Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 96 Fool

Master Ma didn't seek revenge on his youngest son, because he no longer treated him as a son. He only did so because his youngest son had lost his mother, making it difficult to expel him from the family; otherwise, he would have made his eighth concubine and her child leave together.

"Is there really a curse?" He stayed up all night, sitting in his study deep in thought. "From a scientific point of view, Father's words are obviously nonsense. But Father isn't one to talk nonsense—is there really a curse?"

Because of his wealth, Master Ma had never coveted the family's treasures; however, at this moment, his mind was stirred, not for money, but purely out of curiosity. But when it came to mysterious matters, he preferred to believe it rather than dismiss it. He absolutely refused, and dared not, enter the mountain's treasure vault himself.

Master Ma stroked his smooth chin, lost in thought, and finally let out a cold laugh.

Meanwhile, a hundred miles away in Tianjin, Ma Yinghao, wrapped in a worn-out military overcoat, sat in a secret room, sneering at his colorful new pets. The cold, fishy smell of the sea grew heavier in the room, where sea snakes from the South Pacific writhed in a chaotic mass.

Two hours later, he received a long-distance call from Beijing. The person on the other end of the line was the Ma family's butler, who sounded tired and bewildered, telling the eldest young master to come home early the next day because the master had something important to announce to the younger generation.

Ma Yinghao readily agreed, then hung up the phone and began to drift off into thought.

Ma Yinghao set off in the early morning and arrived in Beijing before noon. When he entered his grandfather's living room, his four younger siblings were already there. He nodded to his grandfather and greeted him indifferently, "Dad."

Mr. Ma sat upright on the sofa, a half-smile on his face, shrouded in a layer of not-so-warm, fake spring breeze: "Hero."

Then, the two said nothing more. Ma Yinghao sat down on the sofa in the corner, subtly glancing around at the faces of those around him. Saiwei and Shengyi, as usual, sat side-by-side, their faces expressionless; Ma Tianjiao sat on the short sofa to the side, intently staring at the tips of her patent leather shoes; Ma Junjie was hunched over, practically slumped in the large sofa, looking particularly small. Suddenly, footsteps approached from outside the door, and the heavily made-up Fifth Concubine entered, her expression somewhat timid. Ma Tianjiao immediately waved to her: "Mother, why are you so late?"

Fifth Concubine smiled tentatively: "I just got back. I went to talk to your Seventh Concubine's courtyard."

Then she sat down next to Mr. Ma, and very attentively took a cigarette from the pipe, lit it herself, took a deep drag, and then offered it to Mr. Ma. Mr. Ma pursed his thin lips and gave a charmingly old smile. He took the cigarette with one hand and touched his face with the other, looking preoccupied, while also feeling pleased with his skin.

Before he could finish his self-admiration, a figure appeared outside the door—it was the First Madam, Pei Hua. Pei Hua was practically the "black woman" of the family, rarely seen in the light of day. At this moment, she wore no makeup and dressed in an unassuming manner. When she entered, because she still held her position, the children, whether they liked it or not, had to call her "Mom," except for Ma Yinghao, who remained silent and motionless. Pei Hua lowered her head, smiled slightly, and without saying anything, casually sat down in the corner.

Although the people in the hall appeared calm on the surface, they were actually quite nervous inside, as they had all been summoned by Master Ma at the last minute. The Ma family had always been a dictatorial family, and had never held a family meeting before. And with one more person joining the meeting at a time, it was impossible to predict who they were.

Master Ma knew everyone was overthinking, so he slowly smoked, letting them think as they pleased. Once their minds were completely agitated, he stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and said, "Everyone's here. We're family, so there's no need for formalities. Now, I'll get straight to the point."

Upon hearing this, the children exchanged glances, and immediately began to consider their options—weren't all the important people in the family present? Apart from the children, Peihua, since she hadn't been divorced, was still nominally the Ma family's legal wife; and although the fifth concubine was a concubine, she had given birth to the fourth young lady and was the child's mother, so she was naturally different from an ordinary concubine.

Master Ma, with his monotonous, dry, hoarse voice, continued to speak to himself, "Originally, Sevier's mother and Junjie's mother should have been present today. But everyone has their own fate; they left first and missed it!"

He smoothed the wrinkles on his robe with his palm and continued slowly, "I was away from home for several months, and when I returned, I heard many rumors. Rather than let others spread nonsense, I'd rather expose these rumors myself, so that you won't pretend to be mysterious and do all sorts of disgraceful things, ruining my family's reputation and damaging my honor."

At this point, the expressions of everyone in the room began to change in countless ways, but they all remained the same: their facial muscles were tense and they were trying to hide their nervousness.

