Chapter 21 The Taoist in Black
Cao Chang still couldn't understand why the murder of two Chengdu residents was being investigated by the Xinfan County Court. And why was a Taoist priest sent to interrogate a case being handled by the county court? Cao Chang explained that one day, he was taken to the county court's classroom and saw a Taoist priest dressed in black sitting at the east end of the desk, a silver-handled whisk resting on it. As soon as he sat down, the Taoist priest asked, "Do you know Dou Shuang'er, the dog-headed child?"
The sergeant said, "I know."
The Taoist in black asked, "Do you know the fourth donkey-headed man?"
The sergeant said, "I don't know."
The Taoist in black said, "These two are both dead."
The sergeant said, "I don't know."
The Taoist in black asked, "What did that thief, Feng Xie, say to you when he went to work as a treasury officer?"
Cao Chang said, "The first thing he brought was Xi Tinggui, which is valuable. I confiscated it because my boss, Wang Lu, has a rule that tribute is not accepted."
The Taoist in black asked, "Then why did he accept it?"
The sergeant said, "He is the shopkeeper."
The Taoist in black asked, "Have you seen the cat head who used to sell goods in the pawnshop?"
The sergeant said, "I haven't seen it."
The Taoist in black took out the jade badger and asked, "When you first saw this thing, did it have legs?"
The sergeant said, "When Feng Xie brought it here, it was gone."
The Taoist in black asked, "What did the thief use to wrap this thing when he came looking for you?"
The sergeant said, "A saddlebag."
The Taoist in black asked, "What's the material?"
The sergeant said, "It's hemp."
Wang Lu, the treasury manager of the Luo family, said he first saw the lion-shaped brocade from Cao Chang. That day, Cao Chang was captured and taken to Xinfan County. His wife, Wei, went to see his aunt. She, through the family of Wang Lu's father-in-law, begged Wang Lu's mother-in-law, Ge, to find Wang Lu's wife, He, and ask her to persuade Wang Lu to present gifts to the Xinfan County government office and secure Cao Chang's release. Ge initially disdained the matter, but she didn't say she would ignore it. However, her daughter-in-law, Xie, then started gossiping about He. Xie argued that He's marriage to a wealthy man was nothing more than "water spilled." In the end, she would still be the one serving the Hes. Wang Lu's mother-in-law, Ge, disapproved of this and, wanting to demonstrate her daughter He's abilities, followed Cao Chang's aunt's request. He ordered Wang Lu to bail Cao Chang out of the Xinfan County government office. Wang Lu didn't agree, but he didn't say he wouldn't intervene either. He knew he didn't want to intervene, so she said, "You're a coward with a dick stuck in your crotch. Tomorrow, if that bastard comes asking for money again, and I don't give it, I'll let her and your bastard die of starvation on the roadside."
Shopkeeper Wang Lu had no choice but to go to Xinfan County. He went to the yamen to spend money and met with Dr. Zhao, the magistrate. During the conversation, he mentioned Meng Shilang. Dr. Zhao also took advantage of the situation and released Cao Chang. Wang Lu and Cao Chang returned to Chengdu from the Xinfan County yamen. Cao Chang took the lion-shaped Luan tree brocade from his crotch and said to shopkeeper Wang Lu, "Either we burn it and pretend we never saw it. Or we burn it, and you give me last month's salary, and I'll take my family and leave Chengdu."
The shopkeeper Wang Lu asked, "What is this?"
The sergeant said, "Maybe it's the skin of the bundle the yamen is looking for."
The shopkeeper Wang Lu asked, "What's the bag?"
The sergeant said, "The bag was first snatched by Feng Xie, and then fell into the hands of Mao Tou Zi."
The shopkeeper Wang Lu asked, "What's in it?"
Cao Chang told Wang Lu everything he knew about the item he had stolen from the widow Zhang. Wang Lu cursed him, "Why are you telling me all this?"
