A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

The next two days passed quite comfortably. In the morning, Zheng Xuan went to Li Jitong's house to study the visualization diagram, and in the afternoon, he went out on a boat with Li Jitong and the others to retrieve the corpse and complete his duties.

When I returned home in the evening, I went to my master's house. The fisherwoman cooked a delicious meal, and I had a few drinks with my master. It was a carefree time.

Until the third day.

During the day, Zheng Xuan, Li Jitong, and Zhou Xun were carrying out their river patrol duties as usual. However, just as they were about to finish their work, the body retrieval team suddenly received an urgent job. Near Wangjiagu, someone reported that there was a floating body in the water, and the team needed to be dispatched immediately to retrieve it.

Today, it just so happens that Li Jitong's team is on duty, so Li Jitong is going to take Zheng Xuan and Zhou Xun with him.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun looked at Li Jitong, who was stammering, and seemed somewhat embarrassed. Li Jitong immediately asked, "What's wrong? Why are you stammering like that?"

"Well, it's Uncle Feng's birthday today, and I promised Ah Jiao that I would go to celebrate with him after work."

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong frowned and said, "Feng San is only forty years old this year, what kind of birthday is he celebrating...?"

"Master..."

Seeing that Li Jitong was reluctant to agree, Zhou Xun immediately pleaded.

This birthday celebration was one reason, but more importantly, Feng San wanted to confirm Zhou Xun's feelings and see if Zhou Xun truly wanted to marry Nianjiao from their family. This was a test.

If Zhou Xun doesn't go, he won't be able to explain it to Feng Nianjiao later.

Zheng Xuan said, "Master, I'll go with you to Wangjiagu. Let my senior brother go; after all, it's a major life event."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun immediately cast a grateful glance at Zheng Xuan. Good brother, for life.

Seeing that Zheng Xuan had pleaded for him, Li Jitong couldn't forcefully stop him. He then looked at Zhou Xun and said, "You kid, watch yourself. Don't always agree to whatever the Feng family says. Be careful."

Zhou Xun nodded, and Li Jitong said, "Go back, I have two bottles of good wine in my room, take them with Feng San, don't go empty-handed."

"Yes, Master, I understand." Zhou Xun said and ran off happily.

Seeing Zhou Xun like this, Li Jitong said, "Your senior brother embodies loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and trustworthiness perfectly."

Zheng Xuan was taken aback when he heard this. He looked at Li Jitong and couldn't help but smile. His master was quite good at insulting people. Loyalty, filial piety, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. His senior brother had loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and trustworthiness, so he was just lacking wisdom.

That's how you insult someone's stupid without using any dirty words!

"Alright, grab your tools, let's go to Wangjiagu. Go early and come back early, don't keep your fisherwoman waiting for you too long."

"Why!"

Zheng Xuan responded, took the six treasures for retrieving corpses, and then rowed straight to Wangjiagu.

Tianjin has a total of 72 villages, from the oldest Dazhigu to Hangu and Tanggu, which together make up the Tianjin of today.

Zheng and Xuan rowed on the Haihe River for about half an hour until they reached Wangjiagu. By then, the sun had completely set and it was already dark.

They arrived at the Wangjiagu River, but the area was deserted and there was no one in sight. From a distance, they could see a corpse floating face down on the water.

Zheng Xuan and Li Jitong rowed over. Zheng Xuan looked around, his brows furrowed, and said to Li Jitong, "Master, something's not right. It's too quiet all around. Not even the wild ducks are calling."

Li Jitong stared intently at the corpse in the river, his gaze sharpening. Suddenly, his expression changed: "Oh no! Jump in!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan's expression changed drastically. He and Li Ji jumped into the water at the same time. Just as they entered the water, a loud cannon boom was heard. The next moment, a black cannonball struck Zheng Xuan's small boat directly.

With a loud bang, the small boat was instantly blown to pieces.

Zheng Xuan and Li Ji jumped into the water and felt their scalps being blown off by the huge shockwave.

The surging waves crashed against Zheng Xuan and his companion. At this moment, Li Jitong steadied himself in the storm and looked around. Just then, he saw many small boats rushing out from the reeds not far away.

Looking further into the distance, you can also see the silhouette of a metal boat.

"Shit, they managed to get away!"

Captain Anthony of Ironhide shouted exaggeratedly, while Richard, who was standing next to him, jumped off the small boat and said, "Anthony, I said take them alive, you were too impulsive."

Anthony said, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

After saying that, Anthony looked at Richard and asked, "Where are you going?"

Upon hearing this, Richard said, "I want to go and meet them myself. These two Chinese are no simpletons; they managed to outwit me!"

"Master, it seems we're surrounded!"

Zheng Xuan looked around and said to Li Jitong, who looked around at the surrounding ships and said, "The newcomers are hostile. Don't linger in battle. Run if you can."

"Yes, I understand."

Zheng Xuan nodded.

Just then, Richard stood on the small boat and led his men to the two of them.

"Water Ghost Li, and that little friend who loves France, we meet again!"

Richard, dressed in a black tailcoat and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, stood elegantly at the bow of the ship, looking at the two people soaking in the water.

Zheng Xuan saw Richard, frowned, and said, "Mr. Richard, what are you doing here so late?"

Richard looked at Zheng Xuan and said, "Of course, it's because I was waiting for you."

"So, this was all a trap?"

Zheng Xuan looked at Richard, who said, "Of course, this is your China after all. If we arrest people outside the concession, we will be condemned by public opinion. But if we trick you into coming to this deserted place, then it doesn't matter."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan looked at Richard and said, "Mr. Richard, what are you going to do to go through all this trouble? You're not trying to get my reward money back, are you?"

"If you want the money back, I can return it to you, sir."

"No, no, what do you take our great Andrei family for? A mere thousand silver dollars is nothing to our family."

"I've come only to ask you two one question. If you answer truthfully, I will not make things difficult for you."

Zheng Xuan and Li Jitong exchanged a glance after hearing this. Oh no, it seems their plan has been exposed and the foreigners have found out.

But where is the flaw?

The two men frowned deeply. They had no idea that Richard's extraordinary memory was the reason he had deduced that they were in cahoots and thus pieced together the whole story.

"What's the problem?"

Zheng Xuanqiang asked calmly.

Richard then grinned and said, "Where did you hide Wenmofang? Hand him over!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong frowned and said, "What Wenmo Fang? Li Mofang? I don't know him."

Upon hearing this, Richard's smile vanished, and he looked at Li Jitong and Zheng Xuan, saying, "It seems the two of you are unwilling to cooperate."

After Richard finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the next moment all the people on the surrounding small boats were dressed in water ghost equipment, took out weapons and jumped into the water, forming an encirclement and trapping the two.

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong said to Zheng Xuan, "I'll deal with these people. You just need to find a chance to run away. Don't worry about me."

"Ah, Master..."

Li Jitong said, "Stop being so wishy-washy. We need someone to go out and deliver the message. If I get caught, go to Tianjin and find Song Jin'ao."

As he spoke, Li Jitong sank into the water, slowly drawing a dagger from his waist.