Wang Daxia called upon the Northern District Military Commissioner and even used his father’s influence to summon the constables from the Shuntian Prefecture office for support. However, the lake was too vast, with misty waters stretching endlessly. Even in broad daylight it seemed infinite, let alone on a stormy night.
The net was cast, but its mesh was too large, easily allowing rain to leak through. Moreover, it was late summer, and the lakeside reed marshes and the canopy of lotus leaves provided ample cover for hiding.
So Lu Ying didn’t hold much hope for Wang Daxia’s net. She maintained a “worth trying” attitude—doing something was better than nothing. She frantically rowed her oars, using each flash of lightning to memorize the fishing boat’s position whenever the lake was illuminated, then surrounded it from that direction.
The eight fishing boats of the Imperial Guards each carried a storm lantern, allowing them to maintain their encircling formation in the darkness as they closed the net around the fleeing boat in the center.
Finally, Lu Ying’s eight boats trapped the fishing boat in a patch of aquatic plants resembling wild chives floating in clusters at the lake’s center. The oars became entangled in the roots of the water plants, and the fishing boat was stuck among the upright aquatic vegetation, unable to move.
Lu Ying called out, “The White Lotus Sect is a heretical cult that deceives people and swindles believers of their money. We Imperial Guards only punish the ringleaders and won’t harm ordinary believers. Boatman, you need only hand over Boss Wang, and the Imperial Guards will let bygones be bygones. We’ll even give you a new identity and wealth for life. If you persist in your delusion and continue to aid the tiger in its evil deeds, don’t blame us for being impolite.”
The fishing boat remained silent.
When neither soft persuasion nor threats worked, Lu Ying ordered an attack. “Strip off the boat canopy.”
Eight fishing boats shot out eight tiger-claw-like iron hooks that embedded deeply into the black-canopied boat’s hull. With a forceful pull, the boat canopy split open like lotus petals.
Without its black canopy, the fishing boat was like a snail without its shell.
Just then, Heaven sent a lightning bolt that illuminated Jishuitan Lake. Lu Ying saw there was only one person on the boat—the boatman sitting in the cabin with his head lowered, blood covering everything below his neck. He had actually slit his throat and committed suicide.
Besides this, there was also a pair of empty shoes in the cabin.
Thunder rumbled overhead as Lu Ying realized this was a diversionary tactic.
Those two sets of footprints leading to the dock were deliberately meant to lure her into rowing the fishing boat out onto the lake in pursuit!
Boss Wang hadn’t boarded the boat at all. The boatman had put the empty shoes on his hands and crawled like a dog through the muddy road, allowing one person to leave four footprints and create the false impression that two people had fled together to the fishing boat.
What a cunning rabbit with three burrows! No wonder the Imperial Guards had made no significant progress in suppressing the White Lotus Sect over the past ten years—these people were simply too crafty.
Lu Ying said, “Send word by carrier pigeon to Lord Lu that the White Lotus Sect has been netted, but only the suspect Boss Wang escaped. Copy his portrait overnight and issue a city-wide warrant. Tomorrow all city gates must be under martial law, carefully checking every person leaving the city.”
“Also, taking advantage of the current curfew while all ward gates are closed, conduct house-to-house searches of all neighborhoods near Jishuitan Lake. Show Boss Wang’s portrait to the residents. Anyone who can capture this person will receive a reward of a thousand taels of silver, and those providing leads will also be separately rewarded.”
Having taken these belated remedial measures, Lu Ying lay exhausted in the boat cabin. She had been busy rowing earlier and both her arms were nearly broken from fatigue. Why was it so difficult to do something perfectly?
They had clearly possessed the advantages of timing, terrain, and popular support—that mysterious anonymous tip, Wei Caiwei’s “miracle drug” assistance, Wang Daxia’s lucky shield throw that extinguished the cannon fuse—time after time they had countered every move, turning danger into safety, yet they still let a big fish, no, a whale escape.
What could be done? What more could she do?
Lu Ying’s body lay still while her mind raced, thinking of countermeasures. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and she knew what to do. “After we reach shore, immediately carry the unconscious Wu Dianyong to Doctor Wei’s place. Have Doctor Wei forcibly wake him so we can interrogate Wu Dianyong about Boss Wang’s hiding place and who else is helping him.”
Meanwhile, Ding Wu knocked on the door, waking Wei Caiwei.
