Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Green mountains and bamboo, the flowers and the grass complemented one another perfectly.
Zhao Yu and Liang Huan were walking towards the Golden Buddha Temple on a foothill along a mountain road. Zhao Yu would often visit the Golden Buddha Temple to look for inspiration. As he lacked knowledge about history and cultural relics, he brought Liang Huan along to be his mentor.
“Half a day’s time is hard to come by!” Liang Huan took in a breath of fresh air and stretched, saying, “It has been suffocating ever since we started investigating this case. It’s great to get a chance to visit the temple at such stressful times.”
“Are you trying to say that I am doing something useless?” Zhao Yu rolled his eyes at Liang Huan.
“Bro, not that I want to discourage you, but the Golden Buddha Temple is just a tourist attraction!” Liang Huan said. “The temple that we are looking at was built in the seventies. The historical one was destroyed long ago! The relics scholars came here to do a thorough inspection before. You don’t think that the Dozens of Statues of Golden Buddha were hidden here, do you?”
“No!” Zhao Yu answered. “Actually, I’m here to learn more history. Later, I’m going to get a professional or someone who is an expert to ask about the unrecorded history of the Golden Buddha Temple. I’d like to know more about the legend of the Gold Buddha, and I thought that the experts here might know more! Who knows, it might be helpful to the case!”
“I am sold!” Liang Huan shook his head. “The way you investigate is very unusual!”
“Oh yeah.” Zhao Yu suddenly recalled and asked, “I heard Qinshan was called ‘Luya’ back in the day, and that the official location of Luya was not in Qinshan, but in Yunyang County. Is this true?”
“Yes!” Liang Huan replied confidently. “Accurately speaking, twenty kilometers to the west of Yunyang county had quite a number of cultural relics unearthed. It has already been certified! Luya’s Lu represented Luya River back then, which is today’s Qin River. The entire Qinshan mountain range formed a moon shape, hence the name ‘Luya’.
“As for Qinshan, it was because the Qing Dynasty has a Qin nation that garrison. Hence, the change of name!”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu was puzzled. “You know quite a bit! If so, why did is the Golden Buddha Temple here in Qinshan but not Yunyang? Isn’t that a little too far?”
“Hehe.” Liang Huan replied, “Yeah? It didn’t matter how high the mountain was, as long as God is effective! Who says temples have to be built in the city? Buddhists emphasize tranquility. In the past, the Golden Buddha Temple had to be built in a remote area! Look at the picturesque mountain scenery; it looks beautiful!”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu nodded and suddenly recalled something, “Oh yeah, I got a Jun kiln vase from the Ming Dynasty a few days ago. Please find an expert to sell it for me when we return!”
“The way you think is all over the place!” Liang Huan shot him down and suddenly reacted. He shook his head and laughed, “Hehehe, Zhao, don’t play the fool with me! Ming kiln vase, do you know how expensive that is? Where did you get it from? How much was it? It doesn’t say ‘microwaveable’ on the bottom, right?”
“Believe it or not. But remember to help me, I have to sell it quickly. I feel unsafe leaving it at home!”
“Alright, alright…” Although Liang Huan agreed, why would he believe what Zhao Yu said about the vase was true?
Then, the two of them discussed the female corpse in the ancient costume case. Liang Huan said that Zhang Jingfeng had put in all his effort and talent in looking for news about “Gege”. He suspected that “Gege” might have hidden her true identity before her death intentionally so that nobody could identify the corpse. But according to the clue that Li Mengqi had provided, they started investigating those old foxes that had been in touch with Gege back then. But these old foxes were either dead or had fled. It would require some time to find them! Regardless, with the clue of “Gege”, at least they had a direction for investigation, unlike before when everything was just speculation.
As they spoke, they arrived at the main entrance of the Golden Buddha Temple. Although the gate that was painted gold, looking simple and solemn, it had all recently been rebuilt. Actually, even though the place was called ‘Golden Buddha Temple’, the biggest attraction of the place was actually the lotus pond in the temple. There was a pool of water lilies of various colors. Besides being open to visitors, it also attracted many photography lovers. Plus, there was a forest of stone tablets in the temple. There were many ancient stone steles with carvings of Buddhist scriptures and literature. Hence, it attracted many calligraphy and carving lovers to come see it.
The entrance ticket was twenty-five yuan. Zhao Yu and Liang Huan, of course, didn’t want to buy tickets, so they showed their police ID and said to the ticket seller that they were there to investigate a case and wanted to see the person in charge of the scenic spot.
In the end, when the ticket seller heard that the two of them were police, he looked at them with a peculiar expression. He didn’t let them in but he didn’t mention that he was going to look for the person in charge either.
Zhao Yu was suddenly pissed, and shouted at the ticket seller, “What are you looking at? We are investigating a case! Are you trying to obstruct official duties?”
“No…no…” The ticket seller suddenly creased his eyebrows, pointed to the attraction and said, “One just came, how come it’s just one after another?”
“What?!” Zhao Yu exclaimed in his head. He was stunned and put his guards up instinctually. Were there any other police detectives here to investigate? Who?! Was it Fu Jianxing again?!
“What does it mean? What one after another?” Liang Huan didn’t think much but urged the ticket seller, “Hurry up, who is the person in charge?”
“Hold on!” Zhao Yu stopped Liang Huan and gestured at the ticket seller. Then, he dragged Liang Huan and walked into the attraction quietly.
According to the direction the ticket seller was pointing at, they quickly saw that there were two policemen in uniform asking questions at the door of the attraction office. In the beginning, Zhao Yu was hiding behind a big tree. When they saw the uniforms of the police, he relaxed. It turned out that the two police officers were wearing local uniforms, so it should just be two policemen, not detectives.
Phew… It was merely a false alarm!
Zhao Yu walked over with Liang Huan. They saw that the two policemen were holding a record book and taking notes. Standing outside the door, there was another person, who was wearing a shirt and spectacles and was answering their questions.
“Hello!” Zhao Yu was holding his police ID as he greeted them.
“Huh? Police detective? Which branch?” The two local policemen were shocked. They seemed to be surprised by Zhao Yu and Liang Huan’s appearance.
“Rongyang Branch, we are here to ask the person in charge some questions!” Zhao Yu declared the purpose of his visit.
“I am. I am the chief of the attraction! May I ask…” The man with spectacle was, of course, more surprised, but before he finished his sentence, he was cut off by the local policeman.
“What is going on?” The policeman looked at Zhao Yu in surprise and asked, “Bro, how come they called for police detectives too? There’s no big trouble.”
“Huh? Trouble?” Zhao Yu was confused and asked, “What happened?”
“Exactly.” The other policeman said, “There were no human lives involved, nothing lost. It shouldn’t be considered big trouble, right? You… Oh…” The two policemen suddenly realized something. “Is it…are you here to investigate a different case?”
“What? Different case?!” Zhao Yu was really confused and asked curiously, “Did…did something else happen here?”
