The Mystery of the Treasure Heist is Gradually Emerging; Deep Brotherhood Touches the Hea

The second young man scoffed, "It's stolen. I don't need it. You can take it yourself."

The first young man turned around and said, "Junior brother, why are you doing this? After Master passed away, you are my only family."

The second young man scoffed, "Don't say such things. Do you think I don't know you've taken in several apprentices who specialize in petty theft and tarnishing your master's reputation?"

The first young man sighed and said, "No matter what, Junior Brother, you really shouldn't have gone to Jeju Prefecture to steal those two imperial treasures. They are truly not something we can get our hands on."

The second young man sneered, "That imperial treasure is enough for me to enjoy a lifetime of wealth and honor. Why wouldn't I take such a large sum of money? If I don't take it, someone else will."

The first young man stepped forward and said seriously, "Don't try to hide it from me. How could I not know your character? If you were after money, you wouldn't have stolen this item. It's basically impossible to sell. Besides, you're not the kind of person who would steal things easily."

The second young man took a few steps back to maintain a certain distance before speaking, "Don't meddle in my affairs, senior brother. You should leave quickly and not get involved in this."

The first young man said in a low voice, "I know that what you said first was just to deliberately let me go, but we are brothers, how could I watch you get into trouble? When I heard that the treasure presented by Jeju Prefecture had been lost, I guessed that you were behind it, but I believed that there must be a hidden story behind it, so I rushed to Qinghe County immediately, just in case something happened to you."

The second young man remained silent for a long while before roaring, "Shi Qian, get out of here right now, or if you don't leave, I will!"

Shi Qian was also furious and shouted, "Jiu Wan, how can I stand by and watch you get into trouble? I will not leave you to fend for yourself!"

Jiuwan laughed: "In that case, let's have a fight today to settle this. I've never fought you before. If I win, the loser must leave immediately."

Shi Qian smiled and said, "If you lose, you must tell me what happened, and we brothers will work together to figure out a solution."

Jiuwan nodded and said, "Although we are not upright gentlemen, we are still gentlemen on the thief's side. What we say is a deal."

Shi Qian laughed and said, "How do you want to compete with me?"

Jiuwan also laughed and said, "If we're going to compete, it'll be hard to determine a winner even after a day and a night. Let's have a bar fight instead."

Shi Qian was dumbfounded. He never expected that Jiu Wan would propose a drinking contest! He wasn't a good drinker, and he would most likely lose if it came to a drinking contest.

Jiuwan looked at Shi Qian and teased, "If you don't dare, you can admit defeat first, then I'll consider this match a win."

Shi Qian stiffened his neck, his fearless nature resurfacing, and said, "Who's afraid of who? How do we compete?"

Jiuwan glanced outside and said, "It's not convenient for me to show myself right now. Could you please go and buy two jars of wine, Senior Brother? Whoever finishes first wins, how about it?"

Shi Qian nodded and said, "That's simple. You wait here, I'll be right back."

Jiu Wan said, "In that case, I'll have to trouble you, Senior Brother. There's no time to lose, so please set off as soon as possible."

Shi Qian didn't waste any words. He walked to the door, turned back, and said, "Wait for me to come back."

Watching Shi Qian walk away, Jiu Wan whispered, "Senior brother, this matter has nothing to do with you. If you get involved, you will only lose your life innocently. Today, my wish has been fulfilled, which is fortunate. Let's be senior brothers again in the next life."

After saying that, he walked towards the other end of the dilapidated temple. It turned out that there was another door at the other end, which was used by monks to enter through the side door to add incense. It also led directly to the outside of the temple.

Just as I stepped outside, a voice came from beside me, "Junior brother, where are you going?"

Jiuwan looked over and was surprised to find Shi Qian, who had just walked away, standing right next to the door.

"Senior brother, you?" Jiuwan asked in surprise.

Shi Qian smiled calmly and said, "Do you think I don't know you're trying to distract me so you can take the opportunity to leave? If I don't pretend to fall for it, how can I know you actually care about me?"

Jiuwan smiled bitterly, "Senior brother, you really don't need to get involved in this mess. Otherwise, you'll just lose your life for nothing. What's the point?"

Shi Qian, unusually serious, said, "We brothers share both good times and bad. If you want to persuade me further, there's no need to say anything more."

Looking at Shi Qian, who was usually so carefree and rarely seemed so serious, Jiu Wan said with emotion, "Senior brother, you..."

Shi Qian stopped Jiu Wan from saying what he was about to say, and simply shook his head.

The two returned to the temple, and Shi Qian asked, "What exactly happened? Why did you go to Jizhou Prefecture to steal that imperial treasure? Can you tell me, senior brother?"

