Silent Thunder
As night deepened, no one slept peacefully at Yaotian's residence.
Pei Qinhu swept through Chang'an's night market like a whirlwind. He moved among gambling dens, taverns, and dockside warehouses frequented by laborers. His battle-hardened eyes could discern anything unusual from the slightest gesture. Under the guise of inquiring about exotic overseas items, he subtly probed about rumors surrounding "special water."
Gongsun Li, meanwhile, appeared at a top-tier music hall frequented by high-ranking officials and nobles. Her graceful dance served as the best cover; as her flowing sleeves billowed, her ears caught every word spoken at the banquet. She overheard a Ministry of Works official complaining about the enormous expense of dredging a section of abandoned waterway, and also heard a merchant from Jiangnan mention that a private garden in the city had been designed with water features that mimicked the saltiness of seawater, a practice considered eccentric.
Yang Yuhuan, carrying her pipa, quietly visited an old craftsman who lived in seclusion in the West Market, making a living by repairing antique machinery. Under the guise of inquiring about ancient musical scores and mechanisms, she subtly mentioned the "peculiar" mechanical devices among the recent tributes from the Western Regions. A hint of wariness flashed in the old craftsman's cloudy eyes, and he only vaguely said, "...that technique...it has an eerie quality, as if he's received the true teachings but gone astray, like he's imitating...the 'living pivot' technique that the Mohists have long forbidden..."
Ming Shiyin, alone, entered an inconspicuous Taoist temple on the outskirts of Chang'an at midnight. There were no statues of deities within, only walls covered with star charts and counting rods. He sat facing the abbot—an old man with white hair and beard, but eyes as clear as a baby's—for a long time. Without exchanging pleasantries, Ming Shiyin simply placed a chess piece on a spot on the star chart. The old man gazed at it for a moment, his withered fingers tracing lines across the chart, finally stopping at a hidden location representing the intersection of "water" and "metal," and gently tapped it.
"The deepest truths are often silent, like the pulse deep within the earth. Only by pressing your ear close to the dust can you hear the thunder that shakes the mountains."
When everyone reunited and pieced together the fragmented clues, Yi Xing listened to his companions' reports and uttered these words softly. It revealed the truth that grand things often originate from the small, imbuing the pursuit of truth with a profound power that connects with the earth and reveres reality.
The clues gradually became clearer, pointing in an unexpected direction—the abandoned waterway complained about by the Ministry of Works officials led to the long-abandoned "Seaview Villa," built by a prince of the previous dynasty who attempted to seek immortality overseas! And the eccentric wealthy merchant who demanded saltwater for landscaping seemed to have intricate connections to a Western Regions merchant group. The "living pivot technique" mentioned by the old craftsman subtly overlapped with the location Ming Shiyin obtained from the star chart.
All the clues, as if drawn by an invisible hand, pointed to the "Seaview Villa" that had been silent for many years.
"Could it be... that the murderer is hiding there?" Gongsun Li asked incredulously.
“Perhaps it’s not about hiding,” Yi Xing said, his eyes deep, “but about using it. Using the abandoned waterways there to bring in saltwater, using its vast wilderness to cultivate poisonous plants, or even… conducting unseen experiments with contraptions there.”
An abandoned prince's villa, remnants of a previous dynasty's quest for immortality, the shadow of a Western Region merchant group, lost forbidden arts... This pool of water is deeper than they imagined.
Ming Shiyin slowly rose, his robes fluttering in the lamplight without any wind.
“It’s time,” he said calmly, yet with an undeniable determination, “to go and see for yourself what kind of ‘thunderbolt’ is hidden in that ‘Seaview Villa’.”
On the chessboard, a decisive piece is about to be placed. Meanwhile, under the cover of night in Chang'an, a crucial investigation is quietly unfolding. The real contest has only just begun.
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