The next day, at noon.
It happened to be the Dragon Boat Festival.
An Ning, Yi Yang, and I had lunch at Seventh Master's house.
We were there both to celebrate the festival and to tell Seventh Master what Uncle Song had told me.
Now we knew who the organization's leader was.
I showed Seventh Master Wu Huaqing's photo, and he recognized him immediately.
He did not know who Wu Huaqing was, but he knew the Infinite Daoist.
"This old man is in China now. In our circle, you could say no one is as famous as he is."
Seventh Master said, "A long time ago, the Daoist Association had a Mr. Wuji. He was so famous that everyone knew his name. Even some of China's better-known buildings were completed under his guidance."
"Wu Huaqing's current standing is about the same as that Mr. Wuji's."
"And about eight years ago, there was a nationwide symposium for our circle, organized by the Daoist community. I even shook hands with Wu Huaqing then. We talked."
My eyes widened in disbelief.
This Wu Huaqing was the organization's current leader, and the murderer responsible for the deaths of Seventh Master's wife and child.
The two of them had even shaken hands!
Just how calculating was Wu Huaqing? Back then... he had probably been feeling very pleased with himself, perhaps even laughing at Seventh Master inwardly.
I could just imagine how smug he had been.
Seventh Master went upstairs and brought down a photograph, which he handed to me.
I took it and looked. It was actually a photo of Seventh Master and Wu Huaqing together.
"Fuck."
"If I'd known it was him back then, I would've killed him on the spot."
Seventh Master's expression darkened.
For all these years, he had not known who