Baoshan Sanren watched how Lan Zhan got Da Tuzi to switch off the water supply, and how carefully he lifted Wei Ying up so he could remove the staff from the wizard...and, oh!
"A-Ying, that's the Necromancer! The necklace of skulls!" She points to the very dramatic scene depicted on top of the fountain, the design ordered and installed by her daughter and son-in-law.
"Oh! Gosh, fuck it, grandma! You're right!" Wei Ying crows as Lan Zhan puts him down. "And then, could it mean that the dragon is a metaphor for vampires? They would be the apex predator, right? Despite legends of saints killing them, if they existed, humans would be no match for a dragon in this day and age, not counting explosives."
Meanwhile, the pizza size segment of the circular base separated away from the main structure, revealing the deep, dark hole and the beginning of the twenty step stairs.
"Wow!" She comes to stand next to Lan Zhan, who hasn't let go of Wei Ying yet, and furthermore, doesn't look like he's going to, either. "It's one thing to hear about this setup, and another thing entirely to see it with my own eyes. Well done, A-Ying, A-Zhan, for figuring it out."
Carefully, they make their way down the precarious steps, mindful of the razor sharp edges and how much it would hurt if they suddenly stumbled or lost their balance. Wei Ying is ever so aware of his grandmother's sharp eyes watching him as he uses the locket and his blood to gain entry inside the musty smelling room.
"It was very clever of my husband to use the blood as part of the key," she comments as the door slides open without even a squeak from the aged mechanism.
"I think it was another play on words, grandma. Otherwise, why call it a HeartStone aside from the shape, when the heart is the main organ to transport blood all over the body? Plus, I had a dream, but I must have forgotten it, and I only remembered bits and pieces of it when I came here." Wei Ying and Lan Zhan step back and let Baoshan Sanren walk in first.
They've been here before, and they know what it looks like inside, so they're both watching the wonder grow in those silver eyes, common to both grandson and grandmother, widen as she looks around.
Baoshan Sanren's sharp eyes take in the electric lights flickering into life above them, throwing long shadows onto the walls and across the multitude of weapons hanging up. The wooden work bench is covered in dust, adjoining the circular wall around the room, and it looks unbroken at first glance. Indeed, Wei Ying had thought it was so, until his grandmother marched up to a certain point and began to feel underneath for something.
"Grandma?" He asks her, coming to stand next to her.
"Aha!" She lets out a little cry of jubilation, at the same time. "There's a stopper here," she reveals, sliding it open and lifting up part of the bench like a trap door.
Even after so long, it opens smoothly, and now the three of them are facing an empty wall.
"Why aren't there any weapons hung up in this section?" She muses, tapping the side of her nose. "There must be a reason, right?"
Wei Ying shivered for a second, a sudden chill whispering down his spine. He gets that strange feeling of deja vu once again, and it prompts him to ask his grandmother a question.
"Is the outer surface smooth, Grandma?"
Both her hands begin to feel the wall, and she closes her eyes so her fingers can see better, rather than letting her eyes fall for the certain illusion that there is nothing here. Her gut tells her that there's definitely something here, and she winds up tapping on the wall, in two places.
There are two different sounds.
"It's hollow? On the other side?" Wei Ying paces behind her, not expecting anyone to answer. "That's two clues for sure, the fact that there IS a trapdoor means someone needs to get past the bench. And it's definitely hollow, and that could only mean one thing."
"Mn?" Lan Zhan asks him, content to watch them try to work out this next puzzle. He thinks it's amazing that he and Wei Ying hadn't noticed anything amiss when they came here, the first time.
"There's a secret room on the other side of that wall, Sweetheart. My parents were geniuses. Now, Grandma only has to find a clue and we'll be able to open the door. That's assuming it still works, but then so far, everything is running smoothly and I-"
Lan Zhan wraps his arms around him and pulls him close.
"Sorry...I'm rambling, right?" Wei Ying smiles when he feels Lan Zhan press a sweet kiss against his forehead. "Nervous habit."
"Mn."
"A-Ying, come here?"
Wei Ying slides out of Lan Zhan's arms reluctantly, and rejoins his grandmother. She grabs his hand and makes him feel the same section of the wall that feels different to her.
