Masked Wu was also a hereditary member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, following in his father's footsteps. However, due to his careless gun cleaning, his firearm exploded, severely damaging half of his face and ruining his career prospects. He was supposed to be dismissed, but he pleaded with Lu Bing, citing his elderly mother, young children, and the recent death of his wife, begging for any job that would allow his family to survive.
Moved by compassion, Lu Bing assigned him to guard the firearm depot, with the additional task of showing every new recruit the consequences of negligent gun maintenance by displaying his disfigured face.
His ruined face was ghastly, so to avoid frightening others, he wore a mask year-round, earning him the nickname Masked Wu.
Over the years, Masked Wu had been diligent and conscientious, which made it all the more shocking that he used an iron-toothed cricket to bribe a jailer into swapping zongzi. How could someone who owed Lu Bing such a favor be a traitor?
But shock was useless—finding Ding Wu quickly was the priority.
The group disguised themselves and secretly followed him. Wei Caiwei carried a basket filled with pure white gardenias, posing as a flower-selling maiden.
Lu Ying donned a Taoist robe, affixed a fake beard, and held a divination flag, pretending to be a fortune-teller.
As for Wang Daxia... he insisted on imitating Wei Caiwei and disguising himself as a flower-selling maiden too! With his dreadful sense of aesthetics, he adorned himself garishly, mincing along in a high-pitched voice as he chased after Wei Caiwei, waving a small embroidered handkerchief:
"Sister Banxia! Wait for me, let's sell flowers together! We need to protect each other from any lechers on the street!"
Wei Caiwei thought to herself: What fool would dare harass you?!
Why was Wang Daxia so determined to follow Wei Caiwei?
It was all because of the rumor about the "illegitimate child embracing the charming widow." Wang Daxia knew full well that Lu Ying and Caiwei were only acting to lull their opponents into complacency, but it still bothered him deeply. Even the thrill of winning first place in the dragon boat race felt meaningless now.
The prize for winning the dragon boat race turned out to be a "green hat" personally presented by his superior. Surprise? More like a shock!
He'd rather not have such a reward!
But Wang Daxia also understood that Ding Wu's life was at stake—this was absolutely not the time for jealousy. Suppressing his feelings, he disguised himself as a beautiful maiden to stick close to Wei Caiwei, ensuring Lu Ying had no further chances to act out scenes with her.
After several incidents, Wang Daxia trusted Lu Ying's character—he was austere, rigidly principled, and a true gentleman who kept away from women.
But trust wasn't enough! Acting wasn't allowed! Not even a fake green hat! No meant no!
The two walked together with their flower baskets. Masked Wu exited through the Zhengyang Gate into Wanping territory but didn't head directly home to Broom Lane. Instead, he bought a jug of realgar wine from a tavern outside the gate, walked to the moat where the dragon boat race had been held that day, found a rock to sit on, removed his mask, and began drinking the wine heavily.
The Dragon Boat Festival was unusually hot this year. The moat was crowded with boys splashing in the water and even adult men swimming or bathing, their thin shirts and trousers clinging tightly to their bodies—the scene was as packed as dumplings in a pot.
"Eek, how disgusting!" Wang Daxia quickly covered his eyes with a handkerchief, fully immersed in his role.
However, his reaction was appropriate—what pure flower-selling maiden would stare at swimming men?
Wei Caiwei mimicked him, shielding her eyes with a handkerchief while secretly observing Masked Wu from the corners of her eyes.When Masked Wu drank, his disfigured face was revealed, instantly scaring away all the nearby swimming boys. Only a few adult men, curious about his scarred and menacing appearance, stayed but kept their distance.
After drinking half a jar of realgar wine, Masked Wu placed his mask over the jar, removed his shoes, socks, and outer robe, folded them neatly beside the jar, and jumped into the river wearing only black trousers and a sleeveless white undershirt.
The mischievous boys, seeing him jump into the water from afar, clapped their hands and shouted, "The monster's gone into the river to eat children! Run for your lives!" They laughed and played in a frenzy.
