Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

It was the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, at six o'clock in the morning.

A jeep covered in mud and snow quietly drove into Xiqiao Village through the morning mist. Instead of entering the village, the vehicle circled around to a small road behind the mountain and parked by a bamboo grove about 100 meters from the Cang family's old house.

Cang Liuqing got out of the car first. She was wearing a dark gray down jacket, a woolen hat, and a mask, revealing only her sharp eyes. She looked around—the bamboo forest was silent, with only the rustling sound of snow pressing down on the bamboo tips. The outline of an old house in the distance was faintly visible in the morning mist.

The passenger door opened, and Cang Lifeng stepped out of the car. The bandage on his left shoulder wasn't very noticeable under his thick coat, but his movements as he got out of the car were still stiff and slow. Cang Liuqing stepped forward to help him, but he gently pushed her away: "It's okay, I can walk."

The two walked along the ridges of the fields toward the old house. The snow crunched under their feet, a sound particularly clear in the quiet morning.

Cang Liuqing's gaze swept over the old house—the east wall showed signs of repair, and the west window was temporarily boarded up after its glass was shattered. Her heart sank. Shan Ying's report only mentioned "shooting" and "one death," without mentioning the extent of the damage to the house.

The courtyard gate was ajar.

Cang Liuqing pushed open the door and went inside. The courtyard had been swept clean, the snow had been shoveled to the corners of the walls, and the original color of the bluestone pavement was revealed. But upon closer inspection, there were still a few dark brown marks on the pavement that could not be washed away.

Cang Zhenye came out of the kitchen carrying hot water. He was stunned when he saw the two of them, and then his eyes reddened: "Liu Qing... Li Feng... you..." His voice choked and he couldn't continue.

"Fourth Uncle," Cang Liuqing hurried forward, "Where's Grandpa?"

"I'm waiting for you in the main room." Cang Zhenye wiped his eyes. "I got up before dawn, saying you'd be here today."

Inside the main room, the charcoal fire was burning brightly.

Cang Houde sat in a rattan chair by the charcoal brazier, wearing an old military overcoat. Hearing footsteps, he slowly raised his head.

In that instant, Cang Liuqing saw something shatter in her grandfather's eyes—the high wall built up by forty-eight years of silence collapsed in that moment. The old man's lips trembled slightly, and tears welled up in his cloudy eyes, but ultimately did not fall.

"I'm back." Cang Houde's voice was terribly hoarse.

"Grandpa." Cang Liuqing walked quickly to the old man, squatted down, and grasped his withered, cold hands. "I'm back."

Cang Lifeng slowly walked to his grandfather's side, enduring the pain in his left shoulder, and bowed deeply: "Grandpa, your grandson is unfilial and has frightened you."

Cang Houde's hands trembled as he first touched Liu Qing's head, then patted Li Feng's uninjured shoulder. His hand paused above Li Feng's left shoulder, his fingertips able to feel the thickness of the bandage. The old man's Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally only said, "It's good that you're back...it's good that you're back..."

"Master," Cang Liuqing asked softly, "Is everyone at home safe now?"

"Everything's fine." He paused, then looked at Cang Zhenye. "Zhenye, go and call your eldest brother, second brother, third brother, as well as Xiaoren, Xiangyang, and Xiaohua. Come to the main room. Everyone who can manage the household should come."

"Father, this is..."

"Some things need to be made clear. For forty-eight years, I've kept a secret, a secret that caused discord among you brothers and almost led to the fall of this family. Now, it's time for you to know." There was a resolute weight in Cang Houde's voice.

Cang Zhenye paused for a moment, then nodded: "I'll go right away."

Inside the main room, the charcoal fire burned brightly, yet the air felt icy. Cang Houde's gaze swept across the faces of his descendants, finally settling on the dark gold copper coin in his palm.

"I called you here today to reopen a wound I've kept hidden for forty-eight years. How did this thing, and this booklet, come about? And how did our family end up in this remote mountain village in southern China, after living in Liulichang in Beiping?"

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, as if trying to awaken that era of blood and fire from the depths of his heart.

"In 1945, the 34th year of the Republic of China, in Beiping. Your great-grandfather, Cang Yunshan, was the city's top expert in cultural relics appraisal. When the Japanese occupied Beiping, they forced him to appraise the national treasures they had looted for their 'Golden Lily' unit. People outside spat at him and called him a traitor."

Cang Houde's voice trembled.

"But when Dad came home in the middle of the night and closed his bedroom door, his eyes were burning with a light. He said to me, 'Houde, those things are the souls of our ancestors. The Japanese devils wanted to steal and destroy them, but I have to be here! I have to remember where I stole each item from, what it's called, and what it looks like! Even if I have to carry the infamy for the rest of my life, as long as these things can be preserved as a memento, it's all worth it!'"

He picked up the yellowed notebook, his withered fingers carefully stroking the cover: "In this notebook, your father secretly recorded everything, stroke by stroke, using the name of a 'traitor'! It records what was stolen from which house or temple on which day, what the Japanese soldiers involved were called, and some entries even have question marks, which are your father's guesses about where they might be hiding."

The main room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; the only sounds were the crackling of the charcoal fire and suppressed breathing.

"That August, the Japanese were on the verge of collapse and frantically tried to pack up and transport their most important treasures. My father found out that there was a specially made iron box codenamed 'Number 23,' which contained not only several legendary 'national treasures,' but also a master map of their entire plundering network! To open that box, you needed a specially made copper coin key, which was said to be extremely complex in its craftsmanship and impossible to counterfeit."

He held up the copper coin in his hand; in the dim light of the charcoal fire, the non-Chinese characters engraved on the edge gleamed faintly.

