Su Yuzhuo pursed her pink lips, turned the wheelchair around, and looked up at Fujiwara Keiaki, as if making a final confirmation.

Sometimes women are very rational. Although it's confirmed that the "he" in Sun Shijie's story is indeed her father, it's still just one family's word, and she won't simply believe everything said.

Of course, now, besides believing it, there's no other path to take. It's not like she could go visit every character in Sun Shijie's story one by one.

But Su Yuzhuo still found it hard to believe that her father was someone who would forget justice for profit.

After a while, Fujiwara Keiaki nodded heavily. He was among the first group of people to follow Iwakami Ryoji, and naturally knew the young man's character well.

And the Iwakami Ryoji described by Sun Shijie, apart from the final incident, wasn't too different from the one in his impression.

Su Yuzhuo took a deep breath, slightly bowed her head, and said, "Regardless of whether you accept it or not, I sincerely apologize to you for my father's actions back then. I'm sorry!"

"There's no need. The past is the past, and what's happened between the previous generation has nothing to do with the next. Otherwise, every person in your entire country should be damned!" Sun Shijie said mercilessly.

Those words were undoubtedly harsh, and Su Yuzhuo did not continue on that topic but returned to the main point: "Based on what you just described, can I assume the reason you faked your death was because you were afraid the descendants of our family coveted your ancestral treasures?

If so, I can swear to you that regarding the things you just mentioned, my father never hinted at them to me at all. He just told me that there was an old friend in Huaxia with superb medical skills, and if we ever faced difficulties, I could try to find you."

Sun Shijie said in a deep voice, "On my own land, I'm not afraid of outsiders eyeing it. The only ones who can beat us are our own people, and it can only be our own people."

When repeating the word "our own people," Sun Shijie's tone sounded complicated.

These words made everyone thoughtful.

Sun Shijie denied faking his death to avoid people from Iwakami Ryoji's faction. This was understandable, even quite normal.

Because if he wanted to hide, he would have done so ten-odd years ago, not just two years ago.

Moreover, Su Yuzhuo finally understood why her father was so sure she could find Sun Shijie here. In the end, it was about protecting those ancestral legacies.

But none of these were the focus; the focus remained as to the original question: Why did Sun Shijie fake his death?

Just then, Xiao Feng boldly speculated, "You just particularly emphasized the word 'our own people.' Is it because someone from our country has set their sights on your ancestral treasures?"

The little girl and others perked up their ears and stared unblinkingly at Sun Shijie, clearly eager to know the answer.

Under everyone's gaze, Sun Shijie nodded, then shook his head: "That's just one aspect. The most crucial issue is that even now, I can't find the entrance to the underground chamber."

"What!"

Everyone shouted in unison, finding this answer unbelievable.

"It sounds ridiculous, but that's the truth," Sun Shijie said slowly. "Around 17 years ago, a group of developers came to the town, saying they wanted to replan our area and turn it into a tourist town."

At that time, I happened to be away, and when I returned, the entrance to the underground chamber had already become a construction site. To quickly find the entrance, I pleaded with the developers for a long time to get a job as a night watchman at the site, but they adamantly refused.

Later, I had no choice but to use the connections I had accumulated over the years to get into the site, but in the end, I still couldn't find the underground entrance."

"That shouldn't be," the little girl questioned doubtfully. "Before construction, there should always be exploration teams for surveys. Could they have found the entrance? Moreover, you've been there multiple times; couldn't you have located a rough range by memory?"

Sun Shijie chuckled bitterly, "At first, I thought the same, but I inquired many people, and none had ever found the underground entrance."

Xiao Feng chimed in, "Or maybe they did find it, but no one cared, and they simply blocked the entrance."

Sun Shijie nodded in agreement, then said, "As for finding it by memory, that place was originally just a wasteland behind the mountain with no reference points around. Besides, I never imagined such a sudden change could occur."

"But it still doesn't make sense," the little girl blinked her big eyes, posing the question again, "Even if the entrance is lost and you're eager to find it, there wasn't a need to make the world think you died, was there?"

The question hit the mark, revealing a shared doubt among everyone.

Sun Shijie sighed deeply, "If it was simply about not finding the entrance, I certainly wouldn't have faked my death. As I said, I couldn't find the entrance no matter what. But then, a friend invited me for a drink and mentioned something.

"What was it?" Xiao Feng pressed on.

"That friend who invited me for a drink used to be in the grave-robbing business and had a prominent reputation around here.

He told me that recently, several groups of people had offered him high prices to come out of retirement and help locate the entrance to tombs, that is, to determine the location of burial sites from the surface.

He had long since retired from that business and did not agree to help them.

I casually asked where those people wanted him to locate the burial sites, and his answer chilled me. He said it was behind our village, near the construction site…"

At this point, the truth about Sun Shijie faking his death was revealed.

Since those people knew about the treasures near the construction site, it was only a matter of time before they found out about Sun Shijie, so pretending to be dead was undoubtedly a shift from light to dark. It avoided trouble and allowed him to investigate those people secretly.

"So, in these two years, have you investigated those interested in your ancestral treasures?" the little girl asked along the conversation.

Sun Shijie shook his head: "Those people never approached me. Even if I wanted to inquire, I wouldn't know where to start."

At that moment, Xiao Feng suddenly asked, "The friend who invited you for a drink, is he nicknamed Jiu Ye?"

"How do you know!" Sun Shijie widened his eyes and then looked at Xiao Feng with vigilance, as if suspecting that among the groups who tried to recruit Jiu Ye two years ago, Xiao Feng and his companions might be involved.

Zhao Guo'an and others exchanged glances, recalling the image of the old man at the inn and their conversation with him.

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