The crowd stepped on the bridge.

Riding a horse and stopping on the arched bridge out of the city, Wencheng saw a different side for the first time.

On the surface of the river, thousands of sails are competing and scattering like clouds. There are tall and majestic boats, which are too much better than the white wave pond painting boats, like a giant beast, hanging among the ants.

In the past, when Wencheng walked here, his vision was basically blocked by the shops and sheds on both sides of the bridge, and there was such an opportunity to see a thousand miles at a glance and take such a grand scene into his eyes.

I couldn't help but sigh, "I can't imagine such a grand occasion here, the building boat is like a giant city on the water." ”

Poor Ming glanced at Wen Cheng's line of sight, and said casually: "Oh, that seems to be the fleet of our money club." Look, the largest ships were built in the shiphouse of our money club, and they are said to be able to carry 2,000 materials at a time, which is very powerful. Now this boathouse is under your command, Brother Cheng, should we go and see it now?"

Who am I? Where am I? What did I just say?

Wen Cheng was a little confused for a while, and he also regretted what he just said. How could a person who has seen a 100,000-ton ship exclaim such an exclamation when he sees a mere building ship? It is completely the image of a dumpling that has never seen the world.

Shame, or shame in front of your own people.

But when I feel ashamed, there is a hint of ostentatiousness.

It's like seeing a sports car flash out of front of you, and just after you say that the car is so beautiful, the person next to you says that the car is made in your own factory.

"No, I'll talk about it when I have a chance later, let's go and find out about Hu Si's disappearance first. Wen Cheng rejected Poor Ming's proposal, and now he still has to focus on investigating Hu Si's disappearance, otherwise Wan Yan Ting will definitely make another moth.

"But, how did such a big ship float on the water and not sink?"

"I don't know about that, but I've heard from a couple of old shipwrights in the shiphouse what kind of watertight cabins they use. ”

"Watertight?"

Wen Cheng's heart moved, thinking that he would go to see what was going on with this watertight cabin when he was free. The two chatted as they walked away.

......

A three-way intersection, the road rammed out of the dirt, ravaged by the pressure of the horse-mounted bicycle, even if there is regular maintenance, there will inevitably be potholes. Fortunately, it did not rain for several days, and although the road was potholed, it was not muddy.

"Is this the road?" asked Wen Cheng, pointing to the road that stretched out in the right-hand direction in front of him.

Poor Ming replied softly beside Wen Cheng: "Yes, Brother Cheng." At that time, Hu was in charge of investigating an oil mill, and this road was to the oil mill. After setting foot on this road, they never returned, and then I sent people to search for them several times, but I found not even a trace of them. ”

Wen Cheng looked at the road in front of him, as if he saw an invisible demon opening its bloody mouth at the end of the unknown, and this road was the demon's tongue, guiding people to fall into their mouths.

Looking down, "Would they have gone the other way?"

"No, this road is not the direction of the oil mill at all, and our men later learned that the three of them were seen passing by this road that day, but they were never heard from again. ”

Wen Cheng looked at Poor Ming and pointed to the road on his right, and lifted the reins, "Then let's go, let's go and see what is going on." After speaking, the horse's hooves stepped lightly and walked towards the road where Hu Si had disappeared.

Along the way, this road is not the slightest different from other roads that Wencheng has walked. Pedestrians are scarce, but not impossible. They passed through several small villages along the way, but until they came to the oil mill, they didn't find anything abnormal.

Poor Ming also arranged for people to investigate all the way, and asked people in several villages, but the result was still the same as the previous investigation, and there was no new information at all.

Wencheng sat at the top of the oil mill hall, holding the treasure knife in his left hand and slapping it in his right hand for a while, Wencheng was not surprised at all that he had found nothing. If the clues could be found so easily, then with the power of the Tongqian Society, Hu Si and the others would have been found a long time ago, and they would not let him come and run.

Poor Ming sat on the left of the lower position, and a thin old man on the right, sitting cautiously with a hand, wearing an indigo robe and brocade robe, with nine coins hanging from his waist, this person was the steward of this oil mill.

"Brother Cheng, this is the case. What are we going to do now?"

What should I do? Wen Cheng glanced at Poor Ming, cold dress. But these words are also in Wencheng's heart, Hu Si and the others still have to look for it.

"Old steward, did Master Hu say before that when he would come to you?" Wen Cheng asked casually. What I thought in my heart was that since I couldn't find the slightest clue in this way, it was better to think differently and treat Hu Si and the others as if they had encountered a strange incident. Maybe their encounter will require certain conditions to trigger, such as time period, weather conditions, and so on.

"The palindrome is in charge, and Director Hu sent someone in advance to say that he would be here before the second watch in the evening. But we waited until the third watch, and we didn't see anyone. The next day, they sent people along the road to find them back, only to find out that they had disappeared. The old butler replied as he sat down in his chair with his ass halfway up.

"The second watch is coming?" Wen Cheng tapped a finger lightly on the scabbard, "In other words, they were on the night road in the first place?" Wen Cheng's eyes lit up instantly, and he looked at the old steward and asked.

