Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 51: Searching

At noon, Wei Wuwei woke up in the bed and stretched comfortably.

“Oh… How comfortable! I’m alive again!”

He moved his right hand. Although it was not flexible enough, he was able to loosen it freely. It seemed that the injury to that finger was not a big problem, besides affecting the movement of internal Qi. At least he was able to hold chopsticks to eat.

After washing up in the room and going downstairs to eat, Wei Wuwei waited until everything was ready before heading to the Ning’an County prison.

The Ning’an County prison was located a few dozen steps to the right of the litigation hall of the Ning’an County government office. At this moment, all the police officers in Ning’an county were gathered here, with the County Captain Zhu Yanxu personally in charge. The two Wei family guards with high martial arts skills also stood guard here after briefly treating their wounds.

Seeing that Wei Wuwei being led towards the prison by a police officer, Zhu Yanxu came out with a wry smile after hearing the report.

“Patriarch Wei, you have caused great harm to our Ning’an County officers; I have been up all night!!”

Zhu Yanxu had the best martial arts skills of all the officers in the entire Ning’an County system, and even of the entire original Ning’an County.

But he practiced Military Killing Fists. When he drew blood, he wouldn’t have as many scruples as other people in the world. He could ignore pain and easily exchange life for injury. One would need more than one ordinary second-rate master to suppress him. Ning’an County’s police officers were much worse. Those with the highest martial arts skills were only third-rate, and some of the stronger men had only practiced a few moves at most.

“Thank you, County Captain Zhu, for your hard work. Thank you, government officials. I, Wei, am also helpless in the face of this situation. I was attacked on the road, so I could only ask for help nearby. If I hadn’t had the power to restrain these miscreants,¹ I would only drag you down when I came. If I could, I would have accompanied you in keeping vigil!”

Zhu Yanxu waved a hand.

“Alright, alright, I know all this. I’m just complaining about something that was my duty. But it made the head of the Wei family laugh!”

“I wouldn’t dare. I’ve already ordered a lot of food in the building outside the temple. I will wait to meet with you later. Someone from the outer temple building will bring the food, treat it as my reward to the County Captain and the ministers!”

“Okay, Patriarch Wei is very considerate.”

After some courtesies, Wei Wuwei followed County Captain Zhu into the cell to check on the prisoners.

The big acupuncture point had been tapped and numbing powder was administered. Their feet were cuffed in iron and their hands were tied behind their backs. Their mouths were gagged tightly. The people inside were despairing. It looked like they couldn’t make it out of trouble anymore.

In Wei Wuwei’s estimate, not only would officials from Desheng Prefecture and the people from the Wei family join in the fun, but also 80% of the Dingyuan Prefecture’s Fan family and many martial arts people would also get involved.

In fact, Wei Wuwei was very hesitant last night. He originally wanted to silence everyone. His reasoning was that rumors of the path to immortality would easily cause a lot of trouble for the Wei family. But he thought of the mysterious master from the public sect, and only then did he give up and obediently send all the would-be murderers to the police.

The warm blue jade on his chest made Wei Wuwei unable to stop thinking about what happened last night, and about what the man in black had said. Even though he had scoffed at it at the time, he felt a little itchy about it now.

Wei Wuwei walked out of the prison, accompanied by County Captain Zhu, and inadvertently looked up to see the corner of the loft of the county school in the distance.

“No one has class in your county school today?”

Wei Wuwei asked casually because he couldn’t hear the sound of voices reading aloud in the county school.

“Oh, the school is closed for bathing today, so naturally no one is in class!”

County Captain Zhu answered casually.

“I see!”

Just as he said this, Wei Wuwei suddenly thought of something. The incident that the Ning’an County Magistrate had told him about yesterday made Wei Wuwei’s heart inexplicably move.

“Uh, County Captain, do you know about a man named Ji Yuan in your county?”

County Captain Zhu looked at him strangely.

“Of course I know Mr. Ji. Does the head of the Wei family have any relationship with him?”

