Chapter 24

The group escorted Chen Yu back to the craftsmen's camp. Pitying his disability and injuries, Baozhu let him ride her donkey. Reaching the camp, they found the craftsmen still ignoring advice, having dug up the coffin once more.

Prying open the coffin nails, the good-natured, round-faced craftsman drew out something wrapped in white silk. Seeing them approach, the man unwrapped the silk layer by layer, revealing none other than the Seven-Treasure Glazed-Glass-Lacquer Box, identical to the one in the Many-Treasures Pagoda.

He cradled the lacquer box, speaking with resolute determination to Wei Xun, "Old Chen is a cripple who could never pull off a stunt this big. I, Zhao Faming, made this lacquer box with my own hands. I even wrote my name on the bottom of the box. I am an accomplice."

So this man was the "Faming" inscribed upon the lacquer box. Hearing this, Baozhu could not help but deeply admire his courage.

When craftsmen signed their work, it served an entirely different purpose than literati signing calligraphy and poetry. Calligraphy and painting signatures were meant for fame and commemoration, whereas craftsmen's signatures prepared them to face retrospective liability if the item's quality proved poor. Anyone who dared trickery on items ordered by the imperial court would cost their entire workshop their heads.

Seeing Zhao Faming confess unprompted, Chen Yu slapped his thigh in anxious dismay. "What the hell does he know? I'm the one who paid to have the box custom-made; it has not a single cash to do with him!"

After lacquer artisan Zhao Faming's confession, a thin man with a long face stepped forward. "Zhao San is far too arrogant. Could you manage this gold-and-silver inlay craft all by yourself? Without me, Feng Da the goldsmith, at best you'd just carve a flower on the lacquer surface."

Another short, diminutive old man spoke up. "I am the carpenter. The wooden core of this lacquer box was chiseled out by me."

Next, a young man with squinting eyes said, "I am the painter. The pattern of celestial beings offering treasures inside the box was drawn by my own hands."

Then, a slender-waisted, sallow-faced woman declared, "I am the weaver. The Lotus-Throne Auspicious-Flower Brocade inside the lacquer box was embroidered by me stitch by stitch."

The Changzhou craftsmen stepped forward one by one, declaring themselves accomplices to Chen Yu the tombstone carver and insisting on surrendering alongside him. The pearl theft case had implicated multiple lives; these people harbored a guilty conscience, finding no peace in sleep. After turning it over in their minds, they had ultimately decided to turn themselves in.

Tears glistening in his eyes, Zhao Faming said, "Yingniang was a child we all watched grow up together among neighbors. After she met her tragic murder, we also watched Old Chen go mad every day hunting the killers. We simply couldn't bear to watch any longer, so we schemed with him to switch the treasures. Originally, once it was swapped, we should have burned this lacquer box to destroy the evidence, only... only it was something everyone had toiled through sleepless nights for several months to create. We simply couldn't bear to destroy it just like that, so we hid it inside the coffin for burial."

Baozhu exchanged a glance with Wei Xun, finally understanding why Chen Yu would rather offer up the luminous pearl and surrender to the law than let them continue investigating what was hidden inside the coffin. He was not afraid of death at all; he was afraid the pearl theft case would implicate these kind-hearted peers.

A lacquer box just seven inches in size, manageable with a single hand, actually required so many craftsmen to join forces to produce it. Baozhu could finally intuitively grasp how much human labor was consumed by those imperial items named "Thousand-Craft Mirror" and "Ten-Thousand-Craft Bed." While Consort Xue her mother was still alive, the Changzhou official workshops alone had three hundred craftsmen dedicated to manufacturing everyday lacquerware for her use alone.

She was moved and touched by the brotherhood uniting these craftsmen, that they could make such sacrifices for a companion.

Wei Xun said, "I told you earlier, I am not a yamen runner, merely a guest who came to commission a lacquer box. However, I have no money on me, so a moment from now I will take something to barter with you."

Hearing this, the craftsmen looked at one another, completely baffled.

Wei Xun looked toward Baozhu and slowly said, "I have business to attend to. I shall go and return shortly. You and Old Yang wait here for a while."

Baozhu had long since seen through his routine phrase of "go and return shortly." "Even if I forbade it, you'd still have to go do it, wouldn't you?"

Wei Xun lifted his chin, nodding with untamed defiance.

