Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

After getting off the ferry boat, the passengers were in a hurry and merged into the paths, all of which disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The surroundings were dim and the countryside was lonely. During the day, it looked quite wild and interesting. At night, there were fewer and fewer people around. Wang Cai read more of the storybook, and the bizarre stories of gods and ghosts inevitably emerged in his mind. Fortunately, the two of them walked together and emboldened themselves to talk. After talking about it, after passing a sparse fishing forest, a village appeared in front.

There happened to be an old woman driving ducks back to the shed in the field, so Wang Cai went to ask for information: "Old woman, is this Mohua Village? Where does the Jiang family live?"

The old woman looked at the two of them and saw that they were cleanly dressed and well-organized. They didn't look like bad people. She smiled and said: "Two guests, here you go south across the Yingchun Bridge, which is the Chiang Kai-shek Temple. Then walk a few steps into the alley. almost there."

Wang Cai thanked him, and the two of them walked south as promised. Sure enough, there was a single-hole stone arch bridge. After crossing the bridge, it was surrounded by high walls. After a short circle, a dark gate appeared. This is probably what the old woman said. Chiang Kai-shek Temple.

"Brother Yueting's family is so rich." Wang Cai exclaimed.

Wang Heng was also unexpected: "That's why he can learn martial arts if he wants to, and sing music if he wants to."

Going inside the Chiang Kai-shek Temple, I looked up and saw the dim light of the lanterns. Walking towards the light, I saw a large mansion.

The two looked at each other and smiled, expecting that this was Yueting's house.

Wang Cai went up to knock on the door, and soon an old servant answered the door and came out. The old servant looked at him from head to toe, showed a knowing smile, and saluted: "Your distinguished guests are the Wang brothers of Taicang, right?"

Wang Heng took a step forward and said: "Exactly, the old man must be Brother Yueting's nanny."

The grandma bowed and invited them in, saying: "I have been talking about it for a long time. Counting the time, it should be here in the next few days."

As soon as they entered the atrium, Yueting Wenyin had already greeted him. The young friend was reunited after a long separation, and his heart was filled with great joy.

Yueting ordered the cook to bring out a table of good food and put it under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the courtyard. The famous four-cheeked bass had to be bought in the county town early in the morning, and it was not available today.

We all drank a few glasses of sweet-scented osmanthus liquor together and chatted about our farewells.

Xiaocai sent them to Suzhou Ziyang Academy, where they encountered a series of stories, which he told vividly, and Yueting listened with interest.

Wang Heng said that Xiaocai now writes a storybook. He asked him to write all these stories in the storybook and let everyone praise him. Yueting praised them so much that Xiaocai blushed.

Unconsciously, after drinking too much wine, Aunt Song, Yueting's nanny, came back to say that the guest room had been packed and she asked the distinguished guests to settle down.

Wang Heng and Wang Cai had been traveling so early in the morning and were still a little tired, so they left some words to talk about tomorrow.The guest compartment is in the third room in the north. It is extremely spacious and elegant, and all the furniture and appliances are made of good old wood.

Aunt Song tidied up very carefully, the bedding was all newly washed and smelled of the sun, and the bedside was smoked with mosquito coils.

They slept soundly until daybreak, when Yueting came to wake them up, and they went to a restaurant outside to have breakfast.

It turns out that the Mohua Village is very large, with many shops and vendors. It is no less impressive than the big towns outside. The scenery is also very beautiful, and there are quite a few things to see and do.

The three of them played with egrets on the bird watching platform today, watched the sunrise on the balcony early tomorrow, and hung out in the market, tasting the Li family's glutinous rice cake and the Gao family's soy sauce bones. They lived a comfortable life.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and tomorrow was August [-]th. Yueting asked Wang Heng and Wang Cai to go with him to the Ye family in Wujiang to deliver a large plate.

The next day, all the gifts were locked in the side room. Wang Cai was shocked when he saw them. He returned to the guest room and muttered to Wang Heng: "The large gift money is as high as 500 taels of silver and twenty pieces of gold and silver jewelry. Qian'er's small plate has already sold 80 taels and six pieces of gold and silver jewelry. The Huye family is too open-minded."

Wang Heng also had this idea: "There are also twenty pieces of cotton and silk. I remember that when Brother Chenyu hired Feng's sister-in-law, there were not so many betrothal gifts."

The two chatted for a few words, each snoring loudly.

The east turned white the next day, and the three boats hired by Yueting were already parked at the water bridge behind the Jiang family mansion.

The betrothal gifts were all valuable, so the three of them took three separate boats.

The three boats sailed from the riverside of Mohuazhuang to Wusong River, and then headed south to Wujiang River.

The captain of Wang Heng's boat was quite talkative. He ate on the waterway and saw many different people. Knowing that a young scholar like Wang Heng loved landscapes, he talked about place names and anecdotes along the way, which Wang Heng listened to with great interest.

The boat sailed for more than an hour and arrived at the junction of Yunjian and Wujiang. The boatman said that this was a lake called Yuandang, with a clear water, smoke trees in the distance, and reed flowers everywhere along the lake. The scenery was wonderful.

The boatman suddenly said: "Not long ago, a strange case occurred in Wujiang. The county magistrate's office has not solved it yet. The crime scene is Yuandang."

That day on the ferry boat, I heard that Mr. Storyteller was talking about a strange case in Wujiang. Wang Heng just said that Mr. Storyteller was just making a gimmick, and there was actually a strange case.