Chapter 400: The Lama Trap

A kerosene lamp was hung in the room, the light dimmed very low. Huo Xiuxiu helped me and Fatty stop our nosebleeds. Everyone stood in their places. Poker-face held the jade seal tightly in his arms. The atmosphere was awkward.

The old lady ignored the pink shirt's words and just scrutinized us. It was clear her lower back was in good shape—at her age she climbed the stairs without even breathing hard or blushing. In contrast, the pink shirt had completely relaxed and found a spot to lean against the wall. The two thugs beside him were more pitiable, silently clutching their injured spots and limping out of the room.

I felt baffled, but watching this bizarre scene, I gradually understood what was going on. It seemed this pink freak was probably in league with the old lady. From what he said, it felt like this might have been a damn test? Were they testing us?

I couldn't help feeling a bit angry. After being toyed with for so long, I hated this feeling of being trapped in a game. So I directly asked her, "Granny, what trick are you playing?"

The old lady didn't answer me. She just looked at me with a half-smile. I asked again before she unhurriedly spoke, but still it wasn't an answer. She said, "You and your grandfather when he was young share one trait: no matter the circumstances, you always think of the good first, then the bad. So in this situation, you still stand there, not choosing to do something first to gain an advantage."

I felt a bit uncomfortable under the old lady's gaze, thinking to myself, what does this have to do with me? She then continued, "If it were me, encountering this situation, I would first rush outside or subdue someone first. Only in that state would I talk to the other party to see their intentions. But just now, when you saw me enter, you immediately stood still and did nothing. If I had other arrangements, wouldn't you now have no chance at all?"

I kind of understood her meaning, but thought, what for? Was she giving me crisis management advice? Fatty behind me said, "Old lady, you're mistaken. You think your numbers are your advantage? Even if you had twice as many, the advantage here is still us three, you get it? If you really want to try, with us three going all out, these veggies aren't even worth a glance."

The old lady glanced at him, sighed, as if she found it ridiculous to talk about this with us. She continued, "Alright, I didn't come here to discuss this. Relax, I don't want to... I don't want to do anything to you."

"Even when you don't want to do anything, you're already harsh enough." Fatty pointed at the blood on his collar. "If you wanted to do something, wouldn't you just kill us?"

The old lady walked to the window and looked outside. "This old mansion was originally a distribution point for the Huo family in Beijing, specifically responsible for dealing with employees who broke the rules. But people in the old society believed in ghosts and had fear. Over the years, not many people have been buried under the grass in this yard. If you die, there's plenty of space. But don't worry, I have no interest in killing you." She paused and looked at the pink shirt. "Just now I was testing you. And the reason I tested you was to let him see that my judgment is not wrong."

The pink shirt on the side smiled at us. Fatty said angrily, "What judgment? Do you want us three to become trannies too?"

The pink shirt immediately laughed and said, "Come on, even if you agree, I wouldn't agree."

"Damn it, you look down on people." Fatty said angrily. Just as he was about to retort, he thought again and realized it wasn't right, suddenly not knowing how to respond.

The pink shirt walked up to me and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Xie Yuhua, and I am the current head of the Xie family of the Nine Gates. Our families are related by marriage, so we are distant relatives. When we were kids, I remember we little devils often played together during New Year's visits. But Wu Xie, you weren't very sociable, introverted, and from out of town, so you probably weren't familiar and don't remember me."

"Yeah, even I forgot about you." Huo Xiuxiu said on the side. "Can't even tell who's real and who's fake, not even as good as this fatty. How disappointing. And to think I wanted to marry you when we were little."

I looked at Huo Xiuxiu, then at that pink shirt. I suddenly went "Ah" in my heart.

Earlier I had felt that the pink shirt looked very familiar, but no matter how I searched my memory, I couldn't remember where I had seen him. It turned out I was searching in the wrong area. He wasn't a business client or a daily friend or drinking buddy, but a little kid from when I was six or seven.

Holy shit, even if I wanted to remember, I couldn't. It's been so many years, and at that age I could hardly remember things. But I could still find a hint of familiarity in his face, which means certain areas of his face haven't changed at all. Truly rare.

Xie Yuhua, what a strange name. At that age, I couldn't even remember faces, let alone the names of kids I only saw once or twice a year. But I do remember there was a brat that everyone called Xiao Hua. However, that Xiao Hua in my memory doesn't match this person at all. Not just appearance; the person in front of me and that Xiao Hua from back then are completely different. Did I misremember?

So I asked him, "You wouldn't be that Xiao Hua, would you?"

He looked at me and gave a very ambiguous smile. Huo Xiuxiu laughed on the side, "That's right, didn't expect that?"

I was stunned again and felt a bit broken: "But I remember that Xiao Hua was a girl. Did I misremember?"

"You didn't misremember. At that time, I was indeed a 'girl'." said the pink shirt. "I had a girlish face when I was young, and I was learning opera from Second Master, playing the roles of Huadan and Qingyi. Many people couldn't tell and thought I was a girl."

I frowned. I really couldn't imagine that the fresh and cute little girl straight out of a poster in my mind was actually a grown man with a big Adam's apple now. I suddenly felt dizzy. What a fickle world. Then I asked Xiuxiu, "Then the things you told us earlier—"

"It's all true, of course. The only difference is that my grandmother knew the whole process." Xiuxiu said. "After I sent the letter, someone called my grandmother. My grandmother observed me for a while, then caught me out."

"People in this line of business are very cautious. If you received a strange letter, you would also call to ask what's going on." said the old lady. "But I admit your speculation earlier was correct. When I received the videotape, I was indeed dazed. But I wasn't so senile as to think it was just a videotape."

"So, did you discover the things hidden in those videotapes?"

"What I told you before, that those Yangshi Lei drawings were purchased from abroad, that was a lie." said the old lady. "Those Yangshi Lei were all found in those videotapes. I always thought they were clues left by my daughter for me to find her. That is also why I have never given up until now. Now, although I know that wasn't my daughter, I know that only by following this information can I find out what really happened to my daughter."

Wenjin sent those Yangshi Lei? I was a bit confused. I originally thought the videotapes would contain more specific information. I didn't expect it to be these.

However, Huo Ling disappeared during the archaeological project of this building. If the videotapes sent contained images of her daughter and also hid the building's blueprints, that would make the old lady think it was a strong clue.

Fatty asked from the side, "What does this have to do with your testing us?"

Old Madam Huo showed a very complicated smile. The pink shirt on the side seemed to receive some signal and immediately patted me, saying to us, "Alright, I don't want to waste time either. Let's get to the main topic. There will be plenty of time for catching up later." As he said this, he gave Huo Xiuxiu a wink. Huo Xiuxiu then started taking out rolls of things from her bag. I looked and saw they were all Yangshi Lei drawings, exactly the ones I had seen at the old lady's house.

All the drawings were wrapped in very high-quality kraft paper, then covered with plastic wrap, and soaked in a layer of something like tung oil. It seemed these Yangshi Lei were very fragile once out of the constant-temperature and constant-humidity room. I just didn't know why they brought these things. Could it be that the old lady lost interest and instead wanted to sell these few to me? I

"Xie Yuchen and I will soon organize an expedition." The old lady patted the pattern and said, "I need your help. If you agree, I'll guarantee that your grand ruckus at the New Moon Hotel will be smoothed over, and there will be great benefits besides."