Chapter 056: The Anonymous Letter Appears Again

Yun Qing remained silent, so I deliberately added, “But very soon, I’ll have Yun Gao arrested.” As expected, Yun Qing lifted her head and stared at me, her eyes fixed intently upon mine. She asked why I was so persistent in targeting Yun Gao. I shook my head and replied that I wasn’t targeting anyone; I simply wanted to uncover the truth. I asked her to tell me what she knew, promising that I would spare Yun Gao if she did.

Yun Qing was shrewd as well. She thought for a long while before asking me whether my promise was trustworthy. I smiled. “To trustworthy people, my promises are reliable. To untrustworthy people, they are not. Whether I keep my word depends on whether you try to play games with me.”

She drew a deep breath and set forth a condition: “If you stop investigating Yun Gao, I will tell you a secret.”

She didn’t specify what the secret was, but imitating my tone, she assured me that if I kept my promise, the secret would be worth the exchange. Trading Yun Gao’s safety for a secret whose contents I didn’t know—Yun Qing had calculated her risks well.

Yet I did not reject her outright. I considered carefully; if I pressed too hard, given Yun Qing’s nature, she might end up telling me nothing at all. After some thought, I said, “A woman’s mind is truly difficult to fathom. You obviously love your brother deeply, yet pretend to resent him. In truth, even if you say nothing, I can more or less guess. There’s something wrong with the Sansong Monastery, and with its lay disciples. If this secret comes to light, Yun Gao will be finished. That’s why you’d rather take the blame yourself than let Li Deshui be arrested and implicate Yun Gao.”

Yun Qing bit her lip and asked if I agreed. I nodded and said I accepted the deal. Still uneasy, she asked me to swear an oath. I frowned slightly. “I believe in neither heaven nor earth, nor ghosts nor gods; oaths cannot bind me.” Even so, she insisted I swear. I had no choice but to make a perfunctory oath, which finally put her at ease.

At first, I was anxious that the secret Yun Qing would reveal wasn’t what I truly wanted to know. But the moment she began to speak, my worries eased.

Yun Qing told me that once, inside the forbidden gate, she found a photograph of me in a cabinet. My name was written on the photo.

I was startled. At last, I understood how Yun Qing had recognized me and called my name with such certainty. Yet it seemed she knew even more. I sat down and urged her to continue.

After a moment’s thought, she went on. Yun Qing had spent a long time at Sansong Monastery. Her temperament could not endure the ascetic life of endless meditation and scripture recitation. Perhaps for that reason, though she was taken in as a lay disciple, the old abbot never allowed her to attend his dawn lectures to the lay disciples.

During my recent visit to Sansong Monastery, I had already learned that every dawn, the old abbot would lecture in a heavily guarded hall, which was connected by a secret passage to the courtyard inside the forbidden gate. Yun Qing had little interest in the lectures, but the more the old abbot forbade her, the more she wanted to attend.

Several times, she tried to enter the hall, but each time she was caught by the monks stationed outside, punished for her efforts. She admitted that until the day she left the mountain, she never knew what the old abbot taught those lay disciples.

At that, I asked, “Do you truly not know?”

“Don’t you believe me?” she replied.

I gave no answer. Perhaps Yun Qing really didn’t know, yet I was certain she was aware of the monastery’s secrets. She likely had her own theories about those sermons, but she simply refused to tell me. Yun Qing continued her story: being barred repeatedly from the hall, her curiosity shifted to the forbidden gate.

To be honest, she was fascinated by that mysterious threshold. Since she was not allowed into the hall, her rebellious nature compelled her to sneak into the forbidden area instead. One night, while the old abbot was lecturing in the hall, Yun Qing slipped inside.

No one at the monastery dared defy the old abbot—except Yun Qing. No one would have imagined she’d have the audacity to enter. She told me that as she entered, she faintly heard voices, but as she drew near the rooms, the voices ceased.

I immediately thought of those hollow statues that could conceal people. Perhaps Yun Qing had nearly stumbled upon those hidden within.

From outside a window, she saw many statues flickering in candlelight, which unsettled her and made her leave quickly. She entered other rooms, searching through boxes and cabinets, and that’s when she found my photograph. Besides my name, several blood-red characters were scribbled on it.

