When his colleague reached this point in the conversation, there was not a sign of disappointment on his face. Instead, he said to Chen Yixuan very excitedly, “At that moment, I was flabbergasted. All the insiders were executed by shooting, leaving us no leads to look for the goods!”

Master Six looked at me and said, “Let’s head back!” We both returned to the Jixian Police Station Guest House. After eating and returning to the room, I still couldn’t help to ask, “Master Six, all the insiders are dead. There are no others for us to interrogate the whereabouts of the goods. What’s our next move to find clues?” Master Six said dryly, “Who says we can’t find out the whereabouts of the goods if the bandits are all dead?” I said, “Is there another way?” Master Six raised his hand and pointed his palm to me. In his palm, some pictures appeared like a puppet show (There was no television in this time of China). I saw those bandits all on their knees with the Ox-head and the Horse-face next to them in the hell. Up there behind the console table, Yama and Master Six were sitting side by side. And there were all sorts of devices of torture down there. Master Six said to me, “I didn’t bother interrogating them. Let Yama handle them!” It wasn’t until then did I understand that Master Six could communicate with deities!”

“It wasn’t that he could communicate with deities. He is a deity himself! Where is he now?” Chen Yixuan asked. He replied, “We have got the information that the goods were sold in Peiping City. Therefore, Master Six sent me back. He has gone to Peiping by himself to investigate.”

When Chen Yixuan checked out from the hospital, he was picked up by the car from the police station. After he got in the car, he found that Master Six was also there. Master Six said to him after he sat in, “Let’s go have lunch together. Have a break. And this afternoon you can go settle the case.” After they arrived at the restaurant and entered the dining room, Chen Yixuan asked Master Six, “Who bought the goods in the end?” Master Six answered, “They were shipped to Manchukuo. The cultural relics dealer was Japanese, who bought the sword to pay tribute to Fu Yi. After 200 years, this sword went back to the hands of the Qing Court. What a world!” Chen Yixuan nodded and said, “There’s something that I don’t understand. You treated the first pack of bandits with kindness. But the second pack of bandits was wiped out by you. There were more than 50 of them. And you shot them to death one by one. They were all bandits, why did you deal with them so differently?” Master Six smiled and said, “These two packs of bandits were different. Although the first pack had many members, raiding homes and plundering houses, they only go for rich people. People were pretty pissed off, but I didn’t need to bother to deal with them, because they will be dealt with by others. However, the second pack of bandits already became a puppet of the Japanese government. At present, the Japanese have already occupied the northeast. Next, they will attack the whole country. This pack of bandits was prepared to assist them. And that’s why they started this banditry. I was delegated to handle this pack of bandits to spare all later trouble!”

After lunch, Chen Yixuan asked in an awkward voice, “Master Six is a deity from the outer world capable of seeing the past and the future. In your views, where will I die and what’s my destiny?” Master Six looked at him and said, “In a dozen years, you will be killed in this Tian Jin suburb!” Chen Yixuan freaked out at once. And he got so nervous that he almost kneeled. But Master Six immediately held him up. He begged Master Six, “Can you give me an amulet?” Master Six laughed and said, “Have you ever seen an amulet work? For instance, you take an amulet with you and go on a hunger strike. It won’t protect you from starving to death!”

Chen Yixuan asked worriedly, “Is there any way?” Master Six replied, “If you want to change your destiny and skip death. There is only one way. That is having a mission. Something significant will happen in the future, and you need to be part of it!” “This way, the gods will all make way for you and won’t demand your life. However, this mission is a double-edged sword. Once you have a mission, you need to accomplish it. But if you fail because of a personal reason, you will face a severe punishment! You will be damned and deprived of your chance of having an afterlife.”

Chen Yixuan asked a further question, “What do you mean by ‘A personal reason’?” Master Six shook his head and said, “For example, you commit suicide when you can’t face reality or bear the hardship of life, or you fall ill but you don’t seek treatment, or you disobey my order and do things another way, etc.” Master Six stopped for a second, then continued, “Like in this case, I will show you directions. But if you get scared or suspicious and not follow my lead, causing the failure of the mission, you will be punished by heaven!” From Master Six’s words, Chen Yixuan knew Master Six had already arranged a mission for him with a card up his sleeves. He felt so excited that he asked about the mission right away. Master Six said, “Pick a keyword first! Just pick anyone!” Chen Yixuan didn’t understand at the moment. Just right there was a piece of newspaper on his side, so he pointed to a casual spot on it. Master Six walked up to him and found that it said, ‘There’s no reason why it should not be.’ Then he nodded and brought out a box. Chen Yixuan didn’t even notice where he brought the box out from. How could he not notice that there was such a big box on him?

Then Master Six opened the box and let Chen Yixuan take a look in it. It was a paper bag with a piece of incense. Master Six explained, “This box, you can see its buckle hanging inside. Once you buckle it, you can’t open it again. Your mission is to keep this box safe. In the future, there will be someone who is pre-destined to ask you for it. And his name will be related to the key phrase ‘There’s no reason why it should not be’ you just chose.”

