Unglaublich

Kapitel 8

Zhang asked Tao, "It seems there's a treasure hidden in this house. Most of it is gold, which is why these rats are gnawing on it."

The group suddenly realized what was going on, and You Huanke laughed, "So it's because the rat used gold to sharpen its teeth. It's probably the richest rat in the world."

Qian Botang also laughed and said, "I've also heard that carrion rats tend to grow to a very large size. Could it be that there are ancient corpses hidden inside them?"

Chen Wenwei frowned and said, "There is indeed a strange smell inside."

Zhang Wentao said to the group, "There must be a secret passage or room hiding something. Let's go in and check."

The Great Qing Divine Judgment Thirty-Six

Upon entering the old house, a very unpleasant odor was indeed detected, though it was different from the stench of a corpse. Although the house had been in disrepair for many years, it was clearly very sturdy; the plaster on the walls had long since crumbled, revealing large blue stone bricks and white mortar underneath. The nearly two-zhang-high roof had lost its ceiling, and several rats scurried and hissed among the beams.

Sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the window, casting several bright beams. The brick floor was littered with broken wood and porcelain. Overturned furniture and chairs were scattered everywhere, along with short arrows that had either struck the walls, struck the furniture, or fallen to the ground. The unfortunate bull was still alive, lying in a pool of blood, panting heavily, its body riddled with dozens of arrows. A swarm of flies densely covered the bull's wounds and the pool of blood.

The scene was incredibly oppressive and terrifying. Zhang Wentao, Chen Wenwei, Qian Botang, Chang Zhesong, and You Huanke were all former county magistrates who had handled various bloody cases. However, Chang Zhesong and You Huanke couldn't help but close their eyes for a moment.

“Use the backs of your knives to tap the walls and the ground; you must find the secret passage,” Zhang instructed Tao.

A dozen or so people started banging on the door, booming and clanging. The chaotic sounds rose and fell, creating an extremely unsettling atmosphere in the gloomy and hot room.

After knocking for a while, Zhang Wentao suddenly said, "Stop."

The room fell silent instantly, with only the buzzing of flies.

Zhang Wentao pointed to a yamen runner and said, "Knock a few more times." The runner knocked a few times, but Zhang Wentao shook his head and said, "No." He then pointed to another runner next to him and said, "You knock!" That runner also knocked a few times. Zhang Wentao said again, "Not quite." He then pointed to Constable Wang, who was standing nearby, and said, "Constable Wang, you knock and see." Constable Wang knocked a few times, and Zhang Wentao said, "This is it. Elsewhere you hear bricks and stones, but only here does it sound like wood."

Constable Wang nodded, then slashed at that spot with his knife. With a whoosh, the blade became embedded in the wood.

“It really is a wooden door,” Chen Wenwei said.

Constable Wang drew his knife and, together with Chen Wenwei, began to tap and carve the approximate shape of the hidden door.

Qian Botang muttered to himself, "There must be a mechanism to open the door."

Zhang asked Tao, "No need, it's easy to open this door." He turned to look at Chang Zhesong.

Chang Zhesong laughed and said, "You're not going to borrow an ox again, are you?"

"I need to borrow an ox."

Chang Zhesong said, "That's easy." He then instructed his family to bring another ox.

Zhang Wentao then ordered his men to remove the barely surviving ox and wipe away the blood. When Chang Tuosong's family brought the ox, Chen Wenwei stabbed its rump with a knife, forcing open the hidden door. The ox burst through the door, rushed into the secret chamber, circled around a few times, and then emerged unharmed.

Zhang asked Tao, "There are no more mechanisms inside. Let's go in and take a look."

Chen Wenwei led the way, followed by Constable Wang and two constables. Because the room was dark, they all carried lanterns. Then came Zhang Wentao and his group, each accompanied by a servant or constable carrying a lantern. Upon entering the secret room, they saw gold bricks scattered on the floor, and others laid on shelves that hadn't yet been overturned by the bull. The dozen or so lanterns cast a strange, dim yellow glow.

