At this time, the passenger ship was already approaching the wharf, and the situation on board was already faintly visible in the field of vision of the onlookers at the wharf.

The neatly arranged corpses at the bow of the ship, and the pale and trance-looking living people standing on the deck, looked like a spirit ship walking in broad daylight.

The faces of passers-by changed greatly, and they pointed to the passenger ship in horror and talked about it.

"How...... How did so many people die! ”

"Iniquity, iniquity!"

"These thieves really deserve a thousand cuts!"

……

As the passenger ship got closer and closer to the dock, the bloody atmosphere became stronger and stronger, forcing the onlookers to cover their noses and keep retreating.

The slow-moving passenger boat finally sailed into the dock, and Steward Wu covered his mouth and nose with his wide sleeves, and shouted angrily: "Damn! It's fishy! Hurry up and get on the boat and get them all arrested! The murderers are among them! ”

When the catchers heard this, they all tilted their heads to look at Pang Tai beside him.

"Idiot! Don't go yet! Seeing that there was no reaction to the catch, Steward Wu felt that his majesty had been provoked, his eyes widened angrily, and he scolded.

"Go, go!" Pang Tai waved his hand helplessly, signaling them to act.

The catchers gathered around the catcher and walked to the passenger ship.

Seeing so many fast catches on the shore, the guests on the boat thought that the government had gotten the news and came to investigate and solve the case.

Almost as soon as the ladder was lowered, the trappers rushed to the passenger boat, drawing their waist knives and surrounding the crowd.

The head catcher had a serious face and shouted at everyone: "Everyone is not allowed to move, someone has reported that the murderer is hiding among you, please come with us to the county office!" ”

"My lord! We don't have murderers! “

"It was a group of masked water thieves who climbed onto the boat and committed murder and then jumped into the river and escaped!"

"Yes, yes, it's obvious that the black-clothed thief killed people last night, how can you say that there are murderers among us!"

There was a commotion in the crowd.

Catch Kuai frowned, and said coldly: "Don't talk nonsense, we will verify these things." Don't hurry up and take them all away! ”

The catchers took knives and drove them away in the back, but everyone couldn't do it, so they had to get off the passenger ship in turn.

Lin He followed everyone out of the boat, walked to the head catcher, pointed to Zhang Yuan beside him, and said, "Adult, you won't arrest this kid too, right?" ”

The head catcher hesitated slightly, but heard Steward Wu not far away say loudly: "The children should also be arrested!" ”

Lin He's sharp eyes stared at Steward Wu, and Steward Wu turned his face away with a weak heart, like a thorn in his back.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and involuntarily took a step back under his feet, Pang Tai looked at him strangely, and Steward Wu came back to his senses and said angrily: "Stinky boy! What to see! ”

Lin He didn't pay attention to him anymore, but said to the head catcher in a clear voice: "My lord, this child is less than five feet tall, and his arms are as thin as bamboo poles, I am afraid that he can't even pick up a knife, and they all died under the sharp knife, doesn't it prove that this child is not a suspect at all?" ”

Lin He's words were reasonable, and he was speechless when he caught his head, so he had to turn his head to look at Pang Tai and Steward Wu.

Pang Tai also knew that it was untenable to arrest children on the grounds of murder suspects, but he didn't dare to offend Steward Wu, so he simply stood still and didn't say a word.

The onlookers also heard Lin He's words and supported him one after another.

"That's right, how can a child be a murderer!"

"I can't catch the real murderer, I want to find a scapegoat!"

……

Seeing this, Steward Wu was afraid that it would end badly if he aroused the anger of the public, so he had to step forward and said angrily: "Okay! The child can go, but before leaving, I have to search him to prove that he is not an accomplice to the thieves! ”

After speaking, without waiting for Lin He to agree, he directly reached out and searched Zhang Yuan's pocket.

Lin He looked at him coldly.

Yu Huawen saw that Gong Cao let the arrest be done quickly, and ignored it, and couldn't help but turn blue with anger, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't bear it.

