As soon as she entered the room, Yi Sa couldn’t contain herself anymore. She leaped onto the bed in one bound, hugged the pillow, and rolled over once, her voice bursting with deliberately suppressed yet boundless excitement: “We’re free! We’re free!”
Zong Hang froze for a moment, staring at her playful behavior with wide eyes. Now he better understood why Yi Xiao always pinched her ears – she wasn’t a quiet, well-behaved little girl when she was young. This kind of innate mischievousness would always reveal itself at certain moments.
So this was the real Yi Sa. When he first met her, he thought she was just cool and aloof.
However, he felt it was a bit premature to declare “freedom”: “Yi Sa, things aren’t over yet.”
Yi Sa suddenly sat up on the bed, putting on an experienced air as she lectured him: “Zong Hang, you need to get used to this – most people in this world are just running relay races: you finish your leg, pass the baton, and that’s it. The person laying the foundation doesn’t need to worry about interior decoration, the midwife doesn’t need to concern herself with the child’s future marriage prospects. Most goodbyes aren’t said at the finish line, but somewhere along the way.”
Zong Hang understood her meaning: this matter was like a relay race, divided into stages and sections. Their part was finished, and what came next should be handled by more suitable people.
Zong Hang hadn’t yet reached the level where he could say goodbye midway without attachments: “So what do you think Ding Panling and the others will do next?”
Yi Sa had been particularly confident in her intelligence these past two days and loved explaining things to others: “I guess this matter is too big for just the three families to handle. The previous human civilization – that’s such a massive topic, and it involves artificial intelligence too. If I were Ding Panling, I’d try to get the government involved, and let them handle this – think about it, the previous civilization had technology more advanced than ours, right? Maybe they’d already cured cancer, solved aging problems, built spaceships – how could the government not be interested?”
Zong Hang frowned: “That can’t be right. Getting the government involved would expose the three families first. What if everyone ends up at the kiln factory, locked up for scientific research…”
That made sense, but it wasn’t her concern anymore.
Yi Sa shrugged: “Let Ding Panling figure it out. He knows everything he needs to know now, and he has the photos – with pictures there’s proof…”
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, as if struck by a thought.
Zong Hang looked at her curiously: “What’s wrong?”
Yi Sa didn’t answer immediately. After thinking for a while, she hesitantly asked him: “Are you sure I’m not in any of those photos you took?”
Zong Hang was certain, practically ready to swear on it: “Really, you’re not in them. The only person I photographed was Ding Yudie. I was afraid of getting you involved.”
Yi Sa muttered: “No, no, that’s not right… this is all wrong. We’ve made a huge mistake.”
She explained to Zong Hang: “Logically, when we entered Jin Tang Cave, Ding Yudie was the leader, and I was a water puppet. In such a situation, you, as the only conscious person present, would naturally have taken photos. Getting me in the photos would have been normal – not getting me would raise suspicions, especially since you used up an entire roll of film without capturing even the edge of my clothing.”
Zong Hang tried to argue: “But what if I just… wasn’t paying attention and missed you?”
Yi Sa said: “You need to understand, that my situation is special. I’ve been under suspicion since I was three years old. Any abnormality will trigger their speculation. Plus, your appearance has already proven that cases without physical deformities do exist – initially, I diverted your attention by saying you would occasionally have episodes, but actually, you only pretended to have one episode when meeting Ding Changsheng. After that, everything was normal.”
Zong Hang was also stunned: people really couldn’t keep any secrets. One moment of carelessness, without careful concealment, and there was a risk of being exposed.
He held onto hope: “They might not notice, right? Looking at their appearances, they don’t seem that smart.”
Yi Sa almost laughed at his comment: “Is intelligence written on someone’s face? Ding Yudie looks shrewd, but didn’t he have a moth-brained son?”
To keep a secret secure, you shouldn’t underestimate anyone’s intelligence.
Assuming this matter was already exposed…
Yi Sa wrung her hands tightly, her mind racing, but the chill in her head only grew stronger, and she couldn’t think of any effective remedies.
Zong Hang was also thinking hard, since he took the photos, he felt most of the responsibility lay with him.
After thinking for a while, he suddenly threw caution to the wind: “What are we afraid of? So what if it’s exposed!”
Yi Sa was startled: “Huh?”
Zong Hang said: “The Founding Master was from the previous civilization, right? Ding Panling and the others are descendants of the previous civilization, and we’re people arranged to be revived by the previous civilization – we’re all in the same boat, no one’s inferior to anyone else. Look, Yi Sa, if Ding Panling and the others try to move against you, just tell them you’ve already arranged for someone outside to expose the three families’ secret if anything happens to you. Glory together, fall together, die together – everyone’s got leverage, who’s afraid of whom?”
Yi Sa looked at Zong Hang in surprise.
This kid, with his innocent face and fair complexion, suddenly showed traces of street smarts.
Zong Hang became nervous under Yi Sa’s gaze and immediately backed down: “I… I learned this from TV. Is it… not going to work?”
Yi Sa burst out laughing.
But honestly, even a crooked path is still a path – maybe it could work.
With the Hukou matter concluded, everyone was preparing to leave. Ding Panling sent someone to ask if Yi Sa and Zong Hang wanted to share their car back, but Yi Sa was already tired of maintaining a false facade in front of them. She made an excuse about having some errands to run on the way, and they went separate ways.
