Wang Daxia mobilized the Northern City Military Command and even leveraged his father's connections to summon officers from the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen for support. However, the lake was vast—misty and boundless even in daylight, let alone on a stormy night.
Though they cast their net, its mesh was too wide to be truly effective. It was late summer, and the lakeside reeds and sprawling lotus leaves provided ample hiding spots. Thus, Lu Ying held little hope for Wang Daxia's net, viewing it as a tentative effort—better to try than do nothing. She rowed desperately, using each flash of lightning to memorize the fleeing fishing boat's position and closing in from that direction.
The eight Embroidered Uniform Guard boats each bore a wind-proof lantern, maintaining their encirclement formation as they tightened the net around the escaping vessel in the center.
Finally, Lu Ying's eight boats cornered the fishing boat near a patch of floating aquatic plants in the lake's center, resembling wild chives. The oars tangled in the roots, and the boat became stuck among the upright plants, immobilized.
Lu Ying declared, "The White Lotus Sect is a cult that deludes minds and swindles followers of their wealth. We, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, target only the ringleaders and spare ordinary members. Boatman, hand over Boss Wang, and we will pardon you, even grant you a new identity and lifelong wealth. If you persist in folly, aiding evil, do not blame us for showing no mercy."
The fishing boat remained silent.
With persuasion failing, Lu Ying ordered an assault. "Tear off the boat's canopy."
Eight iron claws, like tiger paws, shot from the boats, digging deep into the black-canopied vessel's planks. With a forceful pull, the canopy split apart like a blooming lotus.
Stripped of its cover, the boat resembled a snail without its shell.
Just then, a flash of lightning illuminated the Pool of Accumulated Water. Lu Ying saw only one person aboard—the boatman, seated in the cabin, head bowed, his neck and below drenched in blood. He had slit his own throat.
Beside him lay a pair of empty shoes.
Amid the roaring thunder, Lu Ying realized it was a decoy strategy.
Those two sets of footprints leading to the dock were deliberately planted to lure her into chasing the boat across the lake!
Boss Wang had never boarded. The boatman had worn the empty shoes on his hands, crawling through the mud like a dog to create four footprints, feigning a two-person escape.
Truly, the cunning hare has three burrows. No wonder the Embroidered Uniform Guard had made little progress in eradicating the White Lotus Sect over the past decade—these people were exceedingly sly.
Lu Ying commanded, "Send a Pigeon Post to Lord Lu: the White Lotus Sect net has closed, but suspect Boss Wang escaped. Overnight, reproduce his portrait and issue a city-wide warrant. Tomorrow, all city gates must enforce strict checks on every person leaving."
"Also, under the current curfew with neighborhood gates sealed, conduct door-to-door searches around the Pool of Accumulated Water. Show Boss Wang's portrait to residents. A thousand taels of silver for his capture, with additional rewards for leads."
Having taken these belated measures, Lu Ying collapsed exhausted in the boat cabin. Her arms, strained from relentless rowing, felt nearly broken. Why was achieving perfection in any task so difficult?Despite having every advantage—the mysterious tip-off letter, the aid of Wei Caiwei's "miracle drug," and Wang Daxia's luck in smothering the cannon fuse with his shield—they had countered every attack and narrowly escaped danger time and again. Yet in the end, a big fish, no, a whale had slipped away.
What now? What else could she do?
Lu Ying lay down, her mind racing as she strategized. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She said, "Once we're ashore, carry the unconscious Wu Dianyong to Doctor Wei immediately. Have Doctor Wei forcibly wake him. We need to extract Wang Boss's hiding place and who assisted him from Wu Dianyong."
At the same time, Ding Wu knocked on the door, rousing Wei Caiwei.
In truth, Wei Caiwei had been unable to sleep tonight. She knew the Embroidered Uniform Guard was closing in on the White Lotus Sect lair, and the tragedies of her past life replayed in her mind:
The Myriad Goods Trading Company had been blown up. The Embroidered Uniform Guard and Northern City Military Command involved in the raid were nearly wiped out.
Headline Alley suffered collateral damage. With Beijing's dry winter air and the northeastern wind fanning the flames, the entire alley was reduced to ruins. Though Officer Mu and others did their best to wake the residents, four people still burned to death—a human tragedy.
