TSMITB Chapter62

On the phone screen, the last call record with Sheng Qixiao stopped five days ago.

It was the first time Shen Que discovered that Sheng Qixiao was a man who actually kept his promises.

He had said he was going back to the Inner Stockade and couldn’t talk anymore, and Shen Que hadn’t received another call from him after that.

Shen Que tried calling him, but it always went unanswered.

This was the fifth day of Sheng Qixiao’s “disappearance.”

Shen Que sat alone on the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, staring unfocused out the window while wondering what he was contemplating. He had maintained this posture for a long time with his phone placed face-up beside him without lighting up even once.

A suffocating silence enveloped him.

The small building in E’yun Mountain was also often quiet, but it was a different kind of quiet.

There was the rustling of wind through the bamboo forest and the faint hum of insects in the night. When Sheng Qixiao was there, even the silence felt warm; his body heat, breathing, and scent, just like him, seemed determined to firmly envelop Shen Que.

Now all of these were gone, even the fluorescent butterflies that used to randomly appear in every scene, spying on him for Sheng Qixiao, had vanished without a trace.

Shen Que felt he should be relieved, but the fact was quite the opposite.

He recalled the last phone call with Sheng Qixiao over and over tirelessly.

The signal was intermittent, with sounds of wind, human voices, and water droplets hitting the rock wall.

He had heard that sound before, when he accidentally fell into an underground cave during the poisonous fog, it was the sound that made him mistakenly believe it was a death countdown.

A ridiculous thought flashed through his mind, which he quickly extinguished.

Sheng Qixiao was always powerful; every blade of grass and tree there obeyed him. How could something happen to him?

Even if those few old un-dying ones teamed up to cause trouble, they probably couldn’t do anything to him either; otherwise, how could he have survived until now?

Shen Que closed his eyes, trying to banish these messy thoughts.

He told himself this was just a withdrawal symptom; being bothered for so long and then suddenly returning to normal would naturally cause discomfort.

Shen Que got up and took a bottle of ice water from the refrigerator. Frost had formed on the bottle, melted by the warmth of his palm, turning into small streams of water trickling down. Shen Que tilted his head back to gulp down the ice water. The cold liquid slid into his stomach, stirring up a slight spasm, which even made his temples begin to throb.

But even so, it did nothing to lessen the irritation in his heart; instead, it grew even stronger.

What broke the deadly silence was the sudden sound of a ringing phone.

Shen Que grabbed the phone without a moment’s hesitation, but the caller ID was not the name he was silently repeating.

His chest heaved vigorously a few times. Shen Que answered the call, his voice a little hoarse, “What is it?”

“Young Master Shen.” Old Qiu’s voice sounded unusually heavy, mixed with the howling of the wind and the dense sound of raindrops hitting the car window.

Shen Que looked out the window again, only to realize it had started raining at some unknown time. This kind of night, this scene, and this suddenly arriving phone call instantly pulled him back to that night a few months ago.

His heart began to pound frantically in his chest as if sensing something.

The next moment.

“Your older brother has collapsed again.”

Lightning silently tore through the night sky. The pale electric light crossed the floor-to-ceiling window, illuminating Shen Que’s bloodless face.

The first face that flashed through Shen Que’s mind was Sheng Qixiao’s. Was this five days of no contact all for this moment? And here he was, worried about him…

But the next second, the noisy background sound from that last phone call was evoked by the thunderstorm outside the window.

A question he had never deeply pondered before surfaced in the confusion.

There was no signal in the Inner Stockade. Could Sheng Qixiao have been staying in the Outer Stockade the whole time before?

No, it was impossible.

The night before he separated from Sheng Qixiao, Ke Di’s wife had come to urge Sheng Qixiao to hurry back; he couldn’t have stayed in the Outer Stockade for that long.

Shen Que rubbed his aching temple. He felt that some vague conjecture was circling in front of him, yet it was always separated by a veil, making him unable to grasp any part of it.

