Chen Ke applauded Li Guaizi's advanced awareness of prevention, but he really couldn't bring himself to kill him for such a small amount of money.

"Look what you've touched! They only had those two tiles, and you managed to find them. Don't you feel any remorse?" Chen Ke said, rolling the statue and bowl back down the hole in the ground.

Two soft "thump" sounds indicate that the item has landed safely on the ground.

Li Guaizi looked at Chen Ke's dark eyes, feeling both puzzled and uneasy. This wasn't Chen Ke's usual style.

Besides, they dug up people's graves, what conscience do they have?

Could it be...?

Li Guaizi shuddered and began to look at Chen Ke with suspicion.

Chen Ke slapped him on the butt with a shovel and said fiercely, "Just pick it up, or I'll cripple your leg too!"

Li Guaizi let out a sigh of relief and roared fiercely, "Just pick it up, what the hell are you yelling about!"

After throwing the tiles back, the two carefully filled the hole with soil. Chen Ke even carefully shoveled a piece of dry sod and laid it on top. Unless someone was bored and dug it up to look, they would never guess that a two-foot-wide hole had been dug here.

Under the cover of darkness, the two carried baskets and shovels back to a dilapidated courtyard.

In the courtyard, there was a small mud house that had collapsed halfway. The two men had propped up the other half with tree trunks and piled some straw underneath to make a bed. This was their temporary lodging in Nanwei Township.

Chen Ke walked in calmly and sat on the straw. Li Guaizi followed him in, put his things down, lit a kerosene lamp, took out an oil paper package from a crack in the stone, opened it, and handed Chen Ke a bunch of fried cakes.

"Eat up, this trip was a complete waste of your energy."

Chen Ke took the pancake and started eating it in big bites, pondering whether to get some gold first or borrow some antiques first.

"Hey, Chen Ke, do you think the place Master pointed us to is wrong?" Li Guaizi asked while eating a pancake.

Chen Ke didn't say anything, but took out the original owner's military water bottle and took two big gulps of water.

Li Guaizi choked on his saliva. "Your water bottle looks really nice. You didn't buy it, did you? Is it used by some army?"

Chen Ke realized that Li Guaizi's flattery was just a ploy to get a drink of water from his water bottle. He didn't have a water bottle and rarely drank water except when he drank his fill from the river.

"Here, drink if you want." Chen Ke handed the water bottle to Li Guaizi.

Li Guaizi's eyes widened, looking flattered, and he hurriedly took it, "Don't you have that... you know, germaphobia? Can... can I drink it?"

"Just drink it, stop talking nonsense!" The original owner wasn't a germaphobe; he was just selfishly unwilling to give Li Guaizi any.

Li Guaizi carefully observed Chen Ke's expression, then hesitantly brought the drink to his lips and took a sip. After confirming that Chen Ke was really giving it to him and wasn't just teasing him, he opened his mouth wide and drank several large gulps in succession.

"Oh my god, this is so refreshing!" Li Guaizi handed the kettle back to Chen Ke, his mouth almost stretched to his ears in a grin.

"You must have brought this from Shanghai, right? Is it made of steel? The quality is really good!"

Chen Ke frowned and glanced at the water bottle in his hand. It was a flat, round, military-green bottle, given to him by his adoptive mother, Zhao Lingyang, on the first day of school for the original owner.

When the original owner fled, he only took this water bottle with him. It wasn't because he was sentimental, nor because the bottle held any special meaning for him; he simply thought it would be convenient to carry water while traveling…

Exhausted from his "work," Li Guaizi lay down on the haystack to sleep after finishing his meal.

Chen Ke, meanwhile, was sorting through the timeline and the original owner's life in his mind.

When people talk about the Republican era, what comes to mind for later generations is more the romantic stories of talented men and beautiful women pursuing freedom in marriage, the extravagant lifestyle of Shanghai dancers and gentlemen, and the sharp satire or thought-provoking criticisms of writers and artists. These are all very characteristic of the Republican era.

However, when Chen Ke actually arrived here, he had not yet experienced it firsthand; what he had sensed from the original owner's memories was mostly war, poverty, and hunger.

This is the truest portrayal of the people at the very bottom of society.

To atone for the sins of the original owner in their previous life, then—

Why aren't you asleep yet?

Chen Ke's eyelids twitched, and he turned to face Li Guaizi's sleepy-eyed face.

Li Guaizi: "Are you thinking about where to scout out a location tomorrow?"

Chen Ke: "...Yes, you should go to sleep."

“I heard there might be a large tomb at Maoziling in the western suburbs. Shall we go take a look?” Li Guaizi hesitated for a moment, “But we don’t know if there are any traps or mechanisms inside. We’ve never been down into a large tomb by ourselves before.”

During this special period when both civilians and officials were involved in tomb raiding, the only things tomb raiders feared were the actual traps inside the tombs or being double-crossed by their accomplices.

Chen Ke really needed the money urgently, so after thinking for a moment, he nodded, "Okay, then get some rest now, and we'll go take a look first thing tomorrow morning."

······

The next morning, the two climbed Maozi Ridge, their feet glistening with dew on the wild grass.

The two boys' master was quite skilled, and the two novices were able to figure out some of the tricks of the trade.

After finalizing their plan, the two found a tall wooden branch and stuck it in the ground as a marker so they could make their move later that night.

After returning home, eating and resting, when the moon was high in the sky, the two of them carried their belongings and headed straight for Maozi Ridge.

Li Guaizi was doing the hard labor digging down there, while Chen Ke was keeping watch and carrying soil outside.

This lookout duty involves not only guarding people, but also guarding other things. Although I haven't encountered it before, there are some things that must be respected and avoided. Even someone as bold as the original owner could only obediently follow the rules.

Basket after basket of loess was being carried out. As the small mound of earth at the entrance of the cave grew higher and higher, Chen Ke was starting to wonder if the location had been set wrong when a muffled sound came from inside the cave.

Chen Ke's heart skipped a beat, and he called out in a low voice, "Guai Zi, Li Guai Zi?"

"Oh my god, what is this?!"

The tomb was dug deep, and Li Guaizi's words could be heard intermittently. After Chen Ke looked around and made sure there was nothing there, he also shrank down into the tomb.

Upon landing, Chen Ke saw the large blue bricks under his feet and thought to himself that he must have found the right place. But when he turned around, he saw Li Guaizi squatting in the corner with an oil lamp on his back, seemingly engrossed in studying something.

The tiny oil lamp swayed in the glass shade without any wind, its dim light casting a long shadow of Li Guaizi's profile onto the opposite tomb wall—a rather eerie scene in the tomb.

Chen Kexin's heart jumped up. "Li Guaizi?" he called softly again.

Li Guaizi didn't respond at all. He was so close, he should have heard the sound of Li Guaizi landing right away, but he didn't even turn around.

Chen Ke gripped the shovel in his hand, his brows furrowing unconsciously, and walked towards Li Guaizi...