Chapter One: The Return of the Stone

  Distant mountains, nearby trees, thickets, and hillocks are all hazy and indistinct, as if veiled by a quiet, purple lilac grove. The flowers have not yet bloomed, but they are immersed in the moonlight, which casts a serene glow on the river water, like the eyes of a dream. Thousands of fireflies, like stars falling from the sky, twinkle and shine beautifully as they move quietly across the grassland, peaceful and lovely. Suddenly, a fierce wind blows, heavy rain pours down, and the sound of wolves howling fills the air as they chase after me, leaving me isolated and helpless in my flight. I run and run, but fragments flash before my eyes, and I feel myself constantly falling, falling, as if plummeting into the depths of the underworld, or being swallowed by a ferocious beast's jaws.

  Red, everywhere is red, blood, everywhere is blood, corpses, rotting corpses?

  I sat up with a start, breaking out in a cold sweat, my heart still racing as it always did. It was the same dream, one that I'd had countless times before. In the dream, I was an ordinary person, living an ordinary life - born, working, and dying without any fanfare. But at the same time, I wasn't an ordinary person, because there was a gap in my memory, a blank space between the ages of 18 and 20 that I couldn't recall no matter how hard I tried.

  I reached over to turn on the bedside lamp, got out of bed to drink a glass of water, and suddenly noticed a half-piece of jade pendant lying on the table. I picked it up, studying it carefully, but there was nothing familiar about it. I had no idea where I'd gotten it from or how it had ended up in my room. All I remembered was going on a trip to Inner Mongolia when I was 18, and then starting college at 20 - the pendant just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  What had happened during that trip to Inner Mongolia? What had I done between the ages of 18 and 20? Every time I asked my father, he told me it was because I'd been hit by a car before going to college and lost my memory. But I knew it couldn't be that simple.

  As I thought about it, I reached back to touch the hard, black skin on my lower back - something that had started growing when I was 20, initially just the size of a fingernail, but now as big as the palm of my hand. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me, and if it really was just because of a car accident, why would I have grown this... thing?

  This year's weather is exceptionally hot, and Beijing in August has an extra dose of sweltering heat and a reduced amount of noise.

  I continued with my work, which was actually quite simple. I would just hang out at Panjiayuan and help people who came to buy or sell antiques. I'd get a commission for introducing them to each other and showing them around. Sometimes, I'd also spot some antiques that were priced lower than market value, so I'd buy them and resell them for a profit. Although the earnings weren't much, it was enough to make a living comfortably. This was all thanks to an old gentleman.

  My grandfather's house was still in the old city, in an old house. The innermost room had no one living in it, and all the neighbors said that it was a haunted house, where anyone who lived there would either die or be injured. This made me, as a child, very curious, but I didn't even have the courage to walk by there normally. Until later, a lame old man came, because he didn't listen to people's advice, and insisted on moving in. Everyone said that he wouldn't last two days without having to exchange his crutches for a wheelchair, but who would have thought that he stayed for a whole month, during which nothing happened at all? Later, my grandfather and others secretly discussed that this old man was not an ordinary person. At first, we didn't have any interaction with him, and he always seemed cold and distant to people, until I turned 20 years old, when my relationship with him changed.

  The old man looked like a deft artist's hasty sketch on the back of one of his canvases. His face was long and thin, with a leaden complexion that suggested profound and cold thoughts, as well as an ominous gaze that seemed to set him apart from ordinary people, even making him disinclined to communicate with others. His face was grayish-white, with deep wrinkles on his forehead, and his hair was sparse and resembled marble sculpture. A few strands of smooth gray hair were combed to the sides of his head, hanging down to the collar of his shirt, giving him a look of around sixty years old. Although he had lost one leg, it didn't seem to affect his daily activities much, so I thought he must have been injured many years ago and was already accustomed to this physical condition.

  That year when I was twenty, it was the most painful time in my heart. I often had headaches and kept having nightmares. In addition to memory loss, I wandered alone on the streets. Unexpectedly, the old man took the initiative to invite me into his room, chatting with me, and even voluntarily helped me with acupuncture to relieve my headache. From then on, I particularly liked to be in contact with him. His strange stories and vast knowledge deeply attracted me.

  I heard from the old master that there are two schools of grave robbing, one in the north and one in the south, each with its own strengths. Most of the tomb raiders under heaven belong to these two schools, but the older generation of insiders know that there is a third school, called the "tomb inviters". This school combines the strengths of both schools and also requires learning about Feng Shui and the Eight Trigrams formation technique, which can be considered half of the Taoist way. Although tomb inviters are also grave robbers, they only take one item from the tomb and cover up the hole after leaving, without damaging the items inside the tomb. It's hard to imagine that someone would risk their life to enter a tomb and only take one thing. Due to such strict rules, the art of tomb inviting has almost been lost, and the old master is the last generation of tomb inviters. I secretly learned from him for several years, and in front of outsiders, we are master and apprentice, but he never allowed me to formally become his apprentice. I don't have a big enough appetite for adventure or making a lot of money, so over the years, I've never thought about putting the theories he taught me into practice, let alone actually robbing graves.

