Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 198: Mutual Fraud
The day after the notice was issued, the Gouchensi Yamen.

Diwu Wei came to the Zuyin Garden, knocked on the door and entered, then said respectfully, "Master Zhai, are you looking for me?"

"Yes." Chen Qingzhi nodded, handed him a letter beside the chessboard and said, "Dong Dangmen has replied."

Diwuwei took it with both hands and saw that it was written "Personally from General Chen Zhai". No wonder the doorman sent it here.

He took out the letter and quickly read it, and saw that Dong Dangmen agreed to surrender, but the condition was that Chen Qingzhi must agree to release his son and he would decide the location of the exchange.

"What does Zhai Shuai mean?" asked the Fifth Dimension.

"You can agree to his request." Chen Qingzhi replied: "Publish the notice."

"Yes." The Fifth Dimension responded in a deep voice.

~~
So the streets of Jiankang City were once again covered with notices from the Gou Chensi, announcing that General Chen had agreed to Dong Dangmen's request and promised to release Dong Xian as long as he surrendered. He also agreed that Dong Dangmen would decide the location for the exchange tomorrow.

After the scholar finished reading the notice, he could not help but complain, saying that the Gou Chen Division ignored the law and acted recklessly in order to complete the task...

At dusk that day, Dong Dangmen's second letter was delivered to Gou Chen Si again, agreeing that the two sides would exchange letters on the river outside the north dike of Xuanwu Lake at noon the next day, and a black flag would be raised on his boat at that time.

~~
Near noon the next day, a large group of ghostwriters surrounded a prison cart and left the Gouchensi government office.

The team went straight out of Qilin City and arrived at Qilin Wharf, where three official ships were already waiting.

The executioner lifted the prison cage onto the middle boat, and the people from the Gou Chen Division boarded three official boats and sailed into Xuanwu Lake together.

The area of Xuanwu Lake at that time was several times that of later generations, and its north was originally directly connected to the Yangtze River.

Later, in order to prevent floods, a north dike was built along the Yangtze River to separate the river and the lake area.

Three official ships slowly sailed out of Xuanwu Lake from the dike, and ships were seen shuttling and racing on the busy river.

"There!" The ghostwriters searched the river for a long time before they saw a speedboat in the middle of the river, slowly raising a black flag.

"Come closer." The Fifth Dimension gave the order in a deep voice. The three sailboats crossed the busy route and came to the center of the river.

The boat weighed anchor and set sail.

"Follow." The Fifth Dimension gave an order, and the three official ships followed the small boat all the way east.

At dusk, after sailing downstream for a full 120 miles, the boat finally stopped at Guazhou.

At that time, Guazhou was not connected to the north bank of the Yangtze River, but was still a sandbar surrounded by water on all sides in the Yangtze River.

Three official ships followed, forming an inverted Chinese character “品” (Chinese character for “品”), surrounding the small boat on the shore.

"Hey, that boatman!" Then a ghostwriter shouted to the old man who was rowing the boat, "Where is Dong Dangmen?"

"Here." Then the one-eyed Dong Dangmen appeared from the reeds on the shore. "Who is your team leader?"

"It's me." Diwuwei walked to the bow, looked at Dong Dangmen and said, "Dangmen, we finally meet."

"Where is my son?" Dong Dangmen ignored him.

Diwuwei waved his hand, and Chen Baxian and Yang Zhong came to the bow carrying a prison cage.

In the cage, Dong Xian had been tortured to the point of being on the verge of death. He was no longer in human form and even had difficulty calling out "dad".

"You've gone too far!" Dong Dangmen was filled with anger.

"We are the Gou Chen Division, not the Ciyou Bureau. Don't be so childish, okay?" Zuan sneered.

The Fifth Dimension pointed at the cage, then pointed at Dong Dangmen and said, "Come, you come in and he goes out."

"Let my son get off the boat first." Dong Dangmen insisted. "Don't worry, our Chen Shuai is a man of his word. As long as you come in obediently, he will definitely let him go." The Fifth Dimension said lightly.

"Okay, I trust Chen Qingzhi's promise." Dong Dangmen hesitated for a moment, but nodded for his son's sake and said, "I'll come up right away."

The planks were lowered and the cage door opened.

Dong Dangmen boarded Gou Chensi's boat with a serious expression.

The old boatman also followed and helped Dong Xian out of the cage.

Although Dong Xian could no longer speak, tears still flowed down his face as he looked at Dong Dangmen with reluctance.

"Son, take care of yourself in the future." Dong Dangmen said, and stepped into the cage. The old boatman also carried Dong Xian off the boat.

As soon as Dong Dangmen entered the cage, he was suppressed by the formation inside the cage. His knees went weak and he fell to the ground.

Seeing this, the Fifth Dimension frowned and said, "Isn't Dang Men a great magical power? How can a mere demon-suppressing formation make you so weak?"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pressed Dong Dangmen's vital point. After a brief inspection, his expression immediately changed and he said, "He doesn't have seven orifices opened. He is not Dong Dangmen at all!"

"Stop them quickly!" Nangong hurriedly pointed at Dong Xian and the other man who had already reached the shore and shouted.

The ghostwriter jumped off the bow and pounced on the two men.

But the old boatman smiled wickedly and disappeared from everyone's sight, carrying Dong Xian on his back.

"Chase him!" the Fifth Dimension shouted angrily.

But when I looked around, there was no one in sight. Where could I find him?
~~
The next moment, the old boatman appeared on another sandbar several miles away, carrying Dong Xian on his back.

There was another speedboat parked there. The old boatman used his escape skills again and carried Dong Xian onto the boat.

Seeing the two people appear on the boat, the boatman was not surprised at all. He quickly untied the ropes, hoisted the sails and poled, and sailed the boat away from the sandbar.

The speedboat sailed smoothly with the wind and sped towards the mouth of the Yangtze River.

The old boatman had been standing at the stern, watching that no one had caught up. He then turned around and took off the human skin mask on his head, revealing a friendly face with one black and one white eye. It was none other than Dong Dangmen.

Dong Xian looked at the old boatman's changed expression in surprise, and couldn't help showing a look of joy. He opened his mouth and seemed to call out "Father".

"Ah Xian, it's okay. Your father is here to save you." Dong Dangmen felt distressed and took out the medicine bottle from his arms, poured out a Yu Shu Dan, and put it to his son's mouth and said, "Take it quickly, you will be fine after eating it."

Dong Xian opened his mouth to take the Jade Pipe Pill, but Dong Dangmen's eyes suddenly glared at him, and he pinched his cheeks, staring at his teeth and asked, "Where is the tomb-raiding fang that was passed down in our family?"

"No, you are not my son!" Dong Dangmen blushed and shouted angrily, "Tell me, who are you?!"

The man then revealed his true appearance; he was a handsome young man with a slightly dark complexion, much more handsome than his son.

But what he wants is his son, not the handsome boy!

"Do you still need to ask?" The handsome young man was Ren Yuan. He was not afraid and replied with a smile: "I am the ghostwriter of the Gou Chen Division."

"How dare you cheat?!" Dong Dangmen broke through the defense.

"How dare you say that? We were just on guard against you. If you surrender, we will release your son." Ren Yuan sneered, "The reputation of our Gouchen Division is much more valuable than your son with a rotten crotch."

"You! I'll kill you!" Dong Dangmen was so angry that he raised his hand and was about to kill Ren Yuange on the spot.

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(End of this chapter)