Chapter 57: Li Kui and Li Gui, Part Two

As the Crossing Faction swelled without pause, the once desolate and secluded Tangzhuang was now bustling with people coming and going. The transmigrators who had arrived in this world one after another and their secrets were all hidden in the rear garden, while the original warehouses outside were packed full of the subordinates who followed the transmigrators in conquering territory. Housing was also tight in the second mistress's Bieyuan; after the runaway couple was settled in a side room that night, they saw quite a few strangely-featured transmigrators and also heard some sounds they shouldn't have heard.

Yet the couple's hearts were instead much more at ease — this counted as having moved into the inner residence and met the inner household members, so they probably wouldn't be butchered for a drinking snack.

Early the next morning, Nan Wang hurried out and headed straight for Hangzhou City. After returning to those two dilapidated old houses in the city, he looked around, found everything undisturbed with no thieves having paid a visit, let out a long breath, then sat down and began to think carefully.

This estate of the Liu Yaozu family, Nan Wang now saw with crystal clarity — it was essentially a bandit's lair. Those strange and extraordinary individuals inside the estate were presumably kept by Old Master Liu for doing business that required no capital.

After ruminating on the perils of this trip and then lamenting his own good fortune at having met someone as "chivalrous in the ancient style" as Liu Ke at a moment of life and death, Nan Wang went out to stroll a circle around the streets. During this time, he even made a point of passing by the Wu Residence, chatting a few sentences with the Wu Residence gatekeeper while pretending nothing was amiss. Finding everything normal, he bought a Four-Color Ceremonial Gift, returned to Tangzhuang, and intended to request an audience with Liu Zhe to express his thanks.

Unexpectedly, just as he returned to Tangzhuang, Liu Zhe came looking for him right on his heels, followed by a tall, lanky monk.

Nan Wang's skill at reading expressions was quite high; the moment he saw the bearing and manner of this "Pudu" Great Master whom Liu Zhe spoke of, he understood that this monk likely held no low status within the Bandit Gang. With the debt of life-saving grace already owed, plus his own position of living under another's roof, Nan Wang dared not be the slightest bit negligent at this moment and hurriedly responded with deference and humility.

This Pudu monk, to his credit, was quite forthright in his conduct. Amidst a few greetings, he informed Nan Wang: once Mid-Autumn had passed, Tangzhuang would have a ship heading southward on business, at which time Nan Wang and his wife could hitch a ride on a convenient boat; everyone here were "our own people," so all matters would be easy.

Just as Nan Wang was profusely expressing his thanks, the monk added that there was currently a "matter" on the estate that required the assistance of Sir Nan.

After a brief moment of stunned surprise, Nan Wang agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Then, after Feng Jun spun that shoddy tale about "wishing to invite one or two down-and-out scholars to civilize the savages on his foundation at Ryukyu Island," the scholar didn't even listen to the details. After thinking briefly, he said: "This student knows several such men. This student can likely be of help in this matter."

After Feng Jun and Liu Zhe exchanged a glance, they couldn't help but be a bit astonished at how quickly Comrade Nan Wang had caught on.

However, the two of them did not understand the scholar's thinking.

As an idle guest who frequented the homes of the wealthy and powerful year-round, Nan Wang had heard and seen far too many shady private household affairs. Some matters, once touched upon, meant trouble.

Feng Jun on his side still wanted to go over the details, but a certain Nan absolutely did not want to know the details. He only needed a general topic — the more he knew, the more trouble it would be, especially when the topic was assigned by a gang of ruthless killers who wouldn't blink at slaughter.

As far as Nan Wang was concerned, all he wanted right now was to borrow this faction's power to gain protection and smoothly carry out his own plan to flee south. As for what this gang wanted with a few scholars, he truly did not wish to know, nor did he dare to know. He only knew one point: nowadays, scholars in Hangzhou City were more numerous than dogs. Since this gang of toughs was going to the trouble of inviting people, it certainly wasn't to use them as menial laborers.

In short, the talks proceeded very smoothly. After this, Sir Nan revealed the outline of his plan: whenever he accompanied wealthy patrons to offer incense and worship Buddha, he could always spot a few impoverished, down-and-out scholars lodging at the temples.

From this moment on, the "Li Kui Operation" officially commenced execution.

Early the next morning, two attendants appeared at Sir Nan's side: a handsome Servant responsible for carrying wine and meat, and another Chang Sui who was tall and brawny, carrying a leather case slung at his side, taciturn and silent, merely following the scholar everywhere on his rounds each day.

This strange trio, over the next few days, always appeared and disappeared among some remote, mixed, and wild temples outside Hangzhou City. The general Routine was this: upon entering any temple, the literary gentleman Sir Nan would "inadvertently" wander to the guest quarters, then "by chance" strike up a conversation and chat a few sentences with some impoverished scholar lodging there.

After this, Sir Nan would "suddenly realize" the other's speech and bearing were extraordinary, whereupon he would order the Servant to lay out wine and dishes. Thus the two impoverished scholars would become bosom friends, drinking and chatting merrily, and thus, inadvertently, the poor scholar's background would quickly be fished out by Licentiate Nan.

After Licentiate Nan took his leave post-drinking and exited the door, he would occasionally send a Signal. Then, the Chang Sui playing the role of a stranger from behind a tree would swiftly pull out a Leica 240 from the case. Click, click, a few sounds later, the groggy, tipsy poor scholar would leave behind several 20-megapixel digital photographs.

Upon returning in the evening, Licentiate Nan and the Servant would be questioned separately and their accounts recorded. All the screened candidate data and photographs would be organized and Filed. Finally, Cao Chuan would take the USB Drive back to later generations for comparison.

Hangzhou, Minzheng Road, second floor of Minglai Pavilion.

Unseen for over half a year, Li Douzhan, Big Boss Li, was now a veritable rising star "CEO Li" in the antiques world.

The slick, oily manner of his Early Years had vanished, replaced by steadiness and capability. A navy-blue Tang suit, plain Glasses, a serene expression — the boss's demeanor erupted forth: "Look carefully. I went to a hell of a lot of trouble for this; they only agreed to do the comparison after I made a donation to the municipal bureau."

Sitting opposite him, Chairman Cao was examining the data on the computer in detail. After a long while, he opened his mouth and asked: "Is this all?"

"How many more did you want? Take a look at your damn ridiculous conditions — anyone over one Meter seventy is actually rejected. Where are you going to find that many third-class cripples these days?"

"The conditions, well, they are a bit special, heh heh." Cao Chuan gave a dry laugh and changed the subject: "I didn't expect that in the entire Great Mail-Order Nation with so many people, the final match would only yield two suitable groups."

"They need to understand the eight-legged essay, need to be short, need to speak a bit of the southern accent, and their looks have to match those photos you brought. Having two groups is already pretty good." Li Douzhan said after rolling his eyes.

Cao Chuan said nothing more, slowly leaned back into his chair, fixed his eyes on the computer screen, and began to ponder deeply.

On the screen were two groups of photos, A and B, each group containing two people: one Ming Person, one modern person.

The Ming People were screened from the down-and-out scholars Licentiate Nan had visited. After the transmigrators took photos, they Photoshopped on modern clothing and hairstyles, which were then passed along through several hands to Li Douzhan.

CEO Li then took the photos, under the pretext of "helping an old overseas Chinese find descendants," used his connections to run a computer match, with search keywords being male, ancient Chinese, height, and so on.

When all sorts of harsh conditions were added and finally run through facial recognition software, in the entire mighty Great Mail-Order Nation, ultimately fewer than ten people could satisfy the basic conditions of ancient Chinese, appearance, stature, and age.