Chapter 47: The Snake Catcher's Talk (Part )

As the night deepened, Hu Jinghui hurried into the main hall, looking around anxiously, looking for Di Renjie.

"My lord, my lord!"

Hu Jinghui called out anxiously, but he didn't hear Di Renjie's answer, nor did he see his figure.

After a while, Di Renjie came out of the west room, not forgetting to close the door, and ran into Hu Jinghui who was peeking into the west room.

Hu Jinghui did not show any fear, and went to Di Renjie and said, "Sir, Lu Dayou is here, and he said there is an emergency."

"Please invite him in quickly." Di Renjie ordered and sat down in the honorable seat in the lobby.

Lu Dayou walked in quickly and bowed to Di Renjie.

Di Renjie helped Lu Dayou up and asked solemnly, "Dayou, you came back so fast, did something happen in the village?"

Lu Dayou stood up, his expression a little nervous: "Yes... yes, sir, many missing villagers have been found."

"Oh? Where are the villagers?" Di Renjie asked.

"They were inside Xiaolianzi Mountain, but they were all dead when we found them. Many of the bodies were soaked and rotten, and there was not a single survivor." Lu Dayou swallowed and said.

"Hiss, how could this happen?" Di Renjie took a breath and his face turned ugly.

After a moment, Di Renjie came back to his senses: "Dayou, don't be anxious, tell me the whole story in detail."

Lu Dayou calmed down and narrated in detail: "Since the Xiaolianzi Mountain was unsealed, some people in the village went up the mountain to hunt again. At first, it was fine, but later we began to smell a foul odor on the mountain."

"After a careful search, we found several caves in a valley in Xiaolianzi Mountain. The entrances of the caves were blocked by huge rocks. The stench came from inside, and water was constantly flowing out of the caves."

"Then the villagers told the matter to Lord Fa Cao, and he took us to the scene to investigate. We called in some helpers, moved the rocks away, and the bodies in the cave flowed out with the water."

"Some people recognized the bodies of their missing relatives. Many people cried their hearts out. It was so tragic."

"Beast!"

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie slammed the table angrily, stood up, and paced around the room with a grim face.

Hu Jinghui frowned and asked in confusion: "What are these caves used for?"

Lu Dayou shook his head: "I don't know. We have never seen these caves when we went hunting in the mountains before. It seems that they only appeared after the government closed the mountains."

"There are five or six caves in total. After the water dried up, we bravely took torches and went in to take a look. There were many wooden racks in the caves, but we didn't know what they were used for."

Di Renjie looked at Hu Jinghui and said in a deep voice: "It seems that this is the real reason why the fake Fang Qian and his men closed the mountain."

Hu Jinghui nodded: "I think so too."

Di Renjie thought for a moment and said, "It's too late tonight. Tomorrow morning, I will take Cheng Yuan to Xiaolianzi Mountain. In the meantime, the affairs of the Governor's Office are left to you."

Although Hu Jinghui was secretly delighted, his face showed worry: "Sir, I'd better go with you. The emperor has entrusted your safety to me. If something happens to you, I will have a hard time explaining to the emperor."

Di Renjie patted Hu Jinghui on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry, with Cheng Yuan here, my safety will not be a problem."

"Youzhou has just experienced a turmoil. Now Liu Jin and Yuan Fang have been assassinated. The governor's office is not peaceful. If it weren't for the urgent civil case, I would never leave."

"I'll leave this heavy responsibility to you."

At this point, Di Renjie paused, looked at Hu Jinghui deeply, and said earnestly: "Be careful in everything."

Hu Jinghui said solemnly: "Sir, don't worry."

"Okay, go ahead." Di Renjie said.

Hu Jinghui and Lu Dayou then left.

After watching Hu Jinghui leave, Di Renjie fell into his chair and sighed.

The conversation just now was his last reminder to Hu Jinghui.

After a long time, Di Renjie stood up and walked into the west room.

At this time, a black shadow appeared on the window of the west room. When it saw Di Renjie enter the room, it quickly hid its body.

However, Di Renjie did not notice it and walked straight to the wooden bed where Li Er was hiding. He pulled Li Er out of the drawer under the bed, took out a silver needle and treated Li Er.

The dark shadow outside the window took it all in, then left silently.
-
The next morning, the sky was gloomy, not a good day for traveling. However, Zhao Ji had already summoned the guards, prepared the carriages and ceremonial guards, and lined them up in front of the Governor's Mansion, waiting for Di Renjie to set off.

