“What happened, Father? And what’s that in your hand?”
At the sight of Mr. Tao storming back home with anger written all over his face, Tao Xiaomei hurried up to him, offering to hold his bag for him.
Mr. Tao declined her offer. Gripping the bad, he huffed, “Close the front gates and go inside. I’ll tell you later.”
Tao Xiaomei hastily went to shut the front gates and then called Mrs. Tao, Wang Sheng and Stonie into the house. As soon as the whole family were inside the house, Tao Xiaomei closed the doors and they all clustered around Mr. Tao.
Looking at the bag on the table, Wang Sheng walked over and opened it only to find that inside it were clothes, all of which were black. There were also some black cloth masks. Surprised by these things, Wang Sheng asked, “Where did you get these clothes, Father-in-law?”
Mr. Tao smoldered for quite a while before he replied, “That unfilial son of mine gave these to me. I’m not the only one. Every family in this village received a bag of this kind of stuff. Those people said all of us are to change into these clothes and wear the black masks tomorrow. You know what they want us to do? They want us to steal for them! I always knew those people harbor evil intentions and would lead everyone in this village to their doom, but the village head and the others wouldn’t listen to me. They even colluded with them and killed all those who tried to flee this village. Those conscienceless bastards!”
Wang Sheng was taken aback. Those people wanted them to put on these black clothes and masks and then transfer their goods out of the village for them? He knew some inside information and was aware that those people of the caravan didn’t have any contacts whatsoever in the army of the imperial court, that it was the rebel forces in Jiangzhou that they were in cahoots with! If the villagers charged onto the battlefield clothed in this kind of outfits, they would only end up being killed by the troops of the imperial court before they could explain themselves! This was such a venomous stratagem. Those people were sending the villagers on an apparently suicidal mission!
This was bad. He needed to tell this to the couple of men that had slipped into this village as soon as possible.
Wang Sheng was anxious, but he was the only one knowing about the couple of men’s infiltration into this village. It was inconvenient to make contact with them during daytime, so he’d have to wait until night fell.
“Father-in-law, did they mention at what time they’ll make their move tomorrow?”
Mr. Tao responded, “They said they’d do it tomorrow afternoon. The weather hasn’t been very good lately. Tomorrow’s going to be a cloudy day, and there might even be some rain.”
Rain? That would make the situation even more troublesome. Those thugs had actually thought of taking advantage of the weather. The army of the imperial court would have a difficult job catching them in a cloudy and rainy day. Those ruffians were such wily old foxes!
“Don’t worry, Father-in-law. For the moment we may just stick to our plan. In no circumstances should we join those criminals to work against the army of the imperial court tomorrow.”
With a grave look on his face, Mr. Tao inclined his head. “I’ll tell the others at dusk. Wang Sheng, are those people you mentioned really going to protect us?”
Wang Sheng replied, “Yeah. I trust them. All we need to do is follow the plan.”
On hearing this, Mr. Tao dismissed his misgivings and decided to go out to inform the others at nightfall.
At dusk, Mr. Tao did leave home, but he didn’t go far away and just paid a visit to a nearby family, saying that he needed to borrow some soy sauce to sauté food. In the kitchen, he took advantage of the opportunity and had a word with his old bosom buddy, dropping a hint to him.
Meanwhile, Wang Sheng quietly went to a secluded spot in the back yard. On the surface he seemed to be stacking firewood, but actually he was talking with Yao Yi.
Wang Sheng related that Mr. Tao had received a bag of clothes during the day, that the villagers had been required to change into those outfits and use black cloth to cover their faces.
Yao Yi said, “I saw it in another place earlier this day. They don’t dare reveal their true identities and could only pose as rebels. The villagers here will be their human shields. Tomorrow, I want you to take all your family and…”
Yao Yi expounded to Wang Sheng his plan for the next afternoon, the latter’s face gradually softening as he listened. When Yao Yi had stopped speaking, Wang Sheng said with a serious inclination of the head, “You may rest assured that I’ll get it done.”
“By the way, tell your wife that tomorrow, in order to make it more convenient to carry out the plan, one of my men will disguise himself as her and join you. Make sure your son stays close to that man. We’ll keep him safe,” said Yao Yi.
Wang Sheng was delighted. “Okay. I will. Thank you, Captain!”
The safety of his wife and son was what concerned Wang Sheng the most. Now that his wife wouldn’t have to go to the battlefield and his son would be under protection, he found this plan perfect.
Though overjoyed, Wang Sheng didn’t forget to mention to Yao Yi that it might rain the next day.
Yao Yi, who had made an educated guess about the next day’s weather already, replied, “I know. All you need to do tomorrow is follow the plan.”
Relieved, Wang Sheng put the firewood in place and then hastened back to the front yard. Late that night, he woke up Tao Xiaomei and told her everything.
Tao Xiaomei was shocked, but she’d always known part of the reason why this time around they’d come back to this village, so she soon collected herself.
“What am I supposed to do, darling? Can’t I take Stonie with me?”
Wang Sheng answered, “They’ll secretly get you out of this village and take you to Xiaofeng Village, where you’ll be waiting for us. Stonie can’t go with you. If he does, those people will notice and become suspicious.”
In her anxiety, Tao Xiaomei asked Wang Sheng to beg Yao Yi and the others to let her son go with her.
“Pull yourself together, Xiaomei. Stonie’s sudden disappearance would rouse those people’s suspicions. In that case, not only me but also your parents will be killed.”
Wang Sheng’s words cooled Tao Xiaomei off. It was a long moment before she, fighting back her tears, said, “I see. I’ll wait for you in Xiaofeng Village. When will that man come here to impersonate me?”
