The Enigma of the Yishui Monster Chapter 9

After the meal, Leo, under Max Xiao's "instructions", really went to ask the waiter for a big bucket. Oliver Bai didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and quickly asked the shopkeeper to change it for two small ones, the kind for one person.

The waiter looked at Oliver Bai and then at Ethan Zhan in confusion, and smiled meaningfully, "Haha, this kind of bucket is a mandarin duck bucket used by couples..."

Before he could finish his words, Oliver Bai looked unhappy and the waiter ran away.

Ethan Zhan knew that Oliver Bai was thin-skinned. He would blush when others were embarrassed, but Oliver Bai's emotional expressions were relatively simple. Whether he was embarrassed, unhappy, or unwilling, he would always turn his face.

Little Four was quite dissatisfied. He sat on the rock with his arms folded and pouted.

Ethan Zhan was beside him, and he poked him with his hand, "Little Fourth, what are you thinking about?"

"No..." Max Xiao coughed and said, "I'm going to sleep."

Leo came over and asked, "Jin'er, you're sleeping right after eating?"

"Hmm." Max Xiao nodded and pulled Leo to lie down together, "Leozi, sleep too."

Leo always listened to Max Xiao in everything. It was obvious that Max Xiao was unwilling to help Ethan Zhan take a bath and wanted Oliver Bai to do it.

There were always some gossipers talking about Oliver Bai and Ethan Zhan when they were in Kaifeng Prefecture, and some girls would shout excitedly when they saw the two walking together.

At first, the two really didn't feel anything, but gradually, especially after Zhao Pu and Gongsun got married, they would feel extremely embarrassed every time they encountered this situation.

Ethan Zhan was very worried at first, because Oliver Bai was a strange person, and he would be very unhappy about this misunderstanding... maybe he would deliberately avoid associating with him. If he lost such a worthy friend because of this kind of thing, it would be too unworthy.

But contrary to Ethan Zhan's expectation, Oliver Bai didn't care about these things at all, and he often went to Kaifeng Mansion, which was really strange. But Ethan Zhan just attributed this to the prejudice against Oliver Bai, and he was actually very easy to get along with.

Oliver Bai found it even harder to understand why he was more tolerant of Ethan Zhan than anyone else. He had some problems on weekdays, he didn't like people to get within three steps of him, and except for his brothers, he had almost no close friendship with anyone, not to mention that Ethan Zhan would always hang out with him.

The waiter brought some hot water. Ethan Zhan sat on the bed and said to Oliver Bai, "You take a shower first."

"The water will be cold by the time I'm done, you go first." Oliver Bai said, and suddenly smiled, "I've finished washing for you, and now I'm wet, so I can wash myself."

Ethan Zhan’s eyelids twitched.

Max Xiao was face to face with Leo in the bed, so happy---it's done!

"No need." Ethan Zhan shook his head firmly, "I don't want to wash it."

Oliver Bai didn't force it, "Okay, I'll go wash first."

After saying that, he walked over, put the screen between the two bathtubs, took off his clothes and got in the water. The hot water was quite comfortable.

Little Sizi felt a little guilty, and leaned out to ask Ethan Zhan, "Meow meow, you don't want to wash?"

Ethan Zhan held his chin with one hand, "Alas... I have no friends."

Max Xiao immediately felt guilty, got out of bed and pulled Ethan Zhan to his side, saying, "Then I'll wash it for you, don't be angry."

Ethan Zhan smiled slightly and reached out to touch Max Xiao's head - the little fool is so easy to fool.

Bai Yuting was soaking in the bathtub on the other side of the screen, his head abuzz with thoughts about the many strange things in this incident, especially the monster he saw in the pool in the backyard of the Mafu Temple last night. What on earth was that?

Just as I was thinking deeply, I heard the sound of water splashing from the other side. It seemed that Ethan Zhan had also started to wash.

Oliver Bai raised his eyes, but found that the screen was not blocking the view properly... He could see half of Ethan Zhan's body, but everything below his shoulders was in the water.

Max Xiao took a handkerchief and rubbed Ethan Zhan's back, while pushing his hair to the front.