Soon, Di Renjie, accompanied by Hu Jinghui, hurriedly walked out of the gate of the Governor's Mansion.

"Jinghui, you must remind Yuanfang to take the medicine on time. Don't forget to do so." Di Renjie emphasized at the end.

"Yes, I have remembered it all." Hu Jinghui answered respectfully.

Di Renjie nodded and walked to the carriage. Lu Dayou helped him get on the carriage.
As the guards shouted in unison, "Lord Di, leave the mansion!", the team slowly left.

Zhao Ji rode on his horse, bowed to Hu Jinghui and said goodbye without saying a word.

Hu Jinghui watched the team go away, and only when they disappeared from his sight did he breathe a sigh of relief and re-enter the Governor's Mansion.

After entering the Governor's Mansion, Hu Jinghui had to summon the guards who stayed behind and give them a serious instruction.

"The Governor's Office is in a turbulent time right now. You must keep your eyes open and be extra careful!"

"Yes!" The guards responded in unison in loud voices.

After instructing the guards, Hu Jinghui took his men to inspect the Governor's Mansion from top to bottom, appearing to be doing his job conscientiously.

When he was almost done pretending, he ignored his official duties and quietly returned to his room and took out half a packet of knockout drugs.

Hu Jinghui wandered outside Li Yuanfang's bedroom, waiting for a suitable opportunity.

Finally, a servant came over with a bowl of medicine.

Hu Jinghui quickly stepped forward to stop the servant and asked, "Is this medicine for General Li?"

"Yes." The servant nodded in agreement.

"Okay, give me the medicine and I'll deliver it to General Li personally. Go ahead."

The servant dared not disobey and handed the bowl of medicine to Hu Jinghui.

Hu Jinghui took the bowl of medicine and went straight to Li Yuanfang's bedroom.

When he arrived at the door, Hu Jinghui saw that no one was around, so he quietly took out the knockout drug from his arms. After hesitating for a moment, he sprinkled only a small amount of powder into the drug and quickly stirred it with a spoon to ensure that there was no abnormality in the drug liquid.

Afterwards, Hu Jinghui pushed the door and entered Li Yuanfang's bedroom.

"Yuan Fang, it's time to take medicine."

Li Yuanfang was lying on the sickbed, and his complexion still looked a little bad.

He was a little surprised to see that it was Hu Jinghui who delivered the medicine: "General Hu, why are you bothering to deliver the medicine in person?"

"Oh, my Lord has told me to take good care of you. I saw the servants were going to bring you some medicine, so I brought it over and came to see you."

Hu Jinghui explained with a smile, stirred the medicine bowl with a spoon, and was about to feed it to Li Yuanfang.

Li Yuanfang waved his hand quickly: "I don't want to trouble General Hu, I will do it myself."

As he spoke, Li Yuanfang took the bowl of medicine, tested the temperature, tilted his head back and drank the whole bowl of medicine.

Hu Jinghui's mouth curled up slightly. He didn't expect things to go so smoothly.

After drinking the medicine, Li Yuanfang winked and looked as if he was somewhat distressed by the bitterness of the medicine: "This medicine that the master prescribed is really too bitter."

Hu Jinghui was amused when he heard this: "Haha, I didn't expect that Yuan Fang, a man of integrity, would be afraid of bitter medicine. As the saying goes, good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease. Only by taking the medicine well can you recover soon."

Li Yuanfang nodded, and then suddenly felt a wave of fatigue coming over him: "I... seem to be a little sleepy."

Seeing this, Hu Jinghui knew that the medicine had taken effect, so he said, "You are not fully recovered yet, take a good rest, I won't disturb you anymore."

"General Tiger, take care..."

Li Yuanfang watched Hu Jinghui leave, shook his head, and lay down on the bed.

Hu Jinghui observed outside the door for a long time, and after confirming that Li Yuanfang was unconscious, a smile of success appeared on his face.

　I found a bug when I rewatched the TV series. After the fake viper died, Hu Jinghui left footprints, but Di Chun actually took the footprint rubbings to compare with the dead... Obviously there is a problem with the order of the two. Hu Jinghui should have left footprints before the fake viper appeared. Or, like in the book, he took the footprints to compare with Hu Jinghui's shoes.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)