The shop assistant saw so many people arrive at once, all with serious expressions, and realized something was wrong. He quickly went to call the proprietor and another shop assistant.

Those who could become proprietors all had some discernment. Upon seeing the expressions of Cui Ji and the others, he knew something was amiss. He walked over with an apologetic smile: “I don’t know what instructions Young Master Cui and the others have for this humble wine house?”

Cui Ji said: “I ask you, did Third Young Master Zheng come here the night before last?”

The proprietor thought for a moment and nodded: “He came and ordered several pots of the Langguan wine he usually drinks.”

Seeing that Zheng Yang had indeed come here, Zheng Mo urgently asked: “Who did he come with? Was he drunk? What time did he leave? Where did he go?”

His string of questions made the proprietor feel dizzy. After sorting through the questions, he answered one by one: “This humble one remembers that Third Young Master Zheng came alone, with no one accompanying him. He drank about five or six pots of Langguan Qing. As for whether he was drunk… this humble one saw that when he left, he wasn’t swaying about, so he shouldn’t have been drunk. As for what time he left, this… this humble one can’t recall for the moment.”

The shop assistant named He Er said: “This humble one remembers it had just passed the first watch, because the night watchman knows this humble one, and he said a few words when passing by. After settling the bill, Third Young Master left. No one went with him. As for where he went, that’s unclear – Third Young Master didn’t say.” Speaking thus, he pointed toward the left side of the shop: “Look, he walked in that direction.”

Du Ruhui looked in the direction of his pointing finger and frowned: “The Jinshui River is indeed in that direction, but why would Brother Zheng go there?”

Zheng Mo stared at He Er: “Are you certain no one accompanied my third brother?”

He Er shrank his neck under his stare: “Yes, this humble one is certain. However, whether Third Young Master met anyone after leaving, this humble one doesn’t know.”

Zheng Mo withdrew his gaze and said coldly: “Let’s go to the Jinshui River.” Before boarding the carriage, he said to the accompanying guards: “Bring the fisherman who discovered Third Brother’s body.”

With the urgent sound of carriage wheels rolling, they quickly arrived near the Jinshui River. At the same time, the guards brought the fisherman, who led them to where he had first discovered Zheng Yang’s body, saying with lingering fear: “It was right here. This morning when I saw something floating and sinking there, this humble one thought it was a piece of wood. Who knew that after fishing it up, it turned out to be a corpse – truly frightening.”

“Besides the body, what else did you discover?” Faced with Cui Ji’s inquiry, the fisherman shook his head: “Nothing else.”

Zheng Mo frowned tightly: “Think carefully – are you certain there was nothing else?”

The fisherman said as instructed: “Indeed there wasn’t, but this humble one was frightened at the time and didn’t look carefully around this area. Perhaps there are still things that weren’t discovered.”

After ordering him to withdraw, the four men searched along the riverbank but found nothing suspicious. Du Ruhui looked upstream and said: “Brother Zheng disappeared the night before last, but his body was only found today – a full day and two nights are missing. In my view, the place where Brother Zheng fell into the water should be further upstream, and he drifted here with the current.”

Cui Ji nodded: “I think so too, so we need to search upstream from here.”

Zheng Mo and the others naturally wouldn’t object to this. They slowly searched upstream along the riverbank. Although the Jinshui River wasn’t wide, it was extremely long. The four men searched while walking, making very slow progress. By the time the sky gradually darkened, they had only reached the middle section of the river.

Pei Qiancheng frowned: “This won’t work. We need to send more people to search.”

Zheng Mo had the same thought and immediately said: “I’ll have someone return to the residence to send word, dispatching guards and servants to search here. We must find where Third Brother truly fell into the water.”

While they were talking, Du Ruhui suddenly ran forward several steps, then bent down to pick up something. Cui Ji walked to his side: “Have you discovered something?”

Du Ruhui handed over what was in his hand: “Look!”

“This…” Cui Ji stared at the object in his hand, excitedly saying: “This is Brother Zheng’s thumb ring! Could he have fallen into the water here?”

Upon hearing this, the remaining men all gathered around. Zheng Mo even snatched the white jade thumb ring, saying repeatedly: “Correct, this is Third Brother’s item. He must… must have fallen into the water here. Search carefully at once.” He said to the guards: “You all search around and see if there are any people in this area. Perhaps someone might have seen the situation the night before last.”

The guards departed as ordered. Du Ruhui and the others searched the vicinity. After a thorough search, apart from the thumb ring, there were no other discoveries. However, Cui Ji kept staring at a certain spot on the shore.

Du Ruhui walked to his side: “What are you looking at?”

Cui Ji pointed to the stones on the ground: “Brother Du, look – the moss on these several pebbles shows signs of slipping, and you just found the thumb ring nearby. Could it be that Brother Zheng accidentally fell into the water because he stepped on the moss?”

Du Ruhui looked carefully and indeed it was so. He frowned: “From this perspective, this is the place where he fell into the water. But… what was Brother Zheng doing here?”

Cui Ji pondered: “Although the shop assistant said Brother Zheng was clear-headed when he left, we all know that Langguan wine has a strong aftereffect. It’s very likely that while walking, the effects kicked in and he began to feel intoxicated, unknowingly walking to this place, then accidentally stepping on the moss-covered pebbles, thus falling into the water.”

“That’s possible.” After a while, all the guards returned. This section of the river was in a remote location, and they hadn’t found anyone, let alone any witnesses.

Zheng Mo was unwilling to accept this result. He ordered people to expand the search range while sending others to the residence to report, so that more guards and servants could be dispatched to search together.

When night had completely covered the sky, people from the Zheng residence had all arrived. Countless torches reflected in the river water as the guards searched inch by inch, practically turning over every stone in this section. Apart from discovering that the moss on some stones showed signs of being stepped on, there were no other findings.

As for those sent to search the vicinity, they finally found several wooden houses several li away, all inhabited, but the residents all said they hadn’t been near that section of the river the night before, let alone seen anyone.

Zheng Mo was unsatisfied with this result and had the guards continue expanding the search range, but the results remained the same – no one had seen Zheng Yang.