On the 28th at the hour of You, mountain night enveloped Sanfen Village, this ancient village. In the distance on the mountain slope, three lonely grave mounds stood exposed. Yesterday’s continuous winter rain had added several traces of clarity to the air. Jin Yaoguang couldn’t help but linger in the courtyard. Suddenly, his gaze fixed firmly. Behind the eastern mountain slope rose a wisp of white smoke. That direction was… the Moluo Gorge.
Jin Yaoguang immediately summoned A’Bao and the household servants. The group hurriedly left the Jin Residence and rushed straight to the Moluo Gorge. Jin Yaoguang stopped at the gorge entrance. He roughly remembered the white smoke was at the gorge entrance, but looking around he saw nothing unusual. Guard A’Bao glanced at the sinister gorge interior and sucked in a cold breath, saying, “Master, what are we doing here?”
“Coming here… never mind, let’s go back.” Jin Yaoguang shook his head slightly. Could it be that his chronic illness had relapsed these past few days, causing him to hallucinate? After scanning the gorge entrance once more, Jin Yaoguang led A’Bao and the others back to the Jin Residence.
Jin Chuang had gone to Dougu on business. Without anyone around to confide in, Jin Yaoguang shut himself in his study. He needed to calm down. It would be good if the white smoke at the Moluo Gorge was truly a hallucination he had produced. If not, it also meant someone was approaching the secret of the Moluo. He had hidden this secret for fifteen years. Could it be about to be discovered?
Jin Yaoguang recalled fifteen years ago. He was still a village chief in a poor, remote area. Suddenly one day, a strange man dressed in a black cloak appeared and told Jin Yaoguang a method for amassing vast wealth. Then he made Jin Yaoguang swear a poisonous oath that no matter what, he must guard the secret within the Moluo Gorge. If one day this secret was discovered, he would take away the wealth Jin Yaoguang had obtained, as well as Jin Yaoguang’s life.
Jin Yaoguang’s eyes snapped open. The memory was like a nightmare. He didn’t dare continue thinking. Over fifteen years, the man in the black cloak had been like a nightmare. Although Jin Yaoguang had obtained power and money as he wished, this nightmare was like a tightening band, strangling Jin Yaoguang ever tighter.
Today was the 28th. According to the mysterious person’s agreement, tonight would be the day to send bait into the gorge. Jin Yaoguang stood up and paced back and forth in the study, occasionally glancing toward the door, not knowing when Jin Chuang would return.
The hour of Hai arrived. Jin Chuang had not yet returned. Jin Yaoguang could wait no longer. He instructed A’Bao to closely monitor movements within the village. Then he put on a black cloak and walked out through the back door of the Jin Residence, carrying a long cloth bag on his shoulder.
Jin Yaoguang appeared at the Moluo Gorge entrance. His body was coated with homemade fragrant medicine that could resist the foul stench of the Moluo. Jin Yaoguang suddenly stopped in front of the Moluo flower clusters. Inside the long cloth bag, something like a claw seemed to hook onto the black clothing on his shoulder. Jin Yaoguang opened the long cloth bag. Inside lay a gray-furred monkey that had fallen into a deep sleep.
Jin Yaoguang threw the cloth bag on the ground and coldly surveyed the surroundings. Hidden footsteps echoed within the cold gorge. Jin Yaoguang shouted coldly, “Come out!”
“As you wish.” A man dressed in gray-white ramie slowly revealed his form. Behind him emerged two more people, a man and a woman. The man in ramie was naturally Meng Rui. The man and woman were precisely Fu Nianyu and his wife. It turned out that after being enlightened by Kua Lao, Meng Rui suddenly understood. Maps were dead, but people were alive. As long as he seized Jin Yaoguang’s weak point, even without a map he would lead Meng Rui and the others to the Moluo Gorge. And this weak point was the girl in the long cloth bag.
So Meng Rui first set a fire to lure Jin Yaoguang out, then infiltrated the Jin Residence and used a sleeping monkey to swap out the girl. But unfortunately, the girl was not Fu Dan. And just before Meng Rui set out to come to Sanfen Village, the Fu Nianyu couple had also rushed to the western suburbs Yizhuang, insisting on following Meng Rui to Sanfen Village to capture the chief culprit who abducted children. Seeing Niu Zhiying’s heartbroken appearance, Meng Rui couldn’t bear to refuse. So Fu Nianyu and Niu Zhiying also came to Sanfen Village, helping Meng Rui implement his plan. As for how Meng Rui knew where the girl was imprisoned in the Jin Residence, that was a story to be told later.
Jin Yaoguang stared at the man whose face was half-covered by long hair in the distance. “Who exactly are you?”
