Everyone seemed to have gained something, but only Hu Jia returned empty-handed.
Back at his old home, he nearly chopped down the lychee tree, yet found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Did you check every wall?"
"I even scraped off the plaster."
"Did you look at the roof?"
"Not only did I look, I fell through it."
"What about every nook and cranny of the yard?"
"Ah, there was something I found."
"Really? What was it?"
"The stone you used to sit on when you wore an open-crotch diaper, with your bottom bare, has become sharper."
"..."
"Be serious, let's talk about the lychee tree again."
"It's alive and well, with lush branches and leaves."
"Any special symbols on the trunk?"
"Does the carving of 'Er Ya next door' you made when you were a kid count?"
"Hu Ergou, please maintain a proper attitude."
"Alright, alright, I found nothing. I even dug up the soil beneath the tree, and still nothing."
"Hmm, that's strange. Is it not a lychee tree? Did you not search thoroughly?"
"Should I pick off every leaf to examine it?"
"Hahaha..."
Hearing the exchange between Hu Jia and Ouyang Wen, everyone burst into laughter.
Hu Jia was already dejected by the fruitless trip. To have Ouyang Wen chatter on and on only enraged him to the point of glaring with wide, angry eyes.
After the laughter subsided, they consolidated all the clues they had.
Lü Qingqing had already gotten acquainted with Xiao Qi, and they had even arranged to have a private meal.
Upon hearing this, Hu Jia shot her a look of disdain. Lü Qingqing stuck out her tongue and lowered her head.
*What was I supposed to do? I was just trying to complete the mission.*
Lü Qingqing said that Xiao Qi claimed to be a businessman, and indeed, he owned a small shop. However, she suspected that this shop was merely a front for his intelligence gathering activities.
Lü Qingqing, on the other hand, had presented herself as a foodie and a cultured, literary young woman. She was even planning to invite Xiao Qi to visit a bookstore together.
"So, did you set a date?"
"Yes."
Hu Jia’s face soured again. "When?"
"The day after tomorrow at noon."
"I'm going too."
Everyone was speechless.
"What are you going for? To expose my identity?" Lü Qingqing was so exasperated she laughed.
Hu Jia wanted to say he would observe from afar, but Ouyang Wen didn't give him the chance. "Don't go and mess things up. You know, if this mission fails, Qingqing will have to approach another man next time. Do you want to see her constantly moving between different men?"
*Absolutely not!*
Ouyang Wen had successfully struck Hu Jia's weak point.
He grudgingly fell silent.
Afterward, Ouyang Wen also reported on the situation at the headquarters of Dao Ren. Finally, they reached a consensus: they would observe from the shadows and strive to expose the true face of that Sixth Master.
Finally, they returned to the question of the fruit. "If it's not lychee, then what is it?"
"No. It might still be lychee, just not the one from our hometown."
"So, to know what it is, we must decipher the few sentences left by Uncle Hu."
"Pearl Prefect also can be infatuated."
"Ten years bearing fruit towards the courtyard."
"Singing until the bamboo branch's cold smoke lowers."
There were three sentences, and one was still missing.
But it was precisely this missing sentence that they didn't know the content of, nor who possessed it.
The next day after school, Lü Qingqing found Xie Hong, with Hu Jia accompanying them.
Their purpose was simple: to confirm if the three sentences might refer to lychee.
"Teacher Xie, do you remember the two sentences the Dao Ren organization asked you to decipher?"
"Oh, those two sentences. Of course, I remember." Xie Hong said with a smile. "Not only do I remember, but I've also deciphered them."
"You've already deciphered them?" This was an unexpected outcome for Hu Jia.
"Yes. At first, they told me they were ancient poems. Later, I thought about it, and they really could be parts of an ancient poem, just split up."
Lü Qingqing and Hu Jia exchanged glances. "We'd be honored to hear."
Xie Hong smiled and explained that although the two sentences seemed coherent on the surface, they actually originated from the same poem.
This poem was by Li Bai, the "Poet Immortal."
"Red drupes of pearl are truly lovely, white-bearded Prefect why so infatuated? Ten years bearing fruit, who knows who will see? Planted in the courtyard, lychee it shall be."
"Planting lychee?" This made Hu Jia restless. It really was lychee.
Looking at Li Bai's poem and the two sentences left by his father, they matched perfectly.
Therefore, Hu Shilong was indeed hinting at lychee.
Xie Hong said that "red drupes of pearl" inherently referred to lychee, while "white-bearded Prefect" pointed to Li Bai himself.
"At the time, I felt these two sentences were familiar, but I couldn't recall them, which delayed things." Xie Hong continued to ramble, but Hu Jia and Lü Qingqing were already lost in thought.
"So, I had already reached this point back then," Hu Jia mused. For years, he hadn't known how far his pursuit of the shooting case had taken him five or six years ago. Now, it seemed he had already deciphered these two sentences and found the lychee fruit.
However, he still didn't understand why his father had put a fruit in a box.
From Lu Jiao's words, Hu Jia was supposed to hand the box over to someone else. But who was that person?
Mu Jixuan?
"Why are you two also interested in these two sentences?" Xie Hong asked.
"Ah?" Hu Jia snapped back to attention. "Teacher Xie, did you tell Dao Ren about these two sentences?"
"Yes, I did."
*What?*
After taking their leave from Xie's house, Hu Jia felt extremely anxious. He had thought he was closer to the truth than the other party, only to discover they already possessed the clue.
But upon calming down, Hu Jia felt something was amiss.
Since Dao Ren already knew that the two sentences referred to lychee, why had they never taken any action?
"There are so many places with lychees, and many regions produce them. Can you pinpoint the exact location from those two sentences? You can't, right? If you can't, then neither can they," Lü Qingqing explained.
"No, I can!" Hu Jia stated with certainty. "Since childhood, I've heard a story that back in our Zhong County, many famous scholars and poets once visited. Among them was Li Bai."
Li Bai not only stayed in Zhong County but also served as the Prefect of Zhong Prefecture at that time.
"Therefore, I am very sure that this lychee refers to the lychee from my hometown," Hu Jia said.
"But you returned and found no clues?" Lü Qingqing asked in surprise, then gasped. "Oh no! Could we be a step behind, and the clues have already been taken by them?"
That would make things very difficult.
"No, there's no need to worry about that. I've checked the surroundings of my old home, and there were no fresh traces. The soil was also very firm, not having been dug up." This offered a sliver of comfort.
"Then?" Lü Qingqing was puzzled. Why hadn't Hu Jia found anything?
"I think these two sentences merely tell us there is a place with lychees in Zhong County. As for the precise location, it should be hidden in the latter two sentences."
Bamboo branch, water smoke?
What did it represent?
...
Fang Guobin was perplexed. Wasn't Lu Jiao a reliable and honest person?
How could he disappear right after being promoted to pawnshop manager?
Had he misjudged him?