Translation checker: Rin
Editor: a.s.
A prickling unease nagged at Li Yan as he left his parents’ home. Instead of following his usual route, he meandered through various paths, yet the eerie feeling of being shadowed persisted. Upon reaching the entrance of his building, Li Yan discreetly retreated into the shadows, and sure enough, someone trailed behind him.
After realizing that Li Yan had discovered him, the pursuer wasted no time and swiftly closed in, seizing Li Yan by the neck with a chokehold. Li Yan countered with three consecutive palm strikes to the assailant’s wrist and forearm, disrupting the assailant’s hold on his neck, while using his other hand to shield the backpack strapped to his back. Rather than attempting to subdue Li Yan in one move, the pursuer lifted a leg to feign a strike, and then lunged forward with both palms. Li Yan, turning his back and crouching low, grabbed the assailant’s wrist, preparing to flip him. Unexpectedly, the assailant was after the backpack.
Li Yan deftly unfastened the backpack strap, retaining it in his hand. With a swift motion, he swung the strap over the stair railing that was shrouded in darkness. Sensing that Li Yan’s foot was about to entangle itself in the backpack strap, the opponent released his grip and tossed the backpack back to Li Yan. Mindful of the delicate crystal panels within, Li Yan caught it with one arm before holding it close. Meanwhile, the opponent quickly bent forward and executed an ankle lock on Li Yan’s ankle, forcing him into an uncomfortable standing split position. Without allowing Li Yan any room for resistance, a foot landed on the inner side of his knee, inflicting searing pain.
Despite their brief scuffle, the first-floor voice-controlled lights hadn’t come on.
“If you keep this up, I might lose my patience!”
The first-floor lights finally flared on as Li Yan’s exasperated threat echoed. The assailant removed the straw hat, revealing a face with deep furrows and bright, sharp eyes—none other than Li Yan’s grandfather, Li He. Grandpa Li assisted his cherished grandson to his feet, gently rubbing the area impacted by his prior kick. “I didn’t use much force, you know.”
Li Yan, shooting a reproachful look at his grandpa, ascended the staircase with a limp. “Even with your old bones, you refuse to act your age. Don’t you know that I’m letting you win?”
“Oh, oh? You brat, always so full of energy.”
There was no need to ask grandpa how he got to his parents’ old residence. Although his grandson was the apple of his eye, the fate of his son and daughter-in-law must weigh heavy on the old man’s heart.
When he reached the third floor, Li Yan’s knees no longer hurt. Grandpa hadn’t exerted much force after all. Opening the door to let his grandpa in, Li Yan deposited his backpack on the coffee table. Since Grandpa had come, hiding the secret from him was futile. It might be a good thing to take a look at it together.
Li Yan took out some cooked dishes and beer from the fridge. Grandpa poured himself a glass of water, curled his lips, glanced at Li Yan from the corner of his eye, and casually grabbed a spicy duck wing to munch on. “Why did you go to your parents’ place so late at night?”
Li Yan unzipped the backpack, revealing four crystal panels. “Found these things.”
Grandpa’s expression changed as soon as he saw the family photo. “This…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Do you know who this is?”
“Ktlr lr sbeg ugfja-ecmif jcv tlr ojwlis. Pa’r atf obgwfg nliijuf mtlfo’r ojwlis.”
“Qts vlv ws vjv xffq atflg qtbab? Qfgf atfs mibrf ab beg ojwlis?”
“Qf kfgf nfgs mibrf.” Ublcalcu ab atf fivfra rbc lc atf qtbab, tf rjlv, “Lf’r sbeg fivfra ecmif. P ajeuta tlw wjgalji jgar, yea ecobgaecjafis, tf kjrc’a relafv obg ifjgclcu wjgalji jgar, jcv tf’r yffc ubcf obg j ibcu alwf.”
“Did their whole family die from the plague?”
Grandpa acquiesced with a nod and picked up the other three panels. “I kept this newspaper too. This… is it a map?”
“It should be, but it’s too burnt to make out where it’s from, and I don’t know if it’s a map of the whole country or a specific region. It’s hard to compare.” Li Yan picked up the panel with the yellowed blank paper. “Do you know what this is?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to tell the era just by looking at it, but it seems old.”
“Alright, so you’re clueless too.”
Setting the panels aside, Grandpa Li reclined comfortably on the sofa and fixed his gaze upon Li Yan. At length, a wistful sigh escaped him as he uttered, “I know that your parents’ matter is a knot in your heart. Even if I don’t let you investigate, you definitely won’t comply…”
“But.”
Grandpa Li casually flicked Li Yan’s forehead. “But, I have a bad feeling about this. You need to stay calm. No rushing.”
