Volume 1Chapter 3: Guazi Temple

I looked at the printed version of the silk scroll full of text, and then at the expression on Uncle San’s face. It didn’t seem like a joke. Could it be that Uncle San had transcended to the point where he could see pictures in words? It didn’t seem like the old, unruly man who used to drink, gamble, and whore had any supernatural powers.

Uncle San was so excited that he couldn’t stop trembling. He kept muttering to himself, “Where did these people get such a good thing? How come I never come across it? This is really a stroke of luck. It seems that they still don’t know what it is. We can get ahead of them and find this sand.”

I was greatly confused. “Uncle San, maybe I’m a bit stupid, but can you really see a map from such small characters?”

“What do you know? This is called calligraphy. It is a detailed description of the geographical location of the place in writing. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to read it. Fortunately, I have some experience. In this world, I am afraid that there are no more than 10 people who can read this thing besides me.”

My uncle is not very talented, but he has studied the strange and unusual ancient non-orthodox writing and secret codes since he was a child. In a word, he studies whatever is rare. He can tell you everything about the five-wood book map of the Western Xia Dynasty and the earliest dental characters of the Jurchen. So I’m not surprised that he knows this kind of nonsense.

But he is the type who likes to show off when he gets an advantage. He has to pretend to be stupid in front of him, otherwise he will dismiss you with a word. So I pretended to be very stupid and asked him, “Oh, does it say to go left and then right, see the big tree in front and turn right, see the well and drill down? Is that it?”

Uncle San sighed: “You are hopeless. You have such a poor understanding. It looks like our family is finished with you.”

I saw that he was really sighing, as if he was telling the truth, and I couldn’t help but feel funny: “Then what do you think it is like? My father didn’t teach me, and this thing wasn’t born.”

He said proudly, “This kind of calligraphy is actually a kind of code. It has a strict format. As long as you draw what is written inside according to its format, it will be a complete map. Don’t underestimate these few words in the silk book. You don’t know how complicated the information inside is. Maybe it even clearly marks how many bricks were used and where they were used.”

I was immediately intrigued. I thought to myself, “I’ve never been allowed to go out and dig a real bucket since I was a child. This time, I’m definitely going to ask Uncle San to take me to see it, and maybe I can get a few treasures to get me through my financial crisis.” While thinking about this, I asked him, “Can you tell who’s tomb it is, or if it’s a more important person?”

Uncle San smiled proudly: “I can’t read it all now, but this tomb should belong to a nobleman from the state of Lu during the Warring States period. Just looking at the way his tomb is recorded in this silk book with such secret calligraphy and painting shows that this person must have been very high-ranking.

I saw the light in his eyes and thought it was strange. This old guy is usually too lazy to even leave the house, so why would he want to go this time? That would be a strange story. I asked him hurriedly, “What? Uncle San, are you really going to personally go and dig up this sand?”

He patted my shoulder and said, “You don’t understand. I’ll tell you, during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there were treasures in the tombs, but at most they could be described as masterpieces of craftsmanship. But during the Warring States period, the royal tombs of that period were too old. You could never guess what was inside. Those Warring States tombs were the place where artifacts came from. They were all things that did not exist in the world! You think I wouldn’t want to see it?“

”Are you sure? What if there’s nothing in it?“

”No, don’t you see the pattern?” He pointed to the strange fox face: ‘This is the mask that the people of the state of Lu wore when they sacrificed animals. Someone very special must be buried in this tomb, probably more important than the emperor at the time.’

I blurted out: ”The emperor’s father.”

Uncle San glared at me and tried to put the printout away. I held it down and smiled at him: “Uncle San, don’t rush to put it away. After all, I got it. You have to take me to see it this time.”

He yelled, “No way! It’s not that simple to dig in the sand. The place has no air conditioning and is full of traps. You could die at any time. You’re your father’s only child. If anything happens to you, I’ll make your father skin you alive.”

I also yelled, “That’s it! I’ll just pretend I was never here!” I pulled the paper out of his hand and turned to leave. I knew that once Uncle San encountered something he liked, he had no principles at all. Seeing antiques like this, and seeing women like this, I knew he would give in. Sure enough, after a few steps, he surrendered and chased after me, grabbing the paper in my hand and saying, “Okay, okay, you’re the best, but let’s agree that when we go down the cave, you have to stay on top. Is that all right?”

I was overjoyed, thinking to myself, ‘When the time comes, you won’t be able to stop me from going down there!’ I quickly nodded, saying, ‘Of course! When we’re away from home, I’ll do whatever you say!’

Uncle San sighed helplessly and said, ”We can’t do it alone. I’ll get some experienced helpers tomorrow. I’ll be working on this painting for a few days, and you’ll have to help me get some things.” He quickly wrote a note to me and said, “Don’t buy any fakes. Also, prepare some travel gear, or we’ll be detained before we even get there.” I nodded and promised, and we went off to do our own things.

The things my uncle wanted were all pretty tricky, and I thought he was deliberately making things difficult for me because the items on the list were not generally available in stores. For example, there were split waterproof miner’s lamps, threaded steel pipes, soil testers, multi-purpose knives, folding shovels, sledgehammers, bandages, nylon ropes, etc. I had only bought half of the list and had already spent nearly 10,000 yuan. I was so distressed that I cursed the old fox, saying that he was so stingy even though he was so rich.

Three days later, my uncle and I, along with two of his old friends and the young man who bought my uncle’s goods, arrived at a place called Guazi Temple in Shandong Province, 100 kilometers west of the city.

