May our ancestors bless us to live in peace and tranquility, and to stay together for the rest of our lives...

Cheng Sizhou patted him on the back and said, "Come on, let's take a look together."

Wen Zichuan held his hand tightly, intertwining his fingers until his knuckles ached, before he believed that he had indeed woken up.

Following the guidance of the murals on both sides of the tomb passage, they relived the life stories of Wu Wen and Shi Cheng.

I originally thought that Wu Wen shouldered the responsibility of the Wu clan, and that he didn't love Shi Cheng as much as Shi Cheng loved him.

But he now had no doubt that these two entire mountain walls, nearly a hundred meters long, were probably painted by Wu Wen. He wanted their story to be recorded and passed down for thousands of years, forever unchanged.

When they reached the end, they had walked up dozens of steps and reached the highest point.

"Cheng... was benevolent to the Wu Clan and meritorious... and was buried with his ancestors... by the side of Clan Leader Wen... There is no jade or stone in Longji Mountain, nor is there any... smelting... He made twelve porcelain gui... for the sacrifice..."

The text at the end of the mural is mottled and peeling, corroded by oxygen and moisture for thousands of years, and most of it is unrecognizable.

Cheng Sizhou was identifying it intently, while Wen Zichuan stared at his back, thinking over and over again, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Last night's dream was so beautiful and dreamy. He wanted to know whether he was experiencing this dream alone or was he in the same dream as Cheng Sizhou?

If Brother Zhou also entered the dream, would the Wu Wen he saw have the same face as his own?

Shi Cheng's love for Wu Wen is unforgettable. If Brother Zhou can empathize with him... doesn't that mean he has nothing to say to himself?

"I understand." Cheng Sizhou stroked the mottled surface of the stone wall. "Wrong, all wrong."

"What's wrong?" Wen Zichuan was seven parts confused and three parts expectant.

"The patterns on the purple-gold-glazed six-handled porcelain gui are consistent with the murals. They are not regular, continuous patterns. Without similar vessels to refer to, Master and the others misunderstood them from the beginning."

More than 20 years ago, Qin Zhihan speculated that there were at least twelve porcelain gui based on the broken porcelain fragments provided by Destin. He was really too perceptive.

But the fact that he wrote "This one has been returned" on the back of the photo taken by Sally proves that he did not know that of the twelve porcelain gui, Destin stole eleven and one was taken back by the archaeological team.

Out of his obsession with returning the cultural relics to China, he tempted Destin to sell the whole thing for 100 million yuan, but instead the greedy tomb robber hired kidnappers, which indirectly caused Jiang Anyi's death.

In the end, he failed to acquire the complete set of porcelain gui, but recorded the incident in the information "related to Aldrich". So what role did Wen Duo play in it?

The instigator of the cultural relics transaction? Or the mastermind of the kidnapping?

After all, he had been in the Wu clan for three years and had been Destan's "royal" appraiser for so many years. No one understood better than him how valuable a complete set of porcelain gui was.

Whatever he could think of, Brother Zhou could definitely think of it too.

But he didn't dare ask.

He was worried that he would not be able to find all the real murderers and bring them to justice, and he was also afraid that he was the son of the real murderer and would carry the indelible mark of filth for the rest of his life.

"The main tomb should be ahead, but there's no way out." Cheng Sizhou entered the working state, without any extra thoughts. "Let's go, let's get the key."

"Is it that jade pendant? I'll get it." Wen Zichuan said, turned around and ran downstairs.

"Zichuan! Wait for me!" Cheng Sizhou quickly followed him. Although they had walked the same road before, they must not get separated again due to any accident.

Wen Zichuan took the heart-shaped jade pendant from the tomb door where he came from. It once belonged to Wu Wen and witnessed the decline and revival of the Wu clan. Now that he held it in his hand, the feeling was completely different.

"I got it," he handed it to Cheng Sizhou. "In the main tomb chamber, is that the tomb owner?"