“Meng Rui.” Meng Rui spoke clearly. Jin Yaoguang recalled the Meng Rui his son had mentioned. He smiled cunningly like an old fox. “Constable Meng has excellent methods. Substituting one thing for another.”
“Hmph, just didn’t want more innocent girls harmed by you.” Meng Rui responded coldly. Niu Zhiying was so excited she was about to rush forward but was stopped by Fu Nianyu. Niu Zhiying cried out in a heart-wrenching voice, “Return my daughter, you scum! Where have you hidden my daughter? Return my daughter!”
Jin Yaoguang paid no attention to Niu Zhiying. He glanced at the sleeping monkey on the ground and said, “The person who set the fire at the gorge entrance was also you. Luring the tiger away from the mountain, then swapping out what was in the cloth bag.”
Meng Rui’s gaze was sharp as a blade. He didn’t deny it. Jin Yaoguang nodded. “Constable Meng seems to have planned to follow me when I sent the girl into the gorge. Correct?”
“Yes. But unfortunately, you saw through the plan early.” Meng Rui stared at Jin Yaoguang. “This works well too. No need to sneak around anymore. I can openly request that Master Jin lead us into the Moluo Gorge.”
Jin Yaoguang’s hawk-like gaze fixed on Meng Rui. “You already know there’s Moluo in the gorge?”
“Yes. This secret is no longer just the Jin family’s secret.” Meng Rui approached Jin Yaoguang. The cold wind in the gorge was fierce, blowing up Meng Rui’s half-covering long hair. Beneath the hair, the hideous blue birthmark was exposed. Jin Yaoguang’s lips twitched slightly as he retreated toward the Moluo flower clusters.
“What do you want?” Jin Yaoguang had no room left to retreat.
Meng Rui continued pressing toward Jin Yaoguang. “What I want has already been made clear. Lead us into the gorge to save people.”
“What if I don’t agree?” Jin Yaoguang’s speech suddenly became cold and hard as he looked behind Meng Rui.
Meng Rui was startled and turned around. Two people slowly approached from the gorge entrance. The one in front wore red robes, holding a steel blade in his hand. The steel blade was pressed against the neck of the person behind him. This person behind had an aged and haggard appearance. His gait was uneven—he was a cripple.
Meng Rui called out, “Kua Lao?”
Kua Lao closed his eyes without speaking. The red-robed man holding the blade was precisely Jin Chuang. It turned out Jin Chuang had gone to the Yizhuang to abduct Kua Lao. When Jin Chuang rushed back to Sanfen Village and heard that Jin Yaoguang had gone alone to the forbidden gorge, he worried something had happened to Jin Yaoguang. So he immediately brought Kua Lao at knifepoint to the Moluo Gorge as well, just in time to encounter the scene of Meng Rui pressing Jin Yaoguang step by step.
Meng Rui didn’t move. Jin Yaoguang circled around Meng Rui and came to his son’s side. “Constable Meng, as an official, naturally wouldn’t watch helplessly as an innocent person is harmed. Correct?”
“Unfortunately, you father and son are not innocent people, but the chief culprits.” Meng Rui replied coldly. Jin Yaoguang’s gaze condensed. “Whether innocent or not is no longer important. I’m just curious now. Constable Meng, since you laid the plan of luring the tiger away from the mountain and substituting one thing for another, this shows you knew long ago that tonight I would send a girl into the Moluo Gorge. I want to ask clearly, how did you know?”
Meng Rui kept his mouth sealed. But seeing Jin Chuang’s steel blade gradually cutting into Kua Lao’s flesh, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly and opened his mouth to say, “Because of Wen Nansheng.”
Jin Yaoguang and Jin Chuang’s expressions changed. Jin Chuang said, “But Wen Nansheng is already dead.”
Meng Rui’s blade-like gaze fell on Jin Chuang’s face. He said slowly, “In order to find his missing daughter, Wen Nansheng spent three years hiding in Sanfen Village. Then by tracking you father and son, he drew a secret map of the Moluo Gorge. Wen Nansheng originally thought that with this map he could enter the Moluo Gorge and find his daughter. He didn’t expect that before realizing his wish, he would be ruined by Ma He. However, besides the map, Wen Nansheng also personally told me some crucial clues.”
“What clues?” Jin Chuang pursued.
“The interval time for sending girls into the Moluo Gorge. Wen Nansheng discovered that every five months, you father and son would successively send two black long cloth bags into the Moluo Gorge. Inside the long cloth bags were girls who had been abducted or bought. The two girls were not sent all at once, but in two separate times, four days apart.” Meng Rui continued slowly, “So based on the specific year, month, and dates Wen Nansheng provided, I deduced that tonight was also when you would send a girl into the gorge.”
