Chapter 2: 50 years later ()

50 years later, at Xiling Club, Hefang Street, Hangzhou, my thoughts were interrupted by an old man. I closed my grandfather’s notes and looked at the other person.

"Do you collect rubbings here?" he asked me, looking weird and seemed to have something special to come.

I don't care about temporary business. Most of the transactions in the antique market are conducted privately, and the surface is just a small slap, and there is not much money to make, so I perfunctorily said: "Cache, but the price is not high." It means, if you don't have good things, don't delay the old man reading.

"Oh, can you introduce me?" the guy asked, looking like he was shopping in a supermarket.

I am a little impatient. I have been in our industry. I haven't opened it for three years and have been eating for three years. I am used to being idle on weekdays. I hate serving those guests who have only a little knowledge of it. There is a story behind every antique thing. If you really talk about it, there is no end to the sky. If every customer comes here, we will introduce it. We don't have to do business anymore. It's better to open a teahouse directly.

I waved my hand to him and said that I was not responsible for introducing it here. There are many homes next door, so please go to the next door to take a look.

The man looked at me a little embarrassedly, but didn't go out, and asked again: "Then I want to ask if there are any rubbings of the Warring States silk book here? It is the article that 50 years ago when the native masters of Changsha stole it and were deceived by an American?"

"You all say you have been cheated by the Americans, there is still there." I became popular as soon as I heard it. "Of course, I went to the market to find a copy of the rubbing. If there is a designated copy to find, how could I find it?"

He lowered his voice: "I heard you have a way, did I introduce you to Lao Yang?"

When I heard the name Lao Yang, I was shocked. Didn’t Lao Yang get into the account two years ago? Why, did you confess me? The guy in front of me was not a policeman, right? I suddenly became a little panicked and stuttered: “Where… I don’t know Lao Yang.”

"I understand, I understand," he laughed and took a watch from his arms, "Look, Lao Yang said you will understand as soon as you see this."

The watch was given to him by Lao Yang's first love when he was in Northeast China. He treated this watch as his life. When he was drunk, he took it out and called it "Juan, Li" while looking at it. I asked him what your mother was called. He thought for a long time, but he actually cried and said that I forgot it. Lao Yang was willing to give this watch to this person, which means that this person is indeed of some background.

But no matter how I looked at this person, I felt that his face was disgusting. He didn't look like a serious person. But when Lao Yang introduced him, I still wanted to give him some face. Besides, he came to him and didn't let him finish his speech, which might lead to a scourge.

I thought about it for a while and decided to speak more quickly, so I raised my hand directly: "Master, even if you are your old friend, what's the matter with me?"

He smiled with his teeth and showed a big gold tooth: "A friend of mine brought something back in Shanxi and wanted you to show me if it was a real thing."

When I heard this, I probably understood that this bird man was not a tomb robber. I probably had something good to drag it out and I had never seen it. I wanted to find someone to estimate the price. There were all kinds of birds in the forest, and there were even people who dared to go to the regular antique market to run away.

However, such people are generally outlaws. It is better not to offend them. I tried to smile the standard in the service industry and said to him: "Look at your Beijing accent, your big target in Beijing came to the south to consult me. I'm so proud of me. How many good people in Beijing are, I'm afraid your drunkard will not be drunk!"

He smiled and said, "It's true that people in the south are smart. It's true. Judging from your age, you can see it very clearly. To be honest, I'm not looking for you this time. I want to meet your old man?"

My heart was shocked, and my face changed suddenly. My grandfather’s background was very strange. There were very few people who knew him. When someone asked, it was probably not a good thing. He asked him coldly: "What are your intentions when looking for my grandfather?"

Seeing my face so ugly, Jinya was shocked and said, "I have no intention, no intention. I am just an ordinary antique lover. I just want to know if your old man left one or two rubbings after he stole the Warring States silk book in Biaoziling, Changsha? We want to buy one and see if it is the same as the one in our hands?"

Before he finished speaking, I shouted at the dozing guy beside me: "Wang Meng, take the guests off!"

The old man from Jinyao was anxious: "Don't accumulate, why are you going to drive people out as you say it?"

