When Qin Xuanjiu ordered his men to carry the body into the city, it was already daybreak. Merchants were constantly coming and going on the road leading into the city, and the people watching along the way were shocked.
The previous rumors about Qin Xuan drinking wine and mistreating his soldiers were also refuted - it turned out that there was such a monster that tricked the soldiers into jumping into the river! Fortunately, General Qin was so brave that he was able to enter the river and kill the monster. He really deserves to be called a brave general!
It is a blessing for the people to have such a mighty general guarding the area! Seeing Qin Xuanjiu returning to the city, dripping wet, he seemed to have personally entered the water to fight the water demon.
The people were vying to call out to General Qin, and the scene was very heated. If it weren't for the protection of the personal soldiers, they would have almost pushed the imperial envoy Li standing in front of them to the ground.
As for the Xishan master and his disciples, they kept their achievements and fame to themselves, quietly followed the crowd into the city, and then went into a porridge shop to have breakfast.
However, Gao Cang felt a little lost. He looked at the shouting crowd in the distance with despair, thinking that those clusters of flowers should have belonged to them.
Ran Ran comforted his brother: "If it weren't for Master, we would all be floating on the river now, and would almost be carried into the city by the crowd. So it's better to be able to sit together and eat breakfast like this, rather than being surrounded and watched by others."
After hearing what his junior sister said, Gao Cang thought about the danger of last night, and hurriedly drank porridge in big gulps to suppress his shock and feel this hard-earned happiness.
Ranran was also considerate enough to give the senior brother some side dishes to go with the porridge.
After Ran Ran finished picking up the food, she suddenly found that the master was staring at her with a look of great displeasure. She didn't understand why, so she quickly picked up another piece of food and put it into the master's bowl.
Su Yishui usually didn't like eating out at street restaurants. But after seeing the small dish his apprentice gave him, he ate it slowly.
Ranran silently noted in her heart: Master doesn't like his disciples to take food from each other, so only he can be honored at the dinner table!
Although the master did not say it explicitly, this was another strange addition to the palace rules of Xishan.
After Qin Xuanjiu accepted the triumphant tour of the hero, he told the imperial constable about last night's fight in a mysterious manner. The imperial constable, Lord Li, was also frightened when he saw the half-human, half-fish monster.
He came here with the intention of punishing Qin Xuanjiu. Someone above had instructed him to move General Qin to another position. Originally, everything was going smoothly. Although no soldier in the barracks reported Qin Xuanjiu's tyranny, the fact that so many people died in two months was the best evidence.
But who would have thought that in one night, Qin Xuanjiu suddenly caught a water monster from Wangxiang River. Now, there was an explanation for why the soldiers jumped into the river for no reason. It was because the water monster was good at misleading people and lured the soldiers to lose their minds and jump into the river.
Qin Xuanjiu said that he had already written a memorial and would send it to His Majesty by express horse. The body of the female water monster would also be wrapped in lime to prevent decay and sent all the way to the capital.
As for the accusation that he abused his soldiers, he expressed his dissatisfaction and had already asked his old superior, General Zhou Dao, the then Minister of War, to seek justice for him.
Li Qincha knew that the reason for dismissing General Qin was somewhat untenable. Such a bizarre incident would surely alarm His Majesty and cause him to question him deeply.
Therefore, he couldn't convict immediately as originally planned. He could only report it first and then make plans.
Qin Xuanjiu finally sent the messenger away, but found that his subordinates came to report hurriedly that the head of a nearby village, when watching the corpse of the water monster parading through the streets, recognized her as the missing widow Yue'e in their village.
The widow accepted the job of delivering meals to the officers and soldiers who were building fortifications at the nearby military station. Every morning, noon and evening, she would cook with the women from three villages beside the big stove at the military station.
But just three months ago, she suddenly disappeared and never came back. At that time, this matter was a hot topic, and her brother even said that the soldiers in the barracks were attracted by his sister's beauty and abducted and imprisoned her.
Unexpectedly, when he saw her again, she was not only dead, but also looked like a ghost. It was really scary! The head of the village felt that this matter was serious and dared not hide it, so he ordered someone to report it to General Qin.
After hearing this, Su Yishui asked him if he had made a mistake.
The headman thought about it and said with certainty that the witch had a black mole on her cheek, which was exactly the same as Yue'e's. It was such a coincidence.
Su Yishui then asked the village chief what kind of person Yue'e was.
The village chief said, "She was young and could have married a young man, but she chose to marry an 80-year-old rich man in the village as his second wife. Less than a year after the marriage, the rich man died. She teamed up with her brother to take over the family property, but the rich man's only daughter was very powerful and forced her out on the grounds that she had no children. She failed to steal the chicken and lost the rice, becoming a joke in the village, so she ran to the military fortifications to find a living."
It became even more bizarre when we found out that this water demon was actually an ordinary village woman three months ago.
