Chapter 9 Concealment
Liu Jing was an old Jinyiwei and had a lot of experience. When he saw the monk he had brought in was also wandering around in the plum forest and couldn't get out, he knew that he had also been tricked.

Liu Jing frowned and put his hand on the hilt of the knife. "Isn't this plum garden your temple? Why is there a maze in such a small plum garden?"

The monk was sweating profusely and explained, "Although the Plum Garden belongs to the temple, the abbot said that the beautiful scenery should be shared with the world, so there are only two walls, and the other two have never been built. Anyone can enter the garden to enjoy the scenery.

I only do some pruning, fertilizing and watering. The rest of the time I just let the plum trees grow and never interfere with the affairs of the forest. I really don’t know when the plum garden was bewildered and even I am trapped. "

Liu Jing snorted coldly.

The monk thought for a moment and said, "All mazes require the help of other objects. These plum trees cannot be moved, and most of the movable things in the forest are rocks. Why don't we move all the rocks we see? Perhaps we can break this maze."

Liu Jing had a burning anger in his heart, but he tried to hold back the anger by kicking the stone that he could see. However, this method might not be effective, as he knew that in a powerful maze, even the things used to set it up were invisible to the naked eye.

He kicked away several stones and saw a large stone standing at the roots of a plum tree not far away, which needed to be moved manually.

He moved forward with a sour look on his face, and when he straightened up, he found that the roots of the plum tree he had just seen were very far away from the stone. After the stone was moved away, there was a big gap between the plum trees in front of him.

Liu Jing frowned slightly, looked around, looked at the suddenly changed environment, held the hilt of the knife with both hands and slowly walked in.

Suddenly, I saw that this was an open space between two rows of plum trees. The ground was flat and smooth, and naturally, there was no one there.

How could there be a place without even a footprint?

Liu Jing looked back at the place they had just walked through, and then looked at this place again. It seemed strange no matter how he looked at it. He crushed the soil with his feet, then squatted down to take a closer look. It was very strange that the soil was a mixture of new and old.

He lay on the ground and smelled the soil. His face changed slightly and he immediately stood up and looked around.

The monk trotted over and asked curiously, "Donor, what's wrong?"

Liu Jing asked solemnly, "Who has been to the Plum Garden today?"

The monk looked at him in confusion and said, "Donor, this plum garden is outside the temple. Usually the back door of our temple is closed. This... today we don't have any monks coming here, so I really don't know who has been to the plum garden."

Liu Jing looked around, his eyes fixed, he pushed the monk away and walked to a plum tree to take a closer look.

The monk also saw it and exclaimed, "Oh, who cut this plum tree? There is such a big hole in it."

The wound on the plum tree was very messy, with the bark and flesh flying around, but the color was very fresh, indicating that it had just been cut down.

Liu Jing carefully examined the cut on the plum tree. It was obvious that the person who cut it had used a lot of strength. The cut was extremely deep and should have been difficult to pull out, so the person had been shaking it up and down to pull it out, which made the wound so messy.

Liu Jing searched for a long time before he found a small piece of fallen wood chips on the other side of the plum tree roots.

He frowned at the land, thinking it was strangely clean.

The wound on the tree shows that the person who pulled out the sword was different from the person who chopped the tree. The person who pulled out the sword did not have much strength or even height, so he had to shake the sword up and down many times before he could get it out.

In this case, there should be a lot of sawdust left on the ground.

Liu Jing turned around and around, and finally dug the soil on the ground towards the wound on the tree. After a while, he dug out a lot of fallen wood chips and larger pieces of wood from the soil.

Liu Jing held these things in his hands, but his eyes involuntarily moved to the ground he had just smelled...

While he was thinking, the monk asked carefully, "Donor, is there anything wrong with this tree?"

"No," Liu Jing lowered his eyes, hiding all the emotions in his eyes, and stood up and said, "This tree has been cut down like this and it is obviously dead. It is useless to keep it. Ask someone to cut it down and plant a new one."

The monk took one look at the big wound and thought that the plum tree would not die so easily. Although the wound looked big, it could still survive.

But when he met Liu Jing's gaze, the monk grunted and finally agreed.

Liu Jing stared into his eyes and said word by word: "It's better to cut it off immediately. This wound looks too ugly and scary."

The monk quickly agreed and promised, "I will come and chop it down in a moment."

Liu Jing took one last look around and said, "I'll come and take a look later." He meant that it should be chopped off before he came back.

The monk agreed reluctantly.

Liu Jing entered the temple from the back door again, and this time, he paid more attention to the traces on the ground.

But after entering the back door, there was a bluestone road. There were many people coming and going in the temple, so he couldn't see anything.

He went to the monk in charge of the temple to inquire about the people who entered and left the temple today, "Is there a little girl around seven or eight years old entering or leaving?"

The monk in charge of reception thought for a moment and shook his head, "There is no young lady guest today."

Liu Jing frowned, thinking he was wrong, and returned to the Plum Garden.

The monk had already led people to cut down the plum tree, and the chopped branches were piled up randomly on the ground, making the scene a mess.

It was already difficult to find evidence at the scene, and now nothing could be seen.

Liu Jing stood aside and watched for a long time with a puzzled look on his face, until the monk said cautiously: "Donor, this plum tree has been planted for a long time, and its roots are deep-rooted. It cannot be dug out for the time being. Wait until tomorrow..."