"I know that, too. At that time, when Director Hu and his entourage set off, it was already dark, and they should have traveled all the way at night. Poor Ming interjected.

Wen Cheng turned his head to look at Poor Ming and asked, "Then when you were looking for someone later, did you go to look for it at night?"

"No. Poor Ming replied honestly.

Naturally, it is easier to find someone during the day, but who will find someone at night? Isn't this half the effort?

"Brother Cheng, what do you mean?" Qian Ming somewhat understood what Wen Cheng meant, and asked hesitantly.

Wen Cheng shook his head, "I don't know yet, it's just a guess." Then he asked the old steward, "What was the weather like that night? Is there anything special about it? For example, can you see the stars and the moon?"

The old steward bowed his head and pondered for a moment before he raised his head and said, "That night, there was nothing special here, and there were no stars and moons to be seen. But the next day, when I was taking someone back to find it, I passed a place where it seemed to have rained, and there were still miles of water on the ground. ”

"Oh, where is it?" Wencheng shook his spirits, unwilling to miss the clues.

"It's near Lijia Village. ”

......

Beside the stream, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl was washing her clothes in the clear water. The girl's face was childish, her appearance was beautiful, her figure was slender, she was dressed in white coarse cloth clothes, and a red cloth rope was tied around her waist. A pair of small white hands, constantly pounding and rubbing the clothes, and strive to wash the clothes to the greatest extent.

Not far upstream of the girl, five or six middle-aged women gathered together and washed their clothes in the stream. These days, I am not as withdrawn as the girl, and I am chatting with each other about the shortcomings of my parents. Chatting and chatting, the conversation quickly turned to the girl.

"Hey, you say that such a girl, Xianggong has been gone for several years, doesn't she want to?" someone stretched out his hand and pointed at the girl, laughing while talking.

"Don't say anything immoral, she is also a hard worker. Originally, his father-in-law wanted to marry her and come to the door to be happy, but he didn't expect to go on the wedding night. This child is also a dead eye, and he didn't say to remarry, but used a red rope to bind himself. Someone sighed and said something fair.

"In the past, she was still young and could naturally keep it, but I don't believe that she can still keep it when she grows up now. Moreover, her father-in-law is gone, but there is still her father-in-law's brother here. You don't know, once I happened to meet her father-in-law's brother, and I secretly looked at her with that look, which was lively. ”

Several people spoke louder and louder, and it easily reached the girl's ears.

A trace of strangeness flooded from the girl's heart, and the hand of the laundry involuntarily slowed down. She didn't want to eavesdrop, and who knew that the more she didn't want to listen, the clearer the conversation between those people reached her ears.

"No more nonsense, believe it or not I'll tear your mouth apart. People have red ropes tied around their waists, aren't you going to ruin other people's reputations if you're so foolish?"

"I'm just talking, why do I ruin other people's reputations? Maybe, others don't have a reputation at all, it's just a red rope, anyway, you can solve it if you want to, you can tie it if you want, who knows what she did at home. Perhaps, the two have slept together for a long time, and this red rope is just pretending to show us. ”

Smack.

The girl threw the clothes in her hand into the wooden basin at once, cleaned it up briefly, and left here with the wooden basin without washing.

The girl walked along the dirt and stone path all the way to the house, and it was strange to say that the girl walked with her head bowed in her heart, and did not greet the people who passed by, and others ignored her, so she returned home in silence.

Although the girl is poor, her home is not small, but it looks a little old and dilapidated.

Crunch, the girl entered the door and closed the door casually. When she turned around, she saw a dark figure standing in the hidden door of the side room, and she knew that it was her father-in-law's eldest brother.

"You're back, we're done, let's go and make the meal." ”

The girl was about to open her mouth to answer, but in her heart she suddenly thought of the gossip she had heard today, and suddenly closed her mouth tightly, and lowered her head with a wooden basin, and walked in another direction.

After the eldest brother said a word, he didn't say anything more even if he didn't wait for the girl's answer. Behind the hidden door, a pair of blood-red eyes stared at the direction of the girl's departure.

As the girl left, only the wind in the courtyard was blowing the dead branches and leaves on the ground, bringing a burst of cold.

It was completely dark, and I don't know how long it was, but it was still raining.

The girl finished her work, came to the stove, and skillfully raised the stove with a fire breaker.

The big brother's deep voice slowly came from behind the girl.

"Cook faster, I'm a little hungry. ”

The girl pouted, and finally answered, "Okay." ”

It's just that his eyes turned to the back of the girl, but it was empty, and there was not even a shadow, so how did this voice come from?

Only the girl's face turned pale in an instant, her fingers pinched the corners of her clothes and rubbed them tightly, and her eyes stared at the raging flames in the stove. It seems that only this flame can drive away the cold behind her.

She married her husband three years ago, but unfortunately her husband fell ill just after visiting the church and died soon after. Only she and a mother-in-law and eldest brother were left. In order to marry her, her father-in-law borrowed money from a wealthy family in the same village. This rich family had an adult's precious son, and when he saw that she had lost her husband and was still beautiful, he became ill-hearted.