Chapter 601 - 390: The Mask

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the distant sound of roosters crowing could be heard intermittently.

Duan Rong, with his face covered in dirt, crawled out from a hole in the ground, his head, face, and neck all smeared with fine soil debris.

With a shovel tucked into his waist, he climbed up as Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan sat there catching their breath, both with beads of sweat on their foreheads, looking quite fatigued.

Several days had passed, and the inner rooms on both sides of the main hall were piled high with the dug-out soil debris.

Initially, it was manageable; the tunnel wasn’t long and Duan Rong’s excavated debris was easy for the two of them to carry out. But as the tunnel grew longer, their workload doubled.

The tunnel was narrow, and carrying a basket full of debris took a lot of energy. The key was that Duan Rong was digging quickly, and the two had to take turns to barely keep up with his pace.

Seeing Duan Rong crawl out, both men breathed a sigh of relief. This tiring night of work was finally behind them.

In one corner of the main hall, there was clear water that Liu Shushan had fetched long ago. Although this house hadn’t been lived in for years, there was a well quite solidly built in the yard.

Duan Rong used the clear water in the basin to wash his hands and face. His neck and body itched like they were covered in needles, a sensation from the soil debris.

While wiping his face with a towel, he turned around and shrugged, shaking his clothes, which rustled loudly.

Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan watched him, and all three exchanged slight smiles.

On a wooden table, warped from age and with one corner upturned, they laid out their provisions.

Actually, Liu Shushan’s prepared rations were quite decent, with flatbread, dried meat, and some pickled vegetables. They drank clear water and began eating.

All three were famished, chewing silently as the sounds filled the tranquil room.

Liu Shushan swallowed a piece of bread with pickles, glancing at Duan Rong across from him, whose expression was solemn.

Over the past few days, many of his thoughts had slowly begun to change.

Initially, he thought Duan Rong’s plan was absurd, but as days went by, Duan Rong worked tirelessly without speaking, and Liu Shushan could sense a confidence in him—a confidence that came after meticulous planning, ensuring he could steer things in the right direction.

Moreover, Duan Rong had him buy a large sack of items, many of which had yet to be used. Clearly, Duan Rong’s plan was much more than just digging a tunnel.

If the goal was merely tunneling through, even if Shen Yanliu were freed, how could they ensure none of them were exposed?

Once Shen Yanliu was rescued, Chen Xun would immediately zero in on Shen Mizi, and since Xiao Yu went back to handle the case with Shen Mizi, any entrapment would mean they would all be pursued.

Though Liu Shushan felt sure Duan Rong had a clever plan, he couldn’t figure out how they could rescue Shen Yanliu without attracting Chen Xun’s pursuit. It seemed impossible!

Thinking thus, Duan Rong had finished eating. He smacked his lips, downed some clear water, and lay down on the straw in the corner to sleep.

In the morning, in the flower hall at the back of the Prefecture Government Office.

Chen Xun had risen early, eating breakfast while reviewing some confessions and attached files.

These were detailed investigations by Li Hong into the father-daughter relationship of Shen Yanliu’s family.

What caught Chen Xun’s attention most was a detail in Qiu Hen, Shen Mizi’s close maid’s confession.

According to Qiu Hen, when Shen Mizi felt distress, she had a tendency towards self-harm, with several scars on her arms that she herself had inflicted. However, she never let Qiu Hen speak of this.

Chen Xun finished breakfast while he read through all the investigation documents.

His fingers lightly tapped the round redwood table as he sunk into deep thought.

"Could this girl possibly resent her father in her heart?" Chen Xun speculated, his gaze flickering.

The documents included another detail: Shen Mizi’s mother had died during her childhood, and at that time, Shen Yanliu was not by their side.

Chen Xun suddenly muttered to himself, "If I were in her place—such a father, such a deadlock—it’s better to forgo rescue and clearly draw the line. Though accused of being unfilial, it’s better than ruining one’s life."

As Chen Xun stepped out of the flower hall, he had already set aside Shen Mizi’s matter in his mind. Still, he instructed Li Hong to notify the men to keep an eye on Shen Mizi, yet found this not out of the ordinary.

Generally, nothing was unusual with the situation; it was the individuals who weren’t typical.

On the ninth day, late at night, after several days of work, the tunnel was finally dug to the predetermined location according to the timeline.

Under Duan Rong’s Divine Sense Projection, the surroundings were entirely enveloped, and now he was at the tunnel’s end, just half a zhang away from the target cell above.

But now was not the time to break through; the timing wasn’t right yet, and there was still much preparation to be done.

Duan Rong then retreated from the tunnel in the night, leaving the site with Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan, returning to Liu Shushan’s villa.

All three were covered in dirt, with clothes and shoes clogged with soil debris.

Liu Shushan found three clean shirts. The three of them stripped down to their bare butts and began bathing directly beside the well.