She couldn’t recall exactly what was written, only that it meant something like, “If this person appears in the Harbor District, kill him.” A photo with writing alone wasn’t convincing, but soon she found others, marked with the same words—only the faces differed.

She memorized those faces. Later, after she descended the mountain, several mysterious deaths occurred in the district—some car accidents, some by drowning. The police ruled them accidents, unable to find evidence of foul play. But Yun Qing noticed that all the victims appeared on those photos she had seen.

It was only then that she realized the photos were like a curse.

“My photo was among them, so you thought I’d die like the others, and you wanted me to leave the Harbor District?” I asked.

She nodded.

I took her words to heart. This was the secret she wished to share with me. There was indeed something amiss with Sansong Monastery. Those photos had been hidden inside the forbidden gate, and the murders were undoubtedly connected to the place. Yet what puzzled me was, if there was a connection, why did both Xuan Yi and the old abbot want me to leave the Harbor District as well?

“Why did you set fire to the forbidden gate?” I asked.

She replied, “I burned it because I found something I shouldn’t have.”

“What did you find?” I pressed.

Her expression soured. “Fang Han, I told you I’d reveal only one secret.”

I shrugged. I already understood Yun Qing’s temperament; if she said she’d tell me no more, then she meant it. As I left the visiting room, she reminded me repeatedly to keep my promise. I nodded and left the police station.

Chen Fan accompanied me outside, where Luo Feng was waiting with the little one. Luo Feng explained that the girl had been clamoring to see me, so he brought her along. I picked her up and told Luo Feng about my meetings with Li Deshui and Yun Qing.

Luo Feng squinted. “What’s with Lao Jiu and this Sansong Monastery? Something’s not right. Are you really going to stop investigating Yun Gao?”

He told me that Yun Gao had returned to the company early this morning. We’d expected him to disappear, but instead, he went to work as usual. On reflection, with Li Deshui keeping silent, no one could expose the monastery’s secrets. Yun Gao could rest easy.

As we discussed our plans, we walked back to the hotel.

Upon entering the lobby, a hotel staff member stopped me again, saying there was another express delivery for me.

Another letter. I opened it immediately. Like the last, it was anonymous, but this time the contents were different—just a single line: “Xuan Yi and Xiao Mei are in Jing City. If you seek vengeance, come find me. I can help you.”

It might have been coincidence, but as I finished reading, Luo Feng’s phone rang. After he listened, he told me his men had spotted Xuan Yi in Jing City.

“Whoever sent you this letter must have real information. He wants you to find him, but doesn’t even leave a name,” Luo Feng cursed.

Chen Fan glanced at the letter. “Vengeance? For what?” he asked.

I shot him a glare, and he quickly fell silent.

After considering my options, I made a swift decision: tomorrow, I would leave the Harbor District for Jing City.

Luo Feng was surprised. He asked if I truly intended to abandon the Sansong Monastery case. I replied that the investigation would continue, but the approach needed to change. I asked him to have his people in the district keep a close watch on the lay disciples, to see if anything could be uncovered. I didn’t hold out much hope; after Li Deshui’s arrest, those involved would be even more cautious.

My focus shifted to Xuan Yi. The two key figures at Sansong Monastery were the old abbot and Xuan Yi. The old abbot was dead—only Xuan Yi remained. According to the anonymous letter, Xiao Mei was also in Jing City. Both were deeply suspicious; Jing City was more worthy of my attention than the Harbor District.

Luo Feng thought it over, saying that Jing City wasn’t his turf, and if he stayed away too long his business might suffer, so he decided to return with me at once. As for Chen Fan, he had long been eager to go back.

I asked Luo Feng to find a good lawyer for Yun Qing.

Religious fraud is difficult to prosecute, both in the Harbor District and on the mainland. With a competent lawyer, the charges might not stick. There were also the charges of obstructing justice and harboring a criminal; a good lawyer could help Yun Qing avoid much trouble. There were plenty of loopholes in her case.

Luo Feng teased me, asking why I was being so kind to Yun Qing—was I interested in her? I was about to answer when the little one tugged my hand and whispered, “Brother Fang Han, someone is watching us over there.”