step on mountains and rivers

On the second day, in Shuxiang Building,

Tang Qingfeng and Li Zhenwu were having breakfast when Jiang Ling walked in from the door with a sleepy face, poured him a cup of tea and said:

"Lao Jiang, you should be more restrained. Indulging in alcohol is not good for your health."

"Yeah." Jiang Ling took a sip of tea and said, "Drinking too much wine really hurts your health. By the way, did you investigate anything?"

After Jiang Ling finished speaking, Tang Qingfeng gently shook his fan and said:

"Wuhou Mansion."

"Marquis Wu's Mansion?" Jiang Ling asked in confusion.

Seeing that he was puzzled, Tang Qingfeng looked at him and explained:

"Oiran sent Qiu Renyuan to the Marquis Wu Mansion after being stunned."

"Pfft! What did you say?!" Jiang Ling was drinking tea, but before he swallowed the tea, he was startled by Tang Qingfeng's words, and spewed out all the tea in one gulp.

"Oiran grabs Qiu Renyuan." Tang Qingfeng said calmly to Jiang Ling, blocking the splashing tea with a fan.

"What a mess, didn't Qiu Renyuan go back to Qiushui Villa?" Jiang Ling looked at Tang Qingfeng suspiciously.

"?? What did you say?!" Tang Qingfeng asked after Jiang Ling finished speaking, looking at him in surprise.

Jiang Ling looked at Tang Qingfeng with a puzzled face and repeated the words:

"Qiu Renyuan is at Qiushui Villa, what's the matter?"

"How is it possible?!" Tang Qingfeng frowned slightly, with a puzzled expression.

"I went out of Mingyue Tower in the morning and saw Qiu Renyuan returning to the village." Seeing his doubts, Jiang Ling affirmed.

Seeing that Jiang Ling was so sure, Tang Qingfeng looked at Li Zhenwu and asked, "Master Daoist, what's going on?"

Li Zhenwu shook his head, expressing his ignorance.Jiang Ling was confused by the two of them.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Qingfeng said to Jiang Ling and Li Zhenwu, "Let's go to Qiushui Villa."

Outside the gate of Qiushui Mountain Villa, a carriage slowly stopped.

"Young Master, Autumn Water Villa is here." The coachman reminded.

After hearing this, the three of them got off the carriage.

In front of the carriage, Jiang Ling looked at the gate of Qiushui Villa and said with emotion:

"This Qiushui Villa is pretty good. The gate alone is about two feet wide."

"General." Tang Qingfeng inspected Qiushui Villa and replied casually.

"That's right, Qiushui Villa is naturally not as grand as your Tang Sect." Jiang Ling rolled Tang Qingfeng's eyes and said.

"Where there, your beggar gang is also very impressive." Tang Qingfeng laughed.

"Hey, of course." Jiang Ling replied proudly when he heard Tang Qingfeng praise the Beggar Gang.

Tang Qingfeng glanced at him with a smile and said:

"Come on, let's go to the village."

"Okay." After Jiang Ling finished speaking, he walked towards the gate.

In front of the gate of Qiushui Villa, Jiang Ling said politely to the guard at the gate:

"Brother, in Jiangling, the Lower Beggar Clan, if you need to see Qiu Renyuan, the young master of the Qiu Family, please let me know."

The guard glanced at him and said:

"You wait."

After finishing speaking, he found someone to pass on the message.

After a while, a servant girl came to answer the call, telling the young owner of Qiushui Villa to invite them into the village.

The three of them followed the maid, walked through the front yard, and came to the yard where Qiu Renyuan was.

The courtyard is very wide, filled with all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, which are colorful and very beautiful.The servant girl led the three of them to the gazebo by the lotus pond.

"Three guests, the young master will be here soon, please wait here later." The servant girl turned and left after speaking.

The three sat in the gazebo, Jiang Ling looked at the empty stone table, and said very unhappy:

"There is no wine, what kind of hospitality is this."

"Old Jiang, we are not familiar with him, so it's good to come in." Tang Qingfeng comforted.

