“Master, it’s no use. Nowadays, Wang He’s neighbors avoid us as if we were thieves. They shut their doors from afar…” A De said, wiping the rain off his body, clearly frustrated.
In these past few days, the Kaifeng Prefecture had sent several groups of people repeatedly, inquiring with both soft and hard tactics, trying to find a new breakthrough.
Initially, Wang He’s family and neighbors were relatively cooperative, but as the frequency increased, they gradually became impatient.
“We’ve already said we didn’t see anything, time and again. Officer, how many more times are you going to ask?”
“It’s not my man, Master. You’re asking me is of no use!”
“Hmph, I say, he’s dead anyway. Good riddance, so why bother investigating?”
“Officers, how much do you earn in a month? Why put yourself through this?”
Some were bold, some were timid, but the only commonality was repeating the same words they initially said like a revolving wheel, and then there were no new words.
Today, A De spent the entire day trying to find some young people to chat with, only to find that people shut their doors the moment they saw a stranger from afar, quicker than even guarding against thieves.
After finally finding a lone young boy, A De was overjoyed. But before he could even approach, the child let out a piercing cry that echoed through the heavens:
“Wahhhhh! There’s a bad guy! Ahhhhh!”
A De: “…”
He simply didn’t want to recall how he had desperately dodged brooms, feather dusters, and firewood sticks thrown by the villagers in the heavy rain while desperately explaining that he was indeed an officer from the Kaifeng Prefecture.
The rain keeps falling, breaking my heart!
After A De sorrowfully finished speaking, he looked up and saw Xie Yu and others with twisted faces, seemingly trying to suppress some emotion.
When they saw him looking, everyone quickly turned their faces away, some pretending to drink tea, others gazing at the sky, and one even poking at an ant hill.
Seeing their trembling shoulders, A De, with a few scratches on his face, finally exploded, “You’re actually laughing?!”
“Puhahaha!”
Yuanpei was the first to burst out laughing, his body sliding down the door frame like noodles, unable to stop laughing.
Xie Yu clenched his fist, placing it against his lips and chuckled a few times, but eventually felt it was unkind and tried to suppress his smile. “It’s been tough. Take a few days off and don’t go back.”
A De gave Yuanpei’s butt a few hard kicks, snorted angrily, and then sat back down.
“Master, we can’t continue like this,” Huo Ping said in his deep voice.
Xie Yu stood up, looking at the drizzling rain outside and said, “Yes, let’s stop for a few days.”
It had been raining continuously for two days without sunlight, making everything indoors and outdoors damp and uncomfortable, with clothes sticking to the skin shortly after being worn.
In these past few days, both gentle and stern approaches had been tried, but the people of Baishizhen still refused to loosen their tongues. Continuing like this would lead to no results.
A rose bush planted by the window had just been transplanted this year, with thin branches and leaves. It couldn’t withstand the constant watering day and night, and the branch with large buds looked somewhat wilted.
Xie Yu reached out the window, moving that branch to an old flower pole nearby, and said, “By the way, did Wang He’s family mention coming to collect the remains?”
A De shook his head. “Their disdain is genuine and unhidden. They haven’t even asked about it.”
Early this morning, he had gone to Wang He’s house to talk about collecting the remains.
That family didn’t show any cracks at all, or rather, they were full of cracks, but the authorities had no evidence.
Their reaction was too calm.
To put it bluntly, even if someone’s chicken died, the family would be more upset than Wang He’s relatives.
“That wicked son doesn’t deserve to be buried in the Wang family’s ancestral graveyard,” said the benevolent-looking old Mr. Wang with icy severity. “There’s no need to trouble the yamen to guard it. Just toss him directly into the paupers’ burial ground.”
A De couldn’t even respond to that statement.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Wang and Wang Xiang also had calm expressions.
Perhaps to them, the deceased was just a familiar stranger.
It would have been better if he had never existed in the first place.
After a while, A De said, “Then we need a written document, otherwise it will be hard to explain later. Are you sure you don’t want to see him one last time?”
The whole family shook their heads.
Mr. Wang said, “Even if we saw him, could we re-educate him from childhood? A son’s failure is the father’s fault.” He sighed heavily and said to his daughter-in-law, “That wicked creature became that way because of my fault. In the future, when I pass away, he is not allowed to be buried in the ancestral graveyard.”
These words were very heavy, causing the mother and daughter-in-law to sob quietly.
Since they had spoken to that extent, A De couldn’t help but feel solemn and couldn’t stay any longer.
When he was leaving, he remembered something. “By the way, when Wang He was discovered, there was only a skeleton left.”
“What was their reaction?” Xie Yu paused.
Raindrops fell from the eaves, striking his back, splashing like water on jade.
“They were very surprised,” A De recalled again and confirmed. “Extremely surprised.”
