Wu Xie
The next morning Wu Xie wake up after Xiaoge, who was once more watching him sleep with a slightly content expression that make him smile. Even if Xiaoge was not that good with expressing himself, Wu Xie could tell he was happy and satisfy... which only make him remember of what they did last night and he blushed.
"You okay?" Wu Xie hear Xiaoge ask and he moved his head in affirmation.
"Yes... just a little sore..."
"Was I too rough?"
"No... it was just right... ah, Xiaoge don't make me talk about it... you know I enjoy it as much as you did." Wu Xie said as he bury his face on Xiaoge's chest in morning embarrassment and Qiling smirked.
"We should dress up and head out." Qiling suggested and Wu Xie blush intensify, as Xiaoge make him conscious of their nakedness and a bit more when Xiaoge removed the sleeping bag to get out and grab his underwear and short pants.
"Go ahead... I will follow you in a minute." Wu Xie whisper as he try to calm down his heart.
"Okay... I will go to the lake... you should come too..." Xiaoge suggested and Wu Xie agree, dressing pretty much the same as Xiaoge. The sun was bright that morning, so they had a good day ahead of them to try some diving and see if they could find something that could prove Wu Xie's theory of a second team in the waiting.
Pangzi was not exactly an early raiser, so both Xiaoge and he had make quite a few dives by the time he wake up. When he got out, there were quite a few things thrown on the lake shore, from old googles, ordinary metal pieces, canteens and so on... with still not sign of bones so far, but they were working close to the shore for now, as the lake was deeper than they first thought.
"Wow Tianzhen... you wake up too early, or you two were using the lake to cool down the heat...?"
"Pangzi!" Wu Xie shouted as he came out of the lake completely soaked to his bone on the cold water.
"I was just saying... did you find any bones?" Pangzi asked as he look down at the collection they had piled.
"None so far... but this lake had a special quality that makes me believe the bones may be deeper at the center... In about half an hour I will call Xiao Hua to see if he can send us a diving equipment." Wu Xie said and Pangzi assented.
"Good, I can go down and retrieve it... Yun Cai will be coming up on a day or two and I need to make sure she will come down safely." Pangzi said and Wu Xie looked at Xiaoge before he winked at him and smiled.
"Ah, yeah... you do that Pangzi..." Wu Xie joked.
"Tianzhen, was that a dirty look just now? Were you two getting perverted last night or what?" Pangzi asked and Wu Xie coughed.
"Of course not... get us some breakfast... I'm starving..." Wu Xie said, not really lying, because he didn't consider making love with his boyfriend as 'perverted'.
"Yeah, yeah... Xiaoge... you have such good abilities, please find me something valuable in that lake, okay?" Pangzi asked and to Wu Xie's surprise, Xiaoge assented, going further into the lake to have a deeper dive.
"Si Pangzi, don't take advantage of him!" Wu Xie protested, but Pangzi ignore him to go and start another fire to make some breakfast for all of them to eat.
Wu Xie dived a few more time, taking out the little he could distinguish from the murky water and then decided to call Xiao Hua, as Qiling keep up going in and out of the lake, giving Pangzi that he could sell at a good price, like and old watch of good quality, that had make Pangzi quite happy.
"Wu Xie... are you still in the mountains?" Xiao Hua asked.
"Yeah, we are at the lake the expedition came here to find, but so far we have no clue as to for what. There is a sinister story behind this, but I tell you, this is the place where everything started to go wrong. I believe that part of the expedition team was switched here in rather bloody circumstances and the fakes that infiltrated the team that later went into the Parcel Island were the ones who make Xie Lian Huan and my uncle third to switch places before the rest of the real team were betrayed and transported to the Golmud sanatorium. I don't know who make the switch, but they were after something that was in the underwater tomb and take it. If you can find what they took, perhaps you can find more clues of what happen to Xie Lian and my uncle."
"I will look into it later. Wu Xie, do you remember that man you told me last time you called, the one with the tattoo you sent me? I made some digging into it and let me tell you the tattoo is related to the Zhang family, the branch of which Fo Ye was part of it, himself. It was said that Fo Ye also had the same tattoo of a Qiongqi and it belong to the side branch of the Zhang family, the main branch had the Qilin tattoos instead."
"I see... so Xiaoge is from the main branch of the Zhang's and of the same family as Fo Ye and the man with the tattoo is either a member of the side branch as well or worked for Fo Ye."
"Yes, Zhang Qiling should had the purest blood, so he should be the head of the family right now. Also there is a Zhang building somewhere in Banai, which is the thing the expedition team was seeking there, thirty years ago. Wu Xie, giving the fact that Zhang Qiling don't age like normal people giving to his purer blood and that we don't know how old he really is, there is a possibility that he may had been in contact with Fo Ye himself at some point of his life as members of the same family, so whatever the secrets of the Mystic Nine are, it runs deeper even into Zhang Qiling's life."
"But he doesn't remember."
"Yeah, that's the biggest setback you have right now... also, be aware that your uncle Wu Er Bai is active in Banai too, along with Cox Hendry and one or both of them may show up there at some point."
"Damn it! I don't really care about Cox Hendry, I had deal with him before, but Uncle Er Bai is something else. I'm screw..." Wu Xie said and Xiao Hua smiled.
"Not as screw as I am with all this mess. Seriously I'm having headaches with such clue games..."
"I understand you perfectly... and perhaps I need to look at what happen here into another direction. By the way... can you sent me a diving equipment? I kind of need it right now..."
"I can arrange it. Want to come to Changcha? I have a mystery coming from a secret chamber of Fo Ye you can help me with."
"I will help you as much as I can, but I can't leave Banai right now, especially if my Uncle is here somewhere. Did you find something you are stuck with right now?" Wu Xie asked.
