Chapter 100 Ugly King Jue

Like rain after a long drought, the drought finally stopped after two consecutive showers.

She simply nestled in his arms to rest, neither refusing nor agreeing to what he asked.

"Let's think about it some more, and then discuss it when the time is right, okay?" After saying that, she kissed his eyes, his nose, and his lips. Right now, she just wanted to be peaceful, quiet, and enjoy this moment without any worries.

Ye Huaizhang didn't dare to force her. He captured her lips and kissed her deeply.

After midnight, he whispered in her ear, "Happy birthday, baby."

Oh, today is her birthday.

This time last year, she had just been in this world for a week and was looking forward to a bowl of fragrant pig's feet with ginger.

The changes in just one year are truly remarkable.

Ye Baoling asked with a smile, "Where's my birthday present?"

He got up and left the room, bringing in a gift box from the suite's living room.

"It was specially made for you."

Ye Baoling unwrapped the packaging paper, inside was a jewelry box. Opening the box, a complete set of ruby ​​jewelry sparkled under the light.

He had given her diamonds before, and now he was giving her rubies. She asked with a smile, "Next time, are you going to give me a set of full-green jadeite?"

next time?

So in her subconscious, she thought there would be a next time.

Suppressing his overwhelming joy, Ye Huaizhang asked her, "Do you like it?"

"I like it." She smiled and kissed him. "Help me put it on."

He helped her put on her necklace and earrings. She wasn't dressed, just wrapped in a small blanket, and got up to look in the mirror.

The bright ruby ​​jewelry complemented her complexion perfectly; it was a birthday gift he had specially sent from afar. Turning around, she happened to see the words "I LOVE YOU" spelled out in the living room with blue roses and blue hydrangeas.

She suddenly asked him, "Do you love me?"

Ye Huaizhang was taken aback. What is love?

Seeing her makes me happy, and not seeing her makes me miss her. Is this love?

Having an insatiable possessiveness and being willing to give everything for her, does that count as love?

If your heart can only hold her and no one else, is that love?

"Love," he said.

Ye Baoling smiled and gently touched his face, without asking him what he loved about her.

He really wanted to ask her if she loved him too.

But he held back, he held back, he was afraid of hearing an answer he didn't want to hear, so he refrained from asking.

She pursed her lips, and having never been truly loved since childhood, she softly said, "Thank you for loving me."

Upon hearing her words, he felt his blood rush to his head, and a wild, overwhelming joy exploded within him. He kissed her, wanting nothing more than to meld her into his very bones.

It was this elusive, uncertain love that made him even more obsessed and frantic.

Over the next few days, the two visited tourist attractions in a nearby city.

Play during the day, make love at night, and engage in physical intimacy.

*

Upon returning to the port city, they had barely landed when they heard that the police had unearthed a secret Japanese medical base and more than thirty skeletons on Silver Snake Mountain.

This matter is currently being discussed throughout the entire city.

They went back to their respective homes.

Ye Baoling returned to the old eldest house, took a bath, and was eating lunch brought by Sister Ping and the maids in the sitting room when Uncle Xing came to visit.

"Young Miss, you're back?"

Ye Baoling looked up and asked with a smile, "My grandfather is looking for me?"

"Yes, the old man wants to talk to you."

"knew."

After finishing lunch, Ye Baoling went upstairs to Ye Qizu's room.

The old man had just woken up from his afternoon nap. He was practicing walking in his bedroom, leaning on his cane.

Seeing his granddaughter come in, he asked, "Is everything going well in America?"

"Everything went smoothly." Ye Baoling knew that her grandfather hadn't called her here just to ask her if her trip to America was going well.

Sure enough, after a few casual words, the old man stopped beating around the bush.

"You know that the police unearthed a medical facility on Silver Snake Mountain, right?"

"I've heard about it." Ye Baoling helped the old man into his wheelchair.

The servants wiped Ye Qizu's sweat and served him tea before he waved for all the servants in the room to leave.

After the door closed, he said, "Some newspapers and media outlets have suggested turning the medical base into a memorial hall. If that happens, Silver Snake Mountain will be crowded with people, which will definitely not be a good thing for us."

