Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 413 The Fatty is Here
Seeing Wu Xie enter another period of dazed contemplation, Hei Xiazi shook his head helplessly, grabbed a sales clerk, asked him where the chocolates were, and dragged him straight there.

Wu Xie was full of suspicion. Why would someone skip their afternoon nap to go to the supermarket just to buy snacks?
He didn't even look at how hot the sun was outside; he felt like his flip-flops were turning into putty as he walked.

Did their previous plans get shelved, and they're going to train in the mountains? But bringing snacks into the mountains seems a bit inappropriate.

He prided himself on being a very unreliable person, but in front of Hei Xiazi, he was an honest and reliable young man. No matter what he did, it was completely baffling.

Without even looking, Black Bear grabbed the chocolate box and tossed it into the cart until it was completely full, then reluctantly stopped.

The two returned home laden with their purchases and went to the cashier to settle the bill, which totaled over three thousand. Hei Xiazi, with his hands in his pockets, raised his chin, gesturing for Wu Xie to take out the money.

Fortunately, Wu Xie now has some money, his uncle's stall is running smoothly, and the number of zeros on his card is gradually increasing.

After paying and carrying all the snacks onto the large golden cup, I thought my shopping trip was over. But then, Black Bear went to the supermarket's wine section and picked out some red wine, looking like he was buying it in bulk.

Wu Xie looked at him speechlessly, "Do you usually spend money so extravagantly? No wonder you can't save any money."

Hei Xiazi raised his middle finger, pushed up his sunglasses, and smiled, "These are all for you. Starting tomorrow, you'll come to my place at nine o'clock every morning. I'll supervise you and make sure you eat all of these things within half a month."

"I'm eating all of this? You're not eating any?" Wu Xie asked incredulously. Sixty boxes of Dove chocolates, how many boxes would he have to eat a day? This is a damn recipe for disaster, heading straight for diabetes.

“I don’t like them either.” Black Bear turned around and went to the cashier to grab a big jar of lollipops. “But you have to eat them, eat them properly, and you have to finish them in half a month.”

Wu Xie didn't dare to question him directly, so he could only humbly ask, "Why?"

“You need to change your current lifestyle,” Black Bear said. “You must not gain weight in half a month.”

"Based on my observations and experience, you need to exercise for at least eight consecutive hours every day to ensure that you don't gain weight."

“I can’t supervise you to exercise for eight hours every day, but given your laziness, it’s impossible to change your lifestyle through training, so I came up with this solution.”

"If you gain even a pound in half a month, you won't be qualified to open the box he left for you. You'll have to go back and be your own boss."

Hei Xiazi spoke very bluntly, without sarcasm or belittling, simply stating a fact objectively.

Wu Xie was stunned for a moment, and his heart was filled with anger at first, but soon, this anger was sucked into the black hole by the greater desolation.

He understood what Hei Xiazi meant: to continue the plan, his previous efforts alone were far from enough.

Actually, after becoming his apprentice, Hei Xiazi did not immediately begin training him. Instead, he disappeared for a period of time. During that time, besides dealing with his own affairs, he would spend his free time spacing out.

The more he stared blankly, the stronger the inexplicable anxiety in his heart became. He thought that after taking over his third uncle's business and experiencing so much, his actions and executions had made him strong enough, but reality told him otherwise.

"are you ready?"

A serious voice asked him from behind.

Are you ready? Wu Xie knew he wasn't.

"Then don't open this box for now." Hei Xiazi walked over and took the white wooden carved box from his hand.

Gathering his memories, Wu Xie returned to the present moment and nodded, "Let's buy another weighing scale."

Hei Xiazi smiled and magically produced a scale from behind his back.

Wu Xie took the money, paid the fare, and the two got into the car and drove back to Wu Shan Ju.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Wang Mengmeng came up to her and pointed behind her, "Boss, your friend is here."

“Friends? What friends?” Wu Xie tossed him the car keys. “I’m not moving anything. I’ll let you pick a few things, and the rest will be delivered to my master later.”

"Fatty is here. He's been waiting inside for quite a while."

Wang Mengmeng was overjoyed to see the back seat piled high with snacks when she opened the car door. "Thank you, boss!"

"Fatty? He's here so soon." Wu Xie recalled receiving a call from Fatty in Banna this morning. He seemed very anxious, as if something had happened and insisted on meeting in person before explaining.