Cheng Sizhou took the jade pendant and then held his wrist tightly: "Go and see and you will know. Also, you must follow me closely and you cannot act alone."

Wen Zichuan puffed up his cheeks, sounding aggrieved but a little sweet: "I know."

The two went up and passed through the mural corridor again. The terrain here was several meters higher. It can be seen that the regulations of the ancient tomb are quite different from those of the same period. It seems that it followed the terrain of the mountain, which made the front and rear tombs not on the same level.

Just as Cheng Sizhou was looking for the "keyhole", the flashlight suddenly went out.

The last time we charged various mobile devices was on the No. 1 platform. By now, both of our mobile phones and power banks were out of power.

"Don't be afraid, with the jade pendant, we can get out." Cheng Sizhou said confidently.

"I'm not afraid." Wen Zichuan groped the stone wall to help him look for it. There were two pieces of dust on his face from somewhere. His eyes were bright in the darkness, like a well-behaved little cat.

"Here." Cheng Sizhou put the jade pendant into a double ring hole and pressed it gently.

The built-in mechanism let out a dull roar, and the stone door cracked in the middle and slowly moved away to both sides.

For a moment, the overwhelming dust was shaken down, obscuring the vision.

Cheng Sizhou covered his own and Wen Zichuan's mouths and noses respectively, and took him back a few steps. With such a thick dust, they would probably be choked to death if not poisoned.

Wen Zichuan was covered with his hand and was crying out "wuwu", obviously he had something to say.

Cheng Sizhou held him in his arms and did not let go no matter how he struggled.

Two minutes later, the dust settled and the view gradually became clear. The main tomb chamber in front of me was surrounded on all sides, with only this stone door for entry and exit. On the stone platform in the middle, there were two coffins about one meter high.

"Brother Zhou," Wen Zichuan finally broke free, "I know the structure of the ancient tomb!"

"Then tell me about it." Cheng Sizhou observed the main tomb chamber and did not go in immediately.

"That's right," Wen Zichuan folded his arms, posing like a good student in class. "We must have come in from the back door, and walked higher and higher until we reached the top. If we had entered from the front door, we would have ended up at the bottom."

"You mean, the murals haven't been stolen?" Cheng Sizhou and he were in sync.

"Yes, the murals were not stolen." Back at Yangliu'an, Wen Zichuan watched several documentaries about cultural relics restoration in order to have something to talk about with Cheng Sizhou. For example, the murals in Dunhuang were stolen, and the tomb-robbing gang had carried out destructive cutting on the entire wall.

It is said that eleven porcelain gui were lost from the tomb and other burial objects were also looted, but the murals and coffins were relatively well preserved, so he guessed that the tomb-robbing team entered through the front door and did not come to the mural gallery and the main tomb chamber.

"But it's also possible that the technology is not up to the task or there isn't enough time," Cheng Sizhou said.

"I think the tomb-robbing gangs aren't that kind-hearted. If the technology isn't up to par, they'd rather destroy the murals with paint or some other method than leave them intact... There's not enough time, and why isn't there enough time?"

"I wonder what the Wu Clan was doing when the tomb was robbed?"

After reading the story on the murals, they knew whose tomb the ancient tomb belonged to. For the Wu clan, this was the resting place of their ancestors. It was not logical for them to allow outsiders to dig up their ancestral graves.

The two fell silent at the same time. They both held less optimistic views on this matter.

"Let me in!"

"Teacher Cheng, Teacher Wen—are you there?"

"Teacher Cheng—Teacher Wen—"

Suddenly, shouts were heard from the tomb. Although blocked by the stone walls, they were very clear, and one could even tell who was shouting.

"Brother Zhou, we are here--!" Cheng Sizhou shouted as he followed the source of the voice.

"Officer Zhou, Officer Han, we are here--!" Wen Zichuan also shouted.

Judging from the brightness and clarity of the sound, it can be judged that Zhou Han and Han Zhao are not far away from them.

But the strange thing is that Cheng Sizhou and Wen Zichuan can hear other people, but other people can't hear them at all.

