Witchcraft

  "Perlin is dead, send someone to replace him immediately. Ashuna's time is almost up, the jade token will be passed to Xīn Wū Bó Jǐn. Also, the matter has been exposed, Yunnan is treacherous, be careful."

  That's the entire content of the letter, which somewhat surprised me. There are two surprising things: first, I didn't expect that this letter was actually written by Master Duan; second, it exceeded my expectations, as I thought it would be a long letter, at least with some polite phrases like "how have you been lately". But the content of the letter is really too concise, almost to the point of being straightforward.

  If the first sentence brought me shock, then the remaining two sentences brought me confusion. Firstly, my brother's disappearance is no longer a matter of one or two days, time has passed for over a decade, although it sounds somewhat inhumane, but as of today, I almost want to forget this brother of mine completely. And now, a certain Duan Yiwu who used to work with my father wrote in a letter to my father saying that my brother is already dead.

  "Perin is dead, hurry up and send someone after him." The tone of this sentence was as if my father had always known that my brother had been in Yunnan for over a decade. I thought about my father's reaction when he read this letter, his reaction at the time was worry and excitement, but now that I've read the content of the letter, I recall my father's reaction and suddenly realized that his reaction could have been anxiety and fear.

  Based on the content of the letter, I began to make a bold guess: could it be that my father has known where my brother is all these years? But if he knew his son's whereabouts, why didn't he go look for him?

  And what does "the successor of the Speed faction" mean? If this successor refers to me, then it can be said that I was sent to Yunnan by my father according to the instructions of Duan Yuwen. Moreover, the direct reason for sending me to Yunnan may have been due to the death of my brother. And I may have come to Yunnan as a successor. A successor? If things are really as I guessed, then what has my brother been doing in these years? And should I continue what my brother did as a successor?

  The two sentences that followed left me quite perplexed. "Ah-shu-na's time is near, the jade pendant will be passed to Yu-bo-jin." This sentence undoubtedly reveals three things: Firstly, Duan Yu-wen knew about Ah-shu-na and also knew that she was not far from death; Secondly, Duan Yu-wen knew that Ah-shu-na's descendant's name was Bo-jin and had explicitly told my father; Thirdly, the most attention-grabbing thing is that both Duan Yu-wen and my father knew about the jade pendant on Bo-jin's neck.

  "Besides, things have already been exposed, Yunnan is treacherous, be careful."

  "This 'Yunnan is treacherous, be careful' is very easy to understand, it clearly tells my father that this time I came to Yunnan will encounter many dangers. Suddenly, I recalled that when my father finished reading the letter, he didn't directly mention the matter of going to Yunnan to me, but only brought it up several days later. During those few days, his absent-minded and worried appearance was clearly because he was worried about me, and very likely hesitating whether or not to let me come to Yunnan."

  But what do these four words "事已败露" mean? On the surface, it seems that there is some secret between my father and Duan Yuwen, and now the matter has been exposed. According to the context before and after, it can be inferred that it was because of the exposure of the matter that led to the danger of this trip.

  I put down the letter and fell into deep thought. The number of words in the letter was small, but the information it contained was exceptionally rich. I thought to myself, it seems that my trip to Yunnan this time is not as simple as I imagined.

  Liu Zhen looked at my expression and could more or less guess my inner reaction, but didn't disturb me too much, just sat quietly on one side smoking.

  I glanced at Liu Zhen, and suddenly my body shook. I thought of something in my mind. From the letter that Duan Yuwen sent to my father, it can be known that Duan Yuwen clearly stated that my father's descendants, that is, I came to Yunnan, and there seems to be some kind of blood relationship inside. Then why did Liu Zhen come to Yunnan? I remembered when Liu Zhen called me when I met Wang Chengbao, was it really a coincidence that he called me at the time I met Wang Chengbao? Or is there something wrong with this good friend Liu Zhen in front of me who I have always considered as a good friend?

  Thinking of this, I hastily shook my head and thought it wouldn't happen. Liu Zhen and I have known each other for more than a day or two, and my family has always treated him well. He won't do anything to harm me. Probably because of the many bizarre things that have happened to me in the past few days, I've become more and more inclined to be a conspiracy theorist, suspecting everything.

  Although I thought so in my heart, I couldn't help but ask Liu Zhen: "Old Liu, I have something on my mind that I don't know if I should ask."

  Liu Zhen smiled faintly and said, "When did you start being polite to me?"

  I hesitated for a moment before speaking: "However, let's get one thing straight - I hope you won't mind me asking you this question. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I have some doubts." I saw Liu Zhen nod his head, and only then did I continue: "This letter clearly states that my father's descendant should come to Yunnan, so why did my father go look for you and ask you to come to Yunnan to help me? The letter already told my father that Yunnan is treacherous. If my father was worried about me from the start, why didn't he just let you and I travel together? Instead, he went out of his way to have you follow later?"