I said you were too late. My old man had already traveled to the west last year. You want to find him and go back to find a crooked tree to hang it on. Maybe you can meet him! As I said that, I pushed him out and drove him to the threshold.

The old man with a big gold teeth was bizarre and thick-skinned. He hugged the pillar outside the threshold and refused to leave. He shouted: "Don't be anxious, please say something, let me say something again!"

I couldn't pull him for a long time, and I couldn't do anything to him, and cursed: "You have something to say, don't delay my business!"

"I said you little grandson, why don't you listen to your words?" He smiled terrified: "It's not hard for the old man to be gone, and I didn't say what happened. At least, you can take a look at what I brought, and you can also sell your face, right?"

I looked at him. This man was so sarcastic that he was not smiling. He was very dependent on his appearance here. And outside had already attracted a large group of tourists to watch. If he wanted to make trouble, I would probably go to tomorrow's newspaper. I had to nod: "Okay, let's take a good look lately, don't be like playing monkeys here, but I'm not afraid to say anything if I'm ugly in front of me.

"That's that's it, that's it, I'm in this industry, I understand these rules!"

In fact, there are more than 20 volumes of the Warring States silk book, each volume is different. The article my grandfather stole at that time is just a very short part of it. There are indeed several rubbings preserved to this day. It is my treasure that is the most important thing in the world. Even if I make a mistake, this old man will definitely not be able to find it.

A few of us returned to the inner room. I asked Wang Meng to pour a cup of tea for the old man and asked him to take out the thing. The old man with gold teeth took out a piece of white paper from his arms and handed it to me. I was so angry that I saw it. Damn, it was still a copy.

"That's right, that baby can run everywhere, and it will be broken in one bucket." He said, still lowering his voice mysteriously: "If I hadn't had a wide range of ways, this thing would have been to go abroad, so it would have been to serve the people, right?"

I laughed and said, "Look at you like that, isn't it just a fight? I think you dare not take action. This is a national treasure. You don't want it anymore!"

When I exposed a word, the old man turned green, but he had to endure it because he asked me for it and said, "You can't say that. Every line has its own way. I missed your old man when he was a local master in Changsha, and that was also famous..."

I pointed a finger at his nose and said, "Don't talk too much, and I'll mention my grandpa again. Take this thing back and watch it slowly!"

"Okay, let's stop, you can see me quickly, I'll run away as soon as possible."

I unfolded the white paper and saw the layout inside that it was a well-preserved Warring States silk book, but it was not the one my grandfather stole at that time. However, after a closer look, I found that it was nothing different from the genuine one. Since I promised to help others read it, I didn't want to be perfunctory. I forced them to come over to cause trouble for me in the future, so I put this thing under a magnifying glass and checked it carefully.

After seeing a cigarette, I gradually felt at a clear mind. I looked at my golden teeth with hope and shook my head, saying, "Although the copied lines are quite old, it should be a fake from the later dynasties, that is, an antique fake. This is a very embarrassing thing. I can't see that your thing is so badly copied, so I can only guess it is something from the Han Dynasty. How do you say it? You say it is fake, not fake, it is real, not real, it is just such a thing."

"Is this the one that your grandfather stole?"

"To be honest, the American man was deceived by the stolen part of my grandfather before he even took a look at it. I really can't answer you for your question." I pretended to be sincere and sighed, thinking that if he knew that I had rubbings in my hand, it would definitely be circulated. It would be difficult to recruit others at that time. It would be better to fool him and let him go to other places to find a way.

The old man from Gold Tooth really believed me when he saw me and sighed: "That's really a coincidence. It seems that if he doesn't go to find that American, I'm afraid there's no hope."

"Why, why do you care so much about this volume?" I asked. This is so strange. The collection of ancient books depends on fate. It would be too greedy to find a set of 20 volumes of ancient books from the Warring States Period.

"Little brother, I'm not a fight. Look at my body, that's enough to make trouble. But my friend is indeed an expert, and I don't know what he is selling. In short, we don't have to ask too much about the reason for others." He laughed, shook his head and sighed: "Okay, since you have what you said, I'll die. I won't delay my brother, let's go first."

