False evidence

Chapter 131 Treasure (Part 2)

Inside the wooden box was a dark, iron folding fan.

The fan ribs are covered in rust, but it's old rust.

Because of the patina, holding it in your hand will never make you feel uncomfortable.

Liu Yi'er tapped my head three times with his iron fan. Not only did I not feel any pain, but it also greatly reduced my physical discomfort. At the same time, I felt a long-lost clarity in my mind.

"Does it work?" Liu Yier asked me again.

"It works." I wiped my face vigorously. "Can I take a look at this fan?"

"Since it works, I'll give it to you for protection."

Liu Yi'er handed me the iron fan directly.

Because it is made entirely of cast iron, it has a substantial feel.

I held it in my hand and rubbed it for a while, then opened the fan with one hand. Four bright red characters immediately caught my eye: Rewards and Punishments, Yin and Yang!
"The Yin-Yang Fan!" the monkey exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Yi'er and Liu Hong's expressions both changed: "You've seen this fan before?"

The monkey said, "I've never seen a real one, but last night—no, this morning—I saw a painting. The painting depicted Judge Wei holding a fan just like this. Sanqi told me that it was the Yin-Yang Fan used for rewarding and punishing Yin and Yang."

I noticed that both of them looked visibly disappointed. They closed their iron fans and asked:
"Is this the fan that Zhao Boqing collected?"

Liu Yi'er sat down again, frowning and nodding: "It is the Yin-Yang Fan, but this fan is just a replica made by a skilled craftsman to facilitate my search for the real treasure."

I thought about it for a moment, then silently fastened the iron fan and put it back in the box.

Compared to Chen Zudao, Liu Yier was even more shrewd and experienced, and sighed, saying:

"As you've probably guessed, what Liu Hong has been searching for all these years, traveling all over the country, is this Yin-Yang Fan. We must find the real Fan no matter what, otherwise, it would truly be... alas..."

Liu Hong interjected, "If the Yin-Yang Fan cannot be found, the Liu family members will not live past forty."

The monkey asked, "I don't understand. What do you mean by 'the Liu family won't live past forty because they can't find the fan'?"

Liu Yi'er said, "That's true. Well then, let me tell you why the Yin-Yang Fan is considered a priceless treasure. First, let me explain why I became the way I am now."

My initial search for the treasure fan was mostly out of curiosity—whether such a treasure truly existed. Later, Zhao Boqing's entire family was brutally murdered overnight. Zhao Tiezhong had many friends, and they all wanted to avenge him; I was one of them.

Having no leads whatsoever, I went to Jinan Prefecture and found Wang Budai, the fortune teller I mentioned earlier. I asked him for a divination slip, but he only glanced at it before swallowing it whole.

He said four words at the time: "There is no hope of revenge!"
I could tell he was hiding something, so I wasn't going to give up. Since he insisted on not telling me, I stayed by his side day and night, pestering and nagging him relentlessly. I even squatted next to him when he went to the toilet.

Knowing my resolve was unwavering, he reluctantly said to me, "According to the divination, you can find the murderer, but not only will you not be able to avenge Zhao Tiezhong, you will also fall victim to his cruelty. You will live a long life, but it will be far worse than death. Now that I've told you the truth, are you still going to insist on doing this?"

I found it strange, so I asked him, "How can someone who has been murdered live a long life?" He sighed, "Life is worse than death."

I still didn't understand what he was saying, but before I could ask again, he pulled a slip of paper from his bag, unfolded it, looked at it, and swallowed it again.

Then he said to me, 'Since you've made up your mind, I can't stop you. But before that, you must promise me two things. First, don't go anywhere this year; stay in Jinan, find a wife, and wait until you're ten months pregnant and the child is born before you go to avenge your friend. Second, when you see your enemy, you must never confront him directly; you must kill him secretly. And absolutely never confront him between midnight and dawn.'

I was already fed up. I thought to myself, this old guy is capable, that's true, but in the end he just wants me to catch the killer. In the past year, I've gotten married and had a child. With the baby just born, how could I possibly be in the mood to avenge my friend?

I intended to feign agreement and wait until I could get information out of him before exposing his tricks. But to my surprise, this Wang Budai (a nickname) stopped there and the very next day brought me a woman, forcing us to marry. Although she was widowed, I found her attractive, so I simply married her.

When he said this, both the monkey and I couldn't help but frown.

He noticed this and immediately said, "I was engaged to someone in my younger years, but she passed away from illness before we got married. We were childhood sweethearts, and although we never consummated our marriage, our feelings for each other were very deep, so I vowed never to marry again. However, before my father passed away, he insisted that I continue the family line."

Time has passed, and I've reached the age of forty. My thoughts have changed. First, I'm afraid of dying alone, and second, of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is having no offspring.

Furthermore, the woman that Wang Budai brought back bore a striking resemblance to my deceased fiancée, and when we calculated her age, it actually matched the time of her death.

