She pressed it with her hand and water flowed out.
Upon seeing this, the magistrate quickly said, "Stop! We need to change my second brother's clothes right away. Don't damage his body."
"I'm sorry." Xie Lanzhi immediately took a few steps back and lowered her head.
After vomiting, Xie Xia finally stood up and turned his head to the side to say, "I, I have some things to take care of, so I'll be leaving now."
"Walk!"
"Yes, General!" Xie Lanzhi followed him out of the inner hall.
The magistrate glanced at Xie Lanzhi's figure, his eyes narrowed, and he fell into deep thought.
After Xie Xia and Xie Lanzhi came out, he asked as they walked, "Marshal, did you find anything?"
Xie Lanzhi said, "The coroner's examination was correct. The body was beaten to death; its stomach was ripped out."
Upon hearing this, Xie Xia gagged.
Xie Lanzhi couldn't help but frown: "Anyway, the wounds on that corpse don't look like something an ordinary person could leave."
She then recalled Artur's regenerative abilities. Since both she and Archina were variable beings, and Artur was his stand-in, they had inevitably absorbed some of his luck as a stand-in. Therefore, Artur's inherited physical abilities allowed him to heal quickly.
She possesses extraordinary internal strength, almost enough to light a firearm with her bare hands!
Therefore, Anshan, having benefited from Aqina's good fortune, must possess something special. Besides his cunning nature, only his martial prowess remains. If the wounds on this corpse were inflicted by Anshan, then Xie Ying's life would likely be in danger if she continued her investigation.
Thinking of this, Xie Lanzhi ordered, "Xie Xia, quickly send someone to find Xie Ying and bring her back immediately."
A note from the author:
Happy New Year
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-01-30 21:02:51 and 2022-01-31 20:16:15!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: Qingshan and Ruyasuihe (1 each);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Xiangyan (40 bottles); Passerby A, B, C, D, E, and Xu (10 bottles each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 179 Layers of Conspiracy and the Secret Pouch for Xie Ying
After Xie Lanzhi realized something was wrong, she immediately sent someone to find Xie Ying. She was also secretly contacting spies.
A secret agent from Weidu came to report Xie Ying's whereabouts, but it was only yesterday.
The spies didn't see Xie Ying today, so they sent people out to look for her, only to find that this troublemaker hadn't gone to the docks yesterday. They asked the dock manager, who said she hadn't even collected her wages before disappearing.
The spy had argued with Xie Ying yesterday and hadn't been keeping a close eye on her, but unexpectedly, Xie Ying disappeared that same day.
Xie Lanzhi ordered the spy to find Xie Ying first, while the others continued to keep an eye on Weidu.
There was still no concrete news from Anshan, but the Hunnic people in charge of taking over had already emerged. Other spies were still interrogating the captured Hunnic people.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get the Huns to open their mouths. So Xie Lanzhi obtained a Tai Sui amulet from a secret agent. On the back of the amulet were her familiar birth date and time.
Xie Lanzhi personally went to interrogate the Huns and asked them, "Is the Tai Sui amulet from Anshan?"
None of the five Huns spoke; they were more afraid of the monster outside than of torture or interrogation.
One of the agents said, "They've been refusing to tell us."
Xie Lanzhi continued to ask them, "How did his Tai Sui amulet end up in your hands?"
"Didn't Artur remind him that he should carry his own Tai Sui amulet?"
Upon hearing this, one of the Huns quickly looked up at her.
Xie Lanzhi then asked the shorter Hun man, "Isn't it better to wear a Tai Sui amulet close to your body or under your pillow?"
The Hun immediately lowered his head.
She continued, "Altu never lost his Tai Sui amulet until his death."
"It shows how much he treasures it."
"So if someone doesn't want to wear this talisman, does it mean that the deity who wards off Tai Sui doesn't want to take on a certain responsibility?"
Another Hun man couldn't help but secretly watch her.
Xie Lanzhi didn't mind revealing a little more information: "Artur said that sacrificing himself for the king was the thing he regretted most."
Of course, she made that up herself.
Unexpectedly, a burly Hun man reacted the most strongly.
His eyes widened, almost bursting out of their sockets: "You're Xie Ying?!"
Xie Lanzhi walked up to the man, bent down and squatted down: "The final resting place of a general like Artur should be on the battlefield, not in someone else's place."
"He didn't die unjustly. He sacrificed himself for the king, and he did so willingly."
At that moment, her tone changed, and she abruptly shifted her words: "However, as the king's substitute, he only managed to gain three years of life for the king. In the end, it was still just a... extremely lowly dog's life."
"No wonder the king still wanted to find Anshan in the end. It seems that Anshan is more valuable than Artu's dog life."
This time, the five Huns became agitated. Some glared at her, trying to kill her, some struggled but were trampled underfoot by the spies, and others were filled with doubt and uncertainty.
These people seem to know more or less about body doubles, which means they are not ordinary Huns.
How could an ordinary person possibly know about body doubles? And why did they react so strongly to her words?
Seeing that they couldn't hide their emotions and still kept their mouths tightly covered, Xie Lanzhi knew that a few words wouldn't be able to provoke them.
Finally, she said a few words to the secret agent.
Use Artur as bait to pry open their mouths.
The secret agent nodded and asked Xie Lanzhi to leave first.
