Chapter 57

Chapter 57

She was startled by the sudden thought, her face changing dramatically.

Yuan Ye wanted to ask something, but before he could speak, the sudden knock at the door interrupted him. He turned and asked Qu Yixian, “Is it for you? Why is it so lively today?”

Muttering to himself, he carried the coffee to the door and waited a moment.

A few seconds later, the knocking came again.

Yuan Ye peeked through the door crack. Although there was a slight gap, the door panel blocked almost everything from view.

He opened the door. The words “Who is it?” got stuck in his throat, neither coming out nor staying in, almost choking him.

Outside, Fu Xun sized him up from head to toe and asked, “Is she inside?”

Yuan Ye felt a chill from his gaze, suddenly recalling the brief strangeness when he called Qu Ye last night…

He couldn’t hold it at first, blushed, and awkwardly stepped back two steps to let him in. “She’s inside.”

After Fu Xun entered, Yuan Ye stood by the door handle, unsure if he should leave.

Still hesitating, Fu Xun casually glanced at him. “What are you doing standing there at the door?”

Yuan Ye exclaimed and hurriedly closed the door and entered, then chose the only single sofa in the room, sitting down first.

Fu Xun went to pick up the ferret.

When he reached the bed, the little creature sniffed the air, sleepily climbing up and looking up at him in a daze.

Fu Xun bent down, picked it up, and asked the same question Yuan Ye had asked, “Has Jiang Yun been taken care of?”

“It’s handled,” Qu Yixian came back to herself, lowering her head to sip her coffee.

She didn’t mention anything that was still speculation without evidence.

She and Fu Xun were already overwhelmed dealing with the Goyun Jade Pendant. If Jiang Yun really fit her suspicions, it would be about Jiang Yuan. Intervening now would only make the situation messier, turning it into a quagmire.

“I want to go find Quan Xiao again tonight,” Qu Yixian looked at Fu Xun, asking his opinion. “What do you think?”

Fu Xun slowly shook his head. “Too deliberate.”

He had the clarity to see the big picture. “This can’t be rushed.”

“Quan Xiao made his fortune in Dunhuang; he must have a lot of informants. If we go to the pawnshop in the northern city, he’ll know. Without a proper reason, we can’t alert him.”

Yuan Ye didn’t understand. “Quan Xiao… he has a problem?”

Qu Yixian didn’t answer but asked, “How much do you know about Quan Xiao?”

Yuan Ye scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly. “…Just got familiar with him recently.”

Qu Yixian almost rolled her eyes.

Her look of disdain made Yuan Ye even more embarrassed. He defended himself, “I really don’t know him well, just met once at a friend’s dinner, that’s it. Besides, our circles don’t overlap…”

Qu Yixian ignored him, changing the topic. “Where do you think Pei Yuliang is now?”

Fu Xun looked up at her and asked back, “Don’t you already have an answer?”

Qu Yixian humbly said, “No, just a guess.”

Fu Xun understood her “guess.” It wasn’t based on intuition, but grounded in the clues at hand.

Since she could call it a “guess,” she had at least an eighty percent certainty.

He pinched the fur on Diao Chan’s chest, interested. “Tell me.”

“The range is broad,” Qu Yixian was genuinely not being modest. After a few seconds of thought, she said, “I think he’s probably still in Qinghai Province—Xining, Dulan Ancient Tombs, or Dacha’idan, all possible.”

Fu Xun neither confirmed nor denied. “After meeting Quan Xiao tomorrow, we’ll know.”

From start to finish, he didn’t ask Qu Yixian about Jiang Yun’s arrangements, as if he already anticipated her choice. Before leaving the room, he only said, “Rest well tonight; tomorrow might be a bit tough.”

Yuan Ye watched the two of them interact with sharp, precise exchanges, completely unable to join in. Only when Fu Xun was about to leave did he come back to himself, shouting, “Xun Ge, aren’t you eating with us?”

Qu Yixian casually straightened his face and answered for Fu Xun, “He has an appointment tonight.”

Her words had barely fallen when the door lock clicked shut.

The room fell silent, leaving only the sound of breathing.

Yuan Ye sighed, “I really envy Diao Chan.”

Qu Yixian: “?”

“To be able to be carried around by Xun Ge anytime.”

Qu Yixian immediately laughed, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Yuan Ye looked at her plaintively, suddenly remembering something. “Qu Ye, didn’t you ask me before to find out if Xun Ge had any appraisal accidents recently? I found out.”

Qu Yixian instinctively glanced at the door. Even knowing Fu Xun had already left, she still felt a bit guilty.

