The Passerby Hidden Guard Picked Up the Villain [Transmigration] - Chapter 13

Jiang Beihai retorted, “How can being framed be called fleeing from justice? We are merely taking temporary shelter.”

Jin Lanye gave a nod of agreement.

“There is no difference,” He Yanzhi said, picking up his tea bowl for a small sip. Xiao Hongyin secretly tugged at his sleeve several times.

“What is it? Speak.”

Xiao Hongyin had originally intended to tell him privately, but since He Yanzhi did not seem to care, he spoke directly. “The Wang family’s rice shop has had an extremely high transaction volume recently. I fear it will be difficult not to attract the attention of the authorities.”

He Yanzhi looked down at him. “How did you learn of this?”

Xiao Hongyin recounted the incident where Wang Dafu had picked a fight with him. He altered the details, claiming that Wang Dafu had accidentally revealed the information and that he had only just remembered it after overhearing their conversation.

Jin Lanye sighed helplessly. “We intended to head south along the waterway to Shamian Island to take shelter for a few years. Given the distance, the number of people, and the lack of preparation time, only the Wang family in all of Xizhou had enough grain. That is why we took the risk.”

“It is indeed a risk. At this moment, the government has likely already investigated the Wang family.” He Yanzhi took another sip of tea, feeling his whole body relax.

Jin Lanye frowned. “We must leave immediately.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he rose to hurry the preparations. He Yanzhi spoke up to stop him. “If you cannot leave, then do not leave.”

Jin Lanye asked in confusion, “Not leave?”

He Yanzhi said, “The ships leave, but the people stay. Breaking out of prison is a serious crime; the government will not let you off easily. It is better to use this to stall for time. Wait until you capture the water bandits and redeem yourselves through service; it will not be too late to surrender then.”

Jiang Beihai puzzled through the logic and found it very sound, clapping his hands in approval.

Jin Lanye turned around silently, his gaze dark and unreadable.

He walked up to He Yanzhi, his pale blue eyes shimmering. He smiled faintly and spoke. “Young Master He has planned everything so thoroughly for us. I am moved to tears of gratitude. I do not know how to repay you.”

He Yanzhi returned the smile. “Your gang’s tea is quite delicious.”

Jin Lanye nodded slightly. “In that case, once this matter is settled, I shall brew an even better pot for the Young Master.”

“Thank you.”

Once the arrangements were agreed upon, He Yanzhi and Xiao Hongyin were settled in the wooden tower.

For safety’s sake, Jin Lanye would not let them leave. After all, not everyone was as easily fooled as Jiang Beihai.

He Yanzhi and Xiao Hongyin were placed on the top floor. The wooden tower complex was narrow at the top and wide at the base, with only a single, solitary attic at the highest point.

After climbing the trembling bamboo ladder, Xiao Hongyin entered the room and immediately rushed to the window. He leaned on the sill, looking down at the entire waterway.

The rolling river surged incessantly, and the vast territory on the opposite bank seemed boundless.

The whistling river wind disheveled his hair, letting several strands of black silk flutter in the breeze.

“If you fall, swim back yourself.”

He Yanzhi appeared behind him unexpectedly. He gripped Xiao Hongyin’s shoulder to pull him back and silently closed the window.

“I cannot swim,” Xiao Hongyin said, blinking at He Yanzhi.

He Yanzhi flicked the boy’s crooked hair bun. “Do not lie.”

Xiao Hongyin shrank his head back aggrievedly. “I am not lying. Why does Brother Yan not believe me?”

“If you could not swim, when He Yu threw you…” Halfway through the sentence, He Yanzhi realized he had misspoken and quickly changed his words. “Why are you so familiar with the direction of the river’s current?”

He had been thinking of the later part of the book. After Xiao Hongyin realized he had been deceived, he was thrown into a water dungeon by He Yu for three days and three nights. If he could not swim, how could he have survived?

Xiao Hongyin sensed that He Yanzhi was deliberately hiding something but pretended not to notice. He explained, “In the past, my father often took me fishing. He told me how to read the water to find the fish.”

“You know how to fish?” He Yanzhi was somewhat surprised. Usually, sons of the nobility, especially those from families with deep scholarly roots, spent their days with music, poetry, or archery. Very few engaged in fishing for leisure.

Xiao Hongyin nodded, looking rather proud. “I do. I once caught a large fish half the height of a person.”

He still remembered traveling in the spring with his family as a child. Chancellor Xiao and he each held a long rod, competing under the steward’s supervision to see who could catch more fish in two hours.

