Wu Mask was also from a hereditary Imperial Guards family spanning several generations, inheriting his father’s profession. However, he was careless when cleaning his gun and it exploded, destroying half his face and ruining his future. Originally he was to be dismissed, but he pleaded with Lu Bing using the excuse that he had an elderly mother above and young children below, plus his wife had died, begging for any job that would allow his whole family to eat.

Lu Bing took pity on him and had him guard the firearms storage, while also serving as a “demonstration” to new recruits handling firearms for the first time—showing them what happened if you didn’t clean your gun properly.

His ruined face looked like a ghost’s, and fearing he would frighten others, he wore a mask year-round. People called him Wu Mask.

Wu Mask had been conscientious and diligent over the years, so his use of the steel-toothed cricket to distract the guard while switching the rice dumplings was truly shocking. Someone who had received such kindness from Lu Bing was actually a mole!

But being shocked was useless—finding Ding Wu quickly was what mattered.

Everyone disguised themselves and secretly followed him. Wei Caiwei carried a basket piled high with pure white gardenia flowers, disguised as a flower-selling girl.

Lu Ying put on Taoist robes, pasted on a beard, and carried a divination flag, pretending to be a fortune teller.

As for Wang Daxia… he insisted on learning from Wei Caiwei and also disguising himself as a gardenia-selling girl! With his terrible aesthetic sense, he naturally dressed himself up gaudily, speaking in a high, thin voice as he chased after Wei Caiwei, waving an embroidered handkerchief:

“Sister Banxia! Wait for me, let’s sell flowers together! In case there are lechers on the street who might molest us!”

Wei Caiwei thought to herself: What blind lecher would dare molest you!

Why did Wang Daxia insist on following Wei Caiwei?

Simply because he had heard the rumors about the “illegitimate son embracing the pretty widow.” Wang Daxia knew that Lu Ying and Caiwei were acting, deliberately making their opponents lower their guard, but he still felt very uncomfortable. Even winning first place in the dragon boat race had lost its appeal.

The reward for first place in the dragon boat race was actually a “cuckold’s hat” personally bestowed by his superior. Wasn’t that a surprise? Wasn’t that thrilling?

He’d rather not have such a reward!

But Wang Daxia also knew that with Ding Wu’s life at stake, this was absolutely not the time for jealousy. So he suppressed himself, disguising himself as a beautiful girl in order to accompany Wei Caiwei and prevent Lu Ying from having more opportunities to act with her.

After experiencing several incidents, Wang Daxia trusted Lu Ying’s character—she wasn’t interested in women, was rigid and strict, and was a gentleman.

But even trusting her wasn’t acceptable! Acting wasn’t acceptable! Even fake cuckoldry wasn’t acceptable! Unacceptable was unacceptable!

The two walked together carrying flower baskets. After Wu Mask left the city through Zhengyang Gate and reached Wanping territory, he didn’t go directly home to Broom Alley. Instead, he bought a jar of realgar wine at a tavern outside Zhengyang Gate, walked to the banks of the moat where today’s dragon boat races had been held, found a rock to sit on, removed his mask, and drank the realgar wine while embracing the jar.

Today’s Dragon Boat Festival was exceptionally hot. There were many boys playing in the moat, as well as grown men swimming and even bathing in the river, their shirts and pants clinging tightly to their bodies. There were so many people it was like dumplings being dropped into water.

“Oh my, how annoying!” Wang Daxia quickly covered his eyes with a handkerchief, getting too deep into character.

However, Wang Daxia’s reaction was correct—how could a pure flower-selling girl stare at swimming men?

Wei Caiwei also imitated him, covering her eyes with a handkerchief while using peripheral vision to observe Wu Mask.

When Wu Mask drank wine, he revealed his ruined face, instantly scaring away all the nearby swimming children. Only a few grown men, seeing his scarred, sinister appearance, were somewhat curious but didn’t swim away, though they kept their distance.

Wu Mask drank half a jar of realgar wine, covered the wine jar with his mask, removed his shoes, socks, and outer robe, folded them neatly and placed them beside the wine jar. Wearing only black pants and a sleeveless white shirt, he jumped into the river with a splash.

The mischievous children, seeing him jump into the water from afar, clapped their hands and said: “The monster went into the river to eat children! Everyone run!” They made a playful commotion.