“Young Master Shen, are you still there?” Old Qiu’s voice sounded somewhat distorted in his ear, disrupting his thoughts, “Your older brother’s situation this time… is very bad, it was more serious than last time. The Old Master asked me to pick you up and go back to the old family house. Are you… still going?”

The thunder, delayed by several seconds, finally crashed down.

“I’ll be right there.” Shen Que hung up the phone. He stopped trying to untangle his messy train of thought, casually grabbed a jacket, and quickly walked towards the door.

The rain continued falling the entire way, while Shen Que listened to the thunder all the way there.

He leaned against the car window, looking at the street scenery rapidly receding outside, and suddenly felt that he was like this car, being pushed by an invisible force, driving involuntarily towards a stormy but irresistible destination.

It was already an hour later when the car drove into the old family house’s garage.

The lights inside the house were bright, a complete contrast to the gloominess he had traveled through outside.

The living room was far from quiet. His spineless biological father, who had spent his life indulging in pleasure, always presenting himself as a romantic when he had never once stood up for him, was lounging half-reclined on the sofa. He was ordering a new girlfriend who looked barely twenty to massage his shoulders, his face wearing the satisfied expression of someone who had just eaten and drunk his fill.

On the other side, four or five illegitimate children whose names Shen Que didn’t know were happily huddled together, boasting and chatting idly.

“Hey, do you think people really cast Gu on others? Sounds like a fantasy.”

“Who knows? That stuff shouldn’t be contagious, right? Otherwise, our whole family…”

“Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, don’t invite bad luck! But I heard my mom say that Second Shen got involved in a romantic entanglement, and the person didn’t want to hurt him, so they put the curse on the eldest one instead.”

“You’re full of nonsense. What the heck does your mom know? She hasn’t been to the old house in eight hundred years.”

“What the hell are you saying, your mom also isn’t…”

The chattering arguments abruptly ceased when they noticed Shen Que walking in. The atmosphere instantly turned awkward, and the group exchanged glances, their expressions more colorful than a palette that hadn’t been washed in eight years.

Shen Que stood there with a gloomy expression, sniffed the air, tossed his jacket, which had a few drops of rain on it, onto the sofa, then turned to Old Qiu and asked, “When did our family start selling seafood? It smells like rotten fish and shrimp.”

His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone present.

Old Qiu looked around, glanced at the group of people who were so startled by Shen Que that they almost instantly jumped up to stand at attention, and remained silent. He subtly shifted his feet, wanting to quietly distance himself from this war without gunpowder, but his uncontrollably upturned lips betrayed his mood.

Shen Donghu shakily stood up, snatched the ashtray next to him, and hurled it over, “You still know how to come back! I thought you died outside!”

Shen Que stood still, slightly turning his body. The ashtray barely grazed his cheekbone, immediately causing a burning sting.

“Don’t worry, I’m still waiting to see you off. I’ll definitely die later than you.” Shen Que suppressed the urge to raise his hand to rub the injury to ease the pain, expressionlessly surveying the group, “Why are you so tough today, you softie? Do you think these rotten apples can back you up?”

“Unfilial son! You unfilial son! I will now…”

Shen Donghu was about to say something, but was interrupted by Old Master Shen on the stairs, “Donghu! You don’t look like a father at all!”

He sharply rebuked his son, then turned his gaze to Shen Que, his expression complex, but his tone softened, “Shen Que, come up.”

Old Qiu had already told Shen Que everything that had recently happened on the way here.

The bolder one, who had seized the chance to act obedient at the old house, successfully secured an opportunity to enter the company. The others, naturally unwilling to miss out, followed along as well, each doing their best in hopes of gaining some benefit from the old house.

Coincidentally, hearing that Shen Yi had collapsed again, they immediately swarmed around him like flies, attempting to get a piece of the pie.