"You go ahead and do it, I'll go in and take a look," Wu Xie said as he walked into the main room.

Wang Mengmeng responded and saw Hei Xiazi getting out of the car with a lollipop in his mouth, so she asked him, "Brother Hei, shall I deliver this to you now?"

Hei Xiazi looked up at the sky slightly, and after seeing something, he smiled and said, "Listen to your boss, but most likely this thing will end up in your stomach."

"Huh?" Wang Mengmeng scratched the back of her head, not understanding what he meant.

"You'll need to exercise more, young man." Hei Xiazi patted him on the shoulder, went straight into the yard, and skillfully took out the pre-rain Longjing tea that Wang Mengmeng had hidden in the drawer, brewing a pot with relish.

Wang Mengmeng was completely bewildered, muttering to herself, "Sure enough, the way experts speak is different from us mortals."

After saying that, she put that matter out of her mind and happily went to pick out her favorite snacks.

Inside the room, Wu Xie and Fatty were gathered around a bright red suede bead, examining it closely with a magnifying glass.

"Did you see that?" the fat man asked him. "There are patterns inside, it looks like a painting."

This selba bead is the one Zhang Wuxun took from the sealed door of the tower at the bottom of the lake and put in the wedding gift for Fatty.

A couple of days ago, Yun Cai found the box while tidying up her things. She discussed with Fatty about stringing the seraphim bead into the amulet for their child, as a keepsake from Uncle Mu Yu.

But when the cloud tried to thread the thread through it, it found that although the hole was clearly transparent, it was impossible to thread the thread through.

She took it out into the sunlight to examine it and discovered that there seemed to be a very thin layer of red crystal-like substance between the beads. She was puzzled and told the fat man about it when he returned from hoeing the ground.

“Fat brother, Little Fish brother gave you this bead, maybe he wants to tell you and Innocent brother something.” Fatty also found it strange, so he looked at it with a magnifying glass and found many dense patterns on the thin layer of red crystal.

The magnifying glass he had wasn't powerful enough; he couldn't see anything clearly if he looked any more closely.

Recalling their discovery in the ancient building at the bottom of the lake, Fatty had a gut feeling that there might be some secret hidden in this snow pearl. He then instructed Yun Cai and rushed to Hangzhou to find Wu Xie.

"Naive. I think there must be some big secret hidden inside this thing, maybe it's related to Brother Muyu and his family."

The fat man looked very excited. Ever since he watched the video, he had been convinced that Muyu was still alive, but could not show himself for some reason. Just as Muyu said in the video, something was watching him, and Muyu hid himself for his own safety and the safety of everyone else.

Since then, Fatty has been based in Banna. He believes that the target of the person behind the scenes is likely the Zhang Family Ancient Building. Not long ago, he also discovered that his landline was being tapped, which is why he insisted on coming to Wu Xie in person to talk about this.

He suspected that his phone was being tapped. If it was being tapped, then the person hiding there must be in Banna. He wanted to find out who was behind it and maybe he could get the whereabouts of the wooden fish from them.

He originally didn't plan to tell Wu Xie about this for the time being, but he soon realized that this might be a good opportunity to fish.

So he called Wu Xie to tell him that he had only set off today, but in fact, he had left Banna quietly three days earlier under the cover of Yun Cai and A Gui.

Wu Xie was silent for two seconds, then asked Wang Mengmeng to bring a Kornet magnifying glass specifically for observing the patterns on antiques. He held the bead upright and moved it under the light source, and found that there were only some complex patterns inside, but he couldn't make out what they were.

The fat man quickly added, "I forgot to mention earlier, but I also discovered something else. This bead is a bit magical; the patterns inside can only be seen with the naked eye under sunlight."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Wu Xie said, carrying his things into the courtyard.

The sun wasn't as intense as it was at noon, and the fiery red beads shone brightly in the warm light. Looking through the small hole, the patterns inside were incredibly beautiful.

Wu Xie examined the intricate patterns closely and discovered a scorpion resting on a nine-petaled lotus flower at the center.

He found it strange that there was a scorpion in the Tibetan Sherab Zhu.

