Xinyang is the setting of a consequential encounter at Ma Dayuan’s residence and the starting point for Duan Zhengchun’s attempt to correct the account of events that had implicated Xiao Feng. The place links a contested death to a letter intended for the Beggar Clan, carrying the consequences of what happened there into a later gathering.

The encounter at Ma Dayuan’s residence

Duan Yu told Quan Guanqing that Duan Zhengchun had been at Deputy Leader Ma’s residence in Xinyang a few months earlier. There, Duan Zhengchun witnessed Bai Shijing’s death. The encounter also left Duan Zhengchun injured, and he was still recovering when Duan Yu delivered the account on his father’s behalf.

The testimony mattered because the Beggar Clan’s members had been told that Xiao Feng killed Bai Shijing and Madam Ma, and that Ma Dayuan had also been murdered. Duan Yu explicitly rejected the claim that his sworn elder brother had killed Bai Shijing or Madam Ma, adding that Ma Dayuan had been harmed by someone else. He did not give Quan Guanqing a full explanation in person; he directed him to the letter for the details.

From Xinyang to the Beggar Clan

After leaving Ma Dayuan’s residence, Duan Zhengchun met Ruan Xingzhu and recuperated under her care. Because he believed Xiao Feng had been wronged by the Beggar Clan’s accusation that he murdered Ma Dayuan, Duan Zhengchun wrote a letter to vindicate him and instructed Gu Ducheng, Fu Sigui, and Zhu Danchen to take it to the clan.

The letter’s delivery was delayed while the three searched for the Beggar Clan’s leaders. In Luoyang, they learned that the Hall of Great Wisdom was meeting nearby. After hearing a description of a wandering gentleman that seemed to fit Duan Yu, they found him at White Horse Temple. Duan Yu joined their journey to deliver the letter and asked them afterward to take him to his father, who was also in Henan.

The letter’s reception

At the gathering, Duan Yu presented the sealed letter to Quan Guanqing. Its cover instructed that it be opened personally by the Beggar Clan’s elders, so Quan Guanqing said he would present it at the forthcoming General Assembly rather than open it himself. The contents were therefore not disclosed at that encounter.

Xinyang’s importance lies in this chain of testimony and deferred disclosure: Duan Zhengchun’s presence at Ma Dayuan’s residence gave him information with which to challenge the accusation against Xiao Feng, but the correction depended on a letter reaching the clan’s elders. The place is remembered through the unresolved account carried away from it, rather than through a fully revealed explanation at the time of delivery.