Cough, cough—
Normally, watching Zhang Dabiao smoke was as simple as drinking water, but why did it feel so difficult for me to inhale this thing?
"Heh heh… little brother, this stuff! It's only when you've gone through certain things and grown a bit older that you'll feel it's good stuff," Zhang Dabiao smacked his lips, spat out a fish bubble, and looked at me with a hint of mockery on his face.
I took another defiant puff, but I still coughed uncontrollably. I flicked it away and stomped it out on the ground.
"Brother Zhang, I just don't understand. How did you figure out that Fang Huixin was the one pulling the strings behind all this? I couldn't see it at all. According to you, the photos contained information, but I couldn't see it!"
I fumbled through the photos in my hand, but I couldn't find any hidden messages. I even used my Yin Gua abilities to examine them, but they were just photos, with no so-called information.
Zhang Dabiao chuckled, flicked the butt of his cigarette far away, and then lit another one.
"Still haven't figured it out?"
I shook my head, looking at Zhang Dabiao with a face full of curiosity, waiting for his explanation.
"Actually, what I told you about seeking help and signals was all a lie, meant to lull Fang Huixin into a false sense of security. The photos do contain some information, but it's not a cry for help."
His explanation only made my head spin more; I didn't understand what he was talking about at all.
Seeing my confusion, Zhang Dabiao continued, "Aren't you curious why we fainted on Qingfeng Mountain?"
I nodded. "I am indeed curious, but I really can't remember how I fainted at the last moment."
It would be a lie to say I wasn't curious. But as much as I was curious, whenever it involved Fang Huixin, I felt a sense of surprise. Although I couldn't divine or cast hexes for living people, Fang Huixin didn't have the slightest aura of someone from the Feng Shui world.
Moreover, she had no reason to harm us again. To suddenly call her a venomous snake hidden in the darkness was something I found hard to accept.
"Little brother, you're still too naive. Do you think Li Zuoquan's power and influence are greater, or Fang Huixin's?"
"This…"
I frowned and began to ponder. On the surface, it was undoubtedly the Li family, represented by Li Zuoquan, that held greater power. No matter how you looked at it, Fang Huixin was still a woman. Even if she had a powerful backer, their reach would be limited.
But judging by today's events, things were likely not as simple as they appeared. If the Li family's influence was stronger than Fang Huixin's, she wouldn't have used the "lure the tiger away from its den" tactic to deceive Li Rui.
"Based on this analysis, Fang Huixin's backing is stronger, and the Li family is just a front?" I asked Zhang Dabiao uncertainly.
Zhang Dabiao nodded approvingly. "Not bad, you're finally starting to make judgments. Remember I told you Fang Huixin was no ordinary woman? For a woman to support such a large enterprise, you can imagine the power behind her.
We don't know why we suddenly came down from Qingfeng Mountain this time, and I'm not sure if she had a hand in it, but she's definitely involved."
Seeing my bewildered expression, Zhang Dabiao continued, "The photos do have some issues. The signals left by my father and your father were indeed meant to protect Zhao Defu, but that's all fake."
"Fake?" My mind went blank, and I asked with some confusion, "Then why were you so anxious to come to Molu Village?"
"Do you remember what that grave robber looked like?"
I was suddenly stumped by Zhang Dabiao's question. I realized that the grave robber's face was incredibly blurry in my memory. Besides remembering that he was covered in dirt and looked dirty, I had no impression of his actual appearance; it was as if he had simply vanished from my mind.
"What's going on? Why can't I remember what he looked like?"
Zhang Dabiao wasn't surprised by this and said seriously, "It's right that you can't remember, because they were all wearing masks, so we couldn't see their faces at all."
"Masks?"
"There are all sorts of wonders in this world. There's a technique called paper-mâché art, and one of its applications is face-changing. They can use paper-mâché to directly change a person's face. The grave robber who came to find us was one of those. It's the same with the photos; you can pour a little water on them."
"Pour water?"
I blinked, then picked up the mineral water on the bedside table, opened the cap, and poured it on. As soon as the photo touched the water, a layer of 'skin' lifted off, like the skin on soy milk, and slid to the ground with the flowing water.
At the same time, the photo revealed its original appearance. It still showed three people, but they were strangers, completely unfamiliar faces.
"What's going on? How did it change like this?"
I tried to pick up the fallen layer of 'skin' from the ground, but it had already turned into a puddle of clear water, as if it had never existed. I stared at the photo in my hand, then at the water on the ground. If Zhang Dabiao hadn't mentioned it, I would never have believed that such a technique truly existed.
When I was at my master's house, I once heard him, when drunk, tell a story about a man who also loved to drink. After finishing a funeral for someone, he got greedy and decided to travel at night.
Passing by a house, feeling thirsty, he went to ask for a cup of water. After drinking, he was so drunk that he collapsed at the doorstep.
The family was kind and carried him inside, covering him with a blanket and letting him rest for the night. When the man woke up the next day, he was completely stunned because he discovered that the bed he slept on, and the entire house, were made of paper.
He was so disoriented that he fell off the bed with a thud. Looking at the bed woven from yellow paper used for the deceased, he instinctively reached out to touch it, but his hand poked right through.
Through the hole he'd made, he could see that the four bed legs were made of thin sticks that broke with a slight pinch. Thinking it was a ghost barrier, he was terrified and ran out without even looking for the door.
He didn't stop until he was far away. Looking up at the vast sun, he came to his senses. It couldn't have been a ghost barrier because ghosts couldn't stand sunlight.
He specifically went back then to discover that the house he had been in was a paper house, standing alone in the wilderness.
When my master told me this story, I thought he had made it up, drunk ramblings. Now it seemed they weren't drunken words at all, but reality.
"You mean Fang Huixin has a very skilled paper-mâché artist with her, and she holds secrets that Li Zuoquan doesn't know?"
"Exactly. There is a large tomb on Qingfeng Mountain, and Sui Wan'er was a signal."