When Fourth Master and Thirteenth Master returned, it was already past 7 PM. That night, both of them were thinking about the White Snake Lady that the madman had mentioned. It was truly strange; both of them actually believed that the voice was real. They seemed to have overlooked the fact that the madman might just be talking nonsense.
The next day, Thirteen got up early and ran to Fourth Master's room, excitedly saying, "Fourth Brother, I want to dive underwater to see for myself! Does the so-called 'White Snake Lady' really exist?"
At this moment, the Fourth Prince was sitting at the table, writing a letter to Lanqin, telling her whether there really was a White Snake Lady under the Broken Bridge in Hangzhou.
"Underwater visibility is very low. How long can you stay underwater? Don't lose your life because of a moment of curiosity!" Fourth Master didn't even look up, still writing the letter in his hand.
"That's true, how come I didn't think of that? So what do you suggest we do? Is there really some White Snake Lady underwater?" Thirteen clearly felt that there must be something strange about the bottom of that water.
"Don't rush, think of a way, we'll figure out what that noisy thing is." Fourth Master finally finished writing the letter. He folded the paper into a small square and put it into the tan envelope.
"Fourth Brother, do you have any good ideas? I can't think of any way to find out what's at the bottom of the water without going in," Thirteen asked doubtfully.
"Perhaps the solution can be found in this letter." Fourth Master waved the letter he was holding in his hand. He knew that Lanqin was always full of clever and quirky ideas, and if he told her about this, she might come up with some ideas for him.
"This letter?" Thirteen continued, "Isn't this the letter you wrote to your sister-in-law? What kind of idea could she possibly come up with?"
"Let's wait and see. Anyway, we have no way of figuring out what the sound under the bridge is right now. But we can go listen today. If there really are some demons or monsters, this prince will want to see for himself," the Fourth Prince said in a deep voice. Actually, he wasn't sure either. What if Lanqin didn't have any good ideas, and he couldn't think of any solutions either?
Alas, three hundred years ago in the Qing Dynasty, there was no diving equipment at all, not even underwater wolf eyes. If a person dived more than ten meters, it was as if they were blind.
The letter arrived as promised, reaching Lanqin a few days later. It was comparable to 21st-century express delivery, thanks to the fast horses transported by the postal relay system. These people traveled daily between postal stations throughout the Qing Dynasty, using carefully selected, high-quality horses. These horses and these people formed the Qing Dynasty's document transmission network. Military and civilian intelligence from all over the country could reach the capital within days, thanks to these people working silently. As Kangxi's special envoy, the Fourth Prince was tasked with collecting outstanding debts from officials across the country, and naturally, he would also utilize this information transmission network.
That's a story for later, of course; our Thirteenth Prince couldn't wait any longer. As evening approached, the Fourth Prince, the Thirteenth Prince, and Su Peisheng and the others arrived at West Lake once more. However, it was the fifteenth of the month, and the moon was eerily large.
There were almost no people at West Lake at night. Perhaps there really was something that scared people so much that they dared not come out.
"You know what, West Lake at night really gives you a creepy feeling, quite different from the daytime." Thirteenth Master felt a gentle breeze, but what he felt in his heart was not pleasure, but terror.
"If you're scared, you can go back first," Fourth Master said, suppressing a smile.
"I'm not afraid at all. I'm just worried that if something really happens, we won't know what it is," Thirteen argued.
"Thirteenth Prince, if you're afraid, you might as well stand with some of the guards. They'll protect you," Su Peisheng added, adding insult to injury. He was quite the servant; obsequious and subservient to the Fourth Prince, yet he dared to joke even about princes with others. Moreover, he could make others like him, and the Fourth Prince tacitly approved of this power.
"You lackey, go up and see what's making that noise under that broken bridge," Thirteen said, clearly not wanting to let Su Peisheng off the hook.
As they were talking, the group arrived at the broken bridge once again. They could indeed hear a squeaking sound coming from underground near the broken bridge.
The group immediately fell silent, standing there quietly listening to the sounds.
The sound seemed to follow a pattern, almost like the rhythm of the lake water lapping against the shore. Tonight is the fifteenth of the lunar month, and the moon has caused the tides in West Lake, making the lake quite turbulent. But this sound was definitely not the sound of water hitting the shore; it truly sounded like something was underwater. Moreover, the sound was like something being scraped, like a large snake stirring at the bottom of the water.
"The madman wasn't lying after all. That sound really does sound like a giant snake coiling and thrashing down below, refusing to leave," Li Wei suddenly said.
"Li Wei, take a few men and go over to the broken bridge to listen and see if you can still hear that sound," Fourth Master instructed.
After Li Wei led two guards to the other side of the broken bridge, Fourth Master, Thirteenth Master, and Su Peisheng had no choice but to stay there and listen to the strange sound.
After testing for most of the night, the sound could not be heard anywhere else; only the strange sound could be heard from where Fourth Master was standing.
"Fourth Brother, what should we do? This sound is really strange. But we can't figure out what's causing this underwater." Thirteen looked at Fourth Master's face, which was clearly much worse than when they first arrived.
"Let's go back. Listening here all night won't do any good." Fourth Master couldn't think of anything for the moment, so he immediately told everyone to go home and rest.
"Li Wei, come back here first thing tomorrow morning and talk to those boatmen. Ask them if they've heard that voice before, and also ask them if they know anything about the crazy woman," Fourth Master said.
Each of them returned to the inn with their own thoughts.
"Reporting to Fourth Prince and Thirteenth Prince, the governors of the three prefectures of Jiangsu have sent someone to invite you to a banquet tomorrow." The innkeeper's servant immediately ran over to greet them.
"Oh, so the governor has finally remembered us," Thirteen said sarcastically.
"Get some rest. We're going to the banquet tomorrow." At this moment, all Fourth Master could think about was what was under the Broken Bridge in West Lake and why he could only hear that strange sound on the first and fifteenth of the month.
Unbeknownst to them, after they left, several people emerged from the darkness, stood where Fourth Master and the others had stood, listened for a long time, and then left.
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