Chapter Seven Turning Point

  "What did you say?" I almost shouted out, and then hurriedly covered my mouth, looking around in all directions. Fortunately, no one had noticed me. But after hearing Liu Zhen's words, I felt a chill run down my spine, and suddenly felt that I had fallen into some kind of huge conspiracy.

  Wang Chengbao died thirty years ago? This news is too strange, if Liu Zhen told me that Wang Chengbao had already passed away last month, I could barely accept this fact. But he said something that I couldn't even imagine in my dreams. Why would someone who has been dead for thirty years still be mentioned thirty years later? If Wang Chengbao really died, then who was the old man sitting in the Qingming Tea House? What was his motive for impersonating a person who had been dead for thirty years to get close to me?

  I suddenly remembered that Wang Chengbao wanted to see the jade pendant on Bo Jin's neck earlier, and I thought to myself, could it be because of that jade pendant? This is very likely, because if everything was really as Liu Zhen said, then the person who called me last night wasn't my father, but someone else. Then the old man in the Qingming teahouse must have been his accomplice, and both of them mentioned the same thing - the jade pendant on Bo Jin's neck. Could it be that they came for that jade pendant?

  I was lost in thought when I heard Liu Zhen say from one side: "Pei Xi, Pei Xi, are you still there?"

  I came back to myself and replied: "Still here."

  "What's going on?" Liu Zhen asked anxiously.

  At this moment, I am caught in a difficult dilemma. The information Liu Zhen gave me is not unfounded, because he seems to know everything about my recent events, but it's also hard for me to believe that the person who called me last night was not my father. Now, whether it's Wang Chengbao from the Qingming Tea House or Liu Zhen who is talking to me on the phone at this moment, I know I have to believe one of them. This is very difficult for me. Because real life is not a movie plot, what Liu Zhen said is too strange and bizarre, in comparison, my "father's" call last night seems more reasonable.

  I was hesitating, and Liu Zhen on the other end of the phone had apparently guessed what I was thinking at that moment. "Pei Xi," he said, "I know what I'm saying now sounds strange, even like a fairy tale, but please believe me. You can even investigate Wang Chengbao, only...the current situation doesn't allow us to do so."

  Do I believe you? My heart says I really don't dare to easily believe anything anymore.

  "If you don't believe me, you will encounter extremely dangerous situations. I'm not scaring you, to put it bluntly, your time of death is near."

  "Pfft, pfft, pfft!" I spat out three times, thinking what kind of talk is this, isn't he deliberately cursing me? Liu Zhen has always been like this, whatever he says, he says it straight, never beating around the bush. Sometimes, his personality can be quite likable, but sometimes it's also very frustrating. Since Liu Zhen and I are close friends, we don't have much to hide from each other, so I directly scolded him: "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not done living yet!"

  "You must believe what I'm saying." Liu Zhen said with great certainty.

  My heart says the same, what Liu Zhen said is indeed strange, but after all, we have known each other for many years and are very familiar with each other. On the contrary, I only occasionally heard my father mention Wang Chengbao's name when I was young, and I have never seen his face in my memory, even if a fake one were placed in front of me, I wouldn't be able to tell whether it's true or false.

  "So I said into the phone: 'Old Liu, I believe you, what should I do now?'"

  "Hold your troops and do not move." Liu Zhen heard that I finally believed him, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, saying: "You should hide yourself well, find an inconspicuous inn to stay in, and try not to go out unless it's absolutely necessary. Wait until I arrive in Yunnan and we'll discuss the next step. Also, never go looking for that fake Wang Chengbao."

  As soon as I heard this, my heart skipped a beat and I said: "Old Liu, I have some very unfortunate news to tell you..."

  I had just spoken halfway, when suddenly someone slapped my shoulder hard. I turned around and shuddered all over - that old Wang Chengbao was already standing behind me, I don't know since when.

  The old man's expression had changed somewhat compared to just now, but for a moment I couldn't say why, only feeling that his eyes were staring straight at me with an intimidating air.

