?

  Fatty was somewhat taken aback, muttering a curse under his breath, and grumbled: "Early in the morning, my head was squeezed by the door, I said you're too naive, what kind of nerve are you having?" I walked straight to the main hall, in the center of the main hall, hung a plaque that read "Promotion and Wealth".

  I looked at those four words and asked Pangzi: "The matter of Zan Sheng Jing, only the two of us know about it, right?"

  Fatso listened to me suddenly bringing it up, his voice somewhat astonished, nodding: "Right, this thing is precious, who dares to leak the news, isn't... naive, you suddenly ask about this, what do you mean?"

  I turned around, staring at Fatty, and said word by word: "You really haven't told anyone, have you?"

  Fatso got angry, sat down on the stool, gulped a mouthful of cool tea, and immediately slapped the tea table, saying: "I'm telling you, Fatso has been rushing around for half the night, and early in the morning I hurried to pick you up. You should consider my old bones, whatever it is, speak quickly, don't make me feel uneasy, I hate people who do this, damn it, when did you learn to hide your head and show your tail?"

  I don't know what I'm feeling right now, it's like a deep and mysterious pool of water, as if there's an enormous pressure pushing down on me, as if it could sweep me away at any moment. Looking at Baozi's face, I suddenly feel a little strange.

  I felt like my own voice wasn't mine, hoarse and gloomy, coldly saying: "If you hadn't said it out loud, how would he have known."

  Fatso's face was unclear, he put the cup down heavily, I thought he was going to scold, but he didn't make a sound, his facial muscles twitched several times, as if he was holding back something, finally he said in a low and slow tone: "Who else knows?"

  "Is it Qi's surname? Ah... isn't that what you said?"

  His face looked very ugly, I had never seen him with such an expression, as if it was distorted. Then he stared into my eyes and said, "You don't believe me?"

  "Fatty, you, me, and Little Brother, we've known each other for four years now. We've been through thick and thin together, sharing life and death, and I don't know how many times we've taken bullets for each other. Do you know what's on my mind? I consider you guys to be brothers who'd die for me. If one day I, Wu Xie, were to die because of you guys, I wouldn't even bat an eyelid. But as for you... Wang Fatty! My family has a few mouths to feed, and several dependents - my old man made it clear what's what. Yet up till now, I still don't even know your name! The brothers I've acknowledged for four years are all fake."

  I'm panting, my eyes hurt badly, as if there's a surge of blood rushing up to my brain.

  I'm very clear about Paozi's temper and character. His name, his friends, his past - he never mentions them. Since he doesn't mention them, I don't ask either. Everyone has their own secrets that they don't want others to know, and I've never taken it to heart.

  But at this moment, thinking of Mr. Lu's affairs, I feel like a fool.

  The fat boy still sat on the stool, listening to me finish speaking.

  His face was gloomy, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, and after a moment, he got up and walked in front of me. Before I could react, a sharp pain spread across my face, and I was knocked to the ground by a punch. Then came a flurry of punches and kicks, each one landing squarely on my flesh, leaving my entire body aching.

  My left hand was broken by a passerby, and I almost lost consciousness. With my last breath, I raised my right hand to fight with the fat man. The fat man's expression was as ferocious as a wolf in the Kunlun Mountains, his eyes were bloodshot, and I knew mine must have looked no better. As we fought on, every exposed piece of flesh was bruised and swollen, neither of us willing to give up. No one cried out in pain, there were only the sounds of fighting, not even a single curse word escaped our lips.

  Finally, I was no match for the fat kid in terms of physical strength and he pinned me down. He sat on top of me with a twisted face, his fist raised as if to punch my face. Instinctively, I reached out to block it, but the blow never came.

  It's been a long time since I felt pain, and I couldn't help but open my eyes. Fatso was still holding his fist, and then he lightly punched me on the shoulder, saying in a hoarse voice: "Wu Xie... you damn bastard." After finishing speaking, he got up from my body, adjusted his clothes, and walked out of the door. Before leaving, Fatso suddenly stopped for a moment, let out a loud roar, and kicked out fiercely, kicking a red lacquer wooden tea table to the ground.

  Bang! Crash!

  With this sound, my mind gradually cleared up.

  Fatso turned around, looked at me with a gloomy face and said: "Fat master doesn't want to take the blame, what happened, you tell me clearly, otherwise, we brothers don't need to be friends anymore." My heart was shocked, my whole body felt like being splashed with a basin of cold water.

  I handed over the Zan Sheng Jing to someone with the surname Qi, and I sold the oil bottle.

  Not bad, I've sold the bottle of pickled mustard greens, my heart is full of self-loathing and pain, so I want to find someone to take responsibility. When Zan Sheng's news leaked out, the first person I thought of was Fatso.

  At that moment, Pongzi's betrayal washed away my sense of guilt.

  But now I realize that I am indeed a scoundrel.

  My mind is getting clearer and clearer, but that huge water pressure in my heart is getting bigger and bigger, making me breathless.

  I and Pangzi were rescued by Xiaohua, unconscious all the way. On that road, many people came into contact with us, such as Xiuxiu, Lao Mao, and even Sangba. Since it can put people in Ershu's team, why can't it send a seemingly kind-hearted Sangba, and I doubted Pangzi instead?

  I hope to use Pong's betrayal to dilute my own sense of guilt.

  At this moment, I suddenly feel like I'm a total idiot, but why did I become like this?

