Detective Di Renjie: The Mysterious Dynasty

Chapter 360: Not Being Able to Swim

Zhang Xiangong and Wu Shun rode their horses at full speed, and soon arrived at the bank of Xunyang River.

It was already late at night, the moonlight was dim, the tide was surging on the river bank, the sound of waves hitting the shore was overwhelming, and the world was filled with darkness.

A little fog began to spread over the river, making people feel even colder.

Wu Shun looked at the misty river surface, and a sense of inexplicable uneasiness surged in his heart: "Second brother, we left without saying goodbye. What if Fifth Brother is really wronged?"

Zhang Xiangong glanced at Wu Shun and said unhappily, "Now that things have come to this, what else can we do? We've already left! At worst, we can just go our separate ways like before and never see each other again. What's there to be afraid of?"

Wu Shun felt relieved when he heard this, but he looked up at the river and said worriedly, "I'm afraid we won't be able to find the passenger ship in the middle of the night!"

Zhang Xiangong also looked up immediately, and suddenly pointed at a fishing fire not far away, and said with a smile: "Hey! Look, isn't there a boat over there? Let's go!"

The two of them hurriedly urged their horses towards the light.

Even though Li Yuanfang, who was chasing behind him, had excellent martial arts skills, it was still a bit difficult for him to chase a horse, so he could only follow from a distance.

The river water hit the river bank, making bursts of roars. A fishing boat was moored by the river with lights on in the cabin.

The two men dismounted, walked quickly to the boat, and shouted to the fishing boat, "Boatman, can you use the boat at night?"

A deep voice came from the fishing boat: "Where are you going?"

"Jiangzhou." Zhang Xiangong answered loudly.

At this time, a man wearing a bamboo hat and dressed as a fisherman came out of the cabin, walked onto the deck and said, "We can use the night boat, but the price is a bit higher!"

Wu Shun and Zhang Xiangong smiled at each other and quickly replied, "The price doesn't matter! As long as it's fast!"

The fisherman didn't even bother to talk about the price and just gestured for the two men to get on the boat.

In order to reduce the weight, Zhang Xiangong and Wu Shun even abandoned their horses and quickly jumped onto the fishing boat.

The fisherman was not in a hurry to ask for money. He just quickly paddled the fishing boat and sailed into the dark night.

Li Yuanfang had been planning to secretly capture the two men and interrogate them, but unexpectedly he was a step too late.

When he reached the shore, he saw only two horses left there, and the boat had already sailed into the middle of the river.

Li Yuanfang himself is a landlubber and can't swim at all, so at this time he can only "look at the river and sigh"!
"Oh, Chengyuan has been urging me to practice my swimming skills, but I suffered a loss this time. Fortunately, I have gained a lot tonight!" Li Yuanfang thought to himself, then turned around and wanted to report to Di Renjie.

As he was leaving, he inadvertently glanced at the fishing boat that was slowly sailing into the center of the river. There was a hint of regret in his eyes, but he was suddenly shocked and almost speechless.

At some point, a blurry figure in a black cloak appeared on the top of the fishing boat. The wide cloak fluttered in the breeze, like a ghost in the night.

Then, a man stuck his head out of the cabin to find out what was going on.

The figure under the black cloak quickly raised a huge hammer and hit him on the back of the head with lightning speed!
When Li Yuanfang saw this scene, his eyes widened and he couldn't help but gasp for air, his heart filled with horror.

Zhang Xiangong's desperate and shrill cry for help was heard from the boat: "Help! Help!"

However, the man in the black cloak turned around, swung the sledgehammer with one hand, and killed Zhang Xiangong from the other side.

Li Yuanfang was stunned: the black cloak fluttered in the night, with its fangs and claws bared, and coupled with the exaggerated sledgehammer, it almost looked like a monster.

He involuntarily took a few steps back, his eyelids twitching and his heart filled with lingering fear.

Fortunately, General Li had undergone many trainings to overcome his fear of ghosts and gods, and had become quite immune to this kind of thing.

He shook his head violently, gradually coming out of his panic and regaining his composure.

As if frightened by Zhang Xiangong's scream before his death, the murderer increased the speed of rowing after the crime and quickly fled from the dangerous place in the middle of the river.

As the night deepened, the fog on the river became thicker and thicker. The fishing boat carrying the murderer seemed to be heading towards the dark gate of the underworld and soon disappeared without a trace.
-
Inside the Di Mansion, Wen Kai and Di Renjie, together with many officials, were studying the official files transferred from Jiangzhou.

"Feng Wanchun, Zhang Xiangong, Wu Shun, Ge Bin, Xue Qinglin, Huang Wenyue... a total of six people!" Wen Kai held the file in his hand, his face as solemn as ice.

Di Renjie said quietly, "These six people were all participants in the Huang Guogong case. After they reported Huang Guogong, they were promoted to high officials in Jiangzhou, and Xue Qinglin even became a marquis!"

Wen Kai pondered for a moment and asserted: "It seems that this must be the descendants of Huang Guogong who came to seek revenge! Now that Huang Wenyue and Ge Bin are dead, Xue Qinglin and the remaining three are in danger!"

Di Renjie nodded first, then shook his head slightly, and said thoughtfully: "This is a reasonable explanation, but I can't be sure yet!"

Wen Kai frowned and asked in confusion: "Oh? What do you mean, sir?"

Di Renjie smiled slightly and asked, "Do you still remember the case of the snake spirit?"