  At this time, Liu Zhen's "Hello" voice was still coming from the phone in my hand. I subconsciously pressed the end call button. The old man raised an eyebrow and smiled at me: "Young master, if you don't drink the tea in the house, it will get cold."

  It was probably after I just talked to Liu Zhen that a layer of gloom was left in my mind. At this moment, I always feel that the old man is gloomy and strange, even his smile seems eerie and unnatural. I hastily nodded and said, "Ah, okay, I'll go back now, I'll go back now."

  At this moment, the mobile phone in my hand rang again. I knew it was Liu Zhen calling without looking at it, so I hung up directly. The old man took a look at my mobile phone and asked tentatively, "What's wrong, young master? Is there an emergency?"

  Luckily I reacted quickly. Is there something urgent? This is a perfect excuse to leave this place. In the past, whenever I went out drinking with friends, I would often use this trick to slip away, and now it's being used in this situation, so I chimed in: "Ah, yeah, one of my friends suddenly said they need me for something."

  "Friend? You still have friends in Yunnan?" The old man had apparently become suspicious of me.

  Fortunately, I have a strong ability to make up nonsense since childhood. Without even thinking about it, I directly replied: "He is an old university classmate of mine, and his hometown is in Yunnan. He knew that I am currently in Yunnan and wanted to meet me, so he invited me to stay at his home for a few days. I thought, then there's no need to trouble Uncle Wang."

  "No, you can't go." The old man's words made me almost roll my eyes in frustration. Then I heard him say: "I was entrusted by your father to take care of you, so I must be responsible for your safety. Moreover, I'm sure your father has also told you that during this period, you may experience many strange and bizarre things, and there may even be a risk to your life. So, I absolutely cannot let you go easily."

  As he spoke, the old man put his hand on my shoulder and was about to take me back to the teahouse. I hurriedly stretched out my hand to stop him, but at this moment, I clearly felt that the old man had used force, my shoulder ached, and I didn't even have the strength to resist, feeling greatly astonished in my heart, never expecting that a seventy-year-old old man could still have such great strength.

  "What's wrong, young man? Don't you trust me anymore? Has someone been saying bad things about me to you?" the old man asked.

  As soon as I heard this, I hastily shook my head and said: "No, no, I'm just afraid of troubling you!" In my heart, I thought that the three words "old Jianghu" were indeed not called in vain. Although this old man is still calling me "big nephew" with a very familiar tone, actually, he might have been eavesdropping on my conversation with Liu Zhen for quite some time.

  As I spoke, the old man and I returned to the teahouse. But as soon as we entered the teahouse, we saw something strange. On the edge of the table where we had been sitting earlier, a stranger in his thirties was now seated, chatting with Bo Jin, seemingly trying to strike up a conversation.

  I and Old Man Wang Chengbao couldn't help but pause for a moment, looking at each other, it was clear that neither of us knew the man.

  At this time, the man seemed to have also noticed us two, looked up and took a glance, then stood up and walked towards us. As he approached, I had a feeling of déjà vu, but for a moment, I couldn't think of where I had seen him before. The man came over to our side, didn't stop, rubbed against Old Man Wang Chengbao's shoulder and walked out the door.

  Old Wang looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked, "Do you know this person?"

  I rubbed my wrist and said, "I don't know him, nor do I know where he came from."

  Wang Chengbao listened to this and went to ask the owner of the teahouse. The owner told us that the man had been here since early morning, but previously he was sitting alone in a private room inside, drinking tea without saying a word.

  Back in my seat, I asked Bo Jin if he knew the man just now, and Bo Jin just shook his head. Wang Chengbao seemed to be curious about the identity of that man too, but compared to this, he was obviously more interested in the jade pendant on Bo Jin's neck, so he made a request to see it again.

  This time, I didn't ask Bo Jing, but directly said to Wang Chengbao: "Uncle Wang, you also saw that it's not me being petty, it's just that the jade pendant is someone else's thing after all. She doesn't want others to see it, and I don't have a way...

