Chapter Thirteen: The Willow is Dark and the Flower is Bright

  Zhou thought about what to do next. That comforted him, as Hao had retired to his hometown several years ago, supposedly due to the court's dissatisfaction with his handling of the war against Western Xia. His hometown was far away in Cangzhou; would he have to make a trip there to visit? But even if he did go, what could he possibly find out from Hao, who only knew Hong Yiyin through their shared interest in painting?

  Going to the capital? It's likely that some information can be gathered. However, in order to see Lord Choi of the Imperial Secretariat, it will still require some effort. As just a small vice commander of the Qin Feng Road Vice Brigade, how can one simply request an audience with the great lord of the Imperial Secretariat? Moreover, at the time, Lord Choi only mentioned a recommendation, but as for what happened to Hong Yi after arriving in the capital, it's hard to say. What did Hong Yi do privately? Who did he associate with? Did he stay in the capital for eight years or go somewhere else? And how did he end up meeting his demise just days after returning to Shaanxi? These questions will likely be met with a "don't know" from Lord Choi. It's possible that Lord Choi truly doesn't know, or maybe he's pretending not to know, but either way, it's unlikely that much will be gained from him.

  Break through from Mozi's side? He was lonely and destitute since childhood, and was taken in by Ma Haiqing to survive. Since the Hongyi case, he has been to Ma's mansion many times, no matter what he asks, Ma Haiqing always claims to know nothing, how can he investigate further?

  The more Zhou Ke thought about it, the more he became stuck.

  At this time, a soldier who had been following Zhou Ke's side, named Ren Moji, reminded Zhou Ke of a sentence. "Deputy general, since Xu Shun said that Hong Yi was in Shaanxi for two years and painted some paintings in the military camp, why don't we go to the Anfu Si (a government office) to ask around? Maybe we can get something out of it." Zhou Ke's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this. Ah, yes! When Hong Yi left with Lord Cui for the capital, he couldn't have taken all his belongings with him. Especially his paintings - maybe he took a few good ones, but what about the rest? In Hong Yi's house, only one of his works was found hidden in an old book covered in dust, which showed that someone had taken away all his paintings. Ah, the secret must be in the paintings! Xu Shun clearly said that Hong Yi painted in the military camp! The paintings at home could be easily taken away, but those in the military camp wouldn't be. Why not go to Anfu Si and take a look? Maybe we can find some of Hong Yi's remaining paintings and find some clues from them.

  Then Zhou Ke went to ask Qin Wei and Hu Yong, after communicating with the Jingluo Anfu Si through a letter, Zhou Ke took Ren Mo Ci together and rushed to the Anfu Si.

  It's been eight to ten years since then, but many people still remember Hong Yi. Zhou Ke said he wanted to ask if there were any paintings left in the camp by Hong Yi back then. The officer called the guard who was in charge of the warehouse and had him take Zhou Ke and Ren Moqi to search for them. Because Mr. Hao only collected famous works, he didn't want anything that Hong Yi painted on a daily basis. There were very few soldiers in the army who could read, let alone understand painting, so no one remembered where the paintings done by Hong Yi in the army camp went, if there were any. They should be in the warehouse, if anywhere.

  The storage room was piled up with all sorts of things, making Zhou Ke and Ren Muci feel a big headache. Was it necessary to turn the entire storage room upside down? This was a huge project! The soldier guarding the storage room was obviously a new recruit, as he hadn't fully taken over yet and couldn't even say what specific items were in the storage room. Asking him was like asking nothing. The new recruit said, "After lunchtime, the old soldier who originally guarded the storage room will come to continue the handover, and you can ask him then." There was no choice but to wait until after lunchtime.

  In the late afternoon, Zhou Ke and Ren Moci saw an old man walking towards them from a distance, carrying a wine gourd and staggering. At the same time, they heard a new soldier say: "Hey, that's the original guard of this place, everyone calls him Wang Tou'er." Zhou Ke and Ren Moci exchanged a glance, and their eyebrows furrowed involuntarily. Although they didn't say anything out loud, they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts, "Can this Wang Tou'er, who is already 60-70% drunk, provide them with valuable information?"

