There's a saying in the tomb raiding business: "Dig tunnels for Sui and Tang tombs, dig pits for Ming and Qing tombs, and after the Han Dynasty, look at your ancestors."
This means that Ming and Qing dynasty tombs are relatively shallow; if you don't count the earthen mound, you can find the top of the tomb passage by digging a pit a little over a meter deep.
Tombs from the Ming and Qing dynasties onwards, up to the Sui and Tang dynasties, were generally buried quite deep due to the passage of time, requiring tomb raiders to dig tunnels deep underground.
As for the tombs that are even older, they have all collapsed. Even if the tomb raiders dig a hole, they can only find funerary objects in the soil. What they can dig out depends entirely on the blessings of their ancestors.
The one-eyed old man and his gang were very clever; they dug a U-shaped tunnel, not from above, but from below.
These types of tomb raiding tunnels are mostly used for excavating Ming and Qing dynasty tombs. The tombs of that era had a seven-vertical and seven-horizontal roof with a total of fourteen layers of blue bricks, which would be more than two meters thick. If you start from the top, you can't break through in one night without explosives and modern tools, let alone do any work. Therefore, experts will dig horizontal tunnels or bottom tunnels.
When they had climbed more than halfway up, the shark's walkie-talkie picked up a weak signal. The people outside received the message and quickly apprehended the two men the one-eyed old man had left as lookouts.
We entered the tomb passage early in the morning, spent the whole day inside, and came out when the sun was almost setting.
Turning around, one could see that the mountain where the ancient tomb was located had collapsed, and a huge pit had appeared on the hillside, burying everything underneath.
Feeling the sunlight shining on me again, I lay wearily on the ground, looking at the azure sky.
Thinking about everything we experienced in the tomb, it feels like a dream.
But the price of this dream was that Ma Zhenhong and his ilk remained forever in Li Fan's tomb, becoming burial goods for the Gong family father and son.
A moment later, a middle-aged man in a suit ran over, breathing a sigh of relief: "Mr. Sha, it's so good that you're alright!"
Upon seeing the other party, the shark angrily shouted, "You bastard! Who gave you permission to use explosives to cut through the mountain?!"
"Mr. Sha, we're only doing this because we're concerned for your safety!"
The middle-aged man looked at the shark with a wronged expression: "After you went into the mountains, the walkie-talkie lost signal. We were worried about your safety, so we sent people in to check. They found that the tomb-raiding tunnel had collapsed. Everyone was in a hurry to rescue you and dug for a long time, but they couldn't get through. Instead, they dug down the tomb passage and let a lot of sand in. We had no choice but to use explosives to open the way."
"you……"
The shark was so angry that his hands were trembling, but the tomb had already collapsed, so he swallowed back all his anger.
The other party stepped forward reluctantly and said in a low voice, "Mr. Sha, there's something else I need to report to you. We'd better talk in private."
While the shark and the man walked away to talk, the monkey put a cigarette in my mouth and asked, "Young Master Duan, is our job a success or a failure?"
"From beginning to end, Shark never told me what the Wei family was looking for. Who knows?"
I hadn't recovered from the tension yet. After all, besides Li Fan, six other lives, including the Gong family father and son, were buried in the Tang tomb. And thinking about that ceremonial sword, I felt even more heartbroken: "If I had known that the tomb would collapse, I shouldn't have left that ceremonial sword with Ma Zhenhong and the others!"
The monkey grinned, spreading its palms: "Hehe, we didn't come away empty-handed! Look at this!"
The object in his hand reflected the sunlight so brightly that I squinted. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was holding a handful of chess pieces.
These chess pieces are not black and white stones, but red and green crystals.
I sat up abruptly, picked up a chess piece, looked at it against the sun, and couldn't help but widen my eyes.
Seeing my expression, the monkey became excited as well: "Young Master Duan, did I get the treasure?"
I nodded: "It is indeed a treasure! This chess piece is made of icy jadeite, but the clarity is just average! There was a layer of dust on the chessboard in the tomb before, and I didn't even notice it!"
The word "jadeite" originally referred to a bird. "Fei" was a small bird with red feathers, and "Cui" was a small bird with green feathers. Later, the two words were merged to specifically refer to a small bird with a bluish-green color and brown tinge.
