Erdan's mother's shouting startled the wine shop workers who were having breakfast, and they all ran out.
"What's wrong? Why are you shouting?" Erdan's father asked nervously.
" Everyone go to the shopkeeper's room and have a look. There's no one in the shopkeeper's room. It's been turned upside down and the cabinets have been smashed. It seems something happened." Erdan's mother said breathlessly.
When everyone heard this, they immediately ran to the shopkeeper's house on the slope, but when they reached the gate of the yard, they all stopped again. The shopkeeper had leprosy, and they usually didn't contact the shopkeeper for fear of contracting the disease. They even rarely came to this house on the slope.
Everyone looked at Luohan.
Luohan was the foreman of the wine shop. He was the oldest and knew how to make wine. He had the most authority among the group. Luohan glanced at everyone, and went in with his head held high, shouting, "Shopkeeper, shopkeeper, are you there?"
No one in the house responded.
Luohan walked into the room and saw the table overturned, the cabinet smashed, and the mess, as if it had been ravaged. He knew something had happened.
The guys were also curious and looked in from the top of the wall. Luohan came out, looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid something has really happened. Let's split up and look around to see if we can find the shopkeeper."
"What if we can't find him?" a clerk asked.
"If we can't find him, report to the police. The shopkeeper is missing, we dare not hide it." Luohan said. People went out to search for a long time, but they couldn't find any trace of Li Mafeng.
In the end, Luohan could only take a few people to the city to report to the police.
This is a big case. Gaomi County is poor, and Shibalipo Winery is also a famous place. The police chief Qian Donglai personally brought seven or eight policemen to rush over. Qian Donglai rode a horse, and the soldiers could only run after him. The men ran eighteen miles and were out of breath.
Qian Donglai, as the police chief, would not come out easily normally, but he came this time because he had a plan in mind. This guy was famous for being greedy and lustful. He wanted to see if he could make a fortune here after running the Shibalipo Winery for so many years.
Qian Donglai stopped in front of Li Mafeng's house, but he didn't dare to go in. This was where lepers lived. He was greedy for money but cherished his life more.
"You, and you, you two go in and check the scene." Qian Donglai pointed at the two patrolmen and said.
The two guys who were pointed out had bitter faces, but they didn't dare to disobey the order. They could only obey and go in. They took a rough look and didn't dare to touch anything. In less than two minutes, the two ran out.
"Report to the chief, the person is gone. There are signs of robbery and rummaging. It is suspected that Li Mafeng was kidnapped."
Qian Donglai cursed the two people in his heart for being useless. The guys who reported the case had said these things, so why should they look at them?
"Can you tell who committed the crime?" Qian Donglai asked.
The two looked at each other and thought, how do we know? They said, "I guess it was done by bandits."
Qian Donglai looked at the wine shop workers, "Did you hear any noise last night?"
The guys stood together, a little trembling. They were all ordinary people and were most afraid of seeing officials, because in their minds, officials were unreasonable.
"We didn't hear anything."
"Well, we slept very soundly and didn't hear anything."
Several people said at once.
Qian Donglai took a quick look around and saw that the "囍" character on the door was still new, so he asked, "What's the matter with this "囍" character? Is there any happy event in the winery recently?"
Luohan said, "To answer the chief, the shopkeeper got married a few days ago, and the new bride will be back home in three days. The boss's wife went back to her parents' home early yesterday morning and has not come back yet. "
Qian Donglai's eyes rolled and said, "She will be back home in three days and there's a murder here. There's something fishy going on. The new bride is a big suspect. All of you, go and capture the new bride for me. This chief will interrogate her thoroughly."
Four policemen, along with a fellow who knew the way, rushed to Jiuer's parents' home to arrest Jiuer. At this moment, Jiuer had just had a fight with his father, and was riding a donkey back to Shibalipu alone. On the way, they met, and the police directly forced Jiuer back.
Qian Donglai looked at Jiuer who was a little frightened, shook his head secretly, and thought to himself: "She is really good-looking, but it's a pity that she slept with Li Mafeng. Li Mafeng also got a good woman before he died. If she hadn't slept with Li Mafeng, I would have taken this woman back and used her for a few months."
Qian Donglai had an official look on his face and said in a deep voice: "Tell me, did you want to seize the Li family's property and collude with others to murder Li Mafeng? Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that Li Mafeng was kidnapped just a few days after the marriage and his life or death is unknown."
Jiuer was so scared that her face turned pale, but she still insisted on saying: "Director, I really don't know what happened. I went back to my parents' home and came back after one night. As for the rest, I don't know anything."
"Huh, these little tricks don't work in front of me. Come on, take her back to the city and interrogate her strictly. I don't believe that you can't find out who her accomplices are." Qian Donglai shouted.
Several policemen came up to hold Jiuer down. Jiuer was so scared that she kept struggling, "Officer, it's unfair. I didn't hurt anyone. I really didn't hurt anyone."
But even if she was a little fierce and stubborn, she was just a country girl after all. She had never seen such a scene. The guys in the distillery didn't dare to move, but they all sighed in their hearts. Jiuer fell into the hands of the government, and it would be difficult for her to come back safely.
Jiuer was taken away and thrown into the women's prison that night. Jiuer hugged her legs and curled up on the thatched grass in the corner, her body trembling.
Until now, she was not very clear about what happened.
In the Shibalipo Distillery, a group of guys were sitting or lying on the kang, some smoking dry tobacco, some pinching lice, and some picking their toes. Erdan's mother put the basket on her legs and sewed the soles of her shoes.
Luohan glanced at the group of people, knocked on the pipe, and said, "We can't just stand by and watch. The boss's life and death are unknown, and the boss's wife is in prison. We must think of a way."
Ergai squeezed a louse with his fingernail and frowned, saying, "We are just employees, working for the boss. What can we do?"
Luohan pressed another pipe of tobacco and said, "Save the boss's wife first."
"How to save her?" Erdan's father asked.
"Spend money. Qian Donglai is a famous money-grubbing ghost in Gaomi County. That guy just wants to extort money. If we don't rescue her, the boss's wife will definitely not come out. As long as the money is spent, it won't be a problem to get her out." Luohan said.
"But where do we get the money?" Dazhuang asked.
"Maybe there is still money in the boss's house." Erzhuang said.
"What money is there? It's probably looted by the bandits." Dazhuang said.
"Brother Luohan, do you want us to collect money? We three half-grown men probably can't even get through the gatehouse of the police station." Erdan's father said.
Everyone was silent.
Luohan lit up a cigarette, took a few puffs, looked at the dim light and said, "Maybe there is another way."