Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to Hell Ear’s request earlier.
Ma Sanlaizi now clearly understood that Xu Fei was on his side, so he had no reason to hold back any longer.
“I know you want to understand the dragon-head jade pendant and the secrets hidden in this chest. Come with me to the outskirts!”
Ma Sanlaizi explained to Xu Fei that the Gong family’s influence was vast, especially in Jinmen. Heading to the outskirts would give them some distance, a bit of “the sky’s high and the emperor’s far away” advantage.
Even the Gong family would need time to track them down, providing a useful window of opportunity.
Xu Fei thought the idea was sound. He quickly led Ma Sanlaizi back to where he’d parked, then drove straight to the outskirts with Ma Sanlaizi guiding the way.
The drive took about an hour. Xu Fei kept going until the high-rise buildings disappeared from view, and only then did Ma Sanlaizi speak up.
“We’re almost there, boss. Just follow this road a bit further and stop. We’ll need to walk a short distance!”
Xu Fei did as instructed. After parking, the two walked for about ten minutes, arriving at a quaint, ancient-looking village.
The village, with some thirty to forty households, was filled with green bricks and black tiles, resembling a picturesque landscape painting.
Ma Sanlaizi continued leading the way, soon bringing Xu Fei to a massive courtyard.
This courtyard was several times larger than the others, and with its half-metre-high threshold, Xu Fei could tell it must have belonged to a prominent family in ancient times.
Ma Sanlaizi hesitated briefly at the entrance before mustering the courage to lift the door knocker and rap sharply on the door.
Moments later, someone opened the door and poked their head out.
“Who’s there?”
Seeing the person, Ma Sanlaizi hurriedly said, “It’s me, Ma San’er! Is Grandpa Ma doing alright?”
But the moment the person inside saw Ma Sanlaizi, their face darkened.
“Get lost! The Ma family has no place for a disgrace like you. Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of!”
With that, the person slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Faced with this rejection, Ma Sanlaizi’s expression turned grim. He sat dejectedly by the door, unsure of what to do.
Xu Fei, having witnessed it all, could tell from the exchange that Ma Sanlaizi was holding something back. He spoke up, “If you’re a man, stop moping. I reckon there’s something you haven’t told me, isn’t there?”
Ma Sanlaizi knew he couldn’t hide it any longer and nodded.
His real name was Ma Hengyuan, a descendant of the Ma family from Qingfeng Town.
The Ma family and Qingfeng Town had a history spanning centuries, unbroken to this day.
The Ma family’s ancestors had been high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Though their fortunes had waned over time, strict family rules had kept them from falling into ruin.
Ma Hengyuan, however, was the only Ma family member in centuries to be despised and achieve nothing.
Naturally lazy and uninterested in studies, he claimed to venture out into the world but was really just loafing about.
Each time he left, he’d come up with excuses to swindle a fortune from his family, squander it on a spree, then return to con more money.