Master Ma's hands were busy, repeatedly stroking his thighs, his eyelids drooping, refusing to look his children and wives in the eye: "Our Ma family has a secret. The previous generation once made a living outside the Great Wall, and by chance, they acquired a batch of treasure. What was the treasure? It's hard to say, because I haven't seen it with my own eyes. According to your grandfather, it was nothing more than antiques and gold and jade. It was certainly valuable, but that's all."

He lightly slapped his thigh, smoothing out the robe draped over his leg: "Why have I never mentioned or touched this batch of treasures? Because I'm not short of money, and I don't live off my ancestors! I want to preserve the legacy of the previous generation and leave it to you good-for-nothing bastards in the future, so that you won't be starving and freezing on the streets one day!"

His two flat eyebrows twitched a few times, and Master Ma shrugged in a Westernized manner: "But it seems you can't understand my good intentions. Fine, I'll just be frank. It'll all be yours sooner or later, so why should I hide anything and cause you to be suspicious and resentful?"

Then he straightened up, waved his sleeve at the living room door, and said, "Come on, come on, I'll take you to the garden!"

Master Ma led the way, carrying a cane, followed closely by his children, wives, and concubines. All harboring their own secrets, they walked with their eyes fixed straight ahead, avoiding even eye contact. When they reached the garden riverbank, they looked up and were all dumbfounded—the pavilion on the opposite mountain had its roof removed, and all the carved latticework was gone. What was once a beautiful pavilion was now reduced to four pillars and a single, immovable stone table in the center.

Ma Tianjiao couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!" before being pulled hard by her fifth aunt. The group split into three small boats and rocked their way to the opposite mountain. This time, as they approached the pavilion, they saw messy footprints all around, signs of recent construction. A ladder lay on the ground, its fate unclear—whether it had been discarded or forgotten.

Master Ma stepped into the pavilion. He straightened his back, put his hands behind his back, took a deep breath in the chilly air, and then tapped the pavilion floor with his cane: "Our family's treasure lies right beneath my feet!"

Upon hearing this, there was complete silence.

Master Ma then said, "Shengyi, lift the ladder up."

Sheng Yi agreed and, together with Sai Wei, lifted the ladder. Master Ma said nothing more, tossed his cane to the ground, and then personally placed the ladder against a pavilion pillar. He lifted his robe and stepped up; his thinness gave him an advantage when climbing. Remarkably nimbly, he reached the top and slipped his right hand into the pillar.

Saiwei and Shengyi, who were holding the ladder for him below, were taken aback by his actions. Saiwei tapped the pillar, the sound dull but not hollow. Meanwhile, Master Ma, above, simply extended his right hand down a foot, tilted his head, rolled his eyes, and forcefully pulled upwards. Everyone heard a thud under their feet, and Master Ma visibly relaxed, nodding to himself, seemingly surprised as well.

After descending the ladder and changing positions, he reached under the remaining three pillars and began pushing and pulling. It turned out that the upper half of each pillar was hollow, containing a mechanism. Once the mechanism was activated, a sound emanated from beneath the cement floor. Finally, Master Ma descended the ladder, examined the central stone table for a long time, and finally said, "Someone, move it."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. It turned out that the stone table was not an exquisitely carved product; it was just a rather interesting large, unyielding rock with a mirror-like tabletop. Moving such a large rock would require a strongman.

Master Ma wasn't a fool; he had his reasons for ordering the stone to be moved. So after a brief silence, the children all pitched in without a word, even Ma Junjie joined in. The large group gritted their teeth and pushed the boulder, and finally, with a "thud," they actually managed to knock it over.

Then, silence fell again. The spot where the stone table had been was now exposed as a dark entrance.

Old Master Ma picked up his cane and leisurely walked over. He bent down, peering intently into the cave entrance, a sight he had never seen before. The entrance was square, with a ramp carved out about half a person's depth, leading downwards. The view at the end of the ramp was naturally invisible; even the ramp itself was unknown unless one went down there personally. Remembering his father's repeated admonitions, Old Master Ma straightened up, still somewhat unsatisfied.

He stepped back, extended his cane, and pointed to the cave entrance, saying, "I'm not old yet, and you're not old enough to establish your own households, so you're not allowed to take anything from inside before the family is divided. However, as your father, I don't want my children to see good things and feel anxious, so from now on, I'll allow each branch of the family to send one person down each year to bring up one treasure."

Without making a sound, Master Ma glanced around at the faces and asked softly, "Who wants to go down first? You can do it now."