Li Zhenwu listened to the conversation between the two, looked at the lotus in the lotus pond, and fell into deep thought.Tang Qingfeng saw that Li Zhenwu seemed to be thinking about something, so he asked:

"What is the Taoist priest thinking?"

Li Zhenwu recovered after hearing Tang Qingfeng's voice, looked at the two and said:

"Pindao is thinking, Qiu Renyuan entered Wuhou's mansion last night, but came back this morning, what happened? Also, after Qiu Renyuan came back, he didn't say anything, pretending nothing happened, it's really strange .”

"It's really strange. These questions may be answered after meeting Qiu Renyuan." Tang Qingfeng replied.

"Yes." Li Zhenwu nodded.

While everyone was chatting, the servant girl brought Qiu Renyuan over from a distance.

After Qiu Renyuan went to the gazebo and sat down, he waved his hand to let the maid leave, then looked at the three of them and asked indifferently:

"The three don't know what to do with me?"

Seeing Qiu Renyuan open his mouth, Jiang Ling looked at Tang Qingfeng.

Tang Qingfeng said clearly:

"Young Master Qiu, Tang Qingfeng of the Lower Tang Sect is currently investigating the disappearance of the famous martial arts family. I want to ask the Young Master about something, and I hope the Young Master can tell the truth."

Qiu Renyuan glanced at Tang Qingfeng expressionlessly, and after a while he spoke slowly:

"what's up?"

"About last night." Tang Qingfeng replied.

"Last night? Please."

"Okay, may I ask if the young master went to Mingyue Tower last night?"

"Yes"

"Participated in the oiran auction?"

"right"

"Then?"

"You want to know?"

"Please be sure to explain in detail." Tang Qingfeng said.

"After bidding for the oiran, it's natural to do what should be done. How can a gentle town lose a beautiful woman on a beautiful day?" Qiu Renyuan said without changing his expression.

Listening to his answer, Tang Qingfeng smiled and said:

"and after?"

"Then I went back to the village."

"What did the Young Master miss?" Tang Qingfeng asked

"What else do you want to know?" Qiu Renyuan replied calmly.

"It depends on whether the young master is willing to say it." Tang Qingfeng looked at Qiu Renyuan meaningfully.

Qiu Renyuan glanced at him expressionlessly:

"I've finished what I need to say, the three of you, please go back. Qiushuang, see off the guests."

After Qiu Renyuan finished speaking, Qiu Shuang came out not far away, and politely asked the servant to send the three of them out.

The three of them left the gate of Qiu's house, and Jiang Ling said to Tang Qingfeng;

"Old Tang, how are you? Did you see anything?"

"Almost." Tang Qingfeng replied.

"Why did he lie?" Li Zhenwu said puzzledly, thinking about Qiu Renyuan's words.

"? Lying? What did he lie about?" Jiang Ling asked.

Li Zhenwu looked at Jiang Ling, and slowly replied:

"Last night, he didn't have a relationship with the oiran......, he was just stunned by the oiran and sent to Wuhou's mansion."

"Really? This kid is really unlucky. He wasted 1 taels of silver." Jiang Ling said regretfully.

"Old Jiang, you're talking too far. Let's go back to the topic of the Taoist priest. Qiu Renyuan lied, but he didn't lie either," Tang Qingfeng said.

"What's going on?" Jiang Ling asked puzzled.

"Don't worry, we will find out tonight." Tang Qingfeng replied mysteriously.

"???" Jiang Ling looked puzzled.

Tang Qingfeng did not explain, and said to Jiang Ling:

"Lao Jiang, take some people to monitor the outside of Qiushui Mountain Villa. If you guess correctly, Qiu Renyuan will take action at night."

"En." Jiang Ling returned and performed lightness kung fu, jumped onto the branch, and disappeared into the distance in an instant.

After watching Jiang Ling leave, Tang Qingfeng said to Li Zhenwu:

"Tonight, I need to trouble the Taoist priest to explore Qiushui Mountain Villa with me."

"Yeah." Li Zhenwu nodded back.

