NFBE Chapter 1943 Shocking! Grandma's Clay Statue!
Chapter 1943 Shocking! Grandma's Clay Statue!
Li Xiangnan followed Liu Yiming hurriedly through the gate of Pudu Temple, which was still filled with the smell of burning.
Song Ziming and Wang Defa followed closely behind, both with solemn expressions.
The dim afternoon sun of winter cast a pale light on the ruins, adding to the sense of desolation and eeriness.
As Li Xiangnan walked towards the fire scene, images of her grandmother involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Those weren't real memories; he had never actually met his grandmother. All the images came from photos he received from Yu Jingran's grandmother.
The grandmother in the photo is about seventeen or eighteen years old, with two long, black braids and wearing a cheongsam. She has clear eyes and a quiet yet resilient smile on her lips.
The photo wasn't high resolution, and it was even a bit blurry, but the light in those eyes and that unique temperament were deeply imprinted in Li Xiangnan's heart.
The Mu family, once a prominent family in Yanjing, lived just one alley away from Pudu Temple.
The fire in 1940 caused the entire Mu family to disappear; the entire Mu family vanished from Yanjing.
Pudu Temple, however, still stands here, having been neighbors with the ruins of the Mu family for decades!
But now, in the backyard of Pudu Temple, a clay figure that looks exactly like my grandmother when she was young has been unearthed from under the ruins of the fire.
Both were fires, and both involved Mu Huanying?
What does this signify?
Li Xiangnan's heart began to beat faster involuntarily.
Is this a coincidence?
Are there really two people in the world who look so alike?
Or... is the clay figurine actually based on my grandmother?
If it's the latter, then what does that mean?
Was it made by Grandma's old friend?
The Mu family was once a prominent family with extensive connections, so it's not surprising that they had friends who were skilled in clay sculpting.
But if it was a souvenir or a gift from a friend, why would they hide the clay figure under a Buddha statue in a temple?
And it was hidden so secretly?
This is unreasonable!
Is it...
Li Xiangnan's heart skipped a beat.
Could he be an admirer of Grandma?
This idea is so bold!
You should know that Pudu Temple is a temple, and it's full of monks!
While it's possible that some might have left the monastic life or continued their spiritual practice while still keeping their hair, creating and possessing clay statues of young women, especially the neighborhood heiress, is an act that crosses the line and even carries a hint of something bizarre...blasphemy!
Or perhaps, it wasn't goodwill at all?
Instead, does it carry a symbol of voyeurism, surveillance, or even malice?
Is it a statue of Grandma alone? Or is Grandma just one of many?
Li Xiangnan couldn't figure it out, but the doubts in his heart were already overflowing!
Amidst a flurry of thoughts, I arrived at the scene of the fire.
The fire started in a relatively isolated outbuilding on the west side of the backyard, which was not far from the Jixiangku warehouse where the entrance to the secret passage was previously discovered, but in a more remote location.
At this moment, most of the side room had collapsed, the charred beams and pillars were crooked, the walls were blackened, the window frames had turned to ashes, and the ground was covered with water stains from the firefighting efforts.
The air was filled with a pungent, burnt smell, mixed with the distinctive odor of burning paper and cloth.
Guo Qian was standing outside the cordon, his face ashen, his eyes filled with suppressed anger and confusion.
The area was surrounded by monks, and police officers were trying to persuade them to leave.
Abbot Yuantong, Yuanda, Yuanhui, and others, dressed in monks' robes and soaking wet, were panting heavily on a stone bench. Clearly, the firefighting had taken a toll on these elderly people.
But I didn't see Yuan Neng.
Li Xiangnan was cautious.
"Advisor Li! Come and see this!" Guo Qian turned around and saw Li Xiangnan. Without exchanging pleasantries, he waved and led him to a corner of the ruins.
There, several police officers were squatting on the ground, carefully cleaning something. In the water stains on the ground, there were many remnants that had been dug out of the ashes.
The main items burned were scraps or carbonized paper, thread-bound books, ledgers, notebooks and other oddities, some of which crumbled at the slightest touch, as well as some burned wooden boxes, cages and chests.
"This room used to be where the temple stored old archives, lists of worshippers, donation books, correspondence, or miscellaneous notes. Now it's mostly burned down!"
Li Xiangnan's heart sank.
Pilgrim registers, donation books, letters... these seemingly insignificant items often conceal traces of interpersonal networks, financial transactions, and even secret communications.
A fire destroyed all the clues that might point to the past or to certain people.
"Was it Yuanda? Or Yuaneng? Or... someone behind them trying to cover something up? Otherwise, why would a fire break out out of nowhere?"
Song Ziming saw through the trick and couldn't help but chime in.
Guo Qian shook his head, his expression extremely grave: "It's hard to say now. I saw Yuan Da at lunch. We did a quick check on the other monks at the scene, but we didn't find anything unusual! The timing of this fire was too coincidental!"
"Were there any casualties?" Li Xiangnan asked, looking up at the ruins.
This is different from the official document room, which is basically the temple's official scripture repository, and is something that the general public can see.
But here, there should be more private documents that better explain certain things inside the temple.
The purpose of burning this place was clearly not so simple.
Someone doesn't want them to find any clues.
"There were no casualties. The fire started around noon! Most of the monks in the temple were having their meal. This place is very remote. By the time it was discovered, the fire was already quite large!"
Guo Qian led Li Xiangnan a few steps toward the edge of the ruins and said in a low voice, "Wei Jingfei and I initially judged that it was very likely arson! Someone poured accelerants, probably paint or something, and the target was very clear: the things in this house!"
Li Xiangnan squatted down and gently peeled off a large piece of burnt paper with a twig. He could vaguely see very faint ink marks on it, but they were no longer recognizable.
If we were to restore this information, the workload would be staggering!
The arson was clearly aimed at these paper materials that might contain information!
Using explosions and fires to cover up information at every turn sounds very much like the work of the "Little Buddha".
What are they trying to cover up?
Is it because Yuan Dayuan sensed the deepening of the police investigation and what he would discover that drove him to desperation?
Or is there someone else in this temple who doesn't want certain past events to be brought up?
Where was the clay figure found?
Li Xiangnan stood up and asked.
"This way!"
Guo Qian led him around the ruins to a corner on the side of the outbuilding, where miscellaneous items were piled up.
This area was less affected by the fire, but it was still blackened by the thick smoke.
A clay Buddha statue, about half the height of a person, fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, revealing the rough clay and straw inside.
Where the Buddha statue originally stood, the blue bricks on the ground were lifted up, revealing a shallow pit underneath.
Inside the pit, a dark brown, two-foot-square old sandalwood box sits quietly. Its surface bears traces of smoke, but it is relatively well-preserved.
An old-fashioned brass lock was smashed and placed aside, its appearance clearly indicating its age.
Several police officers stood around the box, their expressions somewhat strange.
Guo Qian waved his hand, signaling a policeman to take the contents out of the box.
Wei Jingfei put on white gloves, carefully took something out of the box, wrapped it in a white cloth, and handed it to Li Xiangnan.
In that instant, Li Xiangnan felt his breath catch in his throat, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end...