Chen Wenwei and his men picked up the gold bricks; there were a total of 212.

The truth seemed to be about to be revealed. The housekeeper, Jiang Lan, was assigned an old house where gold was hidden, but when she entered to retrieve it, she was shot and killed by a hidden arrow. The murderer was none other than Chang Lianxian, the already deceased father of Chang Zhesong!

But why didn't Chang Lianxian allow anyone to take away the hidden gold in the secret room of the house?

After watching for a while, the group remained silent, all pondering this final mystery.

After a while, Qian Botang said, "It's just a little over two hundred gold bricks. Each gold brick weighs fifty taels, which is equivalent to seven hundred taels of silver. A little over two hundred gold bricks would only be worth about one or fourteen thousand taels of silver. Why hide them deep in such a secret room and set up so many traps? I really can't understand it. Wouldn't it be better to put them in a money shop?"

Chen Wenwei said, "I also think this matter is strange. Perhaps these gold bricks are just a smokescreen."

“My late father did indeed have a penchant for hoarding gold; there were more than a dozen gold bricks in his bedroom. He didn’t trust money lenders, so he never had any dealings with them in his entire life,” Chang Zhesong said.

Zhang Wentao turned to You Huanke and asked, "What do you think, brother?"

"Over 140,000 taels of silver is quite a sum. I had dealings with Chang Lianxian, Chang Zhesong's father, a few times during his lifetime. I felt that he was frugal, patient, conservative, and cautious. Hiding so much gold here is consistent with his nature."

"Leaving aside where these gold bricks came from, why did Chang Zhesong not know about the hidden gold, while Jiang Lan did? If Chang Lianxian wanted to leave the gold to Jiang Lan, so he only told her and even bequeathed the old house to her in his will, why did Jiang Lan only know there was gold inside, but not that there was a trap inside? Brother Chang, what do you think?"

"My father suddenly suffered a stroke in the night and died in his sleep at the young age of fifty-three. He had always been in good health, and there were no warning signs before the onset of this illness. Perhaps he hadn't had time to tell us yet."

"If she didn't have time to tell her family, how did Jiang Lan know about the hidden gold?"

“Jiang Lan and my father were together day and night, and hiding gold was not something that happened overnight. He probably found out about it by chance.”

"So, passing the treasure house to Jiang Lan wasn't your father's original intention. But why did the will give him the old house instead?"

“This…” Chang Zhesong stammered, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped himself.

Seeing that he was hesitant to speak, Zhang Wentao said to the others, "Gentlemen, please take your people outside and leave for a while."

In a short while, everyone had left, leaving only Chang Zhesong and Zhang Wentao in the secret room. Each of them held up a red watermelon lamp, which illuminated their faces, making them appear blood red.

“Go ahead and tell me,” Zhang asked Tao.

“This room was actually given to me by my father.”

"Your father divided it among you? Didn't the will say it was divided among Jiang Lan?"

"The will stated that the estate was to be bounded by a stone wall, a row of poplar trees, and a fence. The area north and west of this boundary was to be allocated to Jiang Lan. However, the fence was moved, enclosing the old house that was originally allocated to me into Jiang Lan's estate."

Zhang asked Tao suspiciously, "Do you have any evidence? Did you just get jealous after seeing the gold here worth 140,000 to 150,000 taels of silver and try to make up a story to deceive me in order to get back this huge inheritance left by your father?"

"I do indeed have a love for money. But a gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way. I would never dare to covet what is not mine! The witness to the moving fence is Jiang Lan's wife, Jiang Chengshi! She told me this herself."

"Nonsense! If you already knew, why didn't you report it to the authorities sooner? Besides, Jiang Lan is Jiang Chengshi's husband, and this house is related to her own family's vital interests. How could she betray her husband?!"

"My lord, please don't forget that although Jiang Chengshi is Jiang Lan's wife, she is also a servant of my family. She came with my mother as part of her dowry and has watched me grow up since I was a child. She is kind-hearted and honest. It's not impossible that Jiang Lan would reveal the truth to me if she wanted to plot against my family!"