Saiwei and Shengyi stared at the cave entrance, their hearts pounding with impatience, eager to reach inside and see what was going on. However, they understood the saying "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down," especially in their own home, where they couldn't afford to be reckless. Besides, whether or not they could touch the treasure was still an unsolved mystery.

Ma Junjie stared wide-eyed at the cave entrance, feeling both resentful and amused—his mother's death was laughable.

Pei Hua stood to the side, stealing glances at Ma Yinghao's expression.

Ma Yinghao remained calm, wanting to go down, but not daring to.

Fifth Aunt tapped her high heels lightly on the ground, glancing at this person and that person, looking hesitant to speak. Ma Tianjiao pondered for a moment, then suddenly said in a light voice, "Eldest Brother is the oldest, he should go down first!"

Ma Yinghao waved his hand: "I have a job and an income, so I'm financially secure and not in a hurry."

Ma Tianjiao then turned to Saiwei: "Where are Second Sister and Third Brother? If Eldest Brother isn't coming down, then you all should go down!"

Saiwei shook his head: "We're both afraid of the dark, we don't dare to go down."

Ma Tianjiao hesitated and looked at the others, but Pei Hua suddenly spoke up: "If I am also qualified, I would like to be the first to go down."

Ma Yinghao gave her a quick, sharp glance; Ma Tianjiao panicked, not expecting someone to be so impolite. Peihua, receiving Ma Yinghao's hint, involuntarily took a step back: "Or... perhaps we should ask Fifth Concubine to go down first."

Fifth Concubine, her mind in turmoil, smiled at Peihua, then looked up at Master Ma. Master Ma maintained his feigned smile, clearly having no objections.

"Should I go down?" The fifth concubine was a little embarrassed. "Since none of you are going down, I'll be the first. The treasures are secondary..." She chuckled awkwardly, "I just want to see the old master's generosity..."

She smiled shyly, eager to try walking towards the cave entrance. But Ma Tianjiao, seeing her mother wearing high-heeled shoes and swaying unsteadily like a lotus leaf on flat ground, and remembering her mother's usual clumsiness, tugged at her sleeve: "Let me go down; I'm more agile than you!"

The mother and daughter were family, so it didn't matter who went down. Fifth Aunt stopped, nodding and smiling apologetically, thinking to herself, "You can keep pretending, but my daughter and I are going to make a little money!"

Wearing flat leather shoes, Ma Tianjiao moved with remarkable agility. The entrance to the cave was narrow, requiring her slender figure to move nimbly. She leaped into the waist-deep cave, ignoring Fifth Concubine's instructions, and, hunching over, began her ascent down the slope. Those on the ground heard her exclaim, "It's so dark!"

Master Ma bent down and said loudly, "Tianjiao, if you feel short of breath, turn back immediately!"

Ma Tianjiao ignored it.

More than ten minutes later, a metallic clang suddenly came from underground. Saiwei, who was standing a little closer, saw Ma Tianjiao emerge carrying a broken cauldron. Straightening up and revealing her head, her braids were disheveled, and her face was pale, but she smiled and put the broken cauldron on the ground, saying, "I didn't dare go in, it was too dark, darker than night."

Master Ma's face was devoid of a smile, and he took a large step back: "What's it like inside?"

Ma Tianjiao grabbed the fifth concubine's hand and scrambled onto the ground: "Dad, I couldn't see clearly, but I just grabbed something and quickly came out."

Then, with a beaming smile, she hugged the small, pot-like cauldron to her arms: "Daddy, aren't you going to take a look? It's a deal, it's mine now!"

From afar, Master Ma saw that the bronze tripod was covered in rust and looked like a large lump of copper. With his limited knowledge, he couldn't possibly discern its value. Suddenly remembering his father's advice, he instinctively shook his head repeatedly: "No need, I'm not very good at judging either. Tomorrow you and your mother should find an expert to appraise it and see if it's a genuine antique."

Although Fifth Concubine and Ma Tianjiao lacked extensive knowledge, they still recognized the value of antiques. Fifth Concubine held the tripod like a child, feeling its immense weight but unwilling to let go. Ma Tianjiao, on the other hand, supported its base, seemingly without feeling any fatigue, as if drawn from some unknown source of strength.

The remaining people did their best to lift the stone table and push it back into place. Master Ma also climbed the ladder and activated the mechanism inside the four pillars. Looking down from his vantage point, he saw that the four children, along with Pei Hua, were all secretly watching Ma Tianjiao and her daughter, their expressions complex and gloomy, not at all envious.

Finally, turning his gaze to the fifth concubine and Ma Tianjiao, Master Ma thought to himself without showing any emotion, "I thought my family was full of foxes, but I didn't expect there to be two real fools."

(End of this chapter)