Volume 1Chapter 2 Fifty years later

50 years later, at the Xiling Seal Society in Hangzhou, my thoughts were interrupted by an old man. I closed my grandfather’s notes and took a look at the other person.

“Do you accept rubbings here?” he asked, as if he was just asking casually. I do this line quite well, so I just gave him a perfunctory answer: “Yes, but the price is not high.” In other words, if you don’t have anything good, just leave, don’t delay the master from reading.

In our line of work, if you don’t open for three years, you’ll be eating for three years. We’re used to being idle during the week, and we hate serving those half-baked customers. Later on, whenever we saw passers-by, we would play sad music to drive them away. But recently, the lack of business has been a bit too much. We can see that the peak season is almost over, and we haven’t seen any good things coming in, so we can’t stand it anymore.

“Then I’d like to ask if you have any rubbings of the silk manuscripts from the Warring States period? The one that was stolen by a few local tomb robbers in Changsha 50 years ago and then was stolen by an American?“ The man asked while looking at the collection in my counter.

”You said it was stolen by an American, where is it?” I was angry when I heard this. ‘Of course you have to go to the market to find a rubbing, how can you find it if you specify one?’

He lowered his voice: ”I heard that you have a way, I was introduced by Lao Yang.”

I became alert and alarmed. Lao Yang was in jail the year before last. How could he have betrayed me? I was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on my back. “Which Lao Yang? I don’t know him.”

“I know, I know,” he said with a laugh, taking a watch from his breast pocket. “You see, Lao Yang said you would understand as soon as you saw it.”

The watch was given to him by his first love in the Northeast. He treasured it like his life, and when he was drunk, he would take it out and look at it while calling out “cuckoo, beautiful.” I asked him what his old lady’s name was, and after thinking for a long time, he burst into tears and said he had forgotten. The fact that Lao Yang was willing to give this watch to this person shows that this person is indeed someone.

But I find this person repulsive. But since he came to see me, I’d better be quick to speak. So I just raised my hand and said, “If you’re an old friend of Lao Yang’s, what do you want from me?”

He smiled and showed a big gold tooth. “A friend of mine brought something back from Shanxi and wants you to tell me if it’s real.”

“You have a Beijing accent. You’re from Beijing, and you’re coming all the way to the south to consult me. You’re flattering me. There are so many good people in Beijing. I’m afraid you’re not here for the right reasons!”

He laughed and said, ‘They say southerners are smart, and it’s true. You’re not very old, but you’re very perceptive. To be honest, I didn’t come here to see you. I want to meet your grandfather.’

My face changed. ”What do you want with my grandfather?”

“After your grandfather stole the silk book from the Warring States period at Daziling in Changsha, did he leave a copy or two? My friend just wants to know if it is the same as the one we have.”

Before he could finish, I yelled at the sleepy-eyed clerk next to me, ‘Wang Meng, show the guest out!’

The old man with gold teeth was anxious: ”Why are you kicking people out of here?”

“You’re right, but you’re too late. My old man passed away last year. If you want to find him, go home and slit your wrists!“ I thought to myself, ‘That incident even alarmed the central government. It was a big deal. How could I bring up the old account with you? Could my family still be okay?’

”I said you little grandson, why are your words so unpleasant to hear?” The old man with the big gold teeth smiled slyly, “It doesn’t matter that the old man is gone. I didn’t say anything. After all, you should take a look at the things I brought. Don’t you want to sell Lao Yi a face?”

I looked at him. He was smiling but not smiling. It seemed that he really wouldn’t leave without looking at him. I thought to myself that I would sell Lao Yi a face, and he wouldn’t complain when he came out. So I nodded and said, “I’ll take a look. I can’t say whether it’s true or not.”

In fact, there are more than 20 volumes of this Warring States silk book, each volume is different. The one my grandfather copied at the time was only a very short part of it, but it was extremely important. Now, I have a few copies of the book, which are my most precious treasures. I can’t buy them on the market even if I have money. I saw the old man with the gold teeth take out a piece of white paper from his bosom. I was angry when I saw it. Damn, it’s still a photocopy.

“That’s right. You can’t carry that treasure around everywhere. It will break if you shake it.” He said, lowering his voice in a mysterious manner, “If it weren’t for my extensive connections, this thing would have long since gone abroad. It’s also a service to the people.”

I laughed, “You look like a grave robber. I think you’re afraid to sell it. This is a national treasure. You don’t want your head!”

When I exposed him, the old man’s face turned green, but he still had to endure it because he needed my help. He said, “You can’t say that. Every profession has its own rules. When your grandfather was a grave robber in Changsha, he was also famous…”

I was definitely very upset, and I gritted my teeth and said, “If you mention my grandfather again, I won’t look at it!”

“Okay, let’s stop. Look at it quickly so I can run away quickly.”

I unfolded the white paper and knew at once that it was a well-preserved silk book from the Warring States period, but it wasn’t the one my grandfather had stolen. Although this one was also quite old, it was a fake from a later dynasty, which meant it was an antique fake, something with a very embarrassing identity. So I smiled and said, “This is a fake from the Han Dynasty. How should I put it? If you say it’s fake, it’s not. If you say it’s real, it’s not. Who knows if it’s a copy or a fake? So I don’t know what to say.”

“So is this the one your grandfather stole?”

“To be honest with you, my grandfather didn’t even have time to take a look at the one he stole before the American conned him. I really can’t answer your question.” I thought to myself, it’s easy to fool you, and I pretended to be very sincere. The old man with the gold teeth really believed it, and sighed, “That’s a real coincidence. If I don’t go find that American, I’m afraid there’s really no hope.”

