Jiaohua

Chapter 565
More and more dark clouds gathered in the sky, the tide rose on the river, and there was a huge smoke between the water and the sky.

There were three or four boats between them and the boat that attracted everyone's attention. The scene on the boat gradually became clearer, but the storm subsided, and the singing old man had already been dragged back.

Xia Zhaoyi picked up the wine jar and wiped off the wine on the ground with a towel.

Zhi Li accompanied her, and said in a low voice while wiping the deck: "Although today is special, this old man Qi still makes me feel absurd. I don't know if there will be any troubles in the future."

"Don't be afraid, he is very timid and dare not, today he is just playing crazy with the smell of alcohol." Xia Zhaoyi said.

"That's not true, I don't think there is anything he dares not do," Zhili muttered, "The bow of the ship is dangerous and high, how many people dare to board?"

Xia Zhaoyi smiled and stood up holding the wine jar.

The drizzle was like cotton, and it was sticky when hit on the body, which was really uncomfortable.

"Let's go," Xia Zhaoyi looked down at Zhili, "The rain is going to get heavier."

She got up together, and Ji Xia, who was leaning on the railing in the distance, said, "I saw a girl."

Dai Yu and Du Xuan also saw it.

Across the smoke and the boat, the rain is soft and the wind is soft, Jiang Yan is flying low, the passers-by on the shore are flustered, the girl is talking with her head slightly lowered, a light yellow gown is swaying in the wind, her shoulders are slender and her waist is slender, her back is upright and her posture is excellent.

"I don't know which family the girl is from." Ji Xiahe said again.

"It's a big family." Dai Yu said casually.

Another boy got up, shook the handkerchief in his hand, and sniffed it under his nose, as if he disliked the smell of alcohol.

Du Xuan could vaguely see the boy's side face, and said, "It's pretty pretty."

"It shouldn't be an ordinary big family," Ji Xiahe said, "I don't know who it is."

In the cabin behind them, two windows were pushed open.

Ji Zhongchuan looked outside, said with a faint smile, "It's rare for someone to be able to sing in such chaos."

"Brother Ji didn't even understand the lyrics, so how do you know if he's singing for joy or for sorrow?" The military general looking at the blueprint in the room said casually.

The river wind brought rain in, arousing the fragrance from the gold enamel nine-peach small copper stove, and the smoke was disturbed and diffused.

Shen Lie raised his eyes and looked out the window, just in time to meet two ships in the middle crossing each other, revealing a large blank space, and the attention-seeking ship was coming, almost parallel.

The young girl on the boat ignored those gazes and pointers, and was walking towards the cabin without slowing down.As the boat sailed, I slowly saw their lowered profiles, which were blurred in the hazy mist.

Shen Lie withdrew his gaze, but his heart skipped a beat, and he raised his head again feeling a sense that he had already entered the cabin.

An indescribable feeling rushed into his heart, Shen Lie suddenly couldn't sit still, got up and said: "Junior, go out and have a look."

The voice was calm and steady, but before everyone in the room could speak, he pushed open the door and left.

Quickly going down the stairs, he went straight to the stern of the ship, facing the slanting wind and drizzle, and the ships shuttling in the middle blocked all his sight.

A gust of wind passed through his ears, Shen Lie raised his brows, and his black eyes stared at the distant ships. For some reason, his heart was as uncertain as a river tide.

·
In the evening, the rain became heavier and poured down from the sky.

The boat arrived at Qing'an County in Xiongchi, and together with other boats, it found a sheltered shore to dock.

There are several small fishing villages by the river, and the villages are brightly lit. Many people who stayed on the boat for a long time went to the villages to find a place to sleep.

Xia Zhaoyi asked the stewards on board to arrange a good manpower, divided into three groups to take turns guarding, if there is no urgent need to disembark, no one can disembark.

Old Tong and Zhi Changle were bored, they tinkered with a few simple small net baskets and threw them down at the stern, they sat down on the wooden steps under the outer eaves, chatted and waited.

Zhili was lying on the upstairs window, looking at the dark river sky in the distance, Lao Tong and Zhi Changle were not talking loudly, but they could be heard.

He didn't want to eavesdrop on purpose, what Lao Tong and Zhi Changle talked about was just some interesting things in the world.

On the bed behind Zhili, the old man was half-drunk and half-awake sitting on the edge of the bed, with his head bobbing from side to side, with two dark blue eye sockets, where the eyes were focused, and hiccups from time to time.

The sky is full of rain, messy and quiet.

Thirty feet away from their stern, there is a merchant ship that is almost the same size as their ship, slowly approaching.

The lights on the ship were dim, except for the lanterns at the bow and stern, only one room in the large cabin was lit with a faint candlelight.

Two young men in their twenties were sitting in the room, one was Qian Yuandeng, the sixth son of General Qian Xutian of the Dagan Township, and the other was Sun Mutingyu, the Duke of Dagan Rongguo.

Four people knelt in front of them, and the rest of the subordinates stood on both sides.

Mu Tingyu leaned against the back of the chair, lit his fingers on the table, and looked thoughtfully at the only candle on the table.

The long-term depression made the four people on the ground breathless.

In the name of a merchant ship, they went to the south of the Yangtze River in the name of a merchant ship. They just passed through Anjiang, but everything they encountered on the road showed that there were traitors on board.

After passing through Anjiang so far, they were stopped, checked, and questioned more than once.Mu Tingyu's official letters have been turned over more than once, and there are obvious signs of sneaking into his bedroom several times.What made him completely furious was that an hour ago, someone was poisoned and died after drinking water. When the source was found, the water they drank was also tampered with.

All the people on board were Mu Tingyu and Qian Yuandeng's confidantes who had been with him for at least five years. Mu Tingyu was extremely reluctant to suspect them, but he still investigated them one by one, and finally ruled them out, leaving only the four suspects in front of him.

At this time, a subordinate came in from the outside: "Shizi."

Mu Tingyu looked up with a cold face.

"The rain is getting heavier," said the men. "The waterway may be difficult tonight. All other boats on this river are moored here."

"How dangerous is it to go on?" Qian Yuandeng asked.

"In front is Guzhao Gorge. The strange peaks on both sides of the river are narrow and the current is the most rapid. Now that it's getting late and it's raining heavily, if we continue to move forward, we may be in trouble."

"Then stop here," Mu Tingyu said, "just as you take people off the boat, go to the shore to fetch clean water and come back, replace all the food and pots and pans on the boat, and then find three clean pieces for me and the sixth son. Clothes that fit well come over, you don’t have to pay attention to the quality of the material, just have clothes to replace.”

"Your subordinate obeys." The subordinate responded, turned and left.

The room returned to silence.

Qian Yuandeng sat on the side, he had never had an opinion on such a situation, he couldn't come up with any ideas, and even the longer he sat, the more sleepy he felt.

The boat stopped slowly on the shore.

Mu Tingyu looked at Qian Yuandeng and yawned, and suddenly he also felt sleepy.

Looking back at the four people on the ground, Mu Tingyu said slowly, "I'm impatient, and I'll give you one last chance to defend yourself. If not, you four don't have to live. I'd rather kill by mistake. Nor will such a traitor be kept on board."

(End of this chapter)