Du Zhaohui had no real interest in some old vase. Once he confirmed it was what Xia Xiaolan was looking for, he withdrew his hand without hesitation.

“Wait a moment, I need to make a call!”

He left Chai Hai behind again and returned to his room to make the call.

Poor Du Zhaohui had sold all his Hong Kong properties and could only stay in hotels when visiting Hong Kong. Chai Hai had brought the vase to meet him at the hotel.

Chai Hai couldn’t understand what game he was playing. Perhaps this was just how eccentric wealthy young masters behaved?

While dialing, Du Zhaohui cleared his throat, feeling something jumping around excitedly in his chest.

Had his condition worsened?

Hong Kong doctors all said he wasn’t sick, but Du Zhaohui still felt quite unwell.

However, since this “illness” didn’t currently affect his daily life, Du Zhaohui just let it be. Come to think of it, this mindset helped calm his nerves. The rapid heartbeat wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. While his heart pounded, some hormone or other was being secreted, sometimes even making him feel euphoric.

Just like now.

As soon as the call connected, Du Zhaohui couldn’t wait to report his success:

“There are small indentations, exactly three of them! The vase is blue-colored. Is this the one you’re looking for?”

Xia Xiaolan seemed to be covering the receiver while talking to someone else.

Du Zhaohui felt anxious, desperately wanting to know who she was talking to. Was it her boyfriend?

Hadn’t he returned to China already?

If he’s a soldier, he should focus on being a soldier. Why spend so long in America? How shameless!

He held his breath and strained to listen – the person speaking with Xia Xiaolan seemed to be a woman.

A woman? Well, that’s fine then.

Du Zhaohui’s mood instantly brightened.

Xia Xiaolan finally uncovered the receiver:

“Yes, that’s the vase I’m looking for. Thank you for your help, Du Zhaohui!”

Tsk.

How rare to hear the word “thanks” from Xia Xiaolan’s mouth?

From the first day, Du Zhaohui met Xia Xiaolan, their unpleasant first encounter at Huaqing University set the tone for their relationship. Whenever Du Zhaohui approached, Xia Xiaolan’s whole body would radiate “please go away” rejection.

Du Zhaohui was quite pleased, though he acted nonchalant:

“It’s nothing. There’s nothing in Hong Kong that I, Du Zhaohui, can’t handle… Are you looking to buy this vase?”

Xia Xiaolan paused. “Is the buyer willing to sell?”

“…!”

Du Zhaohui was instantly embarrassed. The buyer wasn’t willing to sell at all. They were treating the vase like a treasure, and Master Qiu insisted on maintaining business confidentiality, promising to keep the buyer’s information secret. He couldn’t reveal anything.

Du Zhaohui wasn’t confident he could purchase the vase.

Fortunately, Xia Xiaolan didn’t mock him and instead changed the subject understandingly:

“No need to investigate the buyer anymore. Just confirming it’s that vase is already helpful enough.”

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know how excited Du Zhaohui was.

Her mind was completely focused on finding Xu Zhongyi; she had no attention to spare for Du Zhaohui’s unusual behavior.

Wasn’t Du Zhaohui always strange anyway?

When had he ever been normal?

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Du Zhaohui, Xia Xiaolan hung up. Grandmother Yu was also in the room, still unsettled.

“Now we’ve confirmed the vase is the one Uncle Xu brought to America, but we don’t know how Ben Field obtained it.”

Liu Fen gently patted Grandmother Yu’s back. Grandmother Yu closed her eyes in thought. This matter had long since become more than a simple search for relatives – it was now mysterious and tangled like a mess of threads.

With so many threads, how could they unravel the truth?

Xia Xiaolan felt the whole thing was like a scattered jigsaw puzzle.

She had already obtained some pieces, but still needed more crucial ones to piece together the truth about the Xu family’s disappearance in 1967!

On May 27th, Jim returned from Los Angeles.

Xia Xiaolan thought the chubby detective seemed to have lost weight from his travels.

Jim arrived travel-worn, but he brought back very useful information for Xia Xiaolan:

“Ben Field admitted it! Xu gave him the vase! One day in 1967, or more specifically, the day after the arson case, Field found Xu unconscious by a garbage bin in an alley-“

Grandmother Yu became excited at this point.

Her son wasn’t dead!

“Ah Fen, Xiaolan, he’s alive, I knew he was still alive!”

Liu Fen’s English wasn’t good, so she relied on Xia Xiaolan’s translation. Jim’s words weren’t hard to understand – the day after Mouse Qiang died in the fire, this Ben Field had saved Xu Zhongyi, proving that Xu hadn’t died at the hands of gang members that night.

Jim waited for Grandmother Yu to calm down before continuing:

“Field found burn marks on Xu’s body and wanted to take him to the hospital, but Xu woke up and refused, begging Field to save him and promising material compensation. At the time, Field wasn’t a construction contractor and wasn’t well-off. Xu’s promised reward moved him, so Field took Xu home and hid him in the basement, secretly buying medicine to treat his injuries. Because Xu’s injuries were severe and Field wasn’t a professional doctor, the recovery was up and down. It took half a year in Field’s basement before he fully recovered. One day after his recovery, Xu secretly left Field’s house. Field was very angry, feeling Xu had broken his promise of payment… A few days later at dawn, he found a box at his door containing the vase and a thank-you note, saying it was payment for Field!”

Zhongyi was still alive!

Zhongyi had given the vase to Ben Field.

He had been injured but recovered at Ben Field’s house.

Jim’s account caused Grandmother Yu’s emotions to fluctuate wildly.

“Does Mr. Ben Field still have the thank-you note?”

As an observer, Xia Xiaolan could more easily grasp the key points.

Jim nodded, “Field kept the note from back then, fearing accusations of theft.”

The note Jim produced seemed torn from the edge of a newspaper, written in hurried handwriting. It thanked Ben Field and mentioned that the vase was valuable, hoping Field wouldn’t sell it cheaply, and if he did sell it, to do so far from San Francisco.

“Please look, is this Uncle Xu’s handwriting?”

Grandmother Yu held the note and silently wept:

“It’s his. Look at this letter ‘Y’. Zhongyi wrote his ‘Y’ very distinctively. I can recognize it! This is Zhongyi’s handwriting. I knew he was still alive.”

It was good that it was Xu Zhongyi’s handwriting.

Ben Field’s story was probably at least eighty percent true.

If Field had been one of Xu Zhongyi’s attackers, Xu wouldn’t have warned Field in the note to sell the vase far away.

Why far away?

Xu Zhongyi knew San Francisco wasn’t safe – if Field tried to sell the vase there, it would attract the attention of Zhang Jiaqiang’s associates!

“Is Mr. Ben Field’s move to Los Angeles related to this?”

Jim nodded: “During the time Xu was recovering at Field’s house, people in San Francisco were constantly searching for Xu’s whereabouts. Field had to be very careful when buying medicine to avoid being discovered. Shortly after Xu secretly left, two Chinese gangs in San Francisco had a violent clash. Field was scared and took the opportunity to move to Los Angeles.”

The field was also quite patient. He became a construction contractor through his gradual efforts, and wouldn’t have tried to sell the vase Xu had left him if he hadn’t run into business cash flow problems.