"Since you already knew, why did you only say it now?"

“At first, I thought Jiang Lan just wanted to take advantage of the situation and occupy an extra old house. I had no use for the house anyway, and considering that he had been a servant in my family for more than forty years, I didn’t argue with him. But since there are ten thousand taels of gold hidden in this house, how could I give it away to the Jiang family for nothing? If you don’t believe me, you can ask Jiang Chengshi yourself.”

“Alright, I will go with you to the Jiang family mansion to inquire about Jiang Chengshi.”

Great Qing Shenjuan Thirty-Seven

Zhang Wentao instructed Magistrate You Huan to return to the county office first, while Chen Wenwei, along with several constables, guarded the old residence. Then, he took Qian Botang and accompanied Chang Zhesong to the Jiang residence.

Jiang Chengshi led the three people into the living room, and before they could even sit down, she began to ramble on, "This is fate! I advised him against doing such a despicable thing, but he insisted I was being too soft-hearted. Now he's getting his comeuppance." Jiang Chengshi sat down, her lips trembling, "I came to the Chang family mansion with the eldest mistress back then. I was seventeen years old; he was a servant of the Chang family for two generations, growing up there since childhood. The Chang family treated us very well, even giving us such a large estate and two thousand taels of silver as a settlement allowance. What servant could possibly receive such treatment? To be able to establish our own household, it's all thanks to the Chang family's kindness! But this damned man just wouldn't listen, insisting on taking over that old house, saying something like 'a moment of depravity, a lifetime of enjoyment.' But heaven still has eyes..."

"So, the fence was indeed moved?"

“That’s easy, isn’t it? He and his son Jiang Deyun moved it over in one night.”

"Among all these people in the village, doesn't anyone have any suspicions?"

"At that time, no one knew about the fence as the boundary in the will; only my husband knew. If the fence was moved slightly, what would others think? The master was suffering from a headache at the time and hardly left the house; the young master was a high-ranking official in Beijing and did not return for three or four months, so he was kept in the dark."

Zhang asked Tao, "Who has the will?"

Chang Zhesong took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said, "There are three copies in total: one for the Jiang family, one for me, and one for the witness. Please take a look at the copy here, sir."

Zhang Wentao took it, looked at it carefully for a while, and then handed the will to Qian Botang.

Qian Botang glanced at it and was startled, saying, "Why is the witness named Su Jiying? Is he the current Shandong Governor Su Jiying?"

Chang Zhesong said, "That's right. Lord Su and my father are close friends, and they have known each other for more than twenty years."

Zhang Wentao ignored Su Jiying's role as a witness in the will and instead asked Qian Botang, "Shiliang (Qian Botang's courtesy name), did you notice anything amiss in the will?"

“There is indeed a boundary marked by a stone wall, poplar trees, and a fence. If Jiang Lan really moved the fence, the case will be simple.”

Chang Zhesong hurriedly asked, "How is it simple?"

Qian Botang smiled but didn't answer immediately. He first took his leave of Jiang Chengshi and left the Jiang residence with the two men. When they reached a secluded spot, he said to Chang Zhesong, "Since this house containing hidden gold was allocated to you, your father, Chang Lianxian, probably wanted to find a suitable opportunity to tell you its secret. However, you were away serving as an official for many years, and your father, relying on his young age, wasn't very attentive. Therefore, he never had the chance to have a long talk with you until his sudden death, leaving this secret to himself. But the steward, Jiang Lan, because he spent every day with your father, found out a bit about it and moved the fence to seize the old house. Unfortunately, he only knew there was bait, but not the hook. Although he obtained the old house, because he didn't know there were hidden mechanisms inside, he ultimately lost his life at the hands of Chang Lianxian."

Zhang asked Tao, “Shi Liang is right. But all your inferences are based on the testimony of Jiang Chengshi alone, which is not very reliable. Since Jiang Lan’s son was also involved in this matter, it is not too late to question him after he returns from the provincial examination. Only when both of their statements are correct can a final conclusion be reached.”

