A few days later, Wanli's order was sent to Ningbo Prefecture, refusing to resume exploration and joint trade with Japan. After Mou Rongtian received the news, he thought: "If Dan Ma Shou still does not leave after receiving the order, he must have an ulterior motive.
, let’s see if he leaves or not.”
There was a teahouse diagonally across from the pier. Mou Rongtian and others were monitoring Tajima Mamoru's ship in the private room on the second floor at the north end. The next morning, they saw the ship leaving the east side of the port.
Dong Fuyu said: "Rongtian, you are worrying too much. They are gone and nothing will happen."
Mou Rongtian thought to himself: "Three of the Four Heavenly Kings under Tokugawa Ieyasu have come, how can it be possible just to sign the certificate of credence? It will never be that simple." He said: "I will spend some time with them to see if they are really leaving or pretending to leave.
"
Shi Yi said: "Brother Tian, where do we have a ship? It's too late to find a sea ship now."
Mou Rongtian said: "There is no need for a boat. Taking a boat will expose the target."
Xiazhixi said: "You want to swim?"
Mou Rongtian said "hmm".
Shi Yi said: "Is that possible? How dangerous it is."
Li Tianmu said: "Rongtian, there are too many sharks in the sea, so let's forget it."
Mou Rongtian looked out the window and saw that the ship was far away. He didn't want to delay it any longer and said, "I am sensible, so don't worry."
He came to a sheltered spot on the shore, jumped into the water, swam eastward, and followed the Japanese ship from a distance. After following for more than ten miles, he saw the ship turning north. Mou Rongtian thought to himself: "What if it's time to return?"
Dongying will not turn to the true north. It seems that they don't want to leave, and they really have other plans. Danma Shou must have discovered that we were secretly watching, so he pretended to leave."
The ship traveled due north for dozens of miles, then turned northwest, traveled another two hundred miles, entered the Yangtze River Estuary, and sailed upriver. Two days later, it docked at Yingtianfu Wharf.
Mou Rongtian followed all the way, hiding in a hidden place and watching secretly. He saw the Japanese boat put down the gangplank, and a group of people stepped ashore one after another, all wearing bamboo hats and carrying long packages.
When Mou Rongtian saw that he didn't know any of these people, he was puzzled and thought: "Why haven't I seen these people on the boat? Their packages must be weapons. It seems that these people are going to the city? They want to go to the city?"
What are you doing?"
After the group of people landed ashore, the ship slowly left. Mou Rongtian followed, but he didn't follow far when he suddenly felt a pain in his back and was knocked unconscious to the ground. When he woke up, it was already sunset.
I got up, feeling pain in my head. I calmed down and thought: "Who knocked me out? I was caught off guard. It seems that this person is really skilled."
Mou Rongtian entered Yingtian Fucheng and came to the Jinyiwei branch. He asked Su Qianhu, the commander of Jinyiwei in Nanzhili, to send people to find out the whereabouts of the Japanese people on the one hand, and on the other hand to send people to Ningbo Mansion to capture Li Tianmu, Baiyun Shuangjian and
Shi Yi called over.
Two days later, Li Tianmu and others arrived at the Jinyiwei Branch of Yingtian Prefecture. At this time, Su Qianhu had not found out the whereabouts of the Japanese group.
The next morning, Su Qianhu went to the guest room to find Mou Rongtian and said, "Mr. Mou, I have a situation to tell you. I just received news that last night, a member of the Communist Party of China named Qu, and his family of sixteen were massacred.
I wonder if this case was committed by that group of Japanese people?"
Mou Rongtian was startled, pondered for a moment, and said, "What does that person named Qu do?"
Su Qianhu said: "This man has opened a silk and satin shop in the city. His business is quite prosperous and his family is quite wealthy."
Mou Rongtian asked: "Is there any loss of property?"
Su Qianhu said: "I don't know the details. I will send someone to investigate."
Mou Rong added: "Do you know where the man named Qu lives?"
Su Qianhu said: "I know."
Mou Rongtian said: "Let's go to the scene and have a look."
Everyone left the branch office, walked through the streets and alleys, and came to Confucius Temple East Street. Su Qianhu pointed to a large house not far ahead and said, "That is the home of Qu Yuanwai."
The door of the house was opened wide, and everyone walked in. They saw more than a dozen corpses lined up in the yard. A fat man with big ears was doing an autopsy, and several government officials stood aside.
Su Qianhu said to a middle-aged man dressed as a head catcher: "Captain Zhao, are you busy?"
Capt. Zhao came over to greet Su Qianhu and said with a smile, "Mr. Su, why do you come here?"
Su Qianhu said: "I heard that there was a big case in this house, so I brought Lord Mou over to have a look. This is the famous Detective Qianhu Mou of Beizhen Fusi."
Capt. Zhao hurriedly extended his courtesy to Mou Rong and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that this case would alarm Mr. Mou."
Mou Rongtian looked at the corpses one by one and found that they were all fatal with one blow. Some had their heads cut off, and some had their hearts pierced by sharp blades. The murderer's techniques were clean and agile. Judging from the wounds on the chests of several corpses, the murder weapons were very similar to tachi and ninja swords.
.
I thought to myself: "It seems that this case is most likely the work of that group of Japanese people. Why did they kill this family? This family doesn't know martial arts. Do they need more than 20 people to do it?"
He checked from room to room and found that the boxes and cupboards were all open and the contents were scattered outside. The women's jewelry boxes were all empty. Judging from the signs, the murderer should be seeking money and killing, but Mou Rongtian felt that there was no such thing.
