Everything is clear now, even if there are still things I dont understand, theyre no longer important to me.

  I no longer yearn to uncover those secrets, my only wish is that the people around me can live in peace.

  Next, there is still a long decade for me to go on.

  Recently, Ive been leaving things in the warehouse to Wang Meng, and hes slowly getting the hang of it. Hes full of energy every day, and although I dont expect him to be as capable as Panzi, being able to share some of the workload with me is already pretty good.

  My small shop has just hired a new store clerk, named Zhao Wang, who is much more honest than Wang Meng. He wears white T-shirts and jeans, is enthusiastic and outgoing, and is also very eager to learn.

  Outwardly, Third Uncle said he was going out for a tour and inspection, temporarily handing over the industry to me to manage, but I know what kind of material I am, those things are beyond my control. Moreover, Third Uncle will never come back again, if he could come back, he should have appeared already.

  To keep the existing industry, there are only two ways. One is to ask my second uncle to take charge, only he can control these desperate people who lick blood on the knife edge. The other is to hurry up with whitening, otherwise, with my ability, I will step on a landmine sooner or later.

  The second floor of the store is my resting room. When I went out for a walk and forgot to bring my phone, as soon as I opened the door, a faint green light rose from the dark interior, flickering a few times before going out.

  I came to my senses and realized it was the screen light of my mobile phone. I immediately turned on the electric light, and the room suddenly lit up brightly. The screen displayed a message from someone with a two-character name: "Fatty".

  This month, I made a few calls to Paozi, but the other end prompted me to suspend use. Paozi is in Banai, and its inconvenient to recharge phone fees, so I recharged 200 yuan on his card and made a few more calls, all of which were turned off. So I had to call the village phone in Banai and ask Ahgui about Paozis situation.

  A Gui said its still the same, Bao Zi is often absent-minded every day, although he cant see much sadness, but the whole person is like losing his soul. It seems that he has not been able to get out of Yun Cais death yet. I was thinking of going to Ba Nai to see him after a while, but unexpectedly received his message at this time.

  The message arrived less than a minute ago, now its 7:20 pm. There are only five words in the message: Naive, watch the news.

  Hes not the type to watch news, and News Broadcast has nothing to do with him. Moreover, I think he cant even focus on watching news with his current mental state. So what does he want to tell me? Has something happened?

  I immediately dialed back, and this time the phone showed no one answered. I dialed again for several minutes until my mobile phone started to heat up, but Fatso still didnt answer the call. A bad premonition arose.

  I turned on the TV, and the news broadcast had just started. It began with an interview of several leaders, which I watched patiently for over ten minutes. Suddenly, the scene shifted, and thick black smoke burst forth.

  This was shot from a helicopter, the mountains below were filled with rolling black smoke and raging fires, accompanied by the hosts broadcast, my back immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

  Guangxis Dawan Mountain has caught fire.

  The camera on the helicopter moved quickly, with flames burning everywhere, but I immediately recognized the fish-scale-like mountain terrain as being from Banai to Zhangjiagulou and surrounding areas, and the mountain fire was still spreading rapidly.

  Its now summer, and forest fires are frequent, which is nothing unusual. However, the locations where the fires broke out happened to coincide so coincidentally.

  Is it a coincidence? Or... is it man-made?

  The key is that Fatso isnt a roundabout person, if he wanted to tell me about Ba Nais situation, he would call me directly instead of sending a text message and not answering the phone, unless he cant answer the phone now.

  For a moment, I had a feeling of cold all over my body, and I vaguely felt that this was not a good start, very bad. But now, I have to go to Baise for a trip, so I packed up immediately and rushed onto the road to Guangxi.

  Temporary train tickets are hard to book. After transferring trains twice, I took a bus into the mountains and arrived in Bana three days later.

  The village was very lively, with a flowing water banquet set up on the ancient bluestone slabs. Most of the people present were wearing firefighter uniforms, and there were also people wearing green clothes, including Lei Zi. I didnt want to come into contact with these people, so I dodged the crowd and entered Ah Guis home, where no one was present.

  Everyone in the village was busy with a flurry of activity, with police and firefighters moving about everywhere. I didnt dare make any other movements, patiently waiting for Ah Kui to return, gazing at the familiar decorations inside the house. My thoughts involuntarily drifted back to a year ago, and my mind felt a dull ache for a moment. I simply lay down in the chair and closed my eyes to rest.