Meanwhile, Lan Zhan is wandering around the room, looking at the weapons. There are so many types and varieties in these instruments designed to kill. How strange that the human race was ever and always searching for more and more efficient ways to kill each other? When they belonged to the same species? He thought that might be the reason that aliens had given Planet Earth a wide berth, not wanting to interact with the ridiculous population, if that was what they deemed a good use of their time.
One such instrument catches his eyes and he steps forward, wanting to have a closer look. He lifts it up and there's a grating noise, but whatever it is, won't come away from the wall, and there are cries behind him as he lets go, alarmed.
"Lan Zhan, what did you do?" Wei Ying shouts, and Baoshan Sanren isn't to be outdone, because she yells, "do it again!"
This time, Lan Zhan keeps an eye on both of those two when he lifts up the curious looking pen-shaped item. It could be anything, a dagger, a letter-opener, a torch, anything, and now he gets the feeling that the item itself isn't important. If it was, it would come away from the wall.
Meanwhile, behind him, a round shape begins to protrude from the door. Lan Zhan can't see it too well, but from their joint gasps, it's something incredibly important.
"What is it?" Lan Zhan asks them.
"It looks like a dial, of some sort," Wei Ying explains.
"Like the kind you find on a safe," his grandmother adds, with a puzzled frown.
"Safe...like a combination lock?" Wei Ying starts bouncing on his heels.
Lan Zhan wants to have a closer look and he lets go of the weird cylindrical tube in his hands, only to hear the other two shouting for him not to.
He glares at the wall for keeping him there, and picks it up again.
"Do you think it could be a birthday, grandmother?" Wei Ying suddenly goes silent.
When Lan Zhan turns to watch them, Wei Ying looks away and his grandmother is staring at his palm as if he's just traced out characters on it.
"Hmm, the thing is, we don't know how many digits are contained in the key." Baoshan Sanren hums, thoughtfully.
"What about the number in Wei Ying's book?" Lan Zhan reminds them frostily, annoyed about having to stand so far away from Wei Ying in the first place, even if he knows how necessary it is.
Wei Ying slaps his own forehead with a groan and bounces over to him, full of excitement.
"Omg, Lan Zhan, you're a genius! Grandmother, try 1997!" He shouts back to her, but this time, he stays right next to Lan Zhan, smiling when Lan Zhan wraps an arm around his waist.
They both watch as she turns the dials back and forth, listening intently for the tiniest click as each tumbler falls into place on the other side.
Then, another click happens and another flap opens underneath the dial, revealing a handle. She looks back at them questioningly.
"Turn it first, grandma. Otherwise, we'll have to do all of this again!" Wei Ying giggles, and Lan Zhan thinks he's never loved him more.
It's not just the sound of his laugh, so sincere, so true, but all of Wei Ying. He's such an honest guy, so lovable, that Lan Zhan just feels waves of it washing over him. His knees feel weak because of it, and he turns and wraps himself around Wei Ying's body.
Wei Ying heard his grandmother gasp, and he would have gone over to her, but Lan Zhan has just hugged him so tightly, and it's out of the blue, so he knows it's not a random sign of affection.
So he hugs him back just as tightly, and in a moment of remembered enlightenment, he begins to spread feelings of calmness, of loving him back, and joy. He wants Lan Zhan to feel just as wonderful as he does right now, smelling his favourite sandalwood fragrance and drifting on clouds of delicious, delightful love.
Only when he senses that Lan Zhan is better, at least back to normal, Wei Ying steps back a little to make sure.
"Love Wei Ying," Lan Zhan answers the question in his eyes.
"As I love you," Wei Ying lifts up his hands and kisses the back of them, looking deeply into beautiful golden eyes staring back at him. But he can also feel the weight of his grandmother's stare behind them, and so he mouths, "later" at Lan Zhan, and pulls him towards her.
She holds her hand out for the torch that Da Tuzi had given to Lan Zhan, and switches it on. They see a flash of gold but Baoshan Sanren aims the light at the wall, and finding a switch, flicks it up.
Immediately, the slow dim light comes on, gradually gaining enough power to light up the small room. It's roughly five feet squared, and dazzling because of the amount of shiny things it's filled with. Their eyes are drawn to the floor where there are chests filled with coins, ancient and sort of new by the looks of it, different shades of gold, both tarnished and new. There are so many coins that they're overspilling onto the floor, and there are still more, other smaller wooden chests resting on piles of these coins.
