Chapter 7: Professional Tomb Raiders

  I and Ma Si Zhe walked around Mao Er Shan for a few rounds, when I was young, I always thought that Mao Er Shan was particularly high, climbing up and down every day. Now that I've grown up and come back to see it again, it's not much higher after all.

  "Tomorrow I have to go out for a trip, prepare some things that will be used at that time." Ma Si Zhe was like an old slicker.

  "My knowledge is limited to regular tombs, I'm not sure what's inside when the time comes, maybe your experience is more than mine"

  "Of course, Master Ma hasn't been fooling around all these years. The tombs I've dug, it's scary just thinking about them."

  "Don't say that, or you'll scare me to death." He said he's fat and still panting, Mars is still Mars, no matter how long it takes.

  All these years, I have seen countless tombs, big and small, but truly opened ones are not many. Big tombs were looted long ago, and small ones were stolen early on. Someone predicted that in the near future, China will have no more tombs to excavate. Will China's thousands of years of tomb burial civilization be completely unearthed? Is this all there is?

  "Sun Yi, I feel like something is off," Ma Si Zhe suddenly furrowed his brow. "Looking at the direction of the mountain, from north to south, with a threshold in front and a support behind, what kind of scholarly family tomb is this? Judging by its scale, the entire Mao Er Shan is just the canopy of this grave."

  Ma Si Zhe finished speaking and I carefully looked at the feng shui of Mao Er Shan, indeed as a tomb it's not bad.

  "My grandfather mentioned in his notes that the monk said this was a grave of a family with a strong scholarly tradition. Luckily, the feng shui chosen was good." I also had doubts in my heart, but didn't want things to be like what Ma Siqi said. Because if Ma Siqi's guess was true, then it wouldn't be something that could be solved by just the two of us.

  "Did that monk really go there? No way, he's just saying that based on records."

  "But my grandfather never said that..." I retorted.

  "He said so," Marx Zhe said firmly, looking at me.

  As I looked at him, a phrase my grandfather once said came to mind.

  Nothing is as simple as we imagine.

  My mind is once again in a state of confusion, it's not as simple as I thought, just how complicated it is that makes Grandfather so hard to put into words.

  Ma Si Zhe said 'If it's really like I said, then this matter is something that neither of us can resolve'

  Nowadays, having one more person means having one more guarantee. However, apart from Ma Si Zhe, I really can't think of anyone else who can help me. They need to have professional knowledge and be reliable. Where can I find such a person now?

  "I have an idea," Ma Si Zhe patted me on the shoulder. "In this situation, the villagers definitely don't need to consider it, outsiders with professional knowledge will definitely not make a mess of things, you must know more than I do." Ma Si Zhe winked at me.

  He's talking about those people from our archaeological team.

  Actually, we don't have a fixed team, and different situations will be arranged with different people each time. I'm not that I didn't think of asking them for help, but I really don't know how to say it.

  Dear colleagues, due to my grandfather's mistake, the people in our village have become something that doesn't know what it is, I alone can't solve it, and need everyone's help.

  They didn't unconditionally believe in me like Marx Zhe, willing to accompany me to solve problems in my own way. In the end, things may evolve into a group of people taking turns persuading me to report to the police, believing in the power of science and so on.

  I expressed my concerns, and Ma Si Zhe said 'you can just not tell them what happened, deceive them first'

  "Come on, what if things get exposed? As long as it's done, anything can happen. Can you guarantee that it will never be exposed? What if we really get caught, do I still want to keep my rice bowl? Besides, why would they follow you over without knowing anything?"

  Ma Si Zhe probably also felt that this matter was not feasible, so he didn't persist anymore.

  I still have a suitable candidate, I don't know if you dare to use him, said Ma Si Zhe with a mysterious tone.

  Who is it?

  Dish rack

  I hesitated for a moment, and Ma Si Zhe continued to say 'In the past few years, I've met many people like this, they're probably the most common type of person in our line of work. They don't ask about reasons or purposes, as long as someone is willing to pay, they dare to enter even the most dangerous tombs. And I guarantee, absolutely professional.'

  I hesitated, with many misgivings about this proposal. I had never been involved in this industry before and didn't know how deep the water was here. But after all, we were all a group of desperate people, and if there were any precious treasures in the tomb, it would be difficult to prevent greed from arising when the time came.

  I know what you're worried about, but now we have no other choice. Just relying on the two of us is definitely not enough to deal with the situation in the tomb, you also know that anything can happen in that place. The two of us will be more careful and prepared later, besides, my uncle is there, they'll think twice before doing anything.

  Now that things have come to this, I had no choice but to agree to Ma Si Zhe's proposal. He and I discussed letting his uncle hurry up and find a few trusted partners.

  Two days later, Ma Si Zhe received a call from his uncle, telling us to go to the station to pick someone up.

  Three people came, one of whom was a head taller than me, speaking with a Hubei accent, called Jiang Liu. I originally thought it was a nickname, but after chatting, I found out that his household registration book actually read Jiang Liu.

  There was also a man wearing glasses who looked somewhat frail, in his fifties. Ma Si Zhe called him Uncle Cheng, and I followed suit.

  The third one was a woman, in her thirties or less than forty years old, who didn't say much. She only said her name was Huo Ying and then stopped talking. Ma Si Zhe and I were very tactful and called out "Sister Huo" before also falling silent.

  To ensure a pleasant cooperation in the future, it's essential to build relationships beforehand. So I invited everyone to gather together for a meal.

