At first, Mr. Nye simply thought his son was talking nonsense out of frustration from being blind, so he paid no attention. But as his son’s ramblings became more frequent, Mr. Nye decided he might as well check things out for himself. He climbed a ladder to the roof and, sure enough, saw a five-foot-long southern snake among the thatch. He then ran to Mr. Sure’s house and actually saw a hornet’s nest newly built by venomous wasps inside the mosquito net in Mr. Sure’s bedroom. Mr. Nye told others about his son’s strange abilities, and Mr. Sure said, “Your son’s hearing is extraordinary. A person with such gifts must have unusual traits, so he lost his sight, but he will also have an unusual fate—he’s destined for great wealth and honor.” Mr. Nye was half-convinced, half-doubtful. “How wealthy and honored are we talking?” Mr. Sure replied, “Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed.”

A few days later, Mr. Nye learned from a public notice in town that a shocking robbery had indeed occurred on the Xijiang River! Bandits had stolen a finely crafted artwork called “Smooth Sailing,” made of a hundred catties of pure gold and presented by the Yulin Prefect Arthur White to the Emperor. All the soldiers escorting the boat were killed! The case alarmed the Ministry of Justice in the Qing court, which ordered the local authorities in Rongzhou Prefecture to solve the case quickly. The Rongzhou prefect was completely in the dark—how could he solve it? He had no choice but to order all counties to arrest suspects, preferring to wrongly catch ten thousand than let one escape! The people were thrown into panic.

Samuel Nye said, “Dad, actually there were only five bandits: one effeminate man, one with a duck-like voice, one whose catchphrase is ‘Damn your life,’ one who doesn’t talk much but always snorts, and one who’s especially good at whistling, particularly fond of playing the Cantonese tune ‘San Ji Lang,’ and habitually stutters on the ‘er’ sound. All five are highly skilled in martial arts.”

Since Samuel Nye’s words had been proven true several times, Mr. Nye began to believe his son’s hearing was indeed extraordinary. To bring the real bandits to justice, Mr. Nye took Samuel Nye to the prefect to provide clues. The prefect was skeptical, so to test Samuel Nye’s special ability, he ordered a yamen runner to catch a random insect in the fields and put it in a box, then placed the box in a guardroom far from the main hall. The prefect asked, “Can you tell what insect is in the box?” Samuel Nye tilted his head and listened, his big ears twitching a few times. “Judging by the sound, it seems to be a rice stem borer.”

The prefect had the box brought out and opened, and sure enough, it was a rice stem borer! Only then did the prefect believe that Samuel Nye’s clues were valuable. But how could they pick out the five bandits from the vast crowd? The prefect came up with an idea.

Soon, the prefect posted a notice: To celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and bring joy to the people, Rongzhou Prefecture would hold its first whistling competition. The winner would be selected as the head of the imperial music bureau in the capital—a rank even higher than a prefect. This was a shortcut to promotion outside the civil and military exams, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Instantly, people flocked to sign up.

During the competition, the prefect and Samuel Nye sat backstage listening. Whenever someone played “San Ji Lang,” the prefect wanted to have them arrested, but Samuel Nye would wave his hand and say, “Not him.”

On the seventh day, a contestant was playing “Lao Ba Ban” when Samuel Nye said, “That’s one of the bandits—arrest him! To be sure, after you catch him, ask him a question with the word ‘er’ in it.”

The prefect came out and saw the contestant was a young man in his twenties, with delicate features, looking like a scholar. The prefect frowned—how could he be a bandit? Was Samuel Nye mistaken?

After the contestant finished whistling, the prefect applauded and then asked, “Can you play ‘San Ji Lang’?” The contestant blurted out, “Yes, I’m very good at ‘San Ji Lang.’ Would you like to hear it, sir?” The prefect said, “That won’t be necessary. How old are you this year?” The contestant replied, “T-t-t-t-twenty-seven.” The prefect shouted, “Guards, seize him!”

The yamen runners maintaining order around the stage pounced like wolves and tigers. The contestant was shocked and quickly used his martial arts, stepping on the shoulders of the runners and the crowd to escape. As he leapt over Mr. Nye’s head, Mr. Nye happened to have a newly bought shovel handle, so he took the opportunity to jab it upward, hitting the contestant right in the crotch. With a cry, the contestant fell, and the runners swarmed in and captured him.

Upon interrogation, this man turned out to be one of the bandits. Through him, the prefect quickly learned the whereabouts of the other four, and within two days, all the bandits were caught in one sweep. The pure gold artwork “Smooth Sailing” was recovered. The prefect was delighted and reported to the prefect of Yulin, Arthur White, who wrote the words “Divine Ear” for Samuel Nye. Samuel Nye’s fame soared overnight.

“So, what do you think? Isn’t this Divine Ear amazing?” Unknown Elder asked proudly when he saw Edward Brooks was completely absorbed in the story.

“So, does that mean I might go blind in the future too?” Edward Brooks’s face stiffened, and a sudden fear welled up inside him. He was in the prime of his youth—if he went blind, he’d surely lose his job. What would he do then?

“Not necessarily. Although your hearing is extraordinary, it’s still far from the level of Divine Ear. Even if you did reach that level, so what if you really went blind?” Unknown Elder said heartlessly.

“No way, I absolutely can’t go blind!” At this moment, Edward Brooks was gripped by fear. What worried him wasn’t his own future, but the thought of how devastated his elderly parents would be if they saw him like that.