?

  I analyzed the pros and cons with Fatso, who slapped his thigh and said: "Has Hua'er's personality changed greatly? You say... is it related to that passerby A? What's his background?"

  I shook my head helplessly and said, "I don't know, Jie Xiaojiu didn't tell me either. But I feel that he is very wary of him. I think he's been quiet all the way here because he's afraid of revealing something." Originally, I hadn't figured these things out myself, but after discussing them with you, Fatso, some clues have become clear to me. Suddenly, I realized that Xiaohua's cold demeanor on the road was probably just an act for the benefit of Passerby A. He likely didn't want Passerby A to know about his relationship with me. In other words, he might be protecting me. Between him and Passerby A, it's possible that they're not cooperating at all, but rather constantly monitoring each other.

  As I thought of this, my heart felt gloomy and my expression turned cold. I asked Pangzi, "Am I really useless?" Pangzi nodded, looking at the sudden change in my expression, but immediately shook his head, saying: "Who says that? Our innocent comrade, with literature can govern the country, with martial arts can bring peace to the nation, can catch phoenixes in the sky and dragons in the sea..." I was so annoyed by Pangzi's two sentences that I couldn't help but laugh and say: "Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense and take a look at the weather. I know what kind of person I am myself. Continue, how did they cooperate with each other, and why did they find you later?"

  He shrugged and said: "She said that the map was only half, so she thought of solving the puzzle, thinking you would have some clues, so she left Golmud and went to find you."

  "What? Looking for me?" I remember very clearly that I had never seen Chen Wenjin's shadow.

  Fatso nodded and said, "She's avoiding 'him', so she's been hiding all the way, and even after hanging around outside your shop for a long time, she still didn't see any sign of you."

  "What time is it roughly?"

  Fatso thought for a moment, then said: "In July, we were at Zhang's old building, weren't we?" I nodded and asked: "She couldn't find me, what did she do then?" Fatso looked at me with a meaningful gaze and said: "Then... your third uncle found her."

  I know, Fatso is talking about Wu San Sheng, not Jie Lian Huan.

  At that time, San Shu hid in the sewer of his own home. During the period when he was going to the Western Queen Mother's country, what did he do?

  "He continued: 'They knew about the Zhang family's old building, but those two people were already dead, and at that time, that 'it' was still operating in secret, so neither of them could go to the Zhang family's old building. Chen Wenjin then told your Third Uncle about the linked ring affair, hoping to cooperate with him, but your Third Uncle made a request.'"

  The fatty stopped talking and looked at me. I was startled in my heart and said: "What requirements?"

  Fatso shook his head and said, "He told Chen Wenjin: 'This is our generation's business. I also want to go to that place, but not now. You promise me one thing, after 'it' ends, we'll go to that place again. However, I don't hope you look for Wu Xie, I only hope he can live a peaceful life. Our generation is like a joke, he's the only hope of my Wu family. This matter will end here.'"

  After the fatty finished speaking, I already felt a burning sensation in my eyes and couldn't help but think of the letter that Third Uncle left for me. In the letter, he said that he hoped I would forget everything and live a peaceful life. He would take care of everything and leave it all to me. He said that I was the only hope of the Wu family.

  But my only hope is that I can do nothing, and can only watch with open eyes as those who are most important to me in my life walk into the mystery one by one, and then disappear from this world.

  Jie Lianhuan is like that, San Shu is like that, Men Youping is like that, and now the Jia and Huo families are also taking action. Even Ershu, who has always been low-key and taciturn, has been drawn into this matter. Only I, only I, under everyone's concealment, live a so-called peaceful life in my shop.

  The fatty patted my shoulder and said, "Alright, a big man like you, wipe away your tears." I quickly rubbed my eyes and said, "Who's crying? Get out of here!" The fatty chuckled and said, "That's more like it. There's nothing that can't be overcome. Remember, I won't say anything about what happened with your little brother, but I'll always stand on your side."

  I said, "Fatty... thank you." Fatty said, "Who can't say thanks? Bring out something real, come on, let Uncle Fatty hold one." I kicked him and said, "You've been holding it in for too long, now it's winter, what are you talking about spring?"

  He hobbled along, clutching his kicked spot, and said: "I just wanted to liven up the atmosphere a bit, can't you cooperate? Yuncai, Yuncai, brother misses you... all the brothers I know are heartless, why didn't you take me with you?" I was so angry that I lost my temper, saying: "Stop yelling, it's late at night, Yuncai is sleeping, don't disturb her rest."

  The fatty stopped talking and said, "You should be able to guess what happened next, right?"

