"No, I just think you have ulterior motives. It's already autumn, the water will be too cold, you'll catch a cold soon," Lan Yamei argued.

The other three remained silent, knowing perfectly well that Master Qiu had taken a liking to this young girl. They looked at the sky, the ground, and even his fingers, but saw no sign of jealousy.

Before Qiu Zeyu could even open his mouth to make fun of her, the sound of horses' hooves grew closer and closer, and he looked in the direction of the sound.

A dozen or so fast horses arrived in front of them. The leader, with an extraordinary bearing, dismounted, glanced at the crowd, and finally fixed his gaze on Qiu Zeyu. He clasped his hands in a fist salute and said in a booming voice, "It's a rare sight to see Young Hero Qiu!"

Qiu Zeyu returned the greeting with a respectful clasped fist and said, "Greetings, Senior Murong Feng! I just happened to run into a friend who was helping out, so I stopped by to see if there was anything I could do to help."

I heard a rough outline from Aunt Guan. So he's the father of that young master Murong. No wonder he's so handsome! Like begets like. Lan Yamei had a little scheme in her mind.

Looking at the clothes on the shore, Murong Feng said, "Thank you, Young Hero Qiu! Where is my youngest son?"

Qiu Zeyu grinned mischievously, pointed to the spring, and said, "Young Master was very worried about his brother's safety, and he didn't miss any suspicious places, so he went into the water to search himself."

Upon hearing this, Murong Feng's face flushed with anger. That Qiu family brat must have tricked my youngest son again. That good-for-nothing, how could he be so stupid!

A moment later, there was a splash in the water, and Murong Xingchen surfaced, holding a dagger, excitedly saying, "I found something! Father, you've come!"

In the courtyard of the villa, everyone was deep in thought, gathered around the dragon-patterned dagger in Murong Feng's hand and the six corpses displayed in a row.

Murong Xingchen was already dressed and stood obediently next to her father.

Murong Feng, holding the dragon-patterned dagger, said to Qiu Zeyu, "Young Master Qiu, what do you think?"

Qiu Zeyu was also puzzled. The Murong family held immense power; even his own father would have to respectfully address them as "Senior Murong!" Everyone knew the Murong family doted on Murong Bai. Even if the Murong family was domineering, they would never dare to send someone to assassinate their eldest son and leave behind any evidence. So, he frowned and shook his head, saying, "This dagger is truly strange. Under heaven, besides the royal family, who would dare use a dagger with dragon patterns?"

Murong Feng felt a tremor in his heart upon hearing this. His family was now the greatest threat to the royal family, and his brother often reminded him to be meticulous in his actions and to always keep a low profile unless he had a solid trump card. Seeing this dazzling dragon-patterned dagger was truly ironic; could it be…?

But Qiu Zeyu changed the subject, saying, "However, the royal family trusts the Murong family very much. They not only entrusted you with the management of currency minting and the national money shops, but also appointed Murong Yunhai as prime minister to manage the officials on behalf of the royal family. I think Senior Murong doesn't need to doubt the royal family. Perhaps some people envy the Murong family's high position and power and deliberately sow discord between the emperor and his ministers, which is not impossible."

"Our Murong family will always be loyal to the royal family! I'll take this dagger for now. Murong Xingchen, let's go." Murong Feng spoke with a firm and powerful voice, then cupped his hands to the crowd and led his entourage away.

Once everyone was out of sight, Tie Tou asked, "What should we do with these corpses?" He thought to himself, "Luckily, I met Young Hero Qiu, Manager Lan, and Manager Mei. Otherwise, with my mediocre skills, I might have ended up taking someone's bullet one day, and no one would even be there to collect my body. From now on, I must stick close to powerful figures to go further."

Qiu Zeyu looked at them and said, "Let's dig a hole and bury them! They were all born of fathers and raised by parents. If it weren't for the need to have enough to eat, who would be out here risking their lives? Let's do a good deed and bury them while we're at it."

Just as the group finished digging the pit and threw the corpses in, Granny Guan suddenly said, "Stop!" She then jumped into the pit, pulled open the clothes that were about to fall off one of the corpses, pointed to the plum blossom tattoo, and said, "I feel like I've seen this tattoo somewhere before!"

