Chapter 96 The truth is so simple
June 12th
"If the strings of a zither break, they can be repaired," Shen Kuo said.
"My heart is dead in this life, and all thoughts are like ashes."
"I thought you were silenced, but I saw a grave with your name on it in that thatched cottage."
"I asked the young master to write that tombstone for me. He got tired of me over time and wanted to leave, but he also felt that he owed me something and wanted to make up for it..." Xiao Ping's face was as pale as paper, but she forced a smile, "He wanted to write another poem for me. I said, since we are going to part, why bother to be sad and reluctant to say goodbye. If you want to leave some memories, just write a tombstone for me, and let me die."
There was a drizzle outside the pavilion, and two people were facing each other inside the pavilion.
"The young master you are talking about is the seventh young master Yan, Yan Jidao?"
Xiaoping lowered her head and remained silent, which was considered as her agreement.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"Knowing too much about this matter may not be helpful to you, young master."
"I see you've packed your bags and there's a horse parked downstairs. I guess you have somewhere else to go? Something to do?"
"Although I no longer miss this world, I still have some things to do."
"If there is anything else, can I help you?"
Xiaoping raised her head, a light flashed in her eyes, and then dimmed.
"This is a terrible thing. I already owe you a great favor, and I cannot let you get involved and suffer any more."
"What kind of thing?"
Xiao Ping said nothing, and the two of them sat in silence. The rain outside intensified, and water began to drip from the broken pavilion.
"Since you won't tell me, why don't I take a guess?"
Xiao Ping raised her head, a hint of anger showing on her face. At such a dark moment in her life, the soulmate opposite her actually came up with such an inappropriate and frivolous idea, which eased the atmosphere somewhat.
"Sir, feel free to guess if you want. But no matter whether you guess right or wrong, I may not answer." She stood up, turned her back to Shen Kuo, rolled up her sleeves, and stretched out her white arms to catch the rain outside.
"Okay, you don't have to answer me whether I'm right or wrong. Then I'll guess the first thing first. It wasn't you who came to Yujin Garden to say goodbye that day and left me the "Wood Scripture". The thing you are leaving now to do is for her."
Xiao Ping suddenly turned around, with surprise written on her face. It was obvious that Shen Kuo had guessed right.
"How do you know?"
"Because of your arm."
Xiaoping retracted her arms; she already knew where her weakness was.
That night, when the flower demon was making trouble in the Prince Consort's house, I saw with my own eyes that Xiao Ping's arm was scratched by the Prince Consort. Since then, Xiao Ping always showed people with a handkerchief covering the wound. But today, there is no wound on your hand. It was not you who was scratched and left with scars that day.
"Maybe after three months, the wound on my hand will be healed and the scar will be gone?"
"It is indeed possible, but this is only the most superficial evidence."
"Is there any other evidence?"
"Because people can't disappear out of thin air. Master Huailiang taught me to eliminate the completely impossible things first. The remaining one, no matter how absurd, is the only possibility."
"Sir, I am all ears to hear how you solve this problem. What is completely impossible, and what is bizarre but the only possibility?"
"For example, it is impossible for a paper doll to have a clone. No one can disappear from the attic and walk to another building on the other side of the river when the lights go out. However, if you have a sister who conspires with you, although this possibility is not likely to happen once in a million, it is the only possibility."
Xiao Ping's face regained a lot of vitality. She no longer looked as pale as before, like a dying person.
"Of course, I didn't guess it this way. In fact, Master Huailiang himself didn't use this method to guess your sisters' tricks."
"Then, how did you guess that?" Xiaoping's face was full of confusion.
"Because you and her, although you look exactly the same, even the donkey can't tell them apart. But the feeling I had was different. It was at the Prince Consort's Mansion at first. I left there at noon that day, and the girls from the Baifan Building happened to enter the mansion. I passed by Xiaoping, who was carrying a zither on her back. She ignored me, just because she didn't know me yet. This was the first time I met her when I recalled it later."
"Well, that was indeed the first time you met Yong'er. What about the second time?"
"It was in the house in Old Crow Lane. Huailiang suspected that you were playing tricks in the mystery club upstairs in Baifan Building, using ventriloquism to play tricks on the puppet. You sensed the danger, and in order to clear yourself of suspicion and to destroy the puppet that didn't self-destruct, you and your sister played the same trick in my room. You played a lot of tricks on me and Master Huailiang. Because you fell into my arms at the time, the puppet that was talking upstairs couldn't have been your ventriloquism."
"Maybe it's just another accomplice who's good at ventriloquism?" Xiao Ping laughed. She had already gotten rid of her pain and temporarily entered into Shen Kuo's logic game.
"No, no. To sneak into the second floor where I was, you must first climb up the peach tree branches to the barn, and then get in through a side window. The old donkey was in the barn at the time. It was very good at distinguishing strangers from acquaintances. Whenever a stranger's voice approached, it would bark. The spies in the yard had been suffering from it for a long time, and they were all disturbed by its noise. But that day, it didn't bark, because it was as stupid as me and couldn't tell who was who."
"Sure enough, it's really meticulous..." Xiao Ping nodded, "The third time was when I used the paper doll clone trick in the house by the Cai River ?"
"That's right. This time, Master Huailiang and I have suffered even more. I saw that the master has lost a lot of weight in those few days."
"Haha, that bald donkey deserves to suffer. How did you find the flaw?" Xiao Ping said.