Baozhu thought to herself that in trivial matters he was casual and compliant, willing to obey, but when bottom-line matters of life and death were involved, this man always walked his own path and did as he pleased. At this moment, a bone-chilling aura of alienation emanated from his entire body, and he no longer concealed his intent to kill.

Bao Lang was violent, cruel, and deranged. Not only did he instruct Wu Zhiyuan to imprison her and Yang Xingjian, but he also tortured Thirteenth Son during interrogation, killed Yingniang to seize a family heirloom, and in Xiagui County alone caused at least a dozen innocent people to be arrested, tortured, and worked to death. For such a villain to continue living in this world, what heavenly principles could possibly remain?

Evildoers whom the penal code could not sanction naturally ought to be eliminated by chivalrous swordsmen whom the penal code could not bind.

Thinking of this, Baozhu said, "Go then, but be extremely careful."

Huo Qilang chimed in, "Since the young lady is worried, I can go help my senior brother out and watch the fun while I'm at it."

Wei Xun sneered, "You think too prettily. Your reward wasn't given for nothing-you stay here and protect her, and she had better not lose a single strand of hair."

Yang Xingjian's drunken haze gradually receded. Dazed and bewildered, he felt things were going ill and repeatedly asked, "What is happening here? What is he going to do? Do you people know something?"

Wei Xun turned and strode away, leaving no one to answer Yang Xingjian's doubts.

The courtyard before the county yamen's main hall was spattered with blood everywhere. The surroundings were deathly quiet, leaving only the corpses of severed snakes and human limbs hacked apart by horizontal sabers.

Gradually recovering from the dizziness induced by his frenzied state, Bao Lang opened his eyes. He felt as though he were sprawled in a pool of cold, viscous blood, still gripping his saber. Earlier, when he saw those white snakes wriggling through the courtyard, extreme terror had seized him and suddenly robbed him of his sanity. Indiscriminately, he drew his saber and hacked madly at everything before him, until after a prolonged frenzy he suddenly blacked out and collapsed.

Bracing against the body of his saber, he slowly crawled up, discovering he was uninjured and still within the county yamen.

That hallucination surfaced once more before Bao Lang's eyes: the statue of Skanda glaring with wrathful eyes, the little white snake coiled around the vajra pestle staring at him with those crystal-clear, ruby-red gemstone pupils. Day and night, haunting him even in dreams-just like that snow-white woman lying in a pool of crimson blood, blankly gazing at him with red eyes.

Was she human or snake? By now he could no longer tell. White and crimson intertwined and tangled, overwhelmingly blanketing his body, impossible ever to wash away. Perhaps she truly was a demon, the vengeance of a deceased snake demon bearing down upon him overwhelmingly in an unstoppable momentum.

He lowered his gaze to his blood-stained hands, feeling the glorious future and riches and honor he had sought his whole life slowly slipping between his fingers. No matter how tightly he clutched or how fiercely he hacked, he could not stop it.

"You're finally awake. You've kept me waiting long enough."

A chilling voice suddenly reached his ears. Amid the shadows cast by the main hall's structure, a figure in green stepped soundlessly from the gloom and slowly entered the moonlight.

A jolt went through Bao Lang's heart. He immediately tightened his grip on the saber hilt, lowered his center of gravity, and crossed his arms with the blade to assume a defensive posture.

Had this person been standing there the whole time? Why hadn't he noticed him earlier?

He saw only that the man wore green robes, with a lean figure and pale skin. Under the cold moonlight, his slender shadow was blurred and faint, the entire person seeming to float within a mirage. Rubbing his eyes in a trance, Bao Lang for a moment suspected this green-robed figure was a ghostly runner from the underworld.

"Letting you die unconsciously in your dreams would be far too merciful, which is why I've waited until now. Someone else is waiting for me, so let's make this quick."

Urging him on, the green-robed figure drew an eight-inch dagger from the Dieliexie Belt at his waist.

Seeing the blade reflect the moonlight, Bao Lang gradually sobered: this was that long-sought martial arts bandit, the Green-Robed Wanderer.

The green-robed man strolled toward him at a leisurely pace.

A cruel smile surfaced at the corner of Bao Lang's mouth. Gripping his saber with both hands, he settled into a chopping stance. So long as he was human, he could be killed. Setting aside martial prowess for a moment, weapons always followed the rule that an inch longer meant an inch stronger, while an inch shorter meant an inch deadlier. Trying to pit a dagger the size of a table knife against the two-foot-six-inch fine steel horizontal saber in his own hands seemed altogether too naive.

