Chapter 225: The Second Search

“Alright, if we catch the father, the son won’t get away,” Ran Yao said. “But don’t get your hopes up. If I were Gou Er, I would have run far away by now.”

Lin Baiguang’s thinking differed from Ran Yao’s. The point of issuing a warrant for Gou Er and his son was not to catch them—in fact, the chances of capture were slim. It was a matter of principle. The transmigrators had to legitimize their bloody cleansing of the Gou estate. This had been neglected in the past and needed to be rectified now.

Finding Gou Er’s treasure was clearly not something that could be achieved just by arresting people. Lin Baiguang thought for a moment and called Mu Min, asking if she was interested in participating in the search of Gou Er’s residence. Mu Min had five years of experience in criminal investigation and should have professional expertise in searching.

“A search?” Mu Min was surprised. When Gou Er’s residence was raided last year, she hadn’t participated because her status hadn’t been confirmed, but she had heard the place was turned upside down. What could they possibly find by searching it again?

The next morning, Lin Baiguang and Mu Min, along with a few native team members, entered the city. Xiong Buyou had already informed the county’s judicial official about the search of Gou Er’s house. The judicial official naturally agreed readily and was waiting with a few yamen runners.

Gou Er’s residence was in the northern suburbs of the county. The north gate of Lingao had been blocked up long ago, so this area was very quiet, with no shops and only a few scattered houses. It was a suitable place for someone like Gou Er, who specialized in shady business.

A small door was set in a black water wall, sealed with a strip from the Lingao County Yamen. After the Gou estate was destroyed, the yamen had sent people to seal the house. Wu Mingjin had no love for the Gou family; he was secretly pleased when the Gou estate fell. The Australians had just finished searching Gou Er’s house when he ordered it to be sealed, to show the authority of the government.

The judicial official had someone remove the seal, gave a few instructions, and left only one yamen runner to stand guard while he took his men away.

Inside the gate was a small courtyard connected to a through-hall. Grass had already grown between the paving stones. Across the courtyard was the main building, three rooms with their doors and windows wide open, a scene of devastation. The floor was littered with torn paper, tattered cloth, scattered bamboo curtains, and smashed pots and jars. The furniture had been dismantled. It looked as if it had been ransacked. Anything of value was gone. This kind of violent search was not the style of the transmigrators. It was clear that the yamen runners had not let their past “friendship” with Gou Er get in the way and had thoroughly looted the place.

Gou Er’s residence was not large, just the layout of a well-to-do household in a county town. Lin Baiguang and Mu Min, with their men, carefully searched every room but found nothing special, such as secret compartments or hidden rooms. There was a secret compartment in Gou Er’s study, but it had long been smashed open and was empty. Lin Baiguang remembered the report saying that when the secret compartment in the study was found, it contained only some loose silver and a dagger, nothing else.

Mu Min couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you so sure that Gou Er hid something in his house and didn’t take it with him? Shouldn’t he have taken such important things with him when he fled for his life?”

“Our attack on the Gou estate was a surprise. We almost caught him on the road,” Lin Baiguang said. “He reacted very quickly. By the time we went to the county to arrest him the next day, he was gone. Not only was he gone, but his important valuables were also gone. These things couldn’t have been moved in a hurry, so I’m sure they are still in the house.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Mu Min said. “According to our investigation of the county, after D-Day, the wealthy people in the county, fearing we would attack the city, moved their valuables to the homes of relatives and friends in the countryside. Gou Er would be no exception.”

“That’s a possibility, but what I want is not his gold and silver, but his documents and letters,” Lin Baiguang said. “These things are more important than gold and silver; they concern his life and the foundation of his fortune. How could he easily entrust them to others? He either took them with him—and he couldn’t have taken everything—or he hid a part of them somewhere.”

“You have a point,” Mu Min thought for a moment. “Let’s search again then. It’ll be good practice for the kids.” She smiled. “To be honest, the last search might not have been very thorough.”

With that, she took out some equipment from her toolkit. After learning about the re-search of Gou Er’s house, she had specifically requested equipment and brought her two “apprentices.” She had taken in two young interns from the Military and Political School to learn criminal investigation from her. One of them was Wu Xiang, who had a deep-seated hatred for bandits—for this reason, he was chosen.

“I think we should start with the study. That should be the key area, followed by the bedroom,” Lin Baiguang suggested.

Mu Min shook her head. “Normally, these two places are the most likely to hide important family items, but if he was fleeing, neither is very likely—because everyone would think of them. Didn’t they find that secret compartment?”

