Chapter 19 Buying Treasures
Qinghua Li and Dou Shuang were both from Leshan. Locals in Chengdu say they descended from Mount Emei. During his time in Shaoxing, Qinghua Li was banished from the mountain by his master for having a nighttime amusement with a monk. He came to Chengdu to beg for food and caught a large cat from outside the city. When he was about to skin the cat, a Chengdu native approached and asked how much the cat cost. Several more Chengdu natives approached, asking how much the cat cost. Qinghua Li earned ten coins from selling the cat, and from then on, he caught cats every day and started a cat-selling business.
Qinghua Li opened a cat stall in the market, raising, selling, training, and castrating cats, even creating over a dozen unprecedented cat breeds. Chengdu residents loved cats, and seeing the unusual appearance and sweet personalities of Qinghua Li's cats, they flocked to buy them, often fetching fifty or sixty strings of cash. Qinghua Li made a small fortune and became a regular customer of several brothels. Local prostitutes said Qinghua Li was attracted to men and only visited brothels to recruit male prostitutes. Qinghua Li was fawning and generous, and the male prostitutes called him "Fourth Master" when they saw him. It wasn't until the 28th year of Shaoxing that his senior brother Dou Shuang left Leshan and, with his martial arts skills, became a clerk in the Emei County government, responsible for arresting criminals. Despite his martial arts prowess, he was unfit for the job. He released a thief who had extorted the local gambling master, and was expelled from the county government. This led him to seek refuge with Qinghua Li.
Dou Shuang disliked cats and lived in Qinghua Li's cat stall. Seeing all the cats, he scolded Qinghua Li for being idle and having no future. So Qinghua Li paid for him to open a dog stall and traveled to various counties to buy stud dogs. Chengdu people also loved dogs and didn't rely on them to guard the house. Small and medium-sized dogs sold well, with a single snow-white dog often fetching seventy or eighty strings of cash. However, Dou Shuang disliked small and medium-sized dogs and would often kick and hit them. Qinghua Li then traveled to various counties to buy him several large dogs. Dou Shuang also kicked and hit the large dogs, causing them to become aggressive and bark at everyone they saw. Unable to sell the large dogs, Dou Shuang initially planned to open a dog meat restaurant, but after calculating the costs, realizing he wouldn't make any money, he opened a dog fighting arena. Dog fighting is a form of entertainment in a dog fighting arena. Two dogs are placed in a cage, and after betting, the owner leads the two dogs to a fierce fight. After the fight, the winner takes the prize. If the dog wins, the owner takes the money from the losers and also gets 20% of the winning gambler's bet. To counter the government's ban on gambling, Dou Shuang allowed gamblers to bet on livestock, grain, tea, silk, and other items. If the gambler lost to the winner, they would exchange the items for money. Dou Shuang would pay the winner the money and then send a peddler to sell the items in the market, and half of the profit would be returned to him.
Although this business is shabby, it is not considered to be fraudulent. However, Qinghua Li often cheats at dog fights. Some say that Qinghua Li gives drugs to dogs, and whichever dog is given drugs will definitely lose. Others say that this is unnecessary, and that all the dogs brought into the cage by gamblers are most likely bought from Dou Shuang's dog farm. Qinghua Li knows the strength of the dogs, and it is also most likely that Qinghua Li knows the strength of the dogs. There are other theories. Chengdu people have different opinions on how Qinghua Li cheats at dog fights, but all of them can confirm that Qinghua Li loves to go to dog fights, just like Feng Xie.