Ximen Kankan scrubbed himself with soap while staring at Liu Shushan’s dark butt, saying, "Shushan, your physique is still pretty good, but your butt is small and skinny!"

Liu Shushan glared at him and said, "Get lost. Stop evaluating my butt."

Ximen Kankan picked up a towel, started scrubbing, and whistled as he scrubbed, eventually breaking into song. "Liu Shushan’s butt is white, the older he gets, the richer he becomes. Liu Shushan’s butt is dark, the older he gets, the more blessed he is."

Liu Shushan’s face instantly turned darker than his behind.

Just as Ximen Kankan was singing merrily, Liu Shushan suddenly kicked Ximen Kankan, causing him to stagger, and left a black mud footprint on Ximen Kankan’s big white butt.

The area around the well was quite slippery from their bathing, and Ximen Kankan nearly fell. He touched his butt and found a handful of black mud.

"Alright! You started this!"

As Ximen Kankan said this, he wiped his butt with the towel and tossed it onto Liu Shushan’s face. The two immediately began chasing each other around the courtyard, completely bare-bottomed.

After some horsing around, they suddenly noticed Duan Rong by the well had disappeared. They went over to check and saw that the three clean shirts originally hung on the tree were missing one.

They stopped fooling around and quickly rinsed themselves off, dressed, and went to the hall.

Upon entering the hall, they found Duan Rong had already emptied the contents of the burlap sack and seemed to be sorting them.

At that moment, a servant came in and said the wontons and buns had been bought.

It was already late at night, the tavern had closed, but street stalls selling wontons were still open. When Liu Shushan grabbed clean shirts for the three of them, he instructed a servant to buy some food from the street.

Liu Shushan stepped outside the hall to receive the food, and the servant promptly left the courtyard. Liu Shushan had instructed them beforehand not to enter unless summoned.

As Liu Shushan brought the food inside, Ximen Kankan took it and began slurping it up. After eating dry biscuits and jerky for eight or nine days, he was already sick of it. Even though it was just wontons and buns, eating these hot meals felt like having Eight Treasure Gourd Duck.

"These wontons are really good, Duan Rong. If you don’t eat, there won’t be any left." Ximen Kankan shouted at Duan Rong.

Duan Rong slowly stood up, sidling to the table as he looked at the items arranged on the ground.

The contents of the burlap sack had been meticulously organized on the floor, almost filling one corner of the hall.

Duan Rong sat at the table, slurping wontons as his eyes stayed fixed on the items on the ground, occasionally glancing with contemplation.

Ximen Kankan turned his head to look at the items on the ground, then at Duan Rong, but said nothing more. He could sense the immense pressure Duan Rong was under.

Tomorrow would be the tenth day, and Duan Rong’s plan was clearly reaching a critical juncture.

After finishing their meal, Duan Rong squatted in the corner again, tinkering with that pile of items.

Liu Shushan asked, "Brother Duan, do you need a hand from us?"

"No need. You both should rest."

Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan were indeed tired; for these past eight or nine days, they had also been working intensively. They exchanged a glance, then went to rest separately.

Duan Rong tinkered for a long time before suddenly going to the courtyard. He gathered some dry branches and leaves and piled them on the open ground before the hall, lighting them with a flint.

Then he placed a small porcelain pot over the fire. Inside the pot were a lump of black and two pieces of wax yellow items. As the pot heated up, it emitted sizzling oil sounds, and wisps of smoke began to rise, filling the courtyard with a nauseating odor.

As the temperature continued to rise, Duan Rong kept adding various items inside...

The next morning, Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan woke up and returned to the hall, finding Duan Rong still tinkering there. However, his main area had shifted to the space in front of the hall’s entrance, which he had cluttered miserably. The air was filled with a strange smell, and Duan Rong’s eyes were bloodshot, indicating that what he was crafting was draining his mental strength.

Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan stood there, feeling like they were a hindrance. At this point, they couldn’t even ask if Duan Rong needed help anymore because the mess of items on the ground was chaotic, while Duan Rong moved swiftly back and forth, picking up this and that. Watching him for a while made them dizzy; how could they possibly help?

They quickly retreated from that area, leaving Duan Rong to occupy that space alone.

This was the most efficient way for him.

Finally, around noon, Duan Rong stopped. He peeled off a face mask from a wooden sculpture.

It was a lifelike human face; although it was just a mask, the features appeared quite three-dimensional. However, there was a small green bean-sized hole on the right cheek of the mask, which at first glance looked like a fly perched there.

The wooden sculpture from which the mask was peeled was carved onto a wooden stake. If anyone were present at this moment, they would realize the sculpture was of Shen Yanliu, with a vivid likeness and expression capturing his essence deeply.

Duan Rong looked at the mask in his hand, transparent in the midday sunlight, suddenly revealing a red-eyed, charming smile.