"Yeah... there is an old screen that was donated by Fo Ye to a Museum for display, which may have the next clue to find his secret chamber here in Changcha... it had some holes on it, which could be the key, but I don't know what they mean of for what they are for."
"Can you sent me the picture?"
"Yeah... give me a second... okay, I sent it you..." Xiao Hua said and Wu Xie took a look at it when he receive it. He enlarge it enough to see the holes and the way they have been arranged.
"Xiao Hua... you have to have some more reference than just this screen. If the holes had meanings, then you are missing the piece that connects the screen to them. You said it was displayed in a museum, right? What about something else there also donated by Fo Ye? It could be anything apparently insignificant, like a drawing perhaps or a picture that also had this screen displayed? Old folks love to play games in plain sight, just like in tombs, there are not only traps in them, they also had clues in plain sight for others to find them and try to pick their treasures." Wu Xie asked and something clicked inside Xiao Hua's brain.
"There is picture of Master Buda with that screen as it background... but is not in the museum, it's in the Xin Yue Restaurant. I can send someone to take a picture there and send it back to me... and see if I can find the next clue."
"Well, that may do it. See if there is something odd, out of place or something familiar in the picture that can be used along with the screen. Then, you may see the connection and for what the holes were made for." Wu Xie concluded and Xiao Hua smiled.
"Yeah, that may work. Thank you Wu Xie... I will sent you premium equipment in no time. Be careful out there, you may as well been watched." Xiao Hua said and Wu Xie whined.
"Yeah... good luck. Let me know if you need my help again..."
"Ah, don't worry, I will manage from here..." Xiao Hua said as he hang up. By his side, there was a man with glasses that put his arms around his waist as soon as he let go of the phone.
"He truly is a mastermind... good for you to be related, his idea sounds about right." Xiazi said as he pressed Xiao Hua closer.
"Mn, yeah... I need to make another call, I need that picture..."
"It's still early Master Hua... the restaurant will remain close for a few more hours."
"Then..."
"Before Mop call you for breakfast... what about us taking a lovely shower together? You mill me so badly last night and after such a long hasted travel... I need to cool off."
"Don't go saying nonsense, I only kiss you, not mill you in any way you would have wanted me to... I am not that heartless to take advantage of a tired man." Xiao Hua said and Xiazi laughed.
"Ah, yeah, but you kiss me quite hard... I still need the cool down... and I will take off my glasses if we shower under the light of a single candle..." Xiazi baited and not too surprisingly, he was dragged into the darkness of the bathroom in no time.
Xiazi smiled widely before kindling the lone candle Xiao Hua had placed in every room and then turned to kiss his impatient lover, before undress the two of them and get... a morning hot shower.
Back into the mountains, they ate the breakfast Pangzi made as he disclosed the new information with Xiaoge and Pangzi and after discussing the idea of building up a bamboo raft, they got to work for most of the day until it was finally done. Then they dived into deeper parts of the lake from which Xiaoge finally found some bones.
"Then, this proves I was right..." Wu Xie said as he looked down into the now pile of bones.
"What if this Zhang building is somewhere inside the lake?" Pangzi asked.
"You mean that a Zhang's branch could have been here and then flooded in a disaster or something?" Wu XIe asked as he ponder in the idea.
"Well, why not? Many places in the world had end up underwater." Pangzi stated and Wu XIe looked at his lover.
"Xiaoge?"
"I don't remember..." Qiling whisper and Wu Xie slightly tapped his shoulder.
"It's okay... we will have to wait until the diving equipment arrives and hope that no one else interfere before we can find what is at the bottom of this lake."
"I will try a deeper dive in the center." Qiling offer.
"Not the center... there may be a whirlpool current there or close to it. I don't want you to risk it."
"Yeah, Xiaoge. If the lake swallows you, Wu Xie will get crazy and follow you down..."
"Don't jinx us Pangzi!"
"But it's true... remember when Xiaoge disappeared into the ocean in that underwater tomb in the Parcel Islands? I have to literally drag you by force to the shore, otherwise you would have dive after Xiaoge and get yourself drown." At that Wu Xie blushed. He was so impulsive when younger and Xiaoge stared at him.
"Did you?" Qiling asked, once again afraid of how reckless Wu Xie was in his early years. Kidnapped, deep ocean diving? All kind of monster encounters in tombs? Why the list keep popping up at alarming rate?
"Hum... I was worry you will drown." Wu Xie defend himself.
"He is Zhang Qiling, how could he drown so easily?"
"Enough of that stupid Pangzi..."
"Ah, but Xiaoge, that wasn't the only occasion he did something stupid for you..."
"Si Pangzi, be quiet..."
"But he doesn't remember..."
"And there is no need for him to know about that!" Pangzi laughed.
"Tianzhen, don't be shy now..."
"Wu Xie?"
"I was only a bit reckless... I'm better now."
"Hahahahaha... You wish... just walking around can be dangerous for you..." Pangzi teased and Wu Xie stood up all fed-up.
"Fine! I am tired, so I will take a safe nap in a safe tent!" Wu Xie fumed getting inside his tent as Pangzi laughed more and Qiling smirked. Later he will pacify Wu Xie... but for now he wanted more of those dangerous tales Pangzi was so found off. All Wu Xie's tales of their past did not include that kind of dangers. So he stared at his brother, who laughed in understanding.
"Listen carefully, Xiaoge, because this is the danger magnet you had choose to fall for..." Pangzi started and so Xiaoge listen carefully to the one thousand and one night of Wu Xie's full dangers.
AN: I bet Xiaoge gets traumatized after Pangzi's tales. LOL. Thanks for reading and take care until next time.
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