“I’m not rushing, don’t worry. I know my limits.” Suddenly, Li Yan remembered what Dogtooth had said. “By the way, I have a contact who said my dad was always inquiring about something before he went missing. Do you know what his last item might be?”
“I don’t know.” Grandpa Li pondered. “I mean, I wouldn’t know even if I did. He might have mentioned something about it, but he definitely didn’t specify what it was. I need to think about it properly.”
“If you remember anything, please let me know.”
“Let’s not talk about that for now. I didn’t come here to help you with this matter.” Grandpa Li took out his phone and opened the album. “Take a look at this.”
Li Yan took a look. It was either a pair of bracelets or a pair of rings, with a snake-like appearance. The surface was coated with some unknown material, vaguely hinting at the green and yellow color underneath. Time’s touch had left its mark, with traces of rust and wear, making it difficult to determine the material of the ring itself. The carvings were very quaint; if it wasn’t a street vendor’s fake, it was probably something very ancient. “Are these rings?”
“Yes, these are heirlooms of a family friend. They were lost, and it wasn’t until recently that their family got wind of their whereabouts. They want our help to retrieve them.”
“Oh~a family heirloom.” Li Yan rose from his seat, and with his back turned to his grandpa, lifted the hem of his vest and twisted his hips. The swallow tattoo on his waist swayed with his movements. “How much is the reward for this~”
Grandpa Li gave Li Yan’s buttocks a kick. “This kid, acting all boss-like. Let me tell you, if this is done, you’ll get a big reward.”
It seemed that the living expenses for the next six months were secured.
The next day, Li Yan contacted the family of Grandpa’s old friend. The person he met was a middle-aged man surnamed Jiang. According to this man, it was indeed a rather complicated history.
Back in the day, the Jiang family, as a prominent household, was a key target for criticism and denunciation of the neighboring Red Guards. The Jiang family members were vigorous and strong, with no shortage of physically strong individuals. This led to continuous conflicts in the beginning. As the political climate grew even harsher, the then-patriarch entrusted the family heirloom, the green and yellow snake rings, to his young grandson, who was the rightful heir.
Jiang Jr. was apprenticing at a watch store at the time. He hid the ring inside two pocket watches by removing the inner works from both watches. Without the inner works, the watches didn’t run, and these two pocket watches stayed inside young Jiang’s cabinet of unfinished repairs, where nobody would casually touch them.
Originally, it was a pretty good hiding spot, as the city’s watch shops rarely had the Red Guards causing trouble. However, fate took an unexpected turn one evening when he opted for a shortcut home, likely due to a late outing. Unfortunately, he ended up falling into an abandoned well along the way home. While such an incident might have been manageable on an ordinary day, the season was winter, and the main road was vastly devoid of people, particularly in remote areas. As a result, days passed before anyone stumbled upon him, and regrettably, by the time assistance arrived, he had already become another winter casualty.
Jiang Jr., immersed in his apprenticeship, seldom returned home. Before he could disclose the whereabouts of the rings, he departed this world, taking the secret of their hiding place with him to the grave.
Later, not too long ago, the ring participated in an auction as a personal item. During this auction, the owner explained that he’d obtained it by chance from old items at home, including the two pocket watches. After authentication identified it as an antique, the ring saw the light of day again. Serendipitously, at that time, someone from the Jiang family was present among the staff at the event. Combining fragmented stories and whispered legends, they pieced together the full story of the ring’s origin and recovery.
Post-auction, members of the Jiang family tried various aliases to approach the current holder of the ring, hoping to retrieve it through legitimate means. To their dismay, their inquiries were met with a wall of silence, propelling the Jiang family to seek the support of the Li family.
Having heard the tale, Li Yan couldn’t help being suspicious, speculating that the shopkeeper of the watch shop might have discovered that Jiang Jr. had hidden the antique rings in his pocket watch and harbored a grudge.
With the whereabouts of the ring’s current possessor known, the impending task was to “reclaim” the artifact from their possession. Even so, Li Yan made significant preparations, cautious not to besmirch the established reputation of “Swallow.”
That month, Li Yan went to scout the target’s community. After spending two months, he successfully rented a unit in a building close to the target’s, paying six months rent in advance. His rented apartment was on the 13th floor, one floor above the target’s, and there was an angle in his kitchen where he could use binoculars to see the target’s living room. Although the target often kept the floor-to-ceiling curtains closed, there were still moments when they were open, allowing Li Yan to catch a glimpse of the living room layout. That was enough for him.
Over the next month, Li Yan consolidated his understanding of the community, including the property management company’s utility room, electrical room, inter-floor monitoring, and the equipment room for the cleaning staff. He also observed the target’s daily routine.
