At the mention of Bao Lang, Chen Yu’s eyes split with fury, his face filled with despair and rage. His graying hair fell loose around him as his ten fingers clawed like hooks, digging deep into the mud on the ground. He truly looked as terrifying as an evil spirit from the Avici Hell.
Everyone exchanged glances, all thinking that this pearl theft case indeed involved a grave injustice.
Once he began, Chen Yu’s defenses completely crumbled and he could no longer keep hiding the truth. Weeping as he spoke: “My daughter Ying Niang was born with snow-white skin all over her body. Her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were all white, with only her eyes being red. The midwife was frightened and suggested drowning her immediately.
My wife and I had only this one child after many years, and seeing the infant’s pitiable state, we didn’t listen. We took her to see all the famous doctors in Changzhou, and they said this was a natural-born ‘white child’ – white skin and red eyes that no medicine could cure. Such children live at most twenty-some years, destined to die young and impossible to raise for long.”
When he spoke the words “destined to die young,” Huo Qi Lang couldn’t help stealing a glance at Wei Xun, but saw he remained unmoved, only listening intently.
“I’m from Shijing Village in Yongyang County, Changzhou. Everyone in the village makes a living through various crafts. I also learned the skill of carving stone and engraving tombstones. Our family had a few thin acres of farmland that we rented to others to cultivate. Though not wealthy, we could be considered free from want for food and clothing. So we didn’t abandon the child, named her Ying Niang, and raised her.
She could cry and laugh, and grew up as lovely as jade and snow, just that her mind wasn’t quite right. No matter how her years increased, her intelligence remained simple like a young child’s, bouncing and jumping around all day, only knowing how to play. I thought since the child wouldn’t live long anyway, I didn’t plan to marry her off, wanting to keep her by my side to spare her from in-laws’ hardships.
When my late father was alive, he didn’t want to depend on craftwork for a living and went out to trade. He once spent all his capital buying a night pearl from a Hu merchant, but couldn’t resell it, so brought it home. Later when father died of illness and I didn’t understand business, I offered this pearl before our ancestors’ spirit tablets, thinking of it as a family heirloom.
This night pearl was lustrous like white pearls during the day, and could emit fluorescent light at night – truly a rare treasure of the world. Ying Niang’s name also came from this, and she had loved this pearl since childhood.”
Hearing the stone carver describe the night pearl’s appearance, Bao Zhu looked thoughtful but didn’t speak.
“When Ying Niang was eight, her mother died of illness. I had a foot ailment and wanted to remarry, but no one would look upon a cripple. So father and daughter depended on each other – she helped manage household affairs while I carved tombstones and copied scriptures. We stumbled along this way. Unfortunately, as that famous doctor said, Ying Niang’s body gradually deteriorated and her eyes gradually couldn’t see. We father and daughter could only eat hot soup and rice thanks to the care of neighbors from all around.
Two years ago when Ying Niang was fifteen, she could no longer clearly see human figures beyond three steps, only vaguely see the fluorescent light the night pearl emitted at night. So she became even more attached to that pearl. I thought how many more years did the child have to live? So I let her play with it freely at home.”
Chen Yu wept as he said: “On June fifteenth two years ago, I went out to take on work. When I returned home, Ying Niang wasn’t there. I thought she had gone out to play as usual and didn’t take it to heart. But when it grew completely dark and she still hadn’t returned, I searched the house and found the night pearl was also gone. Though she had reached marriageable age, her mind had always been as innocent as a child’s. No matter how many times I taught her, she never understood that wealth shouldn’t be displayed or that human hearts are treacherous.”
Hearing this, everyone vaguely guessed what happened next, their eyes revealing pity. Bao Zhu kept wiping her eyes with her handkerchief, while Yang Xingjian wept even more, tears and snot wetting his beard and clothes.
The stone carver cried: “I took my walking stick and searched with the neighbors for half the night, finally finding her collapsed on the road outside the village. Her body was slashed diagonally from right shoulder to left rib, cut in two pieces. My poor child lay exposed in the wilderness like slaughtered pigs and sheep at the butcher shop – that murderer even used her clothes to wipe his blade!”
Wei Xun suddenly asked: “From right shoulder to left rib, only one slash?”
The stone carver nodded and continued: “The night pearl was naturally gone too. I cried for several days and nights straight, but couldn’t find the murderer. Reporting to officials got no response either. I could only clean her blood and prepare her for burial. If Ying Niang had died of natural causes, this old man would have been mentally prepared, but heaven is blind – to let her die so horribly by the blade!” He trembled all over and collapsed weeping again.
Huo Qi frowned: “Sounds like someone skilled in the Immortal Crane Falls technique.”
Wei Xun sneered coldly: “Testing one’s blade on a simple-minded little girl – what kind of expert is that?”
Yang Xingjian, still somewhat drunk, thought of his own daughter who had similarly died in her youth and wept like rain, sighing endlessly. He had long abandoned any thought of turning the thief over to authorities.
He choked up asking: “When did you learn that Bao Lang was the real murderer?”
Chen Yu’s eyes split with fury as he ground his teeth audibly: “He hid it for a full year. During that year I went everywhere beating drums and crying injustice, but when officials heard Ying Niang was a short-lived ‘white child,’ none paid attention and casually dismissed me. Just when I was about to completely despair and give up pursuing the murderer, someone in the village heard rumors from around Xuzhou.
The legend spoke of a soldier under the Wuwei Army who slayed a snake and seized its pearl while traveling, presenting it to Commander Cui. When I heard the story’s description – white giant snake, red eyes, with a night pearl embedded in its head – my heart immediately became clear as a mirror. It was this person who killed my daughter and stole the pearl, then fabricated a legendary tale to glorify himself!”