  After a while, the old man walked up to them. The old man was slightly older and had drunk more than usual today because he was about to hand over his duties, so he felt uncomfortable and his legs didn't listen to him, almost causing him to trip himself up. Luckily, Ren Moci stretched out her hand to support him, and the old man avoided embarrassing himself in public. The old man's eyes were red, with a hint of drunkenness, as he looked at Zhou Ke and Ren Moci, stuttering: "You... you... who are you?" Ren Moci replied: "We're from the Shaanxi Qin Feng Road Military Camp. This is Deputy General Zhou. Because there have been two consecutive murder cases in Qin Feng Road recently, we've been ordered to come and investigate."

  "Oh... death, dead people... ah! No, no, no, it has nothing to do with me! Absolutely, absolutely not, I didn't kill him! Absolutely not!" Wang Touer's words made Zhou Ke and Ren Moci truly cry and laugh at the same time. Zhou Ke was considering whether or not to waste any more time on this person, but since he had come, if he couldn't find anything in the storage room, it would be a waste to return empty-handed, so he could only endure again and said: "Among the dead there is a painter named Hong Yi, who eight years ago stayed here. Go get the account book used for registering miscellaneous items, we'll take a look."

  "What? What?" Wang Tou'er's words were somewhat incoherent now.

  This shocked Zhou Ke, who immediately shouted loudly: "Wang Tou'er! As a veteran soldier, you dare to drink on duty and neglect your duties. What crime should you be guilty of?" This shout scared away the few remaining wine spirits from Wang Tou'er's body, as if Zhou Ke had the majesty of heaven. If Mo Ci hadn't introduced Zhou Ke as Qin Fenglu's deputy general earlier, these two guards would have thought he was some kind of general.

  "Go get the account book!" After hearing Zhou Ke's order, Wang Tou'er didn't say a word and quickly went into the house to fetch the account book. Zhou Ke flipped through it and found that it had detailed records of various things, but unfortunately, there was no record of what they were looking for. Both Zhou Ke and Ren Moqi were very disappointed.

  At this time, Wang Tou'er asked timidly: "Two adults, are you talking about Hong Yi?" It turned out that he hadn't misunderstood what Zhou Ke had instructed him to do earlier, but was shocked to hear that one of the deceased was Hong Yi. He was just too surprised and had drunk too much wine, so he couldn't express himself clearly.

  "Yes, we're talking about Hong Yi, a landscape painter. I heard he's also quite close to the former Anxiang Magistrate Hao, and has been in and out of the military camp for two years."

  "How could he have died?"

  "Do you know him? What's your relationship with him?"

  "I'm not just acquainted with him! He's me, and our whole family can't forget, nor will we ever forget, the great benefactor of our lives! The two adults don't know, so listen to me slowly. Although I've mixed for a lifetime, I'm still just a guard in charge of miscellaneous goods, but I have an extremely clever son who makes me very proud, called Tian Xiao. Since childhood, he's been diligent and sensible, rarely making us old couple worry. Ten years ago, when my son turned 18, we two discussed it and took out the money we had saved for half our lives to find a matchmaker to arrange his marriage. That daughter-in-law was not bad, beautiful and hardworking, so although our family didn't have much money, we lived happily. But who would have thought that disaster struck, and my son Tian Xiao got into trouble? One day, he drank too much with friends and went to the gambling den opened by Zheng Da Hu in the village, resulting in not only losing all his property but also losing his newlywed wife to Zheng Da Hu. I was furious when I heard about it and beat him up. Who knew that he would take a stand for himself, go to Zheng Da Hu's place to reason with him, and even fight with him? You think that someone who opens a gambling den has money and power, how could they just swallow this insult? So Zheng Da Hu ordered his men to capture Tian Xiao and take him to the government office, wanting to put him on trial. We originally didn't have any money, now we lost our daughter-in-law, and my son was thrown into prison. My wife and I went to beg Zheng Da Hu every day, but he just ignored us. Just when I was at a loss, I coincidentally met Master Hong while on duty. He's a kind person, saw that I had a worried look on my face, and asked me what was wrong. I sighed and told him the whole story, thinking that he was just an artist and wouldn't be able to help much, but it would be good to find someone to talk to. Who knew that Master Hong was a warm-hearted person who took this matter to the face of the Pacifying Commissioner, Mr. Hao? By Mr. Hao's mediation, Zheng Da Hu withdrew his lawsuit and returned my son's wife to us, allowing our family to reunite again. You say, isn't he our family's great benefactor?"