Even as this thought crossed his mind, he abruptly felt his field of vision sink, plunging downward rapidly until it hit the floor tiles. The punctured boots of the green-robed man were inches away, standing directly before his face. What was happening? The final question flickered through Bao Lang's mind, yet no one answered it. His vision gradually blurred and darkened into pitch black, and he died without ever seeing what had happened.

A gush of hot blood spewed from the headless corpse, which then buckled at both knees and collapsed limply to the ground.

Wei Xun bent down to grab Bao Lang's topknot, picked the human head up from the ground, and sneered upon seeing the dazed expression still lingering on the dead man's face. With a flick of his dagger, blood droplets scattered and the blade flashed with a freezing, unblemished gleam. Sheathing his weapon only after the blade was clean, and patiently waiting for the head's warm blood to drain completely, he stowed it away in the leather pouch he carried.

With a palpitating heart, Baozhu waited until dawn began to break, yet still caught no sign of Wei Xun. Recalling Chen Yu's account of how Bao Lang had split Yingniang in two with a single blow, she grew even more restless. Imagining how Wei Xun had only recovered from his illness days ago and still bore unhealed injuries on his hands, she regretted not taking a weapon to follow him and back him up.

She could not help asking Huo Qilang, "Why is it taking so long?"

Flipping and playing with a few dice she carried, Huo-Qi replied indifferently, "Big Brother Wei might be hungry, so he stopped for breakfast along the way and was delayed for a moment. Has milady ever tasted those willow-leaf hotai near Sun Family Inn? The dough-sheets are snow-white and lovely, smooth and chewy. The flavor is truly not bad."

Baozhu's face darkened. Snatching the dice from her hand with a swift grab, she tossed them casually into a bowl. The dice spun round and round before coming to a rest, displaying a full handful of bright, vivid full moons.

Coldly, she said, "If you spout nonsense again, I'll treat you to a taste of my horsewhip."

Huo Qilang marveled at her formidable luck, and seeing that she was genuinely angry, felt a twinge of apprehension. She thought to herself that this young lady looked dainty and charming, so why was her imposing aura when angered so terrifying? Someone capable of subduing the Green-Robed Wanderer was indeed no ordinary mortal.

Putting aside her banter, Huo Qi spoke with a serious expression. "Milady truly need not worry; when I mentioned helping out earlier, I was merely joking. Grand Senior Brother has already cultivated the Mysterious Qi Primordial Art to its highest tier, his Mirage Step traces shadows through illusions, treading upon the void. Add another ten Bao Langs, and they still wouldn't be his match. Though he enjoys lurking on roofs, when he kills he always strikes head-on with open force, never forcing an enemy to die with their back turned. If he hasn't returned yet, he's probably waiting for the target to wake up before making his move. To execute a villain like that without facing him eye-to-eye would let him off far too easily."

Baozhu could not make head or tail of what she was saying, yet Huo Qi was certainly not lying. No sooner had her voice fallen than Wei Xun's silhouette appeared at the head of the street. Carrying a lotus-leaf bundle in his right hand and the leather pouch in his left, he walked over with carefree ease.

A wave of relief instantly washed over Baozhu. Realizing she had worried herself sick for nothing while he remained unhurried and unbothered, she stamped her foot in exasperation. "You are truly slow! You've kept me waiting forever!"

Wei Xun handed that steaming lotus-leaf parcel into her hands with a smile. "They're mutton filling. There was quite a line at this steamed bun shop, so I really had to wait a while."

Huo Qilang spread her hands in a helpless expression that clearly said, "I told you so."

He really had just gone to buy breakfast! At that moment, Baozhu had no heart to eat steamed buns. She hurried to gaze at the heavy leather pouch in his hand.

Only after speaking with Baozhu did Wei Xun restrain his smile. He walked over to the Changzhou craftsmen, untied the cord binding the leather pouch's mouth, and shook the bag upside down. A blood-soaked, unrecognizable human head rolled onto the ground.

"Weighing nine catties and eight liang, one human head, to be exchanged for the lacquer box."

The craftsmen were startled and hastily retreated. Yang Xingjian was even more shaken to the core, hurriedly leaping forward to block Baozhu so she would be spared the shock.

Only Chen Yu the tombstone carver opened his eyes wide, lunged forward like a ravenous tiger, and cupped the head in both hands to examine it closely. Upon recognizing the features, he suddenly burst into a crazed cycle of tears and laughter, howling wildly, "Heavens have eyes! Heavens have eyes! Yingniang's great revenge is avenged! I can die content now!"