"Oh? Aunt Guan, think about it carefully." Qiu Zeyu perked up, finally having a clue.

Iron Head, enduring the pain, jumped into the pit, then pulled open the clothes of the other five men and said, "They all have this tattoo!"

Lan Yamei didn't dare get too close to the corpse, afraid of having nightmares. Standing far away at the edge of the pit, she said, "Could some other organization be involved?" She used to read novels about this all the time. Maybe this was some secret organization doing something for someone else.

"What you said is very likely." After Qiu Zeyu finished speaking, he led the group to bury the body first, and then the group mounted their horses and left. After all, Magistrate Liu of the county government would be making a final judgment on Qiu Zeyu's case tomorrow.

Grandma Guan couldn't remember where she had seen it before, and kept patting her head, trying hard to recall. Only after arriving at the barbecue restaurant did she say, her face pale, "I remember now."

Qiu Zeyu led the two into the house, making sure there were no outsiders before asking, "Tell me quickly, Aunt Guan."

"More than twenty years ago, Hua Manlou suffered heavy casualties. I hid in a box and escaped with my life. I saw with my own eyes the thugs who stabbed my sisters to death. Some of them had this plum blossom pattern on their chests. Could it be the same group that killed Murong Bai?" Aunt Guan felt a chill run down her spine. She was terrified when she thought of the bloodshed at Hua Manlou.

"Don't tell anyone about this anymore. I'll investigate secretly. Do you trust me?" Qiu Zeyu felt he had found a clue. He seemed to have seen the plum blossom painting before, but what was the connection? And what about the dragon-patterned dagger?

"Of course, I will keep my mouth shut!" Aunt Guan trusted Qiu Zeyu completely.

Just as everyone finished speaking, Butterfly knocked on the door, "Aunt Guan, how is Murong Bai?"

He opened the door and told Butterfly what had happened at Quanxing Village, but concealed the matter of the dragon-patterned dagger and the plum blossom tattoo.

After hearing this, Butterfly burst into tears again. Aunt Guan comforted her, saying, "It's a good thing we didn't find him. Maybe he's already escaped. Otherwise, how could we have an ambush when we went there? Think about it." After listening to Aunt Guan's analysis, Butterfly nodded and said, "I hope he's still alive."

Just then, the brother downstairs called out, "Manager Lan, the coffin shop says the coffin is ready. Should we go over for the encoffining now or wait until tomorrow?"

"I'll go downstairs and take a look first." After saying that, Lan Yamei went downstairs, and Qiu Zeyu followed her downstairs, leaving Aunt Guan to comfort Butterfly.

Wang Fengyang pretended to be strong and didn't shed a tear. After the two came down, he even bowed. Qiu Zeyu looked at the sensible child and asked Lan Yamei, "Is he that child?"

“Yes! What a poor child. Such a big thing happened to his family. It must have been a huge blow. I plan to keep him with me from now on and raise him as my younger brother. Anyway, I’m all alone.” After Lan Yamei finished speaking, she said to her brothers, “I’ll take some silver. You go and buy some incense and paper money, and settle the bill at the coffin shop. Let’s bury him today. The deceased should be respected. I’m afraid the county government won’t be able to find the real culprit for a while.”

The brothers obeyed and left. Lan Yamei took Qiu Zeyu back to his room to change into a white mourning outfit. Butterfly, suppressing her grief, also joined the others, carrying offerings, and hurried to the cemetery.

It wasn't until the coffin was lowered into the pit and shovelfuls of soil were poured on it that Wang Fengyang finally broke down in tears.

When the child started crying, no one stopped him. Emotions need to be released, and this child was already quite strong.

After the child cried for a while, Qiu Zeyu went over, squatted down beside him, patted his little head, and said, "Only by being strong can you protect the people around you. Think it over carefully before deciding whether you want to learn kung fu from your brother."

Wang Fengyang turned to look at this refined-looking older brother, kowtowed deeply, and said, "Master!"