Chapter 58: Capture

  An old woman who was about to speak to him suddenly caught sight of Xiao Jia Ding, a tall and slender scholar with a sword at his side, being surrounded by a group of rough-looking men. Her face lit up with joy, she walked around Luo Cun Zheng and came before Xiao Jia Ding, looked up at him with her wrinkled old face and said: "You... are you Xiao Zhi Yi from the county government?"

  Xiao Jiading hastily said: "It's me, old man, who are you?"

  Luo Cun hastily came over and said: "Xiao Zhīyī, she is Jin Lao San's mother."

  Jin Mu heard that he was Xiao Jia Ding, and suddenly tears flowed down his face. He knelt down with a thud, and the men and women beside him also followed suit and knelt down.

  Jin Mu cried with a handful of snot and tears: "Xiao Zhiyi, you must take charge for the Jin family. My son, Jin Lao San, died unjustly, but no one cares about us. I know it was that murderer Liu Xiangzheng who did it. If we can't avenge him, my poor son's spirit in heaven will not be able to rest..."

  Xiao Jiading hastily supported her arm and said: "Old man, get up quickly, there's something to talk about, can't do it like this."

  Jin Mu cried and slowly got up, holding onto Xiao Jia Ding's arm, and followed him into Luo Cun Zheng's courtyard.

  Because many people from the Jin family have arrived, Luo Village is instructing that only the third wife of Old Man Jin and his young concubine can enter to support the elderly, while everyone else waits outside.

  Xiao Jia Ding said, "Old man, what's going on? You tell me."

  Jin Mu was so excited that she couldn't stop crying, but her daughter-in-law helped to speak up. This daughter-in-law was Pan Shi, Jin Lao San's original wife. Although Pan Shi was also crying, it didn't affect her speech: "Our old master originally had a good relationship with the Liu family, and whatever they wanted, we would send over obediently. But Liu Jia Sao is a sly fox spirit, after her husband died, she couldn't bear to be alone, and went around seducing men. Our old master was also unlucky, being charmed by her fox-like ways and losing his soul. When Liu Xiang Zheng found out, he had our old master bound and paraded through the streets, hung from a tree and beaten until he was half dead. Later, they even wanted to throw him into the river, but no matter how much the old lady begged, it was useless. Later, I don't know what that fox spirit said to Liu Xiang Zheng, but he let our old master go, and didn't even report him to the authorities. When we got back home, we asked the village doctor to take a look, and he felt that the injuries were quite serious, saying it would be best to send him to the city for treatment. So they took a horse carriage and left. But after that, he never came back! Wuuu wuuu wuuu"

  Pang burst into tears. Xiao Jiading said: "Don't cry first, I'm asking you something."

  Pang immediately stopped crying and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

  Xiao Jiading asked: "When he went into town, was anyone following him?"

  "There are three people in total, including the driver and two attendants."

  "Why don't they know where Mr. Jin is?"

  They said that while they were on the road, a big tree fell across the road. The coachman and attendants got out to move it, but the tree was too heavy. After half a day's effort, they finally managed to move it, and when they returned to report to the old master, there was no response from inside the carriage. They looked in and found that the old master had vanished. At first, they thought he must have gone off to relieve himself, but after waiting for a while, he didn't come back, so they became anxious and started searching everywhere, shouting his name, but couldn't find him anywhere. It wasn't until the third day that we finally found his body by the Jinjiang River...

  She burst into tears again. The concubine next to her was still calm, crying and continuing to say: "We suspected that the old master was caught by Liu Xiangzheng's people, so we went to the government office to report the case. However, after the government officials came to investigate, they said that there was no sign of murder, and after asking about the cause and effect, they said that our old master must have been caught in a shameful act and was afraid of being punished by the government, so he took his own life. —— Our old master is not such a person who would take his own life, and it's not like we haven't done anything wrong before, how could he jump into the river just for this? Moreover, on the day before we found our old master's body, Liu Xiangzheng's sister-in-law was said to have hanged herself! We became even more suspicious, that sly fox has kidnapped people before, but why did she hang herself? Isn't it possible that Liu Xiangzheng murdered her? But we don't have any evidence...

  They said that by now, Jin Mu had calmed down a bit and grabbed Xiao Jia Ding's hand, crying: "Xiao Zhi Yi ah, my son Jin Lao San would never commit suicide. He is my son, I know him too well. In the past, he didn't even think of committing suicide when things were more difficult than this. Why did he want to die this time? And why did he go all the way to Jinjiang to jump into the river? There are still 30 or 40 miles from here to Jinjiang! If he wanted to die, why not just hang himself from a tree with his belt? Why did he have to run so far to Jinjiang to jump into the river? So, my son didn't commit suicide, he was murdered by Liu Xiang Zheng. But the government doesn't care, we can't do anything about it. I heard that you've arrested Liu Xiang Zheng now, it's a great comfort to me. I came to ask you to investigate my son's death and avenge his murder."

  Xiao Jiading nodded: "Don't worry, since Liu Xiangzheng has already committed a crime, all the cases he's involved in must be investigated thoroughly! Especially this case of yours. To investigate this case clearly, we need your cooperation. When I ask you questions, you must answer truthfully."

