At the Hour of the Goat, steamed buns were delivered from the Cui residence’s back kitchen. Li Si and Lao Sitou ate a few. They had just finished when Bai Zhenzhu came bouncing back. Judging from the triumphant spring breeze on her rosy little face, this trip should have yielded good results.
Wu Wen also returned.
Wu Wen spoke first. “I indirectly inquired and learned the situation with the pond. The pond was excavated five years ago following the guidance of a feng shui master that Cui Yunhai consulted. The feng shui master said Cui Yunhai’s life element belonged to water, and having water beside him would ensure smooth sailing in everything. The feng shui master also divined the auspicious number of three-six, so Cui Yunhai had the pond dug to a depth of three zhang and six chi.”
Wu Wen paused briefly, then continued with a doubtful expression. “There’s also something strange. About half a month ago, Cui Yunhai dreamed of the God of Wealth scattering gold. He consulted a diviner about it, and upon returning, he ordered people to dump baskets of yellow sand into the pond, saying something about ‘golden sand enriching water,’ which would bring prosperity to him, Cui Yunhai.”
“What a grand pretext. He must have feared the corpse would change over time, so he used yellow sand to cover the body,” Lao Sitou said disdainfully.
Li Si smiled instead. “Cui Yunhai’s action actually confirms the body is still in the pond and hasn’t been moved, which saves us quite a bit of trouble.”
After Wu Wen finished speaking, he gulped down tea.
“Girl, what about you?” Li Si asked.
“My harvest isn’t small at all. I first found a few young, handsome servants to chat with. They were so captivated by this young lady that they spilled their little secrets in no time,” Bai Zhenzhu glanced at Li Si and said suggestively, “Big Brother Li, I’m actually quite popular. You should seize the opportunity.”
Li Si was carefully listening to Bai Zhenzhu describe her findings when he suddenly heard two explicit hints. Even his old face reddened. “Don’t change the subject. Hurry up and tell me.”
Bai Zhenzhu’s pink face became even more bashful. “The handsome servants told me that in the past twenty days, two people from the Cui residence have been gone for a long time without returning. One is called Xiao Liu’er, and the other is Lin Mang. Xiao Liu’er’s family back home arranged a marriage for him, so he went back to handle the wedding. As for Lin Mang, he suddenly vanished without a trace. No one knows where he went. Moreover, this person’s background is unclear—hardly anyone in the residence knows his details.”
“Lin Mang is very likely the imposter,” Li Si said with furrowed brows.
“Right? I also found him very suspicious, so I learned where he lived too,” Bai Zhenzhu playfully stuck out her little tongue. Lao Sitou glanced at the little girl with half an eye and said sarcastically, “Old friend, this little dog-skin plaster of yours is stuck quite firmly. Not bad, not bad.”
How could Li Si not hear the mocking implication in Lao Sitou’s words? But with Bai Zhenzhu present, it wasn’t convenient to settle accounts with Lao Sitou. He could only glare fiercely at him. Lao Sitou completely unconcerned, touched his face.
After a while, Bai Zhenzhu asked, “Should we go retrieve the corpse now?”
Li Si shook his head. “You think we’re fishing for goldfish? This can’t be done during the day. We can only wait until evening to sneak back into the Cui residence to act. However, there’s something else to do right now.”
“What?” Bai Zhenzhu asked.
“Go take a look at Lin Mang’s residence.”
Li Si deliberately left Wu Wen in the study to make some commotion, shouting about discovering a jade pendant from the antique. After a few shouts, it indeed attracted various servants from the Cui residence to gather and watch. Li Si, Bai Zhenzhu, and Lao Sitou took advantage of the chaos to slip out through the rear window.
Bai Zhenzhu wound her way through several turns into a side courtyard of the Cui residence. The courtyard had several bamboo poles propped against the wall, with clothes hanging to dry. Behind them was a row of similar-looking small rooms. Bai Zhenzhu pointed to the easternmost one and said, “Right there.”
The small room wasn’t locked. A musty odor wafted out first. Bai Zhenzhu pinched her nose and said it smelled terrible. Li Si wrinkled his brow. Lao Sitou was completely unaffected—this was nothing compared to a room full of corpse stench, which was a hundred thousand times worse.
Inside the small room, besides a wooden bed, an open wardrobe, a small table, and two wooden stools, there was nothing else. The room seemed to have been specially tidied, not leaving even the slightest trace of Lin Mang. It was as if no one had ever lived there.
