Chapter 104 Inside the Pagoda 2

Despite this, I still hoped He Yu would put the knife down, but he refused, saying he felt more at ease “interrogating” with the blade already in place. People in this line of work really love their weapons, and I couldn’t talk him out of it at all.

So, as soon as Tian Xiaoqi regained even a shred of consciousness, He Yu pinned her shoulder with one hand, the sharp blade of the combat knife resting against the fabric of her collar, a technique used to prevent accidental injury.

Just as I expected, Tian Xiaoqi was startled by the knife at her throat the moment she opened her eyes. She looked around at us dazed and confused. “What are you doing?”

“Relax,” He Yu said, nudging his bag on the floor with his foot. He leaned over to pull out the last bottle of mineral water. “Here, have some water to clear your head. I have some questions for you, but it’s nothing major.”

Tian Xiaoqi took the water but didn’t drink. Instead, she looked at me. “I saved you, and this is how you let your friend repay me?”

Her words made me feel guilty, and for a moment, I didn’t know how to respond. I opened my mouth to speak, but He Yu smoothly took over. “Miss Tian, that’s not the right way to look at it. Let’s straighten out these relationships. His grudge with you is between the two of you. Right now, I’m the one asking questions, so this is between us. Understand?”

Tian Xiaoqi clearly didn’t want to deal with He Yu. He Yu chuckled and continued, “Besides, when you were unconscious from the poison, it was this little fool of a brother of mine who carried you into the pagoda on his back, even with a crippled leg. If it had been anyone else, your head would be somewhere else by now. Who owes whom? You two are even now, you know?”

“Enough nonsense,” Lu A’yao, who had been standing quietly beside me, suddenly grew impatient. He stared at Tian Xiaoqi and asked sharply, “Who sent you?”

His sudden aggression was a bit much for even He Yu and me to handle. He Yu had clearly been trying to intimidate her with a lighthearted tone, but Lu A’yao’s words made it plain that he wouldn’t stop until he got answers.

Seeing this, He Yu quickly angled the blade outward, fearing he might accidentally injure her before getting any useful information. A cut to the carotid artery in a place like this was no joke. I also took a step forward, mostly afraid that Lu A’yao might impulsively snatch the knife and cut her down.

He Yu used to tell me that people from the Lu family were mentally unstable and neurotic. Today, I was finally seeing it for myself, and I didn’t dare ignore his warning.

No matter how mature she acted, Tian Xiaoqi was still her age, and she was clearly frightened. She stammered, “No, no one sent me. I spent my own money to find this information.”

Obviously, this wasn’t the answer Lu A’yao wanted. Before I could stop him, he suddenly reached out and snatched the combat knife from He Yu’s hand.

I lunged forward to grab him. A cold flash of light flickered, and the tip of the knife stopped right against Tian Xiaoqi’s throat. If I hadn’t pulled him back, she would have been covered in blood if he had moved even half a step further.

Holy crap! This guy is for real!

Tian Xiaoqi was completely terrified. She stared down at the knife pointed at her, pressed against the stairs, not daring to move an inch. It was only when He Yu pulled her to the side that she managed to avoid the blade.

I blocked Tian Xiaoqi with half my body, trying to pull Lu A’yao away, but the guy stood there as firm as a pine tree. I couldn’t budge him at all.

I lowered my voice and said to him, “What are you doing? Are you really going to kill her if she doesn’t talk?”

Lu A’yao glanced at me. “The Tian family is the most devious of them all. If she won’t talk, it’s better to end it with one stroke than to waste time listening to her lies and excuses.”

Tian Xiaoqi heard every word. She probably hadn’t expected Lu A’yao to be so ruthless. Realizing he truly intended to kill her, she suddenly wailed from behind me, tears and snot streaming down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably.

He Yu hurriedly tried to comfort her. “Hey, sister, are you some kind of human faucet? How can you just start crying like that, like a dam bursting open?”

Lu A’yao was also stunned by this. I took the opportunity to take the combat knife from his hand and said, “Of all the Tian family members you’ve met, have any of them been this afraid of death?”

“You’re the one afraid of death! Your whole family is afraid of death! I’m not crying because I’m afraid of dying, okay?” Tian Xiaoqi cursed while wiping her tears. “Do you think I actually want to be in this dump? I haven’t showered in three or four days!”

I knelt down to comfort her, saying that her Brother Lu was just scaring her. “Good sister, stop crying. The three of us are all upstanding citizens. Who would dare to actually kill you in this day and age? Tell us your troubles. Wouldn’t it be faster to have more people helping you than trying to solve it alone?”

As soon as I finished, Tian Xiaoqi pushed my hand away, still weeping piteously. “Who wants help from you stinky men? I’m here to find my Great-Grandfather. This has nothing to do with your families, and you wouldn’t help me find him anyway.”

“Your Great-Grandfather?” I picked up on the sensitive keyword in her sentence.

But my family was famous for having very few members, so I wasn’t good at calculating generations. I ran the numbers in my head several times but still couldn’t figure out which generation this “Great-Grandfather” belonged to. I turned to look at He Yu.

He was also calculating, but he was much faster than me. Once he finished, he slapped his thigh. “Your logic is flawed, Seventh Miss. Isn’t Tian Xiao your Great-Grandfather? If you’re looking for him, you should go back to the Tian family home. Why look for him here?”