When Xie Lanzhi returned to Xie Xia's residence, Xie Xia hurriedly came over with his helmet.
"Marshal, we have more news from the bandits. They just ambushed and robbed a civilian boat."
She saw Xie Xia put on a helmet and decided to go there.
Xie Xia turned to her and said, "By the way, Marshal, Gou Ying wrote a letter yesterday, but I was too busy to notice it."
"Take a look at what she wrote?"
Xie Lanzhi opened the crumpled envelope, glanced at it, and said, "She has already taken a boat to Surabaya."
"What?" Xie Xia was very surprised. Didn't he miss the opportunity to bring Gou Ying back to the mansion yesterday?
Xie Xia realized that Gou Ying was just like her father, and he immediately became anxious: "Marshal, I'll be right back!"
Xie Lanzhi didn't stop him; she returned to her residence and put the letter away. She was curious, however, how Xie Ying managed to evade the spies' surveillance. A naive young woman like her had never done any counter-surveillance work; naturally, she couldn't possibly have shaken off such well-trained spies.
Could there be someone else with her?
Meanwhile, a civilian boat bound for Surabaya was stopped by two other boats as it passed by. The pirates boarded the civilian boat and found only an old man and a young man inside, and the boat was full of sweet potatoes and taro, which were not worth much money.
More than twenty bandits immediately disliked the flimsy boat and decided to kill the people on the way.
Unexpectedly, the old man was very arrogant and ordered the young man to attack them.
The bandits immediately laughed at their overestimation of their abilities. But when the young man hooked the bamboo pole with his foot, casually knocked one of the bandits into the water, the bamboo pole shattered, the boat rocked, and all the bandits crammed into the civilian boat fell into the water. Some surfaced, cursing, "There's a master on board, blow him up!"
A bandit emerged from the reeds, cursing as well: "You can't even handle a broken boat, and you expect me to use such a precious cannon?"
"Do you know how much a cannonball costs? It's worth a whole thousand taels of silver, a thousand taels of silver, and you want me to deal with two people?"
The old man came out of the cabin, stood on the deck with his cane, and said to the bandits on the shore, "This gentleman is right, it's not worth firing a cannon at us, grandfather and grandson."
"It is my grandson who has offended everyone, please forgive him."
The bandits soaking in the river tried to take the opportunity to dive underwater and sabotage the boat, but the old man immediately said, "Sirs down below, don't be impulsive. If it sinks, I'll be very angry."
"Even if your chieftain pleads for mercy, there will be no room for negotiation."
The bandits in the reeds, hearing the old man's calm and fearless tone, and his mention of their chieftain, wondered if he was truly an acquaintance of the chieftain.
He asked, "May I ask your honorable name, sir?"
The old man replied kindly, "His surname is Qian, and his name is Qian Gui."
"This is my grandson, Qian Tong," the old man said, pointing to the young man in shorts next to him. Xie Ying lowered her head at the right moment, wary of the drowning bandits.
The bandits in the reeds told the old man to wait, and also told their accomplices in the water not to make a move until they figured out the two men's identities.
In less than fifteen minutes, the bandits returned and hurriedly bowed to the old man, saying, "So you are Master Qian. Our chief has always thought of you. I never expected that your personal visit would bring honor to our humble abode in Sishui."
"May I ask what brings you to the island?"
The bandits then ordered their accomplices to let them pass, and the old man said, "I have important business to discuss with the chieftain."
The bandits made way for the old man, and as his boat docked, he disembarked, leaning on his cane, his steady steps unwavering. Xie Ying followed him silently, head bowed, her heart churning with turmoil.
Why did the old man know the river bandits?!
She had been tricked by the old man. Xie Ying suddenly remembered that she had tried to act alone yesterday, but was being monitored by spies, and then the old man appeared and told her how to hide. At first, she thought the old man was a local of Weidu, which was why he knew the shortcuts in the streets and alleys to avoid being monitored.
Afterwards, she wanted to thank the old man, but unexpectedly, he said he needed her help with something: he wanted to transport sweet potatoes and taro across the Sishui River.
Xie Ying initially refused because there were bandits there, until the old man said: "The reason I'm taking you there is to have you uncover a conspiracy, that is, the Second Young Master is not dead."
"I am a secret guard under the old prince, just like the Western Guard in Tianjing, serving the royal family. Unfortunately, the people of Weidu are now living in fear and every day feels like a year, all because of the Second Young Master."
"The common people don't know that the person they are mourning is a traitor. The prince won't listen to my words, and he sees that you, young man, are someone who is not content with the ordinary. So come with me."
"Isn't Marshal Xie investigating this matter?"
When Xie Ying heard these words, she decided to take the plunge.
Xie Ying's gamble paid off. The old man using the alias Qian Gui was indeed no ordinary person, but she hadn't expected him to have such a good relationship with the chieftain of Sishui. What kind of good person could someone who knows thieves?!
Thinking of this, Xie Ying stared intently at Qian Gui.
Qian Gui calmly replied, "What are you afraid of? Just follow me."
Now that things have come to this, Xie Ying is on a pirate ship and there's no way she can escape unscathed anytime soon. She can only grit her teeth and silently be wary of the bandits and the old man.
Seeing her wary demeanor, the old man chuckled and said, "I knew you were no ordinary person the first time I met you on the ship."