More than ten days later, a heavy rain on the eighth day of the intercalary seventh month temporarily suppressed the summer heat. The rain stopped, the clouds dispersed, and a bright moon appeared. Qian Botang, following Zhang Wentao's orders, remained at Chang Family Village to await the return of Jiang Lan's son, Jiang Deyun, from the provincial examination. Because of the unusually cool night, he invited Constable Wang to come out and enjoy the cool air. Emerging from the Chang family compound, they found themselves on a main road. The trees on both sides were lush and verdant, their branches intertwined with vines, shimmering like mercury under the moonlight after the rain.

Qian Botang sighed, “What a tranquil place! Famous gardens, tall bamboos, ancient paths, and misty clouds. There is no extravagance of wealth and nobility, but the thatched cottages and bamboo fences are full of natural charm.”

Officer Wang said, “Mr. Qian has a refined taste, but to us common folk, it’s nothing more than a bright moon, a few rows of trees, and an endless road.”

Qian Botang laughed and said, "What Constable Wang said is very true."

The two walked and talked, and after a while they saw a house in the distance brightly lit. Qian Botang said, "What a coincidence, we've come to that old house again. Chang Zhesong has sent more than ten guards to watch over it day and night. My teacher also said that there are still some things about this house that we haven't discovered, so he left four yamen runners to take turns guarding it. But we don't know what secrets this house holds."

As they were talking, Constable Wang suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Silence!"

Qian Botang quickly stopped talking, looked around but saw nothing. He looked at Constable Wang and said softly, "Did you see anything?"

"Two men in black passed over the rooftops on the opposite side."

Before Constable Wang could finish speaking, someone shouted from the old house, "Catch the thief!" Then they started banging a gong, accompanied by the clanging of weapons.

Qian Botang said, "Go and take a look quickly."

The two rushed to the old house and saw three or five masked men in black already fighting with the guards and constables. Qian Botang said urgently, "Officer Wang, hurry and help! Make sure to bring one back alive."

By this time, Constable Wang had already rushed over, and outside the old house, there were sounds of clappers and gongs everywhere, and many farmhands were shouting and running towards this side. Although the masked men were all quite skilled in martial arts, seeing that the other side was gradually increasing in number, they gave a whistle and jumped onto the rooftops, leaping over the ridges and disappearing without a trace in just a moment.

Qian Botang, who knew no martial arts, waited until the thieves left before daring to enter the courtyard. He saw that two or three people were injured, and that Constable Wang had a cut more than a foot long on his back, fortunately only a superficial scratch. Qian Botang asked, "Weren't any of the thieves wounded and captured?"

One of the village guards said, "Master Qian, those thieves are very powerful. We can't beat them at all, so how can we catch them? If we hadn't put up net bells on the roof and the courtyard wall, we might have all been ambushed by them."

Upon hearing this, Qian Botang gasped and muttered to himself, "Why would so many martial arts experts break into an old house at night? My teacher said there were still some things I hadn't noticed, so why didn't he point them out?"

Just as he was thinking, he heard someone call out from behind, "Mr. Qian." Qian Botang turned around and saw Chang Zhesong walking over, holding a letter in his hand: "Take a look. Someone just delivered a message with a flying knife, telling me to take the gold and stop worrying about the old house."

Qian Botang was shocked again upon hearing this!

The Great Qing Divine Judgment Thirty-Eight

Upon learning of the attack on the Chang family's old residence in Laizhou Prefecture, Zhang Wentao hurriedly led Chen Wenwei back to the Chang family manor. Just as they arrived at the entrance of the manor, they saw a tall paper banner rising from the Jiang family's courtyard, fluttering in the wind, with faint sounds of chanting and striking ritual implements emanating from it.

Zhang Wentao asked Qian Botang, who had come to greet him, "Who in the Jiang family has passed away?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, it is Jiang Lan's son, Jiang Deyun."

"Oh no, how did he die?"