So the main group left first. Out of courtesy, Yi Sa came downstairs to see them off. During the chaos of everyone loading luggage, she found Ding Changsheng. Without mentioning any particular business, she just smiled and greeted him: “Uncle Ding.”
Ding Changsheng was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood. He looked around and pointed to a corner of the courtyard: “Let’s talk over there.”
Yi Sa very obediently followed him to the corner of the courtyard, remaining silent with an expression of “whatever you say goes.”
Ding Changsheng spoke with a hidden meaning: “Sasa, you really… won’t rest until you achieve your goal, will you?”
Yi Sa remembered that Ding Changsheng had a favorite saying: smart people know when to stop, and foolish people never give up.
So this “never give up” definitely wasn’t a compliment.
Yi Sa smiled: “Uncle Ding, we’re talking about a human life here, we can’t just forget about it.”
Ding Changsheng also smiled: “I haven’t forgotten, I remember. It’s just that these days have been busy, and I haven’t had the chance to talk to you about it.”
He cleared his throat: “It’s like this, Sasa. I had someone investigate Chen Heji, and actually, he wasn’t such a good person either. Do you know why he was hiding in Cambodia and didn’t dare come back? He…”
Yi Sa immediately interrupted him: “Uncle Ding, let’s respect the dead. The person is already gone, let’s not speak ill of them. I’m sure Chen Heji must have done something wrong, I know that, but that’s separate from Ding Xi killing him. I’m asking you for justice, and you’re looking for evidence to prove Chen Heji wasn’t a good person… Uncle Ding, that’s not how things should be done.”
She was sharp-tongued and not easily fooled. Ding Changsheng changed his strategy: “Then what do you want? Should I hand Ding Xi over to you so you can stab him?”
Yi Sa wanted to say something, but Ding Changsheng didn’t give her the chance: “…Of course that’s impossible, you couldn’t do such a thing.”
“Or have him turn himself in? Turn himself in in Cambodia? But Chen Heji was just an illegal immigrant there, without even a recognized identity, right? And from what I know, Cambodia’s law enforcement isn’t very strict, money can solve a lot of problems.”
Yi Sa was cursing inside but had to remain polite on the surface: “So you mean… just forget about it?”
She had even used the respectful “you,” showing she was trying to soften her approach. Ding Changsheng smiled: “Of course not. Sasa you’re being clever – you don’t know how to resolve this either: a life for a life, but you don’t want to dirty your hands, and turning himself in won’t work.”
“But Chen Heji was your friend, and you feel guilty about just letting it go, so you’re passing the ball to me, wanting me to come up with a solution, right?”
Yi Sa was momentarily speechless.
Ding Changsheng sighed: “So you see, you’re in a difficult position, and so am I, especially since Ding Xi is my godson, and he did many things for the three families. Otherwise, he had no grievance with Chen Heji, why would he kill him? Sasa, even court trials and sentencing take a year or two. Give Uncle Ding more time, let me think about it carefully. Besides, now with all this business about the nest and revival, it’s when we need people the most. Keeping Ding Xi around to run errands isn’t bad either…”
Just then, a car horn sounded at the hotel entrance: someone was getting impatient.
Ding Changsheng spoke kindly: “Let’s leave it at that for now, okay? Don’t be upset. Your Uncle Ding isn’t going anywhere – I’ll have to resolve this matter for you sooner or later… Alright, I need to go over there, we’ll talk more later.”
Yi Sa watched him walk away, only then realizing she had been very skillfully “misdirected.”
Like asking someone for a favor, running back and forth countless times, while they solemnly declare “I’ll definitely resolve it,” but then it gets postponed indefinitely.
Yi Sa realized for the first time that she was still a bit naive.
Ding Changsheng got into the back seat of the car, sank into the leather chair, let out a long sigh, and then pinched his brow.
Ding Xi slowly started the car, and while turning, couldn’t help but look back at Yi Sa, who was still standing there.
He felt that in all that time those two were talking, they probably weren’t discussing anything about the previous civilization – if Yi Sa wanted to discuss that, she should have gone to find Ding Panling.
After leaving the hotel entrance, he looked at Ding Changsheng through the rearview mirror and carefully asked: “Godfather, what were you and Yi Sa talking about just now?”
Ding Changsheng said: “Nothing much.”
Ding Xi didn’t pursue it further. After so many years, he was used to Ding Changsheng’s personality: when he said “nothing much,” it usually meant there was something; and some things, he wouldn’t tell you directly, but would casually mention them, as if talking to himself, letting you understand the meaning from context.
Put nicely, it was “the art of conversation”; put bluntly, it was “wanting to have it both ways.”
Sure enough, after a while, Ding Changsheng sighed again: “Chen Heji made a good friend.”
Ding Xi smiled: “You mean Yi Sa?”
“Yes, these days, people who would go to such lengths for a friend are rare. Really… forcing me to explain. Young people are so hot-tempered, even with my old face, being humble and speaking so many kind words doesn’t help. Ah, it’s tiring.”
He reached up to pinch his brow again: “At least I’ve bought a few more days, but I don’t know how to deal with it next time… Sasa, this girl, she’s just too stubborn.”
At a red light, Ding Xi stepped on the brake, watching people come and go on the crosswalk.
After a while, he said softly: “I understand.”