Chapter 208: Leaving, But Not Quite

This time, it wasn’t Lu Ayao who noticed first. All three of us spotted them the moment we stepped out the door. The watchers followed from a distance, looking very much like Gan Rong’s people. They made no effort to hide; on the contrary, they were remarkably blatant about it, as if being followed was simply our natural state of being.

After this had gone on for two or three days, I caught He Yu’s eye one morning. The three of us headed up to the second floor together. As soon as He Yu entered the room, he flopped onto my bed and stretched. “What’s the point of investigating anything? We get followed just going out to buy groceries. Old Lu, how’s it looking on your end?”

Lu Ayao shook his head. “Someone’s been on me from the moment I leave. Even if they don’t dare get too close, the sheer number of them makes the chances of me shaking them very low.”

I stood by the desk, pouring water from a thermos and drinking cup after cup. After the third, I slammed the glass down on the desk, startling He Yu. I turned around and said solemnly, “This won’t work. We’re being watched every second here. We can’t get anything done.”

He Yu, conversely, seemed to lose his urgency. Lying back on the bed, he said, “Take it easy, take it easy. Aren’t we trying to come up with a countermeasure? Besides, you said it yourself at the start – if this really is a setup, someone’s been trying to pull you into the game since that box appeared. Given our current situation, they won’t just sit by and watch. Maybe we don’t even need to investigate; the clues might just deliver themselves to our doorstep in a moment.”

“Young Master! Young Master, are you there?”

The words had barely left He Yu’s mouth when I heard someone calling for me outside. I set down my glass and went out to find the cleaning lad calling from the first floor. He pointed toward the entrance. “Young Master, someone’s at the door looking for you.”

Already irritated, I hurried down the stairs in a few quick strides. I passed through the second foyer and ran to the entrance, only to find the doorway empty. People on the street were bundled in padded coats, hurrying along with their heads down. There was no one looking for me.

I turned back and shouted inside, “Where are they?”

Just then, a person walking toward me suddenly slammed into me, sending me stumbling. He had the hood of his down jacket pulled up. I felt his silhouette looked familiar, but I couldn’t recall where I had seen him.

“Sorry, my apologies,” he said quickly in Mandarin as he brushed past me. The entire encounter lasted less than three minutes. By the time I felt the slip of paper he’d pressed into my hand and turned to look for him, he had already vanished.

My hand, tucked in my pocket, felt a slight chill. The lad ran out and looked around, scratching his head. “That’s not right, Young Master. Someone was definitely here looking for you just now, right at the door. How’d they disappear in the blink of an eye?”

I brushed it off with a casual laugh. “They probably had something urgent and had to leave. It’s fine. It’s cold out, let’s head back inside.”

Carrying the chill of the outdoors, I climbed back up to the second floor, my fingers tracing the slip of paper that had frozen stiff in my pocket. I closed the door, locked it behind me, took a deep breath, and pulled out the note. “Brothers,” I told them, “the clue is here.”

I pulled out a chair, placed the note on the desk, and switched on the lamp. He Yu and Lu Ayao each leaned over the back of my chair. With a hint of nerves, I unfolded the paper. Written on it was an address: Five hundred meters below Huhe Village, Mohe, Greater Khingan Mountains.

He Yu gave me a nudge. “Looks like you guessed right. But that’s your mother’s territory now. We’re surrounded on all sides here, watched every time we step out. This person took a huge risk to get this message to you. What do you think they’re after?”

I thought back to the man who had bumped into me. I’d seen that back before, I just couldn’t place it. I picked up the note. “Since someone went to the trouble of risking their neck to bring us the answer, it would be a bit of a letdown if we didn’t go check it out, wouldn’t it?”

He Yu leaned one hand on the desk and waved the other dismissively. “Whoa, hold on. Let’s straighten this out first. First off, is this address actually the source of that black box we’re investigating? I don’t want us trekking across mountains and rivers just to be played for fools.”

He paused. “When we found the black box, we checked the area and the entrance was sealed off. Logically, no one should know we found it. How can you be sure the address this guy gave you is the one we’re looking for?”

When he said that, both Lu Ayao and I fell silent. The arrival of this note was too bizarre. Just when we needed the specific address for “Northwest Outdoor,” someone seemingly read our minds and delivered it.

But was this a trap, just like Xinchang Bank?

Lu Ayao spoke up, breaking our shared contemplation. “No information is getting in right now,” he said. “If you want to know if this address is the place you’re looking for, there’s no other way but to go see for yourself. However, my advice is: don’t go.”

