Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 235: Cuihua Sways and Then Stops

The walls of Guangheng's West Pavilion are like snow caves. Considering Guangheng's experience as a scholar before he became a monk, there are no calligraphy or paintings on the walls for his own amusement, which shows that he observes the rules very strictly.

Xiaocai looked around the West Pavilion again and again, studied it for a long time, then leaned out of the window to overlook the mountains and rivers, unable to understand what Wang Heng was talking about.

Wang Heng then said that he was just speculating now and he still needed to find evidence. He would explain in detail once he had the evidence.

The door of the pavilion was opened, Zhang Xiru leaned in and asked the two of them to sit in the east pavilion.

The East Pavilion is elegantly furnished, worthy of a guest residence, and is incomparable to the plain West Pavilion.

Wang Heng reported to Zhang Xiru, "The pilgrim who first discovered Guangheng's body yesterday was probably frightened and left the other courtyard today without saying goodbye. Xiaocai and I plan to go down the mountain to ask him some questions. The monks in the other courtyard said that the pilgrim lives in Cuihua Village at the foot of the mountain. I thought that if we don't have time to come back after dark, we need to find a place to stay. The Liu family who held the ritual a few days ago also seems to live in Cuihua Village at the foot of the mountain. The Liu family is rich and powerful, so they should not refuse us."

Zhang Xiru nodded and said, "The Liu family is wealthy, and we have some friendship with them, so it should be no problem for us to stay for a day. However, I have had several contacts with Mrs. Liu, Le Niang, and her housekeeper, but they always came to the Siye residence to look for me, or chatted in the teahouse, but I have never visited the Liu family. You can ask for information when you arrive in Cuihua Village."

Wang Heng said, "What's Mrs. Liu's maiden name? What kind of official position did her grandfather hold? If I go to her house, I will inevitably have a few words with her."

Zhang Xiru slapped his head and said, "I'm not sure about this. It's probably because her housekeeper never mentioned it, otherwise I would have some impression of it."

Xiaocai said, "Mr. Zhang, isn't there any mention of Mrs. Liu in Liu Biejia's tombstone?"

Zhang Xiru said, "Le Niang is the second wife, so it's optional to write it down. I asked the steward for Liu Biejia's wife's surname, but they only gave me the surname of the first wife."

This beautiful lady, Mrs. Liu, is the second wife.

I had never expected her to be so grand and only thought she was Liu Biejia's first wife.

Wuming brought tea. Wang Heng saw that it was almost noon, so he took a sip of tea and stood up. Zhang Xiru saw that he was in a hurry to leave and did not stop him. He just reminded him to be careful on the road, and then the two of them left the Foguang Pavilion.

There was no one on the road, so Xiaocai spoke in a low voice: "Seventh Brother, are you hiding something from Mr. Zhang?"

Wang Heng nodded slowly and said, "Mr. Zhang is very busy, so don't bother him. Let's get to the bottom of this first."

When they were leaving the temple, they met Wufa. When he heard that the two of them were going to Cuihua Village at the foot of the mountain, he had performed rituals in Cuihua Village before, so he volunteered to take them there.

Xiaocai said that he had already asked the young monk in the other courtyard and had memorized the route.

Wufa insisted on accompanying them for a while, all the way to the foot of the mountain, to save them from wasting time on the road.

Unable to refuse such a kind invitation, he had no choice but to let Wufa accompany him down the mountain.

Going down the mountain from the back, Wang Heng couldn't reach the bamboo forest, so he suggested going to the bamboo forest first, then going around to the waterfall viewing pavilion and going down the mountain along the main road. It rained for half a day yesterday, and the bamboo forest was lush and tall, with branches and branches. No matter whether Guangwen and Guangheng met in the bamboo forest or not, there was no trace of it, and the footprints were washed clean by the rain.

After wandering around for a few rounds and finding nothing, the three of them went around to the waterfall viewing pavilion.

When Guangheng's body was brought back to the temple yesterday, it was almost dark and the dim light of the lantern could not reveal any small evidence.

It's noon now, maybe I can find something that I overlooked yesterday.

Xiaocai remembered the place where Guangheng had written the words yesterday, and the words are still there. It seems that no one has come to the scene to destroy them from last night until now.

As for the inside and outside of the waterfall viewing pavilion, since the monks from Jubao Temple came after the rain last night, their feet were covered in mud and it was impossible to make out any footprints.

While Wang Heng was thinking, he looked eastward at the waterfall. Looking down, he found that there seemed to be a piece of white paper lying in the grass to the east of the pavilion. How could a piece of white paper appear in such a wild mountain place?
Xiaocai walked forward, squatted down and picked up the paper. The white paper was wet by the rain and then dried, so it looked a little stiff and had some mud on it, but it was still recognizable as a piece of white paper that had never been written on. The texture was not very good, and the background was faintly printed with flowers, which looked a bit rustic and gaudy.

Wang Heng took it and looked at it for a long time, then said, "It looks like the stationery sold in the market, not very good."

Wufa came over to take a look and shook his head, saying, "We definitely don't have such a letter in our temple."

After turning it over and over but failing to find any trick, Wang Heng carefully put it into his cloth bag.

After further searching, they found nothing new, which was as expected, so the three of them walked down the stone path towards the waterfall and headed west.

Wang Heng suddenly remembered that Xiaodie, the maid of Liu's residence, had fallen here the day before. He slowed down his pace and looked carefully at the road under his feet. He saw several sharp marbles rolling beside the mountain path.

He picked them up and found that these marbles were polished very smoothly. They didn't look like toys for children, but more like weapons used by warriors. For example, in the storybook "Golden Marbles" by Mrs. Cheng, the owner of Dixi Pavilion, the protagonist used a slingshot and had few rivals in the world.

Is there any connection between where Xiaodie fell and where she found the marbles?

Wang Hengqi put the marbles into the cloth bag and talked about it later.

The road down the hillside was walked very quickly. In less than two quarters of an hour, they reached the foot of the mountain. Wu Fa stopped there and said, "If the two donors encounter difficulties, you can go to Mr. Meng in Cuihua Village for help. Mr. Meng believes in Buddhism and is a kind-hearted person."

Wang Heng and Xiaocai bowed, thanked Wufa, and left.

Xiaocai said, "Cuihua Village, this name is unusual. If it was somewhere else, it would be fine, but Nanjing is an ancient capital. I wonder where the name Cuihua Village came from?"

Wang Heng thought about it again and again and said, "Could it be that Cuihua is swaying and then stopping?"