Volume 3 Chapter 2: Hexagonal Bell

I leaned over to take a look, and my eyes couldn’t move away. I grabbed his ear and held him in front of me to take a closer look. I couldn’t help but gasp in shock. The earring was square, only the size of a pinky tip. Others might think it was a cheap pair of earrings sold for two yuan at a street stall, but I took a closer look and realized that it was actually a hexagonal bell.

In terms of appearance and color, apart from being smaller, it was very similar to the kind I had seen in the tombs of the dead and the underwater tombs, except that the pattern on it seemed to be slightly different.

I immediately sobered up and asked him, “Where did you get this thing?”

He was so angry that he was grinning from ear to ear when I grabbed him. “You—you—you’re drunk, you know I—hate it when people grab my ears, if you—grab me again, I’ll be mad at you!”

I looked at him and realized that I had really gotten a bit carried away after drinking a little. I quickly let go of his ear.

He rubbed his ear, which was now red from my grasp, and said with a grin, “Damn, you really went all out. You don’t have to do that when you see something good. Oh, my ear.”

I had no interest in arguing with him anymore, so I asked, “Quickly, what’s the story with this thing? Where did you get it?”

He laughed and said proudly, “You’ve never seen it before, and I’m going to tell you. I found it on a rice dumpling in the sacrificial pit. It’s green with black streaks, a high-quality bronze artifact, different from the cheap stuff you sell.”

The more I listened, the more confused I became. “What rice dumpling? Didn’t you say you only dug up some pots and pans? How did you get a rice dumpling?”

Lao Yang thought I was jealous of him and became even more smug, saying, “The zongzi was wrapped in a vine rope like a pupa. I dug it out when I was digging in another part of the pit. It was probably a high-status person’s sacrifice. This thing was worn on the ears of the zongzi. I saw it and took it down. Why are you so nervous? Does this thing have a history? Is it valuable or not?”

My mind was in a mess, and all kinds of thoughts came up, wrinkling my brows. I thought to myself, what the hell is this place? If this kind of bell appears here, does the stone pit he mentioned have anything to do with the things I experienced before?

At this time, Lao Yang realized that something was wrong and said, “What’s wrong? Your face is screwed up. You don’t have to be like this just because you saw a good thing I found. If you really like it, I’ll give it to you.”

I said, “No, I’m not going to lie to you. These earrings are not ordinary. Although I don’t know where they came from, I have seen them in other places. This is what happened…”

I quickly told him about the events in the Lu Palace and the underwater tomb, focusing on the bell. He listened with a look of confusion on his face, his face turning white and then green.

After a while, he sighed and said, “My grandmother, I thought my three years in prison would be enough to last me a lifetime, but compared to you, it’s nothing. You’ll be executed if you get caught doing this.”

I saw that his expression was full of envy, and said, “There’s nothing to compare. If I had known that digging up tombs was such a thing, I would never have gone to those places even if I were beaten to death.” Pointing to his ear, he said, “It’s your bell that’s strange. This kind of bell is weirdly tight. As soon as it makes a sound, it can bewitch people. How come it doesn’t do anything when you wear it in your ear?

“It’s not as evil as you say. I’ll take it off and let you have a look!” He took off the earrings.

I held the earrings up to the light and smelled them. I knew what was going on. There was rosin inside, so they couldn’t ring anymore. I flipped them over and looked at them carefully. The more I looked, the more I thought they looked like the ones I saw in the tomb.

Lao Yi saw me looking back and forth, thinking that I liked this thing, and put the earrings back on, saying, “If you really like it, there are still a lot of them in that place, all of them are virgin zongzi, and I marked the place. We can go back and take a look, and there may be other treasures.” He looked around, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, “To be honest, my brother, my environment is really not good. I’m planning to do another job in a few days.”

I thought he was joking and replied, “Forget it. I don’t want to go to jail with you. You’d better not do it either. These days, it’s better to live a stable life!”

Lao Yang leaned closer to me and said seriously, “That’s not what I meant. Think about it. You have a family to support you, so you can do whatever you want. I’ve wasted three years already, and I have nothing. I can’t not do anything!”

I saw his expression become serious, not like he was joking, and I scolded him, “You’re dreaming, motherfucker. Three years in jail for nothing. I’m telling you, if you get caught again, you’ll go back to jail. You’ll be heavily punished. If you’re not careful, you might even get killed.”

“If that’s the case, there’s nothing I can do.” Lao Yang said, “I have no choice. I’m desperate, so I’ve decided to take this step. I’ve already thought it through. I’ll stay in Hangzhou for a while, then I’ll go to Qinling. I have to get at least a hundred thousand back somehow. I came to see you mainly for this reason. I hope you’ll go with me and help me out when I make the delivery.”

