Xie Guang took a few steps back and immediately moved aside, creating an open view. The spy seized the opportunity and fired a shot.
The muzzle flashes scattered like fireworks. The bullet pierced the man in black's chest. He collapsed to the ground in disbelief.
Xie Guang immediately carried Yelü Qiqi on his back and hurriedly ran towards the secret agents.
Behind them was a group of bewildered Xie soldiers who chased after them and found a suspicious corpse.
The bodies of the two men in black were later collected by the Imperial Prisoners. They erased all traces of the battle, making it seem as if nothing had ever happened.
Meanwhile, the old man's boat had already circled the area for two days and two nights.
Xie Ying could no longer tell which of the old man's words were true.
He said he wanted to go to the four Southeast Asian countries. He's been wandering around for ages and hasn't gone yet. Someone's chasing him, but not closely. He clearly had a chance to slip away, but he didn't.
Then, a bright firework was launched near Monkey Island, followed by a collective burst of sparks from the shores of Surabaya.
The old man finally said, "It's time to return to Weidu."
Xie Ying looked at him in surprise.
Upon hearing this, Si Hong's face was full of rejection: "Didn't we agree to go to the four Southeast Asian countries? Why, why?"
"Our money is all in the four Southeast Asian countries. If we don't go to those four countries, where else can we go?"
The old man said calmly to him, "Who said the money was there?"
"You! You lied to me?!" Si Hong stood up, holding his pipe, staring at the old man in disbelief.
The old man no longer wanted to hide it: "I haven't been back to my motherland for more than ten years."
"Bastard! Old man, I followed you with everything I had. How dare you lie to me!" Si Hong charged forward, pipe in hand, but the old man struck him on the knee with his cane. Si Hong immediately knelt on the ground.
His body had long been hollowed out by opium. Now, even the slightest movement requires him to gasp for breath.
Xie Ying glanced at the kerosene lamp on the boat, then rammed her head into it, smearing kerosene all over her. The fire quickly spread over Xie Ying, burning the ropes binding her.
The old man watched her struggle indifferently; even in this situation, her will to live remained strong.
"You really look like me." The old man paused for a moment, then quickly regained his composure. He walked over and personally cut the ropes binding Xie Ying. Xie Ying seized the opportunity to climb out of the cabin and jump into the sea.
Si Hong got up and tried to attack the old man with his mud-like body. The boatman simply swung a bamboo pole down and knocked the man unconscious on the deck.
The old man said, "Let's go back to Monkey Island."
"That man has already transported the gold out. It should arrive in his home country soon."
Meanwhile, a treasure ship arrived at Luerqu in the northern region. Lord Anshan waited and waited at the inn in Luerqu, but still did not see Anshan come to meet him.
Especially after seeing box after box of gold plundered from merchants in Weidu and other places being delivered to the treasure ship, he still hadn't seen Ansan arrive.
Finally, Anshan Jun received a letter with beautiful handwriting.
Take care. May our motherland prosper forever.
"Anshan!" Lord Anshan crumpled the letter and sighed, "You can come back anytime you want!"
Why don't you come back?
The old man sailed back to Monkey Island. He had just stepped onto the island with the boatman when the boatman, revealing his true intentions, approached him step by step, and finally stabbed the old man in the back.
The old man's grip on his cane tightened suddenly. He didn't resist but stood straight. Two dark figures crossed paths on the ground, the shadow of a knife repeatedly stabbing into the one in front. Blood dripped from the tips of the grass.
"Anshan...no, Anshan." The old man suddenly shouted with his last breath, then he knelt on the ground, his head drooped, and he breathed his last.
The boatman sheathed his dagger. He turned away indifferently and left Monkey Island.
A quarter of an hour later, a fast boat arrived, and Afanti of Twin Islands collected the old man's body and brought it back to Twin Islands.
Only two days and two nights later, the old man returned to Big Brother Island. This time, however, it was his corpse.
The autopsy was performed immediately and confirmed that it was the person in question, but Xie Ying was not found.
Afanti went to invite Xie Lanzhi over.
Xie Lanzhi repeatedly asked Afanti, "Are you sure you didn't see that young man when you were following him?"
Afanti, sweating profusely, said, "I once lost track of them for a while."
It was on that stretch of road that Xie Ying jumped off the boat.
The others from Twin Islands quickly cleaned up the bodies on Forestless Island. Someone also found the boat the old man had been on. Si Hong was on that boat.
Xie Lanzhi heard that Si Hong was still alive.
She frowned, thinking to herself: The old man risked his life to lure her away from the mountain, not just to transport gold. He was also looking for a substitute. And Aqina didn't know that Anshan wanted to find a substitute to counter him.
Now that the old man has suddenly given up his life, what is his purpose behind it?
Ce quickly examined the body and discovered that the old man was in disguise. He removed the disguise from his face, revealing a self-portrait of the man on Marilyn's bookshelf.
She is now certain that the old man is Anshan. Anshan, the one who swindles money and takes advantage of women.