“Why?” He Yu looked up.

Lu Ayao was about to speak when the phone in his pocket began to ring. His calls had clearly more than doubled over the past few days. Previously, he hardly ever received any, but lately, his phone rang constantly. It was highly unusual.

Several times while we were cooking in the kitchen, he’d had to dry his hands and step out for a long while, only returning once the meal was finished. Eventually, He Yu stopped letting him back in and just told him to wait outside.

Another time, I saw Lu Ayao from the second-floor window, running to the backyard to take a call. I’m not a voyeur and didn’t want to pry into his private business, but that call lasted over an hour. It was practically a marathon session; I’d never seen him chat with anyone for that long.

As his phone rang again, He Yu was clearly getting annoyed. “Can you turn that thing off? You’ve been acting weird lately. Is the person calling you a debt collector or something? Every single day, over and over. Can’t you see we’re discussing serious business here?”

I tugged on He Yu’s sleeve, telling him to dial it back. He’d spent so much time haggling with the market ladies lately that his voice tended to spike in volume, making it sound like we were about to start a brawl.

Sure enough, Lu Ayao quickly cut the call. I suspected that the person calling was the same one as before. Despite He Yu expressing curiosity several times, Lu Ayao kept it hidden and said nothing.

I glanced at him and asked, “Why can’t I go? Do you want me to live in the Gan Clan forever, knowing absolutely nothing? I might have been a fool before, but I’m not anymore. As long as it concerns my grandfather, I’m going to find out the truth.”

“You can’t go,” he said.

Annoyed, I snapped, “If you don’t want to go, just say so. I haven’t bothered you about the calls you’re taking every day, so why are you minding my business?”

Lu Ayao let out a rare, sharp “Tch,” clearly disagreeing with me. He frowned, then straightened up without a word and walked out the door without looking back. His attitude sent a fresh surge of anger through me.

He Yu looked at me. I didn’t plan on moving, just sat there with my face turned away and hands shoved in my pockets, looking resentful. He then looked at the departing Lu Ayao and patted my shoulder.

“Can’t you two just talk things out? I’m not even the one arguing with him, yet you’ve started clashing. Xiao Yao, you sit tight. I’ll go check on him. He’s just a blockhead, don’t take it to heart,” he said before running out after him.

Meanwhile, my mind was entirely occupied by that note. These matters haunted me like a nightmare I couldn’t shake. I knew that if I didn’t investigate them thoroughly, I might drive myself insane.

I pulled my grandfather’s notebook from the drawer and stuffed it into my bag. Fourth Brother’s shop had plenty of long-stored equipment; since returning, I’d intentionally brought a lot of it up and kept it in my drawer for an emergency. Now, it was finally coming in handy.

I packed two coils of rope into the bag, followed by some daggers, a water bottle, and essential medicine. After packing a change of clothes, I zipped the backpack shut and tossed it aside. Suddenly feeling exhausted, I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling.

As I watched, Lu Ayao and He Yu caught my attention through the window below. They were discussing something, but the window was too soundproof for me to hear clearly. They didn’t notice me sitting above, idly watching them. Judging by their lip movements, they seemed to be having quite a long conversation.

After a while, I stopped looking. Spying on people wasn’t a virtue. At the same time, my irritation began to grow. Deep down, I didn’t want them arguing over my affairs.

With that thought, I grabbed my backpack and stood up. I tucked the note away and headed downstairs with the bag slung over one shoulder. I hadn’t even made it past the second foyer before a shop hand stopped me. “Young Master, where are you heading?”

I ignored him and tried to sidestep him, but several shop hands rushed over to block my path. “Young Master, Young Master, you can’t just leave like this. We won’t be able to explain this to the bosses.”

“Do I need to report my whereabouts to you now?” My patience had reached its limit over the past few days, and my gaze turned cold.

I was usually the definition of good-natured in the shop. The workers had likely never seen me like this and were momentarily stunned.

I didn’t want to start a fight with them, so I simply said, “I’m going back to Kaifeng. Is that alright?”

“Young Master, you should stay here. Please don’t try to trick us.”

My temper flared instantly. I gripped my bag and prepared to force my way out when a large group of people suddenly swarmed into the shop from outside. Then, a loud, resonant voice rang out from the crowd.

“Let me see who’s being so blind. Since when do you low-level lackeys get to decide where our master goes?”