“What is it?”
“It’s not very convenient to speak here. Please come back to my home with me, my lord.” Tong Baiquan said. Li Si agreed.
Upon arriving at Tong Baiquan’s home, Li Si was again drenched in sweat, his body very weak. Wu Wen wasn’t here. Li Si asked for a cup of hot tea to warm his body.
Tong Baiquan waited for Li Si’s expression to calm before slowly saying, “My lord, I have some things I don’t know whether I should tell you.”
Li Si glanced at Tong Baiquan: “Village Chief Tong, speak directly. No need to have reservations.”
“Very well.”
Tong Baiquan was just about to speak when suddenly a commotion came from outside the hall. Tong Jie was running around in the courtyard holding a large handful of chopsticks. Tong Baiquan’s face darkened as he shouted at Tong Jie: “Go play somewhere far away!”
Tong Jie ducked into the side room. Tong Baiquan turned his face and said, “My lord, actually after Ding Laocai and Widow Sun died, I’ve been suspecting one person. This person is connected to the deaths of both Ding and Sun.”
“Who do you suspect?”
Tong Baiquan lowered his voice: “Physician Xing.”
Li Si furrowed his brow: “What evidence do you have to suspect him?”
“First, he has a grudge against Ding Laocai. After Ding Laocai became wealthy, he took a liking to Physician Xing’s ancestral home and forced Physician Xing to sell it through threats and inducements.”
Tong Baiquan sighed: “The two developed resentment over this. Physician Xing cursed Ding Laocai behind his back quite often, cursing him to die a terrible death. Hmph, and it turned out he was right.”
Li Si thought to himself: If we’re talking about resentment, I’m afraid ten Physician Xings couldn’t match your hatred for Ding Laocai. The feud between Ding and Tong reached the heavens. Tong Baiquan had sufficient motive to kill Ding Laocai. But why wasn’t he the murderer? Li Si still hadn’t found the crucial link.
“Village Chief Tong, I understand. So what connection does Physician Xing have with Widow Sun’s case?” Li Si asked.
“Because of Purple Rouge.”
“Purple Rouge?” Li Si had now heard this name from a second person. “Please explain in more detail.”
Tong Baiquan first described Purple Rouge, then continued: “My late wife told me that Niu Youqing once became severely poisoned from grinding Purple Rouge and was later saved by Physician Xing using an ancestral secret formula. After saving him, Physician Xing demanded payment from Niu Youqing for saving his life. Niu Youqing couldn’t produce the money, so Physician Xing took half of his Purple Rouge instead.”
“Physician Xing has been a widower for many years and has long coveted Widow Sun’s beauty, but Widow Sun never agreed to him. This old scoundrel held a grudge against Widow Sun and spread rumors everywhere that she was having affairs. He even heard from somewhere that I was having a dalliance with Widow Sun… Widow Sun, unable to bear the humiliation, slapped him publicly. This old scoundrel lost face and definitely wanted revenge.” Tong Baiquan paused. “And the poison that affected Widow Sun was most likely Purple Rouge.”
After hearing Tong Baiquan’s words, Li Si walked out of the main hall and heard the old woman shouting again: “Young master, stop grabbing chopsticks… Young master, if you can’t use chopsticks, then don’t use them.”
Veins bulged on Tong Jie’s forehead as he yelled: “I’m so angry! Why can’t I use chopsticks? Master said I can’t become a supreme martial artist because I can’t use chopsticks! I’ll break you all, break you all to pieces!”
Tong Baiquan stopped his foolish son. Li Si’s heart trembled—so that’s how it was… Li Si rushed out of Tong Baiquan’s home in the rain.
Li Si hurried to the Ding residence. Wu Wen was also there. Wu Wen looked at Li Si, whose face was alternating between pale and flushed, and asked, “My lord, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” Li Si rushed into the main hall. His earlier theory was that Ding Laocai’s sudden death was due to a lightning-fast sword or blade ambush, after which his acupoints were sealed and his body exploded after his blood vessels reversed for one cycle. Li Si examined the traces on the walls in every corner of the main hall and found scratches left by sharp sword qi.
Finally, Li Si let out a long breath: “I’ve finally found the reason.”
“What reason?”
