activa-t Chapter 15 Tao Zhugong
Chapter 15 Tao Zhugong
Zhou Xing read very quickly, his fingers twirling the pages, making a soft rustling sound.
That's not enough; they're all just fragmented rumors, like looking at flowers through a fog. We need to find someone who knows the ropes.
He flipped through the files for a while and pulled out a stack of yellowed documents.
After a while, his hand stopped on a copy of "The Theft Case of Huizhen Foreign Firm".
Perpetrator: He Jiu.
The case is extremely simple: the perpetrator was caught red-handed.
But Zhou Xing's gaze swept over several places and he noticed something amiss.
The list of stolen goods reads: "Bronze tripod legs; jade cong; blue and white porcelain."
No blueprints, no dimensions, no estimated value. This doesn't seem like the way a foreign firm would record a theft.
He Jiu's testimony repeatedly mentioned "ghost market" and "deposit," but these were all crossed out in red pen, with annotations next to them:
"The suspect, He Jiu, is exceptionally cunning and speaks nonsense in an attempt to evade punishment."
The case was handled personally by Ruan Wenzhong, who sentenced the defendant to three years in prison. However, the section on the handling of the stolen goods stated: "To be stored separately, pending expert appraisal."
There was no follow-up.
Most importantly, despite being sentenced to three years, he has been kept in the police station detention center and has not been sent to prison.
Zhou Xing closed the file.
This is not theft, it's framing.
The foreign firm's men wanted to take something from He Jiu. Once they got the item, they turned around and accused He Jiu of being a thief.
The reason they've kept him locked up is either because they didn't take all the items, or because there's something else in He Jiu's mouth that they haven't cleaned out.
He Jiu is the key that unlocks the "Ghost Market".
……
The solitary cell in the detention center was dimly lit and reeked of urine mixed with a musty smell.
He Jiu squatted in the corner, his hands and feet shackled, the scars from the shackles layered with new wounds, a patchwork of black and red.
He was around forty years old, so thin you could see his bones, with deep-set eyes, but his eyes were eerily bright.
Hearing the door open, he raised his eyelids slightly, saw it was a police officer in a uniform, grinned, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth:
"They've changed people? Grandpa's still the same: no stuff, take my life."
Zhou Xing didn't reply, but gestured for the guard to open the door and went inside.
The room was cramped, and there wasn't enough room to turn around. He squatted down to be at eye level with He Jiu.
"He Jiu,"
Zhou Xing spoke up, "I want to go to the Ghost Market."
He Jiu snorted through his nose but didn't move.
"Haihe Wharf, old warehouse area, midnight on the fifteenth of every month. It's written in the file, you can see for yourself."
He said it so fluently, without even blinking.
But Zhou Xing remembered the case file; the last time, two police officers followed these instructions, and one died and the other went insane.
"I want you to take me there yourself."
He Jiu chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"Me? Take you there? Sir, you really don't know the rules. I'm a thief, you're a soldier, why should I lead the way?"
"Once you're in jail, should I run away? If I run, you lose out; if I don't, I lose out. No matter how you look at it, it's not right."
"Ruan Wenzhong is dead."
Zhou Xing said.
He Jiu was suddenly jolted, staring intently at Zhou Xing, then burst into laughter, his whole body trembling with rage.
"Good riddance! Karma! You bunch of bastards in dog skins, all you ever did was bite each other!"
"I'm in charge of your case now."
Zhou Xing ignored him and continued, "The evidence in this case is weak, and we can't find any witnesses. I can let you out."
The condition is, you take me to the ghost market and find the person I'm looking for. If it succeeds, I'll find a way to erase my criminal record. If it fails, or you try something funny...
He paused, then said, "There are guns outside beckoning you."
He Jiu tilted his head, sized up Zhou Xing, and grinned:
"Go out? Sir, I know your tricks all too well. Go out for a stroll, then find a pretext to arrest you again? That's boring."
"This time is different."
Zhou Xing's voice was calm, "Ruan Wenzhong wants what you have in your mouth. I want you to lead the way. Once you lead the way, the criminal record will be cleared, and we can each leave the rest to fate."
He Jiu remained silent, his fingers unconsciously picking at the rust on his shackles. The narrow room was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.
After a while, he licked his chapped lips.
"……become."
He uttered a single word, his voice a little hoarse, "But it's agreed, I'll only take you to the door, point out the way, and tell you the rules."