Xie Lanzhi didn't want to concern herself with anything anymore. She was certain that this An Shan was also a fake. She believed that Little Phoenix would find out soon.
"This situation is the same as the first one; they're all arresting imposters," Xie Lanzhi said. "The original owner should still be in Weidu."
The strategy remained silent.
Si Xitong did indeed receive the news. The fake Anshan had been indulging in pleasure in Tianjing for a while, and had confessed everything he could.
Zhang Changle used almost every trick in the book to get everything he could out of her.
As the fake Anshan was repeatedly questioned about details, he began to grow impatient. Because Zhang Changle kept asking about details, Anshan, who had met him once before, gradually noticed a detail that was easily overlooked.
“Smell. It’s a smell.” The fake Anshan said, “I’m not sure if the person I came into contact with was Anshan, and I’ve never seen him before, but the smell on him was very strange. It was the smell of tobacco.”
"It smells good and is refreshing."
"Is this considered a clue?"
Zhang Changle frowned immediately: "Fine."
But finding someone by smell is absurd. Because smell, to some extent, is like scented air, easily dispersed by the wind. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
That's simply unrealistic.
Even though the clues were useless, he still reported them.
Upon learning this, Si Xitong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This time, we finally don't have to continue being passive."
"Lanzhi should be back soon."
The guards of Jianzhang Palace hurriedly entered from outside the hall, placed a memorial on the imperial table, and then bowed before leaving the hall.
Si Xitong picked up the memorial and opened it. She discovered it was from Weidu, and it was from the Crown Prince's office.
She was slightly taken aback after reading the contents.
Twin Islands suffered heavy losses, and the island's owner has not yet returned. The Marilyn authorities... The old man's body was eventually sent to Marilyn's side.
The boat sent out to find Xie Ying also failed to locate her. Xie Lanzhi was extremely worried, concerned about the future of her descendants...
She dared not think about it, but she had other things to do now. That was to return to Weidu.
"Ce, prepare the ship immediately."
As soon as he finished speaking, Afanti came from the back island to invite Xie Lanzhi: "Manager Lan, the Left Secretary requests your presence."
Xie Lanzhi still went.
In the same room, on the same second floor, Marilyn lunged forward, but Xie Lanzhi pushed her face away with one hand, creating some distance.
"Manager Lan, Manager Lan." Marilyn pointed to the corpse covered with a white sheet on the ground, her large, bright eyes blinking rapidly, making her dizzy.
Finally, catching her breath, she managed to utter a complete sentence: "He is not my lover! Although he looks very much like me, he is definitely not my lover!"
"Moreover, his body was stiff and rigid, unlike my lover. My lover was a delicate scholar. He wasn't as robust as his."
Xie Lanzhi was completely bewildered by her.
She knelt down, lifted the white sheet, and looked at the stiffening corpse. She asked, "Would you like to take another look?"
Marilyn burst into tears, saying, "He really isn't my lover. Could he be my lover's twin brother? Or his younger brother?"
Seeing that she still held onto hope for that person, Xie Lanzhi sighed and told her, "In our Central Plains, we have something called the art of disguise."
It was originally just a casual reminder. But Xie Lanzhi suddenly paused, staring at Marilyn, and finally had a feeling of sudden realization.
Could it be that the person who lied to her was a woman?!
Xie Lanzhi then asked Marilyn, "Have you ever... that kind of thing between husband and wife?"
Marilyn's tearful face held a hint of shyness: "Every time we were about to go up there, he would say that we had to marry him properly according to the customs of the Central Plains."
Xie Lanzhi: "..."
Could Ansan be a woman?!
Meanwhile, the steward found Xie Xia. Xie Xia was still patrolling everywhere, completely surrounding Weidu. Even the number of merchants had begun to decline sharply.
Prince Weidu has no time to manage Weidu, so naturally the profits are lower, but the prince doesn't care.
Only Si Tang was barely managing to keep Weidu's trade afloat, but even he couldn't hold on any longer.
The official was staying at Xie Xia's residence. Xie Xia said to him, "You haven't looked well lately, you should get some rest."
"Your father is no longer in charge of affairs, so the future rests on your shoulders."
“General.” The commander was not in the mood to talk about Weidu. His lips were a little chapped, as if he hadn’t drunk water all day.
His voice was also a bit hoarse: "I'm saying if, if you find out that your closest relative has done something against their conscience behind the back of the family."
"Would you really put aside your own family for the greater good?"
Xie Xia was stunned when he heard this. This wasn't a hypothetical; it was clearly the truth.
Could it be that the Crown Prince has discovered that his second brother is not dead, but has staged his own murder?
"Of course we should put righteousness above family ties!" Xie Xia said, "But we have to consider his crimes."
"If, I mean if," Si Tang began, his whole body trembling. His face was deathly pale, as if he were in the dead of winter.
"If the gold in Weidu's treasury turns to stone, even mine..."
Xie Xia hadn't finished listening when Xie Bing's announcement from outside caught her attention.
"Report—The imperial order has been issued simultaneously by Tianjing and the Marshal."