He Yunqin followed his younger sister into the house, just as eldest sister He Lanzhi came down from upstairs.
Seeing He Yunqin, He Lanzhi laughed in surprise: “You’re back rather early today—no classes at school?”
He Yunqin looked up at her and smiled: “I came back to discuss Mother’s birthday.” So saying, he walked over and sat down on the sofa.
He Zhuyun sat down across from him, beside her eldest sister and eldest sister-in-law, and said with a small smile, pursing her lips: “I just saw something strange. Eldest Sister, Eldest Sister-in-law, guess what Brother was just doing outside?”
He Lanzhi straightened the large tasseled shawl on her shoulders: “Ever since your brother came back from Germany, he’s been mixing with all sorts of strange people all day, and he’s picked up plenty of odd habits. Even if you told me he was repairing a bicycle, I wouldn’t be surprised…”
Before she’d even finished speaking, He Zhuyun laughed so hard she fell into Duan Mingyi’s arms: “Eldest Sister truly has foresight—Second Brother really was just now repairing a bicycle.”
He Lanzhi had only been speaking casually, and never expected to actually guess right. She froze for a moment, then said, torn between laughing and crying: “Little Brother, that bicycle of yours is so old already—why not get a new one instead of fixing it?”
He Yunqin merely said he was thirsty, and only after taking the tea a servant brought him did he say: “The other day Father lectured me again, saying that even though I now have a position, I ought to live modestly and must not become arrogant or extravagant—that I need to understand the principle of preserving what one has achieved. I keep his teachings in mind at all times. My bicycle may be old, but it’s not as though it can’t be ridden anymore. It would be such a waste to just throw it away.”
He Lanzhi turned to look at Duan Mingyi and He Zhuyun: “Do you two believe that?”
Duan Mingyi smiled but said nothing in reply. He Zhuyun covered her mouth and shook her head: “Don’t believe it, don’t believe it.”
He Lanzhi glared at He Yunqin, both amused and exasperated: “You’re always so good at grand principles—go ahead and use that kind of talk on Madame, but we certainly don’t believe it. Oh, that reminds me—yesterday you had Uncle Yu come home to ask me for some clothes. It was so strange. Don’t tell me you’ve met some girl out there?”
She and He Yunqin and He Zhuyun shared different mothers, and over the years she had only ever called her stepmother “Madame,” never once changing the address.
He Yunqin had originally felt quite at ease, but on further thought, yesterday’s business with Hongdou was somewhat tangled and complicated—if he spoke of it, it would inevitably invite misunderstanding—so he smiled and said: “Most of that stack of clothes was never worn, only one coat was worn once, and it’s already been freshly pressed. It’s in my room right now; I’ll bring it out later to return to Eldest Sister.”
Just as he expected, He Lanzhi indeed said: “If that coat has already been worn by someone else, there’s no need to return it. Just give me the pieces that haven’t been worn.”
He Yunqin said: “Then I’ll have Dingxiang make a new coat to compensate Eldest Sister.”
“No need to go to such trouble.” He Lanzhi set down her teacup, studying He Yunqin’s expression with great interest. “It’s not as though I’m waiting on clothes to wear. Besides, that fabric was rare—expensive too. Even Dingxiang only brought in one or two bolts of it. Mingyi and I each had one made from it at the time; there’s no way to make a matching one now, we’ll just have to wait until Dingxiang gets more stock in. I’m just asking you—who did you give that coat to wear? Don’t tell me you’ve finally agreed to get a girlfriend?”
He Zhuyun asked curiously: “Second Brother, you said a few days ago that you wanted to fall in love—was that actually true?”
He Yunqin glanced at her: “If I really had a girlfriend, I certainly wouldn’t hide it from you.”
As he spoke, he raised his hand to check his watch—it was getting late, and he needed to go find Wang Bide as soon as possible—so he changed the subject: “Mother should be getting up about now. I’ll go up and check on her.” He rose, tucked both hands into his trouser pockets, and headed for the stairs.
He Lanzhi deliberately said to He Zhuyun and Duan Mingyi with a smile: “The moment we mention this, off he goes—clearly there’s a shadow of a girlfriend somewhere.”
Hearing this, He Yunqin paused mid-step, turned back, and smiled at He Lanzhi: “I’ll take Eldest Sister’s auspicious words to heart. If I really do get a girlfriend, I’ll be sure to bring her home early for Mother to look over, so she doesn’t have to keep nagging about it.”
He Lanzhi laughed and urged him on: “We’re just having our own little chat—why are you in such a hurry to distance yourself from it? Weren’t you going to see Madame? Go on then.”
Once He Yunqin had gone, He Lanzhi shook her head: “Your second brother looks careless, but his mind is actually quite fine, and he’s always known how to charm people. If he really wanted to please a girlfriend, why would he give away someone else’s clothes—he could just buy new ones. But then, if it’s not a girlfriend, why would your second brother give that person clothes at all? So thinking it over and over, this whole thing doesn’t quite add up.”
Duan Mingyi had said nothing this whole time, but hearing this, her eyes stirred slightly, and she said with a curved smile: “Speaking of coats, that reminds me of something—today at school I think I saw a female student carrying clothes to school, that Miss Yu whom Fourth Sister always mentions.”
He Zhuyun startled—it really was so. She remembered finding it strange at the time, and had even asked Senior Sister Yu about it; Senior Sister Yu had only said she needed to return something to someone.
Could there really be such a coincidence in this world?
Just as she was about to respond to Duan Mingyi, Second Brother came back down and called out flatly from upstairs: “Fourth Sister, didn’t you want me to pick out a gift for you just now? Where’s the gift?”
He Zhuyun hurried to reply: “It’s in my room.” She got up to go find Second Brother, and had no more attention to spare for the conversation below.
When Hongdou arrived at school, she originally planned to go straight to find Qin Xuekai at the political science department’s usual classroom, but ran into Gu Yun halfway there.
“Huh, didn’t you go home?” Gu Yun was carrying a stack of books in her arms, as though she had just come out of class.
Hongdou was anxious to find Qin Xuekai and had no time for idle chat with Gu Yun; she kept walking forward: “I’m going to borrow something from Qin Xuekai.”
Gu Yun found this even stranger: “Aren’t you usually afraid of causing Qin Xuekai to misunderstand, always keeping your distance from him? Why aren’t you worried about that today?”
Hongdou spread her hands: “What I need is materials from the ‘Mysterious Incidents Fellowship.’ He’s the president—who else would I ask?”
Gu Yun caught up with her: “No class this afternoon, and I have nothing else to do—why don’t I come along with you?”
Hongdou thought it over; with Gu Yun present, for one thing it wouldn’t cause Qin Xuekai to misunderstand, and for another, there’d be an extra pair of hands to help search for materials, so she said: “All right.”
When they arrived, the sizeable classroom held only a scattering of people studying, and upon asking, it turned out the political science department had no large lecture that afternoon.
Fortunately there was a young man on good terms with Qin Xuekai, who, seeing Hongdou actively come looking for Qin Xuekai, felt this was too rare an opportunity to waste and hurriedly volunteered to take Hongdou to find him: “Qin Xuekai is the most studious person—when he has no afternoon classes, he’s either helping the department’s professors organize lecture notes or borrowing books at the library. I’d guess he’s at the library right now.”
The three of them arrived at the library, and sure enough, Qin Xuekai was there.
Qin Xuekai’s face lit with delight, and he could no longer be bothered with his studying, hurrying out to greet her: “Hongdou.”
Then he turned and saw Gu Yun, his smile fading slightly: “Gu Yun.”
Hongdou smiled and got straight to the point: “Senior Qin, I don’t know where the materials for our Mysterious Incidents Fellowship are kept—could you take us to have a look?”
Qin Xuekai said in surprise: “The fellowship’s materials are far too many—we borrowed a storage room from the school a while back, and now all the materials are kept in that row of old classrooms behind the little chapel. What made you think to look into this?”
Hongdou said: “There’s something rather important I urgently need to check. Do you have the key to the storage room?”
Qin Xuekai hesitated slightly, then started walking forward: “I do have the key—I’ll take you there right now. But Hongdou, could you first tell me what you’re trying to look into?”
Hongdou’s steps slowed a little. Wang Meiping’s death was strange, and the police had kept it under wraps so far; before the case was solved, it wouldn’t do to let outsiders know, so she said: “I heard someone talk about some old folk arts a few days ago, and I found it quite interesting. It happens to be my turn to give the lecture at the fellowship next week, and I thought we surely must have some materials on this in our collection, so I came to look them up to prepare.”
Qin Xuekai said: “Our fellowship was founded more than ten years ago, and over the years we’ve gradually collected books and old newspapers enough to fill half a room. The materials on folk legends specifically are kept in a tall cabinet—it’ll take quite a while to find anything. I have nothing else to do this afternoon, so why don’t I help you two search?”
He was the president, and there was no way around him if they wanted to look through the fellowship’s materials. Hongdou thought it over and over, but truly couldn’t find an excuse to send Qin Xuekai away, so she just smiled: “Then I’ll trouble Senior Qin.”
Her voice was crisp and sweet, and Qin Xuekai’s face reddened hearing it; he hurriedly turned his face away: “I’m the fellowship’s president—this is simply what I should do. No need to talk about trouble.”
The three of them crossed the campus and came to the row of old, worn classrooms behind the little chapel. Due to years of neglect, the classroom roofs leaked in places and urgently needed repair, so they were not currently being used as classrooms.
The students felt it a shame to let the rooms sit empty, so they had borrowed them from the school to use as fellowship activity rooms—storing either activity equipment or the group’s materials.
Qin Xuekai led the two of them to the innermost classroom, took out the key, and opened the door.
Hongdou asked Qin Xuekai: “Senior Qin, we’ve only heard our fellowship was founded ten years ago—who actually founded it in the first place?”
Qin Xuekai said in surprise: “Wasn’t that mentioned at the very first activity? This fellowship was organized by a senior from the mathematics department surnamed Deng.”
Hongdou nodded indifferently. At her first activity, the students had been busy with introductions, and things had been quite chaotic; besides, she’d never much liked listening to long speeches, so when Qin Xuekai had introduced the fellowship’s origins back then, she’d only half-listened.
Gu Yun pushed up the frame of her glasses on her nose: “Hongdou was probably busy eating something at the time.”
At this point the door opened, and the three of them went inside. Hongdou slowly surveyed the bookshelves in the room and asked casually: “So where is this Senior Deng now?”
“I only heard he went to Beiping. I don’t know exactly where he’s working now.” Qin Xuekai walked straight to the window and opened the innermost bookshelf, glancing over it from bottom to top, then said to Hongdou and Gu Yun, “It’s all here.”
Hongdou and Gu Yun exchanged a glance, rolled up their sleeves, and rose on their toes to reach for the stack of materials on top, but Qin Xuekai stopped them: “You two take the materials down below—I’ll get the ones up top.”
In a moment the three of them had divided the work: Qin Xuekai took charge of the topmost shelf, Hongdou the middle, and Gu Yun, being the shortest, took the bottom two levels.
After they’d moved the books and loose pages down from the shelves, Qin Xuekai asked Hongdou: “Is there a specific scope to what you’re looking for—ritual or arcane arts, Western or Eastern?”
Hongdou moved the things aside and began leafing through the yellowed pages herself: “All I know is it involves several wooden pegs, about a foot long, that were nailed into someone’s body for some unknown reason. I can’t say whether it’s Eastern or Western, and I don’t even know what exactly the thing is used for.”
As she spoke, she gestured with her hands: “About this long, and this sharp.”
Gu Yun’s nerve was in no way inferior to Hongdou’s; hearing this, her expression didn’t even change: “Oh, there’s such a strange thing? Where did you hear about this?”
Qin Xuekai pondered a moment: “That actually sounds a bit like the Western method for dealing with vampires, though that’s a completely baseless notion, only used to scare children. Everyone knows vampires are simply fictional—could anyone really believe such an absurd, unfounded rumor?”
Hongdou paused. She had only been thinking in terms of local folk legends before, and hadn’t considered Western occultism at all. She hurriedly said: “Then let me look for materials on the Western church.”
The three of them each faced a stack of pages and searched for a long while, finding nothing.
Finally Hongdou discovered a small comic strip about the wooden peg in a newspaper devoted to strange tales. The picture showed a priest holding a wooden stake in his hand, about to drive it into the chest of a so-called vampire.
However, that wooden stake was as thick as a rolling pin, while the murder weapon He Yunqin had sketched on the table at noon was thin and sharp—clearly the two bore no resemblance to each other at all.
Hongdou thought it over further: if these several cases involving Wang Meiping were the work of the same group, then these people were not only able to commit crimes again and again, but also had a way of evading police searches—clearly they had their own methods specifically for dealing with the police, and were either geniuses or madmen.
Suddenly she heard Gu Yun say: “Come look at this record here—is what’s drawn here the so-called wooden peg?”
Hongdou went over to look and saw it was a thread-bound ancient book, its era already impossible to trace, the pages yellowed, brittle, and thin, as though they might crumble at any moment in the wind. On the page Gu Yun had turned to, a passage was recorded densely, and beside it was an illustration—indeed depicting a thin, long, peg-like object.
Hongdou read through it without missing a word, and thinking of the jewelry shop matter He Yunqin had mentioned at noon, her color changed slightly. Could this have something to do with that person? she thought inwardly. It seemed she needed to find her brother as soon as possible.
Author’s Note: Something came up suddenly, sorry for the delay, there’ll be another update later. Whether it’s three updates or two today, every Hong Dou Sheng Min Guo – Chapter has a red envelope—thanks everyone for your genuine support.