After giving a few of his men their orders, Cen Fu frowned and said, "We should inspect your ancestral hall and the other places, too!"
The village chief grew anxious at this and hurriedly explained, "Sir, you mustn't. That's where our village performs its rites. No outsiders have ever been allowed in."
Cen Fu was ready for that. Putting on an expression that said he had the village chief's best interests at heart, he replied, "Think about it. There are Japanese pirates outside the village, and even madmen, yet nothing's happened to your village. Don't you think the pirates and the madmen are protecting something? Surely you don't think they're protecting your villagers?"
The village chief broke into a cold sweat. Looking alarmed, he asked, "Sir, what do you mean?"
Cen Fu patted the village chief on the shoulder and said gravely, "I suspect there's something in your village they're protecting. You just said we could search any of the villagers' homes, but not the ancestral hall. I imagine few people go there. So, what do you think—would the Japanese pirates go there?"
The village chief began to wonder if the story he'd heard from the Imperial Guards was true after all.
He knew he couldn't stop them, so he simply said, "Sir, when you go to inspect the ancestral hall, could you take me with you?"
Cen Fu knew what the village chief was worried about. He nodded indifferently and urged him, "Hurry up and show us the way. I doubt we'll find anything among the villagers, anyway."
Hearing that, the village chief didn't hesitate. He hurried ahead and led Wang Yue and the other three to the village's ancestral hall.
Aside from the well, there was nothing unusual about the ancestral hall, so they naturally gathered around it.