Wu Mask seemed to be a good swimmer. He stayed underwater for quite a while, and neither of them saw him surface. Wang Daxia whispered, “Something’s wrong. I’m a decent swimmer, but I couldn’t stay underwater this long.”

Wei Caiwei said: “Did he surface or come ashore somewhere else?”

Wang Daxia said: “Impossible. That ruined face of his is shocking to behold—even if he popped out from a crack in the rocks, I’d see him. I’m not blind.”

Wei Caiwei looked at him quietly.

Wang Daxia suddenly realized he had said the wrong thing and said: “I didn’t say you were blind, don’t misunderstand.”

Actually, Wei Caiwei had been thinking. Her face changed dramatically as she said: “Not surfacing for so long—could he have gotten drunk and drowned in the river?”

Wang Daxia immediately started to remove his shoes to jump from the bridge, but a Taoist blocked him with a divination flag: “Miss, how much are your gardenias?”

It was Lu Ying disguised as a Taoist. Wang Daxia was confused: “One wen per flower.” “Do you see that wet man in white shirt and black pants on the south bank?” Lu Ying pointed with the tail of her divination flag, whispering: “That’s Wu Mask.”

Wei Caiwei looked carefully: “Impossible. His face is smooth—he looks like an ordinary person with no disfigurement.”

Lu Ying said: “Look carefully at his left arm—there’s a scar as thick as hemp rope. When Wu Mask removed his outer robe earlier and jumped into the water wearing only a sleeveless white shirt, he looked just like this. That’s Wu Mask.”

Earlier, Wang Daxia, Wei Caiwei, and everyone present had been drawn to that ruined face after the mask was removed—it was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight, so they hadn’t noticed his other physical characteristics.

But Lu Ying, who was calm to the point of seeming inhuman, had remembered. Never mind seeing ghosts in daylight—even if she saw ghosts at night, she could calmly measure how long their tongues were.

Wang Daxia said in surprise: “But his face—”

Wei Caiwei suddenly understood Lu Ying’s meaning: “Today’s Wu Mask at the Imperial Guards headquarters was fake, wearing a disguise of a ruined face. Speaking through a mask already makes one’s voice muffled and easy to imitate. The fake Wu Mask used the cricket as cover to switch the rice dumplings and warn Ding Rukui. But disguises wash off in water, so after bathing he became a different person.”

Wang Daxia asked: “If that’s the case, why swim at all—ah, I understand! This is a series of stratagems: borrowing a corpse to return the soul and the cicada shedding its shell! The real Wu Mask is actually already dead. When night falls, someone will secretly throw his body into the moat. When his family doesn’t see him return home and only finds wine jars and outer robes and shoes by the riverbank, and the nearby playing children all saw a man with a ruined face jump into the water to swim, it will confirm that Wu Mask died from drunken drowning.”

In the sweltering evening heat, all three felt chills down their spines thinking about it—such meticulous planning and vicious scheming!

The fake Wu Mask had been coordinated with in advance. Behind a rock on the south bank, someone had placed a set of clothes and shoes. After putting on the robes, he transformed into another person—someone with ordinary features, the kind you couldn’t find in a crowd.

Meanwhile, the wine jar and clothes and shoes on the north bank of the moat were destined to wait forever for their owner’s return.

As the sun set in the west, this evil deed occurred silently.

Even if Ding Rukui’s suicide plot was exposed, everyone would think Wu Mask was the mole who, fearing punishment, got drunk and threw himself into the water.

In Broom Alley, Wu Mask’s son and elderly mother were waiting for him to come home for the Dragon Boat Festival. They didn’t know that this reunion dinner would be separated by life and death, never to be eaten.

The three suppressed their anger and pain at losing Wu Mask and continued following the fake masked man.

Before leaving, Lu Ying instructed her subordinates: “Set up an ambush in this river section. After dark, someone will definitely dump a body.”

After changing clothes, the fake masked man crossed Zhengyang Gate Street, went from Wanping to Daxing, then walked southeast, arriving at Goldfish Pond after nightfall.

Goldfish Pond had been flat land during the Song Dynasty with no ponds at all. Later, during the Jingkang Incident, the Jin destroyed the Northern Song, the Southern Song submitted to the Jin, and the Jin moved their capital to present-day Beijing. To build the capital, the Jin people dug earth here and opened kilns to fire bricks, creating over a hundred scattered ponds.