And why a scorpion? If it were a Qilin, it would make some sense, but a scorpion? What does that represent?
Looking at the crisscrossing lines around the pattern, it looks a lot like the Twenty-Eight Mansions. Could it be that someone engraved this to commemorate their astronomical discoveries?
A scorpion? Could it be a Scorpio?
That doesn't make sense either. He remembered that Muyu was a Virgo in September, so it could be the guy's zodiac sign.

With his mind racing with all sorts of random thoughts, Wu Xie rubbed his temples. There wasn't a single mark on the surface of the snow pearl, so how was the scorpion carved in? Or was the pattern a clue left for them by the wooden fish?
The fat man also came over to look, and after looking for a while, he exclaimed that something was wrong, "Although my equipment is not as professional as yours, I can still see some blurry outlines. What I saw back then was definitely not a scorpion."

Wu Xie asked in confusion, "What else could it be but a scorpion? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

The fat man pondered for a moment, then flipped the bead over and held it up to the sun. Upon seeing it, he immediately exclaimed in surprise, "It's not a scorpion! It's not a scorpion! Tianzhen, come and see! This thing is different on both sides! This side is a Qilin!"

"No, it's not a Qilin either. It looks a lot like one, but why does it seem to have big wings?"

Wu Xie's eyelids twitched, and he immediately snatched it away. Upon seeing it, he was immediately shocked.

He was certain that this was not a Qilin, but rather a tattoo on the wooden fish!

Upon hearing this, Wu Xie and Fatty exchanged glances, their expressions turning serious.

The fat man lowered his voice and said cautiously, "It's confirmed. Mu Yu must have his reasons for leaving this to us."

He slapped his head in frustration, saying, "If only I had seen it sooner."

Wu Xie patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "It's not too late to see it now. Let's study it carefully and see what message the wooden fish is trying to convey to us through these two different patterns."

The two kept changing the angle of their camera towards the sun, and finally managed to take a few relatively clear pictures.

They looked at it carefully for a long time, but couldn't find anything strange about it.

The fat man started speculating wildly, "Could this be some kind of token of the Zhang family, like a get-out-of-jail-free card, something like seeing this bead is like the emperor himself?"

"Or it could be a symbol of seniority. The Zhang family members all live to be old and old, yet they all look so young. When they get together for holidays, they can tell from this bead whether the other person is their seventh or eighth aunt, so as not to get the address wrong and mess up the seniority."

"Stop talking nonsense." Wu Xie said speechlessly, "Mu Yu is not as bored as you. These two pictures must have their own meanings. Think about the Qilin patterns on Xiao Ge, Mu Yu and the others. Isn't that a map of the Zhang Family Ancient Building?"

The fat man sighed and scratched his head helplessly, "Even if it's a map, we need to know what place it's in. We can't just wander around the world looking for it."

"What should we do then?" Wu Xie also looked worried. The clues were right in front of them, but they had no clue what to do.

Hei Xiazi had already overheard most of what was going on outside. He swaggered in carrying a teapot and said, “Since you already know that one of the pictures is a tattoo on Muyu’s body, but you have no clue, why don’t you start by investigating the other picture, the scorpion?”

Wu Xie thought so too. "I'll ask Xiao Hua. He's knowledgeable and knows a lot of people. I can ask him to help me find out. Fatty, let's also start by investigating through our own channels."

After saying that, he looked at Hei Xiazi. Before he could finish speaking, Hei Xiazi said understandingly, "You check this first. The next training plan will be postponed. You have enough time to finish eating all that stuff. Your yard is quite spacious. I'll just build you a temporary training place so you don't have to come to my place every day."

"That works too." Wu Xie nodded and called out, "Wang Mengmeng, have someone bring all the snacks from the car in."

"Yes, boss!"

Wang Mengmeng happily stuffed a big bag of potato chips and rice crackers into her pocket, and then happily told the young man to move all the food from the truck into the small storeroom.

Wu Xie called Xie Yuchen and told him about it, and also sent him the photo of the scorpion via email.

Xie Yuchen also felt that this might be a breakthrough, so he immediately contacted a few friends and published the picture in newspapers, online, and consulted with experts.

Xie Yuchen offered a high price, a large reward, hoping that someone knowledgeable about this scorpion pattern could come to him with crucial information.

I thought this matter wouldn't have any results in the short term, but to my surprise, less than five days after the news was released, someone came knocking on my door.

Guess who it will be?

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(End of this chapter)