Only then did the crowd realize that was Bao Lang's head, and that Wei Xun's talk of "bartering" referred to the evildoer's cranium.

Spitting furiously upon the head twice, the tombstone carver glared with burning hatred at Bao Lang's cloudy eyes, wishing he could devour his flesh and sleep upon his hide.

Lacquer artisan Zhao Faming hurriedly offered up the Seven-Treasure Glazed-Glass-Lacquer Box with both hands, filled with a mixture of gratitude and awe. "A righteous man possesses true chivalry! Could you be divine warriors sent by the heavens?!"

Wei Xun answered gravely, "Only this is worthy of you Changzhou craftsmen's righteousness. Everyone implicated in the pearl theft case died at this man's hands, so it has nothing to do with you." Without further declining, he accepted the lacquer box.

Chen Yu abruptly tossed the head back to the ground, wiped his hands on his clothes, and cried out, "Benefactor, please wait a moment!" With a limp, he sprinted off toward the nearest tent.

Baozhu hurriedly asked how things had gone. Wei Xun merely called it utterly ordinary and nothing worth mentioning, claiming that waiting in line for steamed buns had been far more troublesome, and urged her to eat while it was hot.

After a short while, the tombstone carver limped back, his trouser leg stained with a vast patch of blood, clutching a round, smooth pearl in his hand. Evidently, he had just cut open flesh to retrieve the pearl. Wiping away the blood repeatedly with his sleeve, he opened the lacquer box's lid, tremblingly placed the pearl inside, and said with emotional fervor, "Ancient people mocked the people of Zheng for buying the wooden box and returning the pearl; how could we let our benefactor walk away with merely an empty box? Only this is worthy of benefactor's righteous deed!"

Everyone was astonished. Wei Xun urged him, "Don't act rashly; this is your family's heirloom treasure."

With tears streaming down his face, Chen Yu wept, "Yingniang was my only family. After she died, I had no home left. Since I have no home, what use do I have for a family heirloom?!"

When Wei Xun declined once more, lacquer artisan Zhao Faming conferred briefly with the other craftsmen before stepping forward. "Do not refuse us, righteous man. This luminous pearl has carried away too many lives. Perhaps people of our humble station lack the fortune and destiny to bear such a treasure."

Chen Yu offered it out of gratitude to Wei Xun for avenging his daughter, having nothing else to give in return. As for the others, their meaning was crystal clear: as lowly, ordinary folk, they truly lacked the strength to resist the endless greed and covetousness brought by the luminous pearl.

Yang Xingjian also chimed in, "Both the luminous pearl and the lacquer box are major criminal evidence. Allowing them to keep holding onto it is dangerous instead. Who knows when another wave of searches might hit, and then they wouldn't be able to explain themselves."

By now his drunkenness had completely worn off, leaving him drenched in a cold sweat. At a single phrase of "go and return shortly," Wei Xun had gone out and fetched the head of a Military Governor's official on a platter, returning not only swaggering and unconcerned, but even stopping to buy steamed buns for the princess along the way. He could not tell whether the man was completely lawless or merely accustomed to it.

Since the deed was already done, and standing from the perspective of sympathizing with the craftsmen's plight, Yang Xingjian felt it much more appropriate for Wei Xun to take away those two items.

Unable to refuse further, Wei Xun accepted the lacquer box containing the luminous pearl. Seeing wealth available to tag along with, Huo Qilang beamed with delight. After seeing the pearl with her own eyes, Baozhu pondered in silence, deep in thought.

Next came the question of how to dispose of Bao Lang's head. Chen Yu wanted to slice off his mortal enemy's nose and ears, hacking him into eight pieces to vent his spleen. The craftsmen felt that the fake grave was still empty, and suggested tossing it straight into the coffin to be buried under dirt.

After careful consideration, Yang Xingjian said, "The pearl theft case has yet to be closed, and Bao Lang, the official trying the case, has lost his head first. This matter cannot possibly be swept under the rug. It would be better to place the head where the authorities can find it, lest they continue searching everywhere and expand the fallout."

Wei Xun smiled. "If you put it that way, I happen to know a very suitable place." With that, he stowed the head back into the leather pouch and tied the cord shut.

Turning back to see Baozhu still standing in a daze while clutching the parcel of steamed buns without even opening the lotus leaves, he asked, "Don't you want to eat the steamed buns? Then wait until I return and we can have hotai together."