Oliver Bai raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at him carefully with his chin supported by one hand.

Ethan Zhan's hair became darker after being wet, and it fell from behind his ears to his chest. The black hair and honey-colored shoulders looked really pleasing to the eye.

Besides, Ethan Zhan is quite thin.

Max Xiao was scrubbing Ethan Zhan's back. He looked up and found that Oliver Bai could see him. He quickly said, "Meow, move back."

Ethan Zhan did not doubt it, he sat up straighter and leaned back.

Immediately, the upper body immersed in the water was exposed, and water drops rolled down the shoulders and neck...People who practice martial arts have flexible and tight bodies, and they are also thin, with clear and perfect contours.

Oliver Bai raised his eyebrows---good figure.

Max Xiao continued, "Meow, arm."

Ethan Zhan stretched out his hands and placed them on the wall of the bathtub. The water line continued to move down...his chest was also faintly visible.

Oliver Bai lowered his head, rubbed his brows with his hand...he decided not to look at it anymore. He felt indescribable, so he reached out to take his clothes, dried himself, put on his clothes and came out.

When Max Xiao saw him leave, he sighed helplessly… Even if Bai Bai was half as bad as a gangster, the matter would be settled!

While he was in a daze, he heard Ethan Zhan ask him with a half-smile, "Little Fourth, are you done rubbing? You rubbed for a long time today, and the skin is about to fall off."

Max Xiao's face turned red, and he quickly washed Ethan Zhan and wiped him with a handkerchief.

Ethan Zhan put on his clothes and came out. Bai Yuting was sitting on the windowsill looking out. His hair was half dry and a breeze was blowing in from the window. He was wearing white clothes and had black hair, which added to his already extremely handsome appearance.

Max Xiao just felt it was a pity that Miaomiao couldn’t see it, Baibai was so pretty!

Leo went downstairs to get some snacks for Max Xiao, and when he came back he kept shouting, "This is incredible!"

"What happened?" Ethan Zhan asked, "Another death?"

"No, the county is looking for a wanted criminal. There are notices all over the city."

"What criminal?" Ethan Zhan wondered, "Has the murderer been caught this time?"

"No, they said that the murderer not only killed people but also killed the Horse Belly Immortal. There were two men, one in white and the other in blue, both of them were very handsome."

...

After Leo finished speaking, Ethan Zhan and Oliver Bai were stunned.

There was a long silence.

"Uh..." Ethan Zhan was about to speak when Oliver Bai, who was sitting by the window, said, "The thief catcher is here."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of chaotic footsteps coming from the stairwell, and the voice of the waiter, "Hey, sir, you are wrong. The man upstairs just came here not long ago. How could he be a murderer?!"

Oliver Bai came over with a knife in his hand and said to Leo, "Take Max Xiao inside."

"Yeah." Leo pulled Max Xiao to the window. Shi Tou came over to stand in front of the two of them, lay on the ground licking his paws, and looked at the door curiously.

Sure enough, there was a loud "bang" and the door of the room was kicked open.

Adrian Liang personally led a group of yamen runners and rushed in, "Arrest the criminal..."

He swallowed the words back before he could finish them.

Well, there were four people in the room and an animal whose name I couldn't tell.

Two adults and two children, all four of them are very good-looking.

The man in white clothes with half-dry hair was sitting at the table drinking tea, looking extremely elegant.

The one in blue clothes was sitting on the edge of the bed with his hair half-dry, in a daze, looking gentle and handsome.

The two children, one tall and one short, were both very cute. They opened their eyes wide and looked at the door curiously...

No matter how you look at it, it has nothing to do with the word "prisoner".

"Uh..." Adrian Liang said to the yamen runner beside him, "Bring him up!"

After a while, a middle-aged man with a bruised face and nose was brought up.

Bai Yuting was slightly stunned. This was the fourth boatman who rowed the boat for them last night. How come he was beaten?

"Is it them?" the guy asked the fourth brother.

The fourth brother gritted his teeth and shook his head, "No."

"Call the informer!" Adrian Liang didn't believe him and called another person. Bai Yuting had also seen that person before. He was also sitting in the teahouse drinking tea last night. He was a skinny middle-aged man.