Backfilling the so-called medical base with soil and completely burying it would be most beneficial for the Ye family.

Ye Baoling was certainly aware of this.

Ye Qizu added, “Our families, along with the Gong family, are planning to work together to find connections and try to get the medical base filled in. Don’t you have connections with the media? You could also ask the media to subtly raise the issue in the media, saying that the medical base might have bacteria or viruses and that it would be best to fill it in. With the media cooperating with the relevant departments, it will be easier to do this.”

She had connections and experience in manipulating media opinion, so she agreed: "You guys start the operation, I'll find people for the media side."

The grandfather and grandson shared the same goal in this matter, and surprisingly, there was no argument between them.

Working with her really saves you a lot of trouble.

After they finished talking, Ye Baoling was about to leave when Ye Qizu called her back.

The old man pointed to the chest of drawers by the wall and asked her, "Where's the ugly king's jade? You have to return it after you're done using it."

Ye Baoling feigned ignorance and replied, "Didn't we return it?"

"The one inside is fake." The old man was not confused.

She countered, "How do you distinguish between genuine and fake?"

"It looks fine at first glance, but once you look closely, the textures don't match up at all. Even if it's been artificially aged, it's still fake."

Ye Baoling: "Grandpa, Fang Dingkun is dead, and the Ugly King Jue is of no use now, so why are you so nervous?"

Ye Qizu sighed: "That's a family heirloom. It's for the person in charge of the Ye family."

"Since it's a family heirloom, if you don't pass it on to me, who else do you plan to pass it on to?"

Ye Qizu paused slightly. Although all the shares had been given to Ye Baoling, the old man was still a little unwilling to give up and wanted to hold onto the last bit of the housekeeper's power.

"I'll give it to you when I'm leaving."

Taking the opportunity, Ye Baoling asked, "Is there some secret you haven't told me? Aren't you afraid that if you suddenly leave, you won't have time to tell me?"

Yeh Chi-tsu couldn't believe he would suddenly die; he had survived two strokes.

“If I were to leave suddenly, Attorney Yang would send you a letter.”

He had already prepared a backup plan.

So, does the Ugly King Jue really have other secrets?

She couldn't possibly just return it to the old man like that, lest it end up in her hands and she have to compete with her second uncle for it.

"Now that the Ugly King Jade is in my hands, I will never take it out again."

Ye Qizu couldn't help but scold her: "You're like a mythical creature that only takes in and never gives out."

Ye Baoling smiled and offered a rare word of comfort: "Grandpa, don't worry, I'll keep it safe for you. It won't get lost. If there's nothing else, I'll head out now."

She needs to go to the company; there are some things that require her decision.

*

Over the weekend, Ye Baoling and Ye Huaizhang finally managed to arrange a meeting with Fang Haiming, who had returned from the mainland.

The three agreed to meet at a teahouse in the western district.

The teahouse was owned by Fang Haiming's family. After they sat down in the innermost private room on the third floor, Ye Baoling opened the three ugly jade pendants that were placed in a wooden box for him to examine closely.

Fang Haiming was stunned when he saw it. He asked in surprise, "Where did you get it?"

Ye Baoling did not explicitly say, "It was found at home."

Fang Haiming put on gloves, picked it up and looked at it again and again, "This is a jade ring."

"Isn't it a jade pendant?"

"The three pieces together form a jade ring. This is an ancient artifact, over a thousand years old."

Ye Huaizhang: "Can you tell which dynasty it belongs to?"

“The shape and craftsmanship of this piece are similar to those from the Warring States period. You can see that the three dragon patterns on it are popular during the Warring States period, but the purslane pattern on the side is only found in the Western Han Dynasty…” Fang Haiming was a little unsure.

Ye Baoling: "Is that from the Western Han Dynasty?"

"Logically, it should be from the Western Han Dynasty. But the craftsmanship doesn't seem to be from the Western Han Dynasty. The craftsmanship of the Western Han Dynasty is more refined, while the dragon pattern carving of the Warring States period is slightly rougher. In general, the dragon pattern looks like the Warring States period, and the pu pattern looks like the Western Han Dynasty. It's very contradictory." Fang Haiming is already the most skilled appraisal expert in Hong Kong. If even he can't be sure, then no one else in Hong Kong can appraise it.

