Chapter 7029

After a ten-hour flight, Charlie rushed back to Aurous Hill.

At this time, the Aurous Hill He family and the ninjas sent by the Ito family joined forces to begin investigating all the clues about Claire's departure.

Even for seasoned masters, it was still difficult to increase speed when dealing with this type of thread-by-thread investigation.

Moreover, according to Su Ruoli, each clue was like an endless labyrinth. Following it, one would discover that the further you went, the more chaotic and confusing it became.

Charlie knew very well that this matter would not be resolved overnight, but he was also disturbed by the feedback he received.

So, after getting off the plane, he immediately called María Lin to ask where she was currently.

It was seven o'clock on Friday evening. María Lin told him: "I am at Purple Mountain Villa. Young Master, do you need to see me for something?"

Charlie said: "I would like to ask Miss Lin for her opinion on some matters. Is it convenient for you?"

"Convenient," María Lin said with a clear voice: "Young Master, please come directly. I have prepared tea and am waiting for you."

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and let Orvel Hong and Issac Chen leave together. He drove another car sent by Issac's subordinates and headed straight to Purple Mountain Villa.

When they arrived at Purple Mountain Villa, it was already eight o'clock at night. Purple Mountain Villa was very quiet. After receiving notification from Old Zhang, Larry Qiu and his wife waited quietly at the gate of Purple Mountain Villa with Old Zhang.

Although they were already in their eighties, they still obeyed and respected María Lin like a child respects their mother. Moreover, Charlie was very kind to them, so they dared not be neglectful in any way.

Seeing Charlie, Larry Qiu stepped forward and said respectfully: "Mr. Wade, you have arrived."

Charlie smiled and nodded, then asked them: "Where is Miss Lin?"

Larry Qiu then said: "The young lady is waiting for Mr. Wade at the villa on the mountaintop."

Old Zhang beside him also bowed and said: "Mr. Wade, the young lady has ordered us to stay below and not disturb you. This old servant will not escort you up."

Charlie knew their deep respect for María Lin, so he nodded and said: "Thank you for your hard work, I will go up first."

Afterward, Charlie walked up the stone steps and arrived at the villa door. The door was slightly ajar, leaving a gap of nearly twenty centimeters. Through the gap, he could see María Lin sitting under the Pu Tea Mother, boiling water and brewing tea. He was about to knock on the door out of courtesy when María Lin said: "Young Master, please come in."

Charlie didn't delay any longer and pushed open the heavy wooden door and entered.

María Lin was wearing a white long dress and a white fur cape. Seeing Charlie enter, she immediately stood up and greeted him: "I was busy brewing tea and couldn't leave. I hope you will forgive me for not being able to greet you properly."

Charlie smiled and said: "Miss Lin, we are friends who have shared hardships and life-or-death friendship. Why are you still being so polite with me?"

María Lin smiled sweetly and said: "No matter what, etiquette is always necessary. My grandmother taught me from a young age that even after marrying, I must remain courteous to my husband. What's more, you are my savior."

Charlie shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly, sighing: "Aren't you also my savior?"

After saying that, he didn't bother being polite with María Lin anymore and sat directly across from her.

After sitting down, Charlie finally remembered to look up at the lush tea tree above his head and exclaimed: "I didn't expect this Pu Tea Mother to have such strong vitality. Even in such cold weather, it still has flourishing branches and leaves."

María Lin nodded and smiled: "Although the Pu Tea Mother failed to overcome the tribulation in the past, she is now a celestial being reborn from ashes. Normal weather will not affect her growth. She only needs to work hard and wait for the next tribulation."

After that, she filled the tea cup to eighty percent capacity, handed it to Charlie and said: "Young Master, please taste it and see if it's different from before."

Charlie took the tea cup and took a light sip. He felt the tea, wrapped in a trace of spiritual energy, enter his stomach. He couldn't help but sigh: "It seems the spiritual energy is richer than before. However, there's still a long way to go before it can be of great help to cultivation."

María Lin smiled and said: "Don't worry, Young Master. In three to five years, the Pu Tea Mother will be lush and flourishing enough to shade this entire courtyard. By then, the spiritual energy contained in her leaves will be even richer, and then she can truly help you."

After that, she comforted Charlie again: "For you, three to five years is just the blink of an eye, it will pass quickly."

