Chapter 539 What a clever thing but a clumsy one
"Brother Qin, my injury has not healed yet, and Miss Pan has repeatedly told me not to work too hard. Therefore, you will preside over the East Hall meeting today."

"Me? No way!"

"Ouch! Let's go!"

Liu Xunyi's words came without warning, which surprised Qin Ku, who didn't know what was going on. Before he could say anything to refuse, Liu Xunyi grabbed his arm and headed straight to the East Hall.

At noon, the sun is shining brightly and the autumn weather is crisp and cool.

Nearly a thousand disciples from the three sects gathered in the huge East Hall, each of them looking energetic and in high spirits.

Today was the first time that Liu Xunyi had convened the disciples of the three lower sects to discuss matters after his return, which inevitably made people excited and their blood boil.

Little did they know that since Liu Xunyi was promoted to Black Fan Master, the meetings in the East Hall were almost rare. Except for the three sect masters, other disciples rarely had contact with Liu Xunyi, and even meeting him was a matter of luck.

Unlike when Di Mo was in power, Liu Xunyi prefers to do things himself, or give orders directly to a few people after careful consideration. Therefore, to many disciples of the lower three sects, Liu Xunyi is much more low-key than Di Mo, and more mysterious.

At this time, the three sect masters Xu Heng, Ling Qing, and Luo Ningyu sat in front of the dead, injured, and shocked disciples respectively. The crowd was arranged in a fan shape, with a chair placed in the middle, which was the throne of Hei Zhishan.

Today, an extra chair was placed to the right of the chief seat as an exception. This was the seat of Qin Ku, the newly promoted deputy fan holder of the Lower Three Gates.

Amidst much anticipation and accompanied by some banter and laughter, Liu Xunyi and Qin Ku entered the East Hall one after another.

Upon seeing the two, the disciples hurriedly made way for them. At the same time, Xu Heng, Ling Qing, and Luo Ningyu all stood up and bowed.

"See the Black Fan! The Deputy Fan!"

"No need to be polite."

Liu Xunyi smiled calmly, walked quickly to his seat, pointed at Qin Ku, and said loudly: "Qin Ku, the deputy fan holder of the lower three gates appointed by the palace master, known as 'Ghost Seer' in the martial arts world. I don't need to introduce him in detail, I believe everyone has heard of him."

After saying this, Liu Xunyi's mind moved, and he continued: "When I first entered the Lower Three Sects, everyone was not familiar with me, so there were many problems. Today, Qin Ku will be the deputy fan holder. If any of you are not convinced, you can ask him for advice."

Liu Xunyi's words caused everyone to whisper.

"Qin Ku's name is well-known. Wouldn't it be boring to ask him for advice?" Liao Chuan curled his lips and said, "Forget it! Forget it!"

"At the martial arts conference, the deputy fan holder chopped the 'lame swordsman' into pieces. Such a record is enough to shock the heroes of the world. We know our own strengths and weaknesses, so how dare we ask him for advice?" Liao Hai said, "Besides, with the guarantee of the mansion master and the black fan holder, even a fool can guess that the deputy fan holder must have real skills and is not just a name."

"Good vision, brothers!" Qin Ku crossed his legs, leaned lazily on the chair, and smiled innocently, "We are a family in the future, so don't use knives and guns all the time, how unlucky is that? Even if you want to ask for advice, you have to go to the wine table to ask for it, right? Hehe... I'm a newcomer and don't know the rules of the lower three sects. I will have to rely on you brothers to take care of me in the future. Right now, it's urgent and there is no time to delay. How about this, after I finish this job, I will treat everyone to a drink. The best wine, let's get drunk, and it can be regarded as my gift to everyone, how about it?"

"Okay!" Ling Qing said jokingly, "There are nearly a thousand brothers in the lower three sects, and they all have big drinking capacity. If you want to get everyone drunk, and use the best wine, you should first consider whether your wallet is big enough."

"It doesn't matter!" Qin Ku waved his hand with great enthusiasm, "Deputy Fan will treat you, Black Fan will pay!"

"Ha ha……"

Qin Ku's words immediately caused a burst of laughter.

