allonlinenovel Chapter 266 9 River
Chapter 266 9 River
At dusk, the sunset glows intertwined, gentle and gorgeous.
At Shen's Villa in Yaocheng, a thin middle-aged man was sitting under a willow tree by the lake, fishing. He half-closed his eyes, stroked his beard, and looked at the lake with a contented look.
Soon, the water surface began to ripple slightly, and the fishing line was gently pulled. At the critical moment, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and the fisherman immediately frowned, and raised his hand to stop the two people behind him without waiting for them to approach.
The fat slave understood and stopped, turned his head and made a shushing gesture to the old man who was following him. The old man, who was dressed in short brown and dark and in a mess, was originally anxious, but when he saw the fat slave's shushing, he had to stop and looked at the fisherman under the willow tree in front of him with a servile attitude.
The ripples on the lake surface surged rapidly, and the fishing line was pulled tighter and tighter. Seeing this, the fisherman stood up suddenly and threw the fishing rod back. A fat carp was jumping around in the grass by the lake, but the fishhook was stuck in its mouth, and no matter how it struggled, it was useless.
"Master, this fish is very fat!" The fat slave then quickly stepped forward, bent down and smiled as he looked at the carp still struggling in the grass.
"Humph, not as fat as you." The fisherman glanced at the other party and smiled jokingly, then ordered: "Unhook the fish and put it back. Today is the first day of the new year, and I want to fast and release the fish."
"Yes, master." The fat slave squatted down, untied the hook in the carp's mouth and put the fish back into the lake. The carp, which had been waiting to die with its mouth wide open, suddenly came alive after getting into the water and slowly hid in the depths of the lake.
“Master Shi…” The old man who had been silent and hunched over also came under the tree and knelt down towards the fisherman, but was interrupted by the other party as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Hey, isn't this Old Ma? What brings you here? Please get up quickly, please get up quickly!" The fisherman pretended to be surprised and helped the old man who was kneeling at his feet to get up. Seeing that the old man refused to get up, he had no choice but to give up and sat back on the stone under the tree. Seeing that the village chief Ma was in a mess and filth, he put on a worried look and continued to ask: "Old Ma, what happened to you again?"
"Master Shi, you have to save me, save my wife and children!" Seeing the other party asking, Village Chief Ma couldn't bear it anymore and burst into tears with snot.
"Old Ma, don't be anxious. Tell us what happened." The Tenth Master, who was sitting under the tree, became extremely anxious and asked hurriedly.
"Last night, a group of masked men in black suddenly came into Majia Village. As soon as they entered the village, they went door to door killing and burning. Most of the villagers in my Majia Village were sleeping soundly, and they were killed before they could react..." When Village Chief Ma said this, he had cried until he was hoarse, his eyes were full of fear, and his whole body was shivering.
"What? How could such a thing happen? Who is so lawless? You just asked me to save your wife and children, but where are they now?" Hearing the crying of Village Chief Ma, the fat slave beside him looked unusually calm. He secretly glanced at his master, only to see that the master continued to ask with a look of shock on his face.
"They broke into my house but didn't kill anyone. They just kidnapped my wife and two sons. They also left a message... asking me to go to Yangquan Valley outside Lin County with 5,000 taels of silver in five days to redeem them..." Village Chief Ma suddenly knelt forward, hugged the left leg of Master Shi and continued to beg and cry, "How can a peasant like me afford 5,000 taels of silver? Master Shi, please, save my wife and children because I have served you so well!"
"Why would this kidnapper ask for such a generous price from you, Village Chief Ma? Isn't it because he is too ostentatious and makes people jealous?"
The fat slave's question made Village Chief Ma's eyes widen in realization. In order to prevent people from suspecting where the money from the secret market came from, he had deliberately claimed that he had made a fortune outside. Three months ago, he also lied in front of the government that the secret market in the village was opened with his own money. Later, his family easily redeemed him with the fifty taels of silver secretly given to him by the Tenth Master.
But he had to do all these things to hide the identity of the Tenth Master, but he never expected that it would bring disaster to himself and even the entire Majia Village. What a trick of fate, he originally wanted to make a fortune with the whole village but he didn't expect to push them to the King of Hell, and he himself became the sinner of Majia Village!
“Don’t worry, Old Ma. I, Shen, will definitely save your wife and children. But five thousand taels of silver is not a small amount of money. You also know that our Shen’s cloth shop has always been bullied by the famous Li in Jiangnan and can only survive in this small medicine city. Now it is not an easy task to collect five thousand taels of silver in just five days.” Seeing the village chief Ma with his head hung down, his thin and dark body shaking even more violently, the Tenth Master raised his hand and patted the village chief Ma on the shoulder, looking embarrassed.
“Village Chief Ma, please get up first. Since my master has promised to help you, you should stop making things difficult for him.” Seeing that Village Chief Ma was still shaking his body and crying indifferently, the fat slave stepped forward to persuade him.
Village Chief Ma stood up quickly after hearing this, wiped the tears and snot from his face, and waited respectfully by the side. At this point, the tragic death of the villagers was a foregone conclusion, and he could not watch his wife and children get into trouble again.