Jiuwan gave a bitter smile and said, "Alright! I'm really hungry after hiding like this for the past few days."

Shi Qian nodded, took out two taels of silver, and said, "There seems to be a roadside inn on the way here. Let's go there and have something to eat!"

Jiuwan sighed and said, "In that case, let's go!"

As they were about to leave, Jiuwan suddenly remembered something and asked, "Where did you get that gold?"

Shi Qian laughed smugly, "You have no idea how hard it was to get this money bag."

The whole story was slowly told, and after finishing, he added: "That dark-skinned man was actually protected by five or six experts. It was practically impossible to get close to him. If they hadn't all scattered later, leaving only one expert, I might not have been able to make a move. But that expert was truly remarkable. He noticed the theft happening to the dark-skinned man immediately and chased after me. If I hadn't been so skilled, I probably wouldn't have been able to escape his pursuit."

Jiu Wan asked curiously, "A normal person wouldn't carry that much money when going out. And you said that person had so many experts around him, but as far as I know, there is no such person in the entire Qinghe County, nor have I heard of any experts. So this person should not be from Qinghe County."

Shi Qian agreed, saying, "That person is definitely not from Qinghe County; he seems to be from out of town. And any one of the experts around him is someone we can't handle, so we really need to be careful."

Jiuwan suddenly said, "This is bad. Since that person is not from Qinghe County, but appeared in Qinghe County, it is very likely that he came for me."

Just then, a voice came from the doorway: "You're right, I really came for you."

Jiuwan and Shiqian were shocked and hurriedly looked towards the door, where they saw Song Jiang smilingly leading Wu Song, Bian Xiang, Mi Sheng, Jiao Ting and Hao Siwen.

"Senior brother, I'll rush up and distract them, then you can take the opportunity to leave," Jiuwan whispered to Shiqian.

Shi Qian shook his head and said with a wry smile, "If it were only one person, we might be able to scatter and escape, but if all five of them come at once, you will be killed instantly. You must not act rashly."

Jiuwan sighed, "It's my fault for ruining you."

Shi Qian simply smiled and remained silent.

Looking at the two men before him, Song Jiang teased, "What a touching display of brotherly affection! I'm almost moved." His words screamed the villain!

Shi Qian stepped forward, knelt down, and said, "Hero, I was wrong yesterday; I was greedy for money."

After saying this, he took out Song Jiang's money bag, put twenty taels of gold into the bag, and then took out more than ten taels of silver and five taels of gold and put them into the money bag. He continued, "This is all my money. Please, hero, have mercy and spare my brother."

Song Jiang glanced at Shi Qian and said, "You are Shi Qian, the Flea on the Drum."

Shi Qian nodded and said, "I never expected that a hero would have heard of my humble name. I humbly beg you to show mercy."

Song Jiang said calmly, "We'll settle our score later. I'm not here to see you now." He then looked at Jiu Wan and sneered, "Finding you is no easy feat, Jiu Wan."

Jiuwan pulled Shi Qian behind him and stepped forward, saying, "The item was stolen by Jiuwan. This matter has nothing to do with my senior brother. I beg you, hero, to spare my senior brother and let him leave first."

Song Jiang stared silently at Jiu Wan without saying a word. Jiu Wan felt as if he were being stared at by a sharp sword, and his whole body went cold. He dared not look Song Jiang in the eye and knelt down, saying, "I only beg you to spare my senior brother's life. You can do whatever you want with me."

"Hand over the imperial seal," Song Jiang ordered.

Jiuwan said bitterly, "The item is really not with me. I already gave it to someone else. If I have been deceived, I will be torn to pieces and die a horrible death."

"Brother." Wu Song felt a pang of pity. He also had an older brother, and he truly understood the bond between these two brothers. He was genuinely afraid that Song Jiang would become enraged and kill them.

Song Jiang shook his head and said calmly, "Please stand up and speak."

How did Song Jiang find Shi Qian and his companion?

After leaving the yamen, Song Jiang went to Wu Da's pancake stall, where the white-haired old man Yu Zhixiong was indeed buying pancakes again.

Thinking that with this Qinghe Tong, Song Jiang wouldn't have to bother searching for it one by one. He quickly got some steamed buns from Wu Da and took the old man to a tea stall for tea.

The old man knew Song Jiang must have something to ask, so he smiled and told Song Jiang to speak freely. Song Jiang hurriedly took out the household register and began to inquire about the people listed. The old man flipped through the register one by one, carefully describing each person's details. Song Jiang listened patiently, but he was somewhat disappointed. These people were mostly farmers, small vendors, or manual laborers, quite different from the image of the treasure thief he had in mind. When he reached the sixtieth person, the old man took it out without saying a word, sighed, and Song Jiang quickly took the register to look at it. The name written on it was Jiuwan.

