Chapter 202: The Break

The three of us were the last to arrive in the cabin. A table sat in the center with a nautical chart spread across it, surrounded by a crowd of workers. I took a quick scan; aside from the crew steering the ship, pretty much everyone was there.

My mother had likely just finished explaining the sailing route. She looked up as she saw us coming down. In an instant, every gaze in the cabin shifted toward us. I had seen this kind of crowd before; it never boded well.

My mother gave Xiao Wu a quick instruction. He hurried over to my desk, picked up the Nine-Ring Jade Casket, and placed it on top of the nautical chart. Then, she beckoned to someone behind her, and a fresh face stepped out from the crowd.

I narrowed my eyes. This young man looked a bit younger than me. His skin was very pale, making it clear he wasn’t part of the regular crew, nor was he one of the workers my mother had brought along. I guessed he had come with the ship but hadn’t disembarked yesterday. He likely had some background.

I instinctively looked at my own arms. After running all over the place with Fourth Brother recently, I had tanned several shades. If someone threw me into the middle of these workers now, I wouldn’t look out of place at all.

“What’s going on?” He Yu whispered in my ear.

I couldn’t help asking, “Mom, is there something important you need to tell us?”

My mother began to introduce the young man beside her. “This is Han Zhuo, a child from your Uncle Han Cheng’s side. He has studied Qimen Dunjia^[1] since he was small, and his training is much more orthodox than yours. Your Uncle Han Cheng specifically sent him along this time to help crack the Nine-Ring Jade Casket.”

Hearing this made me feel a bit slighted, but for the sake of appearances, I forced a hollow laugh. “So we’re in the same trade. Nice to meet you. This casket is indeed difficult to solve; I’ve been feeling a bit stretched thin on my own. It’s good you’re here. Two people working on it will certainly be faster than one.”

“Brother, you’ve got that wrong.” As soon as Han Zhuo opened his mouth, I felt a sharp edge to his words.

I was taken aback, wondering to myself if I had said something wrong just now.

Then, my mother spoke. “What I mean is for you to hand the jade casket over to Han Zhuo and let him handle the cracking. That way, progress might be faster.”

These words were like a heavy blow to the back of my head. My head instantly started ringing. Was she questioning my technical ability? Although I had grown used to her attitude over the years, my heart still skipped a beat.

As anger surged inside me, my chest began to hurt. My voice came out low and heavy:

“No.”

I couldn’t suppress a cough. Looking at the jade casket on the table, I continued, “No, I don’t agree. I’ve already drawn up the blueprints. As long as we figure out the alignment pattern, the casket will open. I’ve been studying it for so long, so I must be involved in cracking the rest of it.”

After saying that, my throat began to itch, followed by a violent fit of coughing. He Yu hurried to support me and rub my back to help me catch my breath. “Don’t get worked up,” he reminded me. “Bai Shenxian said your internal injuries haven’t healed yet.”

My mother looked at me. “How long have you been trying to solve it? Over half a year. Do you have any idea how many lives are tied to this casket? Aside from searching for the location of the lateral water system map, cracking this casket is the only thing we can actually do.”

“But…” Before I could finish speaking,

Lu Ayao, who had been silent until now, stepped forward a few paces and cut in. “I’ve seen the blueprints. The construction of this casket is extremely intricate; moving one part affects the whole. This means that before we know the correct sequence for the rolling spheres, the only thing we can do is get a clear understanding of its internal structure first. Accomplishing that alone is already commendable.”

He turned slightly and glanced at me. “Furthermore, Gan Ji has been the one holding the Nine-Ring Jade Casket. No one in this world understands its structure better than he does. Switching to someone else now would mean starting from the basics all over again. In my view, it’s unnecessary.”

He didn’t often voice his opinions, and the moment he spoke, the room fell into dead silence.

My mother stared at Lu Ayao, then let out a laugh. “I don’t know what you three went through together, but from the looks of it, Yin Pozi is truly favoring my son from the bottom of his heart. A pity, though. In the future, the Gan Clan will have no dealings whatsoever with the Lu Clan.”

Lu Ayao bowed slightly with folded hands. “The Nine-Ring Jade Casket concerns the Five Masters. I am not favoring anyone; I am merely speaking fairly.”

Yet my heart had already turned cold. Whenever my mother wanted something, she would never rest until she got her way. On her first day on the island, she hadn’t offered a single word of concern for me; instead, she had immediately tried to punish me over some worthless rhino horn material. Now she was forcing me to hand over the Nine-Ring Jade Casket. She didn’t trust me, yet she trusted an outsider who didn’t share a drop of blood with her, while finding every excuse to make things difficult for my friends and everyone who treated me well.

Other than the fact that she simply didn’t like me, I couldn’t think of any other reason.

Just then, Gan Rong suddenly looked at me and said, “Gan Ji, be sensible.”

Those words echoed in my mind like a refrain. I had heard them thousands of times before, yet none of those times had sounded quite as piercing as this.

I reached out to grab Lu Ayao’s arm. Sensing my movement, he turned his hand to catch mine. But at that sudden motion, the pain in my chest flared up violently, as if something were about to surge out.

I opened my mouth, and without warning, I vomited a mouthful of blood. It splattered across the floor. Realizing what was happening a moment too late, I wiped my face with my palm, only to find that blood was pouring from both my nose and my mouth.

“Gan Ji!”

“Young Master!” I heard Xiao Wu shout. He brought over a wet towel, trying to wipe away the blood.

He Yu immediately propped me up, and Lu Ayao hurried to stand behind me. The entire boat fell into a panic. I clearly saw Gan Rong instinctively take a step forward, but she quickly checked herself, remaining where she stood and just watching me.

I gave a self-deprecating smile. This only made me more certain of what I was about to do.

Rather than keeping up this charade every day, it was better to just lay everything out in the open. Regardless, it seemed whether this relationship existed or not wasn’t that important anymore anyway.

With my hands covered in blood, I quickly stripped the red sandalwood beads from my left wrist. Then, I gave the string a violent yank, sending the blood-stained beads scattering and clattering all over the floor.

Gan Rong’s expression shifted for once, but just as I remembered, she remained cold. Yet her coldness had only ever been directed at me.

Xiao Wu recognized my bracelet. He knew it had been my coming-of-age gift, and that snapping a string with such special significance was a terrible omen. Generally, it meant the owner had met with disaster. Furthermore, the number of beads on each strand held a specific meaning, with every single bead representing a different blessing. Losing even one was a serious matter.

He dropped to his knees in a panic to gather them for me. “Young Master, whatever it is, let’s talk it out. Why are you doing this?”

I swallowed the bloody foam in my mouth and looked at Gan Rong, saying word by word, “Now, the only thing you ever gave me is gone too.”

I spat up blood with almost every sentence I spoke, but my stubbornness back then was carved from the exact same mold as my grandfather’s.

“For all these years, I’ve known you didn’t like me,” I said. “This is the last time I’ll ever say this to you. Once the New Year passes, I’m leaving. You won’t have to keep pushing me at every turn. Don’t make things difficult for my friends, either. You can do whatever you want with the box; I won’t ask a single question about it from now on. Don’t ever come back to disturb my life again.”