Wang Commander had his legs blown off, suffered back burns, was dismissed from his post, and had his family property confiscated. Wang Daxia, along with Officer Mu, carried his severely injured father out of their centuries-old Wang residence in a snowstorm. Wang Commander died that very night from unbearable pain, untreated, and Wang Daxia... castrated himself with a blade.
Just the thought made her heart ache. Wei Caiwei comforted herself: This time, it's six months earlier, in the rainy season, and we've made ample preparations. I must trust Lu Ying, Wang Daxia, and Ding Wu. The tragedies of the past life shouldn't repeat.
Even so, her heart remained unsettled, yearning for dawn to end the calamity of her previous life.
Hearing Ding Wu's knock, Wei Caiwei threw on a robe and hurried downstairs to open the door. Ding Wu had arrived in a carriage. Pointing at the unconscious Wu Dianyong inside, he said:
"Wang Boss escaped through a tunnel in the courtyard. That was his usual residence. He's one of the White Lotus Sect's Four Great Disciples. He must know where the next hideout is. We need your help to wake him now."
It turned out Ding Wu and Lu Ying were on the same wavelength. Without waiting for Lu Ying's orders, he had brought the unconscious Wu Dianyong for assistance.
Lu Ying, seeing Ding Wu unharmed but missing Wang Daxia, quickly asked, "Where are they? What about the firearms in the underground storeroom? We must be careful."
Ding Wu replied, "Everyone's fine. The storeroom is under our control. All the fish have been caught—only Wang Boss escaped."
Wei Caiwei placed a hand on her chest and breathed a long sigh of relief. "That's good. As long as everyone and the firearms are safe. The monk can run, but the temple remains. The Embroidered Uniform Guard will surely catch the one who got away."
This was already much better than her past life! No one had died, and the firearms depot hadn't exploded.
As for the White Lotus Sect—in her previous life, by the second year of the Longqing era, Wang Daxia had eradicated them entirely. The sect leader and the Four Great Disciples were all captured alive and executed by lingchi, avenging his father whose legs were blown off.
So what if they escaped now? Evil begets retribution. The White Lotus Sect, with its myriad crimes, would inevitably follow the same path in this life as it did in the last."Banxia, what are you thinking about? Quickly bring out the antidote." Ding Wu was burning with anxiety, urging her repeatedly.
Wei Caiwei snapped out of her memories from her previous life and said, "Lanke Dream had no antidote even back in Xiangya Mountain. According to pharmacological principles, within five steps there must exist mutual generation and restraint, but I never found it."
Ding Wu was deeply disappointed, "There's truly no solution?"
Wei Caiwei retrieved a set of needles fine as ox hair from the medicine room, along with a Western perfume bottle. "I can use needles and medicine to stimulate his acupoints and force him awake, but it will be extremely painful. Carry him into the house."
"Impossible. We can't let the White Lotus Sect know you're involved in this and implicate you," Ding Wu refused. He tightly bound Wu Dianyong's limbs to the carriage with rope and blindfolded him. "You just need to wake him up. Leave the rest to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. You said pain will rouse him - perfect, pain is exactly what he deserves. When he guided Anda Khan's troops back then, how many innocent commoners in the suburbs lost their homes and families? This saves the Embroidered Uniform Guard from having to torture him for information."
Wei Caiwei entered the carriage, dipped fine needles in the medicinal liquid from the perfume bottle, and inserted them into several acupoints on Wu Dianyong's head.
The effect was immediate - Wu Dianyong began screaming and convulsing. But on this heavy rainy night, with the carriage walls thick and soundproof quilts covering all sides, his cries were muffled.
Ding Wu gestured to Wei Caiwei, and they both exited the carriage just as Wang Daxia arrived on horseback to relay Lu Ying's message.
Seeing Wang Daxia unharmed, Wei Caiwei felt deeply moved, but with time pressing, she had no leisure for other concerns. She leaned close to his ear, teaching him the method of using the fine needles, leaving Wu Dianyong for him to interrogate.
Wang Daxia thought: Lanke Dream wasn't enough? Just how many more "skills" do you have that I don't know about?