"Why?" Luo Ningyu said righteously, "Why is your face thicker than the city wall?"

Qin Ku narrowed his eyes slightly and retorted: "I asked Hei Zhishan to pay, but I didn't ask you to pay. Why are you so distressed?"

At this point, Qin Ku raised his eyebrows, pretending to be enlightened, and said with a wicked smile: "I remember now! The Lord of Luo is the future Fan Wife. Why? Now that you haven't even married yet, you can't wait to care about your husband?"

"puff!"

Qin Ku's joke made Liu Xunyi spit out the tea he had just drunk.

At this moment, Luo Ningyu's face was red, she was angry and embarrassed. Everyone couldn't help laughing, the funny look of everyone wanting to laugh but not daring to laugh was very funny.

After a few words, the atmosphere in the East Hall gradually became lively.

Qin Ku was born with a clever tongue and was good at speaking. He was able to get to know people well and quickly became friends with the disciples from the lower three sects.

"Let's get back to the topic!" Liu Xunyi's smile faded and he said seriously, "Today's East Hall meeting will be chaired by Qin Ku, and everyone will follow his orders."

"Yes, sir." Everyone shouted, and the noisy scene suddenly quieted down.

"The job assigned by the mansion master is not to fight or kill, steal or rob. Just two simple words: find someone. And there is a deadline of three days." Qin Ku looked around at everyone and said leisurely, "Within three days, I want to find the person alive or dead."

"Who are you looking for?" Xu Heng asked, "Where should we look for him?"

"Look for a doctor in the mansion, Li Jia." Qin Ku explained, "Some of you have seen him, and some have not. It doesn't matter, I will send Li Jia's portrait to everyone later. As for where to find him... I still need to think about it."

Qin Ku's words shocked everyone. They looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what to say.

"Xunyi, when did you and Li Jia separate last night?" Qin Ku ignored everyone's reaction and turned to ask Liu Xunyi, "How old is this person? What's his figure like?"

"About three quarters past midnight." Liu Xunyi did not ask Qin Ku's intention and answered cheerfully, "This man is about fifty years old and thin."

"This morning, when the mansion master was investigating this matter, did he ask who left the mansion without permission last night?" "I did, and no one left." Liu Xunyi said confidently, "Bai Zhishan and Qing Zhishan can both testify."

"Okay then." Qin Ku rolled his eyes and said, "This morning, the Palace Master asked about this matter in the central hall. What time was it?"

"The beginning of the morning hour."

"Okay!" Qin Ku frowned and muttered to himself, "From the third quarter of the evening last night to the first quarter of the morning this morning, it has been less than five hours. I will calculate it as five hours, and the longest round trip is two and a half hours..."

After muttering to this point, Qin Ku suddenly raised his head, stared at Liu Xunyi suspiciously, and asked curiously: "Xunyi, if you are in good health, how far can you go in two and a half hours with Li Jia's body?"

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi's eyes flashed with approval, and he said thoughtfully: "If we walk, it will be about 20 to 30 miles. If we have a fast horse... we may be able to run 50 to 60 miles."

"Wait!" Luo Ningyu interrupted, "How do you know Li Jia is dead? If he were alive..."

"Li Jia can't possibly be alive." Qin Ku answered confidently, "How can a man who dared to kill Jiang Yiwei be merciful to an insignificant person like Li Jia?"

"How do you know that Mr. Jiang San was killed?" Ling Qing asked curiously.

"The mansion master said so." Liu Xunyi did not betray Pan Yuyin and said vaguely, "You don't need to doubt this."

"Since the mansion master said it himself, I believe it's true." Xu Heng thought, "Well! Let's believe that Li Jia is dead, but how do you know that someone in the mansion must have taken the body out? Maybe someone killed Li Jia and gave the body to someone outside to abandon in the wilderness. In this case, your five hours of round trip... isn't it a bit hasty?"