  "Alright!" The three women all nodded hastily in agreement and repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

  Xiao Jiading said: "Where exactly did Mr. Jin go missing?"

  "Just out of the village, about five miles away."

  Xiao Jiading's eyes lit up, and the Duanzui Cliff was just 5 or 6 miles from Huangyan Village in the direction of Yizhou. The location coincided with the place where Jin Lao San jumped into the river when Liu Xiangzheng carelessly let it slip! And the time also coincided with Wang Dalang's account of hearing Liu Xiangzheng's fight with Hong Shan!

  It seems that Jin Lao San was likely hijacked by Hong Shan, a thug sent by Liu Xiang Zheng, on the way and taken to Duan Zui Cliff to be killed and then thrown into the river to eliminate all traces!

  Must immediately capture Hongshan Tujia!

  Xiao Jiading asked Jin Mu: "Where is your son's body buried?"

  "In our ancestral burial ground just outside the village."

  "Alright, I may have to perform an autopsy, do you agree?"

  "I'll go, as long as it's to catch the murderer who killed my son, I'll agree to anything!"

  "Alright, you all go back first, I'll start investigating this case right away."

  As soon as they heard this, Jin Mu and the others were overjoyed and didn't dare to delay Xiao Jia Ding any longer. They cried and thanked him before leaving.

  Xiao Jiading called in Dai and his men to discuss the capture plan. Then he left Liu Xiangzheng and Zhao's wife at Luo Cunzheng's house, guarded by local militiamen and two captors, but still uneasy, he also left Huiyi's sister Huijie to help guard them. Only then did he take Luo Cunzheng, Dai and the other captors, as well as a dozen or so militiamen, leave Huangyan Village for Chi-liu Village, where the county government was located.

  Huiyi followed Xiang Jiateng closely, because she was wearing a night-traveling outfit, with a black scarf wrapped around her head, and she hardly spoke, so no one noticed her, thinking she was an assistant invited by Xiang Jiateng.

  On their way to Chi Liu Village on horseback, Xiao Jia Ding said in a low voice to Hui Yi: "It's possible that we'll have to take action later, can you help me?"

  "Good!" Huiyi simply said a word, her expression was very calm, as if she didn't care about this matter at all.

  Seeing her so confident, Xiao Jia Ding also felt at ease.

  They arrived at the village entrance and quietly entered the village according to their predetermined plan. Under the cover of night, they came to the outer courtyard of Liu Xiangzheng's residence.

  This Liu Xiangzheng's mansion is indeed a luxurious residence, although in the night, it is also majestic and grand, with two stone lions at the entrance, each over one person high, extremely magnificent.

  Xiao Jiading and others lay in ambush not far away, Luo Cunzheng rode his horse to the door, dismounted, approached the door, and knocked loudly. The door opened quickly, a doorman poked his head out, saw him, looked around in surprise, and asked, "Is there something going on with Luo Cunzheng?"

  "Something's wrong! Hurry! Liu Xiangzheng is fighting with the people from Jin Lao San's house! Two young servants have already been knocked unconscious, and Liu Xiangzheng has also been injured. He told me to come quickly to find someone to help!"

  The housekeeper was greatly surprised, he naturally knew the contradiction between the Jin family and the Liu family, and also knew that Liu Xiangzheng was heading towards Huangyan Village. He deeply believed in this news and hurriedly went in to report it. Soon, a burly man with seven or eight servants came out, who was Hongshan, the guard of Liu Xiangzheng. They left the village and galloped their horses towards the outside of the village.

  As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, Hongshan Ma, who was running in the front, suddenly lost his footing and fell forward. Immediately afterwards, other attendants also lost their footing and fell one after another. It turned out that Dai Duoyi had ordered the capture of the quick-witted men to set up a tripwire here, which tripped them all.

  "Stop! We are the constables of the yamen! By order, we must take this person away. No one is allowed to move!" With a loud shout, Dai Duo and others jumped out, bringing with them several constables and over a dozen sturdy civilians, almost two against one, pressing down and binding with iron chains or ropes.

  Against Hongshan were Dai Bu Tou and two other skilled catchers, but despite having pressed down Hongshan, they saw the two catchers being struck by Hongshan, letting out miserable cries as they flew backward, landing with blood spraying wildly. Dai Bu Tou held a single-edged sword, exchanging blows with Hongshan who wielded a soft whip, fighting intensely for over a dozen rounds, forced to retreat repeatedly.

  Xiao Jia Ding saw that the situation was not in their favor, and was about to let Hui Yi make a move. Hui Yi had already flown out, with a clear steel treasured sword in her hand, flying and stabbing as she went.

  Just then, a series of crisp sounds were heard, and Huiyi let out a soft cry: "Hit!"

  Hong Shan hummed and his arm shook with a sword, and the soft whip slipped out of his hand.

  Hong Shan took a few steps back, staring at Hui Yi: "From Emei Sect?"

  "You still have some vision, kneel down!"

  Hong Shan suddenly raised his hand and three flying knives shot out, but they were not aimed at Hui Yi, but at Xiao Jia Ding!