At the thought, Meng Kexi grew somewhat uneasy.

"Could there be a problem with the spring eye?"

Xia Liang nodded. "Exactly."

"That's easy!" Meng Kexi boomed, clearly pleased that Xia Liang had pinpointed the issue. He then turned to the tour bus driver and said, "Get an excavator over here! Let's dig this place up and take a look."

Xia Liang's expression turned grim. "If you do that, you can forget about anyone ever living in this manor again."

"Ah?" Meng Kexi's smile froze on his face.

Xia Liang stood up, gesturing first to the spring eye and then to the artificial lake in the distance. "There's a saying: 'Water need not be deep; if there is a dragon, it is spiritual.' This spring eye is the eye of the entire manor's dragon vein. Even though the source of this dragon vein has a problem, it would be a miracle if this place didn't become an ominous land after you indiscriminately dug it up."

Hearing this, Meng Kexi waved his hands in resignation, a miserable look on his face. "So, Master Xia Tian, what should we do now?"

Xia Liang stroked his chin. "Our only options are to determine the location of the source or find the people who did the original construction."

Out of necessity, Xia Liang decided to press the issue. After all, he was certain there was something wrong with the spring eye. He asked, "What was the name of the construction team's boss?"

Meng Kexi frowned, thinking for a long time before finally slapping his thigh. "I think the boss's name was Xia Mingjie. We usually just called him Old Xia, but we haven't heard from him in recent years."

Armed with this information, Xia Liang immediately began to pinpoint the relevant memories in Meng Kexi's mind. After all, Meng Kexi had lived for decades, and his mind was cluttered with too many memories, so a targeted search was necessary. Soon enough, Xia Liang sifted through Meng Kexi's memories and found the man known as Old Xia.

Xia Liang thought for a moment and decided to call Gao Hesheng. Given his and his friends' status in the real estate industry, plus their backgrounds as former laborers, finding a contractor shouldn't be too difficult. Even if that construction team was no longer in Qingyun City, they might still know his whereabouts.

Before long, Xia Liang's phone rang. "Old Gao, how's it going?"

Gao Hesheng's voice came through the phone, sounding intermittent and choppy.

Xia Liang frowned slightly. "Old Gao, come to Meng Kexi's manor at the foot of Longhu Mountain. It's too complicated to explain over the phone." With that, he hung up.

「Almost an hour later.」

Gao Hesheng's car drove into the manor. "Master Xia Tian, why the sudden interest in finding Xia Mingjie?"

Gao Hesheng hurried over to greet Xia Liang before shaking hands with Meng Kexi. Though the two didn't know each other, Gao Hesheng had heard of Meng Kexi's reputation.

Xia Liang didn't answer his question. "Old Gao, what did you find? Any leads on his whereabouts?"

Gao Hesheng shook his head. "The guy seems to have vanished a few years ago. I've asked several foremen, and none of them know where he went."

Xia Liang's frown deepened. That was strange. "Logically, even if he left, he would have stayed in contact with his former colleagues. How could he just vanish without a trace?"

Xia Liang was puzzled. After all, if Xia Mingjie was in the construction business, he would surely return for good projects, even if he'd left Qingyun City. How could he disappear completely, leaving no trace, like a stone sinking into the ocean?

Although Xia Liang had his methods of deduction, he couldn't glean anything unusual at the moment, as neither Meng Kexi nor Gao Hesheng had much of a connection to this Old Xia.

Do I really have no choice but to dig up this spring eye? Xia Liang wondered.

Just then, Gao Hesheng's phone rang. It was Qian Donglai calling. A moment later, Gao Hesheng's face lit up with delight.

"Master Xia Tian, we've found Xia Mingjie! Turns out, he's been living incognito on the outskirts of Qingyun City for the past few years."

Xia Liang frowned. "What? He never left Qingyun City?"

Gao Hesheng nodded. "That's right. One of Xia Mingjie's old foremen happens to be working on a site for Old Qian. He's the one who just told me. Apparently, Xia Mingjie disbanded his construction team a few years back, bought some properties in Qingyun, and has been living off the rent ever since. He himself lives in a villa district in the southern suburbs of Qingyun City."

Hearing this, Meng Kexi grew even more confused. "That's bizarre. With Old Xia's assets, he shouldn't have been able to afford a villa. Did he stumble into some other lucrative project these past few years?"

Xia Liang waved his hand. "Let's not worry about what he's been up to. The priority is to meet him. We have to find the source to understand the root of the problem."

Meng Kexi nodded and ordered one of his men, "Go to the southern suburbs and bring Xia Mingjie here. Tell him Meng Kexi has summoned him!"

Meng Kexi, though afraid of his wife, was not so weak in public. Otherwise, he wouldn't have achieved his current status. He still had some clout in Qingyun City. After giving the order, he turned to Xia Liang. "Master Xia Tian, while we wait, why don't you check the feng shui of my residence?"

Xia Liang nodded and walked toward the main house. After spending half the day investigating, he could only shake his head. "There's nothing wrong with the residence. The eeriest part of your entire manor is that spring eye."

「Time ticked by.」

Finally, as the sun began to set, a balding, middle-aged man arrived at the manor.

Meng Kexi stared at Xia Mingjie for a long moment before he finally spoke.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.