Chancellor Xiao was crafty and picked the waters teeming with fish, coaxing the boy to a spot where fish were scarce. Unexpectedly, Xiao Hongyin used a special bait to catch a fat red carp.

The steward could not decide on a winner, so the two ran to the Chancellor’s wife for a verdict. The lady said nothing; she simply took the fish, lit a fire to roast the meat, and said whoever’s fish tasted better would be the winner.

That day, the father and son argued for a long time, neither willing to concede.

To prove his fish was delicious, Xiao Hongyin ate the large fish until he was stuffed. Upon returning home, he threw up most of it and swore never to eat fish again, until that day in He Yanzhi’s courtyard, when he saw those small red carp in the pond.

“I did not originally like to go, but my father said one should have fun in youth. To be buried in a pile of books all day would make one look old and decrepit before their time.”

The youth smiled as he spoke. He Yanzhi inadvertently looked away.

“Hurry up and tidy yourself.”

Xiao Hongyin nimbly fixed his hair bun. Just then, a voice came from below.

“Young Master He, here is the messenger pigeon you requested.”

The commotion moved from directly below to outside the door. A-Yong held the bamboo ladder with his left hand and a pigeon in his right, nimbly appearing before the two of them.

“As you requested, we intercepted a government pigeon.”

“Thank you.”

He Yanzhi took the pigeon and asked for paper and ink. Since the room had no furniture other than the bedding on the floor, he simply spread the paper and ink on the ground.

He sat cross-legged and leaned forward to dip his brush. Xiao Hongyin squatted obediently by his side, watching him draw a vertical and a horizontal line on the paper, dividing it into four sections.

Xiao Hongyin’s eyes widened as he carefully watched He Yanzhi’s brushstrokes.

He Yanzhi drew several circles in the top right square. Then, he drew a vertical stroke beneath the circles, with two horizontal lines branching out from the sides. Inside the circles, he added two dots and a short horizontal line. Finally, he drew several sabers on the circles and added several trees to the square.

After finishing the first square, He Yanzhi drew several squiggly lines in the bottom right. Above the lines, he drew a large square with a row of circles on top.

This kind of secret letter was novel and peculiar; he had never seen anything like it.

Although Xiao Hongyin could not understand at all what he was drawing, seeing He Yanzhi’s confident expression, he guessed this must be an extremely top-secret code.

Since He Yanzhi was one of He Yu’s men, their regular correspondence must use this method. If he could learn the logic behind it, dealing with He Yu in the future would be as easy as turning over his hand.

With this thought, Xiao Hongyin watched even more closely.

He Yanzhi finished the second square. In the remaining two blocks, he drew a building with a trapezoidal structure and a circular cave.

Once the ink was dry, he rolled up the paper and stuffed it into the small tube on the pigeon’s leg.

“Is Brother Yan sending for someone to save us?” Xiao Hongyin watched as He Yanzhi opened the window to release the pigeon.

Freed from restraint, the pigeon rose with the wind. Aided by the river breeze, it quickly soared into the sky and flew toward the opposite bank.

He Yanzhi watched the pigeon’s silhouette shrink into a dot until it disappeared completely. Only then did he speak. “No. Big Yang does not know we came to the Water Transport Gang’s headquarters; he is likely still looking for us. I asked him to lead his men into an ambush first and wait for the gang brothers to join them.”

Was that truly it?

Xiao Hongyin recalled the drawings on the paper. He could not understand how they related to those words at all.

“Chief Jiang is a wanted criminal. Does Brother Yan trust them that much?”

Ever since Xiao Hongyin saw Jin Lanye, he felt the man was elusive. On the surface, he was always gentle and polite, but inside he was a scorpion. Xiao Hongyin did not know what was put into the tea he brewed earlier; just one sip had made his tongue and lips numb and paralyzed, and it took a long time to recover.

He Yanzhi raised an eyebrow, looked at Xiao Hongyin, who was also a wanted criminal, and said, “Those water bandits are agile and excellent swimmers. Relying on the people from the yamen, we probably would not even see their shadows. The Water Transport Gang lives by the water; most of them are like silver carp in the waves. To catch people, we must borrow their skills.”

Xiao Hongyin fell silent. He asked tentatively, “The tea just now?”

“Was it not good? It is a special Sin Tea from the Miao region. Eating it causes a painful, numbing sensation on the lips and tongue. It is normal for you not to like it your first time.”

He Yanzhi did not think anything was wrong. He told Xiao Hongyin to rest peacefully and gather his strength for whatever might happen next.

The two of them rested in the room for half a day. In the evening, there was a peck at the window. The messenger pigeon had exchanged Yang Kuan’s reply for a bowl of job’s tears.