After searching for a while, Bai Zhenzhu wearily leaned on the bed. The bed frame made a creaking sound, accompanied by some shaking. It turned out one bed leg was higher than the other, with two bricks propping up the shorter leg.
Lao Sitou said in an icy tone, “Nothing found.”
Bai Zhenzhu’s face also bore the word “disappointment,” but only Li Si stared fixedly at Bai Zhenzhu’s… legs!
Bai Zhenzhu noticed Li Si’s strange gaze and said coyly, “Big Brother Li, what… what are you looking at?”
Li Si didn’t answer but took direct action. He suddenly crouched right in front of Bai Zhenzhu. Bai Zhenzhu let out a “Ya!” and Lao Sitou turned his head away with an expression of “see no impropriety.”
“Girl, don’t scream randomly,” Li Si realized his action was somewhat improper and coughed twice to explain, “I discovered there’s a problem with this bed leg.”
“Bed leg?” Bai Zhenzhu said with her mouth, feeling slightly disappointed in her heart.
“The bed leg’s cut is too smooth, as if someone deliberately chopped it off,” Li Si said while lifting the wooden bed with one hand and removing the two bricks propping up the bed leg.
The surface of the two bricks was covered with smoke-blackened stains. Li Si rubbed his hand over them, and a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he scraped out the middle part of one brick. At the brick’s center was a hole the depth of a peanut kernel. Hidden inside the hole was a letter folded into a perfect square.
Both Lao Sitou and Bai Zhenzhu stretched their necks to look. Li Si unfolded the letter layer by layer. Finally, the letter was filled with ghostly scrawls.
A whole page full of ghostly scrawls—some looked like character radicals, some like parts of characters, and others were incomprehensible graphic symbols. Li Si was completely bewildered, Bai Zhenzhu exclaimed it made her dizzy, but Lao Sitou’s turbid eyes suddenly became brilliantly bright. He took the letter and said word by word, “This is Ghost Script Code.”
“Ghost Script Code!” Li Si was shocked by these words. He had also heard of this secret language technique popular in the previous dynasty’s imperial palace, quite mysterious and rare. Li Si asked incredulously, “Are you certain this is Ghost Script Code?”
“Nonsense,” Lao Sitou cursed back.
“What ghost script, what code… I just feel dazzled and confused,” Bai Zhenzhu waved her hand and stopped looking.
“That’s because your reading method is wrong. When I was young, I traveled throughout the world and once met a reclusive expert who studied secret language techniques. I saw similar symbols from him,” Lao Sitou said with his head held high. Li Si suddenly understood. “So you can decipher Ghost Script Code!”
Lao Sitou said arrogantly, “What’s so difficult about it?”
“Then quickly decipher it and see what it actually says,” Bai Zhenzhu said with great interest.
“Deciphering Ghost Script Code isn’t actually difficult, it’s just that very few people in the world know the method. To read it, you must read it separately: First, read horizontally, looking for character radicals that appear in pairs, such as the radical ‘woman’ from the character for ‘mother,’ the radical ‘fire’ from the character for ‘bright,’ and so on. Then, according to the sequence found, take the odd-numbered radical from odd-numbered groups and the even-numbered radical from even-numbered groups. For example, take the first radical from the first group, the second radical from the second group, the first radical again from the third group, and so on. Record all the obtained radicals throughout the text. Next is vertical reading, which means reading from top to bottom in vertical columns, looking for incomplete half-characters missing radicals that appear in pairs. For example, the half-character of ‘mother’ would be ‘good.’ This requires some effort because some rare characters’ half-characters are difficult to identify. Similarly, according to the sequence, take the odd-numbered half-character from odd-numbered groups and the even-numbered half-character from even-numbered groups. Record them throughout.”
Both Li Si and Bai Zhenzhu listened attentively. Lao Sitou caught his breath, cleared his throat, and continued.
“Next is matching the radicals with the half-characters. The matching rule is odd with even: the radical from the first group matches with the half-character from the second group, and so on. After matching is complete, you can get the answer. Generally, the number of radicals and half-characters match, but in special cases, there are more radicals because the extra radicals can stand as independent characters. For example, the character for ‘person’—the radical is ‘person,’ and if the deciphered answer also contains the character ‘person,’ you only need to keep the ‘person’ radical. Usually, independent characters’ radicals will be at the very end of the sequence,” Lao Sitou finished explaining slowly.