Wen Kai's expression suddenly became serious when he heard this: "Of course I remember, why did you suddenly mention the snake spirit?"

Di Renjie patiently explained: "Because one of the six snake heads of the Snake Spirit, Kui Wenzhong, is the descendant of Huang Guogong Li Ai, but he is dead. Could it be that there are still descendants of Huang Guogong surviving in this world?" Wen Kai was speechless for a moment: "This..."

Di Renjie fell into deep thought. He muttered to himself, "When the court exiled criminals, they usually exiled their entire families together, without separating them. Given Kui Wenzhong's character, if he still had relatives, how could he ignore him?"

Just then, Li Yuanfang rushed in with a panicked look, interrupting their thoughts.

He seemed to have heard the conversation between Di Renjie and Wen Kai, and suddenly interrupted: "Sir, it is not the descendants of Duke Huang who are seeking revenge, you are all wrong!"

Di Renjie quickly looked up at Li Yuanfang, and was surprised to see him losing his composure.

"Yuan Fang, what happened? Why are you so panicked? Did you find something in the Marquis Pingnan's Mansion?" Di Renjie asked.

Li Yuanfang took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and then slowly said, "It's like this, I went to the Marquis' Mansion at night and found that except for Ge Bin and Xue Qinglin, the three people who had a secret meeting at Yuelai Inn last night were indeed hiding in the Marquis of Pingnan's Mansion! And I can be sure that they are all Jiangzhou officials!"

Di Renjie and Wen Kai looked at each other, and there was a flash of surprise in their eyes. They had just found out the identities of these three people, and now they immediately had a clue.

However, Li Yuanfang's next words surprised them again: "But I found that the relationship between them and Xue Qinglin is very complicated."

"They addressed each other as Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, etc., just like sworn brothers in the martial arts world. However, two of them did not trust Xue Qinglin at all. After moving into the mansion, they were afraid of being harmed by Xue Qinglin, so they fled overnight."

"And Xue Qinglin seemed to be on guard against these three people. I saw with my own eyes his master hiding outside the room of these three people and eavesdropping!"

Di Renjie nodded slightly when he heard this, and thought to himself: "That's right, no wonder they came to Wuping together, but stayed in different inns separately..."

Li Yuanfang's revelations were not over yet: "The second and third brothers escaped from the mansion overnight and headed straight to the river, preparing to take a boat back to Jiangzhou. I followed them and saw..."

"What did you see?" Di Renjie asked quickly.

Li Yuanfang said with lingering fear: "I saw with my own eyes that man in black cloak committing crimes on the ship. He used a huge hammer to smash the two men to death!"

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie and Wen Kai looked at each other, and a chill rose from the bottom of their hearts.

Wen Kai naturally knew that it was Feng Wanchun and his men who were robbed, and since this implicated him, he asked, "What about the murderer? Did General Li see the murderer's appearance?"

Li Yuanfang hesitated for a moment, then said, "I am not a good swimmer, so I failed to catch the murderer. Then a thick fog arose on the river, and the murderer escaped by boat!"

"But I suspected that Xue Qinglin was involved in this case, so I rushed back to the mansion to ambush him. I unexpectedly discovered... discovered that Xue Qinglin's advisor had returned to the mansion with a black cloak!"

When Wen Kai heard this, he was dumbfounded for a moment and was stunned.

After a long while, he suddenly realized: "So, there is no such thing as the descendants of Duke Huang. It was Xue Qinglin himself who killed Huang Wenyue and Ge Bin!"

Li Yuanfang sighed and nodded slowly. He thought so too.

However, Di Renjie was full of suspicion and frowned.

"What's the motive? Didn't Yuan Fang say that these people call each other brothers? Why would Xue Qinglin kill his sworn brother?" he couldn't help but ask.

Li Yuanfang thought for a moment and replied, "I was eavesdropping on the conversation between the three brothers outside the room. They seemed to have mastered a secret of Xue Qinglin, which is why Xue Qinglin wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible!"

"Secret?" As one thing led to another, Di Renjie became more and more confused.

Wen Kai's expression suddenly changed, as if he had thought of something shocking.

"Sir, what should we do? Should we send someone to summon Xue Qinglin for questioning immediately?" Li Yuanfang asked eagerly.

Di Renjie and Wen Kai said in unison: "No!"

Wen Kai regretted the moment he opened his mouth.

Di Renjie looked at Wen Kai in surprise and asked, "What do you think, Xianqi?"

Wen Kai swallowed his saliva and stammered, "We don't have enough evidence. General Li didn't see the face of the man in the black cloak on the boat. He only saw the advisor wearing a black cloak and entering the mansion. I'm afraid it's hard to convince him..."

Di Renjie nodded when he heard this: "That's right. Even if it is confirmed that it was done by that master, Xue Qinglin can still put the blame on others and deny it. This matter still needs to be considered carefully!"

Hearing this, Li Yuanfang was somewhat indignant and asked, "Are we just going to let this villain Xue Qinglin do his evil deeds?"

Di Renjie smiled and patted Li Yuanfang on the shoulder, comforting him: "Don't worry, we will go to the crime scene tomorrow and take a look. Maybe we can find some new clues."

"Then, we will go into the Marquis' Mansion to show our power. As for Xue Qinglin, he can't escape. It's only a matter of time before we deal with him!"

Only then did Li Yuanfang nod and agree, and Wen Kai also breathed a sigh of relief.

　It turns out that you need to wear a helmet when fishing and when riding a boat.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)