Whether it's a mountain of knives or a cauldron of boiling oil inside, you're up to you. If anything happens, it's none of my business.
"Can."
Zhou Xing nodded. "When can we go in?"
"We have to wait for the lamp hanger to hang the lamp."
He Jiu said, "The old place is marked, the lights are hung, and the market will open at midnight that night."
"it is good."
Zhou Xing stood up. "I'll pick you up tonight. Change your clothes."
"etc."
He Jiu suddenly called out to him, his eyes slightly unfocused, "You're going to the Ghost Market... what business do you have there?"
Zhou Xing stopped walking, without turning around:
"Looking for someone."
"Who?"
"Tao Zhugong".
He Jiu's facial muscles twitched suddenly, and he sat up abruptly, the shackles clanking loudly.
Those eyes, which had always been oily and slick, were now filled with nothing but fear.
"Who? Who are you looking for?"
His voice became shrill and distorted.
"Tao Zhugong".
Zhou Xing repeated it again, then turned around and looked at him.
"No...no!"
He Jiu shook his head violently, the shackles on his hands and feet clanging loudly.
"You can find someone else! I'll take you to the Ghost Market, I'll find someone else, but not Tao Zhu Gong! Not at all."
Why?
Zhou walked back to him and squatted down.
He Jiu was panting heavily, his eyes glazed over, as if he had remembered something extremely terrifying.
He lowered his voice, which trembled violently:
"Sir, do you know what happened to those who sought out Tao Zhugong?"
Zhou Xing didn't say anything.
He Jiu grabbed Zhou Xing's arm, his fingers digging tightly into it:
"Those who come looking for him will either become his 'goods,' or... they won't be human anymore when they return!"
Last year, an old bodyguard in a Hebei alley wanted to find Tao Zhugong to inquire about the whereabouts of his enemy.
What they said after they met remains unknown. Upon returning, the bodyguard secluded himself at home.
On the seventh night, the neighbors heard the sound of a knife being sharpened coming from his house all night.
When I opened the door at daybreak, I saw a person sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), eyes open, no injuries on their body, but when I touched them…
He released his grip, slumped back against the wall, and spoke in a voice so low it was almost inaudible:
"The bones were completely mushy, like a bag of tofu that had fallen apart; you could poke a hole in it!"
He looked up at Zhou Xing, his eyes filled with pleading:
"You should find someone else. I don't want this life anymore, you should find another way. You can be reincarnated after you die, and if you get involved with Tao Zhu Gong... your soul will be stuck there."
Zhou Xing looked at him without saying a word.
"If Tao Zhugong can scare even a tough guy like He Jiu out of his wits, he must be a big fish."
"Perfect, let's weigh him."
Zhou Xing suddenly reached out and grabbed the iron shackles on He Jiu's wrist.
He Jiu was taken aback.
When Zhou Xing clenches his five fingers, his whole body trembles, and the energy rises from the soles of his feet, passes through his waist and hips, flows through his shoulders and arms, and gathers in his fingers and palms.
"Click."
A crisp sound.
The thumb-thick iron shackles snapped with a snap, the break not clean, but rather twisted open, the iron stubs curled up, revealing the grayish-white core inside.
He Jiu's breath hitched.
He looked down at the half-loose shackles on his wrists, then looked up at Zhou Xing's calm face, and finally his gaze fell on the broken shackles.
At the break, five clear fingerprints are deeply recessed, deep enough to hold a silver coin.
He slowly bent down, picked up the broken shackles, and ran his fingers along the fingerprints on them.
Then, he raised his head, his voice hoarse:
"Tonight... at three-quarters past midnight."
At the western end of the Haihe River wharf, at the old ferry crossing. Wearing old clothes, the older the better.
"You can bring a gun, but hide it well. In that place, if a gun goes off, the noise is too loud, and it might not attract people."
He swallowed hard.
"You have to bring something 'important' as a stepping stone. Tao Zhugong (a legendary Chinese philosopher) never sees an empty-handed guest."
Something... Under the third brick from the left under my bed, there's an oilcloth bundle.
Go get it yourself. Don't let my mother see you. My home is at…”
Zhou Xing stood up.
I'll pick you up tonight.
He turned and walked out of the private room without looking back.
Behind him, He Jiu looked at the broken shackles on the ground and slowly covered his head.
"Tao Zhugong...hey...Tao Zhugong..."