So, my two children, please don't think I'm immoral or that I sacrificed someone's life to achieve my goals. Actually, my wife stayed with me until thirty-six years ago when she passed away.” Liu Hong rolled his eyes: “This is the first time you've brought this up.”

Liu Yi'er ignored him and then said to me:

"For more than half a year after the wedding, I stayed in Jinan, deeply in love with my new wife. But as time went by, everyone else had given up on finding the murderer who had wiped out the entire Zhao family. When I heard about this, how could I stay any longer?"

That very day, Wang Budai came to my house, looking utterly dejected. He said he had done something wrong and feared his time was near; he wouldn't live much longer. Since he had promised to tell me the murderer's whereabouts, he had no choice but to reveal it sooner rather than later.

At this point, Liu Yi'er looked sorrowful and stopped speaking.

I stopped the monkey from talking too much. After a while, Liu Hong said, "Grandpa, just think about it, don't keep thinking about it."

Liu Yi'er chuckled twice before continuing:

"Wang Budai gave me a letter at the time, telling me that the murderer's whereabouts were written in the letter. He also instructed me that I must wait until the child was born and the full moon celebration was over before I could go to take revenge."

After that, he vanished like a crane in the wind, never to return. How could I possibly stay put? Actually, the worst thing for a person is to be impulsive. Once, emboldened by a few extra drinks, I opened the letter while drunk.

Three days later, I left my wife, who was four months pregnant, and traveled day and night to reach our current city.

Wang Budai's letter contained only two sentences: "Go south and live in the north of the city. If you encounter an enemy, you should know it yourself."

After I arrived here, I planned to stay one night and continue south, but an unexpected thing happened in a restaurant.

I was having a late-night snack when a filthy, crazy woman suddenly burst in. She grabbed onto my table, grabbed the food, and started stuffing it into her mouth. Then an old woman and two strong men arrived, trying to take her away.

I couldn't stand by and watch as the three men took the madwoman away. I followed them all the way, and when they reached a dark place, I hacked the old woman and the two men to pieces.

Seeing that the crazy woman had nowhere to go, I took her to a hotel and booked a room for her. I originally planned to stay another day and then entrust her to my friends in the area the next day.

But to my surprise, someone knocked on the door in the middle of the night. When I opened the door, a beautiful woman, dressed in dirty clothes but with a clean face, walked straight into my room.

The woman came in and immediately told me her name was Tong Jiawen. She even knew why I had come. She told me that the person I was looking for currently lived in Beicheng and owned property near the hotel.

If she hadn't introduced herself, I certainly wouldn't have understood. But upon hearing her name, I immediately understood what she meant and knew who she was.

When Bo Qing got married, he sent me a wedding invitation, but I was away for many years. By the time I received the invitation, the Zhao family had already been wiped out. The invitation contained my new wife's name—Tong Jiawen.

I recognized the woman from her clothes; I never expected her to be so beautiful after washing up.

She was definitely lucid at that time, but she only said those things that were incomprehensible to ordinary people, and then she went crazy again. She even hugged me and said that she was wrong, that she had been deceived by a beast, that she mistook me for Zhao Boqing, and begged for my forgiveness.

Now that I knew her identity, I roughly figured out some details. So, I directly poured half a pot of rice wine into her mouth, coaxed her to sleep, and went to the house she mentioned that very night.

As I mentioned before, Chen Zudao once saved my life. It was through him that I met Lü Xin. Having traveled extensively, I could quickly ascertain his identity and profession upon meeting him.

That night, I arrived at the house, climbed over the wall, and saw a man sleeping in bed with a woman in his arms. I immediately recognized him—it was Lü Xin.

At that time, all I could think of was that this lecherous man might have been lustful and murdered Zhao Tiezhong's family. Although I didn't know the truth, I didn't care about anything else and just wanted to shoot him to comfort the souls of Zhao Tiezhong's family.

But, just then, the woman beside him opened her eyes! She screamed, and Lü Xin immediately woke up…

At this point, Liu Yi'er seemed to recall a terrifying scene, just like I had not long ago. He slumped in his chair, looking up at the sky, his chest heaving violently.

Neither the monkey nor I dared to make a sound.

Liu Hong's face was gloomy. He only looked at us, put his index finger to his lips, and gestured for us not to speak.

Five minutes passed before Liu Yier slowly sat up straight.

He and I locked eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then he slowly said:
"I completely forgot Wang Budai's instructions at that time. When I saw him wake up, I immediately asked him a question based on my own assumptions: 'Did you harm Zhao Boqing's family?'"

He looked at me, just like you are now, simply looking at me, his eyes flickered for a moment, and then he said, "Yes!" Then, he smiled, picked up a fan from beside his pillow, slowly unfolded it, and fanned himself against me…

(End of this chapter)