“The reason why Tong Jie isn’t the murderer.” Li Si explained to Wu Wen, “The murderer who killed Ding Laocai is an expert swordsman. The sword marks on the wall can prove this point. Tong Baiquan’s son Tong Jie has extraordinary natural gifts, but as the master who taught him martial arts said, he can’t even hold chopsticks, much less wield swords or blades, so he can’t become a supreme martial artist.”
“But it’s also thanks to him not being a supreme martial artist and unable to use a sword to kill, that the murderer who killed Ding Laocai is absolutely not Tong Jie.” Li Si caught his breath. “I was initially negligent about Tong Jie, which is why I made a mistake. Being pushed into the time loop was my own fault.”
Wu Wen listened in confusion: “My lord, when did you suspect Tong Jie killed Ding Laocai? I don’t know anything about this.”
“It’s not too late to know now. In any case, just understand that Tong Jie is not the murderer. Correspondingly, Tong Baiquan is not the murderer either.”
Wu Wen was even more confused. Outside the door, a head suddenly popped in—chubby and plump. Who else could it be but Fu Xiaosheng?
“Uncle, I had a dream. I dreamed that Father was saved by the guardian deity, and the guardian deity swallowed the bad person.” Fu Xiaosheng said innocently. Li Si smiled but made no comment.
Fu Xiaosheng seemed to have made a great decision as he tugged Li Si’s hand and said, “Uncle, I want to tell you a secret. This secret I haven’t even told my father.”
“Oh, what secret?”
“A very, very big secret. Uncle, I’ll take you to see.” Li Si took the rain cape Wu Wen handed him and dove into the endless rain curtain with Fu Xiaosheng.
Fu Xiaosheng came to the village entrance and pointed at the dark red stone statue: “Uncle, the secret is right there.”
Li Si glanced at the fierce-faced stone statue, then turned to look at Fu Xiaosheng: “What is the secret?”
Fu Xiaosheng said very confidently: “My secret is—Gutan Village’s guardian deity really, truly exists. It’s not fake. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It has a pair of red eyes.”
Li Si furrowed his brow: “When did you see the guardian deity?”
Fu Xiaosheng reverently bowed to the stone statue: “It was about two months ago. My Ah Huang suddenly disappeared. Ah Huang was my big yellow dog. Father said Da Huang was bitten to death by wolves in the mountains, but I didn’t believe it. That night I sneaked out alone to look for Da Huang. I wandered around and came under the mulberry tree. From far away I saw someone swaying their head under the mulberry tree. When he turned his head, red light shot out from both eyes. It was especially scary.”
Fu Xiaosheng trembled: “I remember Father said that the guardian deity has a pair of blood-red eyes, and this person appeared next to the divine statue, so he must be the guardian deity from the legends.”
Li Si looked at Fu Xiaosheng’s determined expression and nodded: “What happened next?”
“Later I wanted to get closer, but he suddenly jerked his head and spat out a bone, which scared me badly. I ran home without looking back.” Fu Xiaosheng said fearfully. Li Si thought to himself: The disappearance of dogs and cats was most likely because Tong Baiquan caught them to feed Tong Jie’s blood. As for who the figure seen by the statue was? The possibility of it being Tong Jie was very high.
Fu Xiaosheng looked at the troubled Li Si. He patted Li Si’s hand and said, “Uncle, are you especially troubled about solving the case? How about I teach you a method that can dispel worries?”
Fu Xiaosheng smiled and pointed to the top of his head: “When I was little and Father got angry, he loved to hit people. Every time I got beaten, I would climb to the treetop where Father couldn’t find me. Later I discovered that staying in high places could make one’s mood much more pleasant. Looking at the distant scenery, all that pent-up frustration would just run away on its own.”
Li Si patted Fu Xiaosheng’s head and smiled: “I understand. Thank you.”
Fu Xiaosheng left. Li Si looked at the mulberry tree, his mind a tangled mess for a moment. Li Si lifted his rain cape and climbed the mulberry tree. The village entrance was already on high ground, and with the five-zhang-tall mulberry tree itself, it opened one’s vision even more. The entire Gutan Village seemed to lie prostrate below, though it was obscured by thin misty rain and couldn’t be seen clearly, but it was enough to make Li Si feel refreshed and at ease.
Li Si closed his eyes slightly. The ice-cold rainwater fell on his cheeks, like tears when missing someone.