Yuan Ye didn’t notice her twisted little thoughts and continued, “But it’s not an appraisal accident, it’s gossip. I heard Xun Ge spent a lot of money four years ago to recover a national treasure-level antique. I don’t remember what it’s called, but after he got it, he immediately gave it to a collector. That collector had a pair of children; after the daughter passed away, Xun Ge attended her funeral.”

“In the antique circle, they joke about this privately. They say even heroes can’t resist beauties…”

Qu Yixian felt a little uncomfortable and interrupted Yuan Ye, “That’s enough about this. Don’t go spreading it around, it’s false.”

“False?” Yuan Ye’s eyes widened.

Only at this moment did Qu Yixian begin to understand why Fu Xun had explained it through Tie Ye. People’s judgments can easily be swayed by objective factors.

If Fu Xun had said it himself, she might not have trusted it as completely as she did hearing it from Tie Ye.

Thinking of Fu Xun doing what he thought was right while being misunderstood, she felt like her chest was stuffed with cotton, making it hard to breathe.

She could empathize.

She stayed in the Northwest not for sentimentality, nor to glorify herself, but because she felt she owed Jiang Yuan an explanation. This was something she felt she had to do, needing no approval, yet she hated being misinterpreted.

A wave of irritability rose in her chest, a fire burning her throat dry.

Qu Yixian immediately lost interest in talking to Yuan Ye. She waved him off, “I’m skipping dinner and going to sleep first. Arrange your time as you see fit.”

After sending Yuan Ye away, she took a shower. The moment she lay down, she instinctively glanced at the head of the bed.

This little creature—gone, yet strangely missed.

The next morning.

After breakfast, Qu Yixian, refreshed, went to knock on Jiang Yun’s room to wake her.

At eight o’clock sharp, they departed to see the murals at the Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

The site was some distance from the main area, requiring a shuttle bus to enter. Before touring, there was a digital cave display experience. The whole visit took nearly three to four hours.

Qu Yixian’s task today was just to deliver Jiang Yun; she would pick her up again at noon.

She watched Jiang Yun get off the car, go through ticket inspection and security at the scenic entrance, and then the car drove straight back without stopping.

Returning to the hotel, Yuan Ye and Fu Xun were already waiting in the parking lot.

She slowly parked in front of them, rolled down the window, and gestured for them to get in.

Fu Xun still sat in the front passenger seat; Yuan Ye went to the back.

Not long after getting in, Fu Xun said thoughtfully, “I now have confirmed news about the Dulan Ancient Tombs.”

Qu Yixian’s heart skipped a beat. She gripped the steering wheel and said after a moment, “Confirmed?”

“Confirmed,” Fu Xun nodded, his tone low and gentle. “It’s Shen Zhizhi.”

Yuan Ye, having done his homework last night, no longer felt lost in their conversation. Hearing this, he was a bit surprised. “When was it confirmed? I have friends nearby; I asked them to check. They said the entire area was cordoned off with police lines. No one was allowed in.”

“Just received the news this morning,” Fu Xun explained concisely. “The Dulan Ancient Tombs were looted again. Archaeologists have entered the tombs to repair and salvage artifacts. The area where Shen Zhizhi was located is the key protection zone.”

Early in the morning, hearing Fu Xun’s calm voice, Yuan Ye felt a chill run down his spine.

He rubbed the goosebumps rising on his arms, saying nothing.

Qu Yixian didn’t speak either; she was processing the information.

At the same time, she considered whether Quan Xiao knew, and if not, whether she should tell him.

According to Uncle Fu, Quan Xiao’s feelings for Shen Zhizhi weren’t as deep as he claimed, so perhaps this news wouldn’t be unbearable for him.

She didn’t dwell on the question for long.

In fact, all the tentative, subtle ways she had planned to approach Quan Xiao had already become irrelevant.

9:30 in the morning.

Qu Yixian arrived at Quan Xiao’s pawnshop in the East City.

It was a very small storefront, squeezed between the old, low buildings of the old city, so ordinary it was completely inconspicuous. There wasn’t even a proper sign; a transparent glass window had the word “Pawn” hastily pasted on it.

She got out of the car and entered the shop with Fu Xun, one after the other.

Behind the counter sat a young man. Hearing footsteps, he lazily lifted his eyes and greeted, “Welcome.”

Unlike other shops that lived off sales, the counter displayed only a few pieces of gold jewelry. The most eye-catching feature was still the “Pawn” character.

Qu Yixian looked around and asked, “Where’s your boss?”

“Boss?” The young man seemed unsurprised, putting down his phone to glance at her. Perhaps finding Qu Yixian attractive, he couldn’t help looking at her again, his tone softening. “Our boss went to get stock.”

