“Although many private boats were on the Wei River that day to enjoy the moon, that boat wasn’t a private boat but a rental boat,” Lin Fei said. “It was the best and largest Class A rental boat.”

The boatmen and courtesans were very familiar with these kinds of rental boats, seeing them often, and wouldn’t make a mistake.

Hearing Lin Fei say this, Liu Yuantong and Bai Zhu had a sudden thought: In that case… wouldn’t it be easier to investigate? They could just go to the rental shops on the Wei River and check who rented the Class A rental boat that day.

You see, rental shops like these have to keep accounts every day, and a rental boat is quite valuable. Even with a deposit, it’s not enough to cover the price of the boat. Therefore, whoever rents the boat must bring enough proof of identity, such as household registration or official documents, to confirm the person’s reliability before the boat can be lent out.

Seeing the excited Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, Lin Fei showed no joy. He glanced at the two excited men and shook his head: “Unfortunately, the ledger recording the guests’ names is gone.”

This was like a bucket of cold water poured over their heads, making them shudder and their expressions change slightly.

“On Mid-Autumn Festival, fireworks on the river landed inside the tents on the riverbank. The people at the boat rental shop all ran out to watch the fireworks, and when they returned, they found the tents burned down, and the ledgers and everything else were gone,” Lin Fei explained. “Fortunately, all the boats rented out that night returned, so they didn’t think much of it.”

“As for whether they remember those guests or not…” Lin Fei paused, glancing at the two men, and said, “During festivals, there are always many people renting boats. With so many people coming and going, it’s really hard to remember anything.”

“Besides, even if they could remember, very few of them were actually the people who rented the boats themselves. Most of them sent their managers to make the trips, and the people they dealt with were all managers. They really don’t have any impression of the people themselves!” Lin Fei said. “As for the guards seen by the boatmen and courtesans, they were all wearing ordinary black guard robes, nothing special.”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu became more and more disappointed as they listened, but they weren’t surprised: with Lin Shaoqing’s experience and methods, once he found the pleasure boat, he would naturally investigate from all angles. How could Lin Shaoqing not have thought of the directions they could have thought of?

If that was the case, why would Lin Shaoqing stand here talking to them instead of sending people to investigate? It must be that the investigation had been stalled.

Lin Fei’s next words confirmed their suspicions. He said, “The people at the boat rental office really can’t remember the exact appearance of the person who rented the boat that day. Besides, they have seven or eight Class A cruise ships in total, and they rented them all out that day.”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu couldn’t help but shake their heads and sigh upon hearing this.

An ordinary person would naturally stop at this point, but Lin Fei did not give up. He said leisurely, “Since the people at the boat rental office can’t think of anything, I called over the janitors who were responsible for cleaning the cruise ships and asked them if they found anything valuable when cleaning the returned cruise ships that day.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu immediately understood that their superiors had explained the investigation process in such detail to remind them of something important. Naturally, they dared not be negligent and quickly wrote it down.

In fact, if one calmly and carefully analyzed the situation, reaching this point was not difficult: guests willing to spend money to rent a first-class cruise ship to tour the Wei River must be either wealthy or from aristocratic families.

Perhaps some wealthy guests prefer to charter a first-class cruise ship alone to enjoy the moon, but on Mid-Autumn Festival, a day of celebration, while there might be such solitary patrons, most would be accompanied by friends and family. The jade pendants, dangling ornaments, and purses worn by men, and the hairpins and earrings worn by women, were all items most likely to fall off during leisure and banquets.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, while searching for the lost young ladies, they also found many sachets, jewelry, and other items lost during their leisure time.

Sure enough, upon hearing Lin Fei’s words, the foreman nodded repeatedly, saying, “During festivals, when the boats are rented out and returned, we always find many items left behind by our guests.”

The boat rental business on the Wei River wasn’t the kind that operated on a quick-fix basis; they had been doing it for years, and even if they wanted to leave, they couldn’t. Naturally, they wouldn’t steal their guests’ lost belongings.

After all, most of those who rent boats were powerful and wealthy people from Chang’an; stealing their things would cause serious trouble! Therefore, it was better to simply earn a reputation for “honesty”, and their pockets would gradually fill up just from boat rentals.

Lin Fei’s guess was correct. Among the pile of lost items that were sorted out on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, there were several heavy gold jade rabbits, gold peanuts, and gold mooncakes. However, the people at the boat rental office did not keep them but instead put them all into a box.

“Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, quite a few guests have come to collect their items. Although fraudulent claims are extremely rare, to be on the safe side, we have kept a record of the guests’ names and the items they took.” The steward of the handymen said, handing over the ledger and pointing to the records for the past three months. “Many have come, but there are even more female guests. Those hairpins, earrings, and other items are things they brought out for the festival, and they are mostly things that the female guests cherish. Most of the items taken are these kinds of items.”

Lin Fei copied down the records from the steward of the handymen and pointed to the long record, saying, “Aside from the female guests’ decorative items, the records of the remaining male guests are about 30%. Most of these are jade pendants and other ornaments. Apart from a few purses containing money that were taken, the remaining items are just these few.”

They were a ledger, an inkstone, a painting, a hydrangea, and soft armor.

Unlike earrings and pendants, which were easily lost during leisure time, these items required careful consideration when placed on a Mid-Autumn Festival cruise ship for moon viewing and enjoyment.

Although it was customary not to steal guests’ belongings, the steward meticulously recorded these items for record-keeping purposes.

The ledger belonged to a wealthy tea merchant who had left it behind. Despite it being the Mid-Autumn Festival, during a break from the festive banquet, the merchant had still reviewed the tea shop’s ledger with his relatives, recording all the business transactions.

The inkstone was a Chengni inkstone. The steward, unfamiliar with inkstones, only noted its shape: a vermilion-red Chengni inkstone with a fitting design of a full moon and starry sky – quite beautiful. The painting was a copy of Gu Kaizhi’s “Nymph of the Luo River” from the Jin Dynasty. Although not painted by a famous artist, the painter’s skill was commendable, and it was said to have been brought onto the cruise ship for appreciation.

The hydrangea was brought by a florist to decorate the pleasure boat. Because they were having so much fun, they forgot about it when they disembarked. The next day, after sobering up, they sent someone to retrieve it; it wasn’t anything valuable.

The most intriguing thing here was the soft armor: it was understandable that external things like account books, inkstones, paintings, and hydrangeas would be lost during such a carefree time, but how did the soft armor worn underneath end up being lost

(End of Chapter)