Seeing Yi Sa remaining silent for so long, Zong Hang grew restless. Though he wanted to ask something, he didn’t feel it was appropriate, so he just cleared his throat.

Sure enough, Yi Sa snapped back to attention.

She put her phone face down beside her: “This Old K exaggerates a bit, saying the Three Families won’t tolerate people like you. I’m from the Three Families, and I’ve never heard such a thing.”

Zong Hang said: “That’s because you’re a nobody…”

His mouth moved faster than his brain, accidentally blurting out Yi Xiao’s words. Zong Hang thought ‘Oh no,’ but it was too late. Yi Sa’s reaction was indeed sensitive: “Who? Who are you calling a nobody?”

If it had been someone else, she might have been more composed, perhaps even putting on airs, wearing different faces depending on who she was dealing with, asking sarcastically with a half-smile: “A nobody?”

But there was no need for that with Zong Hang, just some country bumpkin who’d heard a few scraps of information, calling her a nobody.

She pointed at herself: “I’m a Water Ghost of the Yi family, a Water Ghost, okay?”

Water Ghost?

Zong Hang was confused: “How many Water Ghosts does your Yi family have?”

Yi Xiao had also mentioned being a Water Ghost.

“The Three Families have eight Water Ghosts, and the Yi family has only two. You think they’re like Water Shakers, found by the basketful?”

Zong Hang didn’t know what “Water Shakers” were, but from the tone, he could tell it was a lower rank: “Then who’s the other one?”

Yi Sa gestured toward the door: “See, my Aunt Yunqiao, living across the hall, who was just outside talking to me for a while, that’s her.”

“No one else?”

“No one!”

So Yi Xiao had lied? Zong Hang felt he needed to verify further: “What about anyone who was expelled?”

Yi Sa laughed in exasperation: “I’ve been so clear, are you having trouble understanding my words?”

Zong Hang fell silent. It was the same as when they were eating noodles earlier – she would get fired up as she spoke, seemingly annoyed by people’s persistent questioning.

Having talked so much, her throat was dry. Yi Sa grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the table to drink and tossed one to Zong Hang: “Since Old K got you onto the ship, she’ll find a way to contact you again…”

At this point, she saw Zong Hang pinning the water bottle under his arm, struggling to twist the cap with one hand.

She snatched the bottle back and handed him her own that she had just opened but hadn’t drunk from yet: “If you can’t open it, why don’t you ask for help? Why waste energy struggling by yourself!”

Admonished again, Zong Hang meekly accepted it, mumbling a thank you.

He took a sip and looked at the brand.

Nongfu Spring – it was indeed a bit sweet.

Yi Sa continued: “When she contacts you again, tell her I want to meet with her.”

After a pause, she added: “Tell her I’m a Water Ghost from the Yi family, let her feel at ease. It’s just to meet and talk briefly, definitely not to deal with her.”

She checked the time: “It’s late, let’s sleep.”

The standard cabin had two beds, barely a meter wide each, just enough for sleeping.

Zong Hang lay on the outer bed.

Everything felt like a dream. He wanted to sort through everything that had happened these past days, but as soon as his eyelids closed, he fell asleep.

When the noise woke him up, it felt like he’d slept for less than a minute, but when he opened his eyes, it was already dawn outside.

Yi Sa stood by the window, lifting the curtain sideways to look down. Knowing he was awake, she waved at him, gesturing him not to come over: “They’ve found Ding Xi.”

The name “Ding Xi” made Zong Hang’s spine tense up.

He couldn’t help asking: “Since I can’t beat Ding Xi, should I try to avoid him as much as possible?”

Yi Sa closed the curtain: “I can’t beat him either. He’s trained through the hottest summers and coldest winters since childhood – if his horse stance so much as trembled, Ding Changsheng would hit him with a wooden ruler. With twenty years of hard training, wouldn’t it be unfair if you could beat him so easily?”

So, under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t provoke him too much, unless she had an absolute advantage: like being in the minefield area she knew like the back of her hand, or like last night’s fail-safe ambush, or like…

“You don’t need to run like a scared rat when you see him. You have your advantages. Remember, Ding Xi is sterile, and his underwater abilities aren’t even as good as a Water Shaker’s. As long as you’re in the water, or even if there’s water nearby, you’ve got backup.”

Last night, she had knocked Ding Xi unconscious.

It was someone else’s ship – for such a big person, there was nowhere to lock him up, and there wasn’t any real evidence about Chen Tu’s matter yet. But just letting him lie there unconscious, free to go once he woke up, wasn’t her style, especially since Zong Hang had three broken fingers.

She had Zong Hang take off his work uniform and throw it away first.

In summer, you could wear a T-shirt under the work uniform top, but you couldn’t exactly wear another pair under the pants. When Zong Hang took off his work pants, he was left with bare legs.

