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With the three of us still on the ground, Li Xia whispered to me in bafflement, "Should I say yes or no?"
The ball had been thrown in my court.
The old man kept his gaze on my watch and it looked like he had no intention of looking away.
Both Dahai and Li Xia got to their feet and pulled me up.
"Go along with it," I muttered.
Dahai and I were used to the ghost market's ways but not Li Xia. I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to lie his way through this, but luckily, he proved me wrong.
"He's told me about it," Li Xia answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"It's been so many years but the rule's still being broken."
"What rule?" Dahai asked.
"You're Li Bai's grandson so you have the right to continue this conversation," the old man said before pointing at me. "Guy with the watch, who is Li Bai to you?"
"Step-grandson, is that fine with you?" I tried.
He s.h.i.+fted his focus to Dahai. "What about you, Fatty?"
"Also his step-grandson," Dahai blurted out after a brief pause.
"I'm only going to talk to one person and he has to be directly related to Li Bai and he has to have possession of the watch."
I sighed and handed the watch to Li Xia. "Call me so I can listen," I whispered before pulling Dahai away.
"Why did you return the watch just like that? Are you not afraid that he'll run away?" Dahai asked anxiously.
"He knows he can't do this alone. He'll need our help," I argued.
My phone rang after a few beats.
I accepted the call and muted it.
"Who's that?" Dahai asked.
"Shh, just listen," I instructed before putting it on speakerphone.
...
"Why's your hand in your pocket?" a frail voice sounded.
"I need to wipe my gla.s.ses," Li Xia explained, fis.h.i.+ng out a cloth of some sort.
"When did Li Bai tell you these things?"
"He's dead," Li Xia told him.
"Did he write this in his will?"
"Kinda."
"Who are those two guys?"
"Friends."
"Why do they have the watch?"
"Through my grandfather's friend."
"Too messy, I don't want to know. Are you here to take the jade away?"
"My grandfather died too suddenly but he did ask me to look for you so here I am."
"He wants me to tell you?"
"Yes."
"I don't think that's all he meant. He has his eyes on my jade."
Li Xia kept quiet and I started to get nervous.
After some time, the old man started, "The seven of us joined the army in the first year the devils invaded the village."
"I've heard this from Grandfather."
"What did he say?"
"That you guys became soldiers and fought the devils."
"Details?"
Li Xia fell silent and I recalled him saying that his grandfather shared little despite his deep interest in that subject.
The old man continued, "Let's not talk about the devils, your grandfather hadn't killed even a chicken in his life. We had expected to fight at the front line right after military training but were detained all the way Northwestern Xinjiang.
"Xinjiang? That's completely different from what Grandfather told me."
"How so?"
"Wait, I have two diaries in my bag. They contain Grandfather's experiences battling the devils."
"All seven of us have a diary like this, with the same opening that was written by our leader. They aren't exactly fake, of course, since there's information about the excavated objects."
Excavated objects? Like the golden pocket watch? I thought back to the content in the book.
"It was written by one person? Why?" Li Xia asked.
Li Xia's voice was a notch louder than before. He had every right to feel angry since all that he had known was being subverted.
Dahai was equally stunned by their conversation.
"Why? It's the nation's arrangements to conceal what we were going to guard."
"What?"
"Lop Nor."
"Lop Nor?" Li Xia repeated.
"From 1937 to 1957, the seven of us were stationed troops who had only one mission – to excavate historical relics in Lop Nor."
"Guard Lop Nor? Your jade… pisces jade?" Li Xia mumbled.
"Looks like you know about it. He told you?"
"Pisces jade and Peng Jiamu? Aren't you Han Dong? All these are searchable on the net."
"Peng Jiamu? He's our leader, the one who wrote our diaries in order to create the illusion that we were resisting the j.a.panese because our guarding of Lop Nor had to be kept a secret."
"It's still discoverable through the net," Li Xia informed.
"That's inevitable since we went against our superiors. We stole the items in Lop Nor and used the books to blend into a defense troop in Beijing. We stayed there until retirement but the secret was eventually revealed due to uneven distribution of our ill-gotten gains."
"You're saying that the watch came from Lop Nor?"
