Chapter 64: The Method of Cutting Off People
February 16th
Shen Kuo waited for some time upstairs. After all the water in the funnel had dripped out, he roughly counted. He found that the opening of the funnel must have been carefully calculated. Only forty to sixty drops of water leaked out every moment, which would not be easy to notice if one was not standing by.
The emperor's carriage to the Imperial Temple was about an hour later, at the time of Si, when the crossbows would be dry, but the bowstrings could not be used to shoot. At that time, the arrows would fall on the Imperial Street, and the plan would fail. But why did they do this?
He thought carefully about what Lao Bao had said just now. It was actually impossible to shoot the emperor from here. Even if the bowstring was not wet, it was a one in ten thousand chance. However, was the goal to deliberately miss the target and take the opportunity to provoke a fight between the emperor and his ministers? This conclusion seemed to be the only self-consistent conclusion, but he still could not accept it completely. In his opinion, the early layout of the Maitreya Sect was very fierce and vicious. If they only bet on the emperor's shock and arouse suspicion between the emperor and his ministers, it would be a bit anticlimactic. Unless their goal changed.
It seems that after the death of the Saint, the internal discord and mutual sabotage of the Maitreya sect became particularly obvious. However, these conclusions can only be confirmed after the people are caught and their confessions are interrogated.
Before he went downstairs, he picked up the piano that had been dropped on the ground and took a closer look. It was Xiao Ping's piano. So he went downstairs alone with the piano in his arms and returned to the temporary base in Lao Ya Lane. After waiting for a while, the great monk Huai Liang arrived.
Shen Kuo hurried to welcome the monk upstairs, but the monk was in no hurry to go up.
"You said yesterday that the five bodies of Maitreya were actually Maitreya rebels? Why don't we go and take a look at the bodies first?"
"I did say that, but after all, it's a dead body and it won't run away. There's no rush to look at it. Besides, didn't you see it last time you came here, Master?"
"The last time was the last time. I was so focused on saving them that I didn't see them clearly. If they were traitors, I would have to take a closer look. Just now, Xu Jieji came to see me. If he hadn't said that the body was still here, I might not have come. Hey, you don't know, if I wasn't at the counter, Xiao Yi would take advantage of me."
Since the monk had brought it up, Shen Kuo naturally had nothing to say. The two of them went to the backyard together, where five thin-skinned coffins were lined up under a peach tree. Now that the weather was warm, the stench of corpses could be smelled from afar.
Shen Kuo slowed down his pace. He was still reluctant to see the dead bodies, but the monk walked past them regardless. He walked past the bodies of the young men in front of him one by one, without stopping for too long. When he came to the female body, he stopped to look at it for a while, shook his head, but said nothing.
"I think she is the Saint Lady. She was also killed by Yu Jing's plan to attract lightning."
"A plan to attract thunder?" The monk hesitated for a moment and turned to the last corpse, which was the elderly man. "If that was the Saint Lady, who is this one? I see his hair and beard are all white, so I think he is older than the Saint Lady."
"This... judging from his age, he shouldn't be an ordinary person in the church. Perhaps he is the Saint's right-hand man?"
"How old does the coroner think this man is?"
"About fifty years old. He is more than ten years older . First, his hair and beard are all white. Second, his body is bent and he has a hunchback. Third, his face and neck are wrinkled, which shows the appearance of an old man."
"Has anyone come to identify the body?"
"Master, you hit the nail on the head. Since the body was dumped on the street, no relatives have come to look for it, let alone identify it. It's obvious that no one dares to come and identify it."
"Why not bring that courtesan Xiao Ping to see these bodies? Even if others may not recognize them, maybe she does."
The monk's words made Shen Kuo feel at a loss. He didn't expect that the monk still insisted that Xiao Ping was related to the case. Shen Kuo was about to say a few words for Xiao Ping, but he felt dazed. He couldn't explain the reason. For a moment, he thought that Xiao Ping might really know these people. As for the reason, it flashed through his mind and he couldn't grasp it for a while.
"Let's go upstairs." The monk turned around and left with a flick of his sleeves. He didn't look closely at any of the bodies, which made people feel that he had just walked around in a perfunctory manner, just like the day of the salvation ceremony, or even worse. It seemed that he did it just to say that sentence that was forcibly related to Xiao Ping.
Shen Kuo followed silently. He was a little distracted. The monk's casual words just now did trigger a lot of his associations. His memory was very good. Although it was not to the extent that monks could remember old friends after more than ten years, he could usually remember strangers who passed by him and appeared again a few days later, unless the person had completely changed.
