After that incident, I picked up my pen again to record the sequel to this story, entirely because things took an unexpected turn. Although these developments were not as thrilling as I had previously imagined, the amount of information they brought far exceeded my expectations.

After this incident, I came to understand a principle: many puzzles and truths in life do not require you to actively pursue them. When everything settles down, they will gradually emerge with the passage of time. A philosopher once said that you can only see who isn’t wearing pants when the tide goes out. Or to put it in a more fitting example, when you deliberately search for something, you often can’t find it no matter how thoroughly you search every corner of your home; yet when you’re not actively looking for it, it suddenly appears right in front of you. Some puzzles are just like that.

I was in a state of despair for a long time after that incident. During that time, I experienced two conflicting states: one was extreme frustration, where I didn’t want to do anything at all, just wanting to lie in a recliner, reminiscing about past moments and contemplating how things might have turned out differently had I made different choices. I thought that if I weren’t so entangled or so obsessive-compulsive, I might have walked step by step into a different life, perhaps one more comfortable than the current one. From another perspective, being unaware of something is often much better than knowing it; understanding can be far more painful than not understanding.

The other state was one of continuously encouraging myself, telling myself that even if I didn’t want to do certain things, I still had to do them. So I managed my uncle’s shop with this contradictory mindset. At first, without Panzi, many tasks fell solely on my shoulders, making it quite challenging. Whenever I felt frustrated and wanted to give up, I would think of the song Panzi sang for me before he passed away: “Little Third Master must move forward, Little Third Master cannot retreat.” I had no right to retreat. In this business environment, what I called moving forward was really just a series of small matters. If I backed down in such situations, I would truly let many people down. So I persevered. By the second year and the second quarter, I had managed to organize many things smoothly.

I discovered a trick: when you have already completed a task very thoroughly, especially after you’ve progressed beyond the initial accumulation phase to a certain extent, things become much simpler. You have the chance to make mistakes, the opportunity to pivot, and as long as your overall gains exceed your losses, your system can survive. Moreover, I gradually figured out many of my uncle’s tricks.

By the third quarter, I slowly began to eliminate a batch of partners who were not suitable for me, replacing them one by one with those who were a better fit. Although it wasn’t as prosperous as in my uncle’s time, the operation of the business was still quite smooth.

Watching the cash flow in continuously, I slowly gained some confidence in my abilities. I realized that I was not as useless as I had once thought—success, it turns out, has its methods and is not as difficult as I imagined.

After completing the development of traditional channels, I was training while making plans for the future and visiting some old acquaintances. The easiest ones to visit, of course, were Xiaohua and the others. Xiaohua is still recuperating in the hospital, and I hadn’t paid much attention to his injuries before due to my own feelings of despair. He is also a very important figure, and I realized I knew nothing about the experiences of his team.

Xiuxiu has been taking care of Xiaohua, and one reason I haven’t visited him is because of her; the incident with Old Lady Huo has had a significant impact on her. However, while managing my uncle’s shop, I learned many valuable virtues, such as facing pain. I know that when the time comes, avoidance is the worst solution.

Pain can only be alleviated by expressing it; repression doesn’t have much effect. Once pain reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to decline.

After a few visits, Xiuxiu gradually adapted to my presence. I stayed in Beijing for a while, specifically to help Xiaohua deal with some family matters. Because I had connections and influence in the south through my uncle, I gradually gained some voice and qualifications to help others. While I didn’t necessarily need these qualifications, once I had them, it seemed impossible to let go.

Only after everything was sorted out did I begin discussing past events with Xiaohua and the others. I mentioned some details from the Zhang family’s old building: the Tibetan ornaments found in the coffin, the two rings, and the story of the oil bottle at the end.

Xiaohua seemed quite moved upon hearing this; he appeared somewhat weary of all these mysteries. He told me he usually doesn’t experience such emotions. For him, his entire life has been filled with things he would rather not have gone through—taking over the family at a young age, engaging in struggles, and experiencing all sorts of disgusting events. He has long since stopped being bothered by any particular way of life, so the fact that he felt this way now indicated the seriousness of the situation.

I showed Xiaohua a few Tibetan-style ornaments I had taken from the coffin, and for some that I hadn’t brought out, I sketched them. After looking at them, Xiaohua said to me, “These are all ornaments from the Tibetan Buddhist system, but they only indicate that the owner of the coffin seemed to have an interest in Tibetan items; they don’t imply much more.”

I replied, “Since they are from the coffin, I believe these burial items might carry some special significance, more or less. For example, if it were Xiao Ge, his burial items would definitely be a black gold ancient knife; if it were A Si, perhaps it would be an iron egg. We should be able to deduce some information from the burial items.”

Xiaohua asked, “Are you suggesting he might have Tibetan ancestry?” I said, “Or perhaps he has been active in Tibetan areas for a long time.” Xiaohua sighed and said, “The Zhang family has a very vast influence, and it’s not surprising that they sometimes operate in Tibet.” I replied, “I don’t find it surprising; I just think these ornaments are quite common. Since the corpse chose these burial items, there might be clues we don’t know about related to these ornaments. If you know anyone who understands these, you should let them take a look. We can’t overlook anything that might have clues.”