Masked Wu seemed to be an excellent swimmer, staying submerged for a long time. Neither of the two saw him resurface. Wang Daxia whispered, "This isn't right. I'm a good swimmer myself, but I can't hold my breath for that long."
Wei Caiwei asked, "Could he have surfaced or climbed ashore somewhere else?"
Wang Daxia replied, "Impossible. That horrifying face of his—even if he popped out from between rocks, I'd spot him. I'm not blind."
Wei Caiwei stared at him silently.
Wang Daxia suddenly realized his mistake and said, "I didn't mean you're blind. Don't misunderstand."
In truth, Wei Caiwei had been deep in thought. Her expression changed abruptly as she said, "If he hasn't surfaced for so long, could he have drowned in the river after getting drunk?"
Wang Daxia immediately started removing his shoes to jump from the bridge, but a Taoist stopped him with a divination flag. "Miss, how much for your gardenias?"
It was Lu Ying disguised as a Taoist. Wang Daxia, confused, replied, "One coin per flower." "See that man in the wet white undershirt and black trousers on the southern bank?" Lu Ying pointed with the tip of her flag and whispered, "That's Masked Wu."
Wei Caiwei stared intently and said, "Impossible. His face is smooth, just like an ordinary person's. It's not disfigured."
Lu Ying explained, "Look closely at his left arm. There's a thick, rope-like scar. When Masked Wu took off his outer robe and jumped into the water wearing only the sleeveless white undershirt, it was exactly like that. He is Masked Wu."
Earlier, Wang Daxia, Wei Caiwei, and everyone present had been fixated on the horrifying face revealed after the mask was removed, as if they'd seen a ghost in broad daylight, and hadn't noticed his other physical features.
But Lu Ying, calm to the point of being almost inhuman, remembered. Even if she encountered a ghost at night, she could coolly measure the length of its tongue.
Wang Daxia exclaimed in surprise, "But his face—"
Wei Caiwei suddenly understood Lu Ying's meaning. "The Masked Wu at the Imperial Guard Office today was a fake—disguised with a disfigured face. Speaking through a mask naturally muffles the voice, making it easy to imitate. The fake Masked Wu used the cricket as cover to swap the zongzi and warn Ding Rukui. But the disguise washes off in water, so after emerging, he became a different person."
Wang Daxia asked, "If that's the case, why did he go swimming— Ah, I see! This is a scheme of corpse reincarnation and the golden cicada shedding its shell! The real Masked Wu is already dead. Once it gets dark, someone will secretly dump his body into the moat. By then, his family, unable to find him, will discover only the wine jar, outer robe, shoes, and socks on the riverbank. The children playing in the water all witnessed a disfigured man jumping in to swim, confirming that Masked Wu drowned while drunk."On a sweltering evening, the three of them pondered carefully and felt a chill run down their spines. What a meticulous and sinister scheme!
The fake Masked Wu had an accomplice waiting. Behind a rock on the southern bank of the case site, a set of clothes and shoes had been left. The person changed into the garments and, in an instant, became someone else entirely—an unremarkable face that would blend seamlessly into a crowd.
Meanwhile, the wine jar and clothing on the northern bank of the moat were destined to wait in vain for their owner’s return.
As the sun set in the west, the crime unfolded silently.
Even if Ding Rukui’s suicide were exposed, everyone would assume Masked Wu was the traitor, who, consumed by guilt, had gotten drunk and drowned himself.
In Broom Lane, Masked Wu’s son and elderly mother awaited his return for the Dragon Boat Festival reunion dinner, unaware that this meal would forever remain a dream across the realms of life and death.
Suppressing their anger and grief over the loss of Masked Wu, the three continued to trail the impostor.
Before leaving, Lu Ying instructed her subordinates, "Set an ambush along this stretch of the river. After dark, someone will surely come to dump a body."
After changing clothes, the impostor crossed Zhengyangmen Street, moving from Wanping to Daxing, then headed southeast, arriving at Goldfish Pond after nightfall.
Goldfish Pond was originally flat land during the Song Dynasty, with no ponds at all. Later, after the Jingkang Incident, the Jin Dynasty conquered the Northern Song, and the Southern Song submitted to the Jin as a vassal. When the Jin moved their capital to present-day Beijing, they excavated soil here to build kilns for brick-making, leaving behind a scattered network of over a hundred ponds.