That’s when she got the idea to take off Ding Xi’s pants for Zong Hang to wear, and his shirt too. She even used a bone-cleaning knife as a razor, shaving his head in messy patches, alternating between bald spots and uneven hair.

Finally, she tied him up securely, covered his mouth and eyes, dragged him to the food storage area at the back of the kitchen, covered him with a large empty vegetable basket, surrounded by potato strips, loofah, and tomatoes, with a basket of eggplants on top.

When leaving, she turned off the lights and locked the doors. Everything was neat and clean inside and out, so when Ding Changsheng and the others searched for Ding Xi, they checked the kitchen but seeing no one there and hearing no unusual sounds, they moved on.

It wasn’t until the kitchen workers came to prepare breakfast for the ship’s passengers and started picking vegetables that they discovered him.

Yi Sa watched for a while, estimating that the group should have gone upstairs by now, then turned to instruct Zong Hang: “You wash up first, I’ll go check things out, gather some information…”

At this point, she glanced at Zong Hang’s ill-fitting pants: “And get you some proper clothes while I’m at it.”

The corridor was already full of people coming out to see what was happening. Further ahead, a door was crowded with people, which must be the place.

When she reached the door, people made way for her.

The room was also full of people, all of them influential figures. Yi Yunqiao was there too, and when she saw her, she waved: “Sasa, come here.”

She had plastic hair curlers on both sides of her head, making her look somewhat like Nezha.

Jiang Taiyue, the only female Water Ghost of the Jiang family, was tapping her cane on the ground, angrily addressing those at the door: “Go, go, go! What’s there to see!”

Jiang Taiyue was seventy-six, not much older than Ding Haijin, but her health was impeccable, and her voice was still strong. As the most senior Water Ghost of the Three Families, when she spoke up, the doorway immediately cleared considerably.

Yi Sa entered and closed the door behind her.

Ding Xi was brought up surrounded by people, probably hadn’t had time to change clothes yet, only wrapped in a bedsheet for modesty, his head patchy with bald spots and uneven hair, looking extremely disheveled. Ding Changsheng sat to the side, his face dark as if water might drip from it.

Yi Sa stared unabashedly, her face showing schadenfreude until Jiang Xiaoguang gave her a warning look, and she pretended to look away.

She had to maintain her character – she had always been at odds with this father and son from the Ding family. When Ding Xi got into trouble, she should wear this exasperating face that enjoyed others’ misfortune. If she had shown eager concern from the start, that would have raised suspicions.

She moved close to Yi Yunqiao and tugged at her clothes: “Aunt Yunqiao, what happened?”

Yi Yunqiao lowered her voice: “Couldn’t find him last night, right? Found him in the kitchen this morning, tied up like a zongzi dumpling, clothes stripped off, head shaved… Everyone’s discussing it now.”

Jiang Taiyue tapped her cane on the ground again, trembling with anger: “Investigate! Too brazen! First harming Junzi, now humiliating the Ding family’s… young man. I think they’re targeting us! What’s going on here?”

Yi Sa said: “Grandmother Jiang, I don’t think so.”

Jiang Taiyue looked up at her, her eyeballs set like triangles in her layers of drooping eyelids: “How is it not?”

Yi Sa spoke seriously: “Everyone says Young Brother Jiang was murdered. Would a killer who has already taken one life need to show such mercy to a second victim? True, Ding Xi was badly humiliated, but at least he’s still alive.”

Jiang Taiyue was easily persuaded and found her reasoning very sound: “That’s true, Sasa is so quick-witted…”

She turned to Jiang Xiaoguang: “Xiaoguang, is there any progress with Junzi’s case? I see it getting more and more complicated. Maybe we should report it to the police. Your efforts yesterday caused such a commotion but didn’t uncover anything.”

Jiang Xiaoguang looked somewhat embarrassed: “Aunt Yue, we’re operating in the open while they’re hiding in the shadows. It takes time to investigate thoroughly…”

Ding Changsheng coughed twice, and after everyone’s attention had gathered, he instructed Ding Xi: “Everyone’s here, tell us what exactly happened last night.”

This was the crucial moment.

Yi Sa held her breath.

Ding Xi was silent for a moment: “My attacker was a woman.”

Jiang Taiyue pressed: “What did she look like?”

Ding Xi shook his head: “Didn’t see her. She hung upside down from the corridor ceiling and punched both sides of my head… If it had been a man’s fists, they would have been much larger, with more force.”

Not bad, his analysis was reasonable. Jiang Taiyue nodded: “What else?”

“Nothing else. It happened so suddenly, I really couldn’t react in time…”

Yi Sa was startled.

Ding Xi hadn’t mentioned Zong Hang or the fight in the kitchen, downplaying everything to seem like a simple assault.

Seeing that no useful information could be extracted, Jiang Xiaoguang mediated: “Alright, Ding Xi has suffered enough. Let him rest. Let’s all go back for now, we can discuss anything else over breakfast.”

