Under the oil lamp, the twin girls followed Yuan Sanniang, carrying a paper boat half a person's height and carefully placing it into the river.
There was no wind tonight, and the river was calm. The paper boat drifted along with the current but did not drift far away. A half-lamp of kerosene, the same black color as the river, was faintly visible on the boat.
Yuan Sanniang brought a few servants wearing straw raincoats and masks and chanted something to the river, followed by an indistinct singing.
Xiao Nanhui looked at him with a puzzled expression, and finally couldn't help but whispered to the "expert" beside him.
"What was she reciting? A scripture? An incantation? Or a prayer?"
Su Wei paused for a moment and answered truthfully.
"I don't understand."
If he couldn't understand it, who else could understand it? It was probably just nonsense.
The tension in her heart eased a little, but Jia Han, who was standing beside her, didn't know the reason and was still worried.
"The owners of these pleasure boats are all private prostitutes registered with the government. They haven't caused any trouble before. If the two benefactors hadn't mentioned it today, I really wouldn't have known it was related to the river god incident. Who would have thought that today..."
Xiao Nanhui waved his hand, indicating that Jia Han didn't need to say anything more and should just wait and see.
She had been waiting for several days before coming here, and she must not fail at the last moment.
The confusing ceremony finally ended, and Yuan Sanniang signaled the first distinguished guest to come forward.
"I wonder what you, my dear guest, would like to ask, sir?"
The big-bellied man whispered something to the purple-dressed girl, while the pink-dressed girl picked up a pen and wrote a line of small calligraphy on the blood-red letter paper beside her.
After the man finished speaking, at the signal of the two girls, he took out three cloth bags from the box behind him and put them into the paper boat in the water one by one.
Xiao Nanhui squinted his eyes and looked carefully, and not surprisingly saw a little golden light coming out of the bag.
The person next to her obviously saw it as well, and the hand that had been holding her tightly finally loosened slowly.
No one knows those hidden things better than they do. Whether it's the gods of the mountains, the rivers, or anywhere else, none of them like gold. They want something far more precious than gold.
But this one in front of me is obviously not the case.
The big-bellied man retreated, and the mysterious young woman stepped forward again. She did the same thing, and her spending was even more generous. The paper boat became heavier and heavier, and was already halfway in the water, spinning uncontrollably in the river.
Finally, the girl in purple gestured for the next person to come forward.
"I wonder what you, my dear guest, would like to ask, sir?"
Xiao Nan thought about it, walked a few steps to the other person, and asked politely.
"I'd like to ask...where is this Mr. River God from?"
The girl in purple didn't move, and the girl in pink behind her didn't move either. Both of them stared at her with their black pupils.
Finally, Yuan Sanniang made her move. She grabbed the oil lamp from the bow and threw it accurately at the paper boat. The lamp shattered, and the boat, catching fire along with the kerosene, instantly became a ball of fire. There was a loud explosion, and sparks flew everywhere.
Xiao Nanhui grabbed the person next to him and leaned over to avoid the fire. Jia Han was left unattended and was half a step late, so his clothes were slightly burned. He quickly put out the fire.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Yuan Sanniang disappeared in an instant. The remaining girl and the servant fled, but in order to pretend to be a ghost, the pleasure boat was pitch black without the oil lamp, and screams and trampling sounds were heard one after another.
In the chaos, Xiao Nan retreated to the cabin to protect his men and told Jia Han to proceed according to the previous plan. Jia Han rushed to the stern and shouted, and the county officials who had been ambushed by the river since early morning lit torches. Several speedboats emerged from the reeds on the river bank and quickly approached the pleasure boat.
Sailing on the river was certainly a secretive endeavor, but if something went wrong it would be difficult to escape. At this moment, Yuan Sanniang was like a turtle trapped in a jar; all she had to do was wait and see, and she would be able to catch her.
But for some reason, Xiao Nanhui always felt something was wrong.
She was still thinking about it when suddenly her feet shook and the whole ship tilted. A loud cracking sound came from deep in the cabin, followed by more panicked sounds.
No way? Are we going to die together?
She couldn't sit still any longer, so she stood up and was about to check, but was suddenly grabbed by someone.
She turned around and saw a handsome young man in moon-white clothes looking at her with serious eyes.
"what are you up to?"
She looked at Su Wei's expression, realized something, and patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"I think something's wrong. Let's go see who pierced the boat. Don't move here. Jia Han's men will be here soon."
But the other party obviously didn't mean that, and the temperature in his voice dropped to the bottom.
"Jia Han brought thirty or forty men with him. Are you one of them? Are you familiar with the layout of this pleasure boat? Are you a good swimmer? Shouldn't we have just let you swim across when we crossed the Dafeng Ferry?"
She was a little speechless, but she felt a little puzzled by the man's harsh words.
She just subconsciously wanted to resolve the matter quickly and find out what happened, without thinking too much.
"I'm not that useless. When I escaped from Bijiang, I even carried Wu Xiaoliu across the glacier..."
The torches in the distance had not yet come closer. She opened her eyes wide and spoke hurriedly, but she could not see the man's face which was about to merge into the darkness.
The heavy cracking sound rang out again, and the floor tilted even more sharply. The musicians and dancers who had previously hidden somewhere suddenly rushed onto the deck, and the whole world began to sway from side to side in chaos.
The hand holding her arm didn't loosen, but instead tightened its grip. Xiao Nanhui hadn't expected this fancy-looking pleasure boat to be so vulnerable. She was a little worried about the person next to her, so she decided to get him to a safe place before making any further plans.
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