Chapter 54: Chance Encounter
February 14th, 11:00 pm
Under the moonlight, Shen Kuo was still trembling with fear as he hid under the window and eavesdropped.
"We moved to a place like this, why are there still thieves?" asked the old man inside.
Another voice said, "Sir, the capital is in chaos right now, and the rich have all fled to the countryside. The thieves must have known about this, right? So they are all stealing outside the city."
"That's not what I meant. With such a large family and wealth, the only thing a thief would do is lose something outside of my possessions. However, I have already hidden in the mountains, so how could they still be targeted? And why the library? Xiaoqi, you said the library was robbed, have you found out what books were missing?"
"My son has checked. The paintings and books he brought from the capital are not lost. Only the red sandalwood box he brought from the capital is missing. There are only a few pieces of letter paper and a piece of calligraphy in it..."
"So this is what you're after. I see. You're not just any thief."
The old man's voice remained calm, and there was no sign of panic in his voice.
"Sir, he knows so many details. Is there anyone who wants your letters and notes, and finds some that allude to the government affairs? Could it be him... I think he is the only one in the court who would be interested..." asked another steady voice.
"Don't guess. It's better to judge by deeds rather than by heart. I've been dismissed for many years, and I'm no longer popular. Besides, the government promoted a military man to be the Privy Councilor, which broke the precedent of the Song Dynasty valuing civil officials. I wasn't the only one who impeached him. All the civil officials in the court were his enemies. If he wanted to send someone to investigate secretly, I wouldn't be the one to be chosen, let alone steal the box. There's nothing shameful in the box."
"Excuse me, sir, the letter and words in the wooden box..."
"You must think that what I brought out from the capital in a hurry must be something important? In fact, it is very ordinary. The words inside are nothing more than a poem of congratulations I wrote to the emperor when the late emperor obtained the heavenly book more than 30 years ago. Why don't I recite it to you and see if there are any allusions to the government and various loopholes?" The old man cleared his throat and began to recite: "Three hundred and sixty sentences on the first day, four seasons of Jiaxu Taiping Year. The colorful clothes and red festivals of cultivating the truth, following the auspicious clouds and serving the nine heavens."
"Husband, this... doesn't seem to be a big deal?"
"Haha, I'm ashamed to say that I wrote such a flattering thing back then. Later, I felt that I was reckless when I was young, close to supernatural powers and ghosts and far away from the teachings of the master. But I couldn't bear to destroy it, so I kept it in the box as a warning. It's better to throw it away. It's nothing but shame to spread it out."
"Father, those letters?"
"Nothing much. I made friends with Mr. Zhang, the former emperor's attendant, and asked him to bring out those strange characters in the Heavenly Book that no one could recognize. I wanted to study them. Now that I think about it, it's even more ridiculous. Those characters that look like tadpoles were probably forged by Lord Wang Qinruo back then?"
"Father, I only heard that the heavenly book has the title "Da Zhong Xiang Fu" and the twelve seal characters on the silk wrapping: Zhao Shou Ming, Xing Yu Song, Shi Qi Bai, Jiu Jiu Ding, but I didn't know that no one could recognize the characters inside."
"No one can really understand the words inside. They are similar to bird seal script but with many branches. The emperor did not allow others to read them. I was curious at the time, so I asked the emperor's attendant to take a peek at a few words when he was reading the heavenly book, and then draw them on paper and bring them out. I have collected more than 300 words, but I still cannot understand them after several years of contemplation. According to the eunuch, the late emperor did not study this book very seriously. He would put it away after reading it for a while."
"Father, the late emperor loved these mysteries the most, why didn't he study the Heavenly Book seriously?"
"Xiao Qi, you have asked the point. In fact, the answer is self-evident. Of course, I was also obsessed. I wasted seven or eight years studying the strange characters in the heavenly book. It was not until one day when I saw the Xixia characters created by the Tangut Li Yuanhao that I suddenly realized. The Xixia characters are actually fake characters made by putting together radicals. I think Li Yuanhao had Yeli Renrong to create characters, and the previous emperor had Wang Qinruo to create characters. Therefore, Your Majesty did not study the heavenly book seriously, because he knew that it was a fake character, and he was just pretending in front of others."
"Father, so the Heavenly Book is fake?"
"It took me eight years to figure out that the person who stole the letter today either didn't understand the matter clearly or had extremely sinister intentions. The letter is now hanging on the caisson ceiling of the main hall of Yuqing Zhaoying Palace, and it is heavily guarded and cannot be stolen. I don't know where the news leaked that I have it, so the thief came to me. Well, let them do whatever they want."
"Father, who could have stolen the book?"
"Xiao Qi, when you said that the Heavenly Book was fake, I thought you had already gained enlightenment, but you asked such a stupid question. Let me ask you, what are the twelve characters on the brocade that wrapped the Heavenly Book?"
