The short figure of the Shrike appeared at the door, carrying a person on his shoulders, tied up like a dumpling. As soon as he stepped into the house, she threw him to the ground.
Xiao Hui looked closely and saw that it was the leader of the group of assassins who had ambushed her when she was walking on the street during the festival.
Pointing at the man on the ground, Shrike said to Hao Bai, "I've brought the person you wanted. The rest will be dealt with on the spot. Don't forget what we agreed on."
Hao Bai nodded, pulled out a pear-sized porcelain bottle, and handed it over. Xiao Nan guessed: There might be a dozen or so Zhidan pills in there. He was indeed generous, but what was his purpose behind such a large sum of money? Did he have a grudge against the assassin?
After the money and goods were settled, Hao Bai was about to step forward, but the assassin suddenly opened his eyes and woke up, then rushed forward viciously.
Hao Bai was startled and quickly hid behind Xiao Nanhui.
In fact, the shrike had tied the man up quite tightly, and the man couldn't move at all. Xiao Nanhui gave Hao Bai a somewhat amused look: "You wanted this man alive, but you scared yourself like this?"
Hao Bai didn't say anything. His expression was a little different from his usual playful look. He gestured to Xiao Nanhui to remove the black cloth from the man's face.
Xiao Nanhui followed his instructions and stepped forward, holding the man's neck and pulling off the black cloth, revealing a familiar face. It was the businessman with his family whom they met at the Yueyuan Town Inn a few days ago.
Of course, his wife was also one of the participants just now, so Xiao Nanhui was not surprised to see his face.
At this moment, he had completely shed the shrewdness of a businessman, and his whole body exuded the terrifying aura of a gangster killer.
When Hao Bai saw this, he was speechless for a moment.
"It's you."
A voice sounded, Xiao Nan turned around and saw Zhongli walking towards him.
"I suspected you back at the dock. Ordinary tea merchants wouldn't come to Murhe to sell tea at this time of year. April and May are the wettest and most changeable months in Huozhou, and tea leaves won't last long before they get moldy."
After hearing this, Xiao Nanhui remembered that this person had been posing as a tea merchant. Huozhou was cold and rainy, not suitable for growing tea trees, so tea merchants were one of the most frequent merchants throughout the year.
This was a good choice, but the problem was the wrong time of year. Ordinary tea merchants would rather wait for more than a month before shipping the new tea to Mulher, and would rarely take the risk of shipping tea during the rainy season.
The assassin listened coldly, seemingly determined not to say a word.
Zhongli then took something out of his sleeve, unfolded it and threw it on the ground.
It was a wanted poster drawn by the government, showing a man with a forehead band and a gloomy expression.
"In fact, up to that point, I was just suspicious. But after arriving in Murhe, I saw the wanted posters in the city. The first one on it was the bandit who had been roaming around the ferry area a month ago. Coincidentally, when we were in Yueyuan that night, this bandit who was evading capture was in the inn."
The scene in the inn that night flashed through Xiao Nanhui's mind. It seemed that there was indeed a man wearing a forehead band who looked extremely dangerous.
Then, the words of the ferryman that morning brought back her memories: "I remember that someone robbed people at the ferry that day, and someone died."
"Yes." Zhongli nodded, "It's just that the one who died was not the one being robbed, but the one who robbed him."
So that's why, even though it was low tide in the early morning, there were only traces of fighting on the rocky beach, but no corpses.
If the robbers were out to get money and kill, why would they bother disposing of the body? They'd simply take the money and flee. But some people are different. Even if the deceased was a bandit, they'd be in trouble if the government got involved, so they rush to dispose of the body before daybreak. Even if the government investigates later, they can only investigate superficially.
She had previously thought that they were the only truly good citizens in the entire inn, but she never expected that they were also ruthless characters who pretended to be pigs and ate the tigers. Now she broke out in a cold sweat when she thought about it.
Perhaps because his deeds were exposed, the assassin's face showed a hint of disdain.
"So what? I'm different from you. I'm Murhe, invited by the Zou family. I've carefully concealed my identity along the way. How could I let a small thief ruin my business?"
Xiao Nan looked at the other person's expression and almost thought that the person who was tied up tightly in the room was not him. He was angry and amused at the same time.
"According to you, the Zou family invited you here specifically? Are you the buyer?"
"Buyer? I'm here to appraise the jade! That old thief, Zou Sifang, promised me long ago that once I appraised the jade, he'd give me 30% of the proceeds, no matter how much it sold for. But when I arrived, he started playing dead, and a few days later, he suddenly said he wanted to offer the jade as a sacrifice. He's completely reneging on his word. There's absolutely no such deal in the martial arts world. Even if I tried to rip him off, I'd only be getting what I deserved."
Xiao Nanhui glanced at Zhongli Jing next to him. The culprit who caused Zou Sifang to "go back on his word" was watching the show in front of him with complacency, as if he didn't want to get involved at all.
She just couldn't believe it. No matter how poor the Qu family was, they were still a famous family. How could they have fallen to such a shameless and sly person?
"You said you are a member of the Qu family? What evidence do you have?"
Unexpectedly, the man actually nodded.
"Why? You don't believe it? Isn't the jade seal in your hands? Untie me and I can identify it right now. I also know many secrets..."
"Bah!"
A roar suddenly sounded behind the two of them. Xiao Nan turned back in a daze, only to see Hao Bai rolling up his sleeves and rushing towards him. This time he was bolder and dared to grab the man's collar.
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