Chapter 273: Grand Finale (Part 1)

After sitting in the ancestral hall for a day and a night, I returned to the courtyard house to pack my backpack. I stuffed everything I had brought inside, pulled the zipper shut, and turned around. I saw Lu Qianshan leaning against the doorframe with a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, watching me with a complicated expression.

I glanced at him, brushed past him out the door, and said, “Tell the kitchen they don’t need to bring me food anymore. I’m leaving.”

Lu Qianshan pulled the grass from his mouth and hurried to keep pace with me. “Wait, what kind of fit are you throwing now? You’ve held out for half a month. Why give up just like that? Maybe if you stuck it out for a few more days, the boss would’ve agreed. Did Linggu say something to you?”

I pushed aside the bead curtain hanging in the corridor and kept walking without stopping. “No,” I said expressionlessly. “I just figured it out for myself. I think going back to school will be easier. My leave of absence is almost over, so I’m heading back now.”

“Huh? Gan Ji, that doesn’t sound like you,” Lu Qianshan said, refusing to let it go as he continued to nag in my ear. “Weren’t you all indignant just two days ago? Didn’t you say you’d never give up until you got what you wanted? How did you suddenly see the light today? Even if you did, there’s no need to leave in such a rush, is there?”

I came to a sudden halt and stared at Lu Qianshan. “Are you sick? Who was it that wanted me to get lost in the beginning? Now that I’m leaving, you’re trying to stop me. Do you have some kind of psychological issue?”

Lu Qianshan let out a sigh. “Look, it’s just that there’s no one left to hang out with. You’ve seen how depressing this place is. It wasn’t easy finding a normal person like you to spend the day messing around with the cats and dogs. When I was bored out of my mind, I could at least trade a few insults with you. If you leave all of a sudden, of course I won’t be used to it.”

I didn’t want to deal with him. I walked around him and continued toward the front courtyard. Lu Qianshan blinked, then circled back to my side again. “Fine, fine, I won’t stop you from leaving. But shouldn’t you at least say something to the boss before you go?”

I stopped.

Lu Qianshan led me through a small back door into the adjacent large courtyard, which made me more than a little annoyed. I finally understood why I hadn’t been able to catch Lu Ayao for the past half month. It turned out the damn lot of them were sneaking out through the back door. No wonder I never managed to corner anyone at the front door.

Lu Qianshan brought me to the entrance of a courtyard. We hid on one side of the corridor as he pointed to a door directly facing the archway. “That’s the place. I’m not going in. It wouldn’t be good if Linggu found out I was wandering around again. You go ahead; I’ll wait here.”

Important figures lived in this courtyard. Seeing that Lu Qianshan was genuinely terrified, I didn’t force him to come with me. I hoisted my bag, crossed the bridge in the center, and walked to the door Lu Qianshan had indicated. I raised my hand and knocked. There was no movement inside. It was possible he thought I was back to harass him again and simply didn’t want to deal with me.

I adjusted my shoulder strap and stood before the door. I wanted to say something, but when I opened my mouth, I didn’t know what words to use. I couldn’t exactly say that I was leaving just so I wouldn’t drag him down with me, could I?

After a second of thought, I spoke to the door. “Uh, I’ve thought it over. I’m planning to go back and finish my credits, then graduate and find a job. You were right; I shouldn’t get involved in this matter anymore. I’ve been thinking about it these past few days, and I think… well, it makes sense. So, that’s it. You…”

For some reason, my voice choked up for a second. I quickly steadied myself and continued, “This place seems decent enough. You just stay here and take care. I’ll be taking a bus back to Kaifeng in a bit. In the future…”

“We probably won’t see each other again. Take care of yourself. That’s all I wanted to say.”

I took a deep breath, like someone giving a speech for the first time, then turned and walked down the stone steps with my bag, following the stone path away.

As I stepped onto the small bridge again, I heard the sound of a door opening behind me. My footsteps faltered, and I turned my head slightly, but no one called out to me. I took two steps off the stone bridge and strode out of the courtyard.

Lu Qianshan was startled by my speed. “That fast? You’re done?”