  I looked at Fatty, opened my mouth, and after a while, I finally made a sound: "I lost the thing."

  Fatso stared at me quietly, and then I recounted the whole story to myself in a mutter. I don't know how Fatso will look at me from now on, but as for myself... I won't be able to forgive myself. After I finished speaking, Fatso didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he walked up front and suddenly blurted out a foul curse: "Damn it, so it's him playing tricks again!"

  I let out a wry smile and said, "He's just doing someone a favor, it's not me, I have no choice." Next thing I knew, Fatty pulled me up from the ground, hissing with a scowl on his face, saying, "Damn it, we two golden partners actually fought over an outsider. The Zhan Sheng Jing is gone, and there's nothing we can do to get it back now. Didn't it say in that thing that the ultimate treasure comes from the desert or something? So what if we let Zhang think he's superior for once, no big deal. Let's go to the hospital."

  I was stunned for a long time, unable to react. The fatty saw the situation and rubbed his face, cursing again: "Damn it, even when you're cutting zongzi, I've never seen you so enthusiastic." The fatty drove us to the hospital, and the atmosphere on the way was eerily silent. As the old saying goes: "A kind word can warm for three winters, while a hurtful remark can chill for six months." This time, although the fatty didn't show much expression, I knew that I had truly hurt him.

  I was thinking of apologizing to Fatso, but what I said earlier was indeed a bit too much. Just as I was racking my brains on how to start the conversation, Fatso suddenly spoke up: "Tianzhen, thank you." I was stunned and didn't understand what Fatso meant.

  Then, Fatso didn't wait for me to respond and continued: "You did the right thing. If I were you, I would have handed it over too. This matter is very tricky. Last night, I almost thought my life was over. It's not a big deal for me myself, but all those brothers under me will have to go to jail with me. They have families to support, and if they get locked up, who knows how many families will be ruined? Comrade Tianzhen, you did well. Although we lost the Zan Sheng Jing, at least we still have a lead. Once we recover from our injuries, let's go apologize to Zhang and acknowledge our mistake. He won't blame us. Come on, let's drink to that! The nickname 'Dumb Wu' doesn't suit you."

  At this moment, I couldn't say a word, and after a while, I blurted out: "Shut up, drive faster, or my hand will be crippled." The fat man chuckled and said: "Alright." He stepped on the gas pedal and actually ran a red light.

  I hastily reminded him, saying: "Hey, traffic rules!"

  Fatso curled his lip and said, "You old rascal, what's with the act of being a decent little townsman?" The two of us drove to the hospital to get treated for our injuries, and when we got back to the courtyard house, Fatso and I sat in the main hall discussing things.

  Following Baozi's idea, for the time being, we can only go to Yabuda, maybe then we can know what was the ultimate thing that Songdala people sent into the bronze gate at the beginning and how to crack it.

  But then I thought about it and felt that something was off, so I said to the fatty: "Professor Shi has said before that in our country, the only one who studies ghostly Japanese is Dr. Zhang, whose surname is Qi, and even he can't decipher the text on the Zan Sheng Jing. If they want to know what's written on it, they'll have to find Dr. Zhang eventually. But since passerby A doesn't have your connections, he won't be able to investigate that quickly. Let's hurry up and get in touch with Dr. Zhang before passerby A does, so that when they do get the Zan Sheng Jing, it will be useless to them."

  Fatso listened and said, "The analysis is quite reliable, no good! Zhang seems to be leaving tomorrow, we need to find a reason to follow her quickly." I think directly following Zhang is not reliable either, after all, it's archaeological research, she can't let two outsiders like Fatso and me join in. Finally, I gritted my teeth and said, "Quickly, hurry up and prepare the equipment, we'll follow Suo."

  That day, Fatty hastily went to gather equipment. Due to the urgency of time, the equipment wasn't very good, but at this moment, every second counted, so he couldn't care about that much anymore. Besides, we weren't going down to fight this time, but rather to search for ancient city ruins, so it shouldn't be too dangerous.

  At night, the fat man inquired about Mr. Zhang's itinerary. They were flying to Urumqi City in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region the next day and then transferring to a market called Tianwenna, which was the last supply point after entering the desert. From Urumqi into Taklamakan Desert, most people would replenish food and water there. In recent years, with the development of tourism, the originally small market had developed into a small town.

  Dr. Zhang's team had their equipment arranged by the local government long ago, but I and Pangzi didn't have that ability, besides our situation couldn't take a plane, so that night I and Pangzi booked train tickets, dragging our equipment with bruised faces to Urumqi.

  After we got off the train, it was already the afternoon of the second day. At this speed, Dr. Zhang and others should have arrived in Tianhe and Nana one step ahead of us. I and Pangzi didn't even have time to eat, and we took a car to rush to Tianhe and Nana.

  As the car bounced along, the green began to retreat and vast expanses of desert appeared before our eyes. The wind and sand were not severe, and the desert soil had not completely degenerated. Faintly visible were many seeds of grass-like plants, but I couldn't call out their names.

  This day and night, the people who were busy didn't even have time to drink water, and Fatso was also exhausted. His head nodded off to sleep, I closed my eyes trying to catch some rest, but the car engine was too loud, and the strong smell of gasoline filled the air inside, I suspected it might be leaking oil and would explode at any moment.

  Under the annoyance, I took out a cigarette and smoked it. There were many tourists on the bus, and many people were smoking. The flight attendants did not stop them either. Sitting on the stool, shaking back and forth, they seemed more sleepy than me.