Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 136 Burden
The village chief and his men knew where the danger at the small temple came from; if things went wrong, they could lose their lives. But the five of them still insisted on staying.

Jia Chuan didn't try to persuade him any further. Even without the village chief and the others, he wanted to bring in a few yamen runners so they could take turns getting some rest. Besides, even if these people were bad, they were still better than him and Old Zheng. Now that they had come up, there was no need to bring in any more yamen runners.

Jia Chuan anticipated that nothing would happen in the first half of the night, so he told Gao Yunduo and Dong Yuanyuan to go to the nunnery to sleep for a while. There was a hot water bottle, a heater, and a brocade quilt, so the two of them should not get cold.

There were two bonfires in the temple. Jia Chuan sat by the bonfire in front of Gao Yunduo's door, and the village chief also sat there. Shunzi and Old Zhengtou led the villagers to sit by the other bonfire.

Old Zheng and Shunzi were originally sitting here, but when the villagers brought wine, Old Zheng pulled Shunzi over. They figured they couldn't help anyone if someone came, so they might as well drink some to ward off the cold.

The village chief sat down next to Jia Chuan, and after a moment of silence, asked, "Won't those three inside... freeze to death?"

“Magistrate Zhao brought some charcoal, and there is a charcoal brazier in the room… Their injuries are so severe that they cannot move. They will either die here or there. It all depends on whether they can hold on until someone from the capital comes.”

Upon hearing this, the village chief anxiously asked, "Won't that cause you trouble?"

Jia Chuan shrugged, his face flushed in the firelight: "Probably not. No matter who handles this kind of thing, there's no way to have the best of both worlds. I've been interrogating them for a while, but they won't talk, and I can't do anything about it."

"They...are all Taoist priests?"

"It looks like it, but who knows if it's true or not?"

"This temple is quite old, how did they find it?"

"One after another, that's how it is. I've always wondered how a monk could come to the village and build a temple? And then he could even recruit disciples. This isn't some local temple or a temple for the gods and goddesses that the villagers worship; it's a full-fledged Buddhist temple. I don't think anyone in the village has converted to Buddhism, so it makes even less sense. There's no money for incense... Do they want to practice asceticism? Then they should go to the mountains, where there's plenty of spiritual energy and divine presence, or go to some existing temples..."

At this moment, Shunzi sat down and said, "Maybe they came here to avoid trouble, and if they stay long enough, they won't want to leave."

The village chief nodded and said, "I thought monks were always like this."

Shunzi asked, "Old Zheng said you deduced that the four people froze to death, and that these Taoist priests came after they froze to death? Or did they originally belong to the group of the Taoist priests who froze to death? Does that mean that the four people's death from freezing to death was really an accident?"

Jia Chuan rubbed his nose; he felt like he was catching a cold, his nose was a little stuffy.

"Where was the Taoist's bundle found?" Jia Chuan asked.

"On the pedestal of the Buddha statue in the main hall, the one you asked about before."

Jia Chuan nodded and asked:
"Two old Taoist priests only had one bundle? And Taoist priests didn't need to go to the main hall to worship the Buddha statue, did they? The old monk didn't need to take the two Taoist priests to visit the main hall either. Whatever the real purpose of the two Taoist priests, they should have been put in a nunnery after entering the temple. It was already dusk, and they should have had some vegetarian food in the nunnery and then rested. If they had rested in the nunnery, they might have suffered from frostbite or gotten sick, but they certainly wouldn't have frozen to death. But they died, and the bundle containing the silver was on the platform of the main hall. There was only one bundle."

The village chief thought for a moment and said, "Shouldn't a bundle be enough? They're going out..."

“But it’s unreasonable for them to be carrying so much silver. If the two Taoist priests don’t have any banknotes or copper coins, how will they buy things or stay at inns? When traveling, one should not flaunt one’s wealth. This is a very simple principle that they must understand. If they insist on doing so, and the journey is not short, they have no chance of making it here alive.”

Shunzi's eyes lit up. He turned to look at Jia Chuan, using his eyes to stop the inspection from continuing. Then he turned to the village chief and said politely, "Please have a seat, village chief. I have some private matters to discuss with him."

The village chief was taken aback. They were talking peacefully, why did they suddenly want to talk about personal matters?

He glanced at Jia Chuan, who nodded with a smile. The village chief then got up and went to another campfire.

Seeing that the village chief was seated, Shunzi turned around and whispered, "It's not advisable for the villagers to know what's happening in the cellar right now, in case..."

"Are you afraid that if the villagers find out, they'll kill us all?"