"Zhao received the mandate, rose from Song, lasted for 700 years, and was established in 99 years?"
"Can you tell that it is quite similar to the various nursery rhymes circulating in the capital now?"
“Could it be…”
"Those who believe in the gods and spirits are prone to backlash, and this was true for the Qin Emperor and Han Emperor. The former emperor first created the Book of Heaven and then sealed Mount Tai, relying on the oracle to stabilize the government. This was more than just a temporary measure and was brilliant. However, in order to prevent future failures, he created characters that no one could understand. This was a huge mistake."
"This will solve the problem once and for all, and no one will ever be able to crack it. Isn't it wiser? How can it be called a huge mistake?"
"Xiao Qi, how do you know? There is no such thing as a permanent solution in this world. Although the creation of characters is unsolvable, it is unsolvable for the world, but it may be unsolvable for those who are interested."
"Father, I still don't understand."
"You will understand immediately. I think this chaos of prophecies will continue from now on."
The young man didn't seem to understand, but Shen Kuo, who was hiding outside, probably understood. What the old man said was that when the former emperor forged the heavenly book, he used words that no one could understand, and he didn't dare to explain it randomly for fear of being exposed. However, if you don't dare to explain, the right of interpretation will be handed over to others, and those who are interested will definitely think of this. Now someone has stolen the words in the heavenly book, probably thinking of this. He couldn't help but admire him. The old man should have guessed who stole the letters. It's just that he doesn't know the identity of this old man. From what he said, he might have been an official in the court. He was just about to look up to see his face clearly so that he could go back to ask Lao Bao or Wen Yanbo, because they probably knew who it was.
Who would have thought that the half-starved kitten in his arms would start to struggle. It hadn't moved much before, probably fainted from hunger, but now it woke up again. Shen Kuo wanted to comfort it, so he patted it gently, and the kitten actually meowed.
"Father, is there any movement outside?"
That young man's hearing was surprisingly good.
"Oh no, walls have ears, go out and take a look."
"Sir, maybe the thief hasn't escaped far yet?"
"Xiao Qi, if you catch him, don't kill him first. Leave him alive. Just break his legs and don't let him go..."
Shen Kuo was already panicking and retreated into the darkness behind him. "Just break your legs..." was the last sentence he heard from the room, and it made his hair stand on end.
He ran desperately in the darkness, and heard a commotion behind him. He ran out in the dark and reached the wall of the courtyard. He saw a fallen tree half leaning against the wall. It seemed that this was the only way to escape.
He desperately climbed up the tree, trying to untie his clothes to get the kitten out and throw it away, but he couldn't untie his clothes in a hurry. He just hated that the little beast was still energetic and scratched inside, probably wanting to get out too.
Shen Kuo jumped onto the old tree and climbed up the wall. Standing there and looking around, he saw torches outside the courtyard wall. It seemed that he could only save his life by escaping from the village. He couldn't see clearly, so he jumped down with all his strength and landed on the ground. He felt that his foot was sprained again, so he limped away from the courtyard of the mountain villa and tried to leave the village.
He had seen clearly on the wall where the exit was, so he ran towards it. He ran through several courtyards, big and small, and saw that there was only one small courtyard left to escape. However, there were the sounds of horse hooves outside the mountain, and a group of people were coming in. They were probably the ones who had chased the two thieves and came back.
He turned around quickly, only to see the flash of fire and the barking of dogs behind him. He was actually blocked by two groups of people.
"Is God going to kill me?"
Seeing that there was no way to escape, he held the Imperial City Bureau sign tightly in his hand, like a life-saving straw, not knowing whether it would be of any use.
Just when I was at a loss of what to do, I heard some noise in the yard next to me.
The door of the courtyard creaked open. He simply stood there. Since he couldn't run away and didn't bother to hide, he just turned around and stared at the girl who came out for a moment. If it weren't for the almost full moon in the sky, he wouldn't have recognized that this was Jin'er.
A thousand questions flashed through his mind, how could things be so coincidental? Although he had also heard from Xu Chong that Jin'er and Xiaoping had left Tokyo at noon and moved to somewhere near the Yellow River ferry in Zhongmu County.
"What's going on with all the commotion outside?" It was the lazy voice of Xiaoping yawning inside.
Jin'er didn't answer either, but pulled Shen Kuo, who was standing upright, into the yard. As soon as he entered the house, his eyes met with Xiaoping who came out of the house.
Although Xiao Ping didn't say anything, her eyes clearly said, "Why you again?"
Two groups of people outside the door came together noisily, and for a moment, it was very lively. Jin Er pulled Shen Kuo against the wall, not daring to speak.
"Where are the two thieves?" someone asked in a hoarse voice.
"I didn't catch up with him. He ran away."
