Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 30: Suspects Choose One from Three
"Where are you going?"

"Government Office! Since the murderer who arrested Inspector Wu wasn't you who came to avenge Na Ying, then the most likely suspects are his followers! Advisor Min Ziyong, servant Sun Bin, and strongman Xiang Ang are currently in the side courtyard of the government office. You will interrogate them from now on!"

"Shall I interrogate you?"

"You are a Li ethnic group member. This time, you have been slandered as the murderer who kidnapped the censor. If you show up, your deterrent power will be much stronger than that of the government. Don't you dare to enter the government office?"

"Of course! Let's go!"

Haiyue and Nayan landed outside the government office's side courtyard, one in front and one behind. They turned their heads to look at each other and exclaimed in admiration, "Not bad for a light body technique."

"You're not bad either!" That Yan's eyes showed an eagerness to try. "Your internal strength is extremely strong. Your breathing was heavier earlier. Were you deliberately trying to lure me out?"

Hai Yue said, "My father once said that the art of light body training is a soft skill that strengthens the inner body. 'Take a body weighing a hundred pounds and try to make it as soft as a bee or butterfly resting on a branch, or a swallow flying through a curtain.' It may seem insignificant, but it is actually the most difficult to learn."

"Bees and butterflies rest on branches, swallows fly through curtains..." The swallow repeated in a low voice, imagining the human body performing that nimble and graceful scene, and said sincerely: "Your father is worthy of being the number one warrior in Qionghai. What a good saying!"

"I never thought that even the Li people knew about my father's reputation!"

Hai Yue smiled. This sentence actually came from Qi Jiguang's "Ji Xiao Xin Shu". Qi Jiguang was only three years old now, so it would be fine to borrow it: "My martial arts are inherited from my family. At your age, you have such martial arts skills. Could it be that your elder is a disciple of Fu Nanshe?"

Na Yan snorted, "We Li people are not like you Han people, who treasure martial arts and keep them secret. Back then, General Fu taught everyone around him, regardless of their surname or tribe, with great care. If 'Sky Bow Chasing Shadow' wasn't so difficult to learn, every tribe of our Li people would have been able to defeat the government troops with this archery technique!"

"In the end, he was betrayed by someone close to him, and the traitor was even recruited..."

Haiyue remained noncommittal about this naive thought. She glanced inside and whispered, "All three are here."

Na Yan got closer and heard sobbing from inside: "If anything happens to the master, we won't live anymore!"

Through the gap in the window, he looked carefully and saw that the person who was speaking was a young man in simple clothes, about fourteen or fifteen years old, still childish. It was Wu Lin's servant Sun Bin, whose shoulders were shaking and he was crying very sadly.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault! I've been on a boat before, so why did I get dizzy this time?"

The other man had simple features, rough hands and feet. He sat on a chair, scratching his head in frustration, his voice full of regret. It was Xiang Ang, Wu Lin's close bodyguard.

Apart from them, the third person in the room was naturally the legal advisor Min Ziyong.

This man was in his thirties, with good looks and elegant temperament. At this moment, he frowned and thought silently.

"Mr. Min, what should we do now?"

After crying for a while, the servant Sun Bin wiped his eyes and said, "There's still no messenger from the Qiongzhou government office, and they won't let us go out to look for one. Are we supposed to just wait forever?"

Min Ziyong spoke in a calm and steady tone, "Of course we can't keep waiting. I don't think Dong Weng was abducted by the island's inhabitants. There's something fishy about that blood totem! Xiang Ang, are you feeling better?"

Xiang Ang stood up suddenly and patted his chest: "I'm fine now!"

Min Ziyong said sternly, "The three of us are now in your care! Waiting here is like waiting to be killed. Only if you go out and find Dong Weng's whereabouts can we all survive!"

"I'll listen to Mr. Min!" Xiang Ang replied in a muffled voice, but then frowned: "But where can I find the master?"

Sun Bin also asked expectantly, "Mr. Min, do you have a solution?"

Min Ziyong stood up and walked to the table. He ground ink and picked up a brush. He wrote three lines on a piece of paper and handed it over. "I don't have any completely trustworthy friends in Qiongshan. This piece of paper lists three places you can go to for help. Tell them my name. However, these three people may inform the government... Be careful!"

"Yes!"

Xiang Ang took it, put it solemnly in his arms, clasped his fists and bowed, then walked out.

'good chance! '

Na Yan gave Hai Yue a wink, and Hai Yue nodded slightly, watching him follow quietly, but did not catch up, instead continued to look at the remaining two people in the room.

He noticed that Min Ziyong stared at Xiang Ang's back, then looked away after a moment, his eyes thoughtful, while the servant Sun Bin was also looking at the aide, with a hint of surprise in his red and swollen eyes.

"Interesting, are these three people close to Wu Lin also suspicious of each other?"