"That's a lot of gold and silver?!" Shunzi squeezed out the words through gritted teeth.

Jia Chuan stared at the fire without saying a word.

"If even monks can't control themselves, then don't try to test the poor."

Jia Chuan squinted at the fire but remained silent.

Shunzi asked in a low voice, "What you just said means that this small temple was originally built for these gold and silver, and that there was a group of people who were looking for these gold and silver back then..."

Jia Chuan also lowered his voice and said, "I don't know about what happened back then, but about this case... no one noticed how many bundles the two old Taoists were carrying when they came. I think there should have been two, because they were about the same age. If one was old and the other young, they might have had a chance to carry only one bundle. Even if they only carried one, the silver shouldn't have been in the bundle when they came in."

"You mean..."

Jia Chuan rubbed his hands together and said, "I haven't had time to think about the case carefully until now. I just thought about it, and I think the two old Taoist priests might have some skills. Their group found out that the gold and silver were here, and they also found out that there were only two old monks in the temple. When the two of them came, they forced the old monks to hand over some silver, and maybe some gold, which they put into their bundles..."

A scene flashed through Jia Chuan's mind.

Outside, the north wind howled. Two old Taoist priests earnestly tried to persuade two old monks, their tone sincere but their words laced with threat. The two old monks remained steadfast, honest, and pitiful. In the end, it's unclear who persuaded whom, but the two old monks led the two Taoist priests to the main hall, where they had hidden a small portion of their gold and silver. But just as the two Taoist priests were packing it into their bundles, someone arrived…

Upon realizing this possibility, Jia Chuan immediately stood up and had Shunzi carry the torch to the main hall. The village head and the others wanted to follow, but Old Zheng said, "Don't move. Do what you're told, and don't do anything else. You can't help him much, but not causing trouble is enough. Just wait. If he needs you, he won't be polite. If he doesn't need you, your presence will only cause trouble."

Upon hearing this, the village chief looked at the four people. The four of them didn't cause any trouble and obediently sat down. The village chief nodded and sat down as well.

Jia Chuan and Shunzi walked around the base of the Buddha statue. Jia Chuan also had a chance to examine the Buddha statue carefully. He had previously thought that the Buddha statue looked dilapidated because of its damage, but now, holding a torch and looking closely, he realized that the undamaged parts were not so bad either.

Besides the Buddha statue, there were only four walls in the main hall. Jia Chuan tapped and knocked on the walls and finally found a clue in a corner where the wall met the ground.

The original color of the wall should have been white, but after so many years of dust and scratches, it has long lost its original color. In places where the wall has peeled off, you can see the rammed earth layer inside, and the hemp fibers and straw in the rammed earth layer are clearly visible.

There, at the very bottom, was a particularly dark area, and Jia Chuan saw countless overlapping fingerprints left on it. Perhaps when the old monk touched this spot, his hands were dirty and slightly damp, leaving clear fingerprints on the wall.

Shunzi, holding a torch, had already looked to the side, but fingerprints were particularly noticeable to Jia Chuan. Even if it was just a glance, he called out to Shunzi, squatted down, and pressed his hand on the slightly protruding area according to the location of the fingerprint. The area, only the size of a palm, sank in, and a gray wall about the size of a drawer next to it slowly moved outward.

It really looked like a drawer. Three sides of the wall were made of wooden panels, and the dividing lines on them were like cracks that could be seen everywhere on the wall. Jia Chuan frowned as he looked at it. This place was close to the ground, so it was easy to avoid other people's sight. Of course, no one else would come here.

The drawer was fully exposed and empty.

Shunzi, holding up a torch, exclaimed in surprise, "There really is such a place!"

Jia Chuan pressed it again, and the 'drawer' slowly went back. He stood up and couldn't help but shake his head. This was because they weren't encouraging the people to develop science and technology. Otherwise, wouldn't the First Industrial Revolution have had to be moved to a different location?
If such a thing appeared in the Han King's mansion, Jia Chuan wouldn't find it strange at all, but this was a remote, dilapidated temple.

……

Jia Chuan returned to the campfire, and the village chief, unable to sit still any longer, sat down beside him and asked, "Did you discover anything? Will anyone come tonight...?"

Jia Chuan rubbed his face, staring blankly at the fire with a serious expression, as if he hadn't heard what the village chief said. Shunzi explained in a low voice, "He's thinking about something and can't hear what others are saying."

The village chief said "Oh," and asked Shunzi, "What's inside?"

Shunzi shrugged: "Nothing."

Jia Chuan wasn't unaware of what the village chief was asking; he had just sat down and his thoughts were still scattered. He didn't answer because he didn't know how to respond.

