Chapter 113: The Interrogation

The sky was not yet bright, and the river water was the color of black ink.

Chen Ji's head emerged from the water surface, and he breathed in large gasps. The icy coldness seemed to seep from his skin into the seams of his bones, drilling into his marrow.

His soaked clothes clung to his body, unable to retain any warmth.

Chen Ji circled his gaze around the surrounding water surface, trying to search for Yuan Zhanggui's traces among the waves, but was suddenly drawn by the scenery overhead. Meteors flew over the river surface one by one, dragging long comet tails, like a meteor shower rarely seen in years, splendid and bright, glorious. With full bows drawn, the meteors flew across a distance of a hundred paces. The more than twenty Xiangjiawei on the bridge didn't even have time to counterattack before being pierced through. A tattooed man on the bridge hid behind the carriage, avoiding the meteors one by one. He pulled out a copper whistle from his waist and blew a sound. Dense Xiangjiawei heard the whistle and surged out from the small alleys. Like a brown flood, they rushed towards Mudan Qiao. The tattooed man roared angrily, "Capture the golden pig, cover Er Ye's retreat. It's just one Tianma. I don't believe he can shoot hundreds of arrows consecutively." But his words had just fallen when he heard the sound of iron hooves transmitting from a distant place.

The sound of iron hooves came from far to near, as if a grand military formation was stepping on the broken ice river. Chen Ji suddenly turned his head, only to see on a pavilion eave corner in the distance, a middle-aged man wearing a rain cape and a bamboo hat quietly standing. He was like a black eagle falcon. In the swaying firelight, he held a black banner flag in his hand, pointing it towards Mudan Gongqiao from afar. Above the banner flag, gold threads embroidered the two large characters: Jian Chou.

It was Lin Chaoqing.

Tianma had also transferred the Jian Chou Guards from Mengjin Daying.

Chen Ji gazed at the golden pig on the bridge. The other party was frantically bending over to dodge and dart, and finally seized the opportunity to leap into the water.

It seemed impossible to kill the golden pig today.

Although Liu Xianming's plan was grand, the Sili Jian's breaking of the situation seemed even better.

The overall situation was already decided.

But Chen Ji's tasks for tonight were not yet finished.

At this moment, not far from him, the sound of water waves transmitted. He only saw Yuan Zhanggui swimming with effort towards the west side, constantly stirring up the water. Chen Ji carefully and cautiously followed, neither approaching nor staying far away.

Yuan Zhanggui turned his head and looked at him coldly before swimming even faster. The two people were one in front and one behind. Behind them were rushing firelight and shouts of killing, while here only the sound of splashing water remained. The firelight reflected on the black river surface, as if even the ice-cold Luo He water had ignited ice-cold flames. Chen Ji swam while shouting, "Don't escape. You have a penetrating wound on your leg. Where else can you escape to?" Yuan Zhanggui laughed coldly and didn't answer.

Chen Ji continued to shout, "Cooperate with my Mijian Si, and perhaps you can spare your life."

Yuan Zhanggui still didn't answer, only swimming towards the shore.

Chen Ji swam several strokes with effort to follow up, but Yuan Zhanggui suddenly turned his head and kicked him on the head with one foot.

In the surging undercurrents, Chen Ji was kicked into the river bottom by this one foot. Ice-cold river water drilled into his mouth and nose. If there hadn't been resistance in the water, he probably would have fainted immediately.

He shook his head, kicked heavily on the river bottom with both legs, and unexpectedly gritted his teeth and followed up again. Yuan Zhanggui turned his head to look, only feeling a lone wolf following behind him, seemingly wanting to drag him to death in the uninhabited wilderness. After a moment, he limped and staggered, stepping on goose egg stones, slowly wading to the shore. Yuan Zhanggui lowered his head to look at the wound. He saw a thumb-thick blood hole on his thigh still bleeding, soaking his pants purple. Just as he lowered his head, the whistling sound of breaking wind came. He tilted his head slightly, and a flying stone brushed past his ear and fell on the distant beach. Yuan Zhanggui turned back to look, only to see Chen Ji standing in waist-deep water, bending down to pick up several goose egg stones from the water and gripping them in his hand, throwing them over one by one. He laughed angrily, "Who the hell are you? You dare to chase me here after picking up a few goose egg stones?" Mijian Si only gives you a few taels of silver a month. What kind of life are you playing with me? Chen Ji didn't speak.