A few days ago, Feng Xie went to Xinfan County to rob people on the road in order to buy a good dog. He bought a good dog so that he could win money at the dog fighting arena. When Feng Xie returned from Xinfan County, he used the jade camel badger to exchange for two hundred coins from the pawnshop of the Luo family. Then he went to the dog stall and met Qinghua Li. Qinghua Li said that he had a good dog to sell. Feng Xie said that he wanted the best dog. Qinghua Li then brought a large white dog half a man's height. Feng Xie spent a hundred coins to buy the dog. In the evening, he went to the dog fighting arena and lost, as usual. Feng Xie was unwilling to give up. He took out the Xi Tinggui from his bag and wanted to bet a hundred coins as a bet. The accountant of the dog fighting arena refused to give him the bet, so Qinghua Li brought him a hundred coins. He gambled again and still lost. In the middle of the night, Feng Xie left the dog fighting arena with only one coin left out of the hundred coins. This last bit of money, along with Feng Xie, was robbed on the road by a hooded strongman. The strongman was Qinghua Li's brother, a former male prostitute who now followed Qinghua Li and was nicknamed Jinsi Li. Jinsi Li tied Feng Xie to Qinghua Li's crotch, tied him into a human stick, and hung him from the beam of the house.
The blue-flowered raccoon dog asked, "Where is the treasure you stole?" Seeing Feng Xie didn't tell him, the blue-flowered raccoon dog said, "If you tell me, I'll give you three good dogs."
Feng Xie said, "You hermaphrodite with a sore in your asshole, get out of here." Then he was filled with cat feces.
Soon, Feng Xie began to cry out in pain and vomit and have diarrhea. Qinghua Li asked, "Will you tell me?"
Feng Xie said, "They are all in the wild graveyard outside the west gate." This was when the sky was about to dawn.
At noon, the city gate opened, and the blue-flowered civet cat led the golden-threaded civet cat out of the Zaoqiao Gate. The wild graveyard that Feng Xie mentioned was a group of graves that were five miles north of the Huanhua Creek from the Zaoqiao Gate. Over the years, grass had grown around the graves. It was unknown whose ancestors were buried under the graves. It was from here that the blue-flowered civet cat and the golden-threaded civet cat dug out Feng Xie's stolen goods. The two returned to the cat stall with the things on their backs, only to find Feng Xie motionless, as if he had fainted. It was not until they returned from the pawn shop in the house that they discovered that Feng Xie was dead. According to the sergeant, Feng Xie died from eating feces. The cat feces had been left in the yard for a long time and were poisonous. Later, the blue-flowered civet cat said that he had no idea how Feng Xie died. Even if cat feces were poisonous, how could people die immediately after eating them?
The blue-and-white cat went to the pawnshop with the golden-and-white cat. The golden-and-white cat carried a sack filled with stolen goods. The blue-and-white cat held the large white cat, its legs burnt yellow and its ears pure black. The blue-and-white cat left the three bowls at the cat's stall and brought the eight-treasure chamber pot, the Xi Tinggui, and the original Zhou Yue painting to the pawnshop. The shopkeeper, Wang Lu, examined each item and asked, "Where did you get them?" The blue-and-white cat replied, "You old, slick bastard! I just wanted to know if you'd accept them."
Wang Lu said, "They are all tribute. If we take them, it will be difficult to sell them and the price is hard to say."
Qinghua Li said, "You want to save money for the Meng family? Not even a thousand less."
Wang Lu said, "Okay."
The blue-flowered raccoon said, "I'll go ask other families."
Wang Lu said, "What are you asking? I must have offered the highest bid."
The blue-flowered fox said, "Let's not talk about these three things. I also have three large bowls. One has a white background with black patterns, one is pure black, and the other is white with a hint of blue. I want them too."
Wang Lu asked, "What bowl?"
The blue-flowered raccoon said, "This is the bowl that kings, princes, and prime ministers use to eat."
Wang Lu said, "I'll take it too."
Qinghua Li said, "I'm afraid you don't have enough money."
Wang Lu said, "What a joke!"
The blue-and-white civet cat said, "Then you wait, I'll go back and get it." Then he asked the golden-silk civet cat to put the eight-treasure chamber pot, Xi Tinggui and Zhou Yue's original works into his saddlebag.
Wang Lu asked, "What do you mean?"
