Nine Pots Bridge, heading east along the East Huamen official road, riding a horse for eight or nine miles, is Quyang Town. The Qu family has a private garden called Sanliu Garden in the west of the town. A small lake with rippling waves is surrounded by the garden. When the garden was first built, there were three hundred-year-old willows on the north bank of the lake, so it was named Sanliu Garden. This is what the Qu family tells outsiders, but the old people around here know the truth about the Qu family's origins. The village at the west end of the town used to be called Sankui Liu Village. Over several generations, the Qu family cleverly took over and seized control of the land at the west end of the town, incorporating it into their estate. Sanliu Garden, built within the estate, is actually a place for the Qu family to raise concubines.

  Apart from owning the rent collection rights, taxation rights of nearly 200,000 mu of good fields on both banks of Jinhe River from Quyang Town to Donghua Gate in Jiangning City and around Mulan Lake, the Qu family is also the largest grain merchant and oil merchant in Quyang Town. During the peak season when new grains come onto the market, more than one or two thousand dan of rice pass through the hands of the Qu family every day. The Qu family's oil mill occupies half a street on Nanhe Street in Quyang Town, and there are nearly 300 yellow cattle pulling the millstones in the Quji Oil Mill.

  The Qu family's ancestors were tax officials in Juling County, and after the establishment of the Xunyang Town Inspection Office, 13 out of 17 Xunyang inspectors came from the Qu family; The Qu family was the most powerful and influential clan in Juling County.

  The trackers went around the outside of Muling Lake for more than half a circle and arrived at the west end of Quyang Town. The sun had already risen to the top of the mulberry tree in the west of the town, revealing half its face. As they approached the Qu family's farm, Wu Qi discovered that several tenant farmers working in the fields were actually sent by the Qu family as secret guards monitoring the perimeter of Sanliu Garden. They did not dare get closer to Sanliu Garden and instead squatted down at the side of the road with two subordinates disguised as unfamiliar travelers, resting.

  After a short rest, Wu Qi gazed at the distant Sanliu Garden from afar and thought to himself: The strictness of the Qu family's guards is not comparable to that of ordinary rural strongmen. Since there was no opportunity to get close to Sanliu Garden, he turned back from Quyang Town and headed towards the mouth of the Jin River.

  Inside the Sanliu Garden, on the lakeside pavilion of Hubei, Qu Wu Yang's thick beard was slightly frosted, his tiger eyes staring round and round at the two middle-aged men kneeling on the stone steps. With a frown and a heavy heart, he said in a deep voice: "A living person, you've lost him! You actually think that Bin Er got tired of waiting and came back first, this is how you explain it to me!"

  "When we raided the camp, I was afraid that something unexpected might happen to Young Master, so I left two men to accompany Young Master and wait by the side of the willow forest; when we withdrew, we returned to the willow forest, except for Young Master and the two attendants who were nowhere to be seen, there was nothing else unusual. At that time, the situation was urgent, a big fire had started, and the horse infantry from Jiangning's military department and the mounted patrol from the surveillance commissioner's office would come out of the city at any moment to surround us, I didn't dare to stay outside with so many people, so I led them back first...I'll lead the men to look for Young Master!"

  "How to find? Such a big case, the Procuratorate and Jiangning Military Command may have sent people to set up secret investigations around Jin Chuan River. If you lead people over, what if something goes wrong, won't it bring fire to our family's head? You go and find Second Master, in the name of the Patrol Office, to inquire about the progress of the case, see if there are any clues about Bin'er!

  Wu Yang suppressed his worry for Du Zi, and sent someone to find his cousin, Wu Ming, the patrol officer of Qu Yang Zhen. 'Summon all capable people back to San Liu Garden, it's not just our family that is secretly watching Jin Chuan Prison Island, maybe Bin'er was taken away by those people in the chaos. If the Procuratorate doesn't react within these two days, someone will knock on our door with a bamboo stick... I only have this one son, no matter what the cost, I must protect his life..."

  Ji Yun She's camp at the river mouth was in disarray after being ambushed, with heavy casualties and no strength to counterattack. Qu Wu Yang never expected that his only son would fall into the hands of Ji Yun She, whom he thought was not worth considering, and even more so, into Lin Xuan's hands. Moreover, he never expected that even if he was willing to pay a huge price to save his son's life, Lin Xuan had no intention of making a deal with him.

  *********

  Jiangning City, Half Mu Lotus Courtyard, this is the new residence that Xue Fei Hu moved into after becoming the Jin'an Marquis and advancing to Jiangning as a tribute envoy.

  At the time of dawn, Song Jia was in her boudoir, combing her raven-black hair in front of a copper mirror, with two maids holding mirrors behind her. The sound of horseshoes came from outside the wall, and Song Jia held a hairpin, listening carefully to the horseshoes, thinking to herself: What urgent matter could there be at this early hour?

  Song Jia dropped the flower hairpin in her hand and ran out of the house, just to see a black-clad spy from outside the city being led into the courtyard by the steward. They saw Song Jia approaching and all bowed to say: "We've seen the young mistress..."

  "What happened?"

  "Ji Yun She gathered refugees from the north shore, yesterday they assembled at the Jin Chuan River mouth, and were ambushed at night. Among the recruited laborers, 36 people died and nearly a hundred were injured..." reported the secret agent.

  "Good..." Xia Fei Hu walked out of another room, heard this and couldn't help but shout in approval, saying "Call him a stubborn bone, it's about time someone taught them a lesson."

  "Isn't this Mr. Du's man?" Song Jia looked at Xue Feihu with doubt.