In the bedroom, Shen Yi, who had been full of energy just a few days ago, had withered away again, looking as though he were nothing more than skin stretched over bones. His breathing was weak, his eyes were sunken, and his lips were dry and white. If he hadn’t been mentally prepared, Shen Que might have been startled.

“What’s going on? How did he suddenly become like this?” This Gu was too vicious. It had only been about an hour since he received the news, unless…

“He seemed a little off a week ago, but after we had him checked, there was nothing seriously wrong, so we didn’t think much of it. Then he suddenly collapsed five days ago, and by today, he’s become like this.”

“You two are truly big-hearted.” Shen Que gritted his teeth.

Old Master Shen sat dejectedly in his wheelchair with tears welling up in his cloudy eyes. He stretched out his withered hand, attempting to pull Shen Que closer, but Shen Que subtly avoided him.

“It was truly out of necessity today that I asked Old Qiu to contact you.” The Old Master’s voice was heavily nasal, filled with regret, “Back then, I wronged you and was too ashamed to face you. I’m old and muddle-headed… You and your older brother are both my flesh and blood, and I watched you grow up. But your father is my only son…”

The old man began to sob, intermittently recounting his helplessness and struggle back then while trying to whitewash the transaction as a desperate act by an old man after a painful choice.

“I originally disagreed with the method of exchange, but I couldn’t resist your father… In the end, I still sent you in. I’m sorry to you, I’m truly sorry to you.”

Shen Que listened expressionlessly without the slightest emotional fluctuation at all.

The old man spoke with genuine emotion while shedding tears, but in Shen Que’s eyes, it only felt ironic.

He had been back for so long and had plenty of opportunities to explain. Why wait until now to express regret?

He randomly thought of Sheng Qixiao’s critique of his acting—”Too terrible.”

This sentence was equally applicable to the old man before him.

A mix of truth and lies, spoken to someone unaware of the situation, might be incredibly moving. But for someone who truly knew the inside story, the only options were feeling extremely uncomfortable or remaining coldly aloof.

For instance, there was Old Qiu standing nearby, wanting to speak but hesitating, while Shen Que wouldn’t even spare him half a glance.

“So,” Shen Que interrupted the old man’s sobbing, “what do you need me to do this time?”

The Old Master seemed not to have expected him to be so direct; he paused, wiped his tears, and tentatively asked, “I heard you can contact that person?”

“I can’t contact him.” Shen Que stated categorically.

He was telling the truth, but no one believed him.

“Shen Que, don’t throw a tantrum now. You are blood brothers, since childhood, your older brother…”

“Grandpa!” Shen Que interrupted him again, his tone none too pleasant, “I genuinely can’t contact him. Instead of wasting time on me, you should think of other methods.”

A sharp glint flashed in the old man’s eyes as he openly assessed the truthfulness of Shen Que’s words. Shen Que didn’t flinch, letting him examine him. In the silent confrontation, the old man was the first to concede.

He shook his head wearily, saying nothing more.

Shen Que turned around, raising a hand to cover his chest. The sincerity buried beneath his skin, flesh, bone, and blood, a heart utterly defenseless when facing familial affection, felt an unprecedented pain at this moment.

Once again, he came to fully realize that he had never truly understood anyone in this family.

But at the same time, he felt a sliver of relief. He felt relieved that his past self had been enough of a scoundrel, selfish enough to avoid investing too much attention or emotion in this family. Otherwise, the feeling would surely be a hundred times worse than it was now…

As he thought, Shen Que suddenly started to somewhat resent Sheng Qixiao.

If it weren’t for Sheng Qixiao, who had made him truly understand and experience what love was, what genuine and passionate emotion felt like, he might never have been able to see through the hypocrisy right before his eyes so clearly.

His former self had been too lazy to look into things deeply, simply accepting everything at face value and living a carefree, comfortable life.

Now, it was too difficult to deceive himself anymore.

Knock, knock, knock…

The door was knocked, interrupting the tense atmosphere in the room.