Qinghua Li said, "Or you can give me a thousand strings of cash as a deposit. I'll go back and get it, and I guarantee you'll sell everything."
Wang Lu asked, "What do you mean?"
The blue-flowered raccoon said, "If you don't believe me, I'll leave the cat with you. I'll take these three things now. Who knows if you'll take it to the government office, accuse me of trafficking, and force me to hand over the other three. If we want to trade, we can only exchange money for goods."
Wang Lu said, "Even if I buy three things first, it won't work."
The blue-flowered raccoon said, "No."
Wang Lu glanced at his cat and said, "Okay."
On that day, the blue-flowered civet cat returned to the cat stall and collected Feng Xie's body. The owner, Wang Lu, sent someone to find Meng Shilang, saying they had something important to discuss. The blue-flowered civet cat and the golden-silk civet cat dismembered Feng Xie's body. Half of Feng Xie's skin, flesh, eyeballs, ankles, and toes were fed to the cats, and the other half to Dou Shuang's dog. The golden-silk civet cat then placed Feng Xie's bones in a cylindrical medicine bag, tied them into sections, and carried them out of the city gate to be buried in the wild graveyard. Feng Xie's head, chopped into four pieces, was also placed in the medicine bag and buried in the wild graveyard.
The shopkeeper Wang Lu sent someone to invite the owner, Meng Shilang, to the pawnshop. Wang Lu said, "It's an eight-treasure chamber pot, Xi Tinggui, and Zhou Yue's authentic works. There are also three bowls, which I have personally checked. One is the Zhao Wang bowl from Pengcheng, with a white background and black patterns, as white as the white pottery of the Spring and Autumn Period, glazed using the ancient method. The pattern looks like a dragon but not a dragon, like a goose but not a goose. I think it looks like fish and algae. It must be inspired by the 'white dragon turning into a fish', implying the 'King Youmiao lost his country'. It reminds the future king to be careful when going out and coming in. The large black Ding bowl is as black as lacquer..." As the shopkeeper Wang Lu spoke, he seemed to be about to bring all the treasures to the table. Meng Xiao's eyes slanted, looking at the big cat with burnt yellow legs and black ears. The cat was strolling on the counter, looking here and there, looking for its owner. After Wang Lu finished describing the blue and white civet cat's things, without waiting for Meng Xiao to ask the price, Wang Lu said, "The total is 8,000 strings of cash."
Meng Xiao said, "Buy it." Then he asked, "How much?"
Wang Lu was stunned and said eight thousand strings of cash.
Meng Xiao pointed at the cat with its arms and legs curled up.
Wang Lu was stunned again and said he didn't know.
Meanwhile, Cao Chang's brother-in-law, Wei San, had found the address of Feng Xie's lover, the widow Zhang. Cao Chang, realizing he couldn't rely solely on Dou Shuang to find Feng Xie, went to the east of Wanli Bridge, outside Xiaonan Gate. That day, the widow Zhang wasn't home. Cao Chang waited for a long time at the bridgehead, wondering if Feng Xie had hidden Xi Tinggui or some other treasure in Zhang's house. He decided to pick the lock. Zhang's door lock was a crab-shaped one, easy to open. Cao Chang used a toothpick to unlock it, then searched the house and found a piece of brocade under Zhang's pillow. The piece was three feet square, woven with lions and Chinese magnolia trees, and had pleats at the corners, suggesting it had been used as a bag. Remembering the saddlebag Feng Xie carried when he went to the pawnshop, Cao Chang speculated that the brocade might have contained some stolen goods. He tucked the brocade into his arms and left Zhang's house, forgetting to close the lock.
The above is Cao Chang's account. The story of Qinghua Li and Dou Shuang, and Qinghua Li's killing of Feng Xie and dismemberment of his body, are all Cao Chang's accounts. The story of Qinghua Li and Wang Lu's dealings is Cao Chang's retelling of what Wang Lu had said. After Cao Chang finished describing Qinghua Li's visit to the pawnshop owner, Wang Lu, with the three treasures, Cao Chang added that Qinghua Li did not immediately bring all the treasures to the pawnshop.
