Chapter 46: Snake Catcher's Talk (Part )

The next morning, it was a rare good day.

Qiao Tai came to report that the young and middle-aged men in Daliushu Village who had participated in the riot had all returned to the fields, and Zhang Laosi brought them here to express his gratitude.

Di Renjie, together with Zhao Ji, Hu Jinghui and Qiao Tai, entertained the villagers again.

The enthusiasm of the villagers dispelled the gloomy atmosphere caused by Li Yuanfang's injury. It was also a double happiness. After the villagers left, a guard came to report that Li Yuanfang had woken up.

"Really? Come on, let's go see Yuan Fang." Di Renjie said happily.

They soon arrived at Li Yuanfang's bedroom.

Li Yuanfang was half lying on the bed, looking weak, and the dark complexion on his face had faded slightly. An empty medicine bowl was placed beside the bed, and it looked like he had just taken medicine.

"Yuan Fang, how are you?" Di Renjie hurried in and asked impatiently.

"Thank you, sir. I am fine now." Li Yuanfang struggled to get up.

"Your health is more important, don't be so polite." Di Renjie quickly stopped him, and Li Yuanfang lay back on the bed.

Seeing Li Yuanfang lying down, Di Renjie asked about the matter: "Yuanfang, do you know who assassinated you last night?"

Li Yuanfang suddenly became excited when he heard this: "Sir, it was a viper that stung me last night!"

Di Renjie, Hu Jinghui and Zhao Ji looked at each other and asked, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that the assassin last night is the same Viper I fought in Gannan Road." Li Yuanfang said with certainty.

"I will never forget the way this man's martial arts are. If I fight a master of this level, I will never admit my mistake."

Zhao Ji looked at Di Renjie and added fuel to the fire, "Sir, it seems that there is no doubt that the assassin must be Viper."

Di Renjie nodded: "Well, I believe Yuan Fang's judgment."

"By getting rid of the viper, we can say that we have gotten rid of a serious threat." Zhao Ji congratulated.

"The day of solving the case is not far away." Di Renjie said with a smile.

Hu Jinghui secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Di Renjie was too suspicious.

Fortunately, the person who fought with Li Yuanfang was indeed him, but Li Yuanfang didn't know that the assassin outside had been replaced, so by chance he misled Di Renjie.

Di Renjie and Zhao Ji had never seen a fight with a viper, so they should have been fooled this time.

It can be said that it was God's will that a wonderful misunderstanding was created.

This is what Hu Jinghui thought.
-
It was late at night, and Qiao Tai had invited Di Renjie to the governor's mansion for some unknown reason. Zhao Ji accompanied him as a guard, and the two had not returned yet.

Li Yuanfang was "seriously injured" and Liu Jin was stabbed to death. The originally bustling Governor's Mansion was now lifeless.

At some point, Li Yuanfang, who was lying on the hospital bed, suddenly opened his eyes and jumped out of the room.

Di Renjie assigned him a task to protect Li Er's safety in Zhao Ji's absence.

I don’t know how long passed.

After Hu Jinghui and his guards finished inspecting the Governor's Mansion, he opened the door of his room, changed into his Viper costume again, and prepared to begin a secret operation.

Ever since the identity of "Li Er" was revealed by Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang, Di Renjie arranged for Di Chun to hide Li Er.

This caused a lot of trouble for Hu Jinghui, who didn't know the reason.

Hu Jinghui searched secretly for a long time and monitored Di Renjie every night. Finally, a few days ago, he secretly saw Di Renjie feeding Li Er medicine.

It turned out that Di Renjie hid Li Er in his bedroom.

Di Renjie's bedroom was the west room of the main hall of the Governor's Mansion. There was a wooden bed in the west room and a large drawer under the bed. Li Er was in it.

Di Renjie and Zhao Ji are not here tonight, and Li Yuanfang is also injured. This is a godsend opportunity. Hu Jinghui must get rid of Li Er!
Taking advantage of the cover of night, Hu Jinghui evaded the guards, quietly came to the main hall, and then sneaked into the west room.

However, Hu Jinghui did not realize that his actions had already been clearly seen by Li Yuanfang who was hiding in the dark corner of the room.

Seeing Hu Jinghui pulling out the Youlan Sword and about to walk towards the wooden bed where Li Er was hiding, Li Yuanfang slowly drew out his chain knife and was ready to stop him at any time.

At this moment, the guards outside the door announced: "Master Di, come back!"

Hu Jinghui was startled and did not dare to stay any longer. He immediately ran away and wanted to go back to his room to change into normal clothes.

Li Yuanfang wanted to chase after him, but suddenly he remembered the trap in the earthen kiln and did not dare to follow him out.

While Li Yuanfang was hesitating, Di Renjie and Zhao Ji pushed the door open.

"My lord, you should take care of your health even though you work hard. It's not good to rest only at four o'clock in the morning." Zhao Ji advised.