Surprised…
They had been prepared for Wang He’s death, but they were surprised by the manner of his death, which was clearly unexpected.
In other words, if the person who buried the corpse was indeed them, the fact that Wang He’s body was gnawed by rats after being buried was not intentional.
Xie Yu stood up, shook his hand, and a string of water droplets flew from his hand.
What was this?
Was it the help from heaven, the timing, the location, and the people?
Was it the will of heaven?
A newly arrived officer wanted to show off himself and said brazenly, “Master, why don’t I go and arrest a few people? No need to be polite with them. A few strokes of the cane, and who wouldn’t confess?”
Before the words had finished, Yuanpei and others looked over in unison.
“Fool!” Huo Ping shouted.
Although he usually looked fierce and was very amiable with his brothers, he suddenly exploded this time, exuding ferocity. The officer instantly broke out in cold sweat.
Even Yuanpei, who usually liked to joke around with others, lost his smile and coldly asked, “Do you have evidence?”
The officer already felt something was wrong but still instinctively shook his head. “No, none.”
“Then get lost?” Yuanpei suddenly changed his expression.
Under the law, the yamen did indeed have the authority to employ torture, but only on the condition that there was “substantial evidence” and the suspect “persisted in refusing to confess.”
Now the yamen couldn’t even produce any decent evidence. Who would they torture? Who would they apply it to?
If everyone acted like this, wouldn’t the world fall into chaos if there were any slight obstacles during the investigation?
The officer was so scared that he ran out in panic.
Xie Yu frowned. “This is the seed of a tyrannical official. Tell the people outside that he doesn’t need to come tomorrow.”
Everyone agreed.
A young man dressed in gray approached from the corridor, looking somewhat unfamiliar.
Seeing him, Xie Yu said to Yuanpei and others, “Disperse.”
Everyone responded in unison, nodded to the young man when they exited, and went to the other side of the corridor.
“Master,” the young man said after they left.
Xie Yu nodded. “Speak.”
The young man said, “Fu Wenshan will leave on the ninth day of the sixth month to attend a friend’s birthday party and is expected to return three days later. On the twelfth day of the sixth month, Hu Qing’s teacher’s great-grandson will celebrate his hundredth day. He has already asked people to prepare at home, and it seems he intends to go in person… On the sixteenth day of the sixth month, Tian Song will go to Fuyun Temple in the suburbs to listen to a senior monk’s teachings.”
Xie Yu, who was pacing, paused his steps.
On the sixteenth day of the sixth month, Tian Song would go to Fuyun Temple?
Madam Zhao would also go there on that day, and she said she would bring Ma Bing along.
Was it just a coincidence?
After experiencing so much, Xie Yu no longer believed in “coincidence.”
Since receiving the emperor’s permission, Xie Yu had reviewed many sealed documents and finally narrowed down the list of suspects to eight people.
These eight people either had served in Liangzhou at that time or had directly or indirectly participated in the overt and covert struggles during the Liangzhou War. They were all potential targets after Ji Fanxi and Xu Maocai.
Among these eight people, five were in Kaifeng.
If the previous events were indeed done by Ma Bing, then one of these five would be her most likely next target.
At present, Xie Yu didn’t have the authority to directly interrogate them. Moreover, they were all sly old foxes who had remained unscathed for so long. It was unlikely that questioning would yield anything.
Therefore, he dispatched trusted attendants to secretly investigate their whereabouts, waiting patiently like a farmer watching his field.
It was indeed a clumsy method, but it was the only option.
Initially, he had wanted to send someone to follow Ma Bing.
But that girl might have fabricated countless lies, except for one thing that should be true:
She was indeed an excellent hunter.
The skill of tailing was originally mimicked from wild animals. If a person could survive unscathed in a confrontation with wild animals, ordinary tailing techniques wouldn’t be sufficient.
To avoid alarming the snake, he had no choice but to give up.
“Master, should we continue the investigation?” the young man asked.
“Continue the investigation,” Xie Yu slowly exhaled. “Pay extra attention to Fuyun Temple and send a few people there in advance.”
“Yes.” The young man accepted the order and left.
At the same time, at the Liuting Pavilion in the suburbs.
This was originally an extremely unremarkable pavilion, but in earlier years, several famous poets had been exiled and passed through here, bidding farewell to their friends. They left behind many famous works, gradually gaining fame and later being called “Liuting.”
Liuting, meaning the intention to retain.
And today, Ma Bing would also bid farewell to a friend here.
A carriage marked with the Yuan family’s insignia slowly approached, with fine rain drizzling on the carriage, creating a hazy scene.
Soon, the carriage stopped outside Liuting, but no one got off.
After a while, a familiar maid holding an oil-paper umbrella got off the carriage and whispered, “Miss, our lady says meeting now would make everyone feel sad. Speaking from behind the curtain is the same.”