Gang Zi and Ah Chao came in with a person between them, each gripping one of his arms. A black cloth bag covered the person’s head, while the silver ornaments on his body clinked harshly as he struggled.

It was the “Master” who had previously been treated as an honored guest by the Shen family.

They subdued him, separated his hands and feet, and tightly bound him to a chair that had been prepared nearby.

When the hood was removed, the face that had previously feigned profound wisdom was now filled with terror.

Facing repeated questions from Old Qiu and the others, he only repeated one sentence: he knew nothing, and Sheng Qixiao also hadn’t contacted him for a long time.

“Judging by his expression, he doesn’t seem to be lying.” Shen Que called a halt to the meaningless interrogation.

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly heavy, oppressively so.

The Old Master spoke, “How about… you go to E’yun Mountain one more time.”

As soon as he said this, Old Qiu and the others, who had been discussing something in low voices, all fell silent.

Not sure what Shen Que had thought of, but he laughed out loud, his tone laced with sarcasm, “How did Grandpa become so naive? Do you really think E’yun Mountain is a vegetable market, where you can just go whenever you want? Last time, we at least had a ‘deal’ in hand, and Sheng Qixiao could guarantee our safe entry. Even then, it took a lot of effort to get out. This time, what bargaining chips do we have? Nothing at all. Are we going to force our way in?”

His gaze swept over everyone present before finally settling on the old man’s face. “Aren’t we supposed to be respectable businessmen? How have we sunk to the level of buying lives with money?”

“Shen Que!” The Old Master’s face turned a kaleidoscope of colors, stung by the undisguised sarcasm in his words.

Shen Que used to be a scoundrel, constantly causing big and small troubles, but he still respected his grandfather.

But now, this grandson of his seemed to no longer regard him at all.

In those beautiful eyes, so much like his mother’s, lay the calm indifference of someone who had been utterly disheartened, along with complete disappointment in him and this family.

That expression struck fear into his heart.

Shen Que ignored him, took a few steps forward, pulled the “Master’s” hair, forcing him to look up, and moved his lips, silently asking him, “Why has Sheng Qixiao lost contact? Did something happen to him?”

He finally asked the question that had troubled him the entire way.

Shen Yi collapsed five days ago, and Sheng Qixiao also suddenly became completely unreachable five days ago.

If this really was Sheng Qixiao’s doing, why wouldn’t he show up? Given his personality, he should be enjoying the sight of himself being desperate and forced to beg him, rather than playing hide-and-seek.

The existing Gu in E’yun Mountain are fundamentally cultivated with Sheng Qixiao’s flesh and blood. If Shen Yi’s current collapse wasn’t his doing, then perhaps only one possibility remains…

The “Master” reacted for two seconds, his pupils suddenly contracting. He clearly understood Shen Que’s lips movements, but stammered, unable to speak.

Shen Que’s heart sank, yet he showed nothing on his face. He released the “Master,” turned to Old Qiu and the others, and said, “Let’s go straight to the Outer Stockade.”

“What?” Gang Zi was stunned for a moment.“

“He dares to threaten me with Shen Yi’s life, and I can also use the lives of the Outer Stockade’s people to threaten him.”

Although his heart had already clearly leaned toward one of the two completely opposite possibilities, he could not bring himself to say it aloud.

Old Qiu’s brow slowly furrowed, “But, that place has been commercialized, and there are many tourists. We could easily hurt innocent people. Moreover, with so many eyes around, it’s not easy to act.”

“The tourists are all in the commercial area.” Shen Que shook his head, running through the information Sheng Qixiao had inadvertently revealed, “The people from the Outer Stockade should have a separate residential area, away from the commercial zone. I remember him saying that if you continued farther in, past the guesthouse where you found me last time, that’s where it is.”

Shen Que said this, but he wasn’t entirely sure either. It was just something Sheng Qixiao had mentioned casually, and he hadn’t paid attention at the time. However, this was the only clue and the only hope now.

