The Lost Tomb Vol. 8

Chapter 5: Wu Sanxing's Return

I felt very strange as I entered the teahouse and walked upstairs. I had some vague impression in my memory that I had been there several times before with guys like Uncle Three. But I was very young at that time and I only remembered that the room was often full of smoke and the adults were playing mahjong and laughing. My father took me with him and told several people to give me lucky money before we left.

I couldn't have imagined that I would be experiencing the same place and people again in this way.

The second floor of the teahouse was a corridor with private rooms on both sides. But unlike the Crescent Hotel that we had destroyed before, the interior decoration here was much worse. Many of the partitions were made of bamboo that had been painted over many times, showing both the yellow and white color of oiled bamboo. The incense burner basically smelled like cigarettes. I didn't know how many years had passed since it had been changed, but the smell of aged cigarettes couldn't be washed away.

Pan Zi kept to the front and led us to the private room at the end of the corridor. When he lifted the curtain and our group went inside, I could see that there was a lot of space. A mahogany table surrounded by six chairs with coiled dragon silk cushions was the only thing placed squarely in the middle of the room. Behind the window was a view of the downstairs scenery. I glanced at it and thought that if I were exposed later, I could jump down from there and run away.

But my heart froze after I glanced down. The crowd below was full of people who were coming in one right after another, and both sides of the road were full of all types of cars. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought we were selling tickets for the Spring Festival [1]. I wouldn't be able to run even if I jumped down.

A tea set had been placed on the mahogany table. Xiao Hua removed five of the chairs and had me sit down in the remaining one. The chairs were then placed against the wall and Pan Zi sat down on one and started smoking. When I saw his hands shaking, my heart clenched and I wondered if he could carry the burden. I didn't dare ask any questions and merely touched the surface of the table, pretending to be somewhat nostalgic and thoughtful.

Xiuxiu was standing nearby and began making me Kung Fu tea [2]. I noticed her method was very special. She untied the bun in her hair, washed the hairpin with tea first, and then stirred the tea with the hairpin.

I looked at her movements and prayed that she had washed her hair this morning. At the same time, I found that the material of her hairpin was very strange. It was like a kind of pale jade or bone, with extremely detailed patterns carved on it. It must've had quite the origin.

After the tea was done brewing, I could tell by the aroma that it was Biluochun [3]. It was mixed in with a fragrance that I was familiar with, but couldn't remember. I took a sip and found that it was actually very good, and there was even a hint of indulgence.

I had been frightened by the scene at the teahouse door just now, and everything I had just experienced had left me in a muddled state. Even though my heartbeat wasn't fast and I wasn't very nervous, all my feelings seemed dull and numb. It was only when I drank this tea that all my wandering feelings came back. My thoughts began to clear, but I started to feel nervous again.

When we had come in just now, a large number of people followed us in from the outside. They weren't standing outside our room's curtain but had apparently gone to other rooms. I couldn't hear any traces of conversation, as if everyone was waiting for something.

Xiao Hua must have thought my expression looked bad, for he motioned with his hand, silently telling me not to worry. He then whispered something to his subordinates. When he put his mind to it, he didn't even have to move his mouth and could basically just gesture.