After speaking, the coachman, maid, and old women all went to a distant place to avoid the rain.
Before arriving, Ma Bing indeed had countless things to say, but at this moment, they all seemed stuck in her throat, unable to come out.
What should she say?
Ask her not to leave? But staying would only add to the sadness. Could she deceive this silly girl?
Such false friendship would be better off not existing.
She didn’t speak first, nor did the person inside the carriage. For a moment, the surrounding sounds were only the sound of the drizzling rain.
No one knew how long had passed before Yuan Yuan’s trembling voice came out, “Sister, it’s my fault, but now, you don’t even want to speak a single word to me?”
Her voice was hoarse, and her previous cheerful and crisp tone seemed to have disappeared along with her vague confession that day.
That carefree little girl was indeed different now.
Ma Bing’s heart tightened, filled with mixed emotions. “Of course not, it’s just that I don’t know where to start.”
Yuan Yuan began to sob.
“Don’t cry,” Ma Bing said softly. “You’ll hurt your eyes.”
“Just this once,” Yuan Yuan sniffled. “The last time.”
Ma Bing felt a pang in her heart, her eyes watering involuntarily. She instinctively said, “Maybe, maybe back then we shouldn’t have…”
“Sister!” Yuan Yuan seemed to know what she was about to say and cried out, interrupting her. “I never regret going to watch the polo match that day, nor do I regret knowing you!”
She understood everything.
She was not wrong, Ma Bing was not wrong, and this feeling was not wrong, but… fate played tricks on them.
She had thought this would last forever, but she never expected this meeting to be like two rivers briefly converging before flowing in different directions.
Yuan Yuan really wanted to lift the curtain to take a look, but she was afraid that one glance would make her reluctant to leave.
She had already caused her family much trouble and must not cause any more trouble, making her sister annoyed.
After returning home, her mother had said that her sister indeed had no such intention. If so, she dared not ask for more.
Leaving each other with a good impression would be enough.
Yuan Yuan looked at her already thin hand with visible veins, tightly gripping a few bookmarks, sobbing uncontrollably. “I followed my heart, I don’t regret… but, but sister, don’t hate me.”
Born into the Yuan family, she had seen the changes in the world since childhood, believing that her life would be predictable.
Now, she would grow up, follow her parents’ wishes and the matchmaker’s words, marry a man she knew or didn’t know, have children, and support her husband and raise the children.
Perhaps with time, she would come to love that man, or maybe not.
But what difference would it make?
Aren’t all the elders around her living like that?
She wouldn’t be any different.
But who could have imagined that just an ordinary polo match would change everything.
She met someone, someone completely different from anyone she had ever seen or heard of.
That person was like a flame, suddenly bursting into her dull and boring life like a barren mountain and cold water, instantly illuminating everything.
Strange emotions rapidly fermented and spread wildly. Yuan Yuan was confused and fearful, yet couldn’t help but move closer.
In her short life of the past decade, she had never felt so clearly before: I am alive!
Ma Bing’s heart was shaken, and she couldn’t help but shed tears. “Silly girl, how could I hate you?”
A curtain separated the two, and no one spoke again.
After a long time, the maid steeled herself and came to remind, “Miss, it’s getting late. We should leave, or we’ll miss our accommodation.”
“Sister!” At this moment, Yuan Yuan couldn’t even cry anymore.
Perhaps in the past few days, she had shed too many tears, feeling empty inside, long dried up.
“Be well, be well!” Ma Bing’s heart was pounding. “Give me your address. I’ll write to you. Be well!”
She was a little worried, worried that this little girl might not be able to cope.
Hearing her anxious voice, Yuan Yuan suddenly smiled, and the heavy heart she had carried for half a month finally settled.
Good, sister didn’t hate me.
“Sister, don’t worry,” she smiled. “I’ll be fine. I’m also preparing to take care of my parents in their old age.”
After speaking, without waiting for Ma Bing to reply, Yuan Yuan raised her voice and said, “Let’s go!”
“Yuan Yuan!” Ma Bing instinctively chased a few steps.
She didn’t have an umbrella, and the rain poured down on her head.
The rain in June was surprisingly cold?
Yuan Yuan’s personal maid saw this, quickly called for someone to bring an umbrella, and also handed over a note, looking at her deeply before chasing after the carriage.
Yuan Yuan finally couldn’t hold back and turned her head, taking one last glance at that person through the gap in the curtain, tears falling like rain.
So be it.
In a lifetime, having such a memory worth recalling repeatedly is enough.
Maybe one day in the future, when she has come to terms, understood, and forgotten, she will return to Kaifeng again, chatting and laughing with her like old times.
But… how could such a profound bond be forgotten!
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage