Mysterious Grandpa

  Bai Sheng said this with his eyes slanted and a hint of helpless smile at the corner of his mouth.

  When I heard what Hyakushobu said, I immediately lost heart.

  I went to the ghost market in the middle of the night, and there was still a group of people following me. Luckily, I didn't notice at that time, or I would have been scared to death. What makes me feel strange is that since everyone in the Zhou family knew I went to the ghost market, why did no one ask about it.

  Immediately, a more serious doubt surged into my mind. What grudge did the Zhou and Chen families have? But now, that grudge still exists. Looking at Zhou Baihe's attitude towards Baisuisheng, it's clear they've become sworn enemies. I just don't understand why they're still here.

  "I know you must be puzzled, two families that don't get along, having roughly the same opinion on this matter. There's too much involved here, and it's not easy to say." Baishou Sheng said, with a hint of sparkle in his eyes, as if he didn't want to say more about it.

  I really want to know, but he doesn't want to say it. I don't like forcing people to talk, which is no different from forcing a good person to become a prostitute.

  At this time, Hei Shu answered a phone call and his face looked somewhat unpleasant: "Old Wang, stop the car in front."

  After the car stopped, the driver and Hei Shu got out of the car. Bai Shougen leaned against me and whispered: "Xiao Jiu Ye, remember, I am San Ye's man."

  These words were spoken quickly and with great care, as if in fear of something.

  He finished speaking and got off the car, putting a large package into the car.

  Then I got off the bus too, took a deep breath first, the air in the car wasn't very good.

  It turned out that Hei Shu had bought these goods on this side, which were some prohibited items, such as guns. Generally, things like this can't be bought without a special relationship.

  What kind of person is Hei Shu? Even Old Man Zhou has three points of fear towards him.

  At this time, after moving things into the car and sitting down, I found that a young man was sitting in the last row, which surprised me, because I didn't see him get on the bus. I thought to myself, where did he come from? Maybe he got on when I got off.

  After the car started again, Hei Shu's hand had an extra cowhide paper bag at some point. He handed this cowhide paper bag to me and said: "You open it first and take a look before saying anything."

  I took the kraft paper bag with a puzzled face, opened it, and found a document inside. I pulled out the document and discovered that it was an archive with Zhang San Cheng's name on it, along with his photo attached.

  When I saw my grandfather's file, I was surprised because my grandfather is a very ordinary person. The photo on the file is clearly his young appearance, and the age written above is 31 years old, which means this is a file from more than thirty years ago.

  "How did you get hold of my grandfather's file?" I asked in surprise, as I continued to flip through the pages of the file.

  "This is confidential." Hyakushō said, pointing at the bag.

  I was stunned, Grandpa was just an ordinary person, why would his file be classified as confidential?

  "Thirty years ago, your grandfather was involved in some research, investigating some secret events, things that very few people know." Hei Shu said.

  Researchers? Secret events? When did this happen, and why didn't I know about it, and in the dozen or so years that Grandpa lived with me, he never mentioned it to me either. All I remember is that Grandpa always made a living by farming.

  "But Grandpa never mentioned anything about the past to me." I said in surprise.

  I know that every time I ask my grandfather, why he didn't live in Changsha and was always alone. If it wasn't for picking me up from the chaotic burial ground, would he have lived alone all his life? I never knew what Grandpa's life was like before.

  Sometimes I think Grandpa is weird, but can't quite put my finger on why.

  Now I remember, it was because of this reason.

  "That's because your grandfather led a group of people to Kokonor thirty years ago, and in the end, they suffered heavy losses. After that, your grandfather disappeared, and only recently has news about him come out."

  I opened my mouth wide and my intuition told me that Grandpa's disappearance might have something to do with Kekexili?

  "You know, the reason why the Zhou family is looking for you won't be that simple." Hei Shu let out a cold snort and his expression turned chilly.

  My heart suddenly turned cold, and I felt an endless fear coming over me, giving me a strong urge to escape.

  I didn't guess the reason why the Zhou family looked for me, I thought it was to take over the land before, but after staying in the Zhou family's mansion for half a month, I found out that the Zhou family is bigger than I imagined, and even an ordinary clerk in the pawnshop is better than me.

  Is Zhou Baihe making such a big fuss just to get me to go downstairs?

  "Thirty years ago, your grandfather and the Zhous and Chens went into Coco West together. They all agreed that your grandfather took away what they wanted. Last month, your grandfather seemed to have leaked the news, which led the Zhous to find you."

  At that time, I was so shocked that I couldn't say a word. What did Grandpa and the others find in Kekexili? What did they take away? So thirty years later, they thought that thing would be on me.

  "Do they think what Grandpa brought has something to do with me?" I thought for a moment, and there could only be one reason to explain it.

  "Hei Shu thought for a moment, turned his head to look at me, and then fell silent before speaking: 'Maybe there is a connection, or maybe not, because you are not...'"

  Bai Shou gave a soft cough, interrupting Hei Shu's words, and Hei Shu seemed to realize something, so he didn't continue speaking.

  My intuition tells me they're hiding something from me, what Hei Shu didn't say is definitely the key point.

  A faint voice came from the back seat: "Going there is to find something."

  The sound was slow and lingering, as if it were a soul, and it scared me half to death.

  "Who is this?" I turned back, looked at him with a puzzled and somewhat curious tone.

  From the time he got on the bus until now, I haven't paid much attention. It seems like that person wasn't listening to our conversation and didn't attract his attention either.

  He was dressed in black, holding a piece of cloth and repeatedly wiping a dagger with it, without stopping. My words didn't spark his interest, not even raising his head.

  It's been over a minute now, and I've been twisting my neck like that for as long as he's been wiping the dagger.

  Everyone in the car fell silent for a moment, and the atmosphere was so eerie that it made people suffocate.

  I stared at him for several minutes, until I felt a pain in my neck, and then turned back to face forward, but heard that voice like a dead man's drifting over: "Seven Evils."

  Upon hearing a name, I was extremely perplexed, and the feeling in my heart couldn't be described. It felt as if there was a heavy stone weighing on my chest, making it hard to breathe for a moment.

  It took me a very long time to calm down those extremely strange emotions. I don't know why, but I had this weird feeling that's hard to explain.

  What's wrong?

  This name is strange, and it's also the same surname as the one that I remember clearly in my mind.

  No one knows my name, they all call me Little Jiu, Grandpa also calls me that way, and more people call me Young Master Jiu.

  Before, I didn't know why Grandpa called me Xiao Jiu and never gave me another name. Until now, I still don't know the reason why.

  I suppose my strange expression just now was all caught in the eyes of Hyakushou, he turned his head to glance at Shichi, then turned back to look at me, and said with some helplessness: "Young Master Nine, don't mind him, that person is always like that, no different from a stone."

  I turned back and glanced at Qi Xie, only to find that he was still wiping the dagger, his movements uninterrupted, as if he hadn't heard Bai Sheng's words at all.

  Later, Hyakushou told me in secret that although Shichi is introverted and has a strange behavior, he had already mastered the art of assassination at the age of less than twenty, and had a natural talent for close combat with cold weapons. At a young age, his skills surpassed those of many famous figures in the underworld.

  "Which family does he belong to?" I was curious about him in my heart, such an extraordinary person must come from a family like the Zhou's.

  Baishou Sheng took advantage of the time when everyone was eating to go down and get some fresh air. Seeing that there was no one on the carriage, he whispered to me: "This Qi Xie is a strange person, I don't know which family he belongs to, and it seems like he doesn't belong to any of the three major families either. You've been in the Zhou family for half a month now, do you know about the three major families?"

  I shook my head, indicating that I didn't know, although I had been at the Zhou's for half a month, and still didn't understand some things about Tao.

  Bai Shou saw me like this, and then opened his mouth to explain: "The Zhou family, the Chen family, and the Ye family are the three major families in Changsha, and these three families support the entire market of Changsha."

