Yang the Third's Final Theory

Yang Zhen'er patted Tang Baona on the shoulder and said, "It's Lao Xia!"

"What's wrong with Lao Xia?" Tang Baona was a little confused. "Besides being smarter and having a higher IQ than the average person, is there anything special about Lao Xia?"

"That's why we're 'blind to our own problems'! Because we know Lao Xia too well, especially me. I've practically watched Lao Xia grow up, and I'm all too used to her 'special' ways," Yang Zhen'er said with certainty.

Tang Baona laughed and said, "Didn't you used to often take Lao Xia to play with your classmates? They weren't familiar with Lao Xia, were they? Did they think there was something very 'special' about Lao Xia?"

"That's different. They're just not familiar with each other. You know that when Lao Xia meets someone for the first time, she'll quietly observe from the sidelines. She never tries to stand out and rarely says a word. My friends have basically only met Lao Xia once or twice, because if they ask her to hang out again, she won't come. So, in their eyes, my cousin is a pretty but introverted, even a bit aloof and cold beauty. Apart from you, very few of my friends can really say they know what the real Lao Xia is like," Yang Zhen'er said.

Tang Baona thought for a moment and nodded, "It seems that's true... I'm probably an exception because we were neighbors when we were kids and now we live together. I was always there when you went to play with Lao Xia. Uh... no, the real exception is Xiang Kun!"

"That's right! Chef Xiang is an exception!" Yang Zhen'er put her arm around her friend's shoulder and said mysteriously, "Remember when we were talking to Lao Liu and Brother Bin about Xiang Kun back in college? They all said that Chef Xiang changed a lot this year... no, last year! We all thought it was because his company went bankrupt and he lost his job, but now it seems... I guess the reason for Chef Xiang's change might be that he met Lao Xia!"

Tang Baona listened attentively at first, but by the end, she couldn't help but laugh, "You're just making things up again! Brother Bin and the others told us that Xiang Kun's biggest changes were, haven't you forgotten? First, he got stronger, and second, he went bald. And when he met us, he was already a muscular bald man!"

Yang Zhen'er said with a serious expression, "We've been misled by his bald head all this time! Haven't you noticed? Chef Xiang has changed a lot since we first met him! When we first met him, he was just learning to cook, and now he's running a restaurant. I don't need to tell you how good his food is, right? It hasn't been that long! There are so many other changes, I can't even list them all right now, but he's completely different from when we first met him!"

Tang Baona still wanted to laugh, "So your theory has changed from 'the secret organization absorbed Xiang Kun's to 'the mysterious Lao Xia reformed Xiang Kun '?"

"Actually, thinking about it carefully, my Lao Xia has always been quite extraordinary. Let me tell you a story. When Lao Xia was in elementary school, maybe second or third grade, my aunt and uncle had to go abroad for some business, and the nanny who took care of Lao Xia suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized, so Lao Xia stayed with us for a few days. Then one day, I was watching TV at home when Lao Xia calmly came over and asked me if I had any alcohol or cotton swabs. I was busy watching TV, so I asked her to look in my dad's study. When I turned around after watching TV, I found Lao Xia treating her wounds. She had large scratches on her arms and knees! I was stunned, but Lao Xia treated her wounds, cleaning them with hydrogen peroxide, without even flinching. I stupidly asked her if it hurt, and she said it did, and she described in detail how it hurt, comparing it to other injuries..."

Yang Zhen'er spoke with a distressed expression, and Tang Baona grinned in agreement, as if recalling the feeling of falling off her bicycle and scraping her knee as a child. "That's definitely Lao Xia's style."

"But the problem is, Lao Xia was only in elementary school back then! She was only seven or eight years old, I think. How could she bear the pain after falling like that? Even if she could bear the pain, how could she calmly treat her wounds? At that time, I didn't think too much about it except that I felt sorry for Lao Xia's injury. Now, looking back, I realize that my Lao Xia has shown many extraordinary qualities since she was a child!"

Yang Zhen'er continued, "Do you remember when Lao Xia was in junior high school, I asked you and a few other friends to go to Lao Xia's school together?"