Seeing that he agreed, Tang Qingfeng smiled, glanced at the sky, and took out a palm-sized package from his arms.He slowly opened the red-gold brocade cloth outside the package, and there was a burst of food fragrance from the yellow paper under the brocade cloth.He continued to unwrap the yellow paper, revealing several beautifully made colorful pastries.

Tang Qingfeng smiled at Li Zhenwu with the pastry:

"This is Shuxianglou's famous Hundred Flowers Cake. This cake is made from a variety of precious flowers and plants. It is sweet and delicious. The Taoist priest has been busy all day and hasn't had a good meal. He must be hungry at this time."

Li Zhenwu glanced at the pastry in Tang Qingfeng's hand, and saw a tempting fragrance blowing towards his face.

He retracted his gaze and said calmly:

"It's okay, it's not uncommon for people who practice the Tao to live without food for a few days."

"That can't be done, Daoist, you have to eat well, and you will have the strength to do things after eating well." Seeing what he said, Tang Qingfeng persuaded him with a smile.

As he spoke, he put the pastry in Li Zhenwu's hands and continued:

"Let's eat, there are important things tonight."

"Yes." Li Zhenwu replied.

"Let's go, let's go check around first." Tang Qingfeng said.

"Okay." Li Zhenwu put away the pastries and followed.

The two explored for a long time outside the Qiushui Mountain Villa, the sky gradually darkened, and a full moon slowly rose from the ground. At this time, the two finally found a hiding place, where they could just see the courtyard where Qiu Renyuan was. .

Tang Qingfeng glanced at the courtyard and said to Li Zhenwu:

"Let's just stay here. Let's sneak into the villa later in the night."

"Okay." Li Zhenwu replied, and then took out a snack and ate it.

He took a bite lightly, the dessert touched the tip of his tongue, and it melted instantly, sweet and delicious, and the fragrance of flowers filled the whole mouth.The moment the snack entered the belly, the body instantly became extremely light.

Li Zhenwu was a little startled, and stared blankly at the dessert in his hand.Seeing him like this, Tang Qingfeng smiled and asked:

"Master Dao, how is the pastry? How does it taste?"

"En." Li Zhenwu looked at him after returning, and then stretched out his hand in front of him.

Tang Qingfeng saw that Li Zhenwu handed over the dim sum, smiled and took a piece and threw it into his mouth.

"It's delicious."

After Li Zhenwu finished his snacks, the moon had slowly risen into the sky.Taking advantage of the darkness, Li Zhenwu and Tang Qingfeng sneaked into Qiushui Villa smoothly. The two quietly lay on the roof and observed the situation of the villa.

An hour later, except for the change of patrolling guards, nothing happened in Qiushui Villa.

The night was very quiet, surrounded by the sound of insects and birds, which made the guards feel sleepy.

At this moment, just hearing a squeak, Qiu Renyuan gently opened the door, and walked out of the room wearing a middle coat.

The patrolling guards saw him and hurriedly saluted, but he ignored the guards and walked straight towards the lotus pond.

Seeing that his expression was wrong, the guard carefully followed him all the way until Qiu Renyuan came to the lotus pond. The guard saw a scene he would never forget.

I saw Qiu Renyuan walking barefoot on the water surface, slowly walking towards the center of the lotus pond, and stopped on the water surface in the center of the lotus pond amidst the panic of the guard gate.

As a beam of bright moonlight shone down, his body gradually became more and more illusory, until it was transparent, and finally disappeared in the moonlight.

Seeing this scene, the guards froze in place in shock, and no one dared to step forward to investigate.

They had heard of this kind of thing before, that was a few days ago, and Qiu Renxi also disappeared in this way.

When they heard what the guards on duty said, they not only dismissed their words, but also made various assumptions about what would happen if they encountered them.But when such a thing happened right in front of their noses, the bold words at that time disappeared in an instant.

The guards were stunned for a while before they realized it, and hurriedly sent someone to report to the owner.

At this time, the two people lurking aside also saw the disappearance of Qiu Renyuan.

Just when Li Zhenwu was puzzled, he heard Tang Qingfeng say decisively:

"Walk."

After speaking, he performed lightness kung fu and led Li Zhenwu to chase after the shadow outside the village.