A warehouse in the forest
A few hours later they were all seated on horses. They would follow the river for a while and then turn to enter the forest. The friends looked at each other and smiled. All feeling the excitement of a new case. And then they were off. It didn't take long to reach the spot where they thought the light had been. The stretch of forest was nondescript, but it did have a path leading into the forest, which seems to be used regularly. "This place has a very good view of the village and master Li's house. It would be a good place to signal any one in the village." Pei observed, looking out over the plains on which the village was built. "But why would anyone signal anyone there?" Rushuang wondered, Su shook her head: "At this time it will all be conjecture. We need more information. Let's follow the path and see where it leads." The path lead to a small warehouse, Su checked the lock, but found the door was closed. "Shall we open it?" Xie asked, grasping the hilt of his sword, but Su shook her head: "We have no real reason to see what is inside. The light we saw could easily have been the owner of this warehouse leaving to get home. Leave it for now. Let's walk a bit further." Su pointed to the other path leading away from the warehouse, leading deeper into the forest. They walked on, but found nothing of interest. Pei checked the way they were heading: "I think this connects to the larger village where the court is located. We can check with the villagers. They might also know who the warehouse belongs to. It's getting later, lets head back." The others nodded their consent. The sun was already setting when they got back in the village. They quickly ordered dinner and over dinner decided to stay another night at the house of old master Li.
The night revealed no new clues.
The next morning the old lady opened her door just as the friends left the house. "Did you stay another night?" she asked. Rushuang nodded: "Yes madam, but nothing happened." The old lady smiled in answer: "I had a very good night." The old lady bowed in greeting to take her leave, but Su stopped her: "Madam, do you remember if the death of old master Li was reported to court?"
"Oh yes, I think someone did go and report the case." Su thanked her and the old lady left. "I want to go to the court and see if they have a record of his death." Su said looking at Pei, who responded: "It takes half a day to get there. I think it would be good to go tomorrow morning." Su nodded and let Pei take her hand. Once again they went to the inn to sleep a few hours. After they had regained some energy they walked around the town. It really was a small village, the villagers were friendly and they had an enjoyable day. That evening, when the boss of the inn took the dishes away, the boss asked them if they were going to stay at the house again. "Yes." Xie answered.
"Why are you going there? There is nothing left there. The family came and took everything away." The boss responded. Su, thinking about the odd cellar, asked him: "Do you know what the cellar was used for?"
"Of course, old master Li was a craftsman, he made fireworks. He would store the components in his house, when there was a display coming. He often designed there. And the tunnel to his warehouse in the forest starts in the cellar." He explained. Su interrupted him: "He had a warehouse connected to his house?" Nodding the boss continued: "Of course, old master Li's wife did not want the gunpowder near the house, especially not when their son was still little. So master Li had a warehouse built in the forest, and to make sure he could reach it always, even in bad weather, he built the tunnel. That way the different components he needed for the fireworks wouldn't get wet." The boss wanted to return to the kitchen, but S stopped him again: "Does everyone in the village know of his warehouse and tunnel?" The boss nodded: "Yes, I believe two or maybe three persons even have a key. The old lady who lives next to him has one. Please excuse me." The man walked away, but came back shortly after he had deposited the dishes in the kitchen. He placed a tray with a teapot and cups in the middle of the table. "Why does the old lady have a key? Surely she does not create fireworks?" Rushuang asked, as Fei Yuan poured out the tea. "No, she usually goes out for a walk and sometimes she walks to the forest. She has the key to rest in the ware house before coming back."
"Maybe we could ask to borrow her key and see the inside of the warehouse." Pei suggested. The boss interrupted him: "You can have my key, but you won't find anything in the warehouse. It is empty."
"How do you know?" Su asked him. "When old master Li died, I went there and into the cellar to take out all the left over sulfur, coal, other components and the already mixed gunpowder. Old master Li had asked me to take these away before his family came, if he were to die suddenly. Well a full moon later he died. It's still here. We don't have another craftsman, so no one uses it. The storage jars are still in one of my old warehouses in the back"
"Could we see these storage jars?" Pei asked. "Yes, I'll show you when you are ready." The boss suggested and left the group to enjoy their tea. "How about Rushuang and I keep watch in the house of old master Li. You can have a good night sleep and leave for court tomorrow. I don't think we all have to go and that way you can leave early in the morning." Pei thanked him for the suggestion and they agreed to Xie's plan. Rushuang and Xie left shortly after they finished their tea. Su, Pei and Fei Yuan followed the boss to a small warehouse on the edge of the courtyard of the inn. The man let them in. As always Su carefully took everything in. The storage jars didn't seem special, they were generic storage jars. But she did see some brown splatter on some of the storage jars, but not on all. And some had markings on them. "Do you remember which storage jars you took from the cellar and which from the warehouse?"
"The small ones are from the cellar, master Li couldn't transfer the large ones." The boss pointed to the group of small storage jars that were stood to one side, the larger one where on the other side of the warehouse. Su kneeled next to the small storage jars, taking note of the fact that only some of the small ones had brown splatter on them and no marks. The larger ones, from the warehouse did have markings on them. "Do you know what these marks are?" The boss kneeled down and looked closely, but then shook his head. Pei came closer: "Are the markings made with chalk? It looks like some were wiped of." He pointed to the fainter lines, then he brushed his fingers over a clear line, smelling it: "Yes, this is chalk." Su nodded, once more kneeling down to see the fainter lines. Then she rose and opened one of the lids, she carefully put her hand inside, feeling where the storage jars was filled. "I think he marked how full they were." Pei opened another and also took stock of the contents: "This mark is not on the same level as the contents." Su, Pei and Fei Yuan opened more storage jars, some had correct markings and some didn't. "This is strange." Fei Yuan remarked. "How would old master Li restock? Would he get new storage jars or would the storage jars he already had be refilled?" Su asked. The boss shook his head apologetically: "I'm sorry, I don't know. You could ask his supplier in the larger town." The mention of the larger town, with the court reminded Su about the report of old master Li's death. She turned to the boss: "Do you know if old master Li's death was reported to court?"
"Yes, I reported it myself. No one wanted to do it, as it was an accident and there were more pressing matters then. But I had to go to town anyway, so I reported it in the county court. An official came here and also concluded it was an accident."
"Then there should be a report, we'll find out tomorrow." Su said and Pei nodded. "Have you seen enough, dear?" He asked, seeing the boss was a bit anxious to get back. "Yes, thank you for showing us." Su thanked the boss, who bowed and said: "If you want to take another look, please let me know. And if you are going to court tomorrow, I can recommend an inn where you could stay the night, if you need to." The four went back to the inn where Su and Pei retired to their room. They had asked Fei Yuan to check in with Rushuang and Xie. After a short while he came back and said nothing had happened. "Thank you, Fei Yuan. Let's go to sleep. We have a long journey tomorrow." Pei said, Fei Yuan left them for his own room and Su and Pei turned to get to bed as well.