  It wasnt until the afternoon that Ah Kui came in with a face covered in coal dust. As soon as he saw me, his first words were: "Boss, youve finally arrived." I sensed something was off, and from his tone, it seemed like he had known all along that I was coming back.

  I asked, "Are you waiting for me? Wheres Fatso?" Ah Kui poured water for me and said, "Boss Fat went into the mountain three days ago. When he left, he told me that if you came looking for him, I should show you something. Then that night a mountain fire broke out, and Boss Fat never came back."

  Fatso has gone into the mountain again? And still hasnt come out? Dammit, is he looking for death?! I suddenly thought of something, every time Fatso goes into the mountain, a big fire breaks out in the mountain, could it be... that Fatso started the fire?

  The more I think about it, the more possible it seems that with Baozis temper, he could have started a mountain fire. But whats the point of doing so? After setting the fire, he even sent me a message, what did he want to tell me?

  Fatso isnt the kind of person who would complicate things, so he must have a reason for doing this. What exactly is the reason that made him go into the mountains alone? At first, I suspected that the fire might be lit by Zhang Qiling in the mountains, and since the organization he was escaping from had been destroyed, did he want to burn everything from his past with this fire?

  But judging from the current situation, it is very likely that the fire was set by Fatso.

  I suddenly felt a headache coming on, this pain has been there since Panzi and the others died, it didnt start to fade away until Muyu Ping left, Ive been waiting all along, putting aside everything in the past, waiting for that ten-year promise, but now the pain is back.

  I rubbed my temples for a while, then asked: "What about the things Fatso left behind?" Ah Gui brought out a wooden box from the room. The square wooden box was one of those vanity cases that Ba Nai girls used to store hairpins and other small trinkets. Ah Gui only had one daughter, Yun Cai, who had passed away. After her death, Fatso moved into Yun Cais old house, and all of Yun Cais belongings were taken over by Fatso.

  The wooden box was black, with a coarse texture and no carvings or patterns, only a small lock on it. Ah Kui took the key to unlock it, and I suddenly felt a sense of foreboding, what could be inside? If it werent for Baozi leaving it to me, I would have even thought that there might be a corpse inside.

  A Gui said: "The fat boss has nothing to say about Yun Cai, but unfortunately those who were killed by a thousand knives..." He was scolding the people who killed Yun Cai, but I still saw a hint of resentment in A Guis eyes. He not only hated the people who killed Yun Cai, but also hated us, because our arrival changed everything.

  For a moment, I didnt know how to respond. When I opened the box, I had made enough mental preparation, but what was inside still left me stunned.

  Inside the box was a piece of torn clothing, it was impossible to tell which part of the garment it came from. The edges were densely frayed, indicating that it had not been cut off but rather ripped off by force.

  A Gui looked at it from the side and also felt strange, saying: "Is this what Boss Huang left?"

  My doubts are growing even more, this is completely not Fatsos style. If he had anticipated something beforehand and wanted to convey it to me through this method, then at the very least he would have written a few words on it, or left a note for me, or directly called me to tell me. But he did nothing, unless these things were beyond his capabilities.

  A person wants to convey information, but cant make a phone call or write a letter. Theres only one possibility: hes been imprisoned. But Fatso clearly hasnt been imprisoned, so whats going on? Is it... that hes being monitored, with every move recorded by someone?

  I pinched the corner of my clothes, and there was nothing else in the box. It seemed that what Fatso gave me was indeed this piece of clothing. The pattern on the corner of the clothes was dense and tight with intricate embroidery, like the ones on Ban Ni Hanzis clothes, but the embroidery on top had completely lost its original shape. I searched several times, hoping to see the words left by Fatso, but there was nothing.

  I asked Ah Kui: "Has anyone come to our village recently?"

  A Gui shook his head and said, "This place is not a tourist destination, its a poor and remote area. Except for you people, who else would come here?" He paused for a moment before continuing, "However, some of the young men who went out to work previously have returned in groups. They had a few drinks with Boss Huang, and after that day, his face was not very good."

  Although Fatso is not meticulous, he is very careful in his work and has not reached the point of drinking with people he doesnt know. I previously called Ah Kui on the phone, and Ah Kui described Fatso as dispirited and having poor appetite, losing over 10 pounds, let alone drink alcohol.

  So the problem lies here.