“I’m done. I’m leaving,” I said, speaking very quickly.

The moment the train whistle blew, I truly realized that this might be the only time in my life I would ever come to Suzhou. I would never return. I sat by the window, smelling the aroma of instant noodles from the next seat over. My hand was inside my bag, tracing the strange patterns on the copper piece. As I felt its shape, a sudden flash of inspiration struck me. I ran my fingers over the copper piece again, and my suspicion became clearer.

I returned to Kaifeng with frantic urgency. Rain poured down in torrents, and thunder rumbled from the sky like the beating of drums. The moment I stepped out of the train station, I didn’t even have time to buy an umbrella. I rushed to the bank to withdraw cash, stuffed it into my bag, and took a taxi through the rain toward No. 18 North Bookshop Street.

I remembered that when I first got the Nine-Ring Jade Casket, both Tan Qiu and Tian Yuqing had called it a “key.” At the time, I had mistakenly thought the Nine-Ring Jade Casket was the “key” itself, but looking at it now, the so-called “key” should be the copper piece in my hand!

A key is useless without a door. I needed a door without a key, and the only door I knew of that lacked a key was the vault door beneath the ruins of the Xinchang Bank^[1]!

I was soaked to the bone as I ran like a madman into that crumbling, ruinous building. I was afraid that if I were even a second slower, some ridiculous complication would arise. I moved the mechanism by myself, then used my shivering, cold hands to fish out the only lighter in my pocket. I descended the stone steps one by one.

The temperature underground was very low, but I couldn’t care less about catching a cold. Ten minutes later, under the faint glow of the lighter, I finally reached the vault door. Feeling the shape of the indentation in the center of the door, my heart pounded violently. I felt that my guess was likely spot on.

I opened my bag and discarded the cloth covering the copper piece. Aligning it with every groove of the vault’s indentation, I slotted the copper piece in perfectly. Immediately, I heard the sudden creaking sound of machinery turning. The entire mechanical door began to operate, and the bolts on both sides lifted automatically.

I took two steps back, watching the circular ring in the center of the vault turn half a rotation, shaking loose a cloud of dust. The two massive doors slowly swung open half a meter in front of me. Once the doors were fully open and the dust had settled, I stepped inside with a heart full of immense trepidation.

What could be hidden inside?

Before entering, I had speculated about what might be stored inside. I assumed whatever it was had to be incredibly important, otherwise it wouldn’t be locked behind such a massive door that required a specific key to open.

However, once I stepped inside and stood before six or seven rows of shelves, each over ten meters long, with the flame of my lighter flickering before my eyes, taking in everything inside the secret chamber, I suddenly felt ridiculous. My past obsession felt like a complete joke.

In the face of so-called fate and destiny’s design, my life felt like the ultimate joke.

Before me, within this vast hollow space, stood rows of iron shelves. On every level and in every compartment of those shelves sat countless, identical, standardized Nine-Ring Jade Caskets, stored in neat order.

Like an assembly line, these jade caskets were all open, each containing a traced illustration of the Burial Bone Testament and a bronze piece identical to the one I possessed. Some were even covered in a thick layer of dust from years of storage.

Fourth Brother, He Yu, why did you both lie to me?

Lu Ayao, you clearly realized the bronze piece was the key to the vault door, so why did you deliberately keep it from me? Why?!

Did you just want me to keep investigating like a joke, running around in circles while being played for a fool?!

It turned out that no one around me had ever told me the truth. Everyone was keeping me in the dark, everyone was deceiving me. Even the Nine-Ring Project was a massive hoax, designed solely to draw me in, involving me in the entire affair without ever seeing the full picture, all so I would ultimately become that secret pawn^[2] used to turn the tables.

I doubled over, one hand clutching my stomach, which ached with hunger, and the other covering my mouth. Looking at the items on those shelves, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing hysterically.

My laughter echoed through the hollow chamber. As I laughed, my legs gave way and I slumped to the ground. Tears wet my face, merging with the droplets of water from the tips of my hair, soaking a small patch of the floor.

From that moment on, I knew my life was ruined.