Volume 4 Chapter 10 Yingshan Village

We were all upset, and suddenly we were scolded like this, and we were even more depressed. The fat guy spat and cursed, “Old man, you’re wrong. This has nothing to do with us. It’s that Third Uncle who has a problem with his vision. Can we blame this on us? I’ve been around for so long, and for the first time I’m being chased by Lei Zi all over the street. It’s really frustrating.”

I saw that he was talking too much, so I quickly stopped him and gave him a look. Pan Zi couldn’t stand it when others said bad things about Uncle San. He could tolerate it for a while, but at this time it was best not to say so much, or else there might be a fight.

The fat man was still trying to save my face, so he shut up and lit a cigarette and smoked it fiercely. Pan Zi turned to Chen Pi A Si and asked, “Grandpa Chen, we have had dealings with each other before, and now is not the time to criticize us. You are the eldest here, and now the chopsticks of the Lama have broken. What do you think about this? We will listen to you.”

The fat man’s eyes widened, and it looked like he wanted to yell: Why should we listen to him? Pan Zi held him down and prevented him from yelling. I knew that Pan Zi must have some plans, so I hurriedly held the fat man back and patted him on the back to calm him down.

Chen Pi A Si squinted at Pan Zi, and after a long silence, said, “Since you know a little about the rules, I’ll give you a few pointers. This train is no longer available. I’ve arranged other vehicles. Those who want to come with me should wait and get on the train with me. Those who don’t like it, go back where you came from! But I’ll tell you in advance, the place we’re going to this time is not so simple. Wu Sanxing originally asked me to come to you because he wanted this old guy to give you a few pointers.

The fat man sneered, “Pah! Old man, don’t scare people. I’ve seen it all, you know? I’ll tell you, we’ve been to the moon and back, we’ve been to the bottom of the sea, we’ve held the Jade Emperor’s urinal upside down, and we’ve carried the Nine Dragons’ coffin. It’s not that difficult. I could slap the rice dumplings inside and they’d jump out. And this one, do you know who he is? He is the grandson of the dog king of Changsha. Back in the day, when he was in Shandong…”

I quickly pinched the fat man and laughed, ‘Old man, don’t listen to him. For every word he says, you have to throw half of it in the toilet.’

Chen Pi A Si looked at me and said, ”Don’t deny it. I know you are the grandson of Old Dog Wu. I went to your father’s first birthday party, so you should call me Grandpa.”

Old Dog Wu is the name my grandfather gave to a few people he was close to. My grandfather said he had dealt with this person before, and sure enough, he was good.

I hurriedly nodded, and said, “Grandpa Four.”

Chen Pi A Si smiled strangely, not knowing what it meant. Pan Zi asked, “Grandpa Chen, what should we do now? Should we find a place to stay first, or…”

Before he finished speaking, a long and short car horn sound came from a distance. Chen Pi A Si said, ‘My car is here. You can decide whether to go or not. If you want to go up the mountain, just follow me.’ He straightened up and walked towards the place where the horn sounded.

We didn’t follow him at once. When he was far away, several people looked at each other. Pan Zi whispered, “This old guy was prepared. It seems that he knew we would have trouble here. I’m sure he sold the bald guy. Now the contact person on the Dunhua side must have disappeared, so don’t count on the equipment. To find out what’s going on, we have to follow him. This is a really ruthless move. Anyway, I must do what Third Master told me to do. You can decide whether to go or not.” He had already stood up and chased after Chen Pi A Si.

Muyoubing looked at me and the fat guy, and then stood up and chased after them.

Suddenly, it was just the two of us. I looked at the fat guy, and he looked at me. The fat guy asked, “Right, what was that thing he was talking about, the Nine Dragons Coffin of the Dongxia Emperor?” I shook my head and said, “I don’t know either.” The fat guy stubbed out his cigarette, thought for a moment, and said, “Well, why don’t we go chase after them and ask?” I laughed and nodded, and the two of us stood up and chased after them.

The middle-aged man we met at the bus station was indeed the one arranged by Chen Pi A Si. The one who arranged the car was them. The one who came to pick us up was a Jiefang truck. After we got in the truck, there were goods piled up outside. The truck drove all the way to Shanhaiguan, then onto the provincial highway, and straight to Erdao Baihe.

We slept the whole way, and when we woke up it was already noon the next day. Cars are not as convenient as trains, and we still had a long way to go. The temperature here was already much lower than in Hangzhou. Although the car was covered with a tarpaulin, the wind still blew straight into the car, and I was shivering with cold. Chen Pi A Si was wrapped in a military coat, and on a few occasions he inadvertently revealed the tiredness of an old man, but such expressions disappeared in an instant. I sighed to myself, “He is indeed a little older. I wonder what such a man who has already accepted his fate is plotting.