They were so close, but couldn't meet up yet. They were so anxious.

Wen Zichuan had no idea what the ancient tomb looked like. Perhaps because of that dream, he always felt that this place was not too unfamiliar.

"Brother Zhou, I think there are other exits in the main tomb chamber," he said.

"Okay, let's go in and look for it." Cheng Sizhou held him.

The two entered the stone gate and came to the two coffins. Wen Zichuan squeezed his hand and said, "Bow down."

Cheng Sizhou is engaged in the restoration of cultural relics and is also involved in cultural relic research. He is an absolute atheist.

But people always choose to pray to gods and Buddhas when they lose control of their lives, and he is no exception.

The two of them knelt down together and kowtowed three times respectfully.

Wen Zichuan whispered, "Excuse me, both of you."

Cheng Sizhou didn't say anything. He no longer dared to pray for everything to be perfect. If the ancestors of the Wu clan didn't mind, they would bless him and Zichuan to live a peaceful and simple life together like them.

The main tomb chamber was darker than the mural area. Wen Zichuan was holding one hand and could only grope around with the other hand.

Cheng Sizhou looked up and saw that the designer of the ancient tomb had indeed abandoned the conventional pointed roof shape and instead carved a smooth arch. Combined with Zichuan's words "it's on top", perhaps the main tomb chamber was more like a sphere.

This method reminded him of the "urn coffin" or "soul bottle". They have one thing in common: one or more air holes are reserved at one end so that the soul of the deceased can enter and exit.

According to the principle of central axis symmetry, he walked to the wall opposite the stone gate and the coffin, and indeed found a stone brick with a color slightly different from the surrounding area.

With a slight "click", he pushed the wall brick to trigger the mechanism, and the brick popped out about two centimeters, which meant that the entire brick could be moved away.

The ancient wall bricks were thick and heavy, so Wen Zichuan hurried to help. After the two of them lifted the bricks, a hole similar to a lookout window was revealed on the wall of the tomb.

"Teacher Cheng - Teacher Wen -" The others were still looking for them with flashlights.

"We are here--!" Wen Zichuan shouted with his hands clasped together, waving as he shouted.

It was very strange that the sound he heard was very clear, but the people below still couldn't hear him.

Cheng Sizhou placed his hand on the hole: "There's wind."

Wen Zichuan reacted: "I know, it's the airflow. Sound is transmitted by air vibrations. Perhaps the structure of the ancient tomb is special. The sound above will be suppressed by the airflow, and the sound below will be amplified."

"The Wu Clan probably thought that the sound of their prayers would be heard more clearly by their ancestors."

"It's also possible that it's a better way to express longing."

Wen Zichuan took out an empty mineral water bottle and threw it down through the hole.

The bottle fell to the ground and bounced up again, instantly attracting the attention of the two police officers.

"Teacher Cheng, Teacher Wen!" Zhou Han adjusted the flashlight's light to a flashing pattern and signaled to them, "Can you hear us?"

Wen Zichuan took out the second mineral water bottle from Cheng Sizhou's bag and threw it down.

Zhou Han understood that there was probably a special reason for their silence: "Okay, listen to me. We are now in the ancient tomb of Beiling Village. On the way here, we were ambushed by Xiao Liang, but we captured him. Since he is from Beiling Village, he should be very familiar with this place. Don't run around, wait for us to find you."

After hearing this, Wen Zichuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat down on the ground, and looked up and smiled at Cheng Sizhou.

"What? Are you afraid that Brother Zhou will brag and not take you out?" Cheng Sizhou squatted down to wipe the dust off his face, but it turned out that there was dust on his hands too, and the more he wiped, the dirtier they became.

"No, I don't trust anyone but you." Wen Zichuan raised his face and let him fool him.

"At the critical moment, do you know how to act like a spoiled child?" Cheng Sizhou smiled calmly.

"It's not the first day we've known each other, and I've always been very well behaved." Wen Zichuan's unique ending tone came out, and the person who scratched it felt itchy.