The group filed out gradually, only Ding Changsheng remained. As soon as the door closed, they heard his loud scolding: “Useless!”

Jiang Taiyue was so startled her cane trembled. She looked back at the door and said: “Oh my, such harsh scolding.”

Yi Yunqiao quickened her pace to support her arm: “How could he not scold? Always bragged about training since childhood, claiming his martial arts skills are worth three men, and now losing face so badly, even getting a yin-yang haircut. I find it quite amusing…”

…

Yi Sa slowed her pace to walk alongside Jiang Xiaoguang, who was last in line: “Uncle Jiang, are you alright?”

Jiang Xiaoguang looked haggard, his eyes clouded, and could only smile bitterly: “I’m fine, just don’t know how to explain this to Jiang Jun’s mother.”

“Still no progress?”

Jiang Xiaoguang shook his head.

Yi Sa said: “I think Grandmother Jiang is right, maybe we should report it to the police. We’re not professionals… Letting forensics investigate would be more thorough. For example, they might find injuries that we laypeople can’t see, or determine if drugs were involved. With this hot weather, we can’t preserve the body on the ship. If we wait a couple more days, many traces will be lost…”

Jiang Xiaoguang was about to say something when his phone rang.

While taking it out, he nodded: “I’ve considered all this. Don’t worry, although Three Families matters are handled internally, if there’s really no other way, reporting to the police is our only option…”

Looking at the caller ID, it was a Water Shaker from the Jiang family named Jiang Gu, who had just been seen going downstairs.

Jiang Xiaoguang answered: “Hello?”

There was silence at first, followed by a woman’s dark and hoarse chuckling.

Jiang Xiaoguang’s expression changed: “Who is this?”

Yi Sa looked at him curiously. Jiang Xiaoguang realized his reaction was excessive and pretended to listen attentively, his expression gradually softening: “Oh, it’s you. Didn’t recognize you at first. At your age, still playing these young people’s games…”

He glanced at Yi Sa: “Let’s go.”

He walked at a normal pace, the usual speed for someone on the phone.

The woman said: “Jiang Xiaoguang?”

Jiang Xiaoguang responded with an “Mm-hmm”: “Yes, yes, I know about this.”

The woman continued: “I fish on this lake, working from dawn to dusk…”

Jiang Xiaoguang sensed something was wrong but still nodded: “Don’t worry, such a small matter is easily resolved…”

“Yesterday morning, around just before five AM, I saw someone sink Jiang Jun’s body into the lake.”

Jiang Xiaoguang’s mind buzzed.

Yi Sa stopped and pointed at a door: “Uncle Jiang, I need to see Yudi about something…”

Jiang Xiaoguang’s mind was numb, and he nodded at her unnaturally: “Alright, you go ahead…”

He quickly walked past Yi Sa, and as he moved, the tendons in his inner thighs seemed to throb. He lowered his voice to ask: “Who are you?”

The woman maintained her slow tone: “Of course, that person wasn’t you. I just find it strange – if Jiang Jun died in the morning, why did you lie to others, saying you saw him at noon?”

Jiang Xiaoguang felt all his blood rush to his head. He moved to the wall side, each word forced through clenched teeth: “Who are you?”

The call ended.

Jiang Xiaoguang stood frozen holding his phone for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses and hurried to the stairway. He went down one floor, looking around, his palms sweating, then down another floor.

Finally, he spotted the person on the deck and called out “Jiang Gu,” taking a few quick steps forward before suddenly feeling something was wrong. He immediately stopped, instantly slouching his shoulders.

Jiang Gu turned around, saw him, and hurriedly came over: “Uncle Jiang, do you need something?”

Jiang Xiaoguang held up his phone: “My phone’s out of battery. Could I borrow yours?”

Jiang Gu quickly nodded: “No problem.”

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, but as he searched, his face suddenly filled with confusion, patting his upper and lower pockets frantically: “Hey, hey, where’s my phone?”

Jiang Xiaoguang said: “Don’t panic, think carefully about when you last used your phone.”

Jiang Gu scratched his head: “I got up early, called Er Zi to launch the boat, wanted to swim a few laps. Put my phone aside while undressing, and then Er Zi suddenly mentioned…”

He glanced nervously at Jiang Xiaoguang: “Mentioned Jiang Jun.”

“We thought since someone just died in the water, it was a bit unlucky, so we sat in the boat talking about it. While talking, we heard a commotion on the big ship, saying they’d found Ding Xi…”

“So I quickly came up to see what was happening…” Jiang Gu’s face showed sudden realization as he slapped his forehead, “Damn, I think I didn’t take it… But that’s not right, when we retrieved the boat, there was nothing in it.”

Jiang Xiaoguang remained silent, only turning to look at the great lake.

When launching boats, there’s usually some distance between the small boat and the ship.

That woman wasn’t a fisherwoman – she had taken the phone from underwater.

It was an inside job.