  Suddenly I was bumped, and then I heard a "bang" sound. I withdrew my thoughts, looked down, and saw that a porcelain bottle had fallen to the ground. There was also someone squatting there, saying painfully, "Oh no, my treasure!"

  I curled my lip, I've seen people like this before, they're just looking for trouble, framing and blackmailing others, crying and making a scene, as long as they can extort money from it, they'll do anything.

  He suddenly stood up, with a nose full of snot and tears, it was really pitiful. He grabbed my collar and said "You owe me money, accompany me to get the money."

  I glared at him and said, "What's wrong with you, picking on me? How much money do you want?"

  "Waaahhh... This is the money I was going to use for my mother's medical treatment! It's worth 50,000 yuan!" He cried even more sorrowfully.

  I pushed him away, stepped on the fragments again and scolded him, "You bastard, I spent 100 yuan to buy a basket for you. Before you cheated people, why didn't you ask around? When I was hanging out on this street, you were still at home playing marbles!"

  "You, you're such an unreasonable person," he squatted on the ground, starting to cry. Seeing him cry so pitifully, even I began to doubt whether I had misjudged him. But picking up the shattered ceramic pieces, I again felt the urge to slap him to death - this was just too fake! It's better to look at the plates sold on the street.

  "I think you should pay for him." A low voice came from beside me.

  I'm unhappy about this, people who often stroll around the streets all know what's going on, and even those who like to watch the excitement are scarce, how can there still be someone following and making trouble? I ignore him and am about to leave.

  "I think you really should compensate him."

  I couldn't help it and turned around to scold, "Damn it, you're all in cahoots..." Suddenly I was stunned, the person speaking behind me was smiling at me, my heart leapt with joy, "Damn it, Shi Tou, is that you?" Shi Tou's real name was Zhang Zi Qiao, he was the grandson of the old man next door, we had been inseparable since childhood, unfortunately five years ago he joined the army.

  "Stone, you've become even more robust." I threw a punch at his chest, and it was infused with the emotions of our childhood friendship. I looked at Stone with a slightly excited mood, he's about 1.7 meters tall, with muscles that seemed to be bursting out of his clothes, still with that baby face, but with a thin scar on his left forehead that wasn't very noticeable, yet still visible despite his short hair trying to cover it up. Although he was slightly shorter than me, when he stood there, he had an aura of quiet confidence. I thought to myself, people who have been in the army are just different from ordinary people like us.

  "Heh heh, having been a special forces soldier for five years, can you hold on with your poor health?" Shi Tou replied with a smile.

  I turned around and glanced at the "all talk no action" kid, casually tossing him a 50 yuan note. I said, "Listen up, if you want to scam people again, come up with some new tricks. Today, I'm in a good mood, so I'll give you this as a reward." After that, I grabbed Shi Tou's arm and said, "Come on, let's go have a few drinks, just the two of us."

  "Alright," Shi Tou readily agreed. He was fond of drinking, but his capacity for liquor wasn't great. I remembered that in the past, half a bottle of Erguotou would knock him out.

  "Haha." Sitting in the small restaurant, we laughed unscrupulously. I pointed at Shi Tou (Stone), and was so happy that I couldn't speak. The reason for his retirement was surprisingly peeking at women bathing. Stone's face turned red as he explained, "I went to fetch water at that time, really didn't know there were women bathing there." Stone is an honest person, wouldn't commit such a serious mistake. Probably the organization also understood him and let him retire naturally without punishment.

  "Alright, alright, I still don't know you." I waved my hand and said, "Later, brother will take you to a place to satisfy your cravings." Although I said that, there was still a teasing tone in my heart.

  "I'm not going." Shi Tou shook his head and refused outright. "Oh, by the way," Shi Tou put down his wine cup and asked, "How about you, do you have a girlfriend?"

  I shook my head and sighed, "Little girls dream of finding a white horse in their dreams, but when they open their eyes, they find that the whole world is full of dull gray donkeys. After being heartbroken, they can only pick a strong and sturdy one from the group of donkeys, and such a donkey is named: Economically Viable Man. And I'm not strong enough." Listening to my nonsense, Shi Tou gave me a white eye and continued drinking.

  Unconsciously, a meal was eaten for more than three hours, and the two of us supported each other, swaying back home. My last memory is that we sang loudly in childhood, self-composed nursery rhymes on the street, and while carrying a randomly placed bicycle, I also fell down.