Chapter Sixty-Eight: Fatty's Investigation

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Chen Qingshan soon brought over the Chen family genealogy. I had expected an ancient tome, yet to my surprise, it was merely a somewhat old, black leather notebook. Chen Qingshan apologized, “During the Cultural Revolution, most of the Chen family’s genealogical records were burned. It was taboo to keep them. The only one left in the family was with my third uncle. This one was copied later by my daughter from his, so it’s not very neat, but still legible.”

The Fatty took it, saying, “No problem, as long as it’s readable.” Without ceremony, he opened it and began to study it. I was also intrigued, never having seen such a thing myself, so I leaned over to look. The opening was written in classical Chinese, recounting the local Chen clan’s origins. Before I could read much, Fatty flipped the page, and the first name listed was Ancestor Chen, the progenitor of the local Chen family—Chen Jinzhi—who settled here during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty.

Fatty asked, “So Chen Jinzhi was the first family patriarch, right?”

Chen Qingshan nodded, “Yes. After Chen Jinzhi, the patriarchal line was passed down directly until my third uncle’s generation. Only then did the title disappear. If you look at it, the last person in that branch is Dongfang.”

“The Hongwu era—interesting.” With that, Fatty tossed the genealogy back to Chen Qingshan.

“That’s all you’re going to read?” I asked in surprise. Just one page?

“Yeah, just looking for the origin. The Hongwu era… could he have had some connection with that famous man?” Fatty muttered under his breath.

“That man? Who?” I asked.

“Liu Bowen. But that’s unlikely. He’s too well-known. Whenever you mention that period, everyone thinks of him. I’ll have someone look into it. If this fellow had any historical significance, he’ll be easy to find,” Fatty said. With that, he made a call, instructing, “Wu the Scholar, I need you to look up someone: Chen Jinzhi, from the Hongwu era, settled in Fudigou, Luoyang—a village.”

After he finished, Fatty turned to us. “Done.”

I stared at him. Honestly, it made sense to be able to investigate someone nowadays, but to check on a person from the Hongwu era as easily as he made it sound was shocking. What kind of resources did he have? I remembered what Chen Dongfang had said: he tried to look into Fatty’s background but found nothing, and even met with obstruction. That only made me more curious about Fatty.

“Is that even possible?” Not just me—Chen Qingshan was incredulous.

“It is. This guy knows the stars and the earth. Don’t worry—if the name shows up in the historical records, he’ll find it,” Fatty said confidently.

Then he continued, “Village chief, it’s about time we move forward with the Martial Saint Temple, isn’t it?”

Chen Qingshan nodded, “We’ll hold a village meeting shortly. There’ve been so many strange incidents lately, and after what happened at my third uncle’s burial yesterday, no one will object. It’ll pass easily.”

We left the village committee, and just as Chen Qingshan had said, he gathered the villagers by ringing the school’s bell. He explained the plan to build the Martial Saint Temple. With everyone spooked by recent events, there was no opposition—especially since the villagers only needed to contribute labor, not money. In the end, it was decided the temple would be built next to the ancestral hall, with the committee providing materials and the villagers working for fifty yuan and meals per day. Construction would start tomorrow.

By the time the meeting was over and tasks were assigned, it was late afternoon. I was about to head home when Fatty called, asking me to come to the committee office—it sounded urgent. I thought maybe they’d found out something about the Chen family ancestor, so I hurried over. I found Fatty sitting in a chair with a peculiar look on his face.

“Is there something on my face?” I asked.

“No,” he replied, still with that odd expression.

“Then why are you looking at me like that? Did you find anything about Chen Jinzhi?”

“No, nothing. Seems we were looking in the wrong place. The guy was a nobody,” Fatty said.

“Then why did you call me so urgently? I thought you’d found something.” I glared at him.

“We didn’t find anything about Chen Jinzhi, but we found something else.” Fatty stared at me.

“Then tell me! What’s with all the suspense?” I asked, puzzled.

“There’s someone else who investigated Chen Jinzhi. You’ll never guess who—it was Ye Tianhua. Surprised?” Fatty watched me closely.

To be honest, hearing that name startled me, but then I remembered Chen Dongfang had told me my father had looked into Fudigou and died because of it, passing what he found to Tang Renjie, which became Tang’s leverage to curry favor with Old Liu. So I wasn’t too surprised.

“Impressive! Fatty, you can even find that out?” I couldn’t help but be impressed.

“It was a coincidence. The person your father hired back then also asked Wu the Scholar to investigate Chen Jinzhi. Nothing came of it, but Wu has a photographic memory, so when I brought it up today, it jogged his memory. That made me curious, so I had Wu look into your father. Turns out, your dad was quite something!” Fatty said.

“What did you find out?” I pressed.

“The biggest thing was the infamous Skinning Case—it even made the news. But your father’s military record was even more impressive. He was the top soldier in the entire North China Military Region, started with the Lanzhou Special Operations Unit. After that, the records stop. I also asked Wu to look into Chen Dongfang and Tang Renjie. I thought they were all comrades from the Lanzhou unit, but they weren’t. Chen Dongfang was from Jinan Military Region, and Tang Renjie from Nanjing. Both were standouts in their units, and both ended up in their regions’ special forces,” Fatty explained.

This stunned me. I stood and said, “They weren’t comrades? That can’t be.”

“According to the records, no. But they wouldn’t lie about such a thing. The only explanation is that they were selected as elite soldiers from their respective regions and formed into a new team for a special mission. This happens when something extremely important is at stake. So, back then, they were selected from different regions for a unique mission, and that’s when they became comrades.”

“And do you know the most important thing? Your father’s death alarmed his old commanding officer, who held him in high regard. He wanted the army to send people to take over the local police’s investigation. A team was already in Luoyang, but someone powerful stopped them. The person who blocked it was a formidable figure,” Fatty said, fixing his gaze on me.

I was deeply shaken by his words, but even more so by the fact that Fatty’s contact, Wu the Scholar, could uncover so many details from so long ago.

“Who exactly did you find?” I asked.

“A very formidable person. I have some connections with him,” Fatty said with a wry smile.

“More than just a few, I’d say. To dig up all this—Fatty, I’m really curious who you are,” I pressed.

At that moment, my phone suddenly rang. It was Chen Dongfang. I answered, and his furious voice came through at once, “Tell that Fatty if he wants to live, he’d better stop right now. Some things are not for him to investigate!”

At the same time, Fatty’s phone rang as well. He answered, and after a brief conversation, his face turned deathly pale.