"It is possible, but it is very slim." Qin Ku replied without denying it. "First, the incident last night was so serious and involved so many people. The murderer must hope that as few people as possible would know about it, otherwise he would not have killed Li Jia to silence him. If the body is abandoned by an outsider, there will undoubtedly be one more person who knows the secret, which will increase the risk of leakage. If it were me, I would not do such a stupid thing. Second, if the body is really abandoned by an outsider, they will have enough time to destroy it. At the same time, the scope and difficulty of our search will be infinitely expanded. Let alone three days, even if it is three or thirty years, there will be no clues. Therefore, instead of worrying unnecessarily, it is better to use three days to do something within our ability. What's more, the Lord of the Palace is willing to give us three days to search for Li Jia, and he must have considered this aspect."

Qin Ku's words made sense. The disciples hesitated for a moment and then nodded one after another.

"There is another possibility." Luo Ningyu interrupted, "Even if it is someone in the mansion, it is possible to destroy the body within five hours, right?"

"That's right!" Qin Ku nodded, "But the chances are also slim. Whoever does this, knows for sure. It requires great care and patience. If you are in a time-sensitive situation where you could be exposed at any time, I don't believe anyone can do it perfectly. In other words, even if you destroy the body, it won't be clean, and there will definitely be some clues left for you to find."

"How do you know?" Luo Ningyu raised her eyebrows and asked teasingly, "Have you ever done it?"

"How do you know I haven't done it?"

Qin Ku's question instead of answering made everyone's face change and they were shocked.

They suddenly realized that the fat man in front of them, who was so pleasing to the Master, seemed... not as kind as he looked.

"If you delay here for a moment longer, you will have less chance of finding Li Jia." Qin Ku said in a clear voice, "The disciples of the three sects listen to my order and search carefully within a radius of fifty miles around the Xianwang Mansion. Focus on the mountains, forests, rivers, valleys and other places where corpses are easily hidden. Whoever finds Li Jia, dead or alive, will be rewarded with thirty thousand silver coins. At the same time, I will post a notice to mobilize the people of Luoyang to search together. If they can find Li Jia, they will be rewarded with fifty thousand silver coins. If you don't want to be laughed at as a drunkard and don't want the reward money to fall into the hands of outsiders, you must search carefully and seriously. Don't miss any corner within a radius of fifty miles."

"Yes!"

The disciples of the three lower sects all accepted the order in unison, their hearts pounding and eager to try.

"Xun Yi, what you mean is..."

Facing Qin Ku's question, Liu Xunyi smiled slightly and said, "I have no objection. Everything will be done according to the deputy's wishes!"

"As ordered!"

Led by the three sect masters, nearly a thousand disciples dispersed.

"Brother Qin, you are awesome!" Looking at the people walking away, Liu Xunyi gave Qin Ku a heartfelt compliment, "But I am curious, will you really post a notice to ask the people of Luoyang to help find Li Jia?"

"Of course..." Qin Ku hesitated under Liu Xunyi's suspicious gaze, then smiled and said frankly, "Of course not! The Northern Sage King is the leader of the martial arts world. He has status, position, and face. I know that family disgrace should not be made public. As for posting the notice... it's just a trick to provoke him."

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help laughing and clapped his hands in praise.

"Wait! Favors are favors, but accounts must be kept clear." Qin Ku glared and said seriously, "If you really find Li Jia, the reward of 30,000 silver... you pay it."

"You get the credit, but I lose money?" Liu Xunyi shook his head and said, "This deal is not worth it."

After saying that, Liu Xunyi slowly stood up and walked out of the hall under Qin Ku's resentful gaze.

"At most... I don't want the credit, I just want you to pay!" Qin Ku took the initiative to give in. "If you can't find Li Jia, I'll take the punishment. If you find Li Jia, you can take the credit, okay?"

"Really?" Liu Xunyi suddenly turned around and said hesitantly, "Don't regret it?"

Seeing Liu Xunyi giving in, Qin Ku quickly raised his hand and swore: "A real man, once a word is spoken, it cannot be taken back!"

"Oh well!"

Liu Xunyi agreed reluctantly, and when he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and said without turning his head, "Brother Qin, there is something I forgot to tell you. The mansion master said that if the mission is completed, the first person to make the greatest contribution... can receive a reward of 100,000 silver from the account office."

After saying this, he completely ignored Qin Ku's painful expression, hummed a little tune, leisurely stepped over the threshold, and went to the yard to bask in the sun.

……

(End of this chapter)