  "I'm sure my uncle has already told you the specifics of the situation. Sun Yi and I are just a couple of country bumpkins, and even when we get to the bottom, we'll still have to rely on your care. This cup is me showing respect to all of you, giving face, let's go with it." Ma Si didn't know where he learned these social niceties, but hearing them made my skin crawl. However, it seems this approach really works, after a few cups of wine, several people started opening up and being more sincere.

  "Damn it, at first I was sentenced to two months, but in the end I spent a year in prison." Jiang Liu lamented after drinking too much.

  "Why?!" I was puzzled

  "The prison guard said I ate dumplings without dipping in soy sauce," Jiang Liu said, taking another big gulp of wine. "It just so happened that I was in a bad mood that day, so I retorted, 'What's it to you if I don't like dipping in soy sauce? What's it to you if I dip in vinegar instead?' Later on, I thought about it and couldn't help but want to slap myself twice - why did my mouth have to be so reckless? Can't even save two sentences from being said."

  "It's just a slight offense against the warden, it shouldn't be such a big crime," said Ma Si-zhe.

  "If I hadn't fought back, it would have been better." Jiang Liu said regretfully, scratching his head.

  Everyone on the table laughed, even the steady Uncle Cheng couldn't hold back. I turned my head to see that Huo Ying took a sip of wine, still with an air of calmness and lightness, without any expression.

  Among these three people, Marx Zhe only knew Cheng Shu. Cheng Shu was an old friend of Marx Zhe's uncle, and the two had a friendship of over a decade, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to invite him personally. According to Marx Zhe, Cheng Shu had a unique sense of touch when it came to antiques. He could tell the dynasty and quality of an item just by weighing it in his hand. At the time, I didn't fully believe this claim, thinking that there must be some exaggeration involved. However, after experiencing things later on, I became deeply convinced of its truth.

  After finishing the meal, Huo Ying only said a few words, nothing more than "thank you" and "no problem", just some polite phrases. She seemed unwilling to communicate with us or have any emotional connection, each doing their own thing and collecting their own pay. Anyway, this woman is really hard to figure out.

  "Ma Zhe, why do you think this grave is not an ordinary small grave?" Cheng Shu spoke with a tone of an old scholar, just like my grandfather.

  That day, I went with Sun Yi to the mountain to take a look. The more we looked, the more we felt that something was off. The feng shui of that mountain is rarely seen as good, it can be called a dragon vein treasure hole. A place like this shouldn't just bury some minor nobility. Although it's also possible that they coincidentally chose the right tomb site, but the feeling that mountain gives people can't be described, especially with a strong sense of oppression.

  "We'll talk about the specifics later, now it's all just empty words. We have to go in and take a look even if it's a dragon's lair or a tiger's den." Uncle Cheng patted my shoulder "Don't worry, kid"

  Cheng Shu's seat was a little distance away from mine, and he suddenly patted my shoulder. I didn't know how to react, so I just smiled awkwardly. I knew very clearly that they wouldn't consider me and Ma Si Zhe as one of their own, we were partners with clear benefits. I wasn't afraid to talk about money, because this kind of relationship was often the simplest and easiest to maintain. Ma Si Zhe gave me a signal, and I sensibly raised my cup to toast everyone, hoping that this matter could be resolved smoothly, and also for everyone's safety.

  Clashing cups and spilling wine, in the midst of changing cups, the five of us temporarily formed an alliance. How long this alliance can last I'm not sure, but as long as this chain of interests continues, we can cooperate for a day.

  Uncle Cheng gave me a note and asked me to buy these things. I took a look, most of them were tools with labels on them. For example, Pelican's 9450 outdoor flashlight, AIGLE's climbing rope, metal detector, Swiss army knife, waterproof cloth, some compressed food.

  It seems that the tomb raiding industry also needs to keep up with the times, and Luoyang shovel may have become a cultural relic in the industry. Who knows, one day ancient tombs can be excavated with high-tech, robots and so on.

  Everything was ready a week ago. Within this week, Ma Si and I took turns to persuade my parents to leave the village. Originally, my mother planned to stay in the village for a while longer, but I was worried that after the burial, I wouldn't be able to take care of them. In case something unexpected happened at the grave, the villagers might suddenly become what I couldn't predict, so it's better to let them leave early.

  When sending parents to the train station, I suddenly understood Grandpa's feelings back then.

  Farewell for now, I don't know when we can meet again.

  "If you cry, I'll call the police," Ma Si Zhe said, pointing at me in a terrified tone.

  "Get out, get out, get out!" I pushed his hand away and walked towards the outside of the station.

  Goodbye to Uncle Cheng. It's been a week since they left, and the things they brought with them were no less than what we had prepared. Their bags were bulging, but since they didn't mention it, I didn't dare ask what was inside.

  "You're really a professional, and you've got quite a lot of stuff. What's all this?" I didn't ask, but that doesn't mean others won't chime in. Ma Si Zhe asked with a smile. No one responded, so Ma Si Zhe muttered to himself, "I was just asking casually." Cheng Shu came out to mediate, "Haha, it's nothing, we're all like this, we have our own set of tools that we're used to using."

  Ma Si Zhe picked up a step and hurried down 'Originally originally'

  When no one was paying attention, he turned around and whispered to me, 'You're being too arrogant, if it weren't for begging them, I would have turned against you long ago.' I let out a bitter laugh, thinking that there's still a lot more of this kind of thing that Master Ma can't tolerate, and we've only just begun.

  After lunch, the five of us quietly climbed up Maoer Mountain, avoiding the villagers' sight.

  Up to this point, I have finally officially stepped into this story and become the grandfather from twenty years ago. We are carrying the same questions and pursuing the same answer, fortunately, I am not alone.

  From now on, a huge picture is slowly unfolding before me. I didn't know that at this moment, I was stepping on the wolf's tail and walking towards it.