  "What's the point of killing those useless refugees? Killing a chicken to scare the monkey?" Xie Fei Hu shook his head, denying that he had ever told Du Rong to do such a thing.

  "It's not you and Mr. Du who did it, what's the point?" Song Jia said in a bad tone, "If we let Gu Wu Chen and Lin Lian suspect that the Qiao family is responsible for this matter, wouldn't that be a great injustice?"

  Xue Fei Hu hesitated for a moment, but Lin Xie was clear that they also had the idea of building a dock on that section of the riverbank. Moreover, the land on that section of the riverbank had already been secretly acquired by Qingfeng Hang. Lin Xie wanted to use the power of the Surveillance Commissioner's Office to investigate, and it wouldn't be difficult to find out. The incident last night would easily arouse suspicion about them.

  Although Xue Fei Hu wanted to teach Lin Tie and others a lesson, he didn't mind making the waters murkier, but he also didn't want to get into trouble with Gu Wu Chen before establishing himself in Jiangning. He didn't want to be dragged down either; this matter was likely orchestrated by someone targeting Gu Wu Chen, who had encountered an assassin on his way to take office in Jiangning, but the incident hadn't been made public.

  "What should we do?" Xue Feihu asked his wife. In such matters, he knew that his wife was more resourceful and meticulous than himself.

  "Mr. Du's side needs to do something, so let's hold back for now. With so many injured at the Jin River mouth, they must be short of medical supplies, and since the camp has lost its fire, it's likely that clothing and other necessities are also in short supply. Let's quickly prepare some things and have someone send them over to show our concern and attitude." Song Jia said.

  "Alright, I'll have someone make arrangements," said Xue Feihu.

  "Never mind, I'll go out of town instead. I'll ask Mingyue if she wants to come with me," said Song Jia. "I've been feeling suffocated staying in the city these days and was thinking of going out for some fresh air."

  Xue Fei Hu hesitated for a moment, and didn't say anything else, only saying: "Go ask Ming Yue." In Jiang Ning, it's considered proper for a young lady from a good family to avoid showing her face in public, but in Dong Min Jin An Fu, which is by the sea, men go out to fish, and women take charge of all household matters, so there isn't much taboo about going out in public.

  ********

  Qiu Wuyang's son and two attendants were killed, bound to a stone and sunk into the river. Lin Xie didn't even have time to change into clean clothes before he set off again with Zhou Pu, Cao Zijian, Ge Cunxin, and Ge Cunxiong brothers by boat back to the river mouth. Wu Qi also returned with his men.

  Two-phase verification, confirmed that the murderer last night was indeed the knife guest raised by Qu's family. In the unburned hut, Lin Xie sat on the ground, with a hard-to-dissipate anger, inserted his waist knife into the soft mud in the corner of the hut, surrounded by Zhou Pu, Cao Zi'ang, Lin Jingzhong and Wu Qi.

  Cao Zikang was nominally elected as the representative of the migrant workers, Ge Cunxin and his brother Ge Cunxiong kept people from approaching this hut.

  Lin Jingzhong felt very guilty about the tragedy that happened last night, and his mood was low. He squatted down beside Lin Xian and reported the losses he had just counted to him.

  Apart from the 36 dead, nearly a hundred were injured, with about forty seriously hurt, who need to be immediately transferred to the city to receive further treatment from renowned doctors. Except for those with minor injuries, all other wounded should also be moved into the city for recuperation; otherwise, staying in the wilderness would not only hinder their recovery but also require more manpower to care for them. Lin Jingzhong followed Lin Xian's instructions and first gave each family of the deceased 10 taels of silver as condolence money. The funeral and burial expenses were all taken care of by Ji Yun She. The injured would be treated with all due effort, and it was also promised that those who became disabled due to their injuries would have their future livelihoods taken care of by Ji Yun She. Before last night, more than 40 makeshift sheds had been hastily built, but a large fire burned down about half of them. Nearly a hundred dan (a unit of measurement) of grain in the temporary granary did not have time to be distributed and was mostly reduced to ashes. Only over ten dan of grain were left, barely enough for these people to eat for one or two days. Thousands of wooden boards, straw mats, clothes, and bedding were destroyed by the fire...

  The loss is also tens of millions of dollars and thousands of taels of silver. Fortunately, these refugees have experienced all kinds of hardships and struggles on the thousand-mile journey to Jiangning, and their hearts have become numb and strong. After the initial panic, they did not disperse at dawn, and even with sorrow and fear in their hearts, they consciously followed orders and helped each other rescue materials from the ashes.

  Listening to the sound of the horse's bell and snorting, Wu Qi stood up at the door and lifted the windproof grass curtain, seeing a carriage coming over. Qian Xiaowu followed beside the carriage, walking and saying to the people in the carriage: "Lin Gongzi is in that hut over there discussing things with Lin Guan Shi and Zhou Ye..."

  Lin Xie stood up and looked outside, seeing Liu Yue'er peeking out from behind the carriage curtain with a worried look on her face. Cao Zi'ang, Wu Qi, and others got up and left the shed, while Liu Yue'er, wearing a skirt, didn't care about the muddy ground due to the water used to put out the fire and walked over to Lin Xie, who was standing at the entrance of the shed. She lifted the curtain and saw that Lin Xie was covered in blood, his eyes welling up with tears as he cried: "That scoundrel Qian Xiaowu told me you were fine, Master Lin..." Without wiping away her own tears, she anxiously grabbed Lin Xie's arms, wanting to see where he was injured.

  ***************

  PS: Looking for red tickets, brothers who haven't collected them yet, please register and collect one.