Baoshan Sanren picks one coin up from the floor, examining it.
"It's Spanish. And I could be wrong, but this looks like their king. Was their king, maybe a couple of hundred years ago..."
Her voice echoes around the room, deepening the silence.
Up until now, no one has spoken, too shocked with what they're seeing, and not quite believing it.
The walls are a little roughly hewn into the rock, but someone took the time to mount shelving, and each one reveals different treasures. And some of these have notes attached.
Wei Ying balances on one shelf to reach the one above, and he's just going to pick up the calico wrapped parcel, when he feels two strong hands at his waist and himself being lifted up so he's not precariously balanced on an unsafe ledge.
He throws Lan Zhan a side grin and picks up the large square parcel with both of his hands, now that they're free.
"We liked this, though your father prefers the second one." That's the mysterious note attached.
The calico releases a small cloud of dust as Wei Ying unties the hessian string, and then carefully unwraps the aged fabric that has gone yellow with time.
There are two paintings, individually wrapped once again, within the initial outer covering.
Although they don't recognise the artwork, the two signatures on the bottom right hand corner reveal the artists.
"Rembrandt. Vincent Van Gogh." Baoshan Sanren whispers.
"Holy cow," Wei Ying mutters under his breath.
"Mn."
They find themselves looking up to see many similarly wrapped parcels of differing sizes, all in calico wrapped with twine.
Baoshan Sanren has lost interest in those and has moved onto the little chests. She starts opening them, and then shouts out what each one contains.
"Rubies. Diamonds. Unpolished diamonds. Emeralds. Sapphires. Pearls. And last one, onyx. Or it could be black diamonds, I'm not sure." She stands up from her crouch, looking around.
She spots a wooden crate pushed into a corner and steps up to it at the same time that Wei Ying does.
"For the boys", it reads.
"Which boys?" Wei Ying says as she lifts the catch on the lid.
Inside are lots and lots of miniature cars and fire engines and trucks, all still in their original packaging.
"Do you think Mama saw A-Yuan and JingYi in her dreams?" Wei Ying asks out loud, his eyes filling with tears at this sweetest gesture.
There's a piece of paper sticking out and Baoshan Sanren gently tugs it up so they can read what it says.
"For all the birthdays we're going to miss. I can't believe we're going to be grandparents, when YingYing is still so little. Mama."
In an unspoken action, suddenly all three adults are hugging together.
"I bet my daughter has alluded to this place in one of the letters in her book," Baoshan Sanren sniffs, giving them one last squeeze before stepping away.
Lan Zhan keeps a hold of Wei Ying, not letting go.
"Or maybe she thought leaving the code was enough." Wei Ying wraps his other arm around Lan Zhan's waist for support. "I can't believe what I'm seeing, though."
"I wondered," his grandmother says quietly. "If my daughter could see into the future, had she left anything for her child? I wasn't sure because her gift was unpredictable at best, and random at worst. But this fills me with happiness that they looked after you like this, indirectly." She smiles at them, and then goes to investigate another corner.
"So...how do you feel about all this?" Wei Ying stares up into golden eyes that haven't looked away yet.
Lan Zhan shrugs.
He's never done that before, and the improperness of the action startles Wei Ying into laughter.
"What do you mean by that?" Wei Ying asks him, content to rest against him.
"It makes no difference to how I see you, therefore I do not care about it." Lan Zhan tells him, his sincerity shining through the words. "Wei Ying is Wei Ying, no matter what."
"I'll be able to look after our children properly," Wei Ying says, his mind speeding away, and then another idea forms in his brilliant head. "We could help your homeless charities as well, buy up places for homeless people like XiChen-Ge was saying this morning!"
"One thing at a time, kiddo." Baoshan Sanren says, dusting off her clothes. "First thing you have to decide is, what are you going to do with all this, as it is?"
"I don't know." Wei Ying admits in a small voice.
"Wei Ying doesn't have to think about it right now," Lan Zhan tells him firmly. "Take your time. This isn't going anywhere." He gestures with his eyes around the room.
