Liaozhai: I just want salted fish with invincible magical powers

Chapter 4 What's Under the Footprints

Ruan Conghai waved his hands expressionlessly, "Come here, take down this idiot who knows how to die!"

The yamen servant knelt down and kowtowed: "My lord, the villain is innocent!"

"Innocent? How dare you say that you are innocent when you utter wild words and disturb the audience!
Let me ask you, you said you found the murderer, where is the murderer? "

"This...Master Hu Qian only said that you should go to the Hongshui River and find out, but he didn't say who the murderer is..."

"Ha ha……"

Ruan Conghai sneered for a while, "That kid just wanted me to spend a little more time here by resorting to such means. How can he find the murderer with his brat."

Zhang Huadao: "Master Ruan's words are very true, let's send Hu Tong on the road as soon as possible, so as not to delay the time."

When Xu Yuanfang and Zhao Shi saw this, they were sweating from anxiety, but there was nothing they could do for a while.

At this moment, Shen Yuzhen rushed out suddenly, pointed at the yamen servant and shouted: "Why did you harm my husband with all the nonsense? My husband was clearly at home last night, but why did you say that he was catching murderers in the Hongshui River!"

The yamen servant said aggrievedly: "Young madam, the young master was indeed in the Hongshui River last night!"

"Then what do you say he is doing there!"

"Young master, young master, he first took us to Xixiangji to block the mouth of the Hongshui River, let all the water flow into the Qingshui River, and then waited at the crime scene.

When it was almost dawn, the water had almost receded, the young master looked down with a torch, and said that the real murderer had been found, and asked me to fly back to report. "

When Xu Yuanfang and Hu Butong heard this, they understood Shen Yuzhen's intentions, and immediately admired her quick wit in their hearts.

Sure enough, Ruan Conghai hesitated.

Xu Yuanfang hurriedly said: "My lord, it seems that Hu Qian has indeed discovered something, otherwise he wouldn't be so determined to invite your lord.

Why don't you just go and have a look, if there is no real culprit, it won't be too late to punish him. "

Hu Butong almost jumped up, "Brother Xu, you..."

Shen Yuzhen and Zhao Shi were also full of worries.

Although the news came from Hu Qian, considering his past style, he really doesn't look like a person who can decide the case and bring the murderer.

If this is the case, then Xu Yuanfang's words will hurt him.

Ruan Conghai patted his thigh, "Okay, I'll go and have a look. If he dares to play tricks on me and delay the time, I will let him have a good taste of prison."

So he ordered the prison car to stop here and keep it under strict supervision, and then led Forty Jinyiwei, Zhang Hua, Yan Wenqu, and Xu Yuanfang to the Hongshui River together.

The Hongshui River is not wide at all, and the bottom of the river has been exposed overnight, and the remaining water only reaches knees.

Seeing Ruan Conghai and others coming, Hu Qian, Wang Enze and others hurried forward to greet them.

"Hu Qian, if you don't give me an explanation today, do you know what will happen to you?"

Hu Qian cupped his hands and said: "The grassroots dare not, my lord, wait a moment, and when the bottom of the river is exposed, everything will come to light."

"Hedi? You wouldn't say that the monster at the bottom of the river killed the prince and Qian Changshi, right?"

"That's very possible. He came here early with a group of yamen servants. Only he knows what he did."

"In my opinion, truncating the river is just a cover, the purpose is just to make the result look more real."

"Don't say that I don't believe in ghosts and gods at all. Even if there are real ones, when you dig the bottom of the river, there is nothing, so you just infer that the monster has escaped. How can you deceive me with such a trick."

Ruan Conghai and the three of you said one sentence to another, it seemed that they had seen through Hu Qian's tricks a long time ago.

Although Xu Yuanfang didn't say anything, he didn't know what to do.

Ruan Conghai's words were correct, even if there were ghosts, they would have run away long ago after seeing this battle, and they would honestly wait for someone to catch them.

While waiting anxiously, the river quickly bottomed out.

As the mud at the bottom of the river appeared, everyone present could clearly see that there were two rows of clear footprints on the mud.

The footprints walked from the center of the river to the bank, and then walked back from the bank. These two trips corresponded to the itinerary of killing the prince and Chang Shi.

Except for Hu Qian, everyone else was stunned.

Ruan Conghai came back to his senses first, and calmly said: "What does this mean? Maybe you ordered people to go down and forge footprints in advance to confuse us."

Hu Qian shook his head. Before the water completely receded, he saw the footprints, so he asked people to go back and report.

And the reminder in my mind has now changed to [There seems to be something deep in the footprints].

It shows that there must be something in the place where the footprints in the middle of the river stop.

"My lord, although the river has receded, you might as well ask someone to go down and try to see if they can leave such clear footprints on the mud."

When everyone heard it, they immediately understood what he meant.

Although Ruan Conghai generally agreed with Hu Qian's statement, out of face, he waved his hand to let a Jin Yiwei go down.