I saw that he was worried and said in a bad mood, “What do you mean by having no choice? You just need money. How much do you need? Take it here, and I’ll give you 5% off the interest rate of the Bank of China.”

Lao Yang pushed me and said with contempt, “Come on, I know how much you have. If you can give me 100,000, you can give me 80,000. Do you have more? Really, what are you pretending to be rich for?”

I scolded him, “You don’t even care about 100,000 or 80,000. What the hell do you want? Do you fancy a celebrity? You’re full of shit. You’re so full of shit, you’re already acting like this after just coming out. Please grow up.”

Lao Yang didn’t like hearing this, so he scolded me and waved his hand, “It’s none of your business what I want to do. If you don’t have the money, don’t lecture me. Forget it. We’re brothers again. It doesn’t matter if you help or not. Don’t talk about this depressing thing.” Then he poured me a drink.

I saw that he looked down on me, and the wine went to my head, and I was furious: “I said, Lao Yang, don’t look down on people. I’ve had a little spare cash these past few years. Tell me honestly, how much money do you need? I’ll get it for you right away!”

He looked at me, the wine went to his head, he got serious, stood up, and waved four fingers in front of me: “For this amount, you have to be my slave.”

“Four hundred thousand?” I asked, it’s not much, now 400,000 to say it is a huge amount of money, but it is really not much money, “no problem, immediately go to get, I have at home!”

I did not expect him to shake his head, “plus a zero!”

“4 million?” I opened my mouth, suddenly the person was cold, “my grandmother, I really admire you, you motherfucker take so much what do you want to go ah?”

Old itch, said: “you do not ask so much, in short, I lack so much money, you say you can not come up with it.”

Four million is not a small amount. Although at auctions these days, a broken piece of porcelain can fetch tens of millions, that is mostly hype. The entire market has a limited purchasing power. Things dug up from the ground are the first link in the entire antiquities resale chain. The profit is not high to begin with. If you can get 100,000, you should be happy. I really don’t have four million.

Lao Ying saw my expression loosen up and knew that I was scared. He filled my glass and said, “I said you couldn’t come up with it, right? If it was only 400,000, would I still need to come to you?”

I said, “Don’t jump to conclusions. I’ll help you borrow some money. There are a lot of people who get rich in this line of work. Maybe you can raise it. But you have to tell me what you need the money for.”

Lao Yang turned his head to the side and said, “Who do you ask to raise the money? I don’t know any of your friends who have that much money. And I can’t tell you about this anyway. With the four million, I can solve a big problem that’s life-threatening.”

I thought about it and realized that many of my friends were introduced to me by Lao Yang, and there were really not many who could lend money. Asking my father-in-law would probably make the miser kill me, so this was really a difficult matter.

Lao Yang patted me on the back and said in a very artificial tone, “Lao Wu, so let’s not talk about borrowing money, let’s talk about other ways. The best way is for you to work hard once and accompany your brother and me to the scene. After all, it’s not the first time for you, so don’t be awkward. This is not a big deal. After all, this is not called a bucket. Let’s just go to the burial pit pit, you pick for me, which are valuable and which are not. This is called picking up foreign things, it’s not illegal, you can just think of it as a trip. The mountains and waters are beautiful there, and the girls in the mountains have a figure like that. You haven’t had a girlfriend yet, go there and take a look, maybe you can even marry a Dai family girl back.”

I didn’t I don’t want to listen to his nonsense, shaking my head: “It’s easy for you to say. Can you find anything worth 4 million in your shabby place? If you want to find so much at once, you’ll have to find something from the Han Dynasty. These tombs have already been dug up, and you’ll be wasting your time.”

Lao Yao patiently said, “Oh, you think I’m stupid and can’t think of this. I’ll tell you, I’m not going to the sacrificial pit this time. Last time When my cousin and I went there last time, my cousin told me that there must be a large imperial tomb near the sacrificial pit. This time, I am going there for that purpose. If you don’t know about geomancy, go and take a look. I think you will definitely find it!

I don’t want to talk to him. “You find someone else. I don’t want to go to the ancient tomb.”

Lao Yang pushed him: “Lao Wu, you’re not a good friend. Think about how good this is. First, you can help me, and second, you have to continue investigating your third uncle’s case. This matter is also related to your third uncle. Even if it’s not for me, why don’t you go and take a look for yourself?”

As soon as he mentioned the earrings, I felt uncomfortable again. He He was right. The case of my third uncle was very confusing, with very few clues. This kind of bell had appeared in the corpse cave of Guazi Temple and in the underwater tomb, and was very important. If I didn’t seize this opportunity, I was afraid that it would be even more difficult to investigate.

