The atmosphere was suffocating.
Just like after Tibet, I felt an invisible danger and pressure, and when I thought of my family living under such pressure all the time, I especially knew why they named me what they did (1).
The little girl was still asking me: “Where’s my grandfather?”
I put my arm around her shoulder. “Let me ask you a few questions. The situation is worse than you think, so you must answer these questions truthfully.”
She tried to break away from me. She was a stubborn child, but I held her tightly.
“When did your grandfather disappear?”
“Two months ago.” She showed an uncomfortable expression at being touched.
“Ok, listen. These drawings represent one secret after another. The fact that they’re still on the wall and haven’t been erased shows that Lu Sha’s people haven’t been here since he died. Your grandfather is very powerful. The house he designed made these people afraid to come in.”
“Of course.”
“They’re very cautious, so the best way is to catch your grandpa and get him to disclose how to crack the mechanism here. Let’s speculate on how things developed. First of all, after your grandfather entered here after many years, he found Lu Sha’s body and these pictures on the wall. He cleaned up Lu Sha’s body, which was his first mistake. It must have been this mistake that led them to discover your grandfather. Lu Sha’s body reappearing in the world attracted those people, and your grandfather was arrested.”
The girl looked at me and I said, “I remember you told me that you couldn’t leave, and asked me to find you myself, right? It wasn’t a complete lie. The second part of the text was to delay me, but the first part had your true feelings. You came in to find your grandfather, but he had been renovating here, so you found that the original layout had changed after you came in.” I also looked at her: “You can’t get out, right?”
There was a subtle change in the way she looked at me. She didn’t agree with me, but her expression showed confusion and resistance.
“No, it’s not that you can’t get out.” I looked at her eyes to see if my guess was correct, which I had learned from fortune tellers. “You’re afraid to go out. Your grandfather left you a warning here. After he entered here for the last time, he found that he had been targeted. He was trapped here for a long time, and finally decided to go out and deal with it, but he was caught in the end. He knew that you would definitely look for him after his accident, so he left you a clue while he was in this house. After you came in, you saw the hint and knew that you would be caught if you went out. You didn’t know what to do.”
The girl’s eyes were red, and I continued to ask: “What tip did your grandfather leave you?”
“He said that I should give these drawings to a man named Wu Xie at any cost.”
I took out a cigarette and lit it for myself while trembling.
“My grandfather also said that I’ll be caught as long as I leave here, so I have to find my own way.” The girl’s tears fell down. “I don’t know what to do. My grandfather didn’t tell me anything. It’s like he didn’t care about my life or death at all. He just wanted to be responsible for you. Are you his illegitimate child?”
Don’t just casually recognize relatives, I said to myself.
Seven Fingers knew me so well. I suddenly had the feeling that he might not be a stranger after all, and might even be someone I knew.
Through the stairwell wall, I could hear the incomparable sound of steel cables being pulled enthusiastically. I looked at the direction of the sound coldly. It wasn’t appropriate to pursue the issue now.
“Will they hurt my grandfather?” The girl squeezed her hands and touched the scar on her hand.
“No, but they’ll force him to tell them how to get here safely. But he should have prepared for it long ago. These people should have been led to your so-called ‘inner layer’. The sounds you’ve been hearing should be their movements.” I said. The girl had to know, which was why she was afraid instead of alarmed when she heard the sound.
This was a tight knot Seven fingers couldn’t find a way to solve. He would be caught as soon as he went out, so he couldn’t inform his granddaughter or make any arrangements. He knew his granddaughter would make the same mistake he did, so all he could do was write everything down in detail.
He was desperate, but the girl did what he couldn’t. It was no coincidence that I came to this place.
“Maybe your grandfather has a lot of faith in you.” I said. “What’s your name?”
“My name’s Tang Song.” She said.
“Tang Song, what did you do to lead me here?”
“I didn’t need to do anything.” She replied. “I sent a text message to my grandfather, saying: No matter who sees this text, I discovered the internal layout behind the bronze door. Let Wu Xie come down to me; otherwise, I’ll erase all the pictures.”
I was dumbstruck as I stared at her. It was a direct conversation with the opposing side, and she even threatened them.
<Extra 3.15> <Table of Contents><Extra 3.17>
****
TN Notes:
(1) His name sounds the same as “No evil”. His family expected his life could be free of evil people
MereBear's Translation 