Translator: Cinder Translations
--------
An Xuan.
The person the little beggar drew was An Xuan.
After throwing away the branch in his hand, the little beggar angrily rolled up his sleeves, revealing several bruises.
The situation was now quite clear. An Xuan had somehow caught the little beggar, not only snatching the brocade pouch from his waist but also giving him a good beating.
Jiang Cheng immediately recalled the first time he met the little beggar. An Xuan had pretended to be careless and let the little beggar go. It seemed that even then, An Xuan had other intentions towards the little beggar, but due to the crowd at the time, it wasn't convenient to act.
On the night the little beggar came to deliver the message, under the moonlight, Jiang Cheng caught a glimpse of the brocade pouch on the little beggar's waist, which was identical to the one in the painting of the woman.
The third watch drum sounds, the boat travels under the moon, half a plain pouch, can soothe the sorrow.
The "plain pouch" in the latter half of the verse must refer to this.
"Doctor," Fatty thought for a moment, somewhat worried, "That An Xuan doesn't seem easy to deal with. It might be difficult to get the pouch back from him."
Hearing Fatty's words, the little beggar suddenly changed his expression. He raised his head, lifted his small face, squinted his eyes into slits, and then waved his hands repeatedly at Fatty.
Fatty looked at him in confusion, wondering why the little beggar was acting this way.
Then the little beggar made many gestures towards Fatty. Unfortunately, he couldn't speak, and Fatty's eyes hurt from trying to understand, but he still couldn't make sense of it.
Finally, it seemed the little beggar was somewhat helpless.
"Are you saying that the person who took your pouch didn't get much?" Jiang Cheng looked at him and said, "Because the pouch was originally fake, and the real one is still with you?"
The little beggar paused, then stared at Jiang Cheng with a wary look, his hand covering a spot slightly below his chest, and slowly stepped back.
Fatty suddenly seemed to realize something and hurriedly waved at the little beggar, saying, "Little brother, he's a good person, much better than me. Whatever you have to say to him is the same as saying it to me."
Worried that the little beggar wouldn't understand, Fatty pulled Jiang Cheng over, put his hand on Jiang Cheng's shoulder, and hugged him close, acting very intimate, as if they were about to take a photo.
"See," Fatty said, "We have a very good relationship. I've always treated him like a younger brother."
Jiang Cheng's eyebrow twitched.
It seemed Fatty's actions finally had an effect. The little beggar looked at Jiang Cheng for a while, then at Fatty, and then, very reluctantly, nodded, his expression seeming to say that he was only acknowledging Jiang Cheng because of Fatty.
After a long while, the little beggar slowly pulled out a very small item from his chest.
The moment they saw it, both Jiang Cheng and Fatty's expressions changed.
It was a torn brocade pouch.
The color was exactly the same as the one in the painting.
But the pouch seemed to have been violently torn, so only half remained, and there seemed to be some characters embroidered on it.
Is this the half plain pouch?
When he noticed Jiang Cheng staring at the pouch in his hand, the little beggar instinctively tried to put it away.
Jiang Cheng quickly poked Fatty's butt.
Fatty immediately understood and said to the little beggar, "Why is this pouch only half? Where's the other half?"
The little beggar showed great enthusiasm towards Fatty, gesturing something repeatedly. Gradually, the little beggar's eyes turned red, looking very aggrieved.
"Are you saying the other half was taken by this person?" Jiang Cheng pointed at the drawing of An Xuan on the ground and said, "He and a woman caught you, and in the struggle, they tore your pouch and took the other half."
The little beggar nodded repeatedly.
Fatty, completely baffled, couldn't understand how the doctor had deduced so much information from the little beggar's gestures. Could it be... Fatty's eyes widened.
Is this the legendary tacit understanding between orphans?
Do they have their own communication system that ordinary people can't understand?
"I understand your request," Jiang Cheng nodded very seriously to the little beggar, whose eyes were red, "I can help you, but I need the pouch in your hand," Jiang Cheng said, "This is crucial."
The little beggar swallowed hard, showing a very conflicted expression.
Jiang Cheng glanced at Fatty, who was staring at him dumbfounded, then turned his head and pointed at Fatty, saying to the little beggar, "You saw it earlier, this fat man and I have a very good relationship. I've always..." Jiang Cheng paused, then suddenly said, "I've always treated him like my own son!"
Fat man: "???"
It seemed the words "own son" struck a chord with the little beggar. After looking at Fatty and then at Jiang Cheng, the little beggar handed the half-torn pouch to Fatty.
The pouch seemed to hold great significance for him. He held it tightly with both hands before finally letting go reluctantly.
After giving the pouch in Fatty's hand one last longing look, the little beggar climbed over the wall and left.
"Doctor," Fatty asked curiously as they walked on a gravel path, "Who exactly is this little beggar? How does he have the ghost woman's pouch?"
"And he seems to know a lot of secrets," Fatty continued, "He must have been here for a long time."
After a moment, Jiang Cheng's voice rang out, and his first sentence made Fatty pause in his steps, "He's not a beggar; he's likely the ghost woman's personal maid from when she was alive."
"Personal maid?"
"Yes," Jiang Cheng nodded, "She's a woman. I think after the ghost woman died, no one took care of her, so she ended up like this."
"Her clothes, though dirty, are made of quite good material, not something an ordinary servant would wear. And did you notice her drawings?" Jiang Cheng continued, "Though simple, you can still see some skill in them, and the character 'Huang' is written with a relaxed yet controlled stroke. An ordinary beggar wouldn't have the leisure to learn such things."
"Another point, she's not afraid of ghosts," Jiang Cheng emphasized, "She dared to watch the play by the lake alone at night."
"Considering her age, her familiarity with this place, and her possession of the ghost woman's personal pouch," Jiang Cheng said, looking at the half pouch in his hand, "It's very likely that she had a close relationship with the ghost woman, probably her personal maid."
Fatty was stunned, but as he followed the doctor's reasoning, connecting the pouch, the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, her fearlessness of ghosts, her familiarity with the terrain, and her knowledge of many secrets about the ghost woman, the doctor's speculation didn't seem so far-fetched.
Not only was it not far-fetched, it was quite reasonable.
"So..." Fatty said excitedly, "The 'half plain pouch' in the riddle... is this?" He stared at the pouch in the doctor's hand, swallowing hard, "With this half plain pouch, we can solve our current dilemma."
"Probably."
"But doctor," Fatty said puzzled, "What about the other half that An Xuan took?"
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng chuckled, "Then I don't know."
Feeling a bit lazy today, so...
(End of the Chapter)
---
Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c414.
Early Access at $1.
Translated (5) Series, (2.2K+) Chapters, (2.9M+) Words.
🎁If I can get 3 Reviews on WebNovel and ScribbleHub Combined, I'll do a mass release. (1/3)