Hai Yue observed for a moment longer, her eyes fixed on Min Ziyong's steps. She saw this legal advisor walk into the inner room, start making the bed, and prepare to rest before turning and leaving.

After leaving the side yard and walking not far, I found Na Yan in the corner with her arms folded, looking quite proud.

"He's got him under control?" "Oh! This guy practices hard Qigong. If it weren't for the sneak attack, he could have survived more than a dozen moves from me and made some noise. Now that I've controlled his Qi and blood, I can interrogate him!"

"You don't seem to have any problem with sneak attacks?"

"When you Han people hunt, do you beat drums and gongs to warn your prey in advance?"

Seeing the tension rising again, Haiyue, who had a better understanding of Yan's character, looked at Xiang Ang, who was lying on the ground, and said, "First, search for the paper that Min Ziyong gave him."

"Here it is! There's a name on it that you're most familiar with!"

Na Yan held a piece of paper between two fingers and handed it over.

"Yilue Society, Haihao... Master Min Ziyong knows my father?"

Hai Yue took a quick look and was startled by the first name he saw: "Yanyi Hall, Qiu Qi! Qingjie Hall, Tang Jia! One is the Qiongshan Qiu family, the other is the Qiongshan Tang family. Like my Hai family, they are both local powerful families."

In fact, the Qiu and Tang families are the most deeply rooted families in Qionshan. The Qionshan Hai family, which has only been prosperous for three generations, cannot be compared with them. In history, they were almost as famous as Hai Rui.

Yanyi Hall was named after "A Supplement to the Great Learning" by Qiu Jun, a great scholar admired by Hai Rui. Qiu Qi was the direct descendant of Qiu Jun. Qingjie Hall upholds the meaning of integrity and honesty. However, the Tang family annexed land in the local area and was very greedy. Their actions were quite different from integrity and honesty.

Na Yan didn't know this, but he also said, "No wonder this advisor asked the guards to seek help. Having the help of the local powerful families will indeed help in finding the high-ranking official. Oh! I should follow this Xiang Ang to see if he really goes to seek help! If he is the murderer, he naturally won't work so hard!"

Hai Yue said, "This method works for most people, but the murderer was able to abduct a provincial inspector without anyone noticing, and then used the blood totem to pin the blame on you. How do you know he wouldn't deliberately seek help to clear his name?"

Na Yan frowned: "Just this rough guy?"

"If he were really a rough man, Master Min Ziyong wouldn't have entrusted such an important matter to him..." Hai Yue said calmly, "He certainly wouldn't be awake and pretending to be asleep at this time, eavesdropping on our conversation!"

"Well!"

Xiang Ang suddenly opened his eyes, his glint flashing, and he was about to attack: "Thief——!"

"Sit down!"

A streak of light suddenly flew out from the swallow-like sleeves. The burly man groaned and suddenly fell to the ground. Half of his body was paralyzed and he could not move. He could only stare at the skinny Li boy in front of him.

Haiyue looked at Nayan's cuffs and smiled slightly: "How is it?"

Although Na Yan subdued the other party in the blink of an eye, he felt humiliated and was quite angry: "It seems that you, the guard who suddenly became seasick, are indeed the culprit who kidnapped Wu Lin!"

Xiang Ang had been glaring at Na Yan, but he was stunned when he heard this: "I kidnapped the master? What nonsense are you talking about, you thief?"

Na Yan said coldly, "Stop pretending! The high official was kidnapped by the murderer on his first night on the island. I'm a Li person, and I know we didn't kidnap the high official. So, aren't the people around you the most suspicious?"

Xiang Ang opened his mouth and said, "You Li people didn't catch me? I...I didn't either!"

"lie!"

Na Yan said coldly: "It's useless for you to keep quiet. When someone in our tribe steals Yin's grain, there is a set of punishments. No one can withstand all of them. Don't tell the truth!"

"Yin" is the place where the Li people store rice. The whole Hainan is short of food and needs to rely on Guangdong Province for aid. Not to mention the Li people, rice is extremely precious and the punishment for thieves is extremely cruel.

"Let me finish asking questions first, then you can take action later!"

Seeing that Yan was ready to take action, Haiyue had no choice but to stop him.

Why is it the same routine as the government office, using torture without asking any questions?

He came to Xiang Ang's front, bent down slightly, and stared at him calmly: "You don't trust us, which is normal, but you are a bit prudent. If we were the murderers who kidnapped Inspector Wu, there would be no need to show up here, right?"

Xiang Ang's big, copper-bell-like eyes showed a thoughtful expression. After a moment, he said, "What do you want to ask?"

Haiyue asked, "Do you often get seasick?"

Xiang Ang said with a bitter face: "Sometimes I feel dizzy, sometimes I don't, I can't tell for sure..."

Hai Yue asked, "If your seasickness was caused by someone else, who among the remaining two people has this chance?"

(End of this chapter)