  My words hadn't even finished yet, and I got stuck. Bo Jin beside me was also stunned. Wang Chengbao apparently noticed our reaction and asked somewhat puzzled: "What's wrong?"

  I and Bo Jin were both silent, I don't know what Bo Jin's reaction is now, but my heart is racing wildly. Because, just now, I suddenly saw that on Wang Chengbao's shoulder, a long and thin centipede had crawled out. At first, I almost mistook it for one of the centipedes in Bo Jin's small wooden boxes, but upon closer inspection, this centipede was completely different from Bo Jin's. Bo Jin's centipede was green-backed and yellow-clawed, with a huge body, while the one on Wang Chengbao's shoulder was entirely black and shiny, long and thin, with even longer legs on either side. At first glance, it looked like a kind of insect commonly seen in my hometown in Northeast China, called "money string" (a type of centipede), but stretched out to be longer.

  I didn't dare to startle Wang Chengbao, I just whispered to him not to move. But at this moment, Wang Chengbao had already seen something from the eyes of me and Bo Jin, and now there must be something on his shoulder.

  As the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. In fact, human curiosity is no less than that of a cat. Although I had quietly told Wang Chengbao not to move, from my frightened eyes, he could also sense that something was wrong. Almost out of instinct, he suddenly stretched out his arm to pat his own shoulder.

  But in an instant, the centipede didn't get swatted away, instead it enraged that guy. The black centipede raised its head like a snake, and in almost an instant, quickly crawled up Wang Chengbao's cheek, following the momentum, directly drilling into his ear. Wang Chengbao let out a ghostly cry, hurriedly stretched out his hand to dig at his ear, but this digging was clearly already too late, that centipede's speed was unreasonably fast, in the blink of an eye, more than half its body had disappeared into his ear, Wang Chengbao only managed to pull out two of the centipede's hind legs. Immediately after, he suddenly jumped up from the rattan chair, and with a "pa" sound, threw the black centipede's severed legs onto the ground, using his foot to frantically trample them, seemingly extremely afraid.

  Wang Chengbao pedaled furiously, then suddenly stopped. His eyes widened, his face turned bright red, and the blood vessels on his forehead and temples bulged out. At first glance, it seemed like an invisible hand was tightly grasping his neck. The people in the teahouse all looked at Wang Chengbao simultaneously, some feeling frightened, others hastily dialing 120 for emergency rescue. But Wang Chengbao seemed to be on his last breath, his hands covering his neck, a thread of black blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

  Centipedes are poisonous, I've known that since childhood; the ones in the south are more poisonous than those in the north, this is common knowledge that everyone understands. But I know that even if a centipede's poison is strong, it's just an insect, and I've never heard of anyone being poisoned to death by one. However, if the centipede were to crawl into your brain through your ear, then that would be a different story.

  I was shocked by the sudden change in front of me and couldn't help but feel a sense of horror when I saw Wang Chengbao's painful expression, even subconsciously touching my own ears. But when I looked at Bo Jin again, I found that she was sitting there as stable as Mount Tai, except for being stunned earlier, she had been quietly watching everything that happened with an unusual calmness.

  At this time, the owner of the teahouse and several other retired cadres had rushed over, supporting Wang Chengbao and asking questions. A bald old man on the side shouted: "Hold on, hold on, the ambulance is coming right away."

  But those people obviously didn't see the centipede crawling into Wang Chengbao's ear just now, and they all thought he had a heart attack.

  At this chaotic moment, the corner of my eye suddenly glanced at the outside of the teahouse and found that the mysterious man was standing quietly outside the teahouse, watching everything that happened here. I looked at him, my head buzzing, and suddenly remembered where I had seen him before.

  That was the first night I stayed in Yunnan, at the Wutong Inn. In the middle of the night, a pale face was pressed against the window, staring at me intently. It was him!