Chapter 3 He was a grave robber

“Tsk, tsk, why are there only vegetables today?” Su Rou picked at the food in my lunch box, a little dissatisfied with my food today.

“Cut the crap, I didn’t ask you to eat it. I brought it from home, not from the mountains.” I picked up my lunch box and started eating. I was hungry because I had eaten too early for breakfast.

“Sanwa, your family went to the county seat, and life is still that difficult? Every time you come back from home, it’s always vegetarian food. Come on, fix some braised pork my mother made?” Su Rou said, and he was about to put his braised pork in my lunch box.

I glanced at Su Rou’s braised pork. It was cut into square pieces, the color was bright red, and it looked pretty good. Unfortunately, the meat was fat and I was already tired of it the moment I saw it. Besides, I love to eat some vegetarian food in the world right now.

I used chopsticks to block the crispy meat and said, “No, you can eat it yourself.”

“You’re so polite.” The crispy meat scolded, but didn’t insist. He just kept saying, “I eat a big lunch box every day, at most a box and a half, and I’m so fat! No girl likes me. You eat three big lunch boxes, you don’t get fat, and you’re so good-looking, all the girls in the school like you. Damn, it’s not fair, how am I going to live in the future?”

I took a few mouthfuls of rice and said, “Don’t talk nonsense, there are still teachers in this school who feed the hens. Don’t you say that all the hens in the school like me? I haven’t seen any girls like me.”

“That’s because you don’t talk to other people. You’re always at school, and your face is like a comic strip. How can people dare to approach you?”

What do you mean by a face like a comic strip?

“You see, in comic books, once a character is drawn, he or she has one expression, and even if the comic book is torn, that expression doesn’t change. You say you’re at school, from when you go to school to when you leave, you have the same expression, isn’t that like a comic book?”

Su Rou was really getting more and more ridiculous. I swallowed my rice and said to him in a slow voice, “Do you believe I will beat you?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Su Rou said quickly, but he still couldn’t help muttering, “This little boy was so lively and cute when he was young, but now he’s grown up and become like this. I know, I’ve seen it in my martial arts books. He’s learning from those great masters. Oh, he’s got a dignified and noble posture.”

I was too lazy to argue with him, and said directly, “I called you out here because I have something important to discuss.”

“What’s the matter? Is it about Liu Chunyan?”

“What does she have to do with it?” I was surprised. Liu Chunyan is studying in town. Could it be that she has also run into trouble and needs my help?

“Don’t think I don’t know that Liu Chunyan likes you. I’m the one who picks up your letters from school. Liu Chunyan writes you a letter every week. I’ve counted them.

“I don’t even read them. I just throw them in the drawer. What good things could she possibly say? Either she’s bragging about her good grades, or she’s accusing me of bullying her.” I didn’t think much of it. I thought to myself, this Liu Chunyan is also a lunatic. We’re from the same village. She comes back from town every week. If she has something to say, can’t she just say it when she sees me? What’s the point of writing letters? I really didn’t read those letters.

As for her liking me? I don’t care about this at all, and I don’t like to think about it. I have a lot of things to do every day.

“Come on, stop talking nonsense. I asked you out today to talk about Guo Er.” By now, I had finished eating a whole box of rice, and we hadn’t even gotten to the main topic. It was clear how much Su Rou could talk.

“Guo Er? Which Guo Er are you talking about? The one from the village?” Su Rou asked.

I nodded and told Su Rou everything my mother had told me, then asked, “You like to run around the village all day long, and I heard that you have also had contact with Guo Er. Do you know about this?”

“I knew you were going to talk about this. I didn’t know. The situation has become more serious in the past two days. I heard that he was vomiting blood because of his stomach pain, but as soon as he got better, he got up to look for food. Yesterday, I heard from Yan Jiang that Guo Er actually got up and went to the rice container to eat raw rice without paying attention. When his family found him, he was eating with blood in his mouth. I guess the raw rice choked his throat. You can imagine how he ate.” Su Rou obviously knew more.