However, when he saw the five corpses that day, they were all unrecognizable. He felt vaguely that the corpse of the older man looked familiar, but he couldn't remember why. Maybe it just looked a bit like an old man he had met by chance in his life? Then he put the idea behind him. However, the monk's malicious and abrupt words today triggered a strange connection in his mind - if Xiao Ping had seen it, maybe he had seen it too? Although it was simply nonsense, his brain broke free from the control of reason and wandered endlessly, searching for the answer that was within reach.
"Cunzhong, Cunzhong!" the monk called out, awakening Shen Kuo from his trance. He found that Shen Kuo was already at the door of the house. Seeing that Shen Kuo did not follow him, the monk did not want to rush in on his own.
"Master, please come this way. Mr. Bao has already sent those Maitreya teaching books that have not been burned and can still be read. They are piled up upstairs."
The two walked up the stairs together.
"Cunzhong, I heard you mention that when you went to Beijing, you saw Xiaoping being kidnapped by a group of thieves?"
"Yes, it was done by Xiao Ping's late husband's father-in-law. They were all unreasonable people who said that she was a little...unfaithful...no matter what, they insisted on sinking her into the pond."
"Oh, there is still such an old man who doesn't know what is good for him. Did Xiao Ping ever mention who her late husband was?"
“Not mentioned.”
Shen Kuo had gotten used to the monk always relating things to Xiao Ping, so he was prepared. However, this time the monk did not follow suit, and he stopped the topic at the right time.
The two walked up the stairs and reached the second floor. The monk glanced at the bookcase and saw that there were already a lot of books piled up on it. Most of them were intact or the burned parts were not big. Bao Zheng had read all of them. Most of them were some incomprehensible scriptures and sermons, and he couldn't make sense of them. For some reason, Bao Zheng felt that the monk could see something.
Huailiang picked a seat by the window and sat down. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to read. When he stood up to open the window, he saw Xiaoping's piano under the windowsill and suddenly remembered something.
"Cunzhong, did you find any clues when you were at the Prince Consort's Mansion that day?"
"Master, why do you ask this?"
"Oh, I've been running around for that shopkeeper Pei who bought the fake paintings. This guy has done nothing good in his life. He's now detained in the Imperial City Department and has nothing to eat or drink every day."
"Is that so? After the Imperial City Division came that day, I heard that the rest of the members of the Mystery Society were also released. Why did they lock him up alone?"
"Not only that, he was also beaten with forty sticks. In fact, it was because of the prince consort. The prince consort hated Shopkeeper Pei because of the fake painting. This time, he made arrangements in the Imperial City Bureau to Pei Lao Si suffer. I also felt a little guilty. After all, I was the one who carved the fake seal of the 'Golden Book'. So I got involved and ran around to mediate for Shopkeeper Pei."
"This..." Shen Kuo looked confused. He really didn't understand what the monk was writing.
"Oh, I went to the Prince Consort's mansion. I told him that I carved the seal with a carrot. The Prince Consort was a straightforward person and wanted to make friends with me. I asked him to release the shopkeeper Pei. The Prince Consort agreed immediately and Mr. Pei was released yesterday."
“Ohhh…”
"When I was talking to the Prince Consort, he mentioned that you and Cun Zhong had carefully inspected the scene that day and seemed to have found some clues on the doors and windows?"
"That's right. Master, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten that I found a long hair that looked like a woman's on the windowsill that day. However, there are many female guests in the Prince Consort's mansion, so..."
"Is your hair with you?"
"Yes, I put it in the book." Shen Kuo lowered his head to look for it. The monk walked to the zither, put it on the windowsill, and stood up to play it. It was an unknown ancient song. For a moment, the sound of the zither was like a quiet orchid in the valley, full of ancient charm.
Shen Kuo was stunned. He didn't expect that the monk was so good at playing the piano.
He sat up straight, closed his eyes and listened quietly, but the monk's piano music became more passionate and then stopped.
"Why do the strings of the zither feel a little sore?"
He raised his right hand, only to see that his index finger was broken and blood was flowing out.
"Master, please forgive me. I brought this zither from Baifan Building, but I didn't expect there would be burrs on the strings." Shen Kuo quickly took a piece of paper and tried to bandage it, but the monk didn't care. He just rubbed his fingers on his greasy clothes.
"So, this piano belongs to Xiao Ping?"
"Exactly."
The monk did not say much, just sat down. Shen Kuo handed him the hair stuck in the book, but he did not even look at it. He just put it in front of his nose and sniffed it. Then he lowered his head to sniff the zither. Shen Kuo thought: Here it comes again.
However, the monk just frowned and shook his head.
"master?"