Li Si and Bai Zhenzhu comprehended for a moment, then the three split up to decipher the Ghost Script Code. Lao Sitou deciphered the horizontal reading alone, while Li Si and Bai Zhenzhu deciphered the vertical reading. For a while, there was complete silence, only three figures bent over reading characters like shrimp. After three quarters of an hour, they finally deciphered the entire text. Then combining the radicals and half-characters, they obtained the content of the Ghost Script Code.
Bai Zhenzhu picked up the written content and read in a voice clear as silver bells, “Cui eliminated, successful. Demon-Man Three.”
An entire page of ghostly scrawls just to say these eight characters—what a deadly waste of effort.
“Cui eliminated means they killed Cui Yunhai. Lin Mang is undoubtedly the imposter,” Li Si said, looking at the letter. “He’s definitely not just killing for money. There’s a deeper purpose. This Ghost Script Code secret letter should be written by him to his outside accomplices, or the mastermind behind the scenes.”
“But why wasn’t this letter sent out and instead remained in Lin Mang’s small room all along?” Lao Sitou grew suspicious.
Li Si circled the small table twice, then suddenly stopped and said, “There could be several reasons the secret letter wasn’t sent out. First, the accomplices already knew the situation or the accomplices were gone, so the letter didn’t need to be sent. Second, Lin Mang’s identity was somewhat exposed or he was suspected, so he didn’t send it to avoid suspicion. Third, the content was incorrect or changed, so Lin Mang wrote and sent out a new one. These are the three reasons I can think of.”
Bai Zhenzhu nodded. Lao Sitou looked coldly at the Ghost Script Code secret letter, took a breath, and said, “You’ve covered everything comprehensively. But regardless of which reason it is, this letter shouldn’t be in this place. Such dangerous evidence should have been destroyed and permanently disappeared from this room.”
“Lin Mang didn’t do that,” Lao Sitou closed his eyes.
“Perhaps there’s a fourth reason we can’t fathom…” Li Si murmured to himself.
“What does ‘Demon-Man’ in the letter mean?” Bai Zhenzhu asked curiously.
Li Si returned to his thoughts. “Demon-Man might be Lin Mang’s secret code name, but more crucial is the ‘Three’ after it. Could there be Demon-Man One and Demon-Man Two before, or even more Demon-Men after? If so, the existence of so many Demon-Men must be for some major event, beyond our imagination.”
Bai Zhenzhu thought about it and felt somewhat afraid. She said worriedly, “Big Brother Li, what should we do?”
“First, I want to know how the Demon-Man infiltrated the Cui residence,” Li Si said clearly.
“I’ll go find those handsome servants again to inquire,” Bai Zhenzhu jogged to the doorway, then turned her head back to look at Li Si. “Don’t be jealous.”
Even Lao Sitou’s frozen face couldn’t help but ripple, as if he wanted to burst out laughing. Li Si tilted his head with a bitter smile and muttered half a sentence, “This girl…”
In just a moment, Bai Zhenzhu pried open the mouths of several handsome servants and learned that it was the Cui residence’s fat-headed butler who had strongly recommended Lin Mang to enter the residence, even greasing palms up and down quite a bit.
“The Cui residence’s butler—we need to meet him.”
Wu Wen continued stirring things up in the study while Li Si summoned the fat-headed butler. As soon as the fat-headed butler saw Li Si bring him to Lin Mang’s small room, his white, chubby face changed color. “Sir, what do you want with me?”
“What else could it be? Of course it’s about Lin Mang.”
As soon as Li Si finished speaking, the fat-headed butler beat his chest and stamped his feet, saying, “I knew it, I knew it was him. Ever since he suddenly left without a word twenty days ago, I started suspecting that kid. Sir, he stole the antique jade pendant, didn’t he?”
Li Si smiled and nodded. “It was him.”
The fat-headed butler gnashed his teeth in hatred. “That damned little thief dared to steal things at the Cui residence. When I find him, I’ll definitely chop off his thieving claws.”
“Lin Mang was strongly recommended by you to enter the residence, right? He stole valuable treasures—you can’t be uninvolved, can you? Who would believe that! I advise you to honestly confess right now,” Bai Zhenzhu said, hands on her slender waist, almond eyes wide and glaring, displaying quite the bearing of a Great Shi Dynasty female god-catcher.
“Ah! Heaven and earth as my witness, heaven and earth as my witness! I’m not at all familiar with that little thief. I had absolutely no idea he was stealing things… Sir, please don’t listen to this petty person’s slander. I’m innocent,” the fat-headed butler’s ankles went soft, and with a “thump,” he knelt on the ground, splashing dust throughout the room.