“Which one is Yan Jiang?” I asked.

“I said, Sanwa, you’re not serious, are you? Yan Jiang is my younger brother, but he’s in your class.” Su Rou rolled his eyes, obviously speechless by my behavior.

“Oh.” I didn’t think so. With seventy or eighty people in a class, it’s normal that I can’t remember them all. I remembered a question and asked Su Rou, “Tell me, what did your gang do with Guo Er?”

“Don’t say it so harshly. What do you mean by ‘gang’? We just contacted him for money. Who in this village doesn’t know that Guo Er is rich? To be honest, we were helping him out.”

“What kind of things?”

“It’s weird to talk about it. He often asks us to find out a little bit of old history in this area, such as what landlord came from which village, and where the dignitaries are buried. Otherwise, he asks us to run around the mountains to see the terrain there.” Su Rou said with a strange tone.

My heart skipped a beat, and the experience of selling jade with old man Jiang in the early years came back to mind!

I knew about tomb robbers back then, and in recent years, Old Jiang has told me bits and pieces about underground tomb robbers.

In the past two years, it has become clear that the country is engaged in economic construction, and some people with quick wits have started doing business. All kinds of previously forbidden and secret ways of making money have been unearthed by the people with infinite wisdom. I have some idea of what Guo Er is doing for a living.

It is very likely that he has encountered something underground!

Seeing that I was silent, Su Rou was a bit anxious. He said, “Sanwa, you ask so many questions, and you keep saying it’s important. What did you find out? Tell me.”

Su Rou was one of the few people who knew the truth about me and Old Jiang. The experience with the snake spirit had left a lasting impression on him. He had grown up over the years and must have realized that the story about being executed was just a joke.

However, with the maturity of his thinking, he must also know that there are some things that you can never tell even if you are beaten to death.

Some things about me and Old Man Jiang are the deepest secrets in his heart. He has never told anyone, but there is no denying that me and Old Man Jiang are also his deepest curiosity. He is inevitably very interested in everything about us.

Unfortunately, the life I’ve led with Old Man Jiang over the years has been so uneventful that I can’t think of a way to show him the second snake spirit.

I didn’t say anything, but I punched him in the shoulder, and he was in pain and grimacing.

“Sanwa, why did you hit me?”

“I’m warning you, don’t do anything bad for a little money that you don’t know about. If you get caught, you’ll go to jail.” I said seriously.

When Su Rou saw that I was serious, he looked at me with the same serious expression as when he saw Old Jiang. He asked me with a hint of fear, “Sanwa, what’s going on?”

“Don’t you understand what Guo Er is doing? Guo Er is robbing graves! Do you know what robbing graves is? It’s digging up other people’s graves and stealing things to sell! It’s illegal, and you’re still helping him.”

“Damn it, I’ve been wondering why Guo Er has been so rich in the past two years, but this place is so scary, where people are buried, how could there be anything valuable in it?” Su Rou asked.

“Gold, silver, jade, as long as you find the right grave, there are many things. There are no good things you can’t see, only good things you can’t think of.” This kid, ignorant and narrow-minded, has reached a certain level.

Su Rou was silent for a while, not knowing what he was thinking. After a long time, his face suddenly changed and he said to me, “Sanwa, do you mean that Guo Er has run into a ghost? I… will I also get into trouble? I used to listen to him, running around with a group of people, all over the mountains and fields!”

“I don’t know if Guo Er has run into a ghost, but I’m sure it has nothing to do with you.” I put down the second empty lunch box and said calmly.

But who is Su Rou? Su Rou is one of the people who knows me best. He suddenly stared at me and said, “Sanwa, what do you want to do?”

“Oh, I was thinking that after we finish eating, you could take me over the wall and take me to Guo’er’s house. I want to see what’s going on.”

“You’re not going to call Master Jiang?” Su Rou looked very insecure.

“No, you don’t think I’m good enough? I’ve been studying for more than seven years, and you think I’m not good enough?” I was angry, and I shouted at Su Rou.