No one could guess that there was a pair of this basketball sized jade turtles

Zhang Zi and Zheng Yu each took one. Because this jade turtle would attract too much unwanted attention, Zhang Zi didn’t immediately seek out a buyer. Instead, he buried it under his bed.

His plan was to wait for a while. Then he would resign from the body recovery team and relocate to another city where he could sell this jade turtle. After a year or two, he would return to his home with his fortune, claiming his business was very successful. No one would doubt his story.

But these mad turtles disrupted his plan.

After learning of Zheng Yu’s death, he was scared. His original plan was to first make sure his grandmother was taken care of and left with his jade turtle. He didn’t believe those turtles could follow him everywhere. He didn’t expect those turtles to find his home.

When Jiang Lan and Ying Qiao arrived at his home, those turtles again became agitated.

They frequently patted their claws. Guan Shui and Master Guan were trying to placate them.

But it appeared there was a limit to their understanding of human speech. What’s more, they had no patience for more communication.

After a while, they seemed to realize Guan Shui couldn’t bring out another jade turtle and began to drag Zhang Zi to the ditch.

Guan Shui tried to stop them but was bitten.

This bite was more like a warning, the turtle released him.

Having been in the muddy water of rice paddy for long with his wound untreated, Zhang Zi looked a little frazzled. Master Guan was impatient.” Think hard. Where did Zheng Yu hide another jade turtle?”

Zhang Zi kept repeating.” I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Luckily Jiang Lan arrived and put himself in between Zhang Zi and the aggressive turtles.

Kneeling down, Jiang Lan tried to communicate with the lead turtle. The old turtle approached him and tried to smell him.

Jiang Lan extended his palm to the turtle and carefully released a whiff of his dragon son’s scent. While doing this, he nervously watched Ying Qiao from the corner of his eyes, afraid that Ying Qiao might detect what he was doing.

Luckily Ying Qiao was none the wiser.

The old turtles had a look of awe and submission in its eyes. Jiang Lan conveyed his thoughts in the simplest words to the old turtle.

The old turtle totally understood him and released Zhang Zi.

Suddenly released, Zhang Zi jumped up and tried to run. But Jiang Lan restrained him with a cold look.

“You better tell us the whole story. How do you come into possession of this jade turtle? Where is the jade turtle Zheng Yu stole? Today I can convince these turtles to release you. But tomorrow, they can still find you.”

Zhang Zi said.” I really don’t know where Zheng Yu hid the jade turtle.”

“When you split the stolen turtles, Zheng Yu didn’t mention the hiding place?” Jiang Lan watched him with a look that seemed to pierce his soul.” What’s more, after Zheng Yu’s death, you never think to claim his share for yourself?”

This seemed to have an effect on Zhang Zi. Meeting Jiang Lan’s knowing look, he gave up.” The thing is hidden in a house he rented.”

He gave the address to Jiang Lan.” I don’t know if the thing is still there. Zheng Yu wanted to sell the thing as soon as possible.”

Jiang Lan turned to look at Guan Shui.” Could you check the house? If you can’t get in, Wang Qing will help you.”

Guan Shui agreed and turned to leave.

“Now tell us how you came into possession of the jade turtles.”

Releasing his grip, Jiang Lan squatted by his side and watched Zhang Zi struggling for a footing in the rice paddy.

His whole attention was on Zhang Zi, not paying the least mind to Ying Qiao, who stood aside, watching him with great appreciation.

Jiang Lan had always behaved like a soft milk candy around him, enticing and harmless. But now he watched Zhang Zi with a cold, merciless look, contrasted sharply with his usual self.

Ying Qiao watched him greedily, finding the little monster particularly appealing today.

He licked his lips without thinking.

Jiang Lan was still interrogating Zhang Zi. As a human lover, Jiang Lan found this person particularly distasteful and his attitude grew meaner by the minute.

At first, Zhang Zi still had a mind to conceal the whole truth. But facing Jiang Lan’s relentless questioning and cold look, he had no choice but to describe the whole thing.

The discovery of two jade turtles was purely accidental.

Half a month ago, he and Zheng Yu dived into the river to recover a female body. The body’s leg got entangled with some weed, so Zheng Yu carried some tools with him to cut the weed. Under the influence of some alcohol, Zheng Yu didn’t pay attention to the change of wind and current, a series of mistakes led him to being entangled with the weeds and almost being drowned.

Zhang Zi didn’t know what happened until Zheng Yu resurfaced later to tell him the whole story.

Zheng Yu said he thought he was finished for good then and there. But unexpectedly, a giant turtle emerged from a nearby underwater cave to save him. The giant turtle bit off the weeds wrapped around his leg and shoved him to the surface.

Recovering from the shock, they thought they must have met some turtle deities. So they wanted to express their gratitude to the turtles.

Zhang Zi went down to recover the body, and then went down again with a butchered rooster. He found the cave according to Zheng Yu’s description. His original plan was to tie the rooster to an underwater rock as a sign of gratitude. But out of curiosity, Zhang Zi peered into the cave and saw a jade turtle inside.

When he told this discovery to Zheng Yu, Zheng Yu got an idea.

Zheng Yu was even more short on cash than Zhang Zi. Most of his income he spent tipping his favorite girl streamers and occasionally, he had no money to buy food for himself. Zhang Zi thought he might see it wrong, but Zheng Yu was convinced that the cave of this extraordinary turtle must contain some priceless treasure.

They agreed to steal it.

The day after tomorrow, while out on a job, they returned to the cave. As a skilled swimmer, Zhang Zi dived into the cave and found the hidden jade turtle without much difficulty.

The jade turtles turned out to be a pair, the size of a basketball.

Luckily, those giant turtles were not in the cave that day. Only a handful of fist sized small turtles were there. They returned to the surface with these jade turtles and began to dream of lives as rich men.

“What happened to those small turtles?” Jiang Lan noticed the omission in his story.

At first, those turtles were not very angry. Something must have happened that ignited their rage and made them kill Zheng Yu.

Pausing for a second, Zhang Zi said.” They….are dead….”

“How? Be clear.” Jiang Lan pushed his face into the rice paddy.

The turtles were watching him.

Zhang Zi struggled to his feet and said.” Those giant turtles just wouldn’t let go of us. Zheng Yu suspected they wanted to reclaim the jade turtles.”

“We are a little scared.” His eyes grew evasive.” So…we took the risk and returned to the cave again to capture a few small turtles to threaten the giant turtles….”

Recalling the night when he saw Zheng Yu try to capture the giant turtles with a bait in the cage, Jiang Lan finally understood what the bait was.

“So you captured those small turtles and used them as bait to capture the giant turtles following you?”

Zhang Zi didn’t answer, but his look confirmed Jiang Lan’s suspicion.

Jiang Lan sneered.” But you didn’t expect that a giant turtle of that size would be so many,right?”

If they could capture the pursuing giant turtle, they could sell it to make a small fortune, adding to their riches.

Sensing the sad look in the eyes of those turtles, Jiang Lan became angry.” When you committed those crimes, did you ever think there would be a payback?”

“Do you think that the killing of a handful of turtles wasn’t a crime?”

Facing his questioning, Zhang Zi looked away.