The Lost Tomb Vol. 7

Chapter 23: Qilin Who Carries Everything (Part III)

The atmosphere became very strange. I looked at Huo Xiuxiu and felt like there was a little fox in front of me.

Indeed, as soon as she said it, I immediately knew what kind of situation she was talking about and understood that she wasn't bluffing. Even I believed that she may have truly grasped something I didn't know. But under her stare, I had an illusion that this wasn't the focus at this time.

Huo Ling and several other people were crawling around on the ground, which matched what I had seen on the tape. It seemed that old Granny Huo had a video tape from Golmud. What was this all about?

After a standoff, I suddenly felt a little humiliated. Three old men were drinking Erguotou while a little girl came to exchange news with us, but we kept doubting her over and over again. Compared with her courage and boldness, the three of us seemed cheap and unable to let things go. At this time, we either continued pretending to be cool, or we readily agreed. It was too shameful to think about it.

I sighed and nodded, "Yes, I believe you. But I've already told your grandmother almost everything. The rest are all small details, so you might be disappointed."

Huo Xiuxiu was excited and said: "I'm not afraid. In fact, to put it bluntly, it would be nice if we had information to exchange on this matter, right?"

I nodded, and she said: "When I came, I had already thought about what you said just now. The whole thing is very complicated. We could start from scratch, but the information between us is like a crossroads, so maybe we can start with something else." She looked at Poker-face. "Let's start with him. I'll tell you about him, and you'll tell me about the ancient tomb on the snowy mountain you mentioned."

Fatty and I exchanged glances. Fatty coughed and said, "We agree. Then, you go first?"

She looked at me: "Are you really men? You always want to take advantage of me."

Fatty wanted to argue, so I stopped him and said, "It doesn't matter when I say it, so I'll go first." So, from the beginning to the end, I recounted our adventure in the Heavenly Palace.

I said it very carefully, because I had already said it roughly before at the old woman's side, and to give a brief account was a waste of time. It took me about half an hour to finish. During that time, she didn't interrupt at all and listened attentively. Maybe it was because there was a beautiful audience, but I spoke in a mesmerizing tone. Fatty gave me a thumbs up and said that I had a gift for storytelling.

After that, she remained calm for a long time, as if she were deliberating on something. Fatty called her twice before she recovered. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Poker-face: "This elder brother is so powerful; it's no wonder my grandma had to kneel down. I thought I'd lost face today, but now I feel that it was right."

"Why, what's the inspiration?" Fatty asked her.

She shook her head: "I'm a little confused right now. When I try to think of something, it doesn't seem to string together. Maybe I'll reach a conclusion later."

Fatty looked at me and smiled, "She's just like you, the female version of Mr. Naive."

"It's your turn." I reminded her.

After a pause, she took a deep breath. "Well, let me think about what to say." She thought for a moment, "It has to start with a nightmare."

"Nightmare?" The corner of Fatty's mouth twitched.

"Actually, it should be said that it was my grandmother's dream," she said.

Then, Huo Xiuxiu began to tell her story.

I started to gloat over her concentration, but after she started telling her story, I reacted almost the same way she did. I was very surprised, because the things she experienced were also very complicated and were hardly beneath my own experiences. Moreover, her distinct female characteristic of cutting to the chase instead of pondering over the situation was even closer to reality than I was.

It was true that everything originated from a dream, but the origin had nothing to do with the content of the dream, because up to now she didn't know what kind of dream it was. The reason why she became interested was because her grandmother always talked in her sleep when she had this nightmare.

Six or seven years ago, Huo Xiuxiu was still a little girl. In her own words, no one looked twice at her in a miniskirt. She was Granny Huo's favorite child, so every summer she'd come to Beijing from Changsha and stay. At that time, Granny Huo would take her to buy a lot of things, and they'd go to Houhai and the Summer Palace, or go out of town to eat snacks in Wanping.

However, no matter how close they were, Granny Huo had a habit of sleeping alone at night. No matter where they stayed, the little girl wasn't allowed to sleep with her grandma.

At that time, the old woman lived in a courtyard house with a bedroom so large that it could sleep more than twenty people. As the little girl grew up, she was very curious why her grandma would sleep alone, but she didn't dare ask. The little girl slept in the same room with the nanny at night.

One time, she woke up in the middle of the night and found that the nanny wasn't with her. In that old house, it was dark outside, the room was very large, the moonlight was dim, and all the shadows were creepy. Children's minds were at their most imaginative during times like these, and the little girl immediately turned pale with fear.

She called a few times but the nanny didn't answer. She immediately began to shake, and when she thought of her grandma, she jumped out of bed and immediately ran to her grandma's room, wanting to hide in her arms.

When she lifted the curtains of the old-fashioned bed, however, she found that the bed was empty. She paused, and suddenly began to sweat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something hanging on the shelf above the bed.

Looking up, she saw the most terrifying scene of her life— her grandmother hung on the bed frame above the bed in a strange pose. Her eyes had turned white and her hair was curled, as if she were asleep.

She was so scared that she peed her pants and sat on the ground, petrified. She didn't know how long it took, but she suddenly heard her grandmother talking.

At first, she thought she was being called, but after listening carefully, she found that that wasn't the case. Her grandmother was sleep-talking.

Her grandmother said, "There's no time."