"That's true. It's not like it was easy to figure all this out. Come back later when you've decided what you want." Baoshan Sanren pats his head and walks back out into the other room.
Wei Ying grabs Lan Zhan and they're about to leave as well, when his gaze falls on the wooden box that was for the boys.
"Do you want to take that with us?" Lan Zhan asks him, already anticipating what he wanted.
"Can we? I'd like to show them."
"Mn."
Lan Zhan kisses the top of his head and goes to pick it up, which he does easily.
"I'm never going to get used to your incredible strength," Wei Ying tells him, squeezing his bicep, and making Lan Zhan preen with happiness.
They go outside together and Wei Ying closes the door behind them, making sure it's hidden, and then closes the flap door of the wooden bench, and goes so far as to put a few miscellaneous items over it.
"I will take this box to the children's room," Lan Zhan says, waiting for Wei Ying to nod.
He adds a sweet kiss to Lan Zhan's cheek and then sidles up to his grandmother.
She's found the box of photographs and proof that Wei Ying's parents had accumulated on Xue Yang, and is looking through it carefully.
"Uncle Chen said he wants to see that. I guess we can take it back for him." Wei Ying slings an arm over her shoulders. "I suppose, now that he's dead, it doesn't really matter."
"On the contrary, it does." Baoshan Sanren says sharply, but she's immediately contrite. "Sorry, A-Ying, I didn't mean to sound like that."
"No sorries between us, Grandma," he kissed her cheek.
"Even if nothing legal in this country comes of it, we can present this box and evidence of his death to the remaining members of the Chang family, back in Qishan. The people who originally hired your parents. I am sure A-Chen will want Song Lan to go with him, and it seems fitting to let them prove your parents finished the job, along with your contribution, A-Ying." She sounds sorrowful. "This box... it is the reason why they were killed, because they got too close to the truth, and the bad guys won."
"Not really, grandmother." Wei Ying says quietly. "Out of them and us, we're still here. But Xue Yang is dead, Jin GuanShan is dead, Wen Rouhan is dead, his children, his brother, they're all dead. So in a way, we won." And then he adds, "besides, Mama wouldn't want you to be sad."
Lan Zhan returns then, and when he sees Baoshan Sanren closing the lids of the box, he takes it from her.
"Have we made you late, my love?" Wei Ying suddenly realises that he doesn't know much about how Lan Zhan spent his day, yesterday.
"Mn?" Lan Zhan looks confused for a second.
"Your meetings? And then the stuff you wanted to look over?" Wei Ying reminds him. "The contracts?"
"Mn, all done. I was going to work from home, here." Lan Zhan replies, his expression clearing fast.
"Oh, then why don't you come with us?" Wei Ying says, linking their arms as they walk out of the secret room, and the door of stone closes automatically behind them.
Baoshan Sanren has already started ascending the stairs in front of them.
"It is easier to pick up the children from here," Lan Zhan answers, surprising Wei Ying.
"Oh. Okay." Wei Ying tries not to feel hurt about it.
Lan Zhan is right, though. The children's school is closer to the Lan Manor, but that has nothing to do with his disappointment, and he tries to ignore the feelings.
Lan Zhan can smell how he's feeling through his blood and it hurts him to make Wei Ying feel like that. But he has his reasons, and he's committed. So he waits for Baoshan Sanren to open her really nice Bugatti and deposits the box in the tiny trunk. When she slides into the driver's seat, he takes his chance.
Wrapping his arms around Wei Ying, he brings him into a sweet kiss, full of longing and apology, wanting to convey his own misery at making Wei Ying feel bad. If it could be avoided in any way, Lan Zhan would have moved Heaven and Earth to make it happen.
"I will come to fetch Wei Ying after the children have been collected from school," he promises.
"Okay," Wei Ying replies, forcing a smile on his face.
It's been ten days, not counting the previous day, since he was separated from Lan Zhan, and it already feels like there's a gaping hole in his chest because of it. But he keeps the smile on and waves before getting into his grandmother's car.
She waits for him to put his seat belt on, takes one look at him and cackles, throwing back her head to do it.
"Boy, have you got it bad!" She laughs again at his expression, when Wei Ying sinks further into his seat. Then she lets out the loudest whoop and puts the car into gear, screeching out of the quiet neighbourhood.