of the second realm could not be burned to death by the fire.

Something must have gone wrong for Zhang Xingkai to die in the fire.

He stood up, looked around, and asked, "Since he is checking the accounts here, the goods in the warehouse should be there, right? What kind of goods are stored here?"

"Uh..." Several accountants were suddenly speechless, as if they had not expected him to ask this question. After looking at each other, one of them answered, "It's just some flammable goods. They have all been burned."

Liang Yue's eyes swept across the ground without saying a word. Instead, he walked around the warehouse again and searched for a long time on the messy brick and tile ground.

After carefully confirming that no important clues were missed, he came back and whispered to Hu Tiehan: "Brother Hu, they are not telling the truth."

After listening to his whisper, Hu Tiehan nodded slightly, and then said to everyone in the store: "Everyone, if you don't trust the Imperial Guards and are unwilling to tell us the truth, it will be difficult for us to investigate the case. We may even suspect that you are suspected of arson."

"Where did this come from..." Everyone was puzzled.

Hu Tiehan gave Liang Yue a wink, indicating that he could start the performance.

Liang Yue turned around and pointed at the ground under his feet and said, "If there were originally goods in this warehouse, the burn marks on the inside and outside of the ground would not be so even. According to what you said, the fire did not burn for a long time. Even if the fire was fierce, the places covered by the goods should not be like this. The beams and broken tiles that fell from the top of the head could not have landed in this position."

"But if there were no goods in there originally, then there was no need for him to go in and take inventory. So were the goods that were originally there hidden by you, or were they stolen?"

Liang Yue looked around at everyone. Under his gaze, the accountants and security guards all showed embarrassed expressions, obviously hiding something.

"Are the original goods in this warehouse related to President Zhang's death?"

(End of this chapter)