Later, the Jin was destroyed by the combined forces of the Southern Song and Mongols, but these ponds remained forever. The Mongols then destroyed the Southern Song and unified the realm. When the Yuan Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, these ponds were used to raise ornamental goldfish for Yuan dynasty high officials and nobles, hence the name Goldfish Pond.

When Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and destroyed the Yuan, Goldfish Pond declined. But after Emperor Yongle moved the capital from Yingtian Prefecture (Nanjing) to Beijing, Goldfish Pond’s business flourished again. Many ponds were simply purchased by wealthy families, enclosed and used to build summer retreats. When the weather was hot, they would move from the city to these retreats to escape the heat—it was cool by the ponds.

The fake masked man walked to the back door of a retreat and knocked in a pattern of three long and two short knocks. The door opened, the guard let the fake masked man in, and shut the door with a snap.

Wang Daxia whispered: “I wonder whose retreat this is? This area belongs to the South City. I’ll go ask at the South City Military Command—the commanding officer there has a good relationship with my father and should give me some face.”

Lu Ying said: “No need to ask. I know whose it is.”

Thinking that Ding Wu might very well be imprisoned here, Wei Caiwei urgently asked: “Whose? Is it Yan Shifan’s family?”

Lu Ying shook her head: “No.”

Wei Caiwei was confused: “Besides Yan Shifan, who has this kind of cunning, who has the audacity to kidnap an exile protected by the Imperial Guards? To kill an Imperial Guards warehouse keeper?”

Lu Ying said: “This is property of the Duke of Yansheng Kong family. After the Ming moved its capital to Beijing, Emperor Yongle granted this to the Duke of Yansheng as a place for reading and escaping summer heat.”

Descendants of Confucius, the Duke of Yansheng.

Wang Daxia was even more confused: “Impossible. The Kong family has always stayed out of court politics and has no grievances with Ding Rukui. How could they kidnap Ding Wu? The Kong family doesn’t have the power to arrange all this.”

Lu Ying said: “Yan Shifan’s eldest daughter, who is also my second sister’s sister-in-law, was married to the Duke of Yansheng with the Emperor personally acting as matchmaker. She is the Duke of Yansheng’s wife. The Duke of Yansheng usually lives at Kong Mansion in Qufu, Shandong, and gave this imperial-granted retreat to his father-in-law Yan Shifan to live in.”

Wei Caiwei clenched her fists: “Yan Shifan’s calculations are truly masterful. This is an imperial-granted retreat and also property under the Duke of Yansheng’s name—such deep backing. Never mind Commander Lu, even if Commander Lu came here personally, he wouldn’t dare break into the retreat to search.”

The Duke of Yansheng’s mansion was a sacred place worshipped by scholars throughout the realm. If Lu Bing dared to break into the Duke of Yansheng’s retreat to search, impeachment memorials would snow down on him the next day, and Lu Bing would be finished as commanding officer.

So Yan Shifan’s strategy was watertight—even if there were loopholes, no one would dare come in to search, because this wasn’t the Yan family’s place but the Duke of Yansheng Kong family’s territory, even safer than the Yan family home.

Truly worthy of being called a genius!

Wang Daxia immediately despaired, saying urgently: “Commander Lu, if we delay further, either Ding Wu dies or Ding Rukui dies, or maybe both die.”

“If one doesn’t enter the tiger’s den, how can one find Ding Wu?” Lu Ying pointed to a retreat next door: “This is our Lu family’s retreat, neighboring the Kong family, which is why I know the situation of these retreats like the back of my hand.”

Wang Daxia suddenly understood: “Commander Lu means we climb over the wall from your house?”

“What? Are you afraid?” Lu Ying asked.

Of course I’m afraid—it’s both the Kong family and the Yan family, and I can’t afford to offend either! My father isn’t the Emperor’s milk brother!

But—seeing Wei Caiwei’s worried expression, Wang Daxia still gathered his courage and said: “Let’s go then! Who’s afraid of whom! I, Wang Daxia, only fear ghosts, not people!”

Author’s Note: Actually, they’re all scared to death hahaha. This chapter gives out 100 red packets. Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend, hugs~