Chapter 1789 - Shan-Shaan Guild Hall
Li Ziyu was the patrol officer for this area, so naturally he led the way. Following Wu Xiang's instructions, he first took him to the entrance of East Branch Alley 7, then to West Branch Alley 11, walking through all the crime scenes.
Wu Xiang spoke little along the way, stopping only occasionally to ask questions at certain locations. But he didn't discuss anything specific—just kept scrutinizing. Li Ziyu found the whole thing rather mysterious.
Walking and stopping like this, they made their way to the back door of Zhenbo Garden in East Branch Alley 7. Wu Xiang suddenly asked: "What is this place?"
Li Ziyu answered quickly: "Section Chief Wu, this is the back door of the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall."
"Since it's a back door, why is the lock hanging on the outside?" He pointed at the door.
The door was larger than ordinary back doors, with double leaves. Hanging from it was a cast iron padlock, rust-encrusted.
With this question, Li Zhenguo also realized he had missed a crucial point. This was clearly the guild hall's back door—why would the lock be on the outside?
In seventeenth-century China, the locks commonly used were padlocks. The key difference between padlocks and modern locks like pin tumblers was that padlocks could only be opened and locked from one direction. Therefore, building doors had door bolts on the inside and didn't require locks. People used padlocks only when leaving the house empty, locking from the outside.
Li Zhenguo knew that back doors and corner gates of government offices, guild halls, and large households, though bolted from inside, also required padlocks at night. Permanently unused back doors were locked by an "iron general" year-round. Locking from the inside served internal security needs—preventing people within the building from privately communicating with outsiders, which could lead to theft or romantic affairs.
So it was unfathomable that the back door of the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall would be locked from the outside. To open it, people inside would have to exit through the main gate and circle around to the back to unlock it. This violated common sense entirely.
Could it be that someone had exited through this back door last night? The question formed simultaneously in both Wu Xiang's and Li Zhenguo's minds. As the saying goes: abnormality implies demons. Li Zhenguo examined the padlock closely. Though rusty overall, the area around the keyhole was shiny—obviously, this lock had been opened recently.
"There's something wrong with this lock!" Li Zhenguo said excitedly. "Someone definitely came out through here last night!"
Wu Xiang nodded. "It's hard to be certain it was yesterday, but this is definitely a suspicious point."
Li Ziyu plucked up his courage: "Section Chief Wu, Comrade Li—actually, this... doesn't count as a suspicious point..."
"Oh?" Wu Xiang was immediately interested. This young patrol officer had raised an objection. "Let's hear it."
Seeing no sign of anger, Li Ziyu spoke cautiously: "It's true this is the back door of the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall, but actually it's the back door of Zhenbo Garden."
Since Zhenbo Garden had become a "haunted house" by reputation, the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall naturally wouldn't use it for living quarters after purchasing it. Instead, they had assigned it a purpose "unafraid of ghosts": temporary storage for coffins.
When merchants doing business or scholars traveling for study died in a foreign land, the guild hall of their hometown was obligated to handle funeral affairs. They often purchased charitable land for this purpose. However, ancients placed utmost importance on returning to their roots. Those who died far from home, whenever conditions permitted, had their coffins transported back for burial in their native soil. Some coffins were temporarily stored in temples and guild halls, awaiting the day they could be transported home. Therefore, larger guild halls often set aside a separate, quiet courtyard at the back to store coffins. Though merchants from Shaanxi and Shanxi weren't numerous in Guangdong, the guild hall maintained such facilities.
Since coffins required storage, they couldn't be brought through the main gate. Firstly, this would harm Feng Shui; secondly, with people constantly coming and going in the guild hall, seeing coffins would be unlucky. So they always entered and exited through the back door of Zhenbo Garden—boats on the river channel could be used directly.
Li Ziyu explained that for the convenience of moving coffins, the padlock was always hung on the outside. Because of Zhenbo Garden's "reputation," it was almost completely isolated from the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall. Even guild hall people were unwilling to walk through Zhenbo Garden when coming and going.
"People transporting coffins bring them in through the back door and leave through the back door. Even the miscellaneous worker holding the back door key doesn't dare walk through Zhenbo Garden back to the guild hall, preferring to circle around and enter through the main gate. So the lock is always hung outside the door, not inside."
"Quite eerie." Wu Xiang nodded, noting that this patrol officer grasped local conditions very well. He asked: "Who are the steward and the gatekeeping worker of the guild hall? Find them—I have questions."
Li Ziyu said: "That I don't know. The main gate of the guild hall isn't on Scissors Alley..."
It turned out the main gate of the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall opened onto neighboring Incense and Medicine Alley. According to the principle that jurisdiction followed where the main gate opened, this large area in East Branch Alley 7 wasn't within Li Ziyu's territory.
Hearing this, Wu Xiang immediately instructed them to proceed to the guild hall on Incense and Medicine Alley.
The group left South Scissors Lane and hurried to the main gate. Seeing the police arrive, the gatekeeper hurriedly summoned the steward.