"I don't know what method Father used—maybe he secretly made a rubbing during the authentication process, or maybe he got it from a conscientious custodian… In any case, he secretly obtained a replica of one of the copper coins, or perhaps a backup of another one that had been scattered elsewhere. Together with this booklet, it became the 'seed' he prepared to hand over to our own people at the most critical moment."

At this point, Cang Houde's voice trembled even more violently, as if he were reliving that bloody night.

"That night, my father handed me the notebook and solemnly said, 'Houde, listen carefully! This thing is more important than my life! It records the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese in China, and it is also related to whether countless national treasures can be recovered!'"

"Father told me to immediately take the whole family to the dilapidated temple in the southern suburbs and wait for him, following the route he had secretly arranged long ago. He said... he had one last thing to do. He was going to the warehouse in Dongjiaomin Lane and, using the counterfeit copper coins he had made, risk his life to steal the items from box number 23. He said if he hadn't reached the temple by dawn, we would have to flee south immediately."

Cang Houde paused again, and after a long while, he choked up and said:

"We waited and waited in the dilapidated temple... every moment felt like being roasted on a hot coal. Then... then we heard gunshots and explosions coming from the direction of the warehouse, and the sky turned red..."

"When it was almost dawn, Dad came back... He was almost covered in blood, his back and legs were covered in wounds, and he could barely breathe. But his eyes... I still remember them to this day. There was pain, anxiety, and something indescribable, like fire and ice."

The old man stared into the void, as if conversing with his father from years ago.

"My father said, haltingly, that he saw someone in the warehouse—a young man he knew well, who had been learning from him, named 'Qingsong.' The young man was agile and was deep inside the warehouse; his target was likely 'box number 23.' Before my father could figure out what was going on, the Japanese patrol suddenly turned back."

"Seeing that the young man was about to be discovered... Father, Father gritted his teeth, without thinking, picked up a brick, and smashed it with all his might against the glass window at the other end of the warehouse! With a loud crash, the Japanese soldiers' attention was completely drawn to it! Father turned and ran in the opposite direction, drawing the pursuers away..."

A collective gasp filled the main room. Cang Lifeng clenched his teeth, Cang Liuqing's eyes welled with tears, and Cang Tianci felt a surge of heat rush to his head.

"When Father... when Father desperately shook off the pursuers, circled around for a long time, and, covered in new wounds, risked his life to sneak back to the vicinity of the warehouse, it was already empty. The young man named 'Qingsong' was gone, and the box was gone too. Father knew that Qingsong had successfully moved the box. Father was very happy because he was certain that Qingsong must be on our side."

He stared intently at the copper coin in his hand, muttering to himself:

"However, Father also realized that the Japanese soldiers would search frantically for this important box. He was the prime suspect, and he had to escape as soon as possible. But where could he escape to? On one hand, the Japanese would never let him go, and on the other hand, he had been labeled a 'traitor' for so long, and his own people probably couldn't explain it away or trust him in the short term. This copper coin and this booklet were the seeds of hope, but right now, he couldn't hand them over, and he didn't know who to give them to."

"Father said we can't wait any longer; we must leave immediately, flee south, and escape as far as possible!"

The old man's story was interrupted by a violent sob; his shoulders trembled, and it took him a long time to calm down.

"We fled south overnight... The journey was so arduous. Your great-grandmother was frail and couldn't withstand the hardship; she collapsed on the way... We... buried her by the roadside, not even daring to erect a proper tombstone..."

The silence was finally broken by suppressed sobs. Su Yumei covered her mouth and whimpered, while Cang Xiaohua's tears fell onto her knees.

Suppressing his grief, Cang Houde continued:

"After my mother passed away, my father also fell ill from worry and overwork, and his health deteriorated day by day. Coupled with the arduous journey and mental strain, he fell seriously ill not long after settling down in this mountain valley of Xiqiao Village. Before he passed away, he held my hand and said his last words: 'Remember my words. Be strong-willed and tight-lipped. Pass it on to the next generation, continue to wait, continue to guard it. Keep guarding it until someone who can truly trust you and recognizes its value appears. If that 'Green Pine' is one of our own, one day the truth will come to light, and someone will come looking for you. If... if there is no follow-up, then you must keep it hidden forever, pass it on to the next generation, and continue to wait. Remember, I am not a traitor. This thing is the evidence!'"

At this point, the old man fell silent, remaining speechless for a long time. A spark suddenly burst from the charcoal fire beside him.

"Forty-eight years..." Cang Houde's voice was as desolate as the wind in the wilderness. "I kept my father's instructions, kept this unspeakable secret, watched you brothers complain and suspect each other because you didn't know, listened to the villagers' whispers behind my back... My heart was like oil being fried, but I couldn't say anything. I didn't know if that 'Green Pine' was dead or alive, I didn't know where the box went, and I didn't even know if the 'person' we were waiting for would come."

His gaze slowly swept across the faces of each of his descendants, finally settling on Cang Liuqing and Cang Lifeng. In his eyes, there was relief, entrustment, and a calm that came after experiencing many vicissitudes.

"I can only wait. Wait for a villain like last night to forcibly take it. Or wait for someone who is truly meant to take it and can prove its worth."

"Now you know," he said, holding up the copper coin and the notebook. "Our Cang family is not traitors. Your great-grandfather, bearing the stigma of being a 'traitor,' navigated the den of wolves and tigers, risking his life to try and preserve a glimmer of hope for our people to reclaim their bloodline. This copper coin, this booklet, and the intelligence your great-grandfather obtained with his life... today, it is your generation's turn to hand it over."

"Give it to the country, give it to—" His gaze met Cang Liuqing's, his voice carrying a sense of destiny, "Give it to someone like Professor Shen Moyuan, whom Liuqing found, who truly understands the field and can bring this thing back to light. This is probably the kind of person Father was waiting for back then."