Chapter 695: A strange secret letter

Not long after Chen Guanlou returned to the capital, he unexpectedly received a letter. The letter had no signature, only specifying it was to be handed to him.

Opening the letter, he realized it was sent by the wild monk Liu Daowen.

This old guy, Liu Daowen, faked his death to escape; he shouldn't be properly acting as his wild monk, but sending a letter to the capital—wasn't he afraid of being exposed?

Reading the content of the letter, it was all gibberish, mixed with a few sentences of daily life. Apart from that, there was no other content.

There's something here!

He summoned Mu Qingshan. "How many types of text ciphers do you know?"

Mu Qingshan was stunned. "Is the master trying to guess a riddle?"

Chen Guanlou simply intercepted a part of the content and handed it to the other person to look at. "Take a look, can text ciphers be used here, and which type of cipher is it?"

He knew that in the early years, scholars created a whole set of text ciphers; at first, it was just a toy for scholars to play with, later it was used for military information transmission, and later it developed to the extreme, becoming the best choice for court officials to pass messages privately.

Chen Guanlou only understood a little bit of the rules of this cipher, and it was the earliest version. He was confused about which version it had evolved into now. He didn't deal with those scholars on weekdays and didn't know the tricks here.

Mu Qingshan had always considered himself a scholar, and when he had free time, he would hang out with a group of scholars. Even when listening to music in the brothel, he would invite a few scholars to chant poems and compose couplets, appearing elegant and not so base.

Mu Qingshan stared at the content on the paper, trying to decrypt it—radical combinations, wrong. Character splitting combinations, wrong. Splitting sentences, also wrong.

"Reporting to the master, this should be the latest composite cipher; the student also doesn't understand the rules."

"Does that mean you are sure this is a decryption letter?"

"It should be so. The wording is vulgar, the sentences are incoherent, and it is unknown what it means. It's either a prank or a decryption letter. Since it was brought by the master, I think it shouldn't be a prank."

Chen Guanlou nodded, barely accepting Mu Qingshan's statement.

"Does the master need the student to find someone to decrypt it?"

Chen Guanlou waved his hand. "Not for now! Do you have a cipher book? I'll learn it myself."

"The student doesn't have a cipher book. Now, many decryption letters have exclusive cipher books. For this letter in the master's hand, did the other party tell you the decryption method?"

Chen Guanlou didn't make a sound, waved his hand to dismiss the other person, and of course, didn't forget to remind the other person not to talk about it outside.

He prepared to find someone else to crack this letter.

This guy Liu Daowen played quite trendily, sending a decryption letter without telling him the decryption method. The other party was sure he could find someone to decrypt it.

Also, what exactly was the matter that required such secret transmission of messages?

If he weren't too lazy to move, he would have run to the Zhen'an Temple in Jinzhou to ask Liu Daowen in person what kind of trick he was playing.

He found Master Du, and the two of them studied it together, spending several days, and finally cracked the secret letter.

"Prince Cheng wants to kill me, help!"

A plea for help, written so obscurely—the day lily would have already cooled by the time it was read.

Was this a plea for help, or a farewell before death?

Master Du also didn't understand. "In this day and age, there are still people who ask for help like this; they truly don't take their own lives to heart."

Asking for help means it must be urgent. Playing it so fancy, he clearly didn't intend to be rescued.

"Could it be that this letter is fake, to lure you into the trap?" Master Du guessed boldly.

Chen Guanlou picked up the letter and looked at it again. "Are you sure there is no error in the cracking?"

"Being able to crack it, there shouldn't be any error."

"Could it be a letter within a letter, hiding two sets of ciphers?"

"Not necessarily. It's not a major military or state affair; why would it need to be so complicated? Why would you think of a letter within a letter?" Master Du was very curious; this brain hole was big enough.

Chen Guanlou chuckled, a bit embarrassed.

He couldn't say that he had snuck to the northwest a while ago and opened a brain hole, giving the eldest master a bad idea to force Prince Cheng to rebel and solve the current crisis.

The Emperor had already issued a decree to recall the eldest master and let the deputy general take command.

The whole capital was paying attention to the northwest, and no news had been sent back yet; it was uncertain whether the eldest master would obey the decree.

Around the Hou Fu, there were many more spies from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The heir, Chen Guanfu, decisively asked for leave and stayed at home, going nowhere to show his innocence.

Liu Daowen sent a letter at this time, and it was a strange plea for help. This made Chen Guanlou have to think more—could this be a letter within a letter? Could the eldest master have really adopted the method he thought of by opening his brain and forced Prince Cheng to rebel?

If Prince Cheng really rebelled, was he the culprit or the initiator? How much responsibility did he have to bear?

"What do you plan to do?" Master Du asked.

Chen Guanlou was also thinking about this question—what should he do?

Should he turn a blind eye, or secretly take a trip to Jinzhou to see the situation?

"I suggest you pretend you don't know about this letter and haven't seen it. Don't be muddled and be used by others. It's possible that this letter is just playing tricks, the purpose is to lure you into the trap, make you unable to resist your curiosity, run to investigate, and truly fall into someone else's pit."

Chen Guanlou nodded; Master Du's words made sense. This letter was too strange and weird, and it indeed had the suspicion of harboring evil intentions.

"Master, don't worry, I won't be muddled and run to investigate."

He didn't owe Liu Daowen anything. If the man was really dead, he would burn two piles of paper.

If it was a pit, it must be a Grandmaster-level person.

"That's very good! In this day and age, human hearts are unpredictable. Your position, although not enough to attract calculations, still requires precautions. You have a reputation, and who knows, someone might not like you and want to get you."

"Master truly has eaten more salt than I have eaten rice; you have insight." Chen Guanlou took the opportunity to flatter him.

Master Du gave a cold snort, very dissatisfied. "Human hearts are sinister; I have seen too much. Do you know why I stayed in the capital and haven't returned to my hometown for many years? The countryside is not that easy to stay in, and not everyone is simple; instead, everyone has a belly full of calculations. Because of poverty, they haggle over every ounce of garlic and every onion, let alone the entanglements related to the family's future and interests—that is even more calculating and fighting for every bit. By comparison, the commoners in the capital are easier to deal with, at least they don't haggle like people in the countryside."

"That's because the commoners in the capital have some family background and want face, so they won't fight and haggle for a or two coins. Master, you were bullied in your hometown, so you hid in the capital and refused to go back."

Mentioning the shameful things of the past, Master Du seemed to have seen through it and could speak about it calmly. "Young, thin-skinned, bullied and taken advantage of, I didn't dare to speak loudly. Others intensified, I countered appropriately, but it led to greater retaliation. Sigh, speaking of it, it's all tears of bitterness. Fellow villagers, when they pit people, it's called ruthless and leaving no room. If I hadn't met a noble person, I'm afraid the family business wouldn't have been kept, and the descendants would have been harmed to the end." ===== CHAPTER 696 =====