The steward was an "Old West"—a Shanxi native. Having done business in Guangzhou for over thirty years, he was half a local, though his Cantonese was never quite right. Hearing Wu Xiang speak the "New Language"—Mandarin—he actually felt relieved. Compared to Guangzhou Mandarin, this New Language was easier to communicate in.
Learning that the police wanted to ask about Zhenbo Garden, the steward was quite surprised. This "haunted house" was well-known throughout the city. Even people from the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall wouldn't enter in broad daylight without reason. Besides, inside were only temporarily stored coffins. Ordinary people avoided them like the plague—what was there to see?
He explained that Zhenbo Garden was indeed guild hall property, but rarely did anyone go in—including himself, who'd entered perhaps once or twice. To speak of the specific situation inside, one had to ask Old Qi, the miscellaneous worker.
So Old Qi was summoned. His account matched Li Ziyu's. For convenience when moving coffins, he entered and exited Zhenbo Garden from the outside. After finishing his tasks, he would lock up and circle back to the guild hall from outside. Wu Xiang then asked why he didn't enter and exit from the guild hall side. Was there no door between the guild hall and Zhenbo Garden?
"My lord, there is indeed a door, and this humble one also has the key. But that place has too heavy a yin energy—going in even in broad daylight feels ghostly..."
Opening the partition wall door from the guild hall allowed entry into Zhenbo Garden. But usually, even in broad daylight, Old Qi wouldn't dare walk this path alone. He preferred the long way around for peace of mind.
"Is the key to the partition wall door in your possession?" Wu Xiang pressed.
"Naturally. The key hangs in the gatehouse where this humble one lives. To be honest, this humble one gets frightened just looking at it—avoiding its use whenever possible."
"Is the key still there?"
"Yes, yes. No one steals such a thing. I saw it this very morning."
"Who else has one besides you?"
"The master steward keeps one."
"What about the key to the back door?"
"The same—this humble one keeps one, and the master steward keeps one."
The steward said: "I don't have one." He added: "The one you use was originally mine."
Seeing the police puzzled, he explained that Old Qi had only come last year. The previous miscellaneous worker had died during the plague last spring. At that time, the epidemic had been severe, and many people in the guild hall fell ill. Those who hadn't caught the disease fled outside the city to avoid infection. In the chaos, no one could attend to matters. When they returned, the miscellaneous worker had already died and been sent by the benevolent hall to the charitable tomb for burial. The several keys he'd carried also went missing—one of which was the key to the back door of Zhenbo Garden.
Li Zhenguo suddenly said: "Was this miscellaneous worker stationed in South Scissors Alley? And was his wife called Wang Xiuzhu?"
The steward blinked. "It's true he lived in South Scissors Alley. I don't know if his wife was called Wang Xiuzhu, but she was indeed surnamed Wang—she often came to the guild hall to do sewing and mending for people. Everyone called her Auntie Wang..."
Li Ziyu nearly cried out. Widow Wang's late husband had been a gatekeeper and odd-job man who died when the plague broke out last spring. So Widow Wang's late husband was the miscellaneous worker of the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall!
In this case, killing Widow Wang had some connection with the Shan-Shaan Guild Hall. He remembered Gao Chongjiu saying the murderer seemed to be searching for something in Widow Wang's house. Could it have been the key to the back door?
The murderer wouldn't look for a key for no reason. He needed this key to achieve some purpose... Could it be...
Wu Xiang and Li Zhenguo exchanged glances. Li Zhenguo said: "We want to go into Zhenbo Garden and have a look."
The steward was somewhat embarrassed. "This was originally nothing, only... only... it's getting late..."
Wu Xiang produced a pocket watch. It was already five o'clock, but the days were long now; the sun still looked quite bright. "It doesn't matter—it's not dark yet. We'll go in and have a look. If there's nothing, we'll come out shortly."
Left with no choice, the steward told Old Qi to open the door and take them into Zhenbo Garden.
Old Qi was a hundred times unwilling, but since the steward had ordered, he dared not disobey. Seeing several policemen present, he thought: since they were police of the Great Song with weapons bearing the Royal emblem, their murderous aura was heavy—probably able to suppress evil.
To save time, Wu Xiang instructed Old Qi to open the rear partition wall door and enter the garden from the guild hall side. Old Qi had no choice but to take the key and lead the way.
He led them winding and turning until they reached the rear partition wall. At its base was a small black-lacquered door. The paint was peeling, the door was bolted, and a large padlock hung from it—already rusty, with what seemed to be faintly visible Daoist talismans. Over the wall, only large trees were visible, their shade covering the sky like a canopy.
"Over that wall is Zhenbo Garden." Old Qi inserted the key into the lock hole. Just as he was about to turn it, he suddenly trembled and screamed: "Oh God!"
The policemen started. Li Zhenguo looked carefully and saw half a blurry black footprint beside the lintel of the small door.
Wu Xiang hurried closer to examine it. The footprint was very blurry, but judging from size and shape, this was a man's print. The footprint was very fresh—obviously left recently. Judging from the damp traces, it had probably happened last night or this morning.
(End of Chapter)