Volume 6 Chapter 13 The truth about the Xisha

Jude’s account ends here, and the rest of the story is what happened after Xie Lianlian went to find Uncle San.

His account made it very clear to me what had caused this incident. I really didn’t expect that Uncle San would have been involved in this so early on, and that the connection between Anning and our Wu family was so deep.

After Uncle San finished speaking, he took a break, and let me ask him if I had any questions or doubts.

I knew that he was just blowing off steam, and that he was still upset that I didn’t believe him.

I thought about it, and I decided that I couldn’t say that I didn’t believe him, but there were a few things that I still didn’t understand.

We already know that Jude Kao and Xie Lianhuan have been in contact for a long time, and the meeting was just a reunion. And based on what I learned later, I suspect that Jude Kao came to Xie Lianhuan probably to ask him to infiltrate the archaeological team of Wenjin in Xisha, sneak into the tomb of Wang Zanghai under the sea, and take something out for him. And this thing is probably the bronze snake-eyed fish that Wang Zanghai hid the secret of the Dongxia Kingdom.

So, Qiu De’s knowledge of the Bloody Corpse Tomb was undoubtedly revealed by Third Uncle himself, but how did Qiu De know about the underwater tomb, such a secret place? Did Third Uncle tell him as well? This is impossible.

Also, according to Uncle San’s story, the origin of all this is the Warring States Silk Manuscripts. However, what is the relationship between Wang Zanghai of Xisha and the Warring States Silk Manuscripts? Why did Jude turn his attention to Xisha?

When I raised these questions, Uncle San nodded and said, “You’ve got the key. It was Jude who let Xie Lianhuan infiltrate the archaeological team, but your speculation is only half right. According to his own account, he did not let Xie Lianhuan enter the tomb for the snake-browed bronze fish, but only to let him photograph the corpse in the coffin.

As for why he did this, the foreigner refused to say, and at the same time, he refused to disclose where he got the information about Wang Zanghai’s tomb. When Uncle San asked him, he used an old Chinese saying to pretend to be mysterious: “The secret cannot be revealed.”

“But,” said Uncle San, ‘I can guess what happened later. You can listen to see if it makes sense.’

I nodded and he drew a few dots on the bed with his finger. ”I thought about it. The foreigner returned to China and set his sights on Xisha a year after the Changsha incident. From the time it took to deduce that he knew about the underwater tomb, it should also be within this year. So something must have happened during this year that allowed Xie Lianhuan to get this information.

But we know that during that time, Jude Kao was greatly stimulated. It is obviously impossible that he immediately picked himself up and devoted himself to another matter just because he knew that there was an ancient tomb at the bottom of the sea. At that time, the only thing that could attract his attention was something related to the Warring States Silk Manuscript. So we can infer that that matter must also be related to the Warring States Silk Manuscript. Jude Kao was first attracted by the information in the Warring States silk book, and then he noticed the Xisha incident that was related to it.

“It’s impossible to deduce what this matter is, but based on what happened afterwards, I feel that it is very likely that the foreigner met someone who had entered the underwater tomb. It is very likely that he helped Jude Kao uncover the meaning of the star map in the silk book. This meaning and Wang Zanghai’s tomb must be connected, causing Jude Kao’s interest to turn to Xisha. Therefore, Jude Kao came to China again and tried to infiltrate the archaeological team to find the answer to the riddle.”

“Why are you so sure that he met someone, and not something else?” I asked.

Third Uncle said, ‘That’s because of the information. Jude Kao’s information about the tomb is too detailed and precise. Someone must have been inside and then organized it. There is no other situation that could have allowed him to know it in such detail.’

I nodded. This makes sense, but why would the star map on the Warring States silk book have a relationship with the Ming tomb? Could it be that Tie Mian Sheng looked at the star map and predicted that a colleague would be digging a grave in that place a thousand years later?

If the star map could predict such trivial things, I’m afraid it wouldn’t have been lost. This point still needs to be verified.

After that was the Xisha incident. After that incident, the whole thing entered a state of chaos. The entire archaeological team disappeared in the ancient tombs on the seabed of Xisha, and only Uncle San returned. Jude Kao once thought that Uncle San had killed everyone, but from the way Uncle San behaved after that, it was clear that he had no idea what had happened. The whole thing had become a huge mystery. The truth of the matter depended on what Uncle San had to say.