Outside, the rain was heavy and wind fierce. Even with an umbrella, Wei Caiwei's clothes were soaked. Wang Daxia pointed toward the doorway, indicating she should take shelter from the rain inside, then entered the carriage. He removed Wu Dianyong's blindfold. When Wu Dianyong saw it was Wang Daxia, his eyes widened like bronze bells, pain making his teeth chatter. "It's... you!"
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard and White Lotus Sect are irreconcilable enemies. Who else would it be?" Wang Daxia held up a mirror for him. "See the needles inserted in your head's acupoints? Ending this suffering is simple - just pull out the needles."
Wu Dianyong felt as if countless ants were gnawing at his brain, the pain causing his limbs to convulse involuntarily. He could no longer think about anything beyond the pain. "I'll confess! I'll confess everything! Please let me go!"
What backbone could be expected from a "Ming traitor" who betrayed his country for money and led foreigners to slaughter his own people?
Under the extreme pain, Wu Dianyong immediately broke.
Wang Daxia pulled out one needle. Wu Dianyong felt the area around that needle immediately stop hurting. Wang Daxia asked: "Which leader are you in the White Lotus Sect?"
Wang Daxia already knew the answer to this question - he was deliberately testing for lies.
Wu Dianyong said: "I'm the cult leader's trusted follower, one of the Four Great Disciples - the Strategist."
Based on the Embroidered Uniform Guard's decade of intelligence on the White Lotus Sect, the Four Great Disciples were Zhao Quan's right-hand men. Their real names were unknown, only their titles: Strategist, Treasure Basin, Hall, and Iron Bull.
The Strategist was highly intelligent, Treasure Basin managed the sect's finances, Hall collected intelligence on the Ming dynasty, and Iron Bull - formerly a highly skilled mountain bandit king - commanded the sect's death warriors and enforcers.Now that the strategist Wu Dianyong had been captured, it severed one of the cult leader's arms. Wu Dianyong wasn't lying, so Wang Daxia asked the next question: "Is Boss Wang the cult leader Zhao Quan?"
"Yes!" Wu Dianyong cried, tears and mucus streaming down his face. "I beg you to pull out another needle. He is indeed our cult leader."
Wang Daxia felt both excitement and urgency. "Pull what? I haven't finished questioning you yet. Where does the secret passage in your bedroom lead to?"
He was testing for lies again, as Wang Daxia knew the answer led to a fisherman's home by the Pool of Accumulated Water.
"What secret passage?" Wu Dianyong looked bewildered. "There's a secret passage in my room? I didn't know that. The Myriad Goods Trading Company was built by the Hall. After it was completed, the cult leader assigned me to manage it. I don't know about any secret passage, and I certainly don't know where it leads!"
It seemed only the Hall knew about the escape route.
Wang Daxia asked, "Where is the ** Hall? What's its name?"
Wu Dianyong replied, "I don't know. We Four Great Disciples rarely meet. Even when we occasionally do, we all wear masks. The cult leader is very cautious, afraid that his subordinates might betray him or join forces to usurp his position. Each of the four Branch Leaders only handles their own affairs, unaware of what the others are doing, and they report solely to the cult leader. However, judging by her slender figure and the voice from behind the mask, she's definitely a woman, and likely a very beautiful one at that."
Author's Note: Good morning, everyone. In earlier chapters, I wrote about Wei Caiwei using a raw green onion to remove a fishbone stuck in Wang Daxia's throat, right? Today, I saw a news report about someone who got a fishbone stuck, tried folk remedies like swallowing rice and drinking vinegar, but none worked. By the third day, they were vomiting blood and went to the hospital, only for the fishbone to have pierced an artery. They couldn't be saved and passed away, leaving behind a wife and two underage children. It's truly tragic.
So, I want to seriously remind all readers: what I wrote in the book about chewing raw green onion to remove a fishbone is an ancient medical method. Ancient methods rely on luck and the skill of the practitioner—they're unreliable. If any of you ever get a fishbone stuck, promise me you won't imitate the ancient method from my book. Go to the hospital immediately to have it removed. Don't delay, and remember this!
Yes, science is science. Everyone should trust in science. Your life is the most important thing. I hope I haven't misled any of you.
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