"It's them, sir!" the man said to Adrian Liang quickly, "They asked Lao Si to take us across the river late last night! And he also gave Lao Si a lot of money."

Adrian Liang nodded and ordered his men, "Catch him!"

A few yamen runners were about to come over, and Ethan Zhan said coldly, "Wait."

Adrian Liang frowned, thinking that this man was quite courageous, and asked, "What do you have to say?"

Ethan Zhan asked him, "What is your name, sir? What is your position?"

"I am Chief Constable Adrian Liang, serving in the Luozhou prefectural government office, responsible for investigating the recent murders in Qishan County. You are the suspects, come with me!"

Ethan Zhan smiled faintly, "Do you have an arrest warrant from the government?"

"Uh...you are just suspects, take you back for questioning!" Adrian Liang thought that these people seemed to be of some importance, as they even knew to ask for official documents.

Ethan Zhan shook his head. "Why do you say we are suspects? Did you see us kill someone?"

"He can testify that you crossed the river to the south bank in the middle of the night last night, and this morning you found the body of the horseman floating on the lake. You are naturally suspected!"

Ethan Zhan was surprised. Did he kill the strange fish with that knife last night? There was no reason. The fish was so big, and he only scratched it at most.

"What a joke." Leo said seriously, "You convicted someone based on the words of just one person, and beat the witness like this, isn't this torture to get a confession?!"

Adrian Liang opened his mouth. This is how the government office has always handled cases. Not everything follows the law. These people seem to understand some official documents.

Seeing that the fourth child was seriously injured, the little fourth child asked, "Daddy said that if you torture them into confessions, there will be unjust cases! Meow meow, take them back and ask the little bun to beat them with a stick!"

Ethan Zhan laughed, but Adrian Liang was confused. What is a meowing little bun? And a spanking?

"Ahem." Ethan Zhan coughed at Oliver Bai.

Bai Yuting took out the badge that Ethan Zhan had given him and threw it to Adrian Liang.

Adrian Liang stretched out his hands to take it and saw three characters on the front of the waist badge - Kaifeng Prefecture. Behind it were two large characters "Imperial Gift" and a row of small characters, with the year, month, day, Emperor's Gift, and Kaifeng Prefecture's seal clearly written.

Adrian Liang took a breath, quickly stopped several young detectives who were about to step forward, and asked Oliver Bai, "Sir, are you from Kaifeng Prefecture? May I ask your name?"

Before Oliver Bai could say anything, he heard Ethan Zhan say, "Ahem."

Helpless, Oliver Bai sighed, "The last name is Zhan."

"Heh..." Adrian Liang opened his mouth in shock, "Could it be, Master Ethan Zhan?"

Oliver Bai nodded reluctantly, "Yeah."

"Oh, it was a misunderstanding..." Adrian Liang quickly dismissed the yamen runners, "I was confused... It was mainly because the people in Eryue Palace said that if the horse died, there would be a natural disaster, so everyone was anxious."

Ethan Zhan frowned---February Palace?

Bai Yuting stood up, walked over to untie the fourth brother, feeling a little apologetic for having hurt an innocent person.

As soon as the fourth brother heard that it was the Southern Knight from Kaifeng Prefecture, he forgot the pain in his body. He was a strong man and did not take the flesh wounds seriously.

Oliver Bai gave him some more silver, Adrian Liang felt embarrassed, and quickly asked two yamen runners to take Lao Si to see a doctor, and the yamen would pay for all the medical expenses, and then send him back home. The informer was also beaten out by the oppressors.

Ethan Zhan asked, "Master Liang, what did you just say about the horse dying? The people in Eryue Palace said there would be a natural disaster?"

"Oh, yes." Adrian Liang turned around and asked Ethan Zhan, "Who is this gentleman?"

Ethan Zhan smiled, "My name is Wang Chao."

"Oh!" Adrian Liang nodded quickly and thought to himself, I've heard of this before, there is such a constable in Kaifeng Prefecture!

"Why did you two come to Qishan County?" Adrian Liang was puzzled. "Could it be that this horse belly murder case has alarmed Lord Bao in Kaifeng Prefecture?"