Hearing this, Su Yishui said to the headman, "Could you please call all the women who help Yue'e?"
The head of the police station nodded quickly and called all the people that Yue'e had recruited to work for him to the general's residence to be questioned.
The women were a little hesitant at first, but when they saw Su Yishui, their eyes widened - wow, there was actually a man who looked like an immortal in a painting, how could he be so handsome and good-looking!
When Ran Ran saw them, he was afraid that they would stare at him for too long and annoy Su Yishui, so he stood in front of them and waved his hand, saying, "Excuse me, do you know Wang Yue'e?"
When these women came to their senses, they took a look at the little girl in front of them - wow, how come this girl is so pretty?
One of the women said honestly, "I know her, but I don't know who kidnapped her and she has been missing for a long time."
Ran Ran asked again: "Do you remember the last time you saw Yue'e?"
The women thought about it and reminded each other, and finally they remembered that it was at the beginning of the month three months ago that Yue'e calmly washed and dressed up, put on a newly made skirt, said she was going to the town to buy something, and then she sat on a donkey and left by herself.
From what the women said, it didn't seem like they were going to buy anything, but rather to meet a man in private.
So when she didn't come back for a long time, they all guessed that Yue'e had eloped with a man. But it was strange. During those days, they were busy with the military station and had to prepare three meals a day for more than 50 craftsmen. How could they have time to meet a man secretly? Could it be that she met a man in the barracks?
But she dressed up every day, wearing a pretty dress, looking very happy, and standing by the Wangxiang River from time to time, smiling foolishly.
After asking a few times, I couldn't get anything out of the woman's mouth. Besides, judging from Yue'e's daily life, it really had nothing to do with things like the Yin Demon Talisman.
Why did she suddenly change and become a demon who killed countless people?
However, we still need to find out who is behind the female water demon. Otherwise, if there is a similar incident again, innocent soldiers will be killed. If we want to investigate it in detail, it is very simple. We just need to check the origin of the talisman on her neck.
Su Yishui had asked Yu Tong to make a copy of the talisman a long time ago, and then looked through ancient books to look for it, but after searching through them, he still couldn't find anything similar.
There was one thing Ran Ran couldn't figure out. If the water demon wanted to frame General Qin, why was everything fine during the three nights he was on duty?
Su Yishui could explain this, saying calmly, "His horoscope is good, he was born in the year of the cat, and he can escape the nine disasters. The three days he was on duty happened to be a cold wave, and the Wangxiang River froze. The water demon absorbed water vapor to generate true power, and when thick ice formed on the water surface, she would hide and not come out."
After hearing this, Ran Ran looked at General Qin with respect. Such a lucky fate is really hard to find. But General Qin had experienced life and death on the battlefield before, and I wonder how many of his nine lives are left?
And Mu Qingge made an exception and accepted such an ugly disciple. Could it be that he valued his peculiar fate?
As for this difficult spell, it seems I have to find an expert to decipher it.
Su Yishui thought of a person who happened to be living in seclusion in Cuiwei Mountain not far from Wangxiang River, which could be reached in a day's walk.
That man is an expert in spells, maybe he can give you some ideas if we ask him.
So Su Yishui took his followers and disciples to visit, and Qin Xuanjiu also followed Su Yishui and his disciples.
After walking for a day, we arrived at the foot of Cuiwei Mountain. There was a fertile field that had been reclaimed. As far as the eye could see, all we could see were green wheat seedlings and large areas of sweet potato seedlings.
Bai Baishan looked at the fields in amazement and said to himself, "Now... isn't it almost winter? How come these rice seedlings are growing so well?"
This place is not a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. As winter approaches, it is normal for the fields to be bare. How could the rice seedlings be so fresh and tender?
Gao Cang saw a few farmers wearing straw hats weeding in the fields, so he walked over to ask them.
No matter how he shouted, the man didn't respond. Gao Cang got angry and reached out to pull the man.
Unexpectedly, the man was as thin as paper. With just a little effort, he fell down.
Gao Cang was so frightened that he also jumped, and then he quickly squatted down to help the man. As a result, he turned the man over, and Gao Cang screamed and jumped up again in fright.
It turned out that the man... was made of straw, wearing clothes and a hat, but there were no eyes or nose on his face. He just lay on the ground in such a creepy manner, scaring everyone to death.
Ranran was also startled. She looked at the "people" working in the fields and found that their movements were stiff and each of them looked weird.
At this moment, a strong wind blew, and several "people" were blown away by the wind, spinning in the air. When the wind died down, those "people" fell to the ground one after another, picked up their hoes, and continued to work in a methodical manner.
It seemed that these "people" were made of straw. Ran Ran saw that there were talismans on their backs, which showed that someone had driven them to work in the fields.
At this moment, a crow suddenly landed on one of the scarecrows. The crow tilted its head and looked at Su Yishui and his group carefully. Suddenly, it opened its long pointed mouth and quacked, "Who is coming?"