After a short break, Uncle San made a gesture to indicate that he was ready to continue, and I also sat up straight and paid attention.

He took a deep breath, clearly to change his mood. What I just said was about Jude, which was not very interesting. Now I want to tell you about what he experienced.

After taking a deep breath, his face became serious and his tone of voice became very slow and hesitant.

After thinking for a while, he said to me, “First of all, there are some things about Xisha. When I was in the hospital in Jinan, your uncle did deceive you. However, I had no choice. This matter has always been a thorn in my side. I really don’t want to mention it again. You have to understand me.”

I nodded and didn’t answer. I knew that Uncle San had lied to me a long time ago, and I didn’t want to blame him. I just wanted to know the truth.

Uncle San took a sip of water and continued, ”Actually, the discovery of the underwater tomb was just a play by Lao Tzu. As early as that morning, I had already gone in with Xie Lianhuan. However, the place I went into should be different from the place you went into later, because Xie Lianhuan had very detailed information. We went directly into the core part of the tomb because the goal of the foreigner’s commission was to place Wang Zanghai’s coffin in the coffin chamber.

“Do you mean the one in the middle of the three tombs?” I recalled the structure of the underwater tomb.

Uncle San shook his head and smiled bitterly: “No, the place you are talking about is only the first floor of the tomb. This shipwreck tomb is larger than you can imagine. Wang Zanghai’s coffin is buried at the bottom of the tomb, and in a very strange situation… it’s hard to describe in words.

At the time, Xie Lianhuan had obtained quite detailed information from Jude Kao, and it could be seen that the original information in Jude Kao’s hands should be extremely authoritative. At the same time, Jude Kao provided Xie Lianhuan with an American camera and flashlight. It is said to be the most advanced model in the world at the time, very compact and waterproof.

The information told Xie Lianhuan that about half a mile to the left of the reef where the archaeological team was investigating, there was a place that the locals called “Shatou Reef,” a reef forest composed of dozens of main reefs and countless underwater reefs. This reef, which was underwater, was part of a giant coral reef. On one of the reefs, there is a water-soluble cave, located below sea level. Even at low tide, only a hint of it is exposed. This is the opening that the craftsmen used when they broke into the ship and sealed the tomb with water when the ship sank. Entering from here, you can enter the coral reef plate, and the huge shipwreck at the bottom of the sea is embedded in the reef plate, among the sea sand.

As long as you enter the coral reef cave, you can go all the way down to the inside of the shipwreck. After that, how to proceed and what to be careful of are all explained in detail in the information. It is almost as if this ancient tomb was designed by Jude Kao.

Such detailed information is not something that ordinary ancient documents can achieve. That’s why Uncle San thought that someone might have already entered the underwater tomb, and that perhaps this person had entered but failed to find what they were looking for, so Jude Kao had to ask for help again.

Originally, Xie Lianhuan knew his own worth and would not have agreed to any request to go underground. However, Qiu De’s status was different. On the one hand, Xie Lianhuan felt that he owed him. On the other hand, over the past year, Xie Lianhuan had also participated in many family activities and had finally gone underground a few times. His courage and skills were different from before, and Qiu De’s conditions were very high. He was also in the age of blind confidence, so in the end, he reluctantly agreed.

When Uncle San learned that the foreigner and Xie Lianhuan were having an affair, he originally wanted to strenuously oppose Xie Lianhuan joining the archaeological team. However, after that, many things happened that made Uncle San feel that something was very wrong. In order to find out the true purpose of the foreigner and Xie Lianhuan, Uncle San took a risk and persuaded Wen Jin to deliberately let Xie Lianhuan join the archaeological team. On the surface, he remained calm, but in fact, he was secretly watching to see what he would do.

Things began to unfold in a mysterious way. There are many hidden secrets, but they are not important. I will not go into detail here, but I will only talk about what happened to Xie Lianhuan the night before his accident in Xisha.

That day was the first day of the end of the archaeological team’s work. The salvage work was almost over, and the work was easy, so everyone drank a little wine before going to bed and slept soundly.

Xie Lianhuan had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. There were only a few days left before the end of the work, and he knew that he couldn’t miss this opportunity. So when he was sure that everyone was asleep, he pretended to get up to urinate, but in fact he was listening to the situation and waiting for an opportunity to go to sea.

He didn’t know that his childhood playmate, the wife of Wu Sanxian, was now a sophisticated old-timer, and that every move he made from the moment he got on the boat was firmly in the eyes of this person.