The old man sighed and said, "Jiuwan is a good child, but also a child with a tragic fate. His father passed away very early, and his mother raised him and his two siblings on her own." Song Jiang remained silent, and the old man continued, "Jiuwan was very sensible from a young age. Because he was the only male, he would always let his mother and sisters eat first if there was anything good to eat, preferring to eat less himself. The family's food rations were very limited, and his mother worked very hard, which resulted in Jiuwan being malnourished from a young age, looking pale and thin. He looked like he was eight or nine years old when he was twelve or thirteen."

The old man said a lot, but Song Jiang didn't remember much of it, only a few sentences. He had gone out to learn a skill when he was twelve or thirteen, and didn't return until he was twenty. When he was learning a skill, he met a kind person who sent one or two taels of silver home every month. His sister later married a scholar in Yuncheng County, but the scholar seemed to have died of illness. His sister also had a hard time in Yuncheng County. After Jiuwan returned, he worked diligently, and the family's situation gradually improved. Jiuwan was very kind to people and did his best to help his neighbors in need.

Jiuwan's wish is for his family to live in harmony. He seems to want to bring his older sister back to Qinghe County as well. However, a few days ago, Jiuwan's mother and younger sister seemed to have gone on a long trip. No one knows where they went, and they haven't returned yet. Jiuwan hasn't seen them for quite some time.

Song Jiang was secretly delighted. It seemed that this was the one. All the conditions were met. When he learned that there was an abandoned temple outside Qinghe County, where Jiuwan used to gather firewood, Song Jiang no longer hesitated. He called over the tea server, ordered a few more plates of snacks and a pot of good tea, took out a string of coins, threw it on the table, said that he had something to do and would be back later, and hurriedly ran off.

Only Yu Zhixiong remained, taking a sip of tea and staring blankly at Song Jiang's retreating figure, lost in thought!

Song Jiang stared at Shi Qian and Jiu Wan for a long while without speaking. Shi Qian and Jiu Wan also remained silent, standing there quietly, creating an awkward atmosphere. After a while, Song Jiang finally spoke, "Who instructed you, and to whom did you hand over the imperial seal?"

Jiuwan hesitated for a moment and said, "No one else instructed me. I was just blinded by greed and that's why I stole the treasure."

Song Jiang sneered, "The imperial treasure is priceless, but I believe even more strongly that no pawnshop or consignment shop within the Song Dynasty would dare to accept it. Even if someone were to buy it as stolen goods in the private sector, the price would likely be extremely low, completely disproportionate to the risks you are about to take. In today's world, do you still want to lie?"

After a moment's hesitation, Jiuwan finally spoke: "Only death."

Shi Qian shook Jiu Wan's shoulder anxiously, saying, "Junior brother, don't do anything foolish!"

Song Jiang sighed, "People seek to live, not to die. Why choose the path of death when there is clearly a way to live?"

Before Jiuwan could speak, Shi Qian hurriedly interjected, "Hero, do you mean you can spare my brother's life?"

Song Jiang neither nodded nor shook his head, nor did he speak.

Jiuwan laughed and said, "Hero, don't try to fool me. I, Jiuwan, am a criminal with a long list of crimes, and I know I am doomed. Since I am already facing certain death, why should I drag others down with me?"

In Jiuwan's view, no matter what, he was doomed to die. If he wasn't caught, he would be silenced by the person behind him. If he was caught, he would just admit that he was greedy for money and that he wouldn't implicate the person behind him. In that case, he would definitely not survive. But if his sister, sister and mother could survive, he would be satisfied.

Song Jiang looked at Jiuwan and slowly said, "Do you think that by choosing the path of death and bearing everything, your mother and sister will live?"

Jiuwan stared at Song Jiang in shock, speechless.

Song Jiang said slowly, "Tell me what happened, and I will guarantee that you, Shi Qian, your mother, and your sisters are safe and sound."

After struggling with his thoughts for a while, Jiuwan finally spoke, "May I ask your name, sir?"

Song Jiang laughed: "Is that important?"

Jiuwan sighed and said, "To be honest, as long as my mother and sister are truly safe, what does it matter if you take my life? I just want to know your name. If it is true, even if I can't live on, I will be grateful for your kindness in the afterlife. But if you are trying to deceive me and harm my family, I will haunt you even as a ghost."

Shi Qian looked at Song Jiang awkwardly. At this moment, Jiu Wan was still saying such harsh words. He was really afraid that if Song Jiang got angry, Jiu Wan would lose his life on the spot.