Chapter 70: The Slaughtered Biaozi

  The rioting civilians dispersed, and after Hua Lang arrived at the county government office, he told everyone what had happened. Hua Wanyi immediately became worried and said, "In three days, can we catch the murderer?"

  Everyone also had doubts, but if they didn't say so, would those common people have dispersed?

  Now all they can do is to find out the murderer as soon as possible.

  But now they know too little, they don't even know who the murderer is and why he killed, how can they catch the murderer?

  Although so, Hualang had thought of a way.

  From the murderer killing Yu Tingting and Yuan Fang, it can be seen that the murderer is very disgusted with saucy women. If so, why not find out all the saucy women in Tianchang County and secretly monitor them? If the murderer strikes again, they can catch him.

  The two victims both lived on West Street, indicating that the killer must also be from West Street. He was familiar with the shrews on West Street, so the constables can focus on investigating the shrews on West Street.

  During the investigation, wear plain clothes to prevent being detected by the perpetrator.

  Hualang finished explaining his method, and Bao Zheng was very much in agreement. He then released all the yamen runners from the county government office and had them help search for the shrewish woman on West Street.

  Not long after those yamen were sent out, one of them hurriedly ran back. After running back, he was terrified and said: "Sir, that... Biaozi is dead!"

  Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and stunned. How could Biaozi have died? What on earth happened?

  Before they could think twice, several of them hurriedly followed the bailiffs to Biaozi's home.

  According to the yamen runner, Biaozi was killed in his own home. The yamen runner who patrolled Xijie every day had seen Biaozi every day before, but didn't see him today, so he went to take a look and found that Biaozi was dead after pushing open the door of his room.

  Biaozi's residence had been sealed off by the yamen runners. After Bao Gong and Hualang arrived, Hualang immediately began examining the body. After finishing, he stood up and said: "There is only one knife wound on Biaozi's body, a single fatal blow."

  That one knife wound was visible to everyone. On Biaozi's chest, the blood had already dried, but his entire body was crimson with blood.

  "Judging from the wound, the murderer suddenly attacked from the front, and the case occurred last night."

  After Hualang finished speaking, he looked towards Biaozi's room. Biaozi's room was very simple, with a broken bed covered with a worn-out mat. One corner of the mat had already rotted away, and it was unknown whether lying on it would tear his skin.

  There is a cup of unfinished tea on the table, which does not contain poison. A chair fell over, probably kicked down by Biaozi when the murderer was killing him.

  After seeing these, Hua Lang's mouth slightly curved upwards and he said: "The murderer who killed Biao Zi must be someone Biao Zi knew. And judging from the teacups and teapot on the table, Biao Zi was waiting for the murderer all night yesterday."

  "But why did he want to wait for the murderer?"

  Many people don't know, and Hua Lang doesn't know either. A hoodlum like Biao Zi must have offended many people, but who would kill such a small-time thug?

  Biaozi looked so relaxed and carefree while drinking tea last night, he probably didn't expect the visitor would kill him.

  Something unbelievable happened, after two bailiffs carried Biaozi's body back to the county government office, Bao Zheng also followed them back. Hu Lang and others searched for a long time in Biaozi's room but didn't find any useful clues.

  At this time, Yin Wu said with some anger: "This guy is really not a good thing. When we asked him questions that day, he must have concealed something from us."

  Yin said that, and suddenly Hualang thought of something. "Brother Yin is right," he said. "He didn't kill Yuanfang, that's for sure. But it's very likely that he knows who Yuanfang's new lover is, and he hasn't told us. He wants to blackmail this person, thinking that Yuanfang's lover might be the murderer."

  Everyone expressed agreement, a hoodlum, for the sake of money, would probably do anything, if he really knew who Yuan Fang's new lover was, to extort that person, it makes perfect sense.

  Now that Biaozi is dead, they have no way of knowing who Yuanfang's new lover is.

  When they left Biaozi's house, it was already noon. The sun was scorching hot and they felt like they were being roasted alive. Meanwhile, on West Street, several plainclothes policemen were still inquiring about the West Street shrew.

  They found an inn on West Street and ordered some food to eat.

  While eating, Wen Meng suddenly thought of a plan and hastily said to Hua Lang: "The murderer only kills shrews, right? If we can't find the shrew, why not find someone to pretend to be one and lure the murderer to come and kill, wouldn't that be faster?"

  After hearing Wen Meng's words, Hua Wan'er laughed and said: "Sister Hua is really good at joking, who would be willing to pretend to be a shrew and face the danger of being killed?"

  Wen Meng smiled smugly and said: "Others don't dare, I do. As long as that murderer dares to come and kill me, I'll let him come alive, but he won't leave alive."

  With Wen Meng's martial arts skills, it should be possible to do so. However, Hua Lang shook his head and said: "The murderer is very cautious, only killing people on West Street, and judging from the time of the murder, he must have inquired about the victim's habits before taking action. You don't live on West Street, the murderer will know at a glance, and he won't take action against you."

  "Maybe he can't help it?" Wen Meng refused to give up.

  Hualang shook his head: "The murderer killed Yu Tingting and Yuan Fang, probably not just to vent their anger. From the rumors he spread, it can be seen that he must have had a follow-up purpose. We just need to wait."

  "What's the point of doing this?" Wen Meng really wanted to know, but Hua Lang just shrugged and wouldn't say, because at this moment, he had no idea either.

  After lunch, they went to the county government office to find Bao Zheng. Since someone had died in Changzhou today, Bao Zheng's pressure would be even greater, and they needed to go comfort him.

  When they arrived at the county government office, they found that the entrance of the county government was also crowded with people. They were putting pressure on Bao Zheng and another person died. They really became terrified.

  Hualang saw this, and a nameless anger rose up in his heart. He came to the front of the crowd and angrily said: "Didn't we already agree on that? Give Bao Daren three days' notice, now it's not even been one day yet, why are you looking for trouble again? Don't you keep your promises?"

  For the common people, credit is something they can have or not have, but they also know its importance and want to show some integrity, making themselves look more dignified. So after the flower boy finished speaking, they grumbled a few sentences before leaving.