But thinking about my previous two experiences, my legs began to feel a little weak, and I was still afraid. In addition to the hardships of climbing the mountain, I really didn’t want to try it.

I hesitated for a few minutes, and then thought that even if I didn’t go, with my personality, I was afraid that my life would not be too good in the future. I hesitated for a few minutes, then thought to myself, even if I don’t go, I’m afraid my life won’t be easy in the future. This time, Lao Yang is begging me like this, which is rare. If I keep refusing, it won’t be easy to see each other in the future. I might as well promise to go first, and then see the situation. If it doesn’t work out, I can change my mind at the last minute.

For people like us, there is a kind of curiosity about things we don’t know. I found a way out for myself, and my heart immediately felt at ease.

Thinking I made up my mind and said to Lao Yang, “Okay, since you’ve said it like that, I’ll go with you, but you have to give me the earrings first. I’ll go and see what dynasty they’re from and whether they’re valuable. If they’re not, it means the place isn’t worth going to, and you’ll have to make other plans.”

Lao Yang was overjoyed to hear that I was willing to help him, and he nodded eagerly, saying, “Okay, whatever you say, I’ll give them to you!”

I said I said, “But I’ll tell you upfront, after we go down, you have to listen to me on everything. You have to tell me before you fart, got it?”

The kid had already stopped listening to everything, and his heart had already flown to the Qinling Mountains. While pouring me a drink, he said, “That’s right, as long as you can get four million, you’re my second parent. Don’t say you won’t fart, you can let me eat farts!”

We took advantage of the alcohol to seal the deal. Next We talked about women for a while, and then we drank until midnight, and we both fell asleep under the table.

The next month, we each had things to take care of. The things we bought in Shandong were buried there, and we had to buy new equipment. I wrote a note to him based on these two experiences, and asked him to get everything ready.

After that I got some military medicine through my connections. When we went to Shandong, the weight of the water bottle was too heavy, and it took up too much unnecessary physical strength. There are many mountain streams in the Qinling Mountains, so it is not necessary to bring too much water, but it is necessary to prepare some medicine for diarrhea. Our city stomachs and intestines definitely cannot adapt to the natural mountain streams.

After giving him my instructions, I flew to Jinan first, went to Yingxiong Mountain to find Lao Hai, and showed him the fish eye stone that the fat man had given me.

Lao Hai He couldn’t stop smiling and said, “Sir, I sell antiques, you should take this to a jewelry store and have them give you an estimate.”

I said, “This fish eye stone is also an antique, it’s at least 400 or 500 years old.”

He smiled and said, “I know that whatever you bring me is good, if this bead was in a hairpin or hat it would be a treasure. But you just brought it to me naked, what am I supposed to do with it? You said I don’t think people will believe it’s an antique. How about this, I’ll go get you a jade hairpin, we’ll put the bead on it and see if we can sell it. I’ll give you a deposit first, you leave the item with me, and people who know their stuff will naturally pay a good price.”

He spoke sincerely, and I didn’t have time to mess with him about this, so I had to agree to it, took his 250,000 deposit, and returned to Hangzhou in a dejected state. Next I took the earrings that Lao Yang gave me and went to see a friend of my grandfather to ask him what the earrings were made of and whether they were worth the long journey to Shaanxi.

The old His name is Qi, and he is a first-generation antique dealer from Hangzhou. He is now a master of Chinese studies and holds visiting professor positions at several universities. He has done considerable research on ethnic minorities, and when I showed him the bell, I could see that his eyes widened and his hand trembled as he took it.

Old After taking the bell, he looked at it for three hours, flipped through six or seven books like bricks, and then looked up. I was waiting on the side and was about to fall asleep. He looked at me and sighed, “Shame on me. I’ve been dealing with ethnic minorities for so long, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Xiaoxie, tell your grandfather where you got this thing.”

In front of the elders I didn’t dare to be perfunctory in front of the elders, so I made up a story with a focus. Seeing that he listened with shining eyes, I felt that things seemed to be more than simple. I asked him, “Grandpa, what’s wrong with this thing?”

The master sighing again, said that according to his analysis, the craftsmanship of this bell can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The pattern on it is called the double-body human-faced snake pattern, and it is very likely to come from an ancient country called “She” that lived between Shaanxi and Hubei in ancient times. This country suddenly disappeared two thousand years ago.

The The history of this country appears and disappears intermittently, appearing sporadically in many ancient documents. It seems that there was a period of sudden prosperity in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, and then in the mid-Western Zhou Dynasty, it suddenly disappeared, seemingly disappearing rapidly in the primeval jungle within ten to twenty years.