"No need to dig," Liu Jing said, "I think the roots of this plum tree are still very good and it will sprout again. Let's leave it like this." Monk: ...You should have told me earlier. If he had left more branches for it, there would only be two stumps left.

But the monk did not dare to refute the Jinyiwei, so he could only agree and promised him that he would make it sprout and grow as soon as possible.
Liu Jing turned around and went back to the Pacification Office.

Wang Yong did not come back.

Wang Yong did not show up for three consecutive days. The Zhenfusi finally sent people to Wang's house to look for him. When they learned that Wang Yong had not returned home for three days, the Zhenfusi felt something was wrong.

But Liu Jing said nothing.

He put the wood chips, small pieces of wood and a paper bird together, closed the box and put it in the drawer. After thinking about it, he picked up the paper bird and went to Pan's house.

The Pan family is packing their luggage.

What happened three days ago seemed to have frightened them, and the Pan family decided to move back to their hometown and no longer live in the capital.

Seeing the Jinyiwei coming again, Pan Tao looked unhappy, but he had to cheer up and deal with it.

Liu Jing walked around their house, his eyes sliding across their faces, and asked, "Who made the paper bird hanging in the corridor that day?"

When Pan Tao saw the paper bird in his hand, his heart started beating wildly. He laughed and said, "What paper bird did you say? It was a chaotic day and my family was terrified. I don't remember what paper bird it was at all."

Liu Jing looked at him with a half-smile, tapping the hilt of the knife. Pan Bai beside him said quickly, "Sir, I hung this paper bird. I saw it at a stall outside and thought it was interesting, so I bought it and hung it up."

He rushed into the house, took out a bag of silver, stuffed it into Liu Jing's hand, and said respectfully: "Sir, do you think this paper bird is an eyesore? How about I buy it back..."

Liu Jing took the money, snorted at them, did not return the paper bird to him, and turned away.

No one knows whether he was just making up an excuse to ask for a bribe, or whether he really found something from the paper bird and just wanted to collect the money.

No matter which one it is, the Pan family can't afford it.

As soon as he left, Pan Tao said, "We can't stay any longer. We'll leave tomorrow."

Wang: "But the things..."

"Give away what you can't take to the neighbors, or leave it to the next owner. We'll set off tomorrow morning." Pan Tao interrupted her, "Life is at stake. The Jinyiwei are obviously keeping an eye on us."

Wang was extremely worried and lowered her voice and asked, "If we just leave like this, what if she comes back and doesn't see us?"

Pan Tao: "Shut up, and don't mention it again from now on. Be careful, the walls may have ears."

Pan Tao felt a little sad, his heart felt like it was being bitten by ants. It had been three days. If she could come back, she would have come back long ago.

Pan Tao went into the house to tell his mother that they would leave early the next morning.

Old Mrs. Pan opened her mouth, wanting to ask, but didn't dare to.

The Jinyiwei were everywhere, and no one knew where they were hiding and spying on them.

Pan Tao half-knelt in front of her and whispered, "Mom, let's go back to our hometown. Everything will be fine when we get home."

Old Madam Pan shed tears and choked up, "This trip to Changzhou is thousands of miles away. Our family is poor, and we have old and weak people. How can we get there?"

When the child left, she was panic-stricken and didn't know what to do. They didn't even prepare any money for her. It was difficult for her family to return to their hometown, let alone a little kid like her.
Old Mrs. Pan could only ask again and again: "Have you prepared the money? Have you prepared the pass?"

Pan Tao knew that she was not asking about his family, but Pan Yun. Tears began to fall from his eyes, but he could only nod and choked up as he replied, "Everything is ready, mother, don't worry, everything will be fine, everything will be safe."

Thinking of her eldest son and his family who were exiled in Datong, Old Lady Pan finally cheered up and helped pack their luggage and prepare dry food for the trip.

The next day, the Pan family said goodbye to their neighbors and headed south in a car they rented from a coach company.

They had a lot of luggage and there were elderly people with them, so the carriages moved slowly. It was estimated that it would take about ten to fifteen days to reach Changzhou Prefecture.

In comparison, Pan Yun and his two companions, who relied solely on their own legs and occasionally hitched a ride on passing cars, were much faster. They walked from the capital to Daming Prefecture in just three days.

At this time, the three of them were sitting at a small stall by the river eating noodles. Pan Yun looked up at the busy canal not far away and asked, "Why don't we take a boat?"

Tao Ji: “No money.”

Pan Yun: "That's right. A Taoist priest wants to live in a Buddhist temple. It's obvious that he has no money."

Tao Ji suddenly felt that the noodles in the bowl were not very fragrant. He put down his chopsticks and looked at her, "Do you want to eat or not? If not, we will set off. We have to go to Kaifeng Prefecture tomorrow."

Pan Yun, whose legs were sore from walking, ate noodles with her head down expressionlessly. She had never walked so much in her life.

The black cat squatted aside and finished eating the noodles from the bowl. It wiped its mouth gracefully with its paw, then meowed twice at Pan Jun and stretched out its paw.

Pan Jun expressionlessly took out a handkerchief and wiped its paws. Seeing the corners of its mouth shining, she was about to wipe it, but the black cat suddenly turned its head away and pushed her hand away with a look of disgust.

(End of this chapter)