He Yanzhi shook open the note. On it was drawn a circle with two drooping eyebrows and a downward curving mouth inside.

“Their attack failed. The water bandits are still holding out inside the cliff face. Both sides are in a stalemate.”

He Yanzhi burned the note and explained its meaning to Xiao Hongyin, whose expression showed he still could not understand.

He found Jiang Beihai and Jin Lanye, told them the news, and suggested they rush to Baoque Mountain as soon as possible.

“Prepare the ships and clear the way!”

Jiang Beihai was covered in bandages, but that did not stop him from waving his large saber and jumping onto the prow of a ship. Jin Lanye was so angry he had someone drag him down.

“You stay here to recover.”

“Why? I cannot miss out on a fight!”

Jiang Beihai began to argue with him. He Yanzhi and Xiao Hongyin walked past them silently but were called back by Jin Lanye.

“The Chief is staying at the stockade due to his injuries. I would like to ask Young Master Xiao to also stay and look after him.”

He intended to keep a hostage.

Xiao Hongyin looked at He Yanzhi, who gave him a meaningful look.

“Stay here and be good. Wait for me to come back for you.”

With that, the two of them were left on the shore.

Watching the ships gradually disappear into the distance, those who had been ordered to hang onto Jiang Beihai finally let go. Jiang Beihai waved his saber twice aggrievedly and patted Xiao Hongyin’s shoulder.

“Little brother, tell me. Neither of them is tall or strong, yet they did not take enough men and even looked down on me. Being injured is not being dead. How petty!”

Xiao Hongyin frowned and took a step back to maintain his distance.

The two stood on the shore for a long time. Once the ships had completely vanished from sight, they turned and climbed back up the wooden tower.

Xiao Hongyin returned to the room, took paper and pen, and sat on the windowsill.

The night breeze from the river blew gently. Xiao Hongyin bent one leg against the windowsill, placed the paper on top, and tried to recreate He Yanzhi’s drawings from memory.

He Yanzhi’s drawings were simple in technique but bold in composition, like a leaping dragon.

However, Xiao Hongyin’s brushstrokes produced lines of uniform thickness, and the circles he drew were perfectly round, far removed from He Yanzhi’s style.

Seeing that his drawings looked less and less like the original, he inevitably became frustrated.

“Exactly what school of art is this?”

Xiao Hongyin had been skilled in poetry and painting since childhood. When he plotted in his previous life, he often forged letters and handwriting. He prided himself on being able to imitate anything perfectly, yet he had met his match with He Yanzhi.

After ruining several sheets of paper in a row, Xiao Hongyin tossed the brush aside and let out a long sigh.

His gaze was vacant as he looked at the moonless night sky. Listening to the murmur of the river wind, he felt sleepiness wash over him.

Just as Xiao Hongyin’s consciousness was blurring, the entire wooden tower suddenly became noisy. Soon, Jiang Beihai’s loud voice reached his ears.

“The soldiers are here! Grab your weapons!”

Xiao Hongyin snapped awake and hurriedly looked outside. He saw a long dragon of fire suddenly rise on the opposite bank, occupying the entire stretch of the river near the wooden tower. Several catapults were positioned in the center of the firelight.

“The soldiers went to chase the ships heading south. Why would they come to attack the stockade?”

Xiao Hongyin pushed through the crowd to find Jiang Beihai. The Chief was directing the brothers to prepare the ships, intending to fight the soldiers to the death.

He cursed, “How the hell should I know!”

Xiao Hongyin looked toward the opposite bank. Among the group dressed in military uniforms, he saw two familiar figures.

It was those two shadow guards again!

“Someone informed on us,” Xiao Hongyin said coldly.

Jiang Beihai looked in the direction Xiao Hongyin pointed and indeed saw those two cowards. He cursed, “Damn it! How did they know what we discussed?”

The wooden tower was built in a precarious location, and the rooms were connected by wooden ladders, making them easily accessible to one another. There were many brothers in the gang; any movement would be noticed. It was impossible to eavesdrop.

Xiao Hongyin did not know how they had seen through the plan, but since the facts were before him, he had to think of a way to deal with the soldiers.

He said to Jiang Beihai, “Meeting force with force is of no benefit to the situation. If they find that Vice-Chief Jin is not here, they will certainly send people after him. We must find a way to stall for time.”

Jiang Beihai was stunned. “Then tell me, what should we do?”

Xiao Hongyin looked toward the opposite bank. At this moment, the catapults had been loaded with special giant stones, their entire forms burning with fierce fire.

Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up in a half smile. He said to Jiang Beihai:

“Please lend me a set of Vice-Chief Jin’s clothing.”