What can I say about this place? It’s just a place, with nothing at all. We first took a long-distance bus, then a long-distance minibus, then a long-distance motorcycle, then a bullock cart. When we finally got off the bullock cart, we looked left and right and back and forth, but still saw nothing. Then we saw a dog running up ahead. My third uncle slapped the guide he had hired and said, “Old man, shall we ride this dog for the next leg? I’m afraid this dog is useless!”

“No,“ the old man laughed. ‘This dog is used to send a message. For this last journey, there is no vehicle, so we have to take a boat. The dog will bring the boat here.’

”This dog can swim?“

”It can swim very well,” the old man looked at the dog, ‘Donkey balls, go swim a look.’

The dog was really smart, it really jumped into the river and swam around. It came up and shook its fur, then lay on the ground and licked its tongue.

“It’s still too early. The boatman must not have started work yet. Let’s take a break and have a smoke.“

I looked at my watch: ‘It’s not even 2:00 p.m. What kind of work schedule do you have as a boatman?’

”He’s the only boatman here. He’s the best. He gets up and starts work whenever he wants. Sometimes he doesn’t work at all, which can be very frustrating.” The old man smiled and said, ”There’s nothing we can do about it. The river god only sells him face. Others, as soon as they enter the cave, they’re definitely not going to be able to get out. If you knew how to ride a mule, we could go over the mountain and be there in a day, but you have so many things with you, and we don’t have enough mules for you.“

”Oh.” Uncle San was immediately excited when he heard about the cave. He took out the translated map, which he had always kept as a treasure and never let me take a look. As soon as he took it out, we immediately gathered around to look at it. Only the young man sat on the side without saying a word.

To be honest, my uncle’s two assistants were easy to get along with, both of them were honest people, but this guy was like a silent oil bottle, not even letting out a fart the whole way, just staring straight at the sky, as if the sky would fall down, so annoying! I started to talk to him at first, but then I simply ignored him. I really don’t understand why Uncle San brought him along.

“There is a cave, it’s really a river cave, just behind this mountain,” said Uncle San. “Old man, how can this cave eat people?”

The old man laughed and said, “It was all left over from the last few generations, and I can’t remember clearly. When the river was not connected, the village said that there was a snake spirit inside, and no one who went in ever came out. Then one day, the boatman’s great-grandfather came out of the cave with a small boat, saying that he was a peddler from outside. Everyone said he was a snake spirit, but his great-grandfather laughed and said that the boat was bought in the next village. They went to the next village to ask, and sure enough, it was true. Only his family could go in and out of the cave, and you said it was weird, right? Later, his family continued to do this job until now.

“Is the dog okay?” I was surprised. “Isn’t it used to send messages?”

“This dog is also raised by his family. No one else’s dog, not to mention a cow, can get out.”

“Such a strange thing, and no one in the government is in charge?”

“That’s also true, but you have to say it out loud for people to believe it.” The old man knocked on the ground with his pipe.

Uncle San frowned and clapped his hands: “Donkey balls, come here.”

The dog really listened to him and ran over. Uncle San picked him up and sniffed him. His face changed: “No way! Could there be something in that hole?”

I picked him up and sniffed him too. The smell of dog sweat made me cough. The owner of the dog was really lazy. I don’t know how long it had been since the dog had been bathed.

His assistant, Pan Zi, laughed heartily: “You want to be like your uncle? You’re still young.”

“This damn dog, why does it stink so much!” I was disgusted and my mouth was watering.

“This dog grew up eating dead people when it was young,” said Uncle San. “That was a corpse cave. No wonder it took so long to get through. That boatman, when he was young, was probably also…”

“No way!” I was so scared that my hair stood on end. When he said that, even the boy who had been silent changed his expression.

My uncle’s other employee was a big man, whom we called A-Kui. He was as big as the ox that pulled the cart, but he was very timid. He asked softly, “What exactly is a corpse hole? Will anything happen if I go in?”

“I don’t know. A few years ago, I found a similar hole in Taiyuan, Shanxi. It was where the Japanese massacred bodies. Wherever there is a corpse hole, there must be a massacre. This is certain. At that time, I was just having fun and doing experiments there. I put dogs and ducks on a bamboo raft, then put a camera on it and pushed it in. The hole was only a little over a kilometer long. I prepared a long enough cable, but When the cable was all used up, the bamboo raft didn’t come out. It was pitch black inside, and I didn’t know where it had drifted to. Later, I wanted to pull the bamboo raft out, but after I had pulled it a few times, suddenly the bamboo raft turned over, and then…” Uncle San spread his hands. ”In the end, I only saw half of a face. It was too close to the screen to tell if it was a dog or something else. In ancient times, people would pass through such a hole together with the dead and the living. If it was a living thing, it would never be able to get out! However, I heard that in the Shanxi area, people would feed their children dead flesh from a young age, so that the corpse’s energy would accumulate in their bodies. When they grew up, they would be no different from the dead, and even ghosts would not be able to see them. Old man, did your boatman come from Shanxi?

The old man’s face changed slightly, and he shook his head: “I don’t know. That was his great-grandfather’s time, and it wasn’t even the same dynasty.” He looked at the sky and called out to the dog, “Donkey balls, go get your boat!” The dog barked once, jumped into the water and swam behind the mountain.

At this time, I saw that Uncle San gave Pan Zi a wink, and Pan Zi secretly took out a backpack from his luggage and put it on his back. The young man sitting on the side also stood up and took out his own bag from the luggage pile. When Pan Zi walked past me, he whispered in Hangzhou dialect, “This old man has a problem, be careful.”