It wasn’t until the weather turned cool, signaling the arrival of autumn, that Li Yan sensed that the time was ripe.
After completing all the necessary preparations, the first autumn rain Li Yan had been waiting for finally fell, ushering in an abrupt plunge in temperature.
At 8:30 in the morning, the target left the building to go to work, followed by his wife. Noon saw Li Yan too vacating the vicinity. At 7:30 in the evening on the dot, the wife always returned home, while around 8:10 was the earliest time the target would return home, which meant Li Yan had to withdraw before the wife’s arrival.
At dusk, around 6:30, as the sky gradually darkened, Li Yan, cloaked in a raincoat, infiltrated the target’s building. He feigned clumsiness while adjusting his coat, expertly circumventing surveillance cameras, and then ventured into the stairwell. As he ascended the stairs, he changed into janitorial clothes, complete with a mask and hat. Upon reaching the 12th floor of the target’s residence, he left a bag that had been concealed under his raincoat in the corridor. Despite the scarce foot traffic on the staircase of the 12th floor, Li Yan still laid out a layer of discarded newspapers as a precaution. Exiting the staircase, he continued to evade the watchful eyes of surveillance cameras, swiftly slipping into the shadows before picking the lock to gain entry into the target’s apartment. Everything went smoothly, and it was 6:47, three minutes earlier than planned.
The study was locked, which made it the most suspicious room. After picking the lock and entering, a large safe stood next to the bookcase, arousing suspicion. However, a sweeping glance at the room revealed that the target had an overflowing collection of valuable items—calligraphy, porcelain, paintings—so it was unlikely that he’d exclusively store the pair of rings within the safe. Upon further observation, Li Yan found that the collection in the study was not merely for display or investment purposes. Taking into account the overall security measures in the neighborhood and the interior decoration of other rooms, the target’s assets were not particularly substantial. Most notably, the items in the study were arranged chronologically, and there were also many documents and other materials on the desk. He’d also made some detailed classifications and research notes on these collections.
This man seemed more like a scholar.
With the scholar’s meticulous archive at his fingertips, Li Yan had an easier time searching for the needed information. Upon a quick perusal of the scholar’s notes and documents, he unexpectedly stumbled upon a startling clue: the pair of rings traced their lineage back to the Warring States period! It was beyond Li Yan’s expectations. The antiquity of the Jiang family amazed him. No wonder they consider these worn rings a family heirloom, Li Yan thought.
Following the scholar’s meticulous cataloging system, he eventually found the rings in the safe.
Opening the safe was no challenge for Li Yan, especially given the ordinary model of this safe—it was a piece of cake. From the safe’s simplicity, Li Yan concluded that this scholar probably didn’t place much importance on money.
Successfully obtaining the ring stored in a small vacuum bag, another item in the safe caught Li Yan’s interest—a piece of blank paper sealed in a vacuum bag.
Maybe it was his mind making connections where there were none, but Li Yan repeatedly examined the paper, feeling it resembled the one his father stored in the crystal panel. However, why was it placed alongside this pair of rings? Was it classified by era? There couldn’t have been paper during the Warring States period. Could it be based on its value? How valuable could it be? The only explanation was its research value.
Deciding to look into it further, he classified the task at hand into one category, and the blank paper into another category in his mind. It was certain that this paper was extremely important if the scholar had stored it together with the Warring States period rings. Instead of taking it for himself, he decided to leave it to the scholar for further study. After all, all he needed was to know the final outcome.
With a clear plan, Li Yan exited the premises.
As he descended the stairs, he removed the janitorial work clothes and donned a hoodie from his bag. Unfurling an umbrella inside the building on the ground floor, he avoided the security camera and successfully made his way out. After leaving the building, Li Yan went to the electrical room to cut off the power supply to that row of buildings. Once the property management personnel had dispersed, he went into the property management office. Posing as a tenant affected by the power outage, he caused a commotion, claiming he was in the middle of a game, and they cut off the power just as the boss was about to be defeated. Disguised as a rebellious youth addicted to the internet, he managed to chase away the last batch of property management staff before silently slipping into the surveillance room. Plugging in a USB drive loaded with numerous computer viruses, he erased today’s surveillance footage—more accurately speaking, the entire computer system was destroyed.
Checking the time on his phone, Li Yan saw that it was 7:44, sixteen minutes earlier than planned.
There is something fishy about this scholar.
Thanks for the chapter.
Smooth moves. A little too smooth, in fact…
The scholar definitely isn’t anything simple 👀 I’m also really curious about this overarching plot that ties Li Yan and Huang Yuliang together.