Jin Yaoguang coughed. “I didn’t expect to be so careless, monitored for three years without knowing. But the girl? The girl has always been imprisoned in the Jin Residence’s water dungeon. The entrance is extremely hidden, definitely not easily discovered. How did you find it?” Jin Yaoguang continued asking.
“This credit goes to your esteemed son.” Meng Rui sneered coldly. Jin Chuang was shocked. “Me?”
“Correct.” Meng Rui said, “Do you remember the scene when you abducted Fu Dan in Dougu City?”
Jin Chuang paused, then nodded.
“In the Fu family’s back courtyard is a hundred-year-old locust tree. After you abducted Fu Dan, you stopped on the tree branches, and the evidence was left at that time.” Meng Rui said. Jin Chuang listened in bewilderment. “What do you mean? Speak clearly!”
“That hundred-year-old locust tree had a carbuncle. The carbuncle tumor was ulcerated. At that time, you hastily escaped and stepped on the carbuncle tumor, so your foot bottom was stained with the locust tree’s carbuncle fluid. Although carbuncle fluid is transparent and colorless, over time the carbuncle fluid changes from transparent to grayish-white. And its sticky properties left your footprints clearly visible.” Meng Rui paused, then continued, “I discovered the crushed carbuncle tumor on the Fu family’s ancient locust. Fu Nianyu couldn’t climb trees, so the person who crushed the carbuncle tumor must have been the man in the black cloak who abducted Fu Dan. I secretly noted the footprints the man in the black cloak left on the locust tree.”
“So that’s how it was…” Jin Yaoguang pondered, “You still haven’t said how you discovered the Jin Residence’s water dungeon.”
“Meeting Wen Nansheng at the Yizhuang, I locked the target of suspicion on the Jin Residence in Sanfen Village. Then at Chunfeng Hall, I saw through that the secret medicine Madam Dou purchased was made from Moluo, which further strengthened my suspicion of you. So harboring a bold idea, I infiltrated the Jin Residence alone.” When Meng Rui said this, Jin Yaoguang interrupted him and asked, “What bold idea?”
“Ancient locust carbuncle fluid has strong adhesiveness. Once footprints are left, they’re very difficult to remove. If the man in the black cloak came from the Jin Residence, then in the estate there must be footprints that couldn’t be removed. I harbored the bold idea of searching for the thief’s tracks and infiltrated the Jin Residence alone.” Meng Rui looked at Jin Chuang. “Sure enough, I followed you to outside your bedroom and found half a grayish-white footprint in the corridor, matching the footprint on the Fu family’s ancient locust tree branch.”
“From Dougu County to Sanfen Village is twenty li. To save time and conceal your tracks, you must have taken a horse carriage back to Sanfen Village. And after riding back to the Jin Residence, the first thing you would do must be to hide Fu Dan in a concealed secret chamber or prison cell. So I first found the Jin Residence stables. On a horse carriage, I similarly discovered grayish-white footprints. Then I used the stables as a starting point to search the surroundings, gradually finding one fallen footprint after another.” Meng Rui’s dark cold eyes stared at Jin Chuang. “Following the footprints, I finally came to a small pond beside a secluded courtyard. It turned out you hid the mechanism for opening the water dungeon inside the pond. Truly painstaking effort.”
“Admirable, admirable!” Jin Yaoguang clapped his hands. “Worthy of being the era’s Divine Constable. Constable Meng has truly opened my eyes.”
“You didn’t immediately rescue the girls because you didn’t want to alert the enemy?” Jin Yaoguang asked. Meng Rui neither confirmed nor denied, which counted as acknowledgment.
“You were also the one who stole Madam Dou’s spirit medicine.” Jin Chuang questioned. Meng Rui was indifferent. Jin Chuang sneered coldly. “Still calling yourself a constable? Don’t you also engage in petty theft and highway robbery? Heh heh!”
“If I weren’t a constable, I would have already raised my blade and struck you bastards down.” Meng Rui’s tone was ice-cold.
Meng Rui faced the Jin father and son alone. Fu Nianyu and Niu Zhiying stood behind Meng Rui. For a moment, several people fell into a deathly confrontational silence. Jin Yaoguang’s gaze flickered. Jin Chuang gripped the steel blade tightly without releasing it. And Kua Lao, who had not spoken a single word until now, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Such beautiful flowers…” Kua Lao’s murky gaze seemed entranced. Everyone turned their heads one after another, only then noticing the ancient Moluo flowers right behind them, gradually revealing their bewitching beauty.
Immediately afterward, an unusual trembling of the earth transmitted from beneath everyone’s feet. Groups of black tides surged from outside the gorge toward the Moluo flower clusters.