Finally, Fang Haiming asked, "Can I take photos? I can fax them to the mainland to consult with authoritative experts. I met several outstanding archaeological experts on this trip to the mainland; they definitely know more than I do."

"sure."

Fang Haiming didn't even need to get a camera to take pictures, as Ye Baoling had already brought three or four photos with her.

Fang Haiming: "Whether it was the Warring States period or the Western Han Dynasty, the jade itself was not valuable. However, as an antique, it became very valuable. At auction, it could fetch millions in a matter of minutes."

A few million is not a lot of money for Ye Baoling.

What she cared more about was the secret that the ugly king's jade pendant might be involved in.

After waiting for about three days, Fang Haiming called Ye Baoling.

"Cousin, the experts from the mainland have replied to me."

At this moment, Ye Baoling was at her grandmother's house, watching Gu Zhen'er and the Filipino maid bathe the family's cat.

She went to the balcony and asked, "What did the experts say?"

Fang Haiming: "Experts say that the jade ring is most likely from the Warring States period, but it underwent secondary processing during the Western Han Dynasty and was later artificially divided into three parts. If there are historical stories to support this, the jade ring is definitely priceless."

The jade ring from the Warring States period underwent secondary processing during the Western Han Dynasty, and was likely divided into three pieces by the Ye family several decades ago.

Ye Baoling also wanted to know the historical story behind it. Unfortunately, she didn't know either.

She asked, "Have any experts said who the owner of this jade ring might have been during the Warring States period and the Western Han Dynasty?"

Fang Haiming: "It was actually said that. The owner during the Warring States period is unknown, but during the Western Han Dynasty, this kind of jade with special 'pu' patterns likely belonged to a vassal king. According to historical records, during the mid-Western Han Dynasty, a certain vassal king of the Chu Kingdom liked to add 'pu' pattern carvings to various jade artifacts."

A vassal king of the Chu state during the Western Han Dynasty?

How could her family possess a jade ring belonging to a vassal king of the Chu state?

I remembered her grandfather saying that his ancestors were tomb raiders. Could this have been stolen from the tomb of the King of Chu?

Their ancestors probably only knew that they had robbed ancient tombs, but they probably didn't know when or whose tombs they had robbed.

“That expert is very interested in this jade ring. If you want to know more, you can go to Beijing to find him.” Fang Haiming was willing to help make the introduction.

Ye Baoling didn't think it was really necessary to make a special trip, but if she and Ye Huaizhang went to Beijing later, she could pay them a visit.

On the drive home, Ye Baoling kept thinking about Ugly King Jue. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her.

It shouldn't be called "Ugly King Jue," but rather "King Chu Jue"!

The Ye family patriarch named the "King Chu's Jade Ring" "Ugly King's Jade Ring" to conceal its true name, not wanting people to know that it was a treasure that came from the tomb of the King of Chu.

Therefore, her ancestors were fully aware that the Ugly King Jue came from the tomb of the King of Chu.

Her previous assumptions were wrong.

Upon returning home, Ye Baoling went straight upstairs to find Ye Qizu.

When guests came to visit, Ye Baoling went back to her room to make a long-distance call. Only after seeing the guests' car leave did she go back upstairs.

She sat down opposite her grandfather: "I had an expert examine the ugly jade pendant."

Ye Qizu was quite surprised, "What kind of expert?"

Ye Baoling truthfully replied, "Domestic archaeological experts."

What do the experts say?

He said that this was a piece of jade from the Warring States period, which later fell into the hands of a vassal king of the Western Han Dynasty, the King of Chu. Therefore, it is very likely that it was a burial item of a King of Chu in the mid-Western Han Dynasty.

Ye Baoling observed the expression on Ye Qizu's face. He seemed somewhat surprised, but this surprise seemed more like Ye Baoling's surprise at finding the origin of the Ugly King's Jade than his own surprise at the origin of the Ugly King's Jade.