Steward Wu touched Zhang Yuan's body up and down, naturally he found nothing, waved his hand stupidly, and said, "Okay, he can go." ”

Lin He took out his father's letter of recommendation from his chest, handed it to Zhang Yuan, and advised: "You take this letter to Chongqi Academy to find Mr. Zhou Xiaofu, and he will settle you." ”

"But, Da Lang ......" Zhang Yuan looked at him, his eyes full of worry.

"It's okay, don't worry about me." Lin He patted his head and smiled.

Steward Wu said sharply: "What is this!" Bring! ”

He snatched the letter from Zhang Yuan's hand.

Steward Wu opened the letter, looked at it with a frown, and then handed the letter to the catcher beside him, and said, "You, read it to me!" ”

Catch quickly took the letter and read: "Qiantang Yi...... One what, what eight ......"

He smiled awkwardly, "Steward Wu, I don't know a few words......"

"Rubbish!" Steward Wu scolded, took back the letter, walked to Pang Tai, and said, "Pang Gongcao, you read it!" ”

Pang Tai took the letter, looked up and down, looked up and said, "Steward Wu, this is an ordinary old letter, and it seems to be sent to Mr. Zhou Xiaofu Zhou." ”

"Who?" Steward Wu was stunned for a moment.

"Mr. Zhou Xiaofu of Chongqi Academy." Pang Tai replied respectfully.

After hearing this, Steward Wu trembled in his heart.

If you want to say that the Linjiang Marquis Mansion is the most unprovoked person in Qiantang County, it is Zhou Xiaofu.

He was the dean of Chongqi Academy, and he used to be an official in the imperial court, but after only three months, he resigned and returned to his hometown to become a teacher in Chongqi Academy.

Although Zhou Xiaofu has not made much achievements in the court, his status in today's literary world is extremely high, and he is deeply respected by scholars all over the world.

Of course, the most powerful thing is that he has been in Chongqi Academy for more than 40 years, and his protégés and former officials are all over the officialdom of the Great Jin Dynasty, and there are more than 30 people above the fourth grade, and even Huan Wen, the general who covers the sky in the court today, was also his student.

Zhou Xiaofu has an old-fashioned personality, a straight temper, and is jealous and hateful, and often makes the always arrogant Linjiang Marquis unable to come to power. Therefore, the Marquis of Linjiang warned his subordinates that after seeing Zhou Xiaofu, they could hide if they could, and they should not see this old man.

So after hearing Zhou Xiaofu, Steward Wu couldn't wait to send Zhang Yuan as far as he could.

He coughed dryly, stuffed the letter into Zhang Yuan's hand, and pushed Zhang Yuan and said, "Okay, okay, you can go." ”

Zhang Yuan put away the letter, and then looked at Lin He.

Lin He gave him a look, Zhang Yuan understood, and left the dock quickly.

"That's it! Get the others back, I'm going to have a good trial!" Steward Wu pointed to the head catcher and commanded.

……

Everyone was arrested in panic and quickly escorted back to the county office, only Yu Huawen and Lin He, one with a solemn face and the other with a calm expression.

"Mr. Yu, what do you think about this matter?" Lin He asked Yu Huawen next to him.

Yu Huawen touched the beard on his chin and frowned, "I think there must be something strange about this matter." ”

This dialogue is very familiar...... Lin He looked him up and down strangely.

"What's the matter, Lin Zhuangshi!?" Yu Huawen was uncomfortable with him.

"Oh, it's okay, you go on." Lin He withdrew his gaze.

"Hmm." Yu Huawen paused and continued: "The black-clothed thief intercepted the boat at midnight last night, and none of the passengers on the ship left first, how did these arresters know that there was a murder on the ship? This is one of them. ”

"The person known as Steward Wu searched for the murderer under the pretext of searching for the murderer, but why did they search his body, and were they also looking for something? This is the second one. ”