When the old man reached this point, I couldn’t help laughing out loud. My third uncle, Lin Feng and Chong Xi were all confused. Only Mr. Chen patted me on my shoulder and said, “No wonder Master Six chose you. You are smart!” Seeing that the others were still confused, I told them, “When Mr. Chen heard my name, he laughed out loud. My name is Shiyan, which is homophonic to the phrase of ‘taking salt’. ‘When you take salt, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be thirsty’!” After I said that, the others got dazed for a second. Then they all laughed out loud as well.

The nanny refilled Mr. Chen’s teapot with hot water and brewed new tea. Mr. Chen went on talking, “At that time, Master Six told me, “You must have the determination to live, be unafraid of hardship no matter the circumstances. But there is still a hurdle that I need you to know. And that’s the turning point of your fate. When you take part in the attack on Tianjin in the future, you must do what I have taught you today and keep it strictly confidential!”

We asked hastily, “What did he teach you? Show us!” Mr. Chen said with a cough, “Not much. Master Six just told me that when attacking Tianjin, I should keep an eye on the bugler. When the bugler is about to sound the call to charge, I need to dash out as soon as he starts to gesture!”

“Ah?” We all got stubbed with our eyes wide-open. What kind of trick was that？It was suicidal! Dashing out ahead of everyone would make you get shot as the bird which takes the lead! Mr. Chen continued, “But I had more doubts than this at that time. How would I attack Tianjin? I was a police spy. A police spy goes to war too? Also according to my age, I would be almost 40 in a dozen years, which would no longer be suitable for joining the army. Although I had many doubts, I didn’t dare to ask. I knew some of them were future secrets that were not meant to leak out.” Mr. Chen took a sip of tea and said, “However, man proposes, God disposes. Later on, my cover was blown. And I had to run back to Tianjin and return to the organization. Because I was very familiar with the surrounding terrain of Tianjin, I was soon temporarily transferred to the forward-deployed forces of Deng Hua. And I had to take part in attacking the city. What Master Six said had gradually come true, which made me believe without a shadow of a doubt! Therefore, when attacking Tianjin, I did exactly as what Master Six had told me and kept my eyes fixed on the bugler. When he stood up about to sound the call to charge, I stood up quickly and dashed out of the bunker! But before I could run for 100 meters, I got tripped over some grass and fell flat on my face. It took me quite a while to pick myself up. And when I got up, everyone was ahead of me in the front. The leader patted on my shoulder and said, “Your spirit is splendid, but you need more training!” I replied with a sad face, “I get up early but arrive late for the fair!” And he commanded me especially later on, “Comrade Chen has been fighting in the heart of the enemies for many years! He holds a cordial abhorrence of the decadent and declining of the Kuomintang reactionaries. With the strong hatred for the enemies, he dashed out of the bunker first, which demonstrated an undaunted revolutionary spirit of a member of the Communist Party! Although he is inexperienced in battles, he could do anything with such a spirit! …”

Honestly, I was also puzzled at the time! Afterward, I got transferred to the Ministry of State Materials. And many veterans worked for me there. When they heard this story of mine, they all burst out laughing. I still didn’t understand. After that veteran explained to me, “Although you dashed out as the first one, you were just a small target requiring a certain amount of time for the enemies to discover. After everyone dashed out, the enemies saw them and fired their weapons at the crowded spots. And when they finally noticed your side, you were already down on the ground.” I asked, “But how come the leader couldn’t see that?” The veteran told me, “The leader was at the forward command post looking through a telescope. The time he saw the charge was different from when he heard the call to charge. This tiny time difference is not easy to distinguish!” It was only then when I realized!”

Before we could talk in detail, we received the box and left. After we returned to the metaphysics pavilion, we took a bath, put the box on the altar table, burned incense, and worshipped it. Maybe you would ask, “Why didn’t you open the box on the way? Or why didn’t you open it in front of everyone when you were with Mr. Chen?”

There’s something you should know. Now that Master Six had made such an arrangement, everything was providence. Awe is needed in everyone’s heart, and going off half-hearted is unwise. Mr. Chen once said the buckle of this box was hung inside. Once it was buckled, it could not be opened again until the right moment came. That’s why we took a bath and burned incense – courtesy costs nothing, the more the better. After we finished worshiping, Chong Xi took up the box first and tried to open it. But it didn’t even seem to move a little bit! I also tried opening it but still failed. Lin Feng took over it, put forth his strength and opened it with a click. We took a close look into the box and found out that the brass buckle inside was already rusted after all these years. Lin Feng’s strength of the hand was strong that he broke it. There was a paper bag inside the box, carrying a piece of incense, which was then broken into three by Lin Feng when he tried to take it. Chong Xi started to complain about Lin Feng using too much strength. After taking a look at the box, I said, “It wasn’t because of the strength he used. With the passage of time, this incense had gone bad. It was bound to be broken!” After that, we started a discussion. Why did Master Six put a piece of incense into the box, and what did it mean? Could it be that we should burn it? But there were three pieces, which piece should we start with?