Actually, Wei Caiwei couldn’t sleep at all tonight. She knew that tonight the Imperial Guards were closing their net on the White Lotus Sect’s nest, and the tragedy from her previous life kept flashing through her mind:
The All-Goods Trading House had been blown to pieces, and the Imperial Guards and Northern District Military Commissioner conducting the arrest operation were nearly wiped out.
Toutiao Alley suffered collateral damage. Beijing winters were dry with northeastern winds, and the wind fanned the flames. The entire alley was burned to ruins. Though Mu Baihu and others did their best to wake the residents, four people were still burned alive—a human tragedy.
Wang Qianhu had his legs blown off, his back burned, was stripped of his position and had his property confiscated. On a snowy day, Wang Daxia and Mu Baihu carried his severely injured father out of the Wang residence where they had lived for a hundred years. Wang Qianhu died that night from pain despite medical treatment, and Wang Daxia castrated himself with a blade…
Just thinking about it broke her heart. Wei Caiwei comforted herself that this lifetime was six months earlier, during the rainy season, and with ample preparation. She had to trust Lu Ying, Wang Daxia, and Ding Wu—the previous life’s tragedy shouldn’t happen again.
Though she thought this way, her heart still fluttered with anxiety, hoping for dawn to come quickly and end the catastrophe of her previous life.
Hearing Ding Wu’s knocking, Wei Caiwei quickly dressed and went downstairs to open the door. Ding Wu had come driving a horse cart. He pointed to Wu Dianyong in the cart and said:
“Boss Wang escaped through a tunnel from the small courtyard. That house was where he usually lived. He’s one of the White Lotus Sect’s Four Great Propagators, and he must know where the next hiding nest is. We need your help to wake him up.”
It turned out Ding Wu and Lu Ying were of one mind, thinking alike. Without waiting for Lu Ying’s instructions, he had brought the unconscious Wu Dianyong here for help.
Seeing Ding Wu whole and unharmed but not seeing Wang Daxia and Lu Ying, Wei Caiwei hurriedly asked, “Where are they? What about the firearms in the underground warehouse? You must be careful.”
Ding Wu said, “Everyone’s fine. The warehouse has been secured by our people. All the fish are caught, only Boss Wang escaped.”
Wei Caiwei pressed her right hand to her chest and breathed a long sigh of relief. “That’s good. As long as the people and firearms are safe, that’s good. You can run away from the monk but not the temple—the Imperial Guards will surely catch the only fish that slipped through the net.”
This was already much better than her previous life! No one had died, and the weapons depot hadn’t exploded.
As for the White Lotus Sect, in her previous life during the second year of Longqing’s reign, Wang Daxia had completely eradicated the White Lotus Sect, capturing alive the cult leader and the Four Great Propagators and other ringleaders, executing them by slow slicing to avenge his father whose legs had been blown off that year.
So what if he escaped? Evil receives its retribution. The White Lotus Sect had committed many crimes, and in this life they would still walk the same path as the previous life.
“Banxia, what are you thinking about? Quickly bring out the antidote,” Ding Wu urged her anxiously.
Wei Caiwei snapped back from her memories of her previous life and said, “Lanke’s Dream was already without antidote back on Ivory Mountain. According to pharmaceutical principles, within five steps there must be mutually generating and restraining substances, but I never found them.”
Ding Wu was very disappointed. “Is there really no way?”
Wei Caiwei retrieved a set of needles fine as ox hair from her medicine room, along with a Western perfume bottle. “I can use needles and medicine to stimulate his acupoints and forcibly wake him, but it will be extremely painful. Carry him into my house.”
“No, we can’t let the White Lotus Sect people know you’re involved in this matter and implicate you.” Ding Wu refused. He used rope to firmly bind Wu Dianyong’s limbs to the horse cart and blindfolded him. “You only need to wake him up, leave the rest to the Imperial Guards. You said waking him would be painful—good, pain is right. When he led the way for An Da Khan’s army back then, how many innocent civilians in the suburbs had their families destroyed? This saves the Imperial Guards from using torture to interrogate him.”
Wei Caiwei got into the cart and used the fine needles dipped in the medicine from the perfume bottle to pierce several acupoints on Wu Dianyong’s head.
The effect was immediate. Wu Dianyong began screaming and convulsing, but in the torrential rain of the night, with the thick cart walls and thick sound-dampening blankets covering all sides, his voice was muffled.
Ding Wu gestured to Wei Caiwei, and the two got out of the cart just as Wang Daxia rode up to relay Lu Ying’s message.
Seeing Wang Daxia unharmed, Wei Caiwei was very moved, but time was urgent now with no leisure for other concerns. She leaned close to his ear and taught Wang Daxia how to use the fine needles, leaving Wu Dianyong for him to interrogate.