“You’re lying! If you weren’t familiar with Lin Mang, why would you strongly recommend him to enter the residence? And you even greased palms up and down to get him the easiest job as a kitchen helper. Who would believe what you’re saying!” Bai Zhenzhu questioned with solid reasoning and evidence.
Large beads of sweat seeped from the fat-headed butler’s broad forehead. He wiped them with his sleeve and sighed, “At this point, I’m not afraid of being embarrassed. I’ll tell you all the truth… Actually, I accepted a little gift from Lin Mang, which is why I agreed to help him enter the residence.”
“A little gift made you so attentive—what kind of precious gift was it? Tell us and let us hear,” Bai Zhenzhu’s curiosity surfaced again.
“It’s not very… not very appropriate to say,” the fat-headed butler said with a fake smile.
“Speak quickly!” Bai Zhenzhu stamped her foot.
“I’ll say it. It was Black Monkey Grass.”
Lao Sitou’s eyelids opened wider. Li Si was startled. Bai Zhenzhu asked Li Si in confusion, “Big Brother Li, what is Black Monkey Grass? Is it very valuable?”
Li Si’s face showed a strange expression. He said hesitantly, “Black Monkey Grass, it’s… Lao Sitou is well-informed, you’d better ask him.”
Bai Zhenzhu turned her curious gaze to Lao Sitou’s face. Lao Sitou snorted twice and answered efficiently, “Black Monkey Grass, also called Soul-Melting Grass, is a potent medicine men use in bedroom matters. However, it usually grows in cliff caves, extremely difficult to harvest, so it’s very rare on the market.”
“You, you!” Bai Zhenzhu’s little face burned hot, and her eyes looked frostily at the fat-headed butler. “You’re shameless! No decency!”
The fat-headed butler smiled bitterly. “Female superior, I said it wasn’t very appropriate to say.”
“Don’t stray from the topic,” Li Si cut off the Black Monkey Grass discussion and said with natural authority, “I’ll tentatively believe what you said. Next, tell me everything about how you met Lin Mang, accepted gifts, and then strongly recommended him to enter the residence. Remember, you must tell the complete story without missing a drop.”
“Yes, yes, I understand,” the fat-headed butler licked his lips and began narrating.
The fat-headed butler met Lin Mang at a tavern. Through an introduction, Lin Mang learned of the fat-headed butler’s identity and then actively approached him. The fat-headed butler was drinking enthusiastically at the time, so he welcomed all comers. After three cups of wine, Lin Mang began complaining, saying he was an orphan who wandered everywhere and especially wanted to find a place to settle down securely. Then he said he had something that could make men feel heavenly bliss and asked if the fat-headed butler was interested.
The fat-headed butler’s body had been ruined by wine and meat these past two years, leaving him willing but unable in certain matters. When he heard Lin Mang’s words, he was overjoyed, and afterward, like a hooked fat-headed fish, he let Lin Mang manipulate him. Lin Mang entered the Cui residence as he wished.
The fat-headed butler described the entire matter in meticulous detail. Finally, he added that Lin Mang had given him Black Monkey Grass, then called four or five people to drink together. But the fat-headed butler was quickly drunk to stupefaction. In his dazed state, he vaguely heard someone mention going to the Wu residence and the Du residence.
Li Si stopped him. “Which Wu residence and Du residence?”
The fat-headed butler shook his head. “They didn’t say, and I don’t know.”
Two people surfaced in Li Si’s mind—precisely Wu Ancai and Du Chong, whom they had encountered outside the Cui residence.
After the fat-headed butler finished his account, Li Si reminded him a couple of things and let him go. Afterward, Li Si said to Bai Zhenzhu and Lao Sitou, “Those Lin Mang called were also Demon-Men. These Demon-Men’s targets include Wu Ancai and Du Chong. At this moment, those two are probably in grave danger.”
“The remaining Demon-Men have also locked onto other targets. Just thinking about not knowing in Yinshuang City who is real and who is fake is too frightening,” Bai Zhenzhu felt cold all over. Li Si moved closer and patted her shoulder.
“What’s even more worrying is the huge conspiracy behind all these Demon-Men. So far, we can’t see even the slightest clue,” Lao Sitou said with furrowed brows.
Li Si confidently picked up the conversation. “There will be a way.”
“As long as we find the real Cui Yunhai’s corpse, Lin Mang will have nowhere to hide. Then using him as an entry point, we can follow the vine to find the melon and dig out the other Demon-Men. At that time, the sinister schemes can be fully revealed,” Li Si said slowly, but even he felt his own voice carried a trace of emptiness.