Several fishermen dived to the bottom of the river and emerged from the water to breathe. They went back and forth for a long time but could not find any trace of Xu Tong.
At this time, Mr. Liu and a group of servants came to the river bank. He shouted into the river: "Where is my master?"
The boatman looked at Mr. Liu on the river bank, and then punted the boat closer to the river bank.
When Mr. Liu saw the boatman, he hurriedly asked: "Where is my master? Why didn't you see him?"
The boatman looked sad and said: "That gentleman, I'm afraid he has already filled up the river."
"What do you mean?" Mr. Liu frowned.
The boatman explained: "The boat sank in the river. The gentleman fell into the river and has not been found yet. I am afraid he is no longer there."
"You mean my elder fell into the river and died!" Mr. Liu swayed back and almost collapsed on the ground.
Fortunately, the servant next to him had quick eyesight and quick hands, and helped him in advance.
The boatman nodded sadly and said, "Please forgive me, I have tried my best."
"Impossible, how could my family die? If someone died, what would they be looking for in the river?" Mr. Liu pointed at the fisherman who was diving in the river.
The boatman looked back and said, "They are fishing for corpses."
Mr. Liu did not answer this time.
When he came over and didn't see his master, he thought of the possibility that his master had fallen into the river, or even drowned.
"Mr. Liu, this is his boat, so he must be the one who killed you. Why don't you arrest him and see the official." A servant next to him pointed at the boatman and said.
The boatman hurriedly used his long pole to punt the shallow water in the river and moved the boat into the river. At the same time, he argued: "I told you when we were at the ferry. Your wooden boxes are heavy and heavy, so we can't move them all." On the ship, but you just didn’t listen and insisted on moving all the wooden boxes on the ship. Now the ship has sunk, I can’t blame you.”
"You are still here quibbling, I think you are the one who killed my master." The man next to him insisted that it was Xu Tong who was killed by the boatman.
The boatman simply ignored them and paddled away from the river bank to the middle of the river.
Mr. Liu stood on the shore without saying a word.
The servant next to him said: "Mr. Liu, the adults don't know whether they are alive or dead now. From what I've seen, I'm afraid the odds are against us. We definitely won't be able to go to the capital, so why don't we just leave here!"
Hearing this, Mr. Liu glanced at him and scolded: "What nonsense are you talking about? As long as your body is not found, it cannot be concluded that something has happened to you. Let me search downstream along the river bank to find you." "
He said this, but in his heart there was no chance that Xu Tong would survive.
What an aide can do is to find Xu Tong's body and give an explanation to the court and Xu Tong's family.
Some servants began to walk downstream along the river bank.
At this moment, a servant said: "Mr. Liu, you have fallen into the water for so long and still haven't been found. Unless you turn into a fish, there is no chance of survival after you have fallen into the water for so long."
"Yes, unless it's a fish, anyone who falls into the river and doesn't show up for so long will be drowned." A servant helped.
"Brothers, since the adults are dead, let's stop doing this work. No one will give us wages if we stay here."
"Yes, the adults are all gone. What are we still doing here? Let's quit and go home."
"But what to do with the previous wages? I haven't received this month's wages yet."
"It's a shitty salary. The adults are dead. Who will pay us back? There's still some luggage on the ferry. Why don't we share the luggage with us and it'll be worth the wages."
"We adults were governors in Datong and made a lot of money. Maybe there are a lot of valuable things in the luggage at the ferry. Come on, let's go back and divide the luggage."
The servants walked to the ferry in groups.
The servants who originally went downstream to search for Xu Tong's whereabouts, when they heard the words of other servants, no longer thought of continuing downstream, turned around and followed the others to the ferry.
When Mr. Liu saw this scene, his lips trembled with anger, and he cursed: "Gentle scum, gentle scum, you gentle scum."
No matter how much he yelled and cursed from behind, none of the servants paid any attention to him. Instead, the servants began to compete with each other and ran to the ferry.
There were a lot of luggage piled on the ferry that had not had time to be transported to the other side of the river. Everyone knew that the first to get to the ferry would be the first to grab the luggage on the ferry.
Mr. Liu knew that he could not stop the servants returning to the ferry, so he simply stopped blocking them and stayed alone on the shore, staring at the fishermen who were fishing for Xu Tong in the river.
With so many people leaving on the river bank, they were naturally seen by the boatman on the boat, and a few fishermen who surfaced also noticed this scene.
The boatman said to the fisherman in the river: "The man must have been washed downstream by the river water. He will definitely not be able to catch him here. If he wants to find his body, he can only go downstream to find it."
The few fishermen in the river did not speak, knowing in their hearts that what the other party said was the truth.
The reason why we wanted to fish here again was entirely because the person who fell into the river was a high official and he was worried that he would be blamed by the government.
The boatman continued: "See, they don't even care about their own people, so why should we care? They are unlikely to be alive anyway, so let's just stop fishing and let everyone go back to their homes."
A fisherman in the river said: "If we go back now, will we be blamed?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Mr. Liu standing on the shore.
The boatman on the boat said: "We didn't kill the person, it's none of our business, and even if someone blames it, it's me. After all, the person fell into the river from my boat."
Upon hearing this, several fishermen felt that what the other party said was reasonable. The incident did not happen on their boat, so even if they wanted to blame it, they could not be blamed.
Afterwards, several fishermen came out of the river one after another and got on their boats.
After seeing Mr. Liu on the shore, he shouted loudly: "What are you doing on the boat? Keep looking. As long as my family doesn't find it, none of you are allowed to get on the boat."
Some fishermen looked hesitant and a little at a loss.
The boatman on the boat said at this time: "Don't pay attention to him. I think he is the master or aide next to that adult. Now that the adult in his family is dead, he is nothing."
Several fishermen thought that this was indeed the case and rowed away one after another.
When Mr. Liu saw the fishermen leaving, he kept shouting anxiously on the shore, wanting the fishermen to go back and continue searching for Xu Tong's whereabouts.
Unfortunately, he was on the shore and the fishermen were driving boats on the river. He couldn't stop them even if he wanted to.
The boatman glanced at Mr. Liu who was still shouting on the river bank, with a sneer at the corner of his mouth, and whispered: "This guy is so loyal. Others have gone to snatch the luggage, and he still wants to find Xu Tong's body."
"What did you say?" The fisherman who was rowing looked at the boatman sitting at the bow.
The boatman smiled and said, "I didn't say anything."
"oh."
Seeing that the other party was unwilling to say anything, the fisherman stopped asking and continued to row towards the ferry.
