Chapter 40 Beneath the Mask

Cheng Xiangru thought he had misheard. He stood stunned for a long while before asking with a hoarse voice, "Are you saying my dad actually came here to grave-rob?"

Leng Ying looked at him with a frown. "In your eyes, what kind of person is your dad?"

What kind of person was Cheng Zhifeng?

This question had tormented Cheng Xiangru for a very long time. He had asked Boss Zhou about it more than once, but he had never received a complete answer—or rather, never the answer he had hoped for.

Now, Leng Ying was asking him the exact same question.

"He... I suppose he's some kind of tomb-robbing boss?"

If someone had asked him in the past, he would have answered without the slightest hesitation: "He's a thief!"

But now, he hesitated.

He felt that his dad couldn't possibly be an ordinary grave robber. Otherwise, how could there be so many national treasures hidden beneath the dry well at home? Otherwise, why would Chen Shangke and the others hold him in such high respect? And otherwise, why would a formidable girl like Leng Ying risk her life to protect him?

Hearing this, Leng Ying suddenly smiled. "You really know nothing at all about your dad. He is not a grave robber at all!"

Cheng Xiangru froze. He never, in his wildest dreams, expected Leng Ying to say that.

His breathing grew rapid. "What do you mean?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Leng Ying said slowly, "Your dad gave me strict instructions about many things concerning him. I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Why?" Cheng Xiangru took a large step forward, his eyes wide.

Leng Ying seemed equally unaware of the reason and could only guess, "Perhaps... so that you could live a good life?"

Cheng Xiangru burst out laughing, as if he had just heard a colossal joke. "Live a good life? Does he have any idea how Momo and I have survived all these years? If it weren't for Uncle Zhou, we would still be living in hell! You always tell me not to trust Uncle Zhou, but this very person you claim is untrustworthy is the one who led me and Momo out of hell, gave us food to eat, and allowed Momo to go to school like a normal child. Fine, you can't talk about my dad's affairs, can you? Then let me ask you, who on earth are you?"

By the end of his sentence, Cheng Xiangru was already furious and agitated like a wild beast, practically roaring at Leng Ying.

The negative emotions he had suppressed for many years completely spun out of control and released at this moment.

Leng Ying looked at Cheng Xiangru with a deeply complex gaze—one part pity, two parts heartache, three parts worry, and four parts grievance.

"I..." Leng Ying seemed to want to explain something, but the words died on her lips, and she didn't know how to begin.

Cheng Xiangru's emotions were already teetering on the edge of collapse. "I don't care who you are. If you ever see him again, please tell him this: if he couldn't fulfill his responsibilities as a father, he shouldn't have given birth to me and Momo in the first place. Since he brought us into this world, he has no right to just walk away. If he truly refuses to acknowledge me and finds me a bad omen, he can disown me. But Momo is still so young; she cannot live without parents, she cannot be an orphan..."

Leng Ying suddenly stepped forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Cheng Xiangru and refusing to let go no matter how hard he struggled. "Can you please calm down? I'm begging you, can you just calm down?"

Cheng Xiangru was not as strong as Leng Ying and couldn't break free. Coupled with the fact that it was his first time experiencing the gentleness of a peer, his emotions finally began to gradually subside.

Sensing that Cheng Xiangru had calmed down, Leng Ying loosened her arms and lowered her head slightly. "I'm sorry!"

"No, no, no!" Cheng Xiangru waved his hands hurriedly. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry, I'm truly sorry. I don't know what comes over me—the moment I think of my dad, I lose control of my emotions so easily."

Leng Ying sighed softly. "Actually, it's not that I don't want to tell you; I don't know all that much about your dad either. But one thing is very clear to you: when he left you siblings back then, it was to protect you better."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiangru almost lost control again, but this time he reined it in quickly. "Where on earth did he go?"

With a sincere look in her eyes, Leng Ying said, "Where he went, I honestly don't know. When he was leaving, I asked him where he was headed. He gave me only one sentence in reply."

"What sentence?"

"To guard a single sword, to slay countless men, at any time and in any place, until no one can ever find him again."

Cheng Xiangru lowered his head to ponder these words. After thinking for a good while, he abruptly raised his head to look at the golden sword held in the hand of the sacrificial priest on the mural.

The golden sword radiated a brilliant luster; its blade was long and sharp, and the hilt bore an archaic design, seemingly embedded with... a circular jade pendant?

Cheng Xiangru suddenly felt a rush of blood surging from the soles of his feet. He violently remembered that he had indeed seen this very sword before.

Right beneath the dry well in his backyard, on the door of the secret chamber stacked with national treasures, was painted a mighty warrior in golden armor. The golden sword in the warrior's hand was identical to the sword on this mural, and even the circular jade pendant on the hilt was something he currently carried with him!

Thinking back further, after Boss Zhou entered that secret chamber, he had searched all around and anxiously asked him if he had ever seen a sword.

At the time, Cheng Xiangru hadn't thought much of it, but recalling it now, it seemed entirely possible that Boss Zhou was far more complicated than he had ever imagined.

Could Boss Zhou's approach to him, and the way he treated him and Cheng Yimo as his own, have been for the purpose of finding his dad's sword?

Why would the exact same sword appear on this mural?

Could this golden sword conceal a secret even more important than national treasures?

Cheng Xiangru knew far too little. As he racked his brains and pondered bitterly, the more he thought, the more bewildered he became. His temples throbbed fiercely, and the sweat oozing from his forehead mixed with the dirty soot to form muddy water, streaming down his sideburns and cheeks.

Seeing Cheng Xiangru in this state, Leng Ying felt immense pity. She pulled him down to sit against the wall, took off their travel backpacks, and sat side by side with him. "Let's rest for a while first. We're already in this predicament anyway, panicking won't help. By the way, haven't you always been asking who I am? Do you want to hear my story?"

Cheng Xiangru was startled. "You're finally willing to tell me?"

Leng Ying shrugged, making an "I don't care" expression. Her bright eyes gleamed as she looked at Cheng Xiangru and smiled, "Right, do you want to know what I look like?"

Cheng Xiangru was even more surprised. "Are you really allowed to show me?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm not ugly." With that, Leng Ying actually began to slowly raise her hand, right in front of Cheng Xiangru, and peeled off her face mask piece by piece.

Cheng Xiangru didn't even dare to draw a breath. His eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Leng Ying's face, his palms drenched in sweat.

Would she have a big nose? A crooked mouth? A harelip? Buckteeth?

All sorts of messy thoughts flooded his head, making him even more nervous.

Finally, under Cheng Xiangru's intense gaze, Leng Ying removed the mask, revealing a nose as finely sculpted as jade, and a pair of small, bright red lips.

"Well? Am I pretty?" Leng Ying curved the corners of her lips and asked playfully.

To her surprise, Cheng Xiangru burst out laughing, instantly causing Leng Ying's face to darken.