Uncle San was also quite depressed at the time. He had already been unhappy with Xie Lianhuan in many ways, and he didn’t know Xie Lianhuan’s intentions. So Xie Lianhuan was a time bomb on the boat for Uncle San. He didn’t know the power or when it would explode. The time that was originally good for Wen Jin to talk about love and affection had to be guarded against him.

There was another reason that was more hidden. Uncle San didn’t mention it directly, but I could tell from his description that Wen Jin obviously admired Xie Lianhuan. On the one hand, the young master really knew how to please women, and his character was too different from Uncle San’s; on the other hand, Xie Lianhuan’s appearance was not inferior to Uncle San’s in many ways, and Uncle San, a novice in this area, was inevitably jealous.

So when Xie Lianhuan made a move, Uncle San was overjoyed. When Xie Lianhuan had just put down the raft and wanted to row away from the fishing boat, Uncle San suddenly appeared and pressed him down on the deck.

Xie Lianhuan was taken by surprise by his sudden appearance, but he was not afraid when he saw it was Uncle San, because if it had been anyone else, he might have been accused of defecting to Vietnam at that time, but Uncle San, everyone knew each other’s secrets, and he could not do anything to him. So he quietly asked Uncle San to let go.

However, Uncle San had long harbored a grudge against him, and he was already suspicious of him. How could he let him go so easily? He bit his teeth and almost twisted his hand off, asking him what he wanted to do by going to the archaeological team and going to sea so late.

This was a bit of a pretext to vent his own frustration. Xie Lianhuan was still stubborn at first, and his heart was also burning. In Changsha, no one dared to treat him like this except for his elders, so he lowered his voice and cursed.

Uncle San didn’t take him seriously at all. As soon as he heard him swear, he pushed his head under the water and kept it there until his eyes rolled back in his head.

When Uncle San asked him the same question again, he told him everything that had happened.

After hearing this, Uncle San’s eyes lit up and he couldn’t believe his ears. It turned out that there was a ship burial tomb under the sea! This was really unexpected. The old man’s notes also recorded the sea burial of ships that had been told by previous generations, but this kind of sea burial is extremely rare. The old man himself had only heard about it and had not personally investigated it. And the vast ocean floor, with miles of sand, is thousands of times more difficult to find a clue than on land. Now that this foreigner knows so much, who is he?

Thinking about Uncle San, he couldn’t help but feel itchy and couldn’t wait to go down to the sea to take a look. He let out a sigh and said softly, “Is that all? If you had told me earlier, what would it matter? What relationship do I have with you? Would I have stolen it from you?”

Xie Lianhuan was already depressed and said, “I hid this from my father, and of course I don’t want you to know. Besides, I’m not that familiar with you, and I’m afraid that if I tell you, it will cause more trouble. Tell me honestly, if I had told you, would you have let me join the archaeological team?

Uncle San thought about it and realized that he had already been more lenient. He said to him, “You’re right, but I’ll remind you that this Jude Kao is known as the ‘White-headed Old Man’ in Changsha. This person is not simple. Your cousin, I don’t think this is a good idea. You should either put it down for now and let’s go back and find some people to discuss it for a long time, or this time let your cousin accompany you. After all, your cousin is not bragging, and he has more experience than you.

Xie Lianhuan spat and said, “They say that you, Wu Sanxing, are smarter than a monkey. I’m not just flattering you. If you want to make a little money, just say so. We’re on the same boat. At this point, what can I say no to?”

Uncle San heard this and sneered to himself, thinking that this second-generation scion was quite perceptive. So the two of them temporarily teamed up, agreeing that once they got in, each would take what they wanted, and that neither of them should be held back by the other.

The actions of Uncle San at the time cannot be said to be driven by interests, nor are they glorious. They even make me feel like what the fat man did. It can be seen that Uncle San’s character is not mature in a short time.

After taking an oath and preparing the equipment, the two of them put down the rubber raft and went out to sea at night. They rowed all the way in the dark, relying on the compass. Soon, they arrived at the “Shatou Reef” that the foreigner had mentioned. Uncle San looked up and saw that it was just as the old man had said, the moon was covered by dark clouds, and the entire reef was gray and misty. He was shocked and said to Xie Lianhuan, “You really chose a good time. There is no moon at all, the dark clouds cover the sky, and it is like a blind man entering a cave.