A national treasure-level cultural relic like the Golden Silk Manuscript must not be allowed to flow overseas under any circumstances.
The mere thought that we might have to pay to view things left behind by our own ancestors in foreign museums made me so furious I felt like vomiting blood.
"During the late Qing dynasty, our country was poor and weak. Foreigners battered open our national gates with long guns and heavy artillery, leading to the massive outflow of national treasures—that was something beyond our control. But today, the Eastern Dragon has already risen. If we let foreigners exploit personal grudges and cause national treasures to be smuggled abroad, we will become sinners against our country and our nation. I hope we can all temporarily set aside our personal grievances!" Old Pizi said to me and Lu Gouzi in a earnest and deeply meaningful tone.
"Right, Old Pizi makes sense. Although I'm just a grave-robbing thief, when it comes to national righteousness, I, Lu Gouzi, certainly won't hesitate! I firmly support Old Pizi; we must never let national treasures fall into foreign hands!" Stirred to a fever pitch by Old Pizi's words, Lu Gouzi puffed out his chest and stated his position with high emotion.
Afterward, both of them looked at me, each waiting for me to declare my stance.
I certainly didn't have the lofty political awakening of Old Pizi and Lu Gouzi!
To put it bluntly, my purpose in coming to the Ancient Tomb was to find the murderer who killed Old Bachelor Grandpa and exact revenge!
"First of all, I don't believe that Huo Yinyang and his crew have the true objective of protecting national treasures. Furthermore, I have a score to settle with them. If I really catch the opportunity, I will definitely finish them off! Of course, I am also unwilling to see national treasures flow overseas. When it counts, it's not out of the question for me to pitch in," I stated to the two of them.
"A score to settle? What kind of score?" Old Pizi asked me.
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll figure it out! By the way, who on earth is this Caishen you keep talking about? Have you seen her?" Unsure whether the murderer of Old Bachelor Grandpa was Huo Yinyang's group or Mecheng, and unable to expose my identity just yet, I didn't answer their question.
"Caishen's identity is no secret in our circle. It's Qin Qing, the eldest young lady of the Qin Family!" Old Pizi said.
The Qin Family?
I froze!
The Qin Family was a notoriously prominent clan whose businesses permeated every industry, boasting three or four multinational corporations alone.
I never imagined that with all their wealth, the Qin Family would still engage in such dirty business as digging up graves and robbing tombs.
"This Qin Qing is truly formidable and ruthless. Originally, she had six older brothers. It shouldn't have been a woman like her running the Qin Family. But one after another, all six of her older brothers died. Moreover, their deaths were extremely bizarre—not accidental deaths, and without a single hospital record. The Qin Family never breathed a single word about how they died. But everyone suspects that those six older brothers of hers were probably all done in by her so she could seize control of the Qin Family's assets! For the sake of their reputation, the Qin Family covered up the truth," Old Pizi continued.
Hearing this, I broke out in a cold sweat.
A woman who murdered all six of her own brothers just to usurp family property.
She truly was a woman with a viper's heart.
What wouldn't such a woman do?
It was possible that Old Bachelor Grandpa's death was inextricably linked to this Caishen.
"Of course, these are all just rumors, wild guesses made outsiders. No one knows what really happened. However, everyone knows about the bet between Caishen and Morgan the Foreigner. To win the Golden Silk Manuscript, Morgan the Foreigner has staked all of his domestic assets and even invited Mecheng, who is well-versed in mechanical traps, to assist him. His chances of winning are high. However, Caishen also has extensive connections. A few days ago, she invited Jiang Lan, a senior figure in this trade, to step in. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and Jiang Lan's hands were broken!" Old Pizi continued.
Jiang Lan?
Wasn't that Old Bachelor Grandpa's real name?
Old Bachelor Grandpa built coffins—how on earth had he become a senior figure in their grave-robbing trade?!
My heart was filled with doubt.
Yet one thing was certain: the person who hired Old Bachelor Grandpa to build the coffin was Qin Qing!
"Right, when that senior opened the coffin back then, were you two present?" Still concealing my identity, I tentatively asked the two of them.
"Before entering the tomb, we saw him; we were the ones who dug out the robbing hole. But Senior Jiang Lan had rules: no peers were allowed to be present when he opened the coffin, so the two of us were chased out. However, Caishen, Huo Yinyang, and Morgan all went inside. What actually happened in there, we don't know. When Senior Jiang Lan was carried out, the two of us saw it. Both of his arms were severed off at the elbows, and seven or eight bloody holes in his chest were constantly oozing black blood. It was truly a horrific sight!" As Old Pizi spoke, he kept staring right at me.
I knew this fellow Old Pizi was extremely shrewed; he seemed to suspect my identity and wanted to confirm it through my reaction.
Hearing about Old Bachelor Grandpa's tragic state, a raging fire ignited in my heart.
Yet to conceal my identity, I had to forcibly suppress it, deliberately putting on the air of someone listening to a story and acting as if nothing was wrong.
"To be honest, that old bastard Jiang Lan deserved that kind of end. Do you remember I mentioned earlier that Dead Face was brought out of the Ancient Tomb by two scumbags? One of them was Jiang Lan! The other was his sworn brother. In our tomb-robbing trade, this old bastard has a notorious nickname: Old Juehu, which means leaving no descendants! Damn it, my master was screwed over by him several times, and once, he was almost buried alive inside an Ancient Tomb!" Lu Gouzi rambled on with complaints from the side.
I inwardly frowned.
Why was Lu Gouzi also saying that Old Bachelor Grandpa was a tomb robber?
We had lived together for so many years, yet I had never seen him rob a tomb. I had never even laid eyes on a single tomb-robbing tool.
Which tomb robber wasn't rolling in wealth?
Yet my family was dirt poor. Even my tuition fees had to be pooled together by my grandfather from members of our clan.
"What Lu Gouzi said is right. Old Juehu and Old Quede were sworn brothers, and these two practically existed at the ceiling level of our tomb-robbing trade. But their reputations weren't all that great. They wreaked havoc on plenty of their peers. Many heavyweights in the tomb-robbing trade got a headache just hearing these two names. Quite a few people hated them to the bone, itching to strip their tendons and peel their skin. However, these two brothers have behaved themselves over the past twenty years, supposedly washing their hands in a golden basin. I figure that if the Qin Family hadn't stepped forward and Old Juehu hadn't cared for old times, he certainly wouldn't have come out of retirement," Old Pizi continued.
Two brothers?
How did another one pop out?
And something about caring for old times with the Qin Family?
I was starting to doubt whether the Old Juehu they spoke of was even Old Bachelor Grandpa.
It completely sounded like two different people.
Old Bachelor Grandpa had spent his whole life running a coffin shop in the village, greeting everyone with a three-part smile. Not a single person in the village, young or old, had ever said a bad word about him.
How did he turn into this universally despised Old Juehu in their mouths?
No! I had to get to the bottom of this.
If the Old Juehu they referred to really was Old Bachelor Grandpa, there had to be hidden circumstances behind his death.
"Forget it, let's drop this. We should find the exit first!" Old Pizi said to me again.
"You two go find the exit first. I'm going to follow him in and take a look!" I shook my head and told them.