After the Jin Dynasty was destroyed by the joint forces of the Southern Song and the Mongols, these ponds remained. The Mongols later vanquished the Southern Song, unifying the land, and when the Yuan Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, the ponds were used to raise ornamental goldfish for the nobility, hence the name Goldfish Pond.
After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty and overthrew the Yuan, Goldfish Pond fell into decline. However, when the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di moved the capital from Yingtian Prefecture (Nanjing) to Beijing, the goldfish trade here flourished once more. Many ponds were purchased by wealthy families, enclosed, and developed into summer retreats where they could escape the city heat, enjoying the cool breeze by the water.
The impostor approached the back gate of one such retreat, knocked three long and two short raps, and the door opened. A guard let him in before shutting it with a sharp clang.
Wang Daxia whispered, "I wonder whose retreat this is? It’s in the southern part of the city. I’ll go ask at the Southern City Military and Civil Office—the commander there is on good terms with my father and should give me some face."
Lu Ying said, "No need to ask. I know whose it is."
Thinking that Ding Wu might be imprisoned here, Wei Caiwei urgently asked, "Whose is it? Is it Yan Shifan’s?"
Lu Ying shook her head. "No."
Wei Caiwei was baffled. "Besides Yan Shifan, who else has the cunning and audacity to kidnap an exile under the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s protection? Who would dare kill the Guard’s warehouse keeper?"
Lu Ying replied, "This is the property of the Duke Yansheng’s residence. After the Ming capital moved to Beijing, the Yongle Emperor granted this place to the Duke Yansheng for study and summer retreat."
The descendant of Confucius, the Duke Yansheng.
Wang Daxia was even more confused. "Impossible! The Kong family has always stayed out of court politics and holds no grudge against Ding Rukui. Why would they kidnap Ding Wu? The Kong family doesn’t have the resources to orchestrate all this."Lu Ying said, "Yan Shifan's eldest daughter, who is also my second sister's sister-in-law, was married to the Duke Yansheng through a matchmaking by the Emperor herself, making her the Duchess Yansheng. The Duke usually resides at the Confucius Mansion in Qufu, Shandong, and has given this imperially bestowed villa to his father-in-law, Yan Shifan, to live in."
Wei Caiwei clenched her fists. "Yan Shifan is indeed cunning. This is an imperially bestowed villa and also under the name of the Mansion of the Duke Yansheng. With such a powerful background, forget Commander Lu, even if Lord Lu himself were to come here, he wouldn't dare to barge in and search."
The Mansion of the Duke Yansheng was a sacred place revered by scholars across the land. If Lu Bing dared to force his way into the villa of the Duke Yansheng to conduct a search, the next day, memorials impeaching him would pile up like snowflakes, and he would surely lose his position as the Commander.
Thus, Yan Shifan's plan was flawless—even if there were loopholes, no one would dare to search, because this was not the Yan family's property but the Duke Yansheng's Kong family's estate, a place even safer than the Yan residence.
Truly worthy of being called a demonic genius!
Wang Daxia was instantly filled with despair and said anxiously, "Commander Lu, if we delay any longer, either Ding Wu will die, or Ding Rukui will die, or perhaps both will perish."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained—how else can we rescue Ding Wu?" Lu Ying pointed to a neighboring villa. "This is our Lu family's villa, and we are neighbors with the Kong family. That's why I'm so familiar with the layout of these villas."
Wang Daxia suddenly understood. "Commander Lu, are you suggesting we climb over the wall from your villa?"
"What? Are you afraid?" Lu Ying asked.
Of course, I'm afraid! Both the Kong family and the Yan family are forces I can't afford to provoke. My father isn't the Emperor's milk brother!
But—seeing the worry on Wei Caiwei's face, Wang Daxia mustered his courage and said, "Let's go! Who's afraid of whom? I, Wang Daxia, only fear ghosts, not people!"
Author's note: Actually, he's terrified hahahaha. This chapter gives away 100 red packets. Wishing everyone a happy weekend, mua!
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