  I nodded, pondered for a moment, and said: "After I returned from Zhangjia Ancient Building, I met Third Uncle. After confirming my safety, he decided to cooperate with Chen Wenjin, so he left a letter for me, but the letter was stolen. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found Kunlun Mountain until now. However... why didn't Third Uncle go with Chen Wenjin together, and instead, Chen Wenjin found you half a year later?"

  "Ha! You're absolutely right, you're a cultured person and your brain is really useful. Your Third Uncle let Chen Wenjin's pigeon go and took the map to escape on his own. At that time, they only had half of the map in their hands and hadn't obtained the specific route into the mountains yet. But your Third Uncle must have found some clues, so he left everyone behind and went into the mountains alone. Chen Wenjin and Hei Xiangzi were tricked by your Third Uncle, and they didn't have a complete route map either. They spent half a year just studying the clues on that map. However, your Aunt Wenjin is a person who values her reputation, she thought you would know the remaining information, but because of your Third Uncle's request, she never came to find you. Later, when your Third Uncle let her pigeon go, she decided to start with you, but during that time, you were running around everywhere, so she chased after you and arrived at Bana."

  What Fatso said happened recently, it's been a tough year for me. Firstly, there's the matter of the family business, although I'm not good at managing it, but it's Third Uncle's life work and I don't want to see it fail in my hands, so I have to run around everywhere. Secondly, I've got a lot of pent-up emotions inside, over these few years, many important people around me have lost contact with me, every time I calm down, my mind is filled with memories of the past, those who are alive or dead, one by one they appear in my mind.

  I saw Da Gui covered in blood, I saw Jie Lian Huan surrounded by a swarm of snakes, I saw the oil bottle enter the bronze gate, I saw those human-faced birds flying towards me one after another, and I saw the cloud-losing Pangzi losing his soul and being in unbearable pain.

  And I was also mentally exhausted by these things, so I was always busy with trivial matters. Even when I had free time, I would go out and take a look around. The last time, I called Zhao Wang and said I wanted to go to Bana to see Huanzi, but when I arrived in Guangxi, I still couldn't get through to Huanzi on the phone. Unconsciously thinking of his recent situation, I was frustrated and changed my plans at the last minute, going to other places for a trip instead.

  It seems that Chen Wenjin followed my clues all the way, but ended up empty-handed in Paris, and then ran into Fatso.

  I analyzed it with Pangzi, and he sighed, saying: "Don't worry about it."

  I looked at Fatty's body, which had lost over ten kilograms of fat, and said, "Don't be so pretentious, it gives me goosebumps." Fatty punched me in the arm and said, "It's not... I mean... you've been practicing your smooth talk all year, right? Give back my innocence, give back my innocence!" He was about to strangle me again, and I hurriedly pushed his shoulders, saying, "Look at my slender neck, can you bear to hurt it?" Fatty said, "Why can't I bear to hurt it, treat it like a rice dumpling."

  "I cursed: 'Damn it, where do I look like a rice dumpling?'"

  Fatso let go of his hand and said seriously: "People will die, people will become browned, people are browned, browned is people." I was confused by his words and hurriedly said: "Alright, alright, don't talk about these things anymore. After we leave Kunlun tomorrow, you and I will go to Louwailou, no matter how you tease me, I'll accompany you. Let's talk about the main topic now."

  Fatso heard the mention of Louwailou and said, "Great, we can say it's settled then. Get me ten or eight of their West Lake drunken crabs, and let's have a drinking contest." Fatso has been in Kunlun for over ten days, who knows what he's been eating, but as soon as he mentioned drunken crabs, his whole body started salivating. I scolded him for being shameless while thinking that once we're out of Kunlun, I'll really have to fatten him up properly.

  "Anyway, let's get to the point. After Aunt Wenjin told me all this, I thought to myself, what does she need my help with? What does she want me to do?"

  Before I could even respond, Fatty continued to scold and curse all the way, saying: "Damn it, she actually asked me to take her back into Zhang's ancient tower again. Grandma's bear, just thinking about that Mi Luo makes me want to chop someone, so I immediately refused her. I said: 'Aunt Chen, if it were anything else, I would have agreed, but Zhang's ancient tower might be ashes by now. When I came out of there, it seemed like there were still flames burning, and whether anything was left or not is uncertain.' At the time, I was just talking nonsense, trying to fool her into giving up, but Wen Jin Auntie isn't an ordinary person, she didn't even change her expression, saying: 'Since you put it that way, then forget it. Looks like I'll have to find Wu Xie.'"

  Fatso said: "As soon as I heard her say she was looking for you, I felt something was off. She thinks you know about the Kunlun Mountains, so it's not strange that she's looking for you, but why would she suddenly want to go into the Zhang family's ancient tower?"