"The smell is different. Perhaps I am possessed and have wronged her?"
Shen Kuo let out a sigh of relief.
"Cunzhong, did you go to Baifan Building today?"
"Yes, it's the same as before. I took this zither back." Shen Kuo did not tell the truth about the danger last night and this morning. The matter of assassinating the current emperor was too big. Out of caution, he decided to leave the decision of whether to tell the monk to Bao Longtu. He was worried that Huailiang would leak the matter if he got drunk every day. His shop was like a news transfer station, and he was afraid that everyone would know it soon.
Of course, since no one in the capital dared to go out at night, and the residents in the Baifan Building area all fled to the countryside, there were no extra witnesses to the commotion last night, and the news did not spread. It can be seen that not launching the fireworks also had unexpected benefits.
The monk returned the hair to Shen Kuo, then stood up and walked around the room with his head held high.
"Master, why are you doing this?"
"A few days ago, I smelled some peach blossoms in this room, which was somewhat similar to the hair I just smelled. But now I can't smell it anymore. I have no way to compare it."
"There are peach blossoms under this attic, so naturally there is some peach blossom smell."
The monk sat down by the window without saying anything, picked up a book from the table and started reading. He read very quickly, and soon finished the book and threw it aside, then picked up another one to read. Shen Kuo was also surprised by his speed.
Shen Kuo also picked up a book and looked at it carefully. He had read all the Maitreya teaching books here, but he really didn't find anything more useful.
The two of them watched until late in the afternoon, during which time there was nothing else to do except for the messenger who brought them two bowls of noodles for lunch.
In the end, there was only a small pile of books left on the table. Ninety percent of them had been read, and ninety percent of them had been read by the monk, but he didn't see anything worth discussing.
Some of these books are daily account books of the sect. They look very boring. However, if you look closely, you can see that the Maitreya sect has been hiding in the dark for two years and has been living in a very tight financial situation. Everything changed at the beginning of last year. I don't know what happened inside? Did the gold bars of the annual tribute work?
Of course, another question Shen Kuo had was that several books said that there were four great hexagram masters below the Saint Lady, but so far, only three of them could be seen. One was the known master craftsman Yu Jing, the second was Zhuge Suizhi, and the third was the Saint Lady Hu Yonger. However, who was the fourth, could not be found. Some books were missing this person because a certain page was burned, while others were listed with the names of the four hexagram masters, and the fourth one was blacked out. It can be seen that this person actually existed, but was blacked out for some reason. Zhuge Suizhi and Hu Yonger did not seem to be real names, but this mysterious person did not even leave a pseudonym. Wen Yanbo speculated that they might have been eliminated in the secret struggle within the church, so the names that appeared in the book were blacked out to show that they were no longer related.
The monk stood up and took out a half-burned book from the last small pile on the table. This book was not a common butterfly binding or four-hole or six-hole thread binding, but a long scroll of handwritten silk book, which looked quite old. The title of the book was "False Evil's Law to Determine the Divine Mantra". The title looked very long, but it might actually be longer, because the front was burned, and there should be one or two words left.
After Huailiang opened it, he could see that it contained mostly pictures and texts, but unfortunately a lot of it had been stained and burned, making it impossible to read.
"Divine spell?"
"Master, I have read this book. It seems to be some kind of spell book, but unfortunately it is incomplete."
Hearing that Shen Kuo had already read it, the monk wanted to put it down, but hesitated, then opened it again and read it very quickly.
"Such a long and folded book does not seem to exist in this world." He said as he looked at it.
"Yes, similar to books from the early Tang Dynasty. If long scrolls were folded with paper, they would be easily torn if opened too much, so silk was mostly used for hand-copying. Nowadays, silk is only used as drawing paper. Paper books are either wrapped or bound with four or six hole thread."
"Maybe this religion has been passed down from previous generations."
"I guess so too."
"I understand. This is a spell to kill people..." The monk suddenly came to a conclusion.
"Broken people?"
"Yes, cut off the man."
"I see only symbols and strange words inside, I can't make out any clues, please explain it to me, Master."
"You can't understand it because the contents were burned. I happened to have seen a similar ancient book. It also has a method of asking incantations to distinguish between false and true people, so you can compare and understand it."
Shen Kuo was stunned after hearing this.
"The way to judge a person is to determine right and wrong without going to court, but only by relying on the oracle."
"Isn't it ridiculous?" Shen Kuo laughed.
"But the Divine Realm is the most convincing."
Shen Kuo suddenly thought of the way the late emperor used the "Book of Heaven" to spread the divine mandate, which was actually consistent with the practice of Maitreya. Thinking of this, he could no longer laugh.