“Where do you think is more likely?”

“I’m not very familiar with how the ancients hid things, but I think cellars were probably common. They would dig a pit and bury important things.”

“Hmm.” Lin Baiguang thought it was best to let her, the professional, make the judgment.

“Pay attention to the floor tiles. See if there are any signs of them being pried up,” Mu Min instructed her two interns. “Tap the tiles and listen for any hollow sounds.”

The wainscoting and such had already been torn apart by the greedy yamen runners, so anything inside was gone. Gou Er’s house, like most traditional southern residences, had no ceiling, so it was impossible to hide anything in the beams and pillars. The most likely place was under the brick floor of the house.

The others also helped. Lin Baiguang worked for a while and found it extremely tedious. He went outside, lit a cigarette, and thought that criminal investigation was such a boring job. He had originally thought it would be exciting. It seemed his choice of enemy work was the right one—at least it was more interesting.

After a morning of searching, they found nothing. Someone discovered a small cellar under the original bed position in the bedroom, but when they lifted the floor tiles, it was empty.

They found several other small hiding places that had been missed last time. One contained knives and spears, and a few others contained sets of clothes and utensils—the attire of a wandering Taoist priest, a peddler, and a beggar, probably for disguise in case of emergency.

But none of them contained what they were looking for. Lin Baiguang felt very discouraged. He had thought they would find something. Did they really have to go after Gou Er’s relatives? The first would be his father-in-law’s family, and the second would be his son’s in-laws. All of Gou Er’s own relatives were at the Gou estate. Besides these, these two families were the closest to him.

The problem was, according to the Social Work Department’s investigation, Gou Er’s relationship with his son’s in-laws was very poor. His son, Gou Chengxuan, had forced their daughter into marriage, and the family was deeply ashamed of this connection, having almost no contact with the Gou family. It was impossible for them to be hiding anything.

That left only Gou Er’s own in-laws. Lin Baiguang had checked the records. This family lived dozens of li from the county town and was a small local tyrant, relatively submissive to the Crossing Group. It was unlikely they would hand over the treasure willingly, but there seemed to be no suitable reason to openly raid their home…

He strolled into the backyard, puffing on his cigarette. The backyard was desolate, with nothing but weeds. There was a tall kapok tree in the yard, its branches covered in bright red flowers, which caught Lin Baiguang’s eye.

It was then that he noticed what looked like the stone railing of a well not far from the tree. He hurried over. The well was covered with a lid. He lifted it and looked down. It was very deep. A thought struck Lin Baiguang—a well was also a good place to hide things! Weren’t the entrances to the tunnels in Tunnel Warfare on the walls of wells? He pulled out his powerful American police flashlight and carefully scanned the walls of the well, hoping to find a clue.

The well was very deep, its walls built of green bricks. Over the years, it had become covered with moss. There were no footholds for climbing up or down, nor were there any signs that anyone had ever done so—the moss was thick and showed no signs of wear.

He was slightly disappointed; it didn’t look like there was anything unusual. After looking for a long time, Mu Min came over with her men and began a carpet search of the backyard.

“Let’s just say we’ve searched every place that can be searched,” Mu Min said with a smile. “We even dismantled the kitchen stove, but still found nothing.”

“Me too. There’s a well here. I thought I might find something, but no luck,” Lin Baiguang sighed.

Mu Min took the flashlight, carefully examined the well, and found nothing unusual. Just as she was about to leave the well platform, she suddenly froze, staring intently at the stone ring of the wellhead.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a problem here!” Mu Min said, a little excited, pointing at the stone ring. “See? There are impact marks.”

Lin Baiguang followed her finger and looked closely. Indeed, on the stone railing, there were some pits and scratches—the marks were relatively new, not looking like they had been there for a long time.

“What is this?”

“These marks indicate that someone once dragged something very heavy over the well railing. This thing was very hard, hard enough to leave dents in the stone.”

“What could it be?” Lin Baiguang’s excitement grew.

“I don’t know. It should be an iron object. A weapon?” Mu Min said. “Whatever it is, it was most likely thrown into the well. The drag marks prove it.” She peered into the well. “We need to find some kind of hook…”

She dropped a stone in and watched the splash under the flashlight beam. “It’s very deep. A normal hook probably won’t work. We need a longer and heavier one.”

“It must be treasure!” Lin Baiguang’s eyes lit up. “Forget the grappling hook. Let’s just pump the water out.”