However, as soon as Jin Yiwei's foot stepped on the mud, it sank immediately, and when he pulled it out again, the mud returned to its original state.

Not to mention footprints, not even traces left.

Now Ruan Conghai and the others were immediately speechless.

Xu Yuanfang took the opportunity to say: "Now that the water has receded, the footprints cannot be forged. What's more, when Hu Qian came, the water had not receded. It is really impossible to leave such clear footprints."

As soon as the words came out, everyone's back felt a chill.

If it is not man-made, it can only show that the footprints are indeed left by ghosts.

Gathering his mind, Ruan Conghai continued: "Even if the footprints were not made by humans, the real culprit is there! What I want is the real culprit, not the footprints!"

Hu Qian said: "Don't worry, my lord. You just need someone to dig down from the footprints in the middle of the river, and you will find out."

Ruan Conghai hesitated a little, but the emperor's order is hard to disobey, he came here to arrest the real murderer, if not, he would not be able to return to his order.

So bit the bullet and said: "Come on, go down and dig!"

Jin Yiwei was naturally unwilling to go down, and the one who went down was the yamen servant brought by Hu Qian.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the yamen servant waded through the knee-deep mud to the place where the footprints disappeared, and then dug down vigorously with a shovel.

In the time it takes for a cup of tea, the yamen servants below suddenly stopped their movements at the same time.

"My lord, there is really something down here!"

Ruan Conghai said: "Bring it up!"

Before the yamen servant could bring the things ashore, Ruan Conghai and the others went down to the embankment to have a look.

It turned out to be a red wooden box, the size of a wooden basin, although it was taken out of the mud, it was spotless.

When I opened it, there was a pair of blood red embroidered shoes inside.

It is embroidered with peony flowers in yellow, white and blue silk thread, with gold threads on both sides, and spices in it. It seems that ordinary people can't afford to wear it.

Everyone took a deep breath.

Ruan Conghai picked up the embroidered shoes and compared them with the footprints not far away.

It's exactly the same!
"This……"

Zhang Hua backed away in fright, and sat down on the ground.

Ruan Conghai suddenly pulled out the Xiuchun knife, and shouted: "What are you afraid of! Even monsters don't dare to make trouble in broad daylight."

Then he turned back and said, "Come here, bring fire!"

Jin Yiwei immediately handed over the torch, and Ruan Conghai ignited the embroidered shoes without saying a word.

Then I saw the sky suddenly bursting with black clouds, and the sky that had been slowly getting brighter immediately turned dark again.

The fire gradually lit up, and a thick red mist suddenly rose.

A blurry figure immediately appeared in the red mist.

The figure screamed "Ah", causing everyone to back away in fright.

Ruan Conghai shouted: "Don't retreat!" Then he pointed the tip of the knife at the figure.

"Where is the evildoer here to cause trouble!"

The figure said in a sharp voice: "The King of Zhennan killed me! The King of Zhennan killed me!" Then there were several screams.

Everyone was so frightened that they couldn't speak. After a while, as the boxes and embroidered shoes were burned away, the red mist gradually dispersed, and the figure disappeared.

When he came back to his senses, Ruan Conghai put the knife back into its sheath, wiped the sweat off his brow, and said with a smile, "So what if it's a ghost, I killed you!"

Zhang Huadao: "My lord is so mighty, even ghosts are afraid of me."

Hu Qian said: "My lord, judging from the situation just now, it must be that ghost killed King Zhennan and Lord Changshi by extraordinary means."

Ruan Conghai nodded, "If that's the case, then I'll report back to the Holy Majesty in this way."

One of the Jin Yiwei said: "My lord, the lock of this wooden box is not burnt, do you want to take it back as evidence?"

"Okay, take it with you."

However, the Jin Yiwei was about to take it when the lock suddenly slipped down and landed on the edge of the mud.

"Ok?"

Everyone was stunned, and when they were wondering, they saw the lock suddenly floated up again, slowly flying towards the center of the river.

It's just that every time it flies, two clearly visible footprints will appear on the mud directly below.

Ruan Conghai and the others tightened their scalps and immediately looked at the original footprints.

Visible to the naked eye!

Footprints are not so big!

An idea popped up in the hearts of everyone present!
There is also a ghost that has been on the river bank!

Maybe she watched as they burned boxes and embroidered shoes!
Ruan Conghai's body couldn't help shaking, and Zhang Hua behind him was about to faint.

Hu Qian suddenly thought that what Chang Shi Qian Junhua said before he died was "they take revenge".

So how many of them are they...

He couldn't help but look at the mud elsewhere, his heart beating wildly.

Under everyone's gaze, the footprints reached the center of the river, and then disappeared.

And the lock also fell from the air, slowly sinking into the mud.

At this moment, there was a sound of water in the distance, and the water from the upper reaches came.

Then there was a yamen servant galloping over on horseback, "My lord, the dam built last night has been washed away, go ashore quickly!"

Then everyone hurried ashore.

For a while, he just stared blankly at the Hongshui River below, and no one spoke.

(End of this chapter)