Yuan Zhanggui wanted to lower his head to tear off the hem of his clothes to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding. If he didn't stop the bleeding, he couldn't escape far. But just as he lowered his head, he heard the sound of stones breaking the wind again.

Yuan Zhanggui easily avoided it with one step and made a gesture to return to the river, saying he would kill Chen Ji first. But as soon as he moved, Chen Ji immediately squatted in the water and went back to the river.

He was so angry that the veins on his forehead jumped straight. "You want to delay time just by relying on you?"

Saying that, Yuan Zhanggui simply ignored Chen Ji, not even avoiding the flying goose egg stones, and concentrated on lowering his head to bandage the wound. A regular person throwing goose egg stones, even if it hit, wouldn't injure muscles or bones.

The next moment.

Thump.

A huge stone smashed on the corner of Yuan Zhanggui's forehead, making his eyes go black. He staggered several steps to the right.

He stared at him with angry, wide eyes, only to see Chen Ji laboriously hugging another head-sized stone from the river. The young man's face in the river turned green, his lips turned white, and his whole body trembled with cold, just like the goose egg stones at the bottom of this Luo He, equally cold and hard. "You bastard, is there no end?"

Yuan Zhanggui narrowed his eyes. "Don't pester me anymore. In the future, I will give you a lifetime of wealth that you can't spend, which is much better than you working for Mijian Si."

Chen Ji laughed coldly, "Survive tonight first."

At this very moment, not far away, someone said with a laugh, "Look down on my Mijian Si's salary? Can it be that your Junqing Si can give more? May I ask, is the person in front of me the Junqing Si Si Cao? We've had quite a hard time finding you."

Yuan Zhanggui suddenly turned his head, only to see that the golden pig had arrived at some point. His whole body was still dripping water, and he slowly waded to the shore from the river, squatting in the water.

In the center of the river.

On a small black awning boat, an old man in a rain cape was poling with a long pole, carrying the white-clothed Tianma who slowly approached.

Tianma stood at the bow of the boat without moving, like a fixed sea-stabilizing needle, as if as long as he was there, the river water could not stir up shocking waves.

Yuan Zhanggui wanted to escape towards the river bank, but just as he turned his body, he saw a person squatting on the river bank behind him, staring at him with a laugh.

This person wore a bright brown double-collared large-front robe, and the man rose from the river bank down to the beach.

Dozens of colorful wild pheasants were embroidered on his robe. His face was white without a beard, and his hair was neat and smooth, as if he were a big Qingyi actor appearing on stage with makeup.

Meng Ji.

Yuan Zhanggui said fiercely, "Three of the Twelve Zodiacs have arrived, and even Tianma from three positions have all appeared. It can be said that a large army has been mobilized. But you all don't go catch Liu Xianming, yet you all come to find me to play?"

The golden pig laughed, "The Nei Shi wants the Liu family dead, so he has no reason to live. Liu Xianming is just a small character. The Liu family is rooted in Yu Zhou. Where can he run? Don't struggle. Surrender with your hands tied."

Yuan Zhanggui didn't answer. Instead, he turned around and pounced towards Chen Ji, planning to take the little thief who had pestered him with him before he died.

But with this turn back, he discovered that Chen Ji seemed to have anticipated his intention and had already returned to the river ahead of time.

The next moment, a meteor flew from the center of the river, piercing through Yuan Zhanggui's other good leg.

The golden pig walked forward with a laugh, flipped Yuan Zhanggui over, and pressed him to the ground.

He pulled out a small knife from his sleeve, cut off a lock of Yuan Zhanggui's hair, and handed it over. "Meng Ji, interrogate him directly here. And that boy in the river, interrogate him here too?"

The golden pig squatted on the ground, turned his head to look at Chen Ji in the river, and said slowly, "After interrogating him, I can be at ease."

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