Hearing Mr. Ji’s title in Zhu Yanxu’s words, Wei Wuwei immediately changed his tune and asked.

“No, no, I don’t know Mr. Ji, but I heard about the red fox bowing to beg for help, and I thought it was amazing. Yesterday, I was in a hurry. Now that it seems to be the case that I will be here for some time, I would like to meet this strange man!”

“You want to meet Mr. Ji?”

County Captain Zhu smiled.

“Of course, but I would like to remind you that there are many people who want to visit Mr. Ji, but the only one who really dares to go there is Master Yin from this county!”

“Oh? Could it be that this Mr. Ji has a bad temper?”

When Wei Wuwei had glanced at him from afar, Ji Yuan didn’t look like that kind of person. And besides, the other party had even saved the fox.

“Hahaha, of course not. Mr. Ji is humble and polite to everyone, and no one has ever seen him get angry…”

Zhu Yanxu didn’t prevaricate any more.

“The reason why no one dares to visit is because Mr. Ji’s residence is superstitious and evil. It is a famous haunted house in this county. There have been many incidents there in the past few years!”

“And he still dares to live there?”

Wei Wuwei almost blurted out the words.

“Haha, it’s strange to say, but after Mr. Ji moved in, nothing strange happened there. Master Yin’s family was also fine. But even so, I’m afraid that it might just be that no one is ‘in danger’ with such short visits. After all, if you want to meet Mr. Ji and have a chat, you can also just meet him in the market.”

Wei Wuwei suddenly nodded his understanding, but the thoughts in his heart became stronger.

“I hope the County Captain would tell me where Mr. Ji lives!”

“Patriarch Wei still wants to go?”

“Yes!”

Wei Wuwei felt the blue jade on his chest. Even if there was nothing to be found, at least he still had this jade!

. . .

Half an hour later, with the guidance of a policeman, Wei Wuwei was walking on the bluestone-paved path down Tian Niu Lane.

As he passed halfway down Tian Niu Lane, a faint fragrance appeared. This scent was not the smell of rouge or face powder. It was natural and unique. It gradually became stronger as he went deeper down Tian Niu Lane. Wei Wuwei could not identify it, so he asked the bailiff with him.

“Sir, what is this scent?”

The officer answered without thinking too much.

“This is the fragrance of the jujube flowers in Ju’an Pavilion. It’s the only jujube tree in Ning’an County!”

“Jujube flowers? How can jujube flowers be so fragrant?”

Wei Wuwei considered himself to be someone who had seen much of the world. He had seen a lot of beautiful and wonderful sights of famous flowers and strange trees, but he had never heard that jujube flowers could be so fragrant. Even if he got a little close, he probably shouldn’t be able to smell it from here, right?

“Hey, otherwise why would Mr. Ji be regarded as such a strange person? Tian Niu Lane didn’t have this fragrance in previous years!”

Hearing these words, Wei Wuwei’s curiosity deepened more and more, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Gradually, the roadside scenery began to look a little more remote. After passing a certain alley and intersection, it seemed to open up all at once to a lot of greenery. However, the bailiff stopped advancing, and put down the things he had helped carry all this way. He pointed to the small road leading to the courtyard a few dozen steps ahead.

“Well, the one with jujube tree in the courtyard is Ju’an Pavilion. I won’t go any further!”

“Alright, alright. Thank you, sir!”

As Wei Wuwei spoke, a small stack of copper coins appeared in his palm, which he handed to the baliff who had led the way. The latter accepted the coins and smiled so much that his eyes narrowed in laughter.

“No problem, no problem.”²

After the officer took his leave, Wei Wuwei straightened his clothes, looked at the yard with the jujube tree in the distance, picked up the gifts on the ground, and walked towards Ju’an Pavilion.

1. Lit: restrain the chicken ↩︎
2. It’s the same sentence repeated: 好说好说 (hǎoshuō hǎoshuō) which can be translated a couple different ways: “not a problem,” vs “you flatter me” as a polite answer. Both work equally well ↩︎