That evening, seeing that Wang Yang was also awake, I called him to take a walk by the sea.
He quickly understood and accompanied me to the beach.
At night, the island had very low visibility, apart from the starlight in the sky.
Sitting down on a reef, I asked, "What do you think those ancient books in the box contain?"
Wang Yang chuckled, "What do you think?"
I pursed my lips, thinking that if my previous deduction was correct, those ancient books should contain the life story of Sister Ying.
Of course, this was just a guess.
"Did Sister Ying go to the Stone Turtle secret chamber?" I couldn't help but ask.
"She might have, or she might not have," Wang Yang replied. "Don't forget, she has many people working for her. Just like this time, she didn't need to go in person to get what she wanted."
This deduction wasn't wrong; Sister Ying often didn't need to act herself.
Back in Guangling, the golden key was clearly not her primary objective.
When I saw the golden key at the auction, I vaguely recalled that she herself seemed surprised.
Her main purpose in going to Guangling should have been those Yixing teapots.
At that time, she lied to me, saying that the map hidden within the teapots concerned the safety of her "father" and "fourth uncle."
I barely studied the patterns inside, and they've long since been forgotten.
What secrets the Yixing teapots held is now impossible to ascertain, unless Sister Ying tells us herself.
"If I asked Yang Hanxue, do you think he would let me study the contents of the wooden box?" I asked.
Wang Yang glanced at me, "Hard to say... I can't quite figure this man out."
"Hm?"
"In the Stone Turtle secret chamber, several times I felt like he was about to make a move on us... but at the last moment, he saved us..."
I said, "Are you overthinking it? If he really wanted to kill us, we wouldn't have stood a chance."
Yang Hanxue was a master of mechanisms. If he had triggered one in the secret chamber, we would have had no chance of survival.
Wang Yang said, "I hope I'm overthinking it, but as it stands, he's unlikely to make a move on us now."
"Then I'll go try? Ask him to let me see what's in the wooden box?" I asked, lacking confidence.
Wang Yang shrugged, "If you want to go, go ahead. I'm not familiar with him anyway."
Having made up my mind, I found Yang Hanxue. Before I could even speak, he handed me the wooden box directly, "You want to see what's inside, don't you?"
The firelight reflected on his rugged, bearded face, making him look particularly weathered.
Seeing his initiative, I felt a pang of guilt.
Wang Yang and I had been discussing him behind his back, yet he turned out to be such a straightforward person.
Truly, I had judged him by my own low standards.
Slightly embarrassed, I took the wooden box and said, "Thanks."
He added some firewood to the bonfire and said, "When we were at sea, you seemed very interested in what was inside. Can you tell me why?"
At this moment, it was just him and me by the bonfire. Song Bing had been called away by Wang Yang somewhere.
This was what Wang Yang and I had agreed upon – for me to talk to Yang Hanxue alone.
I gave a wry smile and looked at him, "To be honest, I don't want to lie to you... but I can't explain it clearly right now."
"I'm just very curious..." Yang Hanxue said.
"Curious?"
"Your friend," he looked at me, "Why does he have the same tattoo as me?"
Hearing this, my brow furrowed.
Yang Hanxue unbuttoned his collar as he spoke, revealing the tattoo on his chest.
I still don't understand the meaning of this tattoo; it's a very peculiar symbol.
"If I'm not mistaken, he should be like me," Yang Hanxue stated.
I was a bit confused, "Like you?"
"My father had this tattoo. Not long after I was born, he had this pattern tattooed on me..."
As he spoke, a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes. "I still remember what he told me before he died..."
"What did he say?"
Yang Hanxue glanced at me, clearly not intending to continue, and instead asked, "Do you and your friend know that woman?"
"Who?" I asked, my lips feeling a bit dry.
He shook his head, "I don't know her name... I've only met her once."
"Did she ask you to find this wooden box?" I inquired.
Yang Hanxue nodded.
"Did she say how to deliver it to her after finding it?" I asked.
"No, she just told me to find the wooden box. She didn't say what to do after finding it."
Now, I was a hundred percent certain that the person was Sister Ying.
"Do you know who she is?" Yang Hanxue asked.
A bitter feeling welled up inside me, and for a moment, I didn't know how to respond. After a pause, I said, "Actually, I'm not too sure... I worked for her before."
I briefly recounted the situation in Guangling. Yang Hanxue fell silent after listening, perhaps lost in thought.
Meanwhile, my mind raced. Wang Yang had told me that he felt Yang Hanxue was about to make a move on us several times in the secret chamber...
What made him abandon that thought?
I didn't understand it before, but now I had a rough idea.
It must have been because he saw Wang Yang's tattoo.
But when did he see it?
I couldn't recall at all; I hadn't paid that much attention at the time.
If that's the case, did I misunderstand Wang Yang after all?
"Open it and take a look," Yang Hanxue's voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
I looked at the wooden box in my hand, took a deep breath, opened it, and took out the ancient books.
There were two volumes, and the paper had turned yellow.
They were preserved quite well, not affecting the content.
Opening them, I saw delicate handwriting that was quite beautiful.
After reading a few lines, my brow furrowed.
Because what was recorded in them were all trivial family matters.
It seemed to be written by a woman, like a mundane diary, detailing what she ate today, how much money she spent, whom she met, and so on.
I flipped through the pages, and it was mostly these kinds of entries.
The other book was the same.
This made me confused. If the Stone Turtle secret chamber was indeed set up by Shen Wansan, why would he place two "diary" entries of trivial matters inside?
Patiently, I flipped through both ancient books. They were all trivial diary entries, with no mention of who wrote them, nothing about Sister Ying, and no special records. 138 Reading Network.
What was going on?
Or was there something more to these ancient books that I simply hadn't discovered?