“Why, why do you care so much about this scroll?” I asked. This is too strange. The collection of ancient books is all about fate. It’s too greedy to want to find a set of 20 scrolls of ancient books from the Warring States period.

“Little brother, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not really a tomb raider. Look at my body, it’s not strong enough to handle it. But my friend is really an expert. I don’t know what he’s selling, but he has his reasons.” He laughed and shook his head. ‘We shouldn’t ask too much, right? I’ll go first.’ He left without looking back.

I looked down and saw that he still had the photocopy in my hand. Suddenly, I saw a pattern on the paper. It was a human face like a fox. The two eyes without pupils were very three-dimensional, as if they were concave from the paper. I took a deep breath. I had never seen this silk book before. It should be a treasure. I thought that when Lao Yi came out, I would use this photocopy to make a few fake rubbings, which would be enough to make me happy. I hurried outside and took a quick look, only to see the old man with the gold teeth hurrying back.

I thought to myself that he must have come back to get this thing, so I hurried back, took out my digital camera and took a picture of it, then picked up the paper and walked out the door. I ran into the old man with the gold teeth and said, “You forgot something.”

My grandfather was a Changsha grave robber, or what is commonly known as a “tomb robber.”

The reason my grandfather entered this profession is not surprising at all. In modern terms, it is a hereditary profession. When my great-grandfather was 13, there was a drought in the central region of China. In those days, a drought would lead to famine, and you couldn’t buy food even if you had money. At that time, there was nothing in the corners of Changsha, except for many ancient tombs. So they lived off the mountains and and the whole village dug together. I don’t know how many people starved to death in Changsha during those years, but not a single person in their village died, and they all had a full face of oil. This was all possible because they exchanged the things they dug up with foreigners for food.

Later, as time went on, tomb raiding, like other things, also had a cultural accumulation. By the time of my grandfather’s generation, there were already rules and divisions of schools. At that time, tomb raiding was divided into two schools, the Southern and the Northern schools. The Southern school was my grandfather’s school, which was good at using the Luoyang shovel to probe the soil. can determine the depth and dynasty with just a nose. Nowadays, many novels describe the Luoyang shovel being used all the time, but in fact, the northern school does not use the Luoyang shovel. They are good at accurately judging the location and structure of the tomb, which is called “seeking the dragon and acupuncture points.” But the people of the northern school are a bit strange. How should I put it? According to my grandfather, they are not practical, they have too many tricks up their sleeves, and they make so much fuss about robbing a tomb. They just go in, take what they want, and leave. They even have to check and double-check. This is very bureaucratic nowadays. The Southern School has fewer rules and never avoids the dead. The Northern School scolds the Southern School for being a hypocrite, for being a thief and making themselves look like like, and later things got so bad that they were about to fight to the death. There were even things like “fighting over corpses.” In the end, the two factions finally split up along the Yangtze River. The northern faction called it “turning over the bucket,” and the southern faction called it “washing the sand” or “washing the soil.” The Luoyang shovel was only invented after the division, and the northern faction simply didn’t bother to use it.

My grandfather couldn’t read, but he later went to a literacy class. At that time, he could only dig for sand, and learning to read almost killed him. It was only because he had a culture that he was able to record some of his experiences. In Changsha, the old man at Daziling was my grandfather. These things were recorded word by word in his old notebook. My grandmother was a cultured person, a lady of the family, and she was attracted by his stories. In the end, my grandfather came to Hangzhou and settled down here.

That notebook is a family heirloom. My grandfather’s nose was completely ruined after that incident, and later he trained a dog to sniff out soil, earning him the nickname “King of the Dogs.” This is a true story. People who have worked as earthworkers in Changsha know this name.

As for how my grandfather survived, and what happened to my second uncle and great-grandfather, my grandfather never told me. In my memory, I never saw a second uncle with one eye and one arm. I guess it was really bad luck. Whenever I mentioned this, my grandfather would cry and say, “That’s not a story for children to hear.” No matter how we asked, or how we spoiled him, he wouldn’t reveal a single word. In the end, as we grew older, we gradually lost our childhood curiosity.

In the evening, the store closed, and another boring day passed. I sent the clerk away, and at this time, a text message came.

“9 o’clock, chicken eye, yellow sand.”

It was sent by my third uncle, which was a secret code, meaning that new goods had arrived. Immediately afterwards, there was another message: “Dragon ridge back, come quickly.”

My eyes lit up. Uncle San’s taste is surprisingly high. This Longjishou means that there is something good. Even he thinks it is good, I really want to see it.

I closed the shop door and drove my broken gold cup car straight to my uncle’s house. On the one hand, I wanted to see what he called good things, and on the other hand, I also wanted him to see what the pattern on the silk book I photographed today was. In the end, he is the only person in our generation who still has contact with the earth workers.

As soon as I drove up to his house, I heard him shouting from upstairs: “You little bastard, I told you to hurry up, but you’ve been taking forever!

What’s the point of coming now?” I said to myself, “No way, you’re leaving the good stuff for me? You’re selling it too fast!”

Just then, I saw a young man walk out of the front door of the house, carrying a long object on his back, wrapped in a cloth. It was obvious that it was an ancient weapon. This thing was really valuable. If it sold well, the price could go up tenfold.

I pointed at the young man, and my third uncle nodded, making a helpless gesture. I felt sad, thinking to myself, “Is my little stall really going to go bankrupt this year?”

I went upstairs, made myself a cup of coffee, and told my third uncle about the old man with the gold teeth who had come to spy on me today. I thought he would be as angry as I was, but he seemed to have changed. He was silent, and directly printed out the contents of my digital camera. When I looked at it under the lamp, I immediately saw that my third uncle’s face had changed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What’s so strange about this thing?”

He frowned and said, “No way, this looks like a map of an ancient tomb!”