“We don’t need to hurt anyone. We just need to surround that area and have someone inform Sheng Qixiao. If this is really his doing, he will find a way to resolve it.”

They were his people; he wouldn’t be indifferent, just like himself…

Shen Que turned back to look at Shen Yi lying quietly on the bed.

No matter how disappointed or hateful he was toward this family, he ultimately couldn’t ignore Shen Yi’s life or death. Perhaps this was the irreducible weakness of human nature.

“But what if it’s not him…” Ah Chao spoke weakly.

“Then that’s even better, he will definitely have a way.”

Shen Que spoke with great conviction, but he felt uncertain inside.

He could only silently pray in his heart that all of this was merely Sheng Qixiao finding a different way to “play with” him. When the time came, he could humble himself and say some nice words…

Those sweet words he couldn’t bring himself to say for a while now didn’t seem so difficult either. He wasn’t an overly reserved person, he just unconsciously had too many reservations when facing Sheng Qixiao.

If it were the other scenario, he truly didn’t know what else he could do.

Just before leaving, the Old Master called out to Shen Que again.

“After your older brother recovered last time, he made a will, leaving all his assets and company shares to you upon his death…”

The hand hanging by his side suddenly clenched into a fist. Shen Que turned his face away and interrupted coldly, “I don’t care for anyone’s inheritance. Let him keep it to spend on himself.”

“This time, he absolutely forbade me from telling you again, which is why it’s been delayed this long. Before, I had some selfish motives. You always opposed your father and weren’t close to me, so when weighing the pros and cons, I inevitably had a certain bias. I know you don’t want to believe anything I say now, but I still want to say one thing, if things are beyond saving this time, just let it go. Your older brother… he doesn’t want you to sacrifice yourself for him again.”

Shen Que quietly waited for him to finish, showed no reaction, and turned to go downstairs and out the door.

This time, he did not look back again.

By the time the car drove near E’yun Mountain, the rain had also stopped.

But dark clouds still heavily pressed down on the horizon. The mountain air was damp, and every breath seemed to carry the stench of something rotten.

Shen Que sat in the back seat while watching the increasingly familiar scenery outside the window, and a certain reflection on life rose in his heart.

He had thought he would never return to this place…

The convoy stopped by the roadside not far from the stockade.

The group disguised themselves as ordinary tourists, scattering and blending into the crowd, converging on the mountain from all directions.

Shen Que stepped on the wet flagstones, approaching the guesthouse where he had once stayed with Sheng Qixiao, step by step.

Unfortunately, the guesthouse door was tightly shut, appearing unoccupied.

He didn’t stop and continued to walk further down the road. After passing several “No Entry” signs and roadblocks, the most original appearance of the Outer Stockade was finally revealed before his eyes.

Dusk was approaching, and the scent of cooking gradually filled the air.

The entire village was built against the mountain, layered and well-arranged. Stilt houses, in an ancient and exquisite form, were integrated with the mountain, subtly hidden by the terrain and vegetation.

At the very center of the stockade, a temple was located, its structure almost identical to the one in the Inner Stockade, only much smaller in scale.

Shen Que took a deep breath and raised his hand, signaling action.

The silent “bodyguards” behind him immediately spread out, quietly occupying all the exits around the stockade.

A silent hunt was about to begin.

The people in the stockade quickly noticed the uninvited guests.

They quietly walked out of their homes, stood silently under their eaves, and scrutinized them with a strange look.

There was no sign of fear in their eyes; only scrutiny and curiosity.

Shen Que quickly realized something was wrong. Those in front of him were mainly the elderly, women, and children; there was not a single young adult man at all.

“The commercial area down the mountain hasn’t closed yet.” Someone reminded him.

“Then wait a little longer. Keep a close watch on them all. From now on, this place can only be entered, not exited.”

The author has something to say:

Sheng Qixiao: Everything is my fault~

Reunion in the next chapter~