Chapter Two: Road One
1156 Words
I slept fitfully through the morning on the train. By the afternoon, once I had fully woken up, I started playing cards with the middle aged man. To my surprise, he was an absolute expert. After ten consecutive rounds, I had not won a single game.
“Heh, little brother, you lost again.”
As he spoke, the middle aged man tossed his cards onto the table. Four aces.
No matter how I looked at it, there was no way to win. I sighed and threw down my own cards in frustration.
I rolled up my sleeves, ready to keep going, when the middle aged man glanced at my arm. He paused slightly, then waved his hand.
“Forget it. We’ve been playing for a long time. Let’s take a break.”
I did not object. After packing away our things, the middle aged man stood up and said he needed to make a phone call.
I had no idea who he was calling, but the call lasted nearly an hour before he finally returned.
“Hey, young man. Want to grab something to eat?”
As soon as he sat down, he asked the question. Apparently, when he passed by the dining car earlier, he noticed that food was already being served.
“Sure. That works.”
After locking up our belongings, we headed toward the dining car together. On the way, the middle aged man suddenly turned around and spoke quietly.
“Feng shui converges, keeping people awake.”
“The Celestial Envoy’s Turntable in the Clouds.”
I answered instinctively. At the same time, the middle aged man clasped his hands together in a respectful salute.
“Young master. I serve under the two elders.”
As soon as he said that code phrase, I knew he had to be someone from one of my family’s branches. Otherwise, he would never know these words. What I had not expected was that he was actually one of my second grandfather’s men.
“You’re from my second grandfather’s side? Do you know where he is now?”
“My superiors are currently in Yunnan. I returned to Beijing to look up some information and need to head back.”
Hearing that my second grandfather was in Yunnan, I felt a surge of relief. I had originally planned to investigate Li Yuan’s situation on my own. With my second grandfather there, things would be much easier.
“I understand. Just call me Little Brother from now on. That way outsiders won’t notice anything.”
“Alright.”
He nodded, then told me his name. I nearly burst out laughing on the spot. It was one of those names that immediately reminded people of a popular vulgar joke.
When we entered the dining car, many seats were already occupied. I had not expected so many people to be eating.
Just then, a slender young woman about one point seven meters tall walked toward us. Her clothes were clean and neat, giving off a refreshing impression. For some reason, she looked vaguely familiar.
“Hey, Zhou Yu. Don’t you recognize me anymore?”
She smiled faintly as she stopped in front of me.
“Yuan Li? It’s you!”
I finally recognized her, completely surprised. In just a few years, she had changed so much, becoming noticeably more beautiful.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She laughed. “I was about to ask you the same thing. If I hadn’t thought you looked familiar while eating, I wouldn’t have come over.”
“I have some business to take care of in Yunnan.”
“Really? I’m here on an internship with my supervisor.”
As she spoke, Yuan Li glanced at the man beside me, clearly curious about our relationship.
“This is my uncle. He’s going to Yunnan with me.”
“Hello, Uncle.”
Yuan Li greeted him politely. Lu Yifa nodded but did not say much.
“That’s perfect. We have two empty seats over there. Why don’t you join us?”
I nodded, and Lu Yifa did not mind where he ate. We followed Yuan Li to the table.
To my surprise, two people were already seated there. One was an elderly woman. The other was Professor Sun, whom I had met several years earlier. I had never expected Yuan Li to be his student.
The other person was a young man in his twenties, likely another student of Professor Sun. When I walked over, Professor Sun seemed not to recognize me at first, until I greeted him.
“Professor Sun, it’s been a long time.”
“You… you’re that kid from back then, aren’t you?”
I smiled faintly and said nothing. That incident had always weighed heavily on my heart. After all, my closest brother had vanished without a trace.
The young man at the table carried himself with obvious arrogance. After we sat down, he said nothing, merely smiling at Yuan Li, then ignoring both Lu Yifa and me.
I found it somewhat amusing. It was easy to guess that he was one of Yuan Li’s suitors. Judging from her lukewarm attitude, she clearly was not interested.
Since he made no effort to acknowledge us, neither did I bother to be friendly. As for Lu Yifa, he had long since seen through such childish displays. We both chose to ignore him, calmly chatting with Yuan Li and Professor Sun.
After ordering our food, we began to eat. Seeing that no one paid him any attention, the young man grew anxious. Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, he spoke up.
“Yuan Li, how about I tell you a story about an ancient tomb?”
“Oh? What kind of story?”
Seeing her interest, the young man glanced at Professor Sun. When Professor Sun nodded, he began.
He spoke about the infamous incident when Sun Dianying looted Empress Dowager Cixi’s tomb. Sun Dianying had ordered his troops to forcibly break into the mausoleum, ignoring all taboos. The demolition was carried out in a single night.
As his men were dismantling the tomb door, they suddenly heard something like breathing. The sound was intermittent, sometimes short, sometimes long, yet eerily clear in the silent tomb.
At first, no one paid attention. Then something terrifying happened. The soldier breaking the door suddenly had his head severed and collapsed to the ground.
Yet the headless body continued to emit the sound of breathing, rising and falling.
The soldiers were terrified. Grave robbing was already taboo enough. Faced with something so horrifying, many would have fled if not for strict military discipline.
They searched for a long time afterward, but found no traces, no spiders, no mechanisms. Eventually, the incident was brushed aside, and the tomb door was finally opened.
But just as they entered, several more soldiers were beheaded in the same manner, dying exactly like the first one.
- Writer