"Lao Su, you arrange for Lao Ma to stay in this village. I will go home to raise money. We must rescue the people no matter what!" The Tenth Master also stood up, glanced at the village chief Ma in front of him, and then instructed the fat slave beside him.
"Thank you, Master Shi. I will never forget your kindness and will definitely..."
"Old Ma, don't thank me too early. I also said that it's not easy to raise this money. Shen can only do his best." Before Village Chief Ma could finish his words, Shi Ye interrupted him with an impatient sigh. After he finished speaking, he hurried away.
After the fat slave Lao Su settled the village chief Ma in the villa, he gave a few instructions to the servants and left the villa without stopping.
"Master." There was a carriage parked outside the manor. The fat slave walked quickly to the carriage and said respectfully.
"Send someone to Lin County to inquire and see if the government has found any clues. Also tell the people in Jiuhe to take good care of Village Chief Ma's wife and children and not to hurt anyone." Master Shen's voice came out slowly from the carriage.
"Yes, sir." The fat slave nodded in response.
Afterwards, the carriage turned around and slowly drove away. The fat slave watched the master leave and then turned back to the villa.
"Has the government found out anything about the tragedy in Majia Village in the past two days?" Mu Liang walked into the main hall of the Li Mansion and turned to ask Lao Zhou who was accompanying him.
"There is no news. I'm not sure whether the government is deliberately keeping it secret or they really haven't found any clues." Lao Zhou shrugged and sighed.
Mu Liang said nothing more. Just as he was about to cross the hall to the study, he heard Lao Zhou say:
"Today I heard someone at the liquor store saying that the Majia Village's modus operandi was very similar to the wharf escort agency massacre in Jicheng five years ago. Both were extremely cruel and flawless. The government has not yet caught the real culprit of the wharf escort agency massacre. It was later that Jiuhe deliberately exposed himself and let the world know about this killer organization. Do you think that the Majia Village massacre this time was also done by Jiuhe?"
Mu Liang narrowed his eyes and his expression became solemn.
"I've always heard that the Jiuhe people in Jiangnan are always secretive in their whereabouts and actions, and even the government can't find their base?" Old Zhou continued to get closer to Mu Liang and asked curiously.
"Jiuhe suddenly appeared in Jiangnan five years ago. It was after they exposed the tragic massacre at the wharf escort agency that they became famous in Jiangnan. However, they have always been mysterious. Even if the government knew the real culprit of the massacre at the escort agency, they could do nothing about it." Mu Liang's face gradually turned cold, and his brows furrowed involuntarily.
Lao Zhou's guess is dangerous but not without reason. They could burn dozens of people in a village to ashes overnight, and they did it so flawlessly that even the government couldn't find any clues. No one except a well-trained killer could be so cautious. Although this is just a guess, what can they do even if the evidence is conclusive? Jiuhe has always been elusive, and the government can't even find their lair. How can they catch the real culprit?
Although Mu Liang didn't understand why the person behind Majia Village would kill the villagers of Majia Village, what frightened him was that this person actually colluded with a killer organization like Jiuhe.
“Don’t worry, Manager Mu. No matter how powerful Jiuhe is, they wouldn’t dare to easily attack the famous Li family from Jiangnan. After all, even I, Old Zhou, can see that the prefect of Qile City is particularly caring towards the Li family.” Old Zhou saw Mu Liang’s worried look, so he stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and consoled him with a smile.
Mu Liang didn't say anything else, but Lao Zhou's words did make him feel a little relieved.
You Zhizhou's care for the famous Li from Jiangnan is related to the stability of Jiangnan's economy. After all, the famous Li from Jiangnan is still a giant in Jiangnan's business community; secondly, it is the good relationship that his adoptive father had forged by spending money and effort in Qile City during his lifetime.
Therefore, Mu Liang was grateful for Magistrate You's care for the famous Li from Jiangnan. Although he and his brother were not allowed to go out to visit during the mourning period, Mu Liang would ask Manager Yuan to prepare generous gifts and send them to the Magistrate's Mansion during every festive occasion.
"grown ups?"
In the government office of Qile City, when Captain Zhou Bing walked into the study, he saw the magistrate You with a face full of anger, and he couldn't help but become nervous.
"The tragedy in Majia Village seems to be related to Jiuhe." You Zhiji said and threw the file in his hand in front of Zhou Bing.
"The massacre of the entire family at the Escort Agency at the dock five years ago?" Zhou Bing flipped through the files and suddenly realized, "No wonder they dared to burn down an entire village!"
Although the Jiangnan Wharf Escort Agency is located in Shu County, Jicheng, Zhou Bing had heard of the horrific massacre of an entire family five years ago.
"If Jiangnan wants to have stability, the thorn of Jiuhe must be removed as soon as possible!" You Zhiji became more and more angry as he thought about it. He slammed his palm on the table and said with gritted teeth.
Zhou Bing did not dare to say anything, but lowered his head with a look of distress. Jiuhe has always been mysterious. Although they don't commit many crimes, they are terrifying when they do. Moreover, the local government in Jiangnan has been investigating them over the past few years but still can't find their traces. It may be even more difficult to find this organization now.