They are mentioned in many myths and legends, and there are also many passages in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. many myths and legends have their existence, and there are also a large number of pages in the Shanhaijing that mention the “Snake Kingdom” outside Sichuan, which should be this country. The name “She” is a homonym for “snake,” and this people regarded a two-body snake with a human face as a deity, so many decorations have the pattern of a two-body snake.

Now Most people who study the history of this country believe that this “She Kingdom” is a descendant of the mysterious “Hua Xu Ancient Kingdom.” Its predecessor dates back to the time of the matriarchal society. This country used the two-body human-faced snake as its totem, mainly because the “Hua Xu Ancient Kingdom” had the legend of “Fuxi’s human-faced snake body.”

Because these materials are from ancient books and unearthed documents, there has always been controversy in the academic community about whether this country really existed. This bell, may not be recognized by anyone in the antique market, but for some people who specialize in this field of study, it is priceless.

I heard that this thing is so unpopular, my heart was a little scared. If so, even if we can find the tomb to bring it out, I’m afraid the price will not be high, then this time I’m afraid it’s still a waste of time.

Mr. Qi looked at my expression and asked me what was wrong. I knew he was an old businessman, so I told him my situation.

The old man thought for a while, first scolding me, then patting my shoulder, saying that if I wanted to sell it, he could help me find a good buyer, and four million would definitely not be a problem. However, I must not tell anyone about this.

After hearing the old man’s words, I already had a general idea in my mind. Damn, this old guy seems to be surging with hidden currents. I guess he is still doing those pre-liberation things in private. However, with him acting as a go-between, I am very relieved.

After leaving the old I took a lot of information about the She Kingdom with me when I left the old man. I flipped through it in the taxi and saw a lot of pictures of murals. Some of them were very strange. They showed a large number of people kneeling in front of a tree and praying. There were a few notes next to them, which seemed to say that the most important sacrificial activity in the She Kingdom was to sacrifice a “snake god tree.” According to legend, this tree could satisfy any request as long as it was offered blood, and it was a wish tree.

The shape of this tree is very similar to the one that Lao Yang drew for me. Could it be that the bronze tree he unearthed was the totem of this snake god tree?

Many Many murals have patterns of human-faced snakes, which are obviously the main feature of the She Kingdom. I can’t remember whether the bells found in the Guazi Temple and the underwater tombs had patterns of two-body human-faced snakes on them, but judging from their appearance, the bells from these three places must have come from the same source.

Two days Two days later, on the long-distance sleeper bus to Xi’an, I and Lao Yang sat side by side on two beds, eating melon seeds and chatting.

I had originally planned to fly directly to Xi’an, but I didn’t have the same face as my third uncle, and a large bag of contraband was stuck at the security checkpoint, so I had to switch to a bus, and I could only take a privately contracted bus.

In order to to save on transit fees, the bus would go up and down the highway, turning around in the ravines, so boring that I chatted with Lao Yang, saying that there might be a Han tomb in that place, and a Tang tomb in this place, so Lao Yang wanted to get off the bus halfway through to dig.

While chatting , Lao Yang asked me if I wanted to go to other places besides the pit he had visited three years ago. It was not easy to enter the mountains, so if I could bring more back, I wouldn’t waste it. It would be even better if I could find other possible tombs nearby.

I I had actually planned to do this a long time ago. That area may have been the territory of the ancient Snake Kingdom. In addition to the sacrificial pit and the nearby ancient tombs, there should be other ruins. If I could find one or two and take something out, it would be very helpful for the things I wanted to investigate. I had this plan in mind, but I didn’t say it out loud. I jokingly told him, “Don’t be greedy. You don’t even remember the way back, let alone the sacrificial pit. If you can’t find it, I don’t know what you’ll do.”

Lao Yang He smiled at me and said he had left a mark. I laughed and said, “It’s been three years. In the mountains, what kind of mark can last for three years?”

He laughed and said, “You’ll see. My mark will last for 30 years, not to mention three years.”

I didn’t know what he was up to, so I ignored him and chatted with him for a while. I was dizzy and fell asleep.

When we arrived After arriving in Xi’an, we found a small hotel to spend the night, ate local sour cabbage fried rice and lotus root soup, and wandered around the night market until after 12 o’clock. Lao Yi was itching to eat the fried rice again and yelled that he wanted to eat at the night stand, so we sat down at a random food stand by the road, ordered two bottles of beer, and ate and drank while chatting. At this time, we didn’t mind, and we thought that the people here wouldn’t understand our southern dialect, so we started talking about the digging tomorrow. As we chatted while chatting, we heard an old man next to us say, “Hey, you two, do you want to go to the countryside to do some trading?”