False evidence

Chapter 245 Secret Mark
Aside from these two similar legends that can be found in almost every place, the steamed bun shop owner couldn't come up with anything else of substance.

This is mainly because the archway was destroyed.

I asked Xiao Shen if he and Gao He had eaten enough, and if they had, we should go directly to the Jiang Family Archway.

After asking the shopkeeper for the exact address, the three of them left the old street and drove out of the town.

Before long, looking up at a mountain, I understood why the steamed bun shop owner said Centipede Mountain was easy to spot.

Unlike the North, the South has many evergreen plants even in winter, which are not completely covered by snow.

Therefore, when viewed from a distance, the staggered and prominent mountain ridges are quite obvious.

It really looked like a giant, snow-white centipede, crawling from the foot of the mountain to the top, through the forest!

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Gao He finally couldn't help but ask, "Was it Yan Fengwei who told you about this archway ruin? Can you tell me why you came here?"

I said, "Brother Gao, there are some things I haven't told you because I don't want to lie to you."

Gao He nodded: "Alright, although that drunkard is dead, Liang Kaiyuan's case is closed. Let's take a break."

Despite being called a historical site, there is absolutely no trace of the archway that once stood there.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a pavilion built later. Three iron chains are strung on the entrance, and a sign for cultural relic protection hangs on a cement pillar next to it.

The protected object can be seen from the outside.

Just like the steamed bun shop owner said, it was a rectangular stone plaque.

This isn't much of a tourist attraction; it's located in a remote area, and apart from us, nobody comes here on snowy days.

The three of them crawled through the iron chains and entered the pavilion.

Xiao Shen San circled the stone plaque, pointed to a spreading, dark area, and clicked his tongue in amazement:

"There really is blood! Unbelievable, it turns out that guy was telling the truth, this thing really did kill someone!"

Gao He said, "Don't listen to his nonsense."

I said to Xiao Shen, "It's possible that the stone plaque fell and killed someone, but the bloodstains on the stone couldn't have lasted that long. Look at this dark color... Hey! What are you doing?"

The following sentence was addressed to Gao He.

This guy actually used his car key to scratch the darker parts of the stone plaque.

"Look at how many scratches there are! I'm definitely the ten thousandth person to do this..."

Gao continued talking, but his hands didn't stop moving.

However, he only scratched it twice before unscrewing a thin dropper from a rather unusual-looking keychain and dripping a drop of unidentified liquid onto the tip of the key.

Judging from his expression, he clearly hadn't gotten the result he wanted. After a slight hesitation, he simply dripped another drop onto the stone plaque.

"This is what I asked Xiao Jiang (Jiang Banxia) for. It can be used to easily verify the approximate composition of some substances."

As Gao He told me about the origin of the 'keychain,' he leaned close to the spot where the liquid was dripping and smelled it.

When he looked up, his expression was one of surprise. He looked at me and said, "This really does look like blood!"

I paused for a moment, then squatted down, dipped my finger in saliva, and smeared it on the normal-colored part of the stone plaque.

When the northwest wind blows, the saliva dries quickly, leaving no trace.

I said, "This is just ordinary mountain rock in the south, its water absorption is negligible. Blood isn't paint, how could it stay for so long?"

Gao He said, "Xiao Jiang would never lie to me."

Is it really blood?

A vague thought suddenly flashed through my mind, but I couldn't quite grasp its essence at the moment.

Xiao Shen patted my shoulder.

I turned my head and saw him raise his hands in front of his chest, making a scratching motion like a groundhog.

Most people wouldn't understand what he meant, but I immediately realized what he was trying to tell me.

What he meant was—to dig up the grave. The person who left the map was confirmed to be Jiang Baohan.

Jiang Baohan claimed that the tomb was built by family tradition, but some people said he was a tomb robber.

Both of them are considered to be the closest to the dead.

In reality, we have to admit that some of the old ways of doing things cannot be explained by a few pronouncements from so-called experts.

Using special methods to turn human or animal blood into a 'dye' that is even harder to remove than paint seems to fit the behavior logic of tomb builders.

Although the date of the map left by Jiang Baohan does not match the year the archway was destroyed, I am still more inclined to believe that the blood on the stone plaque was most likely deliberately put there by him, rather than traces left by someone who was killed.

Just as I was pondering this, Xiao Shen called out to me again: "Come with me."

As he spoke, he climbed over the wall from one side of the pavilion and stepped outside.

I followed him out and quietly asked him what he had found.
He beckoned to me with his finger: "Squat down!"

I squatted down as instructed, and he actually stepped onto my neck.

If it were Gao He, he would definitely think it was just a child being silly.

But I knew that Xiao Shen San must have a purpose at this moment.

"Get up, carry me on your back, take a few steps back, and walk around the pavilion."

I did as instructed.

When Gao He saw this, he blamed me again for letting the child drink alcohol. Now that the drunken Xiao Shen San was dragging me around like a horse, I deserved it.

When we got to the second lap, Xiao Shen made me stop and shouted at Gao He in the pavilion, "Get out of the way!"

Gao He shook his head helplessly and moved a few steps to the side, making way for the stone plaque that had been obscured.

Now I truly understand Xiao Shensan's intentions.

Except for the side with the iron chain, the pavilion is surrounded by a low cement wall nearly a meter high. From the outside, at this distance, unless Xiao Shen San is riding on my shoulders like this, he wouldn't be able to see the stone plaque inside the pavilion at all.

I asked in a low voice, "What did you find?"

Xiao Shen San also responded in a low voice: "It's an arrow."

"arrow?"

"Yes. The blood on it is a directional arrow, but not the kind with a sharp point that ordinary people would think of. It's a secret mark that was commonly used by bandits in Shandong and bandits in Northeast China (bandits and bandits are both local bandits, but they have different names depending on the region). I haven't seen any bandits in the South, but since they are also 'outlaws,' they should be similar."

Xiao Shen told me to put him down, and the two of us returned to the pavilion. We walked around to the side of the stone plaque, and he made a gesture to me.

That's telling me where the arrow is pointing.

Seeing the suspicion on Gao He's face, I really didn't want to lie to him, so I immediately said:
"The shopkeeper said that the stone plaque had killed someone, which is probably true. But this blood... even if it is blood, it's most likely not from the person who was killed, but was deliberately put there. You can't tell anything up close... Shen San's hometown is in the Northeast, and he just realized that it's a coded sign that a bandit often uses to indicate directions."

Gao He was surprised: "He's so small, he's never seen a beard before? And he still has a beard now?"

"It's my ancestral beard!"

Xiao Shen was a bit drunk, but he understood what I was thinking. After saying something in a muffled voice, he pointed in one direction and said, "Anyway, the arrow is pointing that way."

Gao He glanced at it and then couldn't help but laugh and cry, "This little guy is really drunk."

He said that because, following Xiao Shen's finger, all he could see was the road and the cars we had parked.

However, after we made eye contact, he immediately realized what was going on.

When was the arrow left?

"Based on the timeline, it should have been left before the archway was destroyed." I said to him sincerely, "Brother Gao, don't ask me questions. I don't want to lie to you."

Gao He nodded to me, climbed out of the pavilion, walked to a spot, and gestured as he spun around. He stopped, facing the centipede-shaped ridge, and said:
"The memorial archway must have been built here, according to its original location... The stone plaque is hanging above, and the arrow is pointing in the direction that should be—there!"

He raised his hand and pointed diagonally upwards...

(End of this chapter)