Ethan Zhan coughed again. Oliver Bai looked up at the sky and said, "I was just passing by and thought it was a little strange so I wanted to check it out."

"Oh...Is that so?" Adrian Liang breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Would it be convenient for the two of you to come with me? Let's go to the river and take a look at the body in the horse's belly?"

Ethan Zhan and Bai Yuting nodded happily, and everyone went to the Yishui River together. Max Xiao and Leo also followed to watch the fun.

We soon arrived at the river and saw that it was surrounded by people, many old people and women were kneeling and kowtowing.

Oliver Bai saw from a distance that everyone from Eryue Palace was standing by the Yishui River. Behind them, a piece of white cloth covered a huge fish. As soon as he saw the tail, Oliver Bai recognized it as the big fish that was chopped by Ethan Zhan last night.

"Sir Liang." Ethan Zhan said to Adrian Liang, "Don't reveal our identities for now. We have important things to do."

"Oh, I understand!" Adrian Liang nodded repeatedly.

After separating the crowd, Adrian Liang led Ethan Zhan and the others to the shore. The young palace master stood beside the big fish and asked, "What's up, Lord Liang? Did you bring the murderer here?"

When the crowd heard that it was the murderer, they all stared at Ethan Zhan and Oliver Bai. Adrian Liang quickly waved his hands and shouted, "Alas, it was a misunderstanding. Everyone, let me clarify, these two people are not the murderer at all!"

The crowd was talking.

Oliver Bai didn't care about all that, he reached out and lifted the white cloth... He frowned at the first sight.

It's not that this fish is so scary, it's just a larger fish. Oliver Bai lives on an island and has seen all kinds of big fish. This fish has a head as big as a car, sharp teeth, and a yellow body with black spots. At first glance, it is indeed tiger stripes, and its belly is snow-white with a very long knife wound on it, which was cut by Ethan Zhan yesterday.

What really concerned Oliver Bai was that this fish had more than one scar...and none of the scars were fatal.

There were countless scars of all sizes crisscrossing the fish's body...as if it had been chopped by a knife.

Ethan Zhan couldn’t see, but he didn’t dare to ask directly, so he just stood there anxiously.

After Oliver Bai finished looking at it, he said to Adrian Liang, "It was hacked by random knives. The knife techniques were different. It was done by a group of people. The knives were not sharp, so they only hurt the skin and flesh. It was not a fatal injury. It might have been hacked after death. Why don't you cut open its stomach to see if it ate anything poisonous. There were a lot of poisonous dead rats on the river yesterday."

Ethan Zhan heard it carefully. Oliver Bai’s words also explained to him the cause of the fish’s death... hacked to pieces with a knife?

Adrian Liang was about to order the fish to be cut open for inspection, but he heard the Young Palace Master of Eryue Palace shout, "Go ahead and cut it open. You are disrespecting the evil god, and you will be doomed."

As soon as he finished speaking, the whispers among the crowd became louder, and everyone was worried that they would be punished by God.

Ethan Zhan shook his head. This was just a lie to confuse the people! He then said, "It's just a fish, not a horse's belly."

The young palace master was very dissatisfied with his loss to Ethan Zhan before. He sneered when he heard him speak, "How do you know it's a fish? Can you see..."

Before Adrian Liang could finish his words, he felt someone kicking him on his calf. The force was not strong, so he looked down.

Then he saw Max Xiao looking up at him fiercely. It was he who had kicked him just now.

The young palace master was stunned for a moment, and Leo pulled the little fourth child behind him, "Jin'er, don't bother with this guy."

Ethan Zhan was unhappy but didn't say anything. Just as he was about to reach out to touch the dead fish, he heard a commotion among the crowd, followed by someone shouting in fear, "Young Palace Master! Palace Master!"

Ethan Zhan was startled, and then he felt Max Xiao hugging his legs and saying, "Meow meow, this man is dead too."

Leo nodded, "Yes, the same as that Master Liu!"

Oliver Bai rushed forward to check, and saw that the young palace master was staring blankly at the blue sky above his head, lying stiffly on the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices.