Wang Bide had been listening to the exchange between the two of them, and hurriedly looked over at He Yunqin.

Eager to understand the mystery of the formation, he waited a good while without He Yunqin picking up the conversation, so he simply pushed open the door himself and got out, saying to Qin Xuekai: “To be honest, the reason Miss Yu was asking about this strange technique is that I have an unsolved case I specifically asked her to inquire about. Since we’ve found someone readily available who can decipher the formation, please, classmate Qin, take us along with you.”

Qin Xuekai froze, and looked at Hongdou as if seeking confirmation.

Hongdou’s mind worked remarkably fast. She immediately went along with Wang Bide’s words, smiling at Qin Xuekai: “That’s exactly right. Detective Wang has an unsolved case related to the strange technique in this book. Unfortunately none of us can understand this formation, so we’ve been asking around everywhere.”

Qin Xuekai nodded in realization. “Solving the case is important. Then I’ll take you all to find senior Deng right away.”

With the matter settled, four pairs of eyes — Hongdou’s and Wang Bide’s included — all turned at once to look at He Yunqin.

He Yunqin was still talking with He Zhuyun. He clearly knew that now was the moment to adopt Wang Bide’s suggestion and drive this group of people to go find this so-called senior Deng, but the thought that this person had been found through Qin Xuekai gave him an elusive, faint sense of displeasure.

They talked for a while, until even the names of every teacher his sister had class with that day had been thoroughly sorted out. Truly having run out of things to talk about, he finally turned around with an indifferent expression to look behind him.

Wang Bide gave him a meaningful look: “Let’s go.”

He Yunqin glanced at Qin Xuekai standing shoulder to shoulder with Hongdou, rubbed his chin, walked to the front of the car, and opened the door. “Where is this senior located now?”

Qin Xuekai followed Wang Bide into the car: “Just nearby, on Xiangshan Lane off Nixin Road.”

At this point Hongdou also moved to get in the car. Since Wang Bide was sitting up front, if she got in now, she would end up seated right beside Qin Xuekai.

He Yunqin suddenly reminded her: “Miss Yu, your first class is Chinese Literature — you ‘can’t be late, let alone absent.’ Detective Wang and I will handle things over there ourselves. Miss Yu shouldn’t delay her studies.”

This remark woke her as if from a dream. Hongdou turned her head and saw He Zhuyun standing beside her, looking at her with a face full of confusion, though — likely out of upbringing — she hadn’t voiced the question aloud.

There was another gaze assessing her from behind her head — she didn’t need to guess whose it was; it clearly belonged to the He family’s eldest daughter-in-law.

She quietly withdrew the hand that had already reached for the car door handle, and said with feigned realization and a laugh: “Look at me — I was so caught up helping Detective Wang with the investigation that I forgot I had class. Since Senior Qin can lead the way, I won’t tag along after all.”

Not to mention Professor Yan’s class — if He family’s eldest young mistress and He Si saw her running around after He Yunqin’s car, that would be quite improper too.

So saying, she waved goodbye to He Yunqin and the others in an especially cheerful manner, then turned around and said to He Zhuyun: “Junior He, what’s your first class?”

He Zhuyun’s doubts dissolved at once, and she smiled. “Also Chinese Literature. I was afraid Professor Yan might call the roll early, so I came this early too.”

The car started moving. Qin Xuekai exchanged a few words with Wang Bide, then suddenly felt a bit bewildered — just a moment ago it had clearly been about going with Hongdou to find senior Deng, so how had it suddenly turned into three grown men riding together in a car?

He recalled that yesterday, outside the Pan family’s residence at Hongdou’s uncle’s house, he’d also run into Hongdou together with He Yunqin and Wang Bide. He reconsidered, studying He Yunqin closely again.

Although this man was only an associate professor, not much older than themselves, at a tea gathering before, he’d heard several classmates from the same department discussing He Yunqin. One of them, a female student who was especially fond of classical poetry, had said that just gazing at He Yunqin for a few moments gave her the sense of “jade mountains and gem-like trees” — one could tell how dashing and elegant He Yunqin appeared in the eyes of young women. No wonder his lectures were always packed to capacity.

As for Hongdou — ever since she’d broken Wang Bide’s bridge game trick at that tea gathering, she’d apparently taken up the role of Wang Bide’s assistant. If she kept going along with Wang Bide’s investigations, she’d inevitably have frequent dealings with He Yunqin. Qin Xuekai found himself wondering how Hongdou felt about this man.

Then he thought again — Hongdou had always disliked being constrained. Even now that she’d become Wang Bide’s assistant, she might not keep it up for long. Besides, He Yunqin had returned to the country nearly a year ago now; given the man’s family background and looks, he surely already had a girlfriend. With that thought, he let out a breath of relief.

While he was lost in these thoughts, he heard He Yunqin say: “We’ve reached Xiangshan Lane. Which number does this Mr. Deng live at?”

Qin Xuekai leaned out to look, then hurriedly opened the car door. “It’s the first house at the mouth of the lane.”

At that house, Qin Xuekai knocked and asked the servant to pass word along: “I made arrangements earlier with senior Deng — please let him know that Qin Xuekai from St. John’s is here.”

The servant led the group inside. A man in his thirties came out at the sound — thick brows, a prominent nose, eyes sharp as stars, wearing a rather respectable-looking gray-blue silk-sheen cotton robe, though his hair was a disheveled mess like a bird’s nest. It was Deng Guizhuang.

Seeing the group, Deng Guizhuang asked in surprise, turning to Qin Xuekai: “And these two gentlemen are?”

Qin Xuekai quickly explained the purpose of their visit and made introductions on both sides.

He Yunqin took out the book Records of the Mysterious Sect and offered it for Deng Guizhuang to examine: “Some time ago there was a case in this city of a woman being murdered — the corpse had seven wooden nails driven into it. Speaking of the manner of death, it closely resembles the strange technique recorded in this old book. To investigate the case, we’ve come to your door uninvited to seek your guidance, Mr. Deng.”

Deng Guizhuang took the book and began flipping through it, while secretly sizing up He Yunqin in his mind. Although He Yunqin had only given his name without stating his family background, He Mengmei’s influence in this city was too far-reaching — observing the man’s demeanor, Deng Guizhuang had already guessed this was a scion of the He family.

By nature Deng Guizhuang was eccentric and disliked associating with the wealthy, but this man was so well-versed in etiquette that it was impossible to feel any ill will toward him. After a moment of silence, he pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and said: “This book was indeed catalogued when I founded this fellowship ten years ago. Not to embarrass myself in front of you all, but back then I became so obsessed with researching strange and mysterious knowledge that I nearly ruined my studies. This book doesn’t actually belong to our own Daoist tradition or mysterious sect — it came from Siam. In the late Qing dynasty, during the chaos of the Eight-Nation Alliance’s war, when fighting ravaged every region, this book made its way into our country amid the flames of war. It later came into the possession of a Daoist priest in our country. To conduct research, the priest specifically hired someone who knew Siamese to translate it. However, the person who knew Siamese didn’t understand the mystical arts, and the person who understood the mystical arts didn’t know Siamese — so the translation of this book came out utter nonsense. At the time, though I catalogued this book, I didn’t understand its content in detail either.”

Qin Xuekai couldn’t hide his disappointment.

He Yunqin quietly waited for what came next.

Sure enough, after saying all that, Deng Guizhuang turned and began searching up and down his bookshelf. Before long, he retrieved a dust-covered old book from atop a cabinet.

“Later I went to Beiping, and once, while browsing for used goods at Baoguo Temple, I happened by chance to obtain the original Siamese version of this book. After that I spent half a year carefully retranslating it, and only then did I gain a proper understanding of this book.”

He turned the book to the page on the wooden-nail technique and presented it to the group.

Beside it was densely written Siamese text — compared to the earlier version, quite a bit more content had been added.

Deng Guizhuang said: “This evil technique is called the ‘Three Netherworld Sacrifice’ — something between divination and black magic. According to the book, if this evil technique is performed correctly, one can use the sacrificial offerings as a bargaining chip to demand a person’s life back from the underworld king.”

Qin Xuekai’s mouth fell open in astonishment.

Wang Bide sneered coldly: “Utterly absurd. One would have to be completely mad to try such a method.”

“Since it’s called a ‘sacrifice’—” He Yunqin looked at Deng Guizhuang, “—then there must necessarily be sacrificial offerings.”

Deng Guizhuang nodded, and simply took an unused sheet of stationery from his desk, took the fountain pen tucked into his robe, and began drawing on the paper: “The offerings must be three ‘yin people’ — and moreover, they must be ‘impure’ yin people, because in the Siamese mystical tradition, impure yin people are deeply detested by the presiding deity, making them the first choice for offerings. The practitioner arranges the three yin people in order according to their birth months. First, the seven orifices of the first person are sealed with wooden nails, and the corpse is placed by the water’s edge — this is called ‘asking the way.’ After seven days, the seven orifices of the second person are sealed — this is called ‘testing the bridge.’ After another seven days, the seven orifices of the last yin person are sealed — this is called ‘completing the sacrifice.’ At the same time, the formation’s caster writes the birth data of the person whose life is to be extended on a talisman paper and burns it. Only then is the evil technique complete.”

Wang Bide exchanged a glance with He Yunqin: “The first victim’s body was discovered on August 29th. Today marks exactly seven days since then. In other words, the second person’s so-called ‘testing the bridge’ needs to be completed by tonight?”

Deng Guizhuang said: “Precisely so. Unless utterly desperate, no one would think of such a heinous method — but once set in motion, one must have resolved to burn one’s bridges; there’s absolutely no possibility of stopping halfway. Otherwise, if the sacrifice fails to complete, the practitioner himself will be devoured by the backlash of the black magic instead. Since there’s already been a first victim, the second offering must logically be in place by tonight, and the third seven days after that. I wonder — where was the first victim found?”

He Yunqin said: “By the riverbank under a bridge, not far from the docks.”

Deng Guizhuang made a sound of realization. “Then that confirms it. This person is deeply versed in Siamese Daoist arts — the formation strictly follows Daoist divination methods, without a single step out of place. Water in the center, mountain to the west, ritual purification to the east — the three offerings correspond to different directions, using the yin people as keys, each unlocking a different gate to the underworld. Since the first offering has already been made, the second, as the book states, should be hidden in the western mountains. The third should be in the east. Unfortunately, I only have a rudimentary understanding of the Siamese Daoist texts myself — while I know the principle behind this formation, I don’t know exactly where the offerings would be placed.”

Wang Bide frowned in thought: “Mr. Deng, from what you’ve just explained, the remaining two offerings not only need to be hidden in different locations, but also need to die according to a predetermined schedule?”

Deng Guizhuang said matter-of-factly: “Precisely so. So if you want to find the remaining two victims alive, you need to locate them by midnight tonight at the latest — otherwise, even if you do find them, the second victim will likely already have been killed by the formation’s caster.”

After finishing her first class, Hongdou felt utterly exhausted. As soon as class ended, she went straight to the school gate and took the tram home.

She went home, washed up, and changed into clean clothes, and was just about to tell her mother in detail about the events of the previous night when her brother came home.

“The Lu family’s driver still hasn’t been found.” Her brother hadn’t been home for days and nights; the moment he arrived, he went into his room, hastily changed into clean clothes, and headed back out. “We staked out near Chen Jinsheng’s house for most of the night — Chen Jinsheng never came home at all. His wife and child know nothing whatsoever about what he’s done. Fortunately, Mr. He and Detective Wang just found someone to explain the formation, and we’re now planning to search the western mountains first. Based on Chen Jinsheng’s pattern, he should be with the second victim right now — we just don’t know yet whether the second designated victim is Chen Baidie or Yuqi.”

Having said this, he simply added: “I’ll come back once there’s news.”

Before Hongdou and Mrs. Yu could ask further questions, Yu Chongyi shut the door and left.

Hongdou’s plan to ask her brother about the case had come to nothing, so she had no choice but to go back to her room and wait patiently for news.

Just as she’d lain down on the bed, she heard Yu Chongyi calling up to her from downstairs: “Hongdou, is that handkerchief scented with perfume that belonged to Yuqi still at your place?”

Hongdou startled, feeling this was too rare a chance to miss. She hurriedly retrieved the handkerchief and clattered downstairs.

She opened the front door and saw not only her brother, but He Yunqin as well. The two of them stood in front of the tailor shop, speaking in low voices about something. She hurried down the steps and walked up to them. “Here, the handkerchief.”

He Yunqin glanced at her once and took the handkerchief. “Then we’ll be off.”

Hongdou frowned — how could this man just cast her aside once he’d gotten what he needed from her? Seeing the two of them already walking toward the mouth of the lane, she hurriedly followed. But the two men were tall with long legs, and she had to half-run to barely keep pace with them.

Yu Chongyi walked straight to the mouth of the lane. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw his sister had followed too, and said, torn between laughing and crying: “Hongdou, go home and rest — what are you doing following us?”

Hongdou said matter-of-factly: “I’m the one who found that old book at the school fellowship in the first place. Now that the formation’s been solved and you’re going to find Cousin Yuqi, how could I not come along? If it’s really inconvenient to let me tag along, then I’ll go home and wait for news.”

Hearing this, He Yunqin stopped and turned to look at her. She had likely just washed up at home — a few strands of damp hair stuck to her pale forehead, her earlier Western dress was gone, replaced with a fresh, light green padded jacket and trousers embroidered with white jasmine flowers. Perhaps worried about the cold, she also had a jade-colored knit cardigan draped over her shoulders.

Looking further down, she wore slightly worn red round-toed leather shoes on her feet, without stockings yet, a pair of ankles as smooth and pristine as snow-white jade exposed to view.

He touched his eyebrow, forcibly pulling his gaze away from her feet, and said in a tone of indifference to Yu Chongyi: “Since Miss Yu wants to help, then let her come along.”

“But that Chen Jinsheng is a vicious criminal, what if—”

He Yunqin was already walking toward his own car: “Detective Wang and I will protect her.”

He said this with such absolute confidence that Hongdou, hearing it, felt an inexplicable pause inside her. She looked up at his tall retreating back, and it seemed as though, in that instant, that air of aloof arrogance had returned to him — yet this time, oddly, it didn’t bother her in the slightest.

Fearing he might change his mind, she didn’t wait for her brother to object further, and swiftly climbed into He Yunqin’s car. “Brother, I just want to help find Yuqi. Don’t worry — if there’s any danger, I absolutely won’t get out of the car.”

Yu Chongyi had no choice but to give up, and got into the police department’s car instead.

Wang Bide had been dozing in the car. Seeing Hongdou get in again, he lifted an eyelid to look, then closed his eyes again to continue resting.

The car started moving. Hongdou asked He Yunqin: “Mr. He, you just went to see Mr. Deng — what did he say?”

He Yunqin explained the formation concisely, then said: “This Chen Jinsheng was once a Daoist priest, and deeply believes in this kind of evil technique. Now that his son has a strange illness that no doctor can cure, it’s not surprising he’d take such a desperate gamble to extend his son’s life. If we hadn’t happened to find the bloodstained clothing at the Lu family villa and thereby become suspicious of Chen Jinsheng, I think — regardless of whether this method has any scientific basis — Chen Baidie and the others would have become sacrifices for Chen Jinsheng’s son.”

Hongdou asked, puzzled: “If all three were supposedly offerings, then why was Wang Meiping the second to be kidnapped but the first to be killed?”

He Yunqin asked: “What month was your cousin Pan Yuqi born?”

Hongdou thought about it. “The eleventh lunar month.”

He Yunqin said: “Chen Jinsheng was following the old methods, rearranging the sacrificial order according to birth month. Wang Meiping’s autopsy report showed she was born in March, Chen Baidie was born in July, and your cousin in the eleventh month. Ranking the three by birth month, Wang Meiping comes first — she was logically destined to be the first offering.”

Hongdou looked at him strangely: “How would Mr. He know Chen Baidie’s birth month?”

A big star like her — unless someone close to her, she’d never casually reveal her own birth date.

She also recalled that the previous night, when He Yunqin heard that the driver had slipped away with the victim right under their noses, he’d thrown quite a temper. Could it be that he was so worried about Chen Baidie’s safety that he’d let something slip in his anxiety?

He Yunqin glanced at her in the rearview mirror; her fine brows were slightly furrowed, her expression quite serious — clearly not an idle question.

He felt a headache coming on, and was just trying to figure out how to smooth things over when he heard Wang Bide say in a muffled voice: “Miss Yu’s point of focus is really odd. Don’t worry — He Yunqin has his own reasons for wanting to find Chen Baidie. It’s certainly not because he has any intimate relationship with this woman.”

Hongdou already regretted asking that question — it had been too much. She hurriedly changed the subject: “Senior Deng only gave the general direction just now — is there really no way to calculate the exact place where the person is hidden?”

Wang Bide picked up: “There are only so many mountains on the western side of this city — one of them is Mingquan Mountain, which was already searched before. Chen Jinsheng is an extremely rigid person, and since the formation has that requirement, he’s unlikely to casually deviate from it, so searching the western mountains should be correct. But there’s one thing that doesn’t add up in what Deng Guizhuang just said: how exactly did Chen Jinsheng select the so-called ‘impure yin people’? Chen Baidie is a famous movie star and socialite, and Pan Yuqi is often out and about — given Chen Jinsheng’s crude understanding, it’s barely plausible he’d consider them ‘impure’ women. But Wang Meiping had such an honest, simple face — how on earth did he end up abducting her as an offering too?”

“Earlier, Yuan Ruoli’s former wife kept Wang Meiping confined for so long, and to curry favor with Wang Meiping, made her several fine qipao of the kind married women wear. After Wang Meiping was released, she also happened to go out alone on the street at night — perhaps it’s for this reason that Chen Jinsheng considered her a suitable offering? Of course, all this can be settled once we catch Chen Jinsheng and interrogate him. Right now what I want to know is: last night, when Chen Jinsheng transported someone to the theater in his trunk right under everyone’s noses, was it Chen Baidie or Pan Yuqi? The trunk couldn’t hold two people, so it must have been one or the other.”

Hongdou asked, puzzled: “Does that matter so much?”

He Yunqin stared at the brightly lit road: “If we calculate according to the sacrificial order, Chen Baidie is the second offering and should logically be hidden in the western mountains. Pan Yuqi is the third offering and would necessarily be hidden in the eastern purification site. But that range is simply too broad — searching it place by place would be far too troublesome.”

He paused, then continued: “Last night, Chen Jinsheng brought one of them down from Mingquan Mountain, but before he could hide her properly, he ran into Lu Jingheng. To avoid arousing suspicion, Chen Jinsheng was forced to drive Lu Jingheng and the others to the theater. Afterward, Lu Jingheng watched the film for about an hour — Chen Jinsheng could have used that hour to hide the person.”

Hongdou carefully recalled the events of the previous night, and reminded He Yunqin: “But I remember that last night, before the film had even ended, the Lu family car appeared. Chen Jinsheng waited in the car for a quarter of an hour before Lu Jingheng came out.”

He Yunqin didn’t let his admiration show too plainly. He merely said: “Subtracting that quarter hour leaves forty-five minutes. Accounting for the round trip and halving it, that means last night, outside the theater, Chen Jinsheng had a full twenty-two or twenty-three minutes to re-hide the person in the trunk.”

Hongdou nodded. “Afterward we followed the Lu family car back to the Lu residence, and then the police came to arrest him, and Chen Jinsheng abandoned the car and fled. With Mr. He’s reminder, my brother and the others quickly grew suspicious of Chen Jinsheng and immediately launched a citywide manhunt. With no car left to use as a tool, and unable to carry Chen Baidie or Pan Yuqi in broad daylight to move them, if I were him, I’d have no choice but to lie low for now and act again after dark—”

Her eyes grew brighter the more she spoke: “So Chen Jinsheng very likely hasn’t had the chance to move the person from the trunk yet — she’s probably still hidden somewhere within that twenty-three-minute drive from the theater!”

He Yunqin glanced at Wang Bide: “Detective Wang.”

Wang Bide had been thoroughly enjoying listening to the two of them go back and forth. At the question, he perked up at once, sat up straight, and took out a hand-drawn map of Shanghai from inside his coat.

He unfolded it, drew a circle around the area near the theater, and said: “Setting aside the roads, bookstores, and barbershops, within roughly twenty-three minutes’ drive of the theater and suitable for hiding a person, that would basically be Lulu Department Store, the lanes around the Cheng family garden, and that row of pavilion rooms on Fengwan Road.”

Author’s note: Next Hong Dou Sheng Min Guo – Chapter this case officially wraps up! The first case was just a prologue, but the three cases are all interconnected.

The second and third volumes are both post-marriage arcs.

Second update tonight at ten. This Hong Dou Sheng Min Guo – Chapter has a red packet.