At midnight, shopkeeper Wang Lu and his assistant, Cao Chang, arrived at the Meng family's villa to meet with the owner, Shilang. Meng Shilang listened to their story, examined the bundle, and went into the inner room to retrieve the family annals. Wang Lu explained that the annals recorded that Shilang's grandfather, Meng Xian, sold ten animal brocade patterns to the Chengdu Brocade Court in the sixth year of the Yuanfeng reign (1164-1191) for 990,000 strings of cash, paid in gold. This was witnessed by a Taoist priest in black. At that time, the Brocade Court was managed by Lü Gong. The annals also listed ten types of animal brocade. After examining them, Shilang pointed to the bundle and said, "This is the pattern from that year, worth 99,000 strings of cash."
Wang Lu asked, "How much is ninety-nine thousand strings of cash? How much is ninety-nine thousand strings of cash?"
Shi Lang said, "It's more than my father's wealth." Wang Lu nodded. Shi Lang added, "However, a few years after the Jingkang Incident, my father went to Huaide to raise military supplies and donated more than two million strings of cash."
Shi Lang said, "Whoever has these things now is none other than Jin Yuan. I think the thief Feng Xie must have stolen the bag from Jin Yuan."
The sergeant said, "The cat-headed Qinghua Li said that Feng Xie had robbed it from Xinfan County." He then said, "I'm afraid it belongs to the county magistrate."
Shi Lang and Wang Lu both laughed when they heard this. Wang Lu said, "Fart."
Shilang said, "It's unlikely that such material would fall into the hands of a county magistrate. If what you two say is true, everyone would want the bundle, even the skin. As luck would have it, it was stolen by a thief."
The sergeant said, "The cat-headed Qinghua Li was the second person to get the things in the bundle."
Juro said, "No, the one who was robbed was the first one."
Wang Lu asked, "What should I do? Should I hand it over to the emperor?"
Shi Lang asked, "My father? What do you mean by my father? This is my family's stuff." Shi Lang ordered, "This is my father's masterpiece. It was originally priceless. He was forced to sell it to Jinyuan. My Meng family's stuff cannot fall into the hands of a thief even if it is turned into mud and buried in the ground. Now, I want to know how it fell into the hands of a thief. Go find that cat-headed Qinghua Li for me and ask him how the thief stole this bundle."
That night, Cao Chang left the Meng family compound, still feeling torn. The shopkeeper, Wang Lu, asked him to go to Dajue Temple again to look for Qinghua Li. He didn't want to go, but he went anyway. When he arrived, he saw no cats in the yard, as if Qinghua Li wasn't there. Cao Chang left, but he left the Taoist priest in black behind. Later, Qinghua Li explained that the Taoist priest had followed Cao Chang to find him. When Cao Chang arrived, the cat had just been taken out by the cat priest. The gate to the yard was unlocked, so he hid when Cao Chang knocked. Cao Chang walked around the yard and left. The Taoist priest stayed, having spotted fresh cat feces in the sandpit. Qinghua Li explained that he saw the Taoist priest squatting beside the sandpit, sniffing a stray piece of cat feces. He knew that someone could tell when a piece of cat feces had been excreted simply by smelling it; he must be an expert. Since he had followed Cao Chang, the questions he wanted to ask were likely the same ones Cao Chang wanted to ask. He could tell Cao Chang he didn't know. You can't say you don't know to a master. The consequences of saying you don't know are at best being hung from the beam and filled with cat shit, or at worst death. Even if you make up a lie, you can't say you don't know. So Qinghua Li took the initiative to step forward and told the black-clothed Taoist: "The things in the bundle you mentioned were sold by me to the Luo family as a treasury. I have never seen the bundle skin you mentioned. But I know you want to know who sent Feng Xie to rob people in Xinfan County. Although I don't know why Feng Xie didn't steal the bundles in Chengdu, but had to go to Xinfan County to rob people, I know that his things were finally given to Meng Xiao. Who is the mastermind? Who else could be the mastermind? The bundle was in Feng Xie's hands at first, and finally it was in the hands of the people who were looking for Feng Xie. There are people who are looking for Feng Xie openly and those who are looking for him secretly. People like Lao Si are openly, and people like Cao Chang are covertly. What Lao Si's people couldn't find, of course, ended up in Cao Chang's hands."