"When people get old, they sleep less, it's no problem." Di Renjie said with a smile. Zhao Ji secretly admired him. Throughout history, those who have accomplished great things have always had a strong energy as a basic quality.

The two were still talking when Li Yuanfang saw that it was really Di Renjie and Zhao Ji, and walked out from the dark.

"Eh? Yuan Fang, is Li Er okay?" Di Renjie asked.

Li Yuanfang shook his head and replied, "There's nothing wrong with Li Er."

"But just now, Viper arrived here. He ran away as soon as he heard you were back. I was afraid it was another trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain, so I didn't dare to chase him out." Li Yuanfang scratched his head regretfully after he finished speaking.

Di Renjie laughed when he heard this and nodded, "Yuan Fang, you are right! Ensuring Li Er's safety is more important than catching the viper. If the viper escapes, we can catch it again, but Li Er cannot make any mistakes."

After receiving Di Renjie's affirmation, Li Yuanfang smiled embarrassedly.

"Besides, it's not like the viper left nothing behind."

Zhao Ji pointed to a thin layer of ash on the ground, on which there were two clear footprints.

"Sir, you have this trick?" Li Yuanfang asked in surprise.

"It's just an unexpected gain. I actually wish he didn't come." Di Renjie sighed.

Although the situation was very good, Di Renjie was not in a good mood. Li Yuanfang and Zhao Ji were both silent. They all knew that Di Renjie did not hope that Viper was Hu Jinghui.

After a while, Zhao Ji broke the silence and said, "I'll go find something to copy this footprint."

Soon Zhao Ji took out paper, pen and scissors and cut a mold of the footprint.

"Sir, here is the rubbing of the footprint." Zhao Ji handed the footprint to Di Renjie.

Di Renjie did not reach out to take the rubbing. He closed his eyes and said, "When you have a chance tomorrow, take it and compare it with his shoes."

Zhao Ji sighed and wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't open his mouth.
-
The next morning, Li Yuanfang was still lying in bed pretending to be sick. Di Renjie found an excuse to get Hu Jinghui out of the way so that Zhao Ji could act more conveniently.

Before entering the room, Zhao Ji carefully checked it and found no warning devices such as ash or hair.

So Zhao Ji walked into the room boldly and picked up a pair of shoes to compare with the rubbing. It cannot be said that they are almost the same, but they are exactly the same.

Zhao Ji shook his head: "Huzi, Huzi, if you had thought the same way as me and acted during the day, Li Er might have died long ago."

Of course, this is something Zhao Ji can do easily. Hu Jinghui is not just a bodyguard like him. He has official duties.

After comparing the footprints, Zhao Ji was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he started searching Hu Jinghui's room.

Not long after, Zhao Ji found a packet of powder in the cabinet beside the bed.

Zhao Ji recognized this powder. It was the knockout drug he and Hu Jinghui bought together when they first arrived in Youzhou.

That night they went together to deliver food to the people on the execution ground, and prepared this thing to stun the soldiers, but it was not used.

Hu Jinghui used half of the package and gave it to Di Renjie at the foot of Daliushu Village, and there was still some left.

"Knocking out drug..." A thoughtful look flashed across Zhao Ji's eyes.

After a while, Zhao Ji restored everything in the room and went back to report to Di Renjie.

When Di Renjie saw Zhao Ji coming back, he asked with a hint of fantasy, "How is it?"

Zhao Ji said helplessly: "Sir, you already know the result, why are you deceiving yourself?"

Li Yuanfang still couldn't believe it: "Viper is really General Tiger?"

Zhao Ji nodded: "Zhao Chuanchen was assassinated, Liu Jin was assassinated, both were done by him. The fake governor was silenced, probably because of the information he passed on. In my opinion, he should have been arrested long ago."

Di Renjie smiled bitterly: "Jing Hui is different from the fake Fang Qian and Liu Jin. After all, he is the emperor's trusted general. Don't say there is no evidence. Even if the evidence is conclusive, we have to think twice before touching him."

Hearing this, Li Yuanfang nodded thoughtfully, but Zhao Ji rolled his eyes secretly.

Although what Di Pangpang said made sense to some extent, the main reason was that he was too soft-hearted.

However, Zhao did not expose it and asked, "Can we start now?"

Di Renjie took a deep breath and made a plan: "Yesterday, Lu Dayou reported in the governor's mansion that the bodies of the missing villagers were found in Xiaolianzi Mountain. The reason why I temporarily concealed this news was to wait until today."

"I have already told Dayou to come to the Governor's Mansion later today and tell Hu Jinghui the news in person."

"Then, I will tell Hu Jinghui that Cheng Yuan and I will go to Xiaolianzi Mountain to investigate the situation tomorrow. By then, we can lure the snake out of its hole and catch it in the act."

　I have written 110,000 words and have been recommended in the first round. I don’t know how it will turn out. However, the performance of this book has far exceeded the author’s expectations. Thank you again for your support.

(End of this chapter)