  Liu Zhen listened to my words, shook his head and said: "Pei Xi, this doesn't sound like something you'd say. However, don't worry, I'm not bothered by your question. You also mentioned earlier that the letter to the teacher clearly stated that Yunnan is a treacherous place, so you should still be careful everywhere and can't easily trust others. Since you asked this question, I'll tell you the truth."

  I nodded, indicating that I was willing to hear more. Liu Zhen continued: "Actually, according to what the teacher told me, the meaning of 'later person' is not necessarily referring to someone with a blood relationship, just like this Miao girl you're going to meet, she and Ah Jia Na don't have a blood relationship either. In fact, the 'later person' in his heart represents more of a successor."

  I didn't say anything, but what Liu Zhen said was basically consistent with my previous guess. Liu Zhen looked at me and continued: "When the teacher came to find me that night, he told me that his ideal person to go to Yunnan was me, not you."

  As soon as I heard this, for some reason, I felt a sense of loss of dignity and asked: "Why?"

  "You also saw that the letter told the teacher that Yunnan is treacherous. On one hand, the teacher was probably worried about you; on the other hand, the teacher said to me that night that this trip to Yunnan requires some knowledge of history at times."

  "Damn it." I leaned back against the headboard, involuntarily uttering a curse. It turned out that from the very beginning, Father didn't think I could complete this task, which required courage and good physical skills when faced with danger, and a vast knowledge of history when faced with some historical knowledge, neither of which I apparently possessed. But Liu Zhen in front of me seemed to be born for this task.

  I thought of my missing brother again, in my impression, he is also like my father, knowledgeable and physically strong, it seems that this task really needs someone who excels in all aspects to complete.

  "Why did you still send me in the end?" I asked irritably.

  Liu Zhen patted my shoulder, seemingly to comfort me, and said: "That night, the teacher told me that he had always thought highly of me and hoped I would go to Yunnan. He even said that teaching me for so many years was actually preparation for Yunnan. However, after receiving your letter, things were exposed and it became too dangerous. And since you and the teacher are just in a master-apprentice relationship, if something happened to you in Yunnan, he wouldn't be able to explain it to your parents, so he sent you to Yunnan instead."

  As soon as I heard this, I got even angrier. It turned out that my father sent me here just because if something happened to me, he wouldn't have to explain it to others, just because I'm his son. If that's really the case, then being a son is really suffocating for me.

  Liu Zhen looked at me again and said: "However, Pei Xi, didn't you find anything strange?"

  I was startled by Liu Zhen's words. What's strange about it? For a moment, I really didn't find anything strange about it. Liu Zhen said: "It seems that you are confused by my narrative and this letter, and complicated things."

  "Complicated?" I thought to myself that even now I still feel that what I think is not enough to unravel these mysteries, how could I possibly think that I've complicated things?

  However, Liu Zhen nodded firmly and said, "You try to think about the problem in a simple way. There is something very strange about this whole thing."

  I shook my head, and since I hated guessing games the most, I asked him directly: "Just say what's strange about it, would you? Considering I've just recovered from a serious illness, satisfy my curiosity for once, don't keep me in suspense, okay?"

  Liu Zhen nodded slightly, smiled faintly, but quickly returned to a serious expression and said: "I'm not intentionally teasing you, it's just that if you can't get out of your original thinking mode by yourself, we may become more and more entangled in the puzzles ahead."

  "Come on, come on, stop stalling and just say it already." I urged.

  Liu Zhen explained: "Actually, from that evening when the teacher came to find me, I had already noticed this strange place. That evening, the teacher repeatedly said 'time is running out', I think he may have known that something was going to happen to him, so he came to find me and told me these things, then asked me to come to Yunnan to find you. But the strange thing is right here. Although the teacher repeated 'time is running out', since he still had time to come find me, why didn't he directly call you to tell you what happened, instead of asking me to pass it on to you? Don't you think this goes against normal logic? The teacher obviously complicated things."

  I was shocked to hear this, and thought to myself, "Right! If Father knew that Yunnan was dangerous and had a premonition that something would happen to him, why didn't he just call me directly and tell me about it? Even if he thought I couldn't complete the task alone, at least he could have told me about these things first. That way, I might have avoided taking many detours.

  "It's indeed a bit strange." I muttered to myself, then asked Liu Zhen if my father had ever explained the reason behind it.

  Liu Zhen waved his hand and sighed, saying: "Everything that night was in a hurry, the teacher didn't give me time to ask questions, but simply handed over the task to me after a brief explanation, and then left in a hurry."

  I suddenly had nothing to say, thought for a long time, and said: "It seems that we really have to find that Duan Yuwen tomorrow."

  Liu Zhen nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, he is now our only clue."

  "No," I sat up and said, "I think that Du Wen is not a clue but rather a guide. I feel that our only real clue is the Miao girl Long Bojin, because everything now points to Yunnan and her, of course, including the jade pendant on her neck, which is our only clue."