Chen Yu wailed: “How can there be such cruel and vicious people in this world? If he wanted to seize the pearl, he only needed to reach out and take it. Ying Niang’s eyes were nearly blind – she couldn’t see his appearance clearly at all. How would she pursue the matter!”
Bao Zhu and the others all suddenly understood, never expecting such malicious implications hidden within this story.
An innocent ‘white child’ girl, simply because she possessed treasure and looked different from ordinary people, was coveted by an evil person and lost her life. After death, he even fabricated rumors, identifying her as a demon. It seemed Bao Lang never considered Ying Niang a normal human being, which was why he could so brazenly murder and steal treasure.
In one night, Chen Yu not only had his family’s hereditary pearl stolen, but his flesh and blood – the apple of his eye – was murdered. Under such a blow, how could he maintain emotional stability?
After he switched away the night pearl, he couldn’t help leaving the eight words “Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know” inside the lacquer box, precisely to remind Bao Lang that someone clearly knew the details of his great crime. With guilt in his heart, Bao Lang also dared not let the paper slip be known to others.
Chen Yu said viciously: “I tracked Bao Lang to Xuzhou many times. By then he had already risen high due to presenting the pearl, promoted from an ordinary halberd-bearer to Metropolitan Commandant, managing over a thousand soldiers under him, with adjutants and guards accompanying him wherever he went – quite glorious indeed.
Moreover, even if he traveled alone, how could an old cripple who only knew stone carving fight such a martially skilled warrior? So I failed every time, only returning home with contained hatred and swallowed tears. Not until early this year when the Regional Commander’s office sent down a task did I know the opportunity had come.”
Bao Zhu said: “Cui Keyong wanted to present the night pearl to the Son of Heaven and needed a magnificent container, right?”
Chen Yu nodded: “Shijing Village has gathered craftsmen for generations, producing many renowned artisans far and wide. The things the government wants are often assigned as corvée labor, and we’re all accustomed to it. Ying Niang had lived in the village since childhood, and neighbors had helped a lot, all sympathetic about her tragic death.
So I devised this scheme, asking the lacquer craftsman taking orders to make two identical boxes, finding a way to switch them midway. Though I couldn’t directly take revenge on Bao Lang, at least I could reclaim our family’s hereditary treasure.”
Bao Zhu asked: “Only this part I can’t understand – wouldn’t they immediately notice something wrong with an empty box?”
Chen Yu smiled bitterly: “I naturally had preparations too. The night pearl had been in my family for over thirty years – I knew its size, shape, and color thoroughly. I naturally couldn’t afford to buy a second one-inch pearl, but could use other things as substitutes. I spent a month or two searching the market and found a vendor at the vegetable market selling a nest of white eggs exactly the same size as the pearl. He said they were bird eggs – I couldn’t identify them, but spent a few coins to buy them home for research.
When carving tombstones, if the knife slips and creates a gap in the stone, you can mix stone powder with tree resin to fill the defect. I used this technique, trying to mix pearl powder into tree resin and thinly coat it on the bird egg, adding pearlescent luster. As long as it wasn’t compared directly with the original, it could pass as genuine for some time. As for what would happen after Bao Lang presented the fake pearl to the Emperor, I couldn’t control that – hopefully it could convict him of deceiving the sovereign, which would fulfill my wishes.”
Bao Zhu suddenly understood: “What an excellent idea!”
Wei Xun asked: “Bao Lang stored the night pearl in Lotus Flower Temple’s Treasure Tower – did you act before that?”
Chen Yu said: “I had already acted. Though I racked my brains to devise the scheme of switching lacquer boxes, I never knew how to execute it under the tight security of the Regional Commander’s office, thinking the plan would fail at the crucial moment. Unexpectedly, two months ago Princess Wanshou passed away, and the imperial family recruited craftsmen from everywhere to build her mausoleum.
Commander Cui urgently conscripted craftsmen of all trades from Shijing Village, having us rush to catch up with the pearl-presenting entourage and travel together to Chang’an. Wasn’t this a heaven-sent opportunity? The craftsmen had reason to approach the cart carrying the lacquer box, and I was a cripple who wouldn’t make guards suspicious, so switching became possible.”
Never expecting to have an unexpected role in this case herself, Bao Zhu felt slightly embarrassed.
Chen Yu continued: “I thought at most they’d discover the pearl was fake during the journey. I never expected the fake pearl would also mysteriously disappear, causing this great pearl theft case with all us Changzhou craftsmen sealed in the city together. Though I was determined to reclaim our family’s hereditary pearl, I never intended to implicate other innocent people. The dead cannot return to life – this old man truly has no face to continue living. What’s buried in the camp grave is the original lacquer box – the night pearl is still on me.”
He lifted his trouser leg, revealing on the inner side of his disabled left thigh a three-inch-long large scar, crisscrossed with thick thread like a hideous centipede. To hide the treasure, he had cruelly harmed his own body, burying the pearl in his own flesh. In the hot weather, the wound had festered, emitting a foul stench like gangrene.
The stone carver sighed, as if laying down his whole burden: “I’ve confessed everything I know. You may turn me and the night pearl over to authorities for reward, or kill me now as sacrifice to heaven – this old man deserves whatever comes. I only beg you all not to investigate further what’s buried in the coffin.”
Wei Xun’s expression was grave, his whole body emanating intimidating coldness as he said icily: “Speaking of ‘deserving whatever comes’ – it’s not your turn yet.”