Who is the translator of Xinxi xiantan, the first translated fiction in modern China? This has been a mystery for over one hundred years. Although some progress has been made since 1990s, there is still no compelling evidence or pronounced conclusion on this topic. Based on the research of the scholars at the time, this paper aims to make use of such initial data as newspapers, journals, collections of poems, diaries, draft reports to the throne, the unpublished manuscripts and files of the imperial examination at that time to discover the one-hundred-year mystery and provide a full certification, so that the problem can be solved in the true sense. In addition, this paper also tries to show the basic features of the translator’s life with detailed information.