“Now,” replied Wang Sheng.
Wang Sheng had just finished speaking when the door of the bedroom slightly moved.
Tao Xiaomei was taken aback. Wang Sheng put a finger to his lips. “Sh.”
Then he hissed, “Who is it?”
“It’s me,” said Yao Yi’s voice.
Wang Sheng heaved a sigh of relief and told Tao Xiaomei to relax, saying that the one outside was their helper.
Yao Yi walked inside and up to them, acknowledged Tao Xiaomei with a slight inclination of the head and then said to Wang Sheng, “We may get started if you’re ready.”
Wang Sheng said, “We’re ready. What do we have to do?”
Yao Yi said to them, “Wait a moment.”
Soon another two men entered, quickly covered all windows in the room with thick black fabric, and then did the same thing to the door. After checking that no light could leak out, they lighted the oil lamp in the room.
Yao Yi said to Tao Xiaomei, “Please come here and take a seat. And, what I’m going to do might strike you as a little offensive.”
Troubled and uneasy, Tao Xiaomei sat beside the table. Yao Yi put on a pair of thin black gloves made of a kind of special material, walked up to Tao Xiaomei, reached out a hand to hold her head steady, and then felt her parietal bone, cheekbones, temporal bones, nasal bone, maxilla and jawbone with his other hand. Having got the information he needed about her face, he took his hands off her.
Yao Yi and the other two men were all in disguise. Their features had been altered, but what with the poise in their eyes, Tao Xiaomei and Wang Sheng didn’t dare speak. Tao Xiaomei was quite nervous when Yao Yi checked her face. When Yao Yi had taken his hands off her, she gave a gasp of relief.
“Sorry. In order to impersonate you, I need to get detailed information about the contours of your face,” said Yao Yi.
Tao Xiaomei and Wang Sheng saw Yao Yi call a young man up to him, have him sit down in the brightest spot and then open a chest he’d carried into the room.
Wang Sheng and Tao Xiaomei exchanged apprehensive glances, having no idea what Yao Yi was going to do.
The guard sitting beside the oil lamp was about Tao Xiaomei’s height. He was sitting there quietly, waiting for Yao Yi to disguise him.
When Yao Yi started to disguise the guard, Wang Sheng and Tao Xiaomei were both thunderstruck. Firstly, they’d never seen this kind of disguise skills before; secondly, this guard was a man, and Tao Xiaomei was a woman.
“Captain, are–are you sure this will work? My wife’s a woman, and thi–this gentleman here is a man. They’ll see through it,” said Wang Sheng, a look of surprise and incredulity on his face.
“Relax. Nobody’s going to see through it,” replied Yao Yi calmly.
Wang Sheng and Tao Xiaomei were both fretful, but neither of them dared move. Yao Yi kept working on the guard’s face, occasionally glancing at Tao Xiaomei to confirm something, but most of the time he was quite confident.
After about two hours, the guard’s face and hairstyle looked exactly the same as Tao Xiaomei’s.
Tao Xiaomei clapped her hands to her mouth, staring fixedly at the guard’s face, fearing that she might dissolve into scream.
Wang Sheng was also dumbstruck. He had once heard that some people in Jianghu had divine disguise skills, but he’d always believed that it was a wild exaggeration. It’d never crossed his mind that one day he’d be able to see it with his own eyes.
“It’s not finished yet.”
Yao Yi began to work on the Adam’s apple of the guard. When he’d finished, the guard was nothing short of Tao Xiaomei’s doppelganger. The guard was slimmer than Tao Xiaomei, his neck considerably thinner than hers, but after Yao Yi disguised him, their necks appeared the same.
“Now bring me a set of clothes of yours, the kind you wear at ordinary times,” Yao Yi said to Tao Xiaomei.
Bobbing her head, Tao Xiaomei immediately rose to her feet and went to the wardrobe, tense and excited, unable to believe what she’d just seen. Her hands were still shaking as she rifled through her clothes.
The guard changed into Tao Xiaomei’s clothes and then stuffed something into his bosom. After that, he and Tao Xiaomei looked as though they were cut from the same cloth.
“Done. My man will stay here impersonating Tao Xiaomei. Tomorrow he’ll go to the battlefield with you. Now come with us, Tao Xiaomei. Do not make any sound on the way out. I’ll hit your Dumbness Acupoint, just in case, but don’t worry, I’ll undo it when we’re out of this village,” said Yao Yi.
Having seen what Yao Yi could do with his superb disguise skills, Tao Xiaomei and Wang Sheng now had absolute and complete trust in Yao Yi, so they agreed without a second thought.
“Promise me you’ll keep our son and my parents safe, darling,” Tao Xiaomei said to Wang Sheng at the moment of parting.
Wang Sheng held her hands. “I promise they’ll stay alive as long as I still draw breath.”
“Let’s go. I have to return to this village before daybreak after getting you out,” urged Yao Yi.
Tao Xiaomei appeared reluctant. Wang Sheng clenched his teeth and walked her out of the room. And then Yao Yi struck her Dumbness Acupoint and took her away.
The fake Tao Xiaomei said to Wang Sheng, “There’s still some time before dawn and you may catch up on your sleep, but first I need you to tell me all the details about your wife’s dealings with your other family members.”
His voice was also the same as Tao Xiaomei’s, which startled Wang Sheng, who for an instant mistakenly believed that his wife was still in the room. Cold sweat breaking out over his back due to the shock, he tremulously filled the guard in on Tao Xiaomei’s usual manner and her attitude towards Stonie, Mr. and Mrs. Tao down to the smallest detail.