María Lin's original intention was to say that Charlie's lifespan would certainly be several hundred years. If the secret of the ring was unlocked, it might even last thousands of years. In the long river of a thousand-year life, three to five years is indeed nothing.

However, when Charlie heard these words, he felt differently.

How could three to five years be just the blink of an eye?

If I can't find Claire, I'm afraid every day will feel like a year. I don't covet the spiritual energy of the Pu Tea Mother, but if Claire also has to wait three to five years to be found, I really don't know how I'll endure it.

Seeing Charlie's worried expression, María Lin, who was thoughtful and intelligent, immediately noticed something was wrong, so she asked with concern: "Young Master, have you encountered some troubling matter?"

Charlie nodded, sighed softly, and told María Lin the complete story of Claire's family of three leaving Aurous Hill.

After hearing this, María Lin was slightly surprised at first, but then something clicked in her mind, and she said: "Stephen Thompson has been secretly protecting you for so many years. He is undoubtedly one of the people who knows you best. Once he starts to guard against you, he will definitely do better than anyone else. So I believe this matter is not optimistic."

Charlie sighed: "I know it's not optimistic, but I still want to find Claire as soon as possible. I wonder if Miss Lin could help me analyze it and give me some guidance? If not, you could help me divine the outcome."

Seeing Charlie's dejected appearance, María Lin felt somewhat heartbroken. She took nine copper coins from her chest, cleared half of the tea table's contents, and then carefully scattered the nine copper coins on the tea table.

Then, she frowned and stared at the nine copper coins, her face full of confusion.

Charlie couldn't help but ask: "Miss Lin, what does the hexagram show?"

María Lin frowned and said: "It's very strange that the hexagrams show two completely different images of the Life Gate and Death Gate simultaneously. Since you are looking for someone, the Life Gate and Death Gate represent finding someone easily and searching for a needle in a haystack, respectively."

"This…" Charlie listened in confusion and subconsciously asked: "Miss Lin, how can such a hexagram exist? Isn't this a complete contradiction?"

María Lin calculated silently with her fingers, becoming more and more surprised as she calculated. She said doubtfully: "The hexagram indeed shows this. Regarding the possibility of finding Mrs. Wade, the hexagram shows one life and one death. In other words, there are two equally probable possibilities: extremely difficult to find and extremely easy to find. And the factors that influence these two possibilities rest solely with one person."

Charlie asked: "What does this mean?"

María Lin said: "The Life Gate and Death Gate are both controlled by one person. If this person opens the Life Gate, it will be easy for you to find your wife. If this person opens the Death Gate, it will be extremely difficult for you to find her."

Charlie couldn't help but say: "Then isn't this referring to Stephen Thompson and the mastermind behind this matter? The whole thing is controlled by them."

"Not so," María Lin explained. "Whether it's Stephen Thompson or his mastermind, both of these people belong to the Death Gate in this hexagram. Even if they have the ability to help you find Claire, they would never do so. They took such great pains to take Claire away from you that they wouldn't possibly throw away all their efforts."

"This is like someone being kidnapped. The kidnapper is their Death Gate. Although the kidnapper also has the ability to spare their life, it's almost impossible to do so. Their Life Gate would be with the police or some other third party, but it's impossible to be with the kidnapper."

Charlie nodded and suddenly realized: "This means that the person who can truly influence the Life Gate and Death Gate is a third party besides me, Stephen Thompson and the others."

María Lin nodded and said: "That's right."

Charlie quickly asked: "Is it Duncan Li? I asked him to help me investigate this matter. Does the success or failure of everything depend on him? If he investigates in the right direction, or if he finds that key opportunity, can he solve the problem?"

María Lin hesitated and said: "Well… I'm still not sure…"

There was something she didn't tell Charlie: opening the Life Gate or Death Gate was all in that person's single thought. In other words, both the Life Gate and Death Gate were under their complete control.

If it were just a matter of Duncan Li investigating the case, finding the right answer would open the Life Gate, and finding the wrong answer would enter the Death Gate, which seems different from what the hexagram shows.

If we had to force it onto Duncan Li, the reasonable explanation would be that after Duncan Li discovered the Life Gate, he would hesitate whether to tell Charlie.

In that case, with the Life Gate in his left hand and the Death Gate in his right hand, life and death would be in his single thought.

But is it really like this?

María Lin didn't dare to confirm it in her heart.