The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 246 The Boat Captain
"When I heard news of Xi Ziyun again, she was already a wealthy woman. Oh, yes, she was the wife of the famous Qi Dongjun. When I heard this news, I thought how gratified Teacher Yu would be if she hadn't passed away so young," Teacher Qu murmured.

Qi Fei was saddened and did not tell Teacher Qu that Xi Ziyun's seemingly beautiful ending was just an interlude, which ultimately ended in darkness and bloodshed—she was already dead.

"Oh, speaking of Xi Ziyun, she sent me a postcard a couple of days ago. So many years have passed, and she still remembers me, her teacher who only taught her for two years." Teacher Qu's words surprised everyone.

Clearly, Teacher Qu was unaware that Xi Ziyun was dead.

"Can we take a look?" Qi Fei asked, trying to control his excitement.

Teacher Qu opened the drawer under the coffee table and took out a light gray envelope with the words "To be opened by Teacher Qu" written on it.

As Qi Fei pulled the postcard out of the envelope, a tumbler fell out and landed on the floor with a "thud, thud" sound before rolling under the sofa.

Everyone present, except for Teacher Qu, knew what the appearance of marbles meant.

The elegant handwriting conveyed a few words of greeting to Teacher Qu. This handwriting did not belong to Xi Ziyun; it was as if there was a blood connection that made Qi Fei immediately sense that it was Xi He's handwriting.

The back of the postcard depicted a water town in Jiangnan, a scene Qi Fei was very familiar with. This was a corner of the Luomeng River, with several tourist boats moored at the bluestone dock. However, there was a faint white mark on the hull of one of the boats. Upon closer inspection, Qi Fei's eyes widened – the long-lost monster pattern had reappeared, with two heads sharing one body, becoming graffiti on the vermilion tourist boat, grinning at Qi Fei.

“It’s boring.” Zhong Kui’s voice suddenly came from behind him. “It seems he knew we would track us down here.” Qi Fei turned around and saw a listless expression on her beautiful face, a disappointment he couldn’t understand.

He wouldn't care about such details; as long as there was a clue, no matter who provided it, it would bring him one step closer to saving Qidong County.

It was already the height of summer. When Qi Fei left Teacher Qu's house, it was midday when the sun was at its most intense. As he drove, he felt a burning pain on the back of his hand as he gripped the steering wheel. However, the atmosphere inside the car was completely different from the weather outside—it was freezing cold.

In fact, Jiang Tianyi hadn't said a word since they set off, but for Zhong Kui, his presence seemed to be an unbearable thing. Like a cat wary of a stranger, he refused to say another word, and the car fell into an awkward silence.

To be honest, Qi Fei didn't understand Liu Tong's arrangement either. Ostensibly, it was to take care of his feelings, but anyone with eyes could see that it seemed to have ulterior motives.

Luomeng River was a place Qi Fei knew very well. He quickly found the place shown in the photo. Just like in the photo, he walked along the ancient street paved with bluestone slabs. Dense willows covered the ancient wharf, and several tourist boats were moored on the shore.

It was hot, and it was a weekday midday, so there were obviously not many people taking the cruise. The boat captain rolled up his shirt, exposed his belly, and lay on his back in the shade, taking a nap.

Wu Shanqiu stepped forward and woke up the boat captain who was fast asleep.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he thought he had a customer. When he saw the police badge, he habitually muttered, "No one has fallen into the water recently, what are you checking?"

It seems he frequently receives investigations into drownings.

Qi Fei showed him the photo on the postcard, pointed to the ship that was marked, and asked, "We'd like to see this ship. Can you take us there?"

The boat captain chuckled upon seeing it: "This is the Spring Breeze, it was scrapped many years ago." "Then where is the person who sailed this boat?" Zhong Kui asked, leaning closer.

The boat captain grinned and said, "Then you've come to the right person." He then dusted off his backside and said, "Come with me."

They boarded a moored cruise ship with practiced ease, and the others followed, swaying precariously.

Inside the cabin, a dark-skinned, thin old man wearing a life jacket was dozing under an electric fan, his sparse white hair blowing wildly.

"Dad, someone's looking for you," the boat captain said.

No wonder he said he asked the right person; it turns out the captain of that Spring Breeze was his father. "This is my dad. He's been sailing all his life. Everyone calls him Boss Xu." He spoke with a hint of pride.

Qi Fei handed the postcard to the boatman.

“This is definitely fake!” The old man looked old but had good eyesight. He immediately denied it when he saw the white mark drawn on the boat in the photo. “I can know every part of my boat with my eyes closed. There’s definitely no such thing here.”

Wu Shanqiu blurted out, "Was it photoshopped in?"

“Of course,” Zhong Kui said from the side. “Unless it’s a water ghost, it’s very difficult to draw on this spot. But that’s not important. What’s important is why you want to make a mark on this boat?” As she spoke, her gaze returned to Boss Xu. “Someone fell into this river. You must have been the first to know, right? Forty-seven years ago, a man named Xi Changjiang drowned in this river. Did you know that?”

Upon hearing this, Boss Xu looked up at Zhong Kui, a hint of doubt in his eyes: "So much time has passed, why are so many people suddenly asking about this?"

"Huh? So many people?" Zhong Kui said sharply.

Boss Xu then turned his gaze to Qi Fei, who was standing to the side: "Wasn't it you who came to ask last time?"

Qi Fei and Zhong Kui exchanged glances, not surprised at all. It seemed that Xi He had come to see Boss Xu.

Zhong Kui, quick-witted, smiled slyly: "Could you repeat what you said to him last time?"

"Are you young people kidding this old man?" Old Xu complained, but still gestured as he recounted the events of yesteryear. "I'll never forget that drowning ghost. Now there are railings on the shore, so these things happen much less often. Back when I was a boatman, the worst thing about falling into the water wasn't not being able to swim, it was getting stuck under the boat. Either you'd get knocked out by the bottom or you'd suffocate because you couldn't find the surface. It was hard not to become a drowning ghost. Xi Changjiang had the misfortune of choosing his boat as a ghost. I still remember how he was dragged out from under the boat. His nose was broken, and his legs were limp and wobbly, like they were tied to his legs with strings."

"It's not a big deal that this drunkard is dead, but he's brought me bad luck for years while I'm running this boat," the old man said resentfully.

But Qi Fei sensed something amiss: "Everyone says Xi Changjiang accidentally fell into the water back then?"

(End of this chapter)