We discussed the process of entering the mountains. According to the information that Chen Pi A Si had received from Guangtou, after arriving in Dunhua, we would also enter the Erdao River by car, and then a local guide and equipment would be waiting for us there. From there, we would enter a small village called Lizi Valley, where he would reveal the information about our destination. The guide would then take us there, and it would be up to us to find the place and get out.

We definitely couldn’t go to Lizi Valley, as Lei Zi might already be there. Moreover, the place was too close to Erdao Baihe. We looked around and decided not to enter Lizi Valley, but to go straight in, where there were still several villages. We drove until there was no road.

We didn’t know how much information the bald guy knew about the location of the heavenly palace. Changbai Mountain is very large, and part of it is in North Korea. It would be unrealistic to search inch by inch. However, we speculated that since we were going to the chestnut ditch, the place must be nearby. We followed the old path, first going to the nearby mountain village to test the dishes and inquire about the news.

Everything went according to plan. We arrived at the Erdao River. Chen Pi A Si’s people had brought the equipment. I thought that with the whole country on high alert, how could these people be so resourceful. I opened it up and was stunned. I thought to myself, what kind of equipment is this? There were no shovels or ammunition. The most I could see were maxi pads. Then there were ropes, ordinary tools, chocolate, a large bag of chili peppers, basins and other daily necessities.

The fat guy asked what was going on. Are we going to distribute women’s labor insurance supplies or what? Chen Pi A Si said that you will know what is going on when you use it.

Four days later, we arrived at the village of Yingshan, which is located in the mountains of Hengshan. It is a miracle that the truck can drive here. There are several sections of road where there is a 30-centimeter drop to the bottom. If the driver is even slightly negligent, we will be smashed to a pulp. When we got there, we asked the locals and learned that there used to be a border post here, but it was later abolished, so the road was only built here. Otherwise, you would have to use a snow sledge to get here. But because of the road, there are now occasional tourists driving here, and the villagers are used to outsiders.

Chen Pi A Si, who came with us, had three companions: one was Guo Feng, the driver, a big man, one was Hua Fan, with glasses, but covered in scars, and one was a younger man in his thirties. He never stopped talking all the way, and his name was Ye Cheng.

We got out of the car and looked around at the snow-capped mountains. I wanted to find a mountain landscape similar to the one in the painting in the underwater tomb, but it was obvious that we were standing in the wrong place.

Chen Pi A Si said that it was easier to find the dragon than to locate the acupuncture points. The “Book of Burial” says that it takes three years to find the dragon and ten years to locate the acupuncture points. This process is very strict. Since we know that the dragon’s head is in Hengshan, as long as we enter the mountains, we will naturally be able to find the location of the treasure eye. The problem is, how to get into the mountains. This is not like other places. The snow-capped mountains are too high. Ordinary hunters don’t go to those places, and ginseng hunters can’t reach the snow-capped peaks. It’s probably difficult to find a guide.

There is no guesthouse in the village, so we had to knock on the door of the village committee. The village secretary was very enthusiastic and found us a temporary empty wooden house for the forest rangers. We paid and settled down. We stayed in the village for a few days, rented horses, and after much hard work, found a local Korean veteran, Shunzi, who was willing to be our guide.

This person told us that ordinary people would not go to the snow-capped mountains. Due to the changes in the wind and snow, the road is basically different every day, and there is nothing up there. Only they, as soldiers, have to go up when patrolling. He can go up to several peaks here, so we really want to go up, and he can take us there, but after entering the snow area, we have to listen to him.

We negotiated the price, and the matter was settled. We packed our equipment and bought a lot of things according to Shunzi’s requirements. Nine people and fourteen horses marched into the depths of the forest.

Changbai Mountain is very beautiful. Looking up, every section of the mountain has a different color. Because the mountain is so high, we didn’t pay much attention to the surrounding forest scenery. All our energy was focused on making sure we didn’t fall off our horses. But occasionally, the majesty of the entire sky and mountain peaks still made our hearts swell with emotion.

Changbai Mountain is a volcanic body with a large number of hot springs and small volcanic lakes. From Yingcun Village, we entered the forest and followed the mountain path of the forest workers for four hours. This is the “Agaishi” Lake, which means “girl lake” in Korean. The lake is like a mirror, with not a ripple in it, reflecting the entire Changbai Mountain.

In order to make Junko think that we were tourists, we took a picture by the lake and then continued on our way. The first section we entered was at the lower part of the mountain range, and the further we went, the steeper the ground became. Finally, we found ourselves walking on a 60-degree slope. The trees here are all straight, but the ground is slanted, making every step seem very dangerous. Shunzi told us that there was an abandoned village further up, where the border guard post was located. There was no one there now, and we would spend our first night there. Then, the next day, we would cross the snow line.

At this time, Lake A’gexi was already below us, and we looked down from above. The vast lake surface was now the size of a small pool. At this time, all of us noticed that another horse team had appeared at the lake, and this team was far larger than ours.

We were a little surprised. Fatso took out his binoculars and looked down, then handed them to me and said, “We’re in trouble.”