“Get stock?” Yuan Ye chimed in. “You have so little old gold in your shop—do you really need to get more?”

The young man, annoyed at Yuan Ye’s tone, said, “Yes, he went to get stock. And the things we sell aren’t just these old gold pieces.”

He glanced at Yuan Ye twice, as if disdainful that he didn’t understand the trade, snorted, and turned his head away.

Yuan Ye almost lost his temper. He knocked on the counter, voice sharp, “Your boss hires exactly the kind of staff he deserves…”

Qu Yixian looked at the young man and immediately knew he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. Worried Yuan Ye might actually cause trouble, she hurried over and stopped him. “Enough, go wait in the car.”

Yuan Ye didn’t budge.

He leaned against the counter, eyes fixed on the young man, and lit a cigarette.

Qu Yixian ignored him, exchanged a glance with Fu Xun, and took the lead in speaking. “When did your boss go to get stock? Did he say when he’ll be back?”

“Yesterday, yesterday morning,” the young man smiled. “He didn’t say when he’d be back. He just asked me to watch the shop. If I can handle things, I handle them; if not, I wait for him.”

Qu Yixian thought over the timing and asked, “Any other instructions?”

The young man sensed the nuance. He looked at Qu Yixian cautiously. “May I ask why you’re looking for my boss? If it’s important, I can pass it on.”

“No need,” Fu Xun spoke first. “There’s no rush until he comes back.”

Leaving the pawnshop, Fu Xun glanced back at the drab shop, clearly not a properly run business, and said with a twitch of his lips, “No need to ask. Quan Xiao ran.”

“Ran?” Yuan Ye was stunned. “Ran where? Could it be that Shen Zhizhi was killed by him?”

“If he killed her, he wouldn’t pick this place,” Fu Xun said. He took out his phone, pulled up a video he had downloaded, and handed it to Qu Yixian. “Last night, I asked Uncle Fu to check Quan Xiao’s lodging in Dunhuang and pulled some surveillance footage. This is Quan Xiao’s old nest, his marital home with his ex-wife. All of September, Shen Zhizhi stayed here.”

The camera was a bit far away, so the footage wasn’t very clear. Qu Yixian, not knowing Shen Zhizhi well, had to strain to recognize her. Quan Xiao, however, was instantly recognizable on the uphill road.

She sped through the video, quickly finished, and asked Fu Xun, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” If she had seen this video sooner, she would have gone after Quan Xiao last night.

Fu Xun, noticing the accusation in her tone, reminded her, “He went to get stock yesterday morning. What good would it do to tell you earlier?”

Qu Yixian: “…”

She cleared her throat, trying to fix it. “If I’d known earlier, I could have planned sooner.”

Yuan Ye eagerly added, “Don’t worry, Xun Ge. I’ll find out where Quan Xiao went this afternoon.”

Fu Xun ignored Yuan Ye’s comment, continuing, “Didn’t I try to find you last night? Knocked on your door for ages, and you didn’t respond.”

Qu Yixian: “…”

Her eyes flicked through the rearview mirror, glancing at Yuan Ye, then quickly moved away, afraid their gazes would meet, and focused on the road ahead.

“Slept early last night.” She said it, then immediately regretted engaging. Swallowing it back was too late, so she stayed silent for a few seconds before awkwardly changing the subject. “So where are we going now? Quan Xiao left, and the trail’s gone cold.”

Fu Xun paused for a few seconds, then said, “North City.”

Qu Yixian responded with a quick “Okay,” and during the red light, sent a WeChat message to Jiang Yun, telling her to call when she finished exploring the caves and was ready to head back; it would take her a little time to get there.

Jiang Yun replied quickly: “About half an hour later, I’ll be done with the museum and come out.”

Qu Yixian estimated the time and had a rough idea.

She dropped Fu Xun and Yuan Ye at the pawnshop in North City and didn’t get out, planning to go to Mogao Caves to pick up Jiang Yun.

She called Jiang Yun to confirm.

Fu Xun, seeing she hadn’t left, stayed in the courtyard with her while she waited.

In his hand was a small notebook and a pencil sharpened down nearly to nothing. He lowered his head, the sunlight filtering through the leaves casting light on his hair tips.

His hair was dark, but the fragmented light made hints of brown visible.

Her gaze slid from his side profile to the sketch on his notebook. “What are you drawing?”

“Cloud-patterned jade pendant.” He added the final stroke, glancing at her from the side. “Weren’t you drawing this halfway last time?”

Qu Yixian leaned over to look.

Her pupils contracted sharply. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.