At this, Tian Xiaoqi stopped responding and simply continued to sob. When I offered her a tissue, she angrily turned her head away, refusing to accept it. It seemed that because of what just happened, this girl was determined to be stubborn with me to the end.

Lu A’yao had been standing beside me for a long time. Only now did he crouch down, take the tissue from my hand, and offer it to Tian Xiaoqi. “You suspect that the one currently in the Tian family home is not your Great-Grandfather.”

When he said that, Tian Xiaoqi looked up in surprise. Her eyes were a bit swollen, but the tears had stopped. She looked at Lu A’yao in astonishment. “Could it be that you knew all along?!”

“What the heck?” He Yu and I looked at each other in perfect sync. He immediately leaned in and asked, “What do you mean the one in the Tian family home isn’t your Great-Grandfather? Translated, does that mean Tian Xiao isn’t Tian Xiao? The Great-Grandfather isn’t Tian Xiao, and Tian Xiao isn’t the Great-Grandfather? Bah, bah, bah! What kind of nonsense is this?”

I was also confused. I understood the words Lu A’yao had said, but I didn’t truly grasp the meaning. It was like doing math problems as a kid, where the question was written in words I recognized, but I had no idea which answer was the correct one.

But Tian Xiaoqi clearly understood, and her words were heavy with meaning. That left only He Yu and me staring at each other, still unable to figure out the situation, which made me feel a bit uneasy.

“Wait, weren’t you just threatening to kill her a moment ago?” I said with a dark expression, giving Lu A’yao a push. “Now the two of you are speaking in code. Can we stop with the riddles and speak clearly?”

Lu A’yao looked at me somewhat innocently and said, “I haven’t had much contact with Tian Xiao. This has always just been a suspicion of mine.”

He turned back to Tian Xiaoqi. “But since you’ve come all the way here specifically for this, it seems my initial guess was likely close to the mark.”

Tian Xiaoqi nodded and wiped her eyes dry with the tissue. “I should be the one to tell this story.”

Another story to listen to. I sighed silently and pulled He Yu down to sit cross-legged. The four of us sat in a circle to listen.

I had mentioned many times in the earlier parts of these records that the Tian family was a large clan with many members and numerous complicated rules. I later had the “fortune” of experiencing their convoluted ways firsthand, and they certainly put me through the wringer.

Even in this family full of “feudal remnants,” the main branch and the side branches remained clearly divided, and Tian Xiaoqi was the only one who had broken this barrier.

Tian Xiaoqi’s parents’ branch lived quite poorly, working in the mines. They were a younger branch of the Tian Family that hadn’t fared well. Less than a month after Tian Xiaoqi was born, a mining accident occurred where her parents worked. Medical conditions were terrible then. By the time they were dug out from the rocks with crude tools, most were already cold.

No one in the Tian Family’s side branches wanted to adopt a girl with a different surname. Tian Xiaoqi was passed around like a hot potato. This almost led to a fight during a family meeting, which finally alerted Tian Xiaoqi’s great-grandfather, Tian Xiao, who was the head of the Tian Family at the time.

It is said that Master Xiao reached his thumb, adorned with a jade ring, into the swaddling clothes and stroked the little girl’s face. For some reason, he changed his mind and insisted on taking her back to raise as his own granddaughter. At first, no one took it seriously, thinking the old man never had a daughter and was just talking.

To everyone’s surprise, Tian Xiao actually registered Tian Xiaoqi’s residency, changed her surname, and brought her home. He treated her better than a biological grandfather would. The entire Tian Family was stunned.

Tian Xiao had always been in poor health. He had his own pharmacy for storing medicine and would often take his own pulse and brew a couple of doses to regulate his health when he felt unwell. Since childhood, Tian Xiaoqi loved spending time in there, so she gained a thorough understanding of Chinese medical principles.

Later, as Tian Xiaoqi spent more time working on projects with Tian Yuqing, Tian Xiao became increasingly fond of staying cooped up in his room. The two saw each other less and less. It wasn’t until a year ago, when Tian Xiaoqi reached adulthood, that Tian Xiao reluctantly attended a meal with them.

But it was that very meal that gave Tian Xiaoqi the first inkling that “Tian Xiao was not Tian Xiao.”

Hearing this, He Yu scratched his head. “So, what exactly was wrong?”

“Everything was just off!” Tian Xiaoqi tilted her head, thinking. “For example, my great-grandfather would never call me ‘Xiao Qi.’ He only ever called me ‘Seventh Girl.’ Also, even though his nickname is Master Xiao, he actually doesn’t like to smile at all! This person looks like him, but in terms of behavior and mannerisms, there isn’t a single similarity!”

He Yu and I glanced at each other, and I asked Xiao Qi, “What you’ve mentioned doesn’t count for much. As a person ages and their state of mind changes, it’s normal for their words and actions to differ from when they were younger. That’s plausible. I imagine there must be another reason that made you certain he isn’t your great-grandfather?”

Tian Xiaoqi looked at me and nodded. She bit her lip and said, “You’re right. What truly made me notice the problem wasn’t those things. It was that,”

“That man doesn’t understand medicine at all. He doesn’t know the first thing about it.”