Tang Baona laughed and said, "Of course I remember. Whose sister told you that some girls at Lao Xia's school didn't like Lao Xia and wanted to teach her a lesson? So you asked a few of us to stand up for Lao Xia. When we cornered the girl in the lead at the school gate, as soon as we said we were Xia Libing's sisters, she immediately greeted us happily and said, 'If you're Sister Bing's sister, then you're her sister!' Her reaction speed is truly amazing!"

"Yes, that day we all thought that girl just chickened out and reacted quickly when she saw that there were a lot of us, but I later learned from my friend's sister that those girls had been calling Lao Xia 'Sister Bing' at school before we arrived. Anyway, I don't know exactly what happened, but they were definitely convinced by Lao Xia."

"Could it be that Lao Xia beat him up?" Tang Baona asked doubtfully. "But apart from the time he beat up the human traffickers, I don't think I've ever seen Lao Xia do anything."

"I don't know how she does it either. Anyway, from childhood to adulthood, our Lao Xia has always been a loner. Except when I forcibly took her with me, I basically never saw her play or party with anyone else. But from childhood to adulthood, no matter which school she went to, it seems like she doesn't have a single friend, yet it seems like everyone is her friend. This feeling is really strange. Nana, tell me, besides Lao Xia, who else have you met like this?" Yang Zhen'er said.

"Well, in that respect... Lao Xia is indeed quite special."

"Why does she keep her distance from everyone even though she's so popular? Why does she always keep to herself even though she can make so many friends?" Yang Zhen'er mysteriously held up one finger and said, "That means Lao Xia has a secret! She doesn't want to get too close to people, lest they discover her secret."

Tang Baona was both amused and exasperated. "You mean, Lao Xia's secret has been around since elementary school?"

"Yes! Nana, don't you believe me!" Yang Zhen'er said, "Didn't I tell you that when Lao Xia was little, my aunt and uncle took him to see a doctor for a while, but we didn't know what the illness was, and he disappeared for a long time? Now that I think about it, maybe Lao Xia wasn't really there for medical treatment. I vaguely remember my mom mentioning that my aunt worked in a state-owned department at the time, and her job involved classified information... I suspect they might have been in some secret location. Otherwise, if it was just for medical treatment, why were they so secretive about the specific illness, not even telling us, their closest relatives? Why wouldn't they let us visit? Why didn't they even come back to spend the Spring Festival together, even though we live in the same city?"

Tang Baona was a little stunned. "The more you talk, the more exaggerated it gets!"

"Actually, these suspicions have always been there, but I'd gotten used to them. It's like the eye is always blind! My aunt and uncle's frequency of traveling abroad is unusual; I suspect they might be carrying out missions for some secret organization for us! And their daughter, our Lao Xia, definitely has a secret mission to carry out in China! As for Chef Xiang, Nana, think about it. Since Lao Xia resigned and came to this remote mountain village with Chef Xiang to set up some Research Base, it proves that the secret she's been hiding has most likely been revealed to Chef Xiang! So Chef Xiang has probably also been recruited into her organization, and usually..." "On a mission! So sometimes, I feel like Lao Xia is covering for Chef Xiang. Maybe Chef Xiang does is actually what she ordered! For example, when our 'Big Guy' was kidnapped, Chef Xiang went to the southwest on Lao Xia's orders to rescue him! Maybe... Chef Xiang told me wasn't just a lie, it was true! He deliberately used that tone to make me not believe it!" Yang Zhen'er was initially speaking softly, but she became more and more excited, her voice growing louder and louder. Clearly, she had many "inferences" that she was "deriving" as she spoke.

Tang Baona sighed and said, "So your 'secret organization hypothesis' and 'Lao Xia as the mastermind' hypothesis have combined, and now it's 'Lao Xia brought Xiang Kun into the secret organization hypothesis'?"

"Nana, what I said makes sense, right? And I suspect that Lao Xia's special ability might be the ability to control certain special creatures. Last night when 'Big Guy' returned to the village, that thick fog, that strange scream, that lightning—those might have been caused by one of those special creatures controlled by Lao Xia! And that Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant saved 'Big Guy' and caused chaos in Montamira— that was someone Lao Xia had Chef Xiang bring along; Lao Xia lent it to Chef Xiang for a mission! Remember what Chef Xiang said when he first carved that Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving? He said it was a character he created himself, so I guess at that time..." He had just seen the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster that Lao Xia was raising... Wait, something doesn't seem right. If Lao Xia had shown Chef Xiang the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, she wouldn't have let him carve it. It's possible that Chef Xiang himself awakened the ability to summon monsters from another dimension, but he wasn't even aware of it. Hmm, maybe this ability was given to him by Lao Xia and he was guided to understand it. In that case, your grandfather and your second uncle's nightmares might not be a coincidence after all. Could it be... that Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster hatched from the wooden carving?!

Hearing this, Tang Baona wanted to refute, but suddenly realized that she had also been somewhat swayed by Yang Zhen'er, and actually felt that what Yang Zhen'er said made a lot of sense in some places, leaving her a little confused.

Yang Zhen'er, however, seemed to suddenly understand something and continued, "By the way, Nana, Gold Glitter and Egg Pie also acting strangely! Have you ever seen such a fat, large canary? And Gold Glitter is just too smart; it seems to really understand human speech. If Little Apple tells it to go west, it will never go east—it's more obedient than a dog that's been trained for years! Egg Pie is the same; it's too intelligent and too well-behaved! Could it be... that Little Bell and Little Apple are also members that Lao Xia recruited into the secret organization? Egg Pie and Gold Glitter, just..." Are they cultivating super-creatures? So, maybe Lao Xia and Chef Xiang came to Chongyun Village to set up that Research Base just to continuously create and train more super-creatures! But... that eight-armed, eight-eyed creature seems different from Gold Glitter and Egg Pie. Could it be that they're going to go to another dimension to be 'gilded' before coming back? That's right! The birthday present Little Bell gave Lao Xia, that painting, that cat with many wings! It all connects! Everything in that painting is real; Little Bell is depicting the future!"

Tang Baona was truly bewildered. She smiled wryly and said, "I'm doomed, Zhen'er. I've realized I actually think what you're saying makes a lot of sense and I'm starting to believe it, even though what you're saying is utter nonsense. No, I need to ask Lao Xia and Chef Xiang about this later, otherwise I'll really be led astray by you."

Yang Zhen'er quickly said, "No, no, it's fine if we were joking before, but if this is true, it's a big deal! If people in their organization find out that outsiders know, they might blame them for not keeping it a secret! We should observe quietly first, then probe discreetly. We absolutely cannot mention it outside, not even to 'Big Guy.' Sigh~, I think, maybe Lao Xia will discover our talents and give us super creatures to raise, so we can join the organization too..."

"Uh, what you said brings me back to reality. Phew~, you almost hypnotized me. I'm going back to sleep now. You can fantasize about your secret organization up there!" Tang Baona laughed.

A few minutes ago, in Xia Libing's room.

Xia Libing, who was sitting at the table looking at her laptop, suddenly saw a dialog box pop up on the screen with the words: "Lao Xia, Lao Xia, put on your headphones!"

When she put on her headphones, she heard Yang Zhen'er's endless "guesses." She immediately realized that Alice was "eavesdropping" through Yang Zhen'er's phone microphone, and had even done noise reduction to make the wind noise on the rooftop a little quieter.

After Yang Zhen'er finished her long-winded "conjecture," Alice's excited voice immediately came through the earpiece. "So, Lao Xia, should I create some 'clues' to mislead Sister Zhen'er? Otherwise, she'll discover your secret with the boss!"

"No need," Xia Libing said simply.

"Really not? I'll be very careful. I'll pretend to be an otherworldly monster, and then she'll subdue me, how about that?" Alice was eager to try.

Xia Libing's tone remained unchanged. "You're so free? Have you done the task Xiang Kun assigned you?"

"Getting it done! Alice, give it your all! We won't miss a single task from the boss!" Alice said with high spirits.

Xia Libing nodded and said nothing more.

During Xiang Kun's blood-drinking slumber, he assigned Alice many crucial tasks, and she was equally interested in the outcomes of these tasks.

As for Yang Zhen'er's conjecture, which could be described as "accidental," Xia Libing was not worried at all. This cousin was one of the people she knew best.