"The next day, I searched the closet in the small building again and found that a piece of men's clothing was missing. I recalled what happened the night before. At that time, you were playing the piano on the second floor. The lights on the second floor were off. I went upstairs with a few yamen runners, but you were nowhere to be seen. At the same time, the lights on the other side of the river were on, and you appeared there. I was confused for a moment. The yamen runners were even more frightened and hurried downstairs to inform Mr. Bao, but they didn't know that you were hiding among the people going downstairs. Then you escaped in the chaos."
After hearing this, Xiaoping clapped her hands.
"Wonderful, young master is really smart."
"In fact, there was another time, when you were submerged in the pond by the Maitreya Cult as a water trial. Although you had the key and could escape from the bottom of the water, there was one thing that puzzled me, which was why the Maitreya Cult members did not chase after you when they saw the empty wooden cage. Now that I think about it, it must be because your sister appeared in front of them and passed the water trial, so they did not think of chasing after you."
"I admire your ability to reason so carefully."
"It's not that detailed actually. I added these details later when I recalled them. What really connected all the parts was a sentence you said when we rode that donkey to Tokyo together."
"What?"
"You said that day: If I had a sister of innocent origin, I would marry you. If she did not listen, I would beat her until she agreed."
These words obviously touched Xiaoping, and she quickly came over and grabbed Shen Kuo.
"That day I also felt that you were a rare good person I had ever met in my life, so I suddenly had this thought and said it casually, but now I want to ask again, if I really have a sister, can I entrust her to you?"
"Entrust it to me? But she is not you."
She grabbed with some force, waking up the sleeping kitten in Shen Kuo's arms, and it began to struggle and cry in his arms.
Xiao Ping heard the cat meowing: "Is it Xiao Jiu?"
"Xiaojiu?"
Shen Kuo took the kitten out of his arms and handed it to Xiao Ping. Xiao Ping held the kitten in her arms and couldn't stop her tears from falling.
"Xiao Jiu is the name I gave it. The young master is called Xiao Qi, so it is called Xiao Jiu."
"Since we have Xiaojiu, is there also Xiaoba?"
"Yes, it was a greyhound that the young master and I raised. Just now, the thugs from the Yan Mansion tried to force me to write a document that I would no longer harass the young master, so it bit people to protect its master and was killed by the group. You can see that it is buried in the grave with the name "Xiao Ping" in the backyard. It died for me."
Shen Kuo thought back to what he had just seen: one of the people burning the house had blood oozing from his single-edged sword. Now thinking about it, it must have been a bloody scene.
"Master, I'm asking you again, can I entrust my sister Yong'er to you?"
"But she is not you." Shen Kuo repeated his previous answer.
"If you can be sincere to me, you can definitely be sincere to her."
"But I still have to ask her about this, right?"
"You don't need to ask. I can make the decision. I also said that if she doesn't agree, I will beat her until she agrees."
The conversation became strange, and Shen Kuo felt it was time to change the subject.
"However, I only guessed that you had sisters, but I couldn't guess how you were involved in this disaster."
Xiao Ping stroked the little wild cat that was trying desperately to break free, and began to recall everything.
Shen Kuo waited quietly on the side.
"I still remember that year, my sister and I were only thirteen years old. We were still learning to play and sing when we were spotted by Mr. Yan and became his spies." She slowly began to recall the past.
"At that time, Yan Xianggong was demoted in the court, and Wen Xianggong, who was in the same party with him, was sent to Beizhou to quell the rebellion. He sent spies to infiltrate Maitreya Sect several times, but all failed. Wang Ze acted strangely and crazy, and even the high-ranking officials in the sect were often suspected. Whenever Wang Ze had doubts, he would use the method of interrogation to determine whether the suspect was loyal or treacherous. Many spies were drowned or burned to death before they could reveal their true colors. In addition, it was extremely difficult to send out military intelligence, because Wang Ze could summon the hexagram master and the incense master to other places at any time, and there was no regular rule to follow. If someone was not there when he summoned them, they would most likely be suspected and interrogated. So Yan Xianggong thought of using our twin sisters to insert into the sect, so that we could avoid interrogation and send out military intelligence."
"Twins can deceive Wang Ze and Saint Aunt?"
"Sir, don't doubt it. This trick is indeed effective. The two of us will play the role of the Saint Fox Yong'er. When we get military intelligence, we will send one person to deliver it, because the identity of the Saint can be passed freely in the enemy camp. However, after a long time, Wang Ze also became suspicious that the military secrets were leaked. He often asked the four hexagram masters to go to his place to listen to his lectures at any time. In fact, in order to find out who is not in the city, this trick will not embarrass us at all, because we already have two people, and one of us can go to see him at any time."
"Using a wooden cage to sink a person in a pond in Songzhou is a water trial? Is it to determine loyalty and treachery?"
"Yes. In fact, only Wang Ze himself knew that his method of judging cases was fake. He couldn't even escape from fire and water. It was just a way for him to kill dissidents and suspicious people. But after Wang Ze died, everyone in Maitreya believed his lies and thought they were true. Because I escaped when Beizhou City was broken and returned to Maitreya, they suspected me of being a traitor, so they used this method to test me. In fact, Yong'er and I had already agreed to escape with a clone, but you unexpectedly came in to rescue me."
"Why do you want to return to Maitreya?"
"Because Mr. Yan had some ideas at that time, which was to get rid of Saint Wang Ze and use me and Yong'er to take over the position of leader, so that Maitreya Sect could be used by him."
"Why do you think so?" Shen Kuo asked in confusion.
"Because of Mr. Yan's other secret."
"What kind of secret?"
"Think it over. If I tell you this secret, you will be walking on the edge of a knife from now on. If you accidentally tell it, you will become the mortal enemy of Mr. Yan and his party, and you will be killed."