So simple.
At noon, Mou Rongtian and others went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and sat around a table near the window on the second floor. It was not long, so the food and drinks were put down, and everyone chatted while eating.
Li Tianmu was sitting at the window with the window open. He accidentally looked downstairs and saw Genjiro holding the seven or eight-year-old girl passing by the door. Li Tianmu was overjoyed, stood up and stuck his head out of the window, waving to Genjiro:
"Mr. Genjiro!"
Genjiro stopped when he heard the sound, looked up and said with a smile: "Brother Li, it's you. I didn't expect to meet you again here."
Li Tianmu said: "Mr. Genjiro, come up and sit down. I'll treat you to a drink."
Genjiro smiled and said, "I'm sorry for bothering you." He took the child and walked in. After a while, he climbed to the second floor.
Mou Rongtian saw that this man had an extraordinary temperament and looked like an elder in his movements. The child was handsome, with a pair of big watery eyes, full of aura. He had two pigtails and was playing with a paper windmill in his hand.
Li Tianmu saw that there was no room for him to sit at the table and the table next to him was empty. He stood up and walked over, smiling and saying: "Old sir, come and sit."
The two sat across from each other, and the child sat down horizontally. Li Tianmu called the waiter to the store and said to Genjiro: "Old sir, just order whatever you want to eat, and I'll be your host."
Genjiro said: "Why do you have the nerve to let Brother Li spend money? It's better for me to be the host."
Li Tianmu said: "The old gentleman has helped me so much, a meal is nothing. Stop arguing, just be the host."
Genjiro smiled and said, "Then I'd rather be respectful than obey your orders." He casually ordered a few vegetarian dishes, a pot of rice wine, and chatted with Li Tianmu.
Li Tianmu asked: "Old sir, is your servant's arrow sore healed?"
Genjiro said: "Thanks to Brother Li's medicine, my servant has recovered."
Li Tianmu said: "It's good to have recovered. I'm still worried that the medicine won't work. If the treatment is delayed, I will feel bad."
Genjiro glanced at Mou Rongtian and others and said, "Are they friends of Brother Li?"
Li Tianmu stood up and said: "Rongtian, Fuyu, Zhixi, Yanzi, come here, I will introduce you."
Genjiro also stood up, and Li Tianmu said: "This old man is Mr. Genjiro who saved me from danger in Liaodong not long ago."
Mou Rongtian raised his hands in greeting and said, "Hello, old sir." The other three people also greeted him one after another.
Li Tianmu introduced again: "This is my good friend Beizhen Fusi Detective Qianhu Mou Rongtian. These three are my fellow juniors, Dong Fuyu, Xia Zhixi and Shi Yi."
Genjiro cupped his hands and said: "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you."
Everyone sat down at different tables. Mou Rongtian was startled when he realized that Genjiro knew his identity just now. He didn't know why?
Li Tianmu asked: "Old sir, is this child your granddaughter?"
Genjiro nodded and said: "Exactly."
Li Tianmu said: "This child is so handsome, what is his name?"
Genjiro said: "Her name is Haruko."
Li Tianmu smiled at Qingzi and said, "Hello, kid."
Haruko didn't know what he was talking about. She opened her big eyes and looked at Genjiro. She only heard Genjiro say: "My lord, he is saying hello to you." He spoke in Japanese, thinking that Li Tianmu and others could not understand it.
, but they didn’t know that Mou Rongtian was proficient in Japanese.
Mou Rongtian thought to himself: "This old man turned out to be this child's retainer. Why would he lie? There must be something fishy in this."
After eating, everyone left the restaurant. Li Tianmu said goodbye to Genjiro. When Mou Rongtian saw Genjiro going north, he whispered to Li Tianmu: "I think Genjiro's identity is suspicious. Follow him secretly and find out where he lives.
"
Li Tianmu said: "Rongtian, you have an occupational disease. How come you look suspicious to everyone?"
Mou Rongtian said: "That little girl is not his granddaughter. He called her little lord. You don't understand the Japanese language, so you were deceived by him."
Li Tianmu was startled and thought: "I treat him sincerely, but he should deceive me. It's really unreasonable." He said, "Okay, I'll go and have a look." After that, he followed, and after walking for a while, he saw Genjiro.
Entering the Yuelai Inn, he paused for a moment, followed in, called the shopkeeper, took out his Jinyiwei badge, flashed it, and then asked: "Which room did the old gentleman stay in just now?"
The shopkeeper said respectfully: "If I go back to the official, that person lives in Xikuoyuan."
Li Tianmu asked a few more questions and learned that Genjiro claimed his surname was Gao when registering for accommodation and that he was from Korea.
Li Tianmu thought to himself: "Why does Genjiro always lie about being a Korean? Rongtian is right, he is indeed suspicious." After returning to the branch office, he told Mou Rongtian about the situation, and Mou Rongtian thought to himself: "You must know the innermost feelings.
But listen to what’s behind the scenes.” He said, “Tianmu, let’s go over tonight to find out what’s going on.”
Li Tianmu thought to himself: "After all, Genjiro has helped me, so this is not appropriate." He hesitated and said, "Rongtian, although Genjiro deceived us, he may not be a bad person. I think it's better to forget it."
Mou Rongtian said: "You have to check whether he is a bad person or not. If you are in trouble, Yanzi and I will go together."
Li Tianmu thought: "If Rongtian is discovered and takes action, I'm afraid he will suffer a loss." He said: "Since you have to go, then I should accompany you."