Cao Chang said that when he went to work at the pawnshop that afternoon, he saw a big cat named Qinghua Li lying on the counter and gnawing at the account receipts. He felt that the cat looked familiar, so he asked about the cat's origin. The shopkeeper Wang Lu told the whole story of Qinghua Li selling the treasures, and said that Meng Shilang offered 8,000 to buy the six treasures, but Qinghua Li left after collecting the deposit and has not returned yet. Cao Chang heard Wang Lu mention the Xi Tinggui in Qinghua Li's hand and said that the thing had been brought by Feng Xie, and I confiscated it because I saw it was a tribute. Wang Lu said that nonsense should be stopped, and ordered Cao Chang to find Qinghua Li. He said: "If you find him, the 200 strings of cash you owe will not be pursued. If you can't find him, don't expect to get paid for the next four months."
Cao Chang's mission shifted from finding Feng Xie to finding Qinghua Li. Cao Chang went to the cat stall, but found it locked. He then went to Dou Shuang's dog stall. Dou Shuang asked Cao Chang why he was looking for Qinghua Li. Cao Chang told him the truth, saying Qinghua Li had taken the treasure to the pawnshop. At this point, Cao Chang didn't know that Dou Shuang was collaborating with Lao Si to find Feng Xie's stolen goods. Cao Chang assumed that Dou Shuang had already found Feng Xie, and that Qinghua Li had sold Feng Xie's stolen goods to the pawnshop on Dou Shuang's orders. In other words, Cao Chang wanted to get back the two hundred coins Feng Xie had taken from the pawnshop. But Dou Shuang not only refused to pay, but also had him kicked out.
Later, Qinghua Li said that it was Cao Chang who ruined the matter. It was Cao Chang who let Dou Shuang know that Feng Xie's stolen goods were in my hands.
Meng Quan asked, "Why don't you go back to the pawn shop and sell the treasures to Wang Lu?"
Qinghua Li said, "Because the fourth brother came to see Dou Shuang on that same day. It wasn't easy for the fourth brother to come to Dou Shuang. The fourth brother wanted to buy the camel badger with a broken hoof and offered four hundred coins. The six treasures combined couldn't fetch more than two thousand coins. I wanted to ask for a price elsewhere, so I didn't return to the pawnshop. But then the captain showed up. The captain told Dou Shuang about his trip to the pawnshop, and Dou Shuang brought a few people with him and stormed the city looking for me."
Qinghua Li said that he had heard the news that Dou Shuang was looking for him from an unrelated person in the city, so he rushed to the pawnshop and said to the shopkeeper Wang Lu, "Four thousand, all six items are yours."
The two sides immediately made a deal. When Qinghua Li picked up the cat from the counter and was about to leave, Wang Lu asked, "How much is the cat?"
The blue-flowered raccoon said, "This is my son." Then he asked, "Who is the buyer?"
The shopkeeper Wang Lu said, "I am the boss."
Qinghua Li said, "Tell him to come to me in person."
Wang Lu asked, "Where are you going?"
Qinghua Li said, "Dajue Temple, looking for monk Bansan."
The next day, Meng Xiao came to the pawnshop to take away six treasures and gave 8,000 coins to Wang Lu. According to Meng Xiao, he sent these six treasures to the home of Wu Lang, the then chief tea horse of the Tea and Horse Bureau. Every spring, he would buy treasures and give them to Wu Lang. This had been a custom for many years. However, this year, when he went to Wu's house, he did not see Wu Lang, but only saw the Taoist in black. The Taoist in black had always been indifferent to him, and this time was no exception. The Taoist in black only asked the servants to put his gifts into the treasury and asked him to leave the Wu family. The Taoist in black also pointed to the second gate of the Wu mansion and said, "This door is inconvenient for you to enter or exit."
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