The Taoist in black said, "That Sergeant is a fool."
Qinghua Li said: "He is a fool. Since I hid here, he is the only one who came to my door. Didn't you follow him here? How foolish must he be to accept a fake Hotan camel badger with a broken leg for 200 coins? Maybe he is a fool, but the person behind him is not a fool." At this time, the person behind Cao Chang that Qinghua Li mentioned was Meng Shilang, the boss of the treasury of the Luo family. Qinghua Li made up stories and lies to trick the Taoist in black away so that he could escape quickly. After making up the story, he looked at the Taoist in black's face and said: "Otherwise, you can try asking someone. What if the bundle skin also fell into Meng Shilang's hands? Wouldn't the case be solved?"
At this moment, Qinghua Li had no idea that the story he had made up was exactly what the Taoist in Black wanted to hear. If the Fourth Brother had been able to make up such a story, he wouldn't have died. Before leaving, the Taoist in Black said, "If you dare leave Chengdu, I'll wait for you." Then he went to find Cao Chang again.
Cao Chang had no story to tell, but fearing the Taoist in black, he told the truth. He explained the origins of the bundle and how Wang Lu had given it to his landlord, Meng Shilang. The Taoist in black said, "Those were stolen items from my family. Tell Meng Xiao to bring everything to Chongguang Temple in Xinfan County at midnight tomorrow night. I'll be waiting for him."
Meanwhile, Wang Lu, the shopkeeper, was sent by his employer to Xinfan County to search for Li Bing, the postman. Wang Lu found Li Bing in a dilapidated temple outside the county and asked him who had sent the item. Li Bing said he didn't know. Wang Lu smiled and said, "I'll have to be honest with you." He counted out ten notes and placed them on the table, holding them down with a silver ingot. Wang Lu said, "One hundred coins for one word, will you?"
Li Bing pulled out a note from the ten notes and said, "This is from Qiao Lizheng, a native of Zhuanglang. Qiao Lizheng told me that he was entrusted by a man named Wu." He pulled out another note and said, "Inside the bundle are three bowls, a scroll of kesi silk, a piece of inkstone, a chamber pot, and a jade mule."
Wang Lu asked, "Anything else?"
Postman Li Bing said, "No more."
Meng Quan asked, "Is it really gone?"
Wang Lu said, "No more."
After Wang Lu came back, he relayed Li Bing's words to Meng Xiao. Meng Xiao knew that the "Wu" that Qiao Lizheng was talking about was a relative of Wu Taishi, the patriarch of the Wu family. He also knew that it was Mr. Zhang who bought Meng Xian's brocade pattern. Mr. Zhang used Mr. Lu's money to buy the brocade pattern, and Mr. Lu's money was the money confiscated from his grandfather Meng Xian. Mr. Zhang transferred the brocade pattern to Wu Lang, who ordered his father Meng Jian to go to the front to prepare military rations. After understanding everything, Meng Xiao was furious, and felt that from Mr. Zhang to his father, he had been schemed against by Zhang and Wu for decades. Meng Xiao started to curse. Wang Lu comforted him and said, "From Zhang to Wu, it's not the same thing." Meng Xiao nodded and said it was not the same thing, and it was all my family's money that was extorted. It was not the same thing, so how did the brocade pattern end up in Old Wu's hands?
Wang Lu said, "No matter how he got here, we can't rebel against him."
Meng Xiao said, "What if I rebel against him today?"
Wang Lu said, "If you want to rebel, strangle me first."
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