The Lost Tomb Vol. 7

Chapter 18: Qilin Who Carries Everything (Part I)

The solemnity on Granny Huo's face, and the heaviness and determination with which she knelt down couldn't be more sincere.

She was an old lady who could call the wind and rain in Beijing, a member of the Mystic Nine who was all-powerful in the industry, an elder in her twilight years, and the matriarch of a rich family. Any one of these identities could easily crush us to death, but she knelt down so rightfully and decisively that it seemed as if this was the only action that could reflect her piety.

My surprise was no less than that of the others. In the few seconds it took her to kneel down, it seemed as if a hand was suddenly pressing on my shoulders, bending my knees. It wasn't easy for me to resist the urge to kneel down. I didn't know if this was due to my servility or because the atmosphere was too weird.

At that moment, I suddenly had a feeling: Poker-face and I may be too different, and I may never understand his world.

Fortunately, this feeling was fleeting under Fatty's stirring words. He was also startled, and sat there stunned for a few seconds, before a sentence popped out of his mouth: "No, is this old lady a zombie?!"

Then he realized that it was impossible and looked at me with raised brows. I just barely recovered from the shock and immediately said, "Granny Huo, what are you doing?" I rushed to help the old lady up, only to find that she looked solemn and was unwilling to rise. Huo Xiuxiu beside her was completely stupefied. She had probably never seen her grandma like this before. At that time, she didn't know what to do, so she continued to kneel down with her.

Strangely, Poker-face didn't do anything either and just looked at her like a statue.

This wasn't proper, and I didn't have any experience in dealing with such a scene. I didn't know what to do and helplessly looked to Fatty. Fatty was also at a loss, but his reaction was faster than mine. He immediately went up and helped me force the old woman to get up.

Her eyes never left Poker-face, and after helping her to sit down, Fatty said, "Granny, have you never seen such magnificent fingers that they make your legs go soft, or what? It's the twenty-first century, we can't afford such old courtesies. If you act like this, you might not be afraid of knee pain, but we're afraid of losing a few years of our lives." [1]

She ignored him and looked at Poker-face as she asked, "Do you still remember me?"

Poker-face shook his head, and Fatty said, "Not to mention you, he even forgot his fat grandfather some time ago."

The old woman bit her lower lip: "Yes, you certainly don't remember anything. If you did, then you might not have come to see me."

I asked, "Granny, do you know each other?"

She quieted down and said, "I know more than that. As soon as I heard you talking about him, I understood what happened to my daughter."

Fatty and I looked each other in the eye. The old woman seemed extremely tired and bogged down, and then she suddenly burst into tears: "It seems that Mama's hurt you. Retribution. Old Dog Wu's son and nephew hurt and killed each other, our children disappearing one after another... it's all retribution. In our business, we can't escape the cycle of justice after all." [2]

I was extremely curious, and felt that things were getting better and better. I wanted to ask her questions, but didn't know where to start.

"Grandma, the Mystic Nine has been handed down for so many years and many children are thriving. You say it's retribution, but I don't think it's quite like that. Some coincidences could be accidents. You don't have to be so fatalistic," Xiuxiu comforted her.

Granny Huo shook her head: "In fact, there's no such thing as the Mystic Nine. After liberation, we still had fantasies. Then, things came one after the other. At first, we wanted to hold each other together, but later, it was good to be able to keep ourselves afloat. In those years, we once swore that those who followed us and ate our food belonged to our family. How many were harmed by us, and how many turned to harm us? In the old society, there was still morality and justice in this business. Black Back's [3] knife could protect a whole street. In those years, there was nothing left. We never thought that people could be so bad." She said. "When even people like us started to hurt people, I knew it was the end of the Mystic Nine."

I didn't quite understand what she meant, but I could guess the time period she was talking about, so I asked, "What's going on?"

She looked at Poker-face and suddenly fell silent.

The silence was very awkward. I knew that she was probably thinking, so I didn't dare interrupt her and refrained from urging her on for fear of her becoming vexed and rebellious.

After a long silence, she slowly said, "Boy, you've been very sincere towards me, but you're the offspring of Old Dog Wu. At that time, we swore that this thing would all rot in our stomachs. Of course, this pledge isn't so important now, but I don't want to say it either. Unless he wants to know." She said.

My breath hitched, and I scolded in my heart, how is it this again? At times like this, Uncle Three, Grandpa, and now this old woman were all like this. They appeared to have a huge chip on their shoulder, but were unwilling to mention the secret. What kind of mess did they get into?

I looked at Poker-face to see how he reacted, and Granny Huo looked at him too. The emotion in her eyes was very complicated: "Do you want to know?"

Poker-face looked at her, but didn't answer. I glanced at him, urging him to ask quickly and not miss this good opportunity, but he looked at me and shook his head.

Everyone was a little surprised. "You don't want to know?" the old woman asked.

Poker-face's eyes were as cool as water: "I don't believe you."

She looked at him and her face changed. "Oh," she cried, "Why?"

Poker-face didn't answer her, but turned to me and said, "Take me home." With that said, he walked out without looking back.

I was caught off guard and had no choice but to follow him out. I walked all the way to the middle of the yard and Fatty immediately followed. I could imagine the old woman's stunned expression. Fatty was also puzzled, and probably wondering why Little Brother's character had suddenly changed.

Before we had taken a few steps, I heard someone calling "Wait!" Looking back, I saw that Huo Xiuxiu had caught up with us and said, "Wait, wait."

I looked back at Granny Huo, who had gone back to the inner room. Huo Xiuxiu gave Poker-face a strange look and said: "People from Crescent Hotel and Liuli Sun's own people are both outside right now. If you leave here, you definitely won't have a moment's peace. My grandmother said that she would help you find a safe place for old time's sake. You can temporarily take shelter there and lay low. We'll keep in touch. She still has a lot of things to ask you."

"Is your grandmother also interested in my stolen item?" Fatty raised the seal. "Like Little Brother said, we don't believe you."

Huo Xiuxiu said: "My grandmother has never been uncompromising. You should follow her advice. It's good for everyone. And where can you go now?" She paused, blinked at us, and pointed to Poker-face. "In fact, I think I may know a little about him."

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Notes:

[1] There is a saying in Chinese that if an elder knelt in front of a younger person, the younger person will lose a few years of their lives (probably just trying to scare them into respecting their elders).

[2] The first sentence that Granny Huo uttered was directed at Huo Ling since she was aware that her daughter was probably dead.

[3] Black Back was a person who ranked sixth in the Mystic Nine.