Xiao Hua obviously felt that the chances of success were slim. I didn’t know why he had such a premonition. Perhaps, after experiencing something like this, to still maintain my curiosity was itself a kind of pathology. However, he did not stop me.

We carefully examined all the jewelry. These Tibetan ornaments were all quite large and made with a rough, bold craftsmanship. Most of the details represented traditional Tibetan symbols of auspiciousness.

We tried to find something completely different from ordinary Tibetan jewelry among these pieces. Most of the jewelry looked like the most common types, but there was one detail that caught my attention: among all the beaded necklaces, there was a strange red bead embedded within.

We all know that most Tibetan jewelry is made from red dzi beads, red agate, red amber, and red coral, but this bead was none of those materials.

I asked Xiao Hua, “Can we find someone to identify what kind of stone this is?” The Jie family had a high level of expertise in jewelry appraisal, but Xiao Hua was clearly not very familiar with this area. He had grown up in a particularly harsh environment, and his main focus was not on learning how to distinguish antiques. There were specialized people in the family for that, so Xiao Hua handed the pieces to Xiu Xiu and asked her, “Can you take a look at this and see what it is?”

I didn’t expect Xiu Xiu to be very knowledgeable about gemstones. Sure enough, women are completely different; she looked at the beads and said, “The material of this bead is very rare; it is an organic gemstone.”

I was taken aback for a moment, and Xiu Xiu continued, “This is a mixed mineral containing metallic components. It hasn’t been officially named in the market yet, but many people refer to it as moonstone.”

After hearing this, my mind exploded with thoughts. I remembered that a large amount of this stone was used in the underground palace of the Zhang family’s ancient tower.

Xiu Xiu went on to say, “This stone has many strange properties, one of which is that it is particularly suitable for micro-carving. Many people will carve very secretive information on it because its toughness allows for very clear miniature sculptures.”

I took the bead from Xiu Xiu and examined it closely, saying, “It seems like there’s nothing on it.”

Xiu Xiu pointed to the hole where the bead was strung, saying, “To hide information, it would be carved around the area of the hole. Look, isn’t this hole very rough? From your perspective, it might seem like it’s just worn down, but in fact, there might be many tiny patterns carved on it.”

As she spoke, Xiu Xiu took out her phone, opened an application, and aimed the camera at the hole in the bead. The small hole was magnified several times, and indeed, I could see a very regular circle of micro-carved patterns around the hole.

What was it? I gasped, looking closely and asking Xiu Xiu to zoom in a bit more. Xiu Xiu shook her head, saying, “To zoom in further would require professional equipment, but I think you can already see it quite clearly. There is a scorpion carved on it, with its tail connecting to its head.”

A scorpion! I looked closely at Xiu Xiu’s phone and realized it was indeed a scorpion!

Why is it just a scorpion? If it were a qilin, I would understand the reasoning, but it’s a scorpion. Could it be that the guy is a Scorpio? Indeed, scorpions have many hidden meanings in ancient Chinese traditional patterns. In Tibetan culture, scorpions carry various meanings, as they are a fearsome creature in that high-altitude environment. However, this scorpion doesn’t look like a Tibetan scorpion; it resembles Han ethnic patterns more, suggesting a fusion of Han and Tibetan cultures.

This pattern is the result of all our research on these ornaments. Xiaohua doesn’t seem surprised; I think he even believes that having such a clue is already a miracle. Regarding this pattern, I consulted several experts and received a lot of ambiguous information. It’s not that there’s nothing to say about the scorpion pattern, but rather that there’s too much to say. After thinking it over late at night, I found that none of it was valuable.

Xiaohua said that perhaps this pattern is just a coincidence, and the corpse itself is unaware of its existence. In a family like the Zhangs, which has a collector’s habit, such things are quite likely to happen. But for some reason, I always feel this should be a breakthrough. To show his support for me, Xiaohua found a few friends to completely enlarge the pattern for the first round of announcements, online postings, and consultations through friends.

He offered a high price, hoping that anyone who has any understanding of this scorpion pattern or can find relevant information would come to us. After completing these tasks, all that was left was to wait. I didn’t expect any results in the short term and didn’t hold out much hope, so I returned to Hangzhou to continue handling business.

Days passed, and various atmospheres swept by. Although life is a bit busy now, the income is gradually increasing, but the previous sense of desolation still occasionally rises in my heart. Most of the time, I stayed in my shop. The financial situation of my shop is separate from my uncle’s, and the business is still bleak. Occasionally, I have to borrow some of my uncle’s funds to cover my utility bills. If it weren’t for my incompetence, I would start to doubt whether my shop had bad feng shui.

I insisted on keeping the accounts separate; I don’t know if it’s because I still hope for my uncle’s return. Whether he can come back, I don’t know, but if he does, I would be more than happy to return everything to him. As for myself, I still prefer to stay in my shop, lying on a recliner, listening to the radio, fanning myself with an old bamboo fan, and pondering things. I feel that only in this place am I Wu Xie, and when I step out of this room, I become another person, a person who bears the shadows of Panzi, my uncle, and various others; he is completely not me. Although I can avoid missing them and reminiscing about past experiences while carrying their souls, I clearly know that the life these souls bring me is not what I want.

But even if it’s not what I desire, what fate brings will ultimately come.