Chapter 40 Looking for it
Lijia Village was very lively. The yamen runners from the nearby Dongyang Town naturally arrived quickly, all wearing thick clothes and turbans. They wore cotton coats on the upper body and thick pants and boots on the lower body. The leader wore a jacket inside and looked at the crowd with raised eyebrows.

"What's going on tonight?" The yamen runner said in a bad tone, with some words. After all, the New Year has not yet passed, and everyone is celebrating the festival at home. No one thought that something would happen at this time, so they ran to Lijia Village in the night wind.

After hearing what the yamen runner said, everyone made way for him. They saw a man being dragged by a dog on the stage of acrobatics behind the crowd, lying on the ground and barking like a dog.

The yamen runners were also stunned for a moment, but they had seen many strange things before. They soon calmed down and arrested the performer and his dog, waiting for the judge to judge them tomorrow.

The bailiff left, and the matter was considered over. The streets were still bustling, but the people in the circus seemed to have restrained themselves a lot, and many of the things that were originally shocking were not shown.

At the corner of the street, a group of people in ordinary gowns were watching all this. The leader had a strong and handsome face, and his muscles were throbbing under his clothes: "Hmph, did you see that? They are really not worthy of being on the table, using such despicable methods. Now they must have been met with a master, who has done the opposite. Whose family is that kid just now? Have you found out?"

"The leader of the altar is the third son of the Li family."

"This Lijia Village is a little weird, you need to be careful. Since the rumor spread a few days ago, there are a lot more people coming here these days."

"Yes." Several people behind him nodded in response, and then their figures slowly disappeared into the night.

"So many people from all walks of life, including Baimen, magicians, and so on, have come here. It seems that the story about Longling being near Lijia Village is probably true." The man said, pulling his hat, and then slowly walked into the night.

Li Daoxuan returned home, naturally prepared for the commotion at the night market. He just used a trick to make the acrobat really think he was a dog. When someone noticed his abnormality, they would understand what was going on with the singing dog.

In this chaotic world, there are some kidnappers who are extremely cruel. They kidnap children who are several years old. They first use medicine to make the child's skin ulcerate. When the skin on the child's body is almost rotten, they use ashes made from burned dog hair and herbs to apply on the child's body surface. In addition, they take decoctions to heal the wound, and then dog hair will grow all over the body. When you look at it again, it has become a dog.

Under such means, the children would usually have died of pain, and often not even one out of ten would survive. But once the dogs were killed, the profit was considerable. In addition, the children were kidnapped, so they would not feel sorry for their death. It was the disgusting practice of cutting the living body into pieces.

It is said that this kidnapper has another trick, which is to choose a wooden man. The kidnapped children are asked to choose a wooden man, which may be lame, blind or have broken limbs. Once the child chooses, the kidnapper will torture the child to make the wooden man look like him, and finally force the disabled child to go out to beg.

At that time, transportation was difficult and information was not smooth. Not to mention now, even in the previous era with numerous surveillance, it was difficult to find the children abducted by kidnappers. Once a person in this era was abducted by a kidnapper, the hope of finding them back was even slimmer. The government was too lazy to deal with this troublesome matter. After the person reported the case, the case was sealed and kept as a record. After all, the children who were abducted and harmed were mostly a minority, and most of them ended up in brothels and palaces, becoming slaves of rich and powerful families.

As long as the human trafficking is not caught, everyone will turn a blind eye and let it go.

There was a commotion outside, so Master Li was naturally nervous. But when he saw that Li Daoxuan and his two brothers had returned safely, he felt relieved.

When asked what happened, the eldest brother told him what happened outside.

"That man himself became a dog? That's really strange."

"Is that dog really so magical? It can even sing and speak human language? I'm afraid it's not a human." Master Li sighed.

He didn't expect that his words would come true. The next day, the yamen runners from Dongyang Town came to his house. They first greeted him, and then entered the house at the invitation of Mr. Li.

"I wonder what the officials are here for?" Mr. Li asked someone to bring tea and asked the officials to have some. The officials were naturally happy. Who doesn't like the feeling of being respected?

The leading yamen runner looked very happy and said in a soft tone, "Something happened in the village yesterday. It was related to the third son of the master. The master asked us to take the third son to question him."

"Is it related to Daoxuan?" Mr. Li asked hurriedly as the teacup in his hand sank. "But what happened?"

"It's not a big deal." The yamen runner smiled and told Master Li what happened that day. "We brought this acrobat back to the yamen, and he barked all night in the cell. Master Li saw him in such a state and asked a doctor to see him. He said he was struck by evil spirits and was mentally ill."

"Your Excellency originally wanted to let this mad actor go. But when we were looking through his things, we did find some incredible things."

"Something extraordinary?" Mr. Li asked thoughtfully.

"Master Li would never have thought of this." The bailiff lowered his head and tapped the table with his fingers. "In the box of the juggler, there are actually several human skins! All of them are wrinkled, but they are all intact human skins. This is a serious murder case, so our master will naturally not let it go. Let's lock up the juggler and prepare to question him in detail."

"Human skin?! How could such a cruel person be involved?" Master Li was terrified, and he understood the background of the yamen runner. "Could it be that my Sanlang is also involved? This, my Sanlang has been studying Taoism in Maoshan for many years, and it is impossible for him to do such a beastly thing."

"Don't panic, sir. It's just that because your son gave money to that man to bark like a dog yesterday, that man suddenly went crazy. Your Excellency thinks this matter may be related to your son, so he asked us to take him over for questioning." The bailiff hurriedly explained, and Master Li felt much more relieved.

He had Li Daoxuan called over, pointed at the yamen runner and said, "You caused trouble yesterday, and today the master has sent someone to pick you up for questioning."

"Interrogation?" Li Daoxuan was stunned, and then he thought of what he did yesterday. Perhaps the acrobatic show was exposed, and the officer wanted to take him back to question him. After all, it was him who asked someone to imitate the barking of a dog last night, so he was also closely related to this matter.

Thinking of this, Li Daoxuan was not too nervous. He greeted several yamen runners, prepared his things, and went to Dongyang Town accompanied by several servants.

Before leaving, Master Li stuffed some silver into the hands of several yamen runners, who repeatedly promised to keep an eye on Li Daoxuan's safety. They all got on their horses with great joy and left the village.

Dongyang Town is not far from Lijia Village, only about ten miles away. It is very easy to get there by car or horse.

Compared to Lijia Village, Dongyang Town has more people. However, whether it is Lijia Village or Dongyang Town, there is not much difference in this era. Those connected tiled houses, muddy mud after snow, and the smell of foul smell in the air are all distinct signs of this era.

When Li Daoxuan got off the carriage in front of the Dongyang Town Yamen, he saw that many people had already arrived at the Yamen.

(End of this chapter)