After saying that, he stood up, hugged me, and then left without looking back. Seeing that he was so disappointed, I felt a little unbearable, but it would be impossible for those who do our job to be careful everywhere. A small thing like this can be a big deal, so I just spent more time. After thinking about it, I felt relieved.

At this time, I suddenly didn't take the copy paper away. Maybe it was because I was hit too much just now. I picked it up and looked at the contents. I suddenly found an interesting pattern. It was a fox-like face. The two eyes without pupils were very three-dimensional, as if they were concave from the paper. I took a breath. I just cared about judging his age and didn't look at the contents carefully. Now it seems that this should be a rare treasure. When Lao Yi came out, it would be enough to make a few fake rubbings with this copy.

I took it with a digital camera and took the paper to Wang Meng outside. If the golden teeth came back later, I would return it to him directly, which made him think I was greedy for him.

My grandfather is a tomb robber in Changsha. It is not surprising that my grandfather entered this industry. In today's terms, it is hereditary. When my grandfather was 13 years old, there was a drought in central China. In that era, when the drought broke out, there would be famine. You could not buy anything to eat even if you have money. At that time, there were nothing in the corners of Changsha, but there were many ancient tombs, so I relied on the mountain to eat three and the tombs. The whole village fought together. In those years, I don't know how many people starved to death. None of their village died, and they all relied on the things dug out to exchange for food for foreigners.

Later, over time, this thing had a cultural accumulation. By my grandfather's generation, there were already rules and sects. In history, tomb robbers were divided into two schools. The Tushima masters divided them into two schools, north and south, according to custom, and should belong to the Southern School. They mainly rely on exploring the soil to find ancient tombs. Before the Republic of China, they used a cone to find the Luoyang grass after the Republic of China. After the Republic of China, they could determine the depth and shallow dynasties with just one nose. Now many novels describe Luoyang grass shovels without moving. In fact, the Northern School did not use Luoyang grass shovels. They were good at accurately judging the location and structure of the tombs, which was called searching for dragons and pointing acupoints.

The Northern and Southern School is a large faction divided by literati and poets. It was originally not related to the things in the world. Later, after many times of troubled times, there were more people who became monks halfway through, so they gradually brought these things to this industry. My grandfather had never defined himself before. Later, when the apprentice below asked, he realized that his approach could probably belong to the Southern School. The two factions have been in dispute since their establishment. The Southern School said that the Northern School was not real, there were too many tricks, and they even made so many famous things to steal a tomb. They took the things in and left, and they had to be one and two buttons, which was bureaucratic.

There are not many rules, and they never dare to die. The Northern Sect calls the Southern Sect a native dog and wastes cultural relics. None of the reversed fights will be broken, and even the dead are sold. The Southern Sect calls the Northern Sect a hypocrite, and they are obviously a thief and they are still trying to make themselves. Later, when the two gangs stepped on the plate, they often fight to the point of fighting for one fight. There is even a corpse fighting in the west of Xiang. In the end, the two factions finally divided the Yangtze River. The Northern Sect is called the Overdump, and the Southern Sect is called Taosha or Taotu. The Luoyang shovel is divided and it was only invented. The Northern Sect disdained it at all.

After the liberation, the boundaries between the northern and southern factions were not so obvious. My grandfather said he was the southern faction, but there were many northern factions among their group of old friends, so their children became even more confused, so there was no need to investigate these things in detail.

My grandfather didn't know how to read. After the liberation, he entered the literacy class. At that time, he could only learn to clean up the sand. He learned to search and struggled to death. It was thanks to his education that he could record some of his experiences. The third brother in Biaoziling, Changsha, was my grandfather. He recorded these things one by one in his old notebook. My grandfather was a cultural person and a lady from a wealthy family. He was attracted by his stories. In the end, my grandfather came to Hangzhou and settled a home here.

That note is my family’s treasure. My grandfather’s nose was completely destroyed after that incident. Later, he trained a dog to Wentu, and the person gave it a nickname: "Dog King". This is a real thing. Now he has been a Tushizi in Changsha, and the older generation knows this name.