But he couldn't hear what the two said after that; the scene from that night reappeared in his mind.

It appears the Taoist priests persuaded the old monks, but in reality, the two old monks merely handed over the gold and silver they had placed outside to the two Taoist priests. Upon seeing the gold and silver in the 'drawer,' the two Taoist priests retrieved their own bundles and stuffed it all inside. Did they separate the gold and silver beforehand? Or was there only silver in the 'drawer,' and the two Taoist priests genuinely only carried one bundle…?

None of that matters. What matters is that they are still inside the main hall, and people from the temple have arrived.

The newcomer was skilled and didn't need to go through the temple gate. The old monk heard the commotion and quickly went out. The two Taoist priests hurriedly tied up their bundles. The walls inside the hall were bare, so they could only place the bundles on the pedestal beside the Buddha statue. They must have known who the newcomer was. At that moment, when they saw the small amount of silver, they probably thought of pocketing it.

What happened in the courtyard? Why did the intruders freeze all four of them to death? There were no signs of resistance on the four men, meaning the intruders didn't physically assault them to demand the location of the gold and silver. Did they not see the bundle, or did they not value the small amount of silver inside and therefore not touch it? Or perhaps there were two bundles, and they only took the one containing the gold…

That doesn't make sense!
Jia Chuan let out a long breath, picked up a thin twig from the ground, wiped it with his hand, and put it in his mouth.

That bundle must have been left behind by those people on purpose. In the days that followed, they frequently entered and exited the small temple. There was no reason for them to leave that bundle behind. Why would they leave it behind?
Jia Chuan put this perplexing question aside for the moment. He turned to look around, a sense of helplessness washing over him. If his colleague from his previous life were sitting next to him, many clues should have been uncovered during their first trip up the mountain. But what about him? He didn't know if the cold weather had clouded his judgment or if he had become rusty. There were several things he hadn't checked in time. The marks near the cellar were something he hadn't had time to examine carefully. And what about the backyard wall? He didn't know why he had made such a huge oversight.

The four people were probably thrown out of the backyard after they died, and then their bodies were dumped into a dry well at the foot of the mountain. That means they died inside the temple. There must have been a place inside the temple where the four people were squatting or lying down. Even if villagers came and went later, if you look carefully, you should be able to find such a place...

Jia Chuan patted his head. He could handle small cases with obvious traces by himself, but for such a big case, he would have to consider everything and his brain would definitely not be able to keep up. Thinking this, Jia Chuan immediately forgave himself.

He took a deep breath and continued analyzing the situation.

This small temple was not built with a serious, responsible, and devout attitude. The Buddha statues were not built in a very solemn manner, but a hidden drawer was installed inside...

This group of Taoist priests came for the money. Regardless of whether they were real Taoist priests or not, they had been passing down their lineage for years in order to find this gold and silver. However, they were not united among themselves, a fact that Jia Chuan was quite certain of.

If the two Taoist priests who froze to death genuinely wanted to stay at a farmer's house, and they had silver in their bags, although they couldn't flaunt their wealth, they could at least show they wouldn't stay for free. Besides, most of the villagers are very honest and kind, so why wasn't a single family willing to take them in along the way? Were the villagers being difficult, or... were the Taoist priests leading the villagers to be difficult?

When Jia Chuan first became unaware that there was a treasure hidden in the temple, he deduced that the villagers had been led astray by the old Taoist priest.

The villagers find it amusing that the Taoist priest is confronting the bald monk, but the priest must pretend not to know there is a temple on the mountain. If the villagers suddenly see a Taoist priest at their door, they won't immediately think of the two old monks on the mountain. It would probably require the two old Taoist priests to remind them.

Sigh, Jia Chuan thought to himself: There aren't enough people to conduct door-to-door investigations, and transportation is inconvenient. Otherwise, if we went door-to-door asking people, we would surely find something to corroborate the story.

The old Taoist priest could have gone up the mountain quietly, without even letting the villagers know, but they not only wanted the villagers to know, but also wanted them to come along and witness their move-in.

First, these two old Taoist priests certainly didn't intend to kill the old monk. Second, the fact that they made such a big fuss to draw the villagers' attention to their lodging at the temple was definitely not to promote the harmonious relationship between Buddhism and Taoism. If it wasn't for publicity, attracting the villagers' attention was more likely for their own protection. In other words, the two old Taoist priests knew that this trip was very dangerous, and those disunited people chose the two elderly people when assigning tasks, like expendable pawns... Therefore, the scene I just imagined was probably wrong.

(End of this chapter)