Chapter 268
Chapter 268
Xiuzhu would certainly know her mother’s name.
Once we knew her surname, we could determine whether her mother and the Ninth Concubine were sisters.
“Hong Bao’er. My mother’s name was Hong Bao’er.”
“Hong?”
My eyes widened in disappointment.
Wasn’t her mother supposed to be a Xu?
“That’s normal,” Seventh Master said. “If the Seventh and Ninth Concubines looked alike and shared a surname, anyone would have known they were related.”
“And this little girl doesn’t seem to know the Ninth Concubine’s identity. She may never have met this aunt after she was born. Perhaps the Seventh and Ninth Concubines grew up in different households.”
I hurriedly asked Xiuzhu another question. “Xiuzhu, was the Ninth Concubine good to you?”
Xiuzhu nodded. “Yes. Little Mother treated me very well. She was the only person who was good to me.”
I asked, “Did you know that your Little Mother looked a lot like your mother?”
Xiuzhu said, “Everyone said they looked alike, but I’ve forgotten what my mother looked like. She died when I was very young.”
The Seventh Concubine must have died when Xiuzhu was still small, probably four or five.
“Have you seen your Little Mother at all over the years?” I added, “I mean… since you died.”
Xiuzhu shook her head. “I haven’t. I’ve been looking for her, but I can’t find her. I miss her so much.”
I looked at Seventh Master. “The Ninth Concubine may not be dead. The extra corpse at the scene was most likely the body intended as the vessel.”
Seventh Master nodded and sank into thought.
Only then did I begin examining the room.
It was large and arranged with care, resembling a study.
This was probably Master Luo’s study.
The people outside had stopped making noise, but we could still see them standing rigidly beyond the door.
They could not get inside, so we ignored them for the moment and continued searching for clues.
The room contained many things, but most were of no value to us.
Before long, however, I found a ledger in a drawer.
I flipped through it. Most pages recorded the expenses of Luo Mansion, but when I reached the back, I froze and called out, “Seventh Master, come look! It’s Seven Deaths for Life Exchange again!”
Seventh Master hurried over. One glance, and his expression changed.
This was Master Luo’s ledger. The handwriting at the front and back was identical, proving Master Luo had personally written down this version of Seven Deaths for Life Exchange.
But this version was absurd. Seventh Master and I could tell immediately that it was false.
It claimed that Seven Deaths for Life Exchange required the lives of six women, all of whom had to be among the people closest to the practitioner.
Exactly six women, all intimately connected to Master Luo. It might as well have listed the names of his six concubines.
This version of Seven Deaths for Life Exchange could not have been more obviously fabricated.
“What’s going on? How does he know about Seven Deaths for Life Exchange too?” Seventh Master frowned.
I said, “The Ninth Concubine probably told Master Luo. Think about it. Why would she fake her death? Even the wretched hag thought her illness and death were suspicious.”
Seventh Master quickly understood. “The Ninth Concubine faked her death. Before she supposedly died, she asked Master Luo to resurrect her and gave him this version of Seven Deaths for Life Exchange, misleading him into killing the other concubines.”
I nodded. I felt we were gradually closing in on the truth.
After the Ninth Concubine faked her death, Master Luo could not bear to discard anything in her room and had servants clean it every day. That proved how deeply he doted on her. It also showed that, in his mind, he believed the Ninth Concubine would return to live in this room.
Why?
Probably because of that false version of Seven Deaths for Life Exchange.
He planned to trade the lives of his other concubines for the Ninth Concubine’s resurrection.
“What kind of mind does Master Luo have? He wants to kill six concubines just to bring one back.”
I could not understand it. “And the thing is so obviously fake, yet he believed it.”
Seventh Master said, “People in that era were superstitious, and he already adored the Ninth Concubine. For men, lust is a blade hanging over their heads.”
We continued searching the room.
Before long, I found something else unusual. A statue of a tiger stood on a bookshelf along one wall.
On the bookshelf directly opposite was a statue of an ox.
Seventh Master came over and asked what I was looking at.
I did not answer immediately. I walked over and tried turning the tiger statue without using much force. It moved. This was some kind of mechanism.
I pointed first to the tiger statue, then to the ox. “Among the myriad correspondences of the Eight Trigrams, the tiger belongs to the Qian Hexagram and the ox to Kun. This is a mechanism. I read about it in the chapter on mechanical arts in Mysteries of the Six Yao.”
“It’s called a Yin-Yang Lock. It’s usually used on the doors of secret rooms and is considered a very basic mechanism.”
Seventh Master looked startled. “You’re saying there’s a secret room here?”
I nodded. “Once we solve the mechanism, its door will open.”
Seventh Master looked at me. “Do you know how to solve it?”
I recalled the method for opening a Yin-Yang Lock. “The combination comes from the Numbers of Heaven and Earth. Together, the Numbers of Heaven and Earth total fifty-five. The Numbers of Heaven are twenty-five, and the Numbers of Earth are thirty.”
“The combination for the tiger statue is hidden within the Numbers of Heaven, while the combination for the ox is within the Numbers of Earth. Each statue has three sets of numbers, making six in total. To derive all six, you have to use Qimen calculation on the Numbers of Heaven and Earth.”
I did not know Qimen, but Seventh Master did.
Seventh Master nodded. “I understand.”
He took paper and a pen from the desk and began making Qimen calculations.
After ten or fifteen minutes, he derived six number sequences. Three of them added up to twenty-five, while the other three added up to thirty.
Seventh Master had not only solved all six sequences but also determined their order.
He stood beside the tiger statue while I took my place by the ox. Following his instructions, we began turning the mechanisms according to the combination he had calculated.
We turned the statues six times, in this order: tiger, ox, tiger, tiger, ox, ox.
As soon as we finished, the sound of a mechanical device engaging came from inside the room.
Seventh Master and I stared at the bookcase opposite the desk. It covered the entire wall and now began sliding apart from the center.
Even though we had expected it, I was still amazed. There really was a hidden space behind the wall.
The room was a little over ten square meters and contained a bed. A woman in a qipao lay upon it.
I recognized her at a glance.
It was the Ninth Concubine, who had faked her death!