Wang Daxia thought to himself: Lanke’s Dream wasn’t enough—just how many more “skills” do you have that I don’t know about?
Outside, the rain was heavy and the wind fierce. Despite holding an umbrella, Wei Caiwei’s clothes were still wet. Wang Daxia pointed toward the door, telling Wei Caiwei to go home and take shelter from the rain. Then he got into the cart, removed Wu Dianyong’s blindfold, and when Wu Dianyong saw it was Wang Daxia, his eyes widened like copper bells, his teeth chattering from pain. “It’s… you!”
“The Imperial Guards and White Lotus Sect are irreconcilable enemies. Who else would it be but me?” Wang Daxia showed him his reflection. “See the needles inserted in the acupoints on your head? Ending this suffering is simple—just pull out the needles.”
Wu Dianyong felt like countless ants were gnawing at his brain, the pain causing involuntary convulsions of his hands and feet. He could no longer think about anything beyond the pain. “I’ll confess! I’ll confess everything! Please spare me!”
What backbone could a “Ming traitor” who betrayed his country for money and led foreigners to slaughter his own people have?
Under severe pain, Wu Dianyong immediately collapsed.
Wang Daxia pulled out one needle, and Wu Dianyong immediately felt the area around that needle stop hurting. Wang Daxia asked, “What position do you hold among the White Lotus Sect leaders?”
Wang Daxia knew the answer to this question—he was deliberately using it to test for lies.
Wu Dianyong said, “I am a trusted aide of the cult leader, one of the Four Great Propagators called the Military Strategist.”
Based on the Imperial Guards’ ten years of understanding of the White Lotus Sect, the Four Great Propagators were the right-hand men of cult leader Zhao Quan. Their real names were unknown; they only knew their titles were respectively Military Strategist, Treasure Bowl, Intelligence Hall, and Iron Bull.
The Military Strategist was highly intelligent, Treasure Bowl managed the sect’s finances, Intelligence Hall collected information about the Ming Dynasty, and Iron Bull was formerly a skilled mountain bandit king who managed the sect’s death warriors and thugs.
Now that Military Strategist Wu Dianyong was captured, they had severed one of the cult leader’s arms. Wu Dianyong hadn’t lied, so Wang Daxia asked the next question: “Is Boss Wang the cult leader Zhao Quan?”
“Yes!” Wu Dianyong’s tears and snot flowed together. “Please pull out another needle. He is indeed our cult leader.”
Wang Daxia was both excited and anxious. “Pull out what? I haven’t finished asking. Where does the secret passage in your bedroom lead?”
This was another test question—Wang Daxia knew the answer was to a fisherman’s house at Jishuitan Lake.
“What secret passage?” Wu Dianyong looked bewildered. “There’s a secret passage in my room? I don’t know. Intelligence Hall was responsible for building the All-Goods Trading House. After it was built, the cult leader had me manage it. I don’t know about any secret passage, much less where it leads!”
It seemed only Intelligence Hall knew about the escape routes.
Wang Daxia asked, “Where is Intelligence Hall? What’s his name?”
Wu Dianyong said, “I don’t know. We Four Great Propagators rarely meet, and even when we occasionally do, we all wear masks. The cult leader is very cautious, fearing his subordinates might betray him or join forces to usurp power. Each of the four propagators only does their own work, not knowing what the others do, answerable only to the cult leader. However, judging by her graceful figure and the voice from behind the mask, she’s definitely a woman, and probably quite beautiful too.”
Author’s Note: Good morning everyone! In previous chapters, didn’t I write about Wei Caiwei using a raw scallion to remove a fish bone stuck in Wang Daxia’s throat? Today I saw a news story about someone who got a fish bone stuck and first tried swallowing rice balls, then drinking vinegar and other folk remedies, all ineffective. He waited until the third day when he was vomiting blood before going to the hospital. By then the fish bone had pierced an artery, and despite emergency treatment, he died, leaving behind a wife and two minor children. How tragic.
So I solemnly remind all readers that what I wrote in the book about chewing raw scallions to remove fish bones is an ancient medical method. Ancient methods require luck and the physician’s skill, and are unreliable. If you encounter a stuck fish bone, please promise me you absolutely won’t imitate the ancient methods in my book. Go to the hospital immediately to have it removed—don’t delay. Remember this!
Yes, science is science. Everyone should trust science. Life is most important. I hope I don’t mislead anyone.