To Hold One’s Joy

  Chapter 266 Riverside

  The meeting place in the letter was Jinshuihe.

  There are two lively places in the capital at night, one is Qingxing Street where there are many wine shops, and the other is Jinshui River where music and music are played all night.

  There are countless painted boats on the Jinshui River, and the powder is fragrant. It is a gentle hometown where countless men linger and forget to return. Needless to say, dragons and snakes are mixed.

  The person who kidnapped Xiao Qi set the meeting place there, which is a bit clever.

  A woman stands awkwardly on the shore, looking around.

  The woman's hair is gray, and she should be a little old, because she can hardly see her original appearance because of her disfigurement.

  The people who came and went did not look at the woman more.

  In places like Jinshuihe, there are many high-rollers who spend a lot of money, and there are more poor people who come to make a living. It is very common for women to look like this and come to make a living.

  The woman summoned a small boat and let the boat wander aimlessly on the wide river.

   This is the cunning of the other party.

  The Jinshui River was set as the meeting place, but Xiuyue was asked to take a boat and float on the river at will. Every boat on the river may be the hiding place of the other party.

  As there are hundreds of large and small pleasure boats on the Jinshui River, it is impossible to confirm which boat it is, so we can only wait passively for the other party to approach.

   "Where is aunt going?"

   The woman was carried on a small open boat, and the man who punted the boat was a young man wearing a straw hat. Seeing that the woman kept refusing to tell her where she was going, he couldn't help asking.

   "Just... let's take a breath first..." the woman endured her nervousness and subconsciously looked around.

  The punter smiled: "Isn't Madam looking for someone?"

  The woman nodded hesitantly and fell silent.

  The punter didn't ask any more questions, and slowly shook the penny.

  A small boat specializing in night snacks approached, and the old man who punted the boat smiled and asked, "Do you eat eel buns?"

  The young man who punted the boat waved his hand, signaling not to eat.

  The old man was not annoyed, and left without haste with the boat.

   Soon another boat approached, and the woman on the boat painted her eyebrows and powdered her face, and shouted to this side: "Would you like to buy some soap cakes, and small conch cakes, all freshly made."

  The young man who punted the boat waved his hand again.

   "Bah, poor ghost." The woman spat, and went to the painting boat not far away with the boat.

  The young man who was punting the boat couldn't help but ask, "Where is Madam going?"

   "Just take a look on the river, I will give you money..." The woman's voice was a little disturbed, and she tried her best to put on a calm appearance.

  A boat slowly approached.

   "Come up."

  Hearing the sound, the woman looked sharply at the approaching boat.

  The punter, like most boatmen, was wearing a bamboo hat to cover his brows and eyes, so he couldn't see clearly.

   Listen to the voice, it is a middle-aged man.

  The woman stood up after hesitating for a moment, and handed a few copper coins to the young man who punted the boat.

  The distance between the two boats is no more than two feet.

  The woman crossed over with her head lowered and her feet raised, and boarded the approaching boat.

  The young man who was punting the boat seemed to be a little puzzled, so he didn't leave for a while.

  The man said coldly: "This is my mother-in-law, I will pick her up, I advise you not to meddle in your own business."

  When the young man on the boat heard this, he shook his penny and walked away.

  The woman stood on the bow of the boat and asked nervously, "Where is Xiao Qi?"

   This is an open boat, and it is obvious that there is no third person on board.

  Xiao Qi is obviously not here.

   "Don't be noisy." The middle-aged man propped the boat forward quickly, looking very relaxed.

  The Jinshui River is very wide, and the lights of countless pleasure boats and boats make the whole river as bright as the day, which is too beautiful to behold.

  And where there is light, there is shadow, not to mention the time when night is shrouded.

   Further forward is a small patch of reeds.

  The white reed flowers and golden branches add another style to the magnificent Jinshui River.

  There are not many ships coming here at night.

  As the darkness enveloped, the middle-aged man stopped punting and silently looked at the woman.

   "Are you a cook in a restaurant?"

  The man's voice was gentle and deep, beside the reeds in the dim night, it was inexplicably gloomy.

  The woman nodded: "I am. Where is Xiao Qi? Where did you hide Xiao Qi?"

  The middle-aged man suddenly took two steps forward.

  The small boat swayed because of his sudden movement, and the shaking was frightening.

"I told someone to come according to the letter, you hand over Xiao Qi!" The woman looked anxiously at the middle-aged man approaching, "Do you want money? I will give you whatever you want, as long as you Let Xiaoqi go—"

  The bamboo hat worn by the middle-aged man covered his brows and eyes, and from the woman's perspective, only the slightly raised lips could be seen.

  Cool and ruthless.

   "Where is Xiao Qi—" The middle-aged man suddenly raised the penny and slammed it on the top of the woman's head, "You don't need to know."

  The night sky was quickly pierced by the waving penny, and it hit with a strong wind.

  The woman stood at the bow of the boat, as if she was frightened by the sudden situation, she remained motionless.

   There was a bang, followed by a scream.

  The sound of silk and bamboo, laughter, and hawking can be heard endlessly on the Jinshui River, and the screams were quickly drowned out without causing any waves.

  The hull of the boat swayed, and a person jumped on board.

  The middle-aged man sat on his knees, covering his aching arm with one hand, and stared at the visitor in astonishment.

  It turned out to be a young man who punted a boat.

  The young man wearing a bamboo hat approached step by step, and he lightly held the penny that he used to beat the middle-aged man just now.

  The bow of the boat was submerged inch by inch.

  The woman walked quickly to the stern, and the unbalanced boat recovered little by little.

   "Are you scared?" The young man opened his mouth, his voice was gentle and steady, completely different from before.

  The woman shook her head, and naturally stood behind the young man.

  The two looked at the middle-aged man who fell on the boat.

  The middle-aged man's bamboo hat fell off, revealing his true face.

   is a very ordinary man, who looks like he is in his thirties, but his eyes are quite sharp.

  The middle-aged man, who was going to kill the woman with a penny and push it into the river to destroy the body, looked at the young man and the woman, understood that he had been caught in a trap, and struggled to jump into the water.

  At this time, the water surface was still rippling, which was caused by the penny that the middle-aged man accidentally fell into the water after being attacked suddenly.

  A cold penny touched his neck.

   "If you move around again, you will die." The young man said coldly.

   These words seemed to remind the middle-aged man.

   While his complexion changed slightly, a stone flew towards him.

  The middle-aged man opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, along with a tooth.

  The young man came over, picked up the blood-stained tooth with a handkerchief, and looked at the oil lamp on the boat.

  His voice was still calm, but what he said was surprising: "Poison is hidden in your teeth, are you a dead man?"

  The middle-aged man looked at the young man who was close to Chi Chi but whose face was obscured by the bamboo hat, as if he had seen a ghost.

   No, this young man is a ghost.

  It was nothing to attack him when he was about to kill a woman, but just now when he was about to bite out his fangs and commit suicide, the flying stone just knocked out the fangs hiding the poison.

   Can this be done by humans?

  (end of this chapter)