Later, the name was applied to jade, specifically referring to a type of jadeite containing sodium aluminum silicate. This jadeite has uneven color, sometimes with red and green patches on a light-colored background, and its colors resemble those of a beautiful kingfisher.
Jadeite comes in a variety of colors. Pure jadeite is white, while jadeite containing metallic pigment ions can appear in colors such as green, red, purple, yellow, gray, and black.
Among them, red is called "Fei" and green is called "Cui". Of all the colors, the most precious and valuable is the beautiful green.
Upon receiving my affirmation, the monkey excitedly slapped its thigh: "I just grabbed a handful in the chaos, and I didn't expect to actually get something good!"
"In ancient times, jadeite was an object of appreciation for high-ranking officials and nobles, and a symbol of status and position. If a piece of jadeite had four colors representing fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness—red, green, purple, and yellow—it was a rare and exquisite piece. Although such a small piece of monochrome jadeite was not considered precious, its significance as a chess piece was different, especially in the Tang Dynasty when Go was popular, it was priceless."
I touched the texture of the jade in my hand: "Since there is a ceremonial sword that Li Shimin bestowed upon Li Yuanli in Li Fan's tomb, this Go set must also be a family heirloom that the emperor bestowed upon Li Yuanli. Since Li Fan had no children, he took it into his tomb."
The monkey grew increasingly excited as it listened: "Young Master Duan, how much are these things worth?"
"If it's a complete set, it's priceless! But a single chess piece is not, because you can't prove its origin, and the antique trade is full of stories to make up for things. When outsiders see this, they will only see it as a small ornament made by ancient people using carving waste, and its historical value will be greatly reduced."
I thought about it for a moment: "If we sell them by the piece, 20,000 yuan a piece shouldn't be a problem. If we find someone we like, 30,000 or 50,000 yuan is also possible."
"Wow, that's a huge difference! I should have taken the container of chess pieces with me back then!"
The monkey looked at the eight chess pieces in its hand with a look of frustration: "Oh dear, why are my hands so small! If I had grabbed just one more piece, that would have been tens of thousands of dollars!"
At this moment, Shark also came over and sat down next to me: "Mr. Duan, I have already communicated with President Wei. He wants you to return to Shenyang as soon as possible. The old man wants to see you."
I sat up: "If we leave, what will happen here?"
"You don't need to worry about these things. You are a person hired by the Wei family. You are only responsible for observing the qi and finding the tomb. The Wei family will take care of the rest of the responsibility."
Shark paused for a moment: "Next, we will excavate the collapsed tomb under the guise of construction. The old man's intention is for us to find the ceremonial sword. Apart from that, everything else will be donated to the museum."
The monkey held the chess piece in his hand, somewhat unwilling: "Your Changwei Group really knows how to do business. Shenxing said that the knife is priceless! You only gave the two of us a few hundred thousand, and we made such a huge fortune."
"There are rules in this industry. Since we've agreed to the terms, there's no such thing as one person losing out or the other gaining an advantage."
I remained relatively calm. After all, my main reason for agreeing to cooperate with the Wei family was to find out about my father. I changed the subject and asked, "What are your plans to do about Ma Zhenhong's matter?"
“These people are wanted criminals anyway, and no one will look for them once they disappear… As for how to deal with them, the less you know about such things, the better, so as not to get yourself into trouble.”
Shark paused for a moment: "Mr. Duan, there's something I need to remind you of. My men just interrogated the guards of the tomb, and they said that the blind old man is He Jinfeng's third uncle. Besides him, he also has a nephew named He Hai, who is also wanted. He Hai was in charge of many of the He family's gangster empire and tomb raiding businesses! This man is ruthless and currently on the run. Moreover, he knows the Changwei Group and your name. You must be careful in the future!"
I frowned: "You mean, he'll come looking for revenge on me?"
“The He family is a well-known family in the local underworld. After that blind old man died, He Hai is very likely to take a desperate gamble. Once he is caught, the best outcome will be a suspended death sentence. He has no way out and is a real desperado.”
Shark didn't hide anything: "The Longwei Group will find him as soon as possible. Until then, you must be extra careful!"
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