  Then, the seven evils that don't belong to the three major families, should be the people of the old nine gates. I thought of this and asked: "Is he a person from the old nine gates?"

  In the underground world, no one doesn't know about Lao Jiu Men. Since I, an outsider, know about Lao Jiu Men, logically speaking, if Qi Xie is as powerful as Bai Shou Sheng said, and not part of the three major families, then he must be from the powerful Lao Jiu Men.

  Bai Sheng listened and shook his head, saying: "The old nine gates are sixty years ago, now in Changsha what is the old nine gates? Those who claim to be the old nine gates are just some unimportant roles, they are all self-proclaimed titles. The old nine gates have long been in name only."

  Bai Sheng said the words very lightly, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him. But I always felt that his expression was not quite right. However, when I looked at his face, it was still the same, only his eyes seemed a bit duller, but this quickly disappeared and he continued: "Since the fall of the old nine gates in Changsha sixty years ago, it has become a scattered sand, unable to form a strong force. On the other hand, the three big families that were previously stagnant have been rising like the sun."

  "Why is it like this." As for the things on this road, I really don't understand. Listening to Bai Sheng's words, I feel that the decline of the Old Nine Gates and the rise of the three major families are definitely related.

  Then, Hyakushobu let out a sigh and said faintly: "This matter is already sixty years old, and it also has something to do with where we're going."

  "Xiao Jiu Ye, the less you know about this matter, the better. San Ye doesn't want you to get involved in these things, but he can't stop it either." Bai Shou Sheng looked at me with a somewhat difficult expression, his tone was very helpless.

  "In fact, over the past year, Changsha has been quiet on the surface, and the three major families have basically washed their hands clean and no longer dare to get involved in this muddy water. If they want to do something, it's only behind closed doors, and they won't show their faces outside either. If not for this special situation, the three major families wouldn't have come into contact with each other."

  I listened and thought to myself, the three families must have participated in this action for the same purpose. Previously, they mentioned something that grandpa took away, so I asked: "Is it related to that thing?"

  At this time, Hyakushou didn't answer my question and changed the subject to ask me: "The Seven Evils represent the Ye family participating in this action."

  I opened my mouth wide again. Didn't I just say that Qi Xie doesn't belong to the three major families? Then how can he represent the Ye family now?

  "Qi Xie doesn't belong to the old nine schools, it's a force outside of the three major families, and the power behind it shouldn't be underestimated, you should be extra cautious."

  Bai Sheng stretched out his hand and patted me on the shoulder, gave a wink, hinting that I should look outside. I followed his gaze and found that they had returned.

  So I sat quietly in the car, lowering my head to eat the boxed lunch in my hand, saying nothing, pretending that I hadn't spoken with Hyakushobu at all. I knew that Hyakushobu didn't want them to know that he had talked to me.

  "Xiao Jiu Ye, doesn't the food agree with your stomach?" Baishou Sheng stared at me for a while before asking.

  At this time, they all sat in the car one after another. Hei Shu heard these words and looked at me coldly: "It's better than rushing to catch up with several times on the ground."

  "I knew it." I hung my head in thought, this hundred-handed life is really something, clearly not that way, yet brought a lecture from Hei Shu.

  The driver in front smiled and joked: "Little Ninth Master, after entering the mountain, you won't be able to eat such delicious food anymore."

  At this time, I noticed that the driver was a middle-aged man in his fifties. From my position, I only saw one side of his face. I remembered that when I got on the bus, he turned around and smiled at me. Hmm, Hei Shu called him Lao Wang.

  Could it be that this person is also...

  "Little Jiu Ye, we've met before." Old Wang turned his head and took a glance at me, then turned back and started the car.

  There was a look of astonishment in my eyes, and before I could ask him where we had met before, the impression in my mind was that I didn't remember such a person appearing.

  Hei Shu said: "Old Wang used to follow San Ye."

  "When you were three years old, I held you in my arms, and that was in Luoyang." Old Wang didn't turn his head back, but said something that shocked me.