Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Let’s turn our attention back to China. Beihai Port in southern China was one of the most important ports for people traveling from the Gulf of Tonkin to Southeast Asia.

The weather there was very hot and humid. Mo Yungao had a very large mansion there that used to belong to the businessman, Ma Youbao, after the British opened the port (1). There were large manors, palm trees, and bananas, and the main building alone had more than sixty rooms.

The Ma residence hadn’t been repaired for a long time. After the warlords’ melees, the Guangxi factions had fought each other many times in Beihai, causing the ships to stop sailing there. All the ships were turning to Xiamen, so fewer foreigners came, which meant that there were fewer monks who could repair such houses.

This kind of European-style Catholic mansion was very rare in Guixi. Mo Yungao had seen it when he first entered Beihai and chose it as his headquarters. He hadn’t left since.

After a long time, a lot of the mansion keys had been lost. The housekeeper complained about it several times, which led Mo Yungao to think of Chen Xifeng. When he had taken over here, Chen Xifeng was the one archiving everything. If Chen Xifeng was still around, it wouldn’t have been so troublesome.

Chen Xifeng was an important person who helped him conquer Beihai and later planned out Beihai’s defense. As his lieutenant, Chen Xifeng helped him accumulate a very solid ruling foundation when he was still alive.

Unfortunately, he died on the ship that was heading back to Malacca three years ago. Although Chen Xifeng had kept his promise and brought back what Mo Yungao wanted, his body was already swollen when he returned.

Mo Yungao used to think that people like Chen Xifeng would never die, so when he saw Chen Xifeng’s corpse, he couldn’t believe it for a long time.

The violent stench made him unable to open his eyes.

There was no doubt that Chen Xifeng was a very capable person, but his smell after death was just as unbearable as the other idiots who worked and died for him.

The airtight jar was in Chen Xifeng’s hands at that time. It was said that the lieutenant was holding the jar so tightly that the others couldn’t pry his hands open. He had said that he needed to personally hand it over to his superior.

For a few seconds, Mo Yungao was a little touched and felt as if he had lost something. But his interest in that jar soon surpassed all that Chen Xifeng had done. He covered his nose, ordered the people to cut off Chen Xifeng’s fingers, and then retrieved the jar.

As Chen Xifeng’s body fell to the ground, Mo Yungao evaded the body fluids and ordered the others to quickly burn the corpse. At that time, those who were close to the lieutenant asked if he was going to be given a military funeral, but Mo Yungao had already left. He never asked about Chen Xifeng again.

The body was hastily burned in the yard.

In addition to the jar, there was also a letter that Chen Xifeng had written. He had placed it at the bottom of the jar and wrote down detailed information about Zhang Haiyan and the Malacca branch of the Southern Archives.

Chen Xifeng had been killed by a man named Zhang Haiyan.

His surname is Zhang?

For some reason, Mo Yungao was particularly sensitive to this surname. As a result, he became extremely interested in the Southern Archives.

This incident was a huge reflection of the workings of fate. Zhang Haiyan’s naughty words were carefully recorded by Chen Xifeng and passed to Mo Yungao.

The series of events piled up, revealing a magnificent picture.

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TN Notes:

(1) Treaty ports were port cities in China that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the "unequal treaties" with the Western powers. Wiki link here