"You've escaped from the thief, but you're still so loud?"
"You told us to go that way, so we chased after him. There's no trace of him. Even a dog can't smell a human. I don't know if you saw him wrong, so we chased him in the wrong direction and missed something important. I was just thinking of coming back and grabbing Yi Yi by the chest to ask you why you didn't shout."
"You're blaming me?"
"Let's go and see my old husband."
"Let's go..."
"Stop arguing, you two are totally confused. You're just causing trouble." An older voice interrupted the quarrel between the young men.
"Uncle, we just want to reason things out, how did we get into trouble?"
"Just now I clearly saw a figure disappear at the entrance of the village. Maybe the thief didn't get far away, or maybe some of the thieves who escaped were trapped in this village. You didn't even look for him, but instead started arguing with each other? How can this not cause trouble?"
"Yes, if uncle hadn't told me, I would have forgotten. Just now, there was clearly a figure limping and disappearing here."
Xiaoping was also listening to the conversation outside. She quickly signaled with her eyes to Jin'er to bring Shen Kuo into the house, and then she moved a bench and sat in the yard.
Just as Shen Kuo and Jin'er entered the house cautiously, there was a knock on the door behind them.
"Then open the door, madam, open the door, sister-in-law..."
A rude man's voice sounded, and Shen Kuo was terrified.
"Stop it, I heard you."
Xiao Ping yelled and stood up and went behind the door.
"Why are you making so much noise so late at night?"
"Sister, there is a thief in the village. My husband ordered that if he is caught, his hands and feet should be broken first, and then he should be tied up and sent to the village to collect the reward. The figure seemed to disappear at your door. I am afraid he climbed over the wall to get in. Please open the door and let me go in."
"I spent the whole night admiring the moon in the yard, but I didn't see anyone," said Xiaoping.
"Sister, don't blame us for being noisy and unreasonable. There were indeed thieves in the village tonight, and we saw a figure in front of the gate." said the eldest uncle.
"Did you see it clearly?"
"Uh...really, the figure doesn't look like someone we know in this village. Big sister might have missed him. Why don't we go in and look for him in the front and back yards, in the haystacks, and by the stove..."
"There are only us, the master and the servant, in this courtyard. If many people come in late at night, we are afraid of rumors. Besides, there are many singing girls and musicians in this village. They are not familiar with us. They are all escaped from the city and are staying here. What's strange about seeing a stranger? I just came at noon, so I am also a stranger. Should we take them all to see Taigong?"
"But the figure was indeed sneaky. He was also limping, as if he had been chased and fallen."
"You saw he was limping. My gate was closed. How could he climb over the wall?"
Xiao Ping's words instantly silenced the other party.
"Yes, elder sister is right. How could he climb over the wall if he was limping? I think Wang Da was drunk and saw it wrong again. Just now, my brothers and I chased him for two miles, but there was nothing."
Outside, people started to have fun.
"Well, maybe I saw it wrong. We will leave now. Sorry." said the uncle.
"Uncle, go back. I will just continue to enjoy the moon here. If we see a thief, my Jin'er is also good at fighting. I will use my bone-rolling mallet to break the enemy's hands and feet first, and then tie him up and send him to the village to ask for a reward. I won't bother you."
"My lady, you are so good. I will take my leave now ."
The people outside were laughing and making a lot of noise, and after waiting for a while, Xiao Ping quietly opened the door and looked around to make sure that the men had all left, then she closed the door and returned to the house.
As soon as she entered the room, her face turned angry.
"Jin'er, go get the rolling pin. You're such an idiot. You hurt me so much last night. I had already hidden myself in the mountains. Why are you hurting me again tonight?"
"Listen to me, elder sister. I just came here to investigate a case, but I didn't expect..."
"Did you follow orders to investigate the case and find your way here?"
"It's a long story..." Shen Kuo was thinking about how to explain.
"You don't need to tell me about these official matters. I just hate you for using that monster to scare me yesterday."
"I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that the puppet has always been there, and you were the one who uncovered the cloth."
"You knew that thing was evil, but you still let me go upstairs? It's clearly harming me."
"This thing's resurrection is not evil, there must be some reason for it."
"Yes, young lady," Jin'er interrupted, "If the young master knew that thing could be alive, he wouldn't have gone up there himself, right?"
"Okay, okay, okay, I asked you to get a rolling pin, but you didn't bring it and just helped him. You just assumed that he knew nothing and that I was just being unreasonable. Well, he cheated my unreasonable parents-in-law on the boat that day, and I owed him a favor. Today, he was being chased, and I lied to those strong men, so we're even."
Xiaoping turned around angrily, put her hands on her hips, and turned her back to Shen Kuo.
"How can you say we owe each other nothing? I still owe you a donkey."
"What do I want with that idiot? Just keep him and live with him."
