Chapter 9: Final Judgment
February 1st, 1:00 p.m.
Shen Kuo was upstairs, anxiously looking at the hunchbacked old man and several young men following closely behind him. A group of people were talking to a man at the temple gate, and the man was pointing towards the temple. Xiao Ping was probably being targeted even though she had changed her clothes and was wearing a veiled hat covering her face. What kind of persistent father-in-law was this? He was determined to kill his daughter-in-law even after chasing her to the capital?
Several people quickly walked up the steps and headed for the back of the temple...
Shen Kuo cried out inwardly that something was wrong, and quickly stood up, threw a few hundred coins on the table, and ran downstairs. He turned quickly to the Yue Lao Temple. There were too many people on the street, and he couldn't run fast. It took him a while to get to the bottom of the stairs, and he was already panting. He didn't have time to catch his breath. He picked up a stone from the ground, ran up the stone steps and went straight into the temple, and saw the temple keeper who had just collected the money lying on the ground and cursing.
"What a filthy beast that died suddenly, daring to run wild and rob people in broad daylight, not even realizing that Yue Lao Temple is a place where the law is enforced. If you can't escape the lawsuit, you will be punished as a widow. You won't get a good reward in your next life, and you will definitely be a widower. Bah..."
Shen Kuo didn't ask him any more questions and rushed straight into the backyard. The osmanthus tree was there, with red silk threads tied to it and fluttering in the wind. Through the open back door, one could vaguely see someone carrying Xiao Ping running up the hill.
He chased out the back door and ran up the mountain. He was thinking about what to do. If he went to report to the police at this time, he would lose Xiao Ping's whereabouts. It would be better to secretly follow them to find out where they were going, and then secretly retreat to report to the police. The agreed time with the boatman to set sail at 5 p.m., so he had no worries. As for the time limit given by Yang Shaoqing to arrive in the capital, he could only forget about it for the time being and wait until he rescued the people first.
He kept his distance and followed secretly from behind. Sometimes he could see Xiaoping just a mile ahead, being carried on someone's shoulders. She didn't struggle or shout, probably because she was tied up tightly and her mouth was blocked.
The man in front of him was not walking fast but he was not stopping. Shen Kuo followed closely behind him cautiously, as he was also worried about being discovered. He did not dare to think about the danger. Perhaps the old man would recognize him and would probably suspect that he was the adulterer and would be drowned in the pond together with him.
They chased them until 3 p.m., and it seemed that the boat had already sailed away on its own, and the men had no intention of stopping. Shen Kuo looked around and saw that he was already trapped in the mountains. If it got dark, he might not even be able to find the way back. It seemed that he had miscalculated.
We chased them for a while, and we didn't know what time it was, but it was getting dark. We saw the outline of a house on the hill ahead. After we went in, we saw a fire there. It seemed that we had finally reached the place where the thieves were staying.
Shen Kuo approached secretly and found that it was a dilapidated temple. The statue at the door had fallen down and the walls on both sides had collapsed a lot . He tiptoed over the broken wall and arrived outside the main hall. He saw a shelf with a wooden cage hanging on it, which was just big enough for a person. A man in black was climbing on the shelf, humming a little tune while adjusting the windlass on it. Shen Kuo took advantage of the night to bypass the man and went to the back of the temple. He heard the sound of a stream behind the mountain, thinking that there was water below.
He turned around the broken back wall and reached the edge of the cliff. He looked down and saw a faint shimmer of light. There was indeed a deep pool. It looked not far away, but there was no way down. Maybe that was why they made a rack and a windlass ? They had to lower the wooden cage from here into the deep pool below. It looked like a ritual, but why was it so complicated?
He went in from the back of the temple, carefully avoiding the flickering light from the fire in the main hall, and used the wormwood to cover himself to get through the collapsed back door of the main hall. Soon he was behind the god's banner. From here he could see several people inside.
Ping'er, dressed in white, was sitting by the campfire. He was not tied up or beaten, and was chewing a chicken leg. The hunchbacked old man was sitting opposite him, and the other young men were scattered around.
He thought that they probably wouldn't execute Xiao Ping tonight, so he would try to rescue Xiao Ping when everyone was asleep. He was looking around when he saw the old man handing Xiao Ping a cup of tea with both hands, and his expression was not fierce.
"You also know that this is the rule. Rules cannot be broken." said the old man.
"Of course I know that." Xiao Ping was thirsty and took a sip of tea. She drank it so quickly that she burped.
"So don't be afraid, it will only be over in a moment."
"When have you ever seen me afraid?" Xiao Ping said arrogantly.
"If you're not afraid, why are you running?"
Xiao Ping continued to chew the chicken leg without answering the question. Shen Kuo thought that the old man must be in trouble. You want to drown others and you are not allowed to run away?
"That night, the weak scholar who fooled me on the canal boat, was he your old lover who you exchanged letters with?" the old man asked.
Xiaoping hesitated for a moment.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"I just met that young man by chance."
"So...you ran away because of him?"
Xiaoping stopped chewing but didn't answer.
"Don't ask any more questions. We'll know the answer tomorrow. But I have to tie you up tonight."
"Okay, but wait until I finish this meal. Tomorrow you will know that I have nothing to fear."
"Very good, very good, this is the old days. Dafu, bring some more meat."
Someone took the barbecue from the bonfire and roughly cut it into several pieces with a knife. They piled them on a large plate. It looked like there were at least two chickens and a rabbit. After the cutting was done, the large plate was brought to Xiaoping. Xiaoping didn't care about her eating manners and just grabbed the food with her hands and started eating. Shen Kuo saw this secretly and really admired this woman's broad mind. She had such a good appetite even when she was about to die.
"Just no wine." Xiao Ping said.
"You can't drink alcohol before the verdict. This is the rule, and the rules can't be broken."
"Rules, rules. If you don't want to drink, then don't drink."
Shen Kuo thought, this family has some weird rules. But after Xiao Ping had eaten her fill, she stood up and stretched out her hands. A big bearded man came over with a thick iron chain.
Shen Kuo recognized this man as the one who was leading the dog that night. If it weren't for the stupid dog he was leading that insisted on going north, he might not have been able to hide it from the old man.
The big man tied Xiao Ping's hands and legs with iron chains, intertwined the two chains and locked them with a big lock. The chains and the lock weighed more than ten pounds, so even without the wooden cage, if a person fell into the water, he would not be able to float.
Ping'er was unable to move her hands and feet, but she calmly sat down, turned over and lay motionless facing the wall. Shen Kuo could not see her expression, but her calmness was truly admirable, and it did not seem like it was her first time to die.
Now there is another trouble. When these people fall asleep, we still have to find the key first. I wonder if the key is with this bearded man ?
This bearded man suddenly triggered a worry in his heart. Since he was here, where was his dog?
As expected, a small dog came in from the main door. It saw the chicken bones Xiao Ping had thrown on the ground, and rushed over with its eyes shining. It picked up one and started chewing it. Shen Kuo secretly groaned inwardly. If this beast stayed here all night, how could he kill it?
The dog suddenly smelled something, dropped the bone and looked around, and noticed a person hiding in the shadow behind the shrine. He was not in a hurry to make a noise, but walked over slowly to get a clear look.
Shen Kuo could only slowly retreat outside in the darkness. The dog was still pressing forward, baring its teeth and growling. It was probably confident that it could handle the situation by itself, so it didn't bark much.
Shen Kuo stepped back from the courtyard wall, thinking of a countermeasure, but he missed a step and rolled down the steep slope of the back mountain. The stupid dog reached the edge of the cliff and looked down, convinced that he had solved the problem by his own power, so he went back to eat bones.