"You knew that, didn't you?" Ye Baoling asked.

Yeh Chi-tsu couldn't deny it: "I'll tell you later."

"So, the Ugly King Jue is actually the Chu King Jue." Ye Baoling ignored her grandfather's promise to tell her later, "What does this have to do with the blue brick tunnel?"

The fiefdom of the King of Chu during the Western Han Dynasty was located in the Jiangsu area, so it is impossible for the king's tomb to be located in Gangcheng.

Logically, the blue brick tunnel should not be related to the direct burial grounds of the feudal princes.

What does that relate to?

Yeh Chi-tsu reiterated, "I'll tell you later."

Ye Baoling was slightly impatient. "Believe it or not, I'll blow up the blue brick tunnel. The police are still on the other side, at Silver Snake Mountain."

They're blackmailing him again!

This time, Ye Qizu was truly not intimidated. He didn't believe that someone as rational as his granddaughter would disregard the family's interests and rashly file a complaint.

He refused to yield.

As a result, Ye Baoling picked up the phone on the table and dialed Ye Huaizhang: "Huaizhang, if I don't call you in a quarter of an hour, tell the police about the Qingzhuan Tunnel... Yes, in a quarter of an hour."

She hung up the phone after saying that.

It was so fast that Ye Qizu didn't even have time to stop it.

Instead of filing a complaint directly, she passed the matter on to Ye Huaizhang.

With a simple turn of events, she was no longer under pressure; now the pressure was entirely on Ye Qizu's head.

He didn't know whether to be angry or happy.

After all, there aren't many people who can outmaneuver his granddaughter.

Ye Qizu compromised: "I'll tell you. You should tell Huai Zhang right away not to go to the police station."

"You go first."

Ye Qizu then had no choice but to tell the truth.

It turns out that Ye Xun, the ancestor of the Ye family, was a staff member of King Chu Jie of the Western Han Dynasty. Later, because King Chu Jie took a fancy to Ye Xun's new wife, all the male members of the family were killed by King Chu Jie's scheme. Only a twelve-year-old boy was spared because he was hidden in his wife's family home.

When the boy grew up, he became a minor military officer. By then, King Jie of Chu had passed away, and he wanted to rob King Jie's tomb and whip his corpse to avenge his father.

Unfortunately, the plan was not realized when Ye Xun's only son fell ill and passed away.

This important task has been passed on to the next generation.

The next generation was Ye Xun's grandson, named Ye Yan, a weak scholar. Knowing that he had neither the ability nor the money to rob a tomb and desecrate a corpse, he wrote down his family's deep hatred on parchment and drew a map of the tomb of King Chu Jie, hoping that a capable descendant would carry out the revenge.

As the Ye family descendants multiplied, the hatred gradually faded with time, and after several generations, no one remembered the matter anymore.

The map of King Chu Jie's tomb was also lost in the process of being passed down.

Until the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, a descendant of the Ye family named Ye Twelve made a living by tomb raiding.

Ye Shier heard that his family once had a map of the tomb of King Chu Jie. He went to great lengths to find the map and finally found the family cemetery of the direct line of the Ye family during the Northern Song Dynasty. He dug up the ancestral graves of several generations of his family and finally found the map of the tomb of King Chu Jie carved on a stone slab.

"Ye Shier spent more than ten years lying in wait in Xuzhou and robbed the tomb complex of King Jie of Chu and King Si of Chu."

Ye Baoling asked, "Is this Ye Twelve the ancestor of our lineage?"

Ye Qizu nodded: "Yes, it's recorded in the family genealogy. You can look it up when you have time."

The old man glanced at the wall clock and reminded him, "Call Ye Huaizhang first and tell him not to go to the police station."

Ye Baoling: "I dialed a number that was not in service."

She didn't call Ye Huaizhang at all.

Ye Qizu, who had been tricked: "..."

But the story has already come to this point, so we can only continue.

Ye Shier emptied the tombs of King Jie of Chu, King Si of Chu, their queens, and other accompanying tombs of their treasures.

They traveled south, first settling in Fujian, and then eventually settling in the deep mountains and forests of Guangdong.