As for how my grandfather survived later, what happened to my second uncle, grandfather and grandfather in the end, my grandfather never told me. In my memory, I have never seen a one-eyed and one-armed second uncle. It is probably a big disaster. When I mentioned this, my grandfather sighed and said, "That's not a story that children can hear." No matter how we asked or acted coquettish, he refused to reveal a word. In the end, as we grew older, we gradually lost our childhood curiosity.

When it closed in the evening that day, I received a text message. I opened it and saw that it was sent by my third uncle at home.

Uncle San is the only person in my family who is still engaged in tomb robbing. In his early years, I heard that I had been a good person for a while, but later I couldn’t get along with my leader in character, so I went out to make fun of antiques by myself. Uncle San often yelled that he debuted earlier than anyone else, and worked alone at the age of six, and was already famous in the eight foreign factions at the age of ten. It can be said that he was born to be a tomb robber.

However, this tomb robber has basically washed his hands and stopped washing his hands. According to his friends, in the past few years, he would occasionally go to the tomb to pick things up. In the past few years, he has been idle and focused on his hands. It seems that he is old and not convinced.

I opened his text message and thought he was going to ask me for dinner. Whenever I thought of it, I would say one sentence: "9 o'clock corns and yellow sand"

This is a secret message from our line, which means that new goods have arrived, and I asked me to pick them up. Uncle San has a good relationship on the other side of Mangshan. There are many apprentices, maybe a few of them have set up another tomb and the things have arrived in Hangzhou. I was considering whether to go, and then I received another one: "With the dragon spine, come quickly."

I have been tight recently and I can’t buy good things. It’s better not to look at them. However, as soon as he said he had a dragon spine, my eyes lit up. The dragon spine means a treasure. Uncle San’s eyes are surprisingly high. Even he thinks it is a good thing. I’m afraid it’s really a peerless treasure. If you miss this opportunity, you will lose it.

I made up my mind and closed the store door and drove my broken gold cup car straight to my third uncle. When his place was dirty, it was crowded. If I went later, I might not have anything left. I was a little anxious and stepped on the accelerator a few more times. As a result, I stopped a traffic police comrade at the intersection. After a long time of struggle, the car had arrived downstairs for him. I had just gotten out of the car and heard him shouting, "Boy, tell you to hurry up, you'll touch it for a long time, and there's nothing to do now!"

I was already feeling cold. After hearing what he said, I knew that the things must have been sold, so I said, "No, Uncle San, I will leave the good things for me too. You have sold them too quickly."

"You fucking know that it's a good thing, so you won't come quickly. I'm the first to notify you!"

I yelled, not wanting to explain. At this time, a young man walked out of his main door, carrying a long camphor wood box on his back, and it was wrapped in cloth outside, with only one side of the lid exposed. I knew this thing was called a sword box, which was used to place swords or swords. This thing was very valuable just one box. If there was a sword inside, it would be astronomical.

I guess it was the Dragon Ridge back, so I pointed at the thing on the young man's back. Uncle San nodded and made a helpless gesture.

At the moment, I felt in great interest and was about to go back the same way. Uncle San asked me to wait and say that there were still many people upstairs picking things from his library and asking me to come up to help collect money. I thought I was fine at night, so I went up to join in the fun.

After the matter was handled, he made half a cup of Wuliangye. While drinking with him, he told him the old man from Jinyao came to spy on the matter today. I said it in a joke. Unexpectedly, after hearing it, he tickled: "Golden teeth from Beijing, shout, this is really a suicide on the bridge and not jumping into the river - hitting the bridge (coincidentally)."

When I heard this, I wondered, Uncle San knew them, so I asked what happened. Uncle San said that in recent years he had heard that there were a few people who were very arrogant in touching gold thieves. There was a gold teeth from Beijing who were responsible for selling goods for them. Recently, it seemed that he had indeed opened a treasure cave in Shanxi. It seemed that he had really poured out a lot of treasures for them.

I thought the silk book might have come from the tomb in Shanxi, so I printed out the things in the digital camera for him to see. Uncle San's face was already empty and had already entered the state. When he saw the silk book, his face suddenly changed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, "What's wrong with this thing?"
Chapter completed!