The treasures from the Chu King's tomb were hidden in the mountains by the Ye family until the late Qing Dynasty, when, amidst social unrest, they chose to move south again.

Finally, they arrived in the port city and settled down near Cuiluo Mountain.

"The blue brick tunnel was dug at that time."

Therefore, the blue brick tunnel ultimately leads to the treasure chamber where the treasures of the Chu King's tomb are hidden.

The Ye family called it the Tomb of the Ugly King, which was also intended to vilify King Jie of Chu.

Ye Baoling questioned, "Why hide it in the mountains?"

Ye Qizu explained: "Back then, we didn't have good technology, so it was difficult to preserve them. Moreover, with so many treasures, they would have attracted too much attention. Without the ability to protect them, it would have been easy to attract death. So we simply hid them in the mountains."

He stole it but didn't use it; instead, he hid it. His patience was top-notch.

Ye Baoling: "Then wouldn't it be a waste to have hidden so many treasures?"

Ye Qizu: "No, that's not true. During the chaotic times, a lot of gold from the Ugly King's Tomb was used. The reason why Ye Qingtang Herbal Tea was able to start was because my grandfather used a piece of gold from the Ugly King's Tomb to buy a herbal tea shop, and that's how he gradually made his fortune."

She asked, "Where is the tomb of the Ugly King?"

Ye Baoling and Ye Huaizhang have walked through the blue brick tunnel countless times, but so far they have not found any trace of the Ugly King's Tomb.

Ye Qizu laughed: "That's because one can't see the whole mountain because one is blinded by a single leaf."

"Don't keep me in suspense, Grandpa, just tell me already."

"It's located between the large bronze gate and the small bronze gate. We didn't build that large bronze gate; we wouldn't have the capability. It was designed by your great-grandfather, Ye Qingtang."

Ye Baoling suddenly realized that they had been misled by the red lights, the human skull, and the small bronze door inside, and had not checked the other walls at all.

Thinking about it again, she felt something was off. She asked, "Didn't you say that Fang Dingkun only discovered the existence of the blue brick tunnel after the medical base collapsed? If the large bronze gate had been there all along, they wouldn't have been able to get into the blue brick tunnel. Shouldn't the collapse have occurred in front of the large bronze gate?"

Ye Qizu sighed: "The location of the collapse was quite coincidental. It was right next to the large bronze gate and collapsed directly into the blue brick tunnel. A corner of the large bronze gate was also exposed. We explained at the time that the bronze gate was the main support. The Japanese had tried to take away our large bronze gate several times, but they were afraid that the medical base would collapse after the bronze gate was dismantled, so they had to give up."

Ye Baoling asked curiously, "What exactly is hidden in the Ugly King's tomb? Is there a list?"

The two Chu king tombs, along with the queen's tomb and accompanying tombs, have been excavated for over ten years, and the burial goods must be numerous.

"There's a list. It's in the safe. It's been passed down through generations to the head of the Ye family."

In other words, only the clan head knows the story of the Ye family's ancestors and this list, which is passed down from generation to generation.

Ye Baoling had thoroughly searched her grandfather's safe before, but she couldn't find this list.

"It will be yours sooner or later."

After revealing this secret, Ye Qizu actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Not only Ye Qingtang, but the entire Ye family will also be leaving the stage of history.

At this point, he had completely given in, and there was no need for him to struggle anymore.

"Now that I've told you the secret of the head of the family, let's choose an auspicious day, gather all your third uncle, the second son's family, and the third son's family, and you can go to the ancestral hall to offer incense. From now on, you will take my place and become the head of our eldest son's family, and even the entire Ye family."

Previously, when Ye Baoling inherited the shares of the eldest son's family, no one dared to speak up.

Choosing a granddaughter as the family heir will certainly face opposition, but as long as Ye Qizu insists on selecting her, all other objections will be ineffective.

She is about to usher in an era in which women take the lead in family life.

This day was July 2, 1988.

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Author's Note: My next book will be a seamless sequel titled "She Killed" (may be renamed). This one is already written and in its entirety; those interested can add it to their favorites. [Heart emoji]