In October 1997, the tomb of King Zhao in Handan, Hebei was robbed.
A large number of bronze horses, jade clothes with golden threads and many other national cultural relics were unearthed.
Although the public security organs caught all the criminals.
Those tomb robbers also spit out many major cultural relics.
But a piece of shriveled human skin with an unattractive appearance flowed out from it.
July 1999.
As usual, I stayed in Uncle Yan's shop to study some antique knowledge.
At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the weather suddenly changed.
The originally clear sky suddenly became dense with dark clouds.
Accompanied by bursts of muffled thunder, large raindrops fell crackling down, as if they were venting something.
I looked at the weird weather outside the door, cursed under my breath, and prepared to get up and close the door.
At this moment, a stooped man walked in despite the heavy rain.
As soon as I entered the door, I asked if Yama was there.
He said he had something to take action on!
Yama Wu is my Uncle Yan’s real name.
But most people don't call him that. People in the circle call Uncle Yan the fifth master.
The man in front of me spoke like Tianjin.
Tianjin is hundreds of kilometers away from our Los Angeles city.
Shenyang Road over there and Panjiayuan in Beijing, which one is not more famous than ours?
Do you still need to come all the way to Luo City to sell things?
What's more, I've never heard that Uncle Yan has friends in Tianjin?
Speaking of which, I have to mention the culture of the tomb robbing circle.
Maybe many people only know that there are two factions of tomb robbers, the North and the South.
But I don’t know that there are a lot of things to say about the side details.
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the whole of China was divided into ten major tomb robbing systems.
They are: Liaoshen, Rehe, Changping, Huanluo, Yanbei, Guanzhong, Lunan, Changsha, Jiangning and Lingnan.
These top ten tomb robbing systems are also called the top ten underground tomb robbing gangs.
They carve up the entire underground territory of China.
In addition to these, some places also have local sects, family sects, etc.
The Beijing-Tianjin gang belongs to the Changping Gang, and due to historical factors and other reasons, they generally do not cooperate with people from other provinces.
Because they think people in other places are just rubes, and they are the upper class nobles.
This is especially true for descendants of the Qing government, who are often descendants of the Eight Banners.
This Aixinjueluo descendant, that Yehenala clan.
Even if he has not become a tomb robber, the arrogance and prejudice in his heart has not changed.
Perhaps seeing that I kept staring at him without speaking, the other party raised his hand and took off his raincoat and hat.
When the other person took off his hat, I could see his face clearly.
His hair was sparse and his facial features were extremely ugly, as if they had been scalded with boiling water.
The folds on his face are stacked one on top of another, and they tremble when he speaks.
It seemed like something was being pinched to death.
If it were normal, it would be the pair of cunning eyes.
I looked him up and down and asked: "Uncle Yan is not here. If you have anything you need to sell, you can show it to me first."
Seeing me saying this, the other person glanced at me up and down.
Finally, he sighed and said, "May I ask, little brother, when will Yama Five be here?"
"I was his early friend..."
I frowned and felt a little unhappy.
Are you looking down on me?
With this thought in mind, he shrugged his shoulders.
"Since you said you are my Uncle Yan's friend, you naturally know what he does."
"My Uncle Yan has gone on a long journey. I really don't know when I will come back."
"If it's convenient for you, please take out the things and let me have a look."
"I'm not satisfied with what you said. I studied antiques with Uncle Yan when I was twelve years old. I've seen a lot of babies, big and small."
"At least so far, nothing has caught my eye."
"I dare not say anything else, but when it comes to appraising treasures, I, Uncle Yan, may not even be able to say that he is much better than me now?"
"If you don't believe it, you can go out and ask around. I'm known as the Fifth Master of Treasure Appraisal in this area...!"
When I said this, my tone of voice involuntarily rose.
Although most of them were bragging, I didn't lie to him about one thing.
That means whether the water coming out is wonderful goods, yellow goods, or smoked goods.
I can’t say that I can 100% see it all at a glance.
But at least I haven't really had my eyes punched so far.
Water heads refer to things that come out of the soil, and are called underworld tools in many novels.
In general, people in the circle seldom shout, and every place has its own arrogant code words.
And second-hand goods refer to fakes.
Yellow goods refer to genuine goods.
Smoked goods refer to fake goods that have been manipulated.
After waiting for a long time, there was no response from the other party, so I decided to chase him away.
But just as I stood up, the other person rushed to the door and closed the door for me.
When I saw the other party closing the door, I immediately looked at him cautiously.
"You, what do you want to do?"
Seeing my reaction, the other party quickly waved his hand and said, "Brother, don't be nervous."
As he spoke, the other party took out the things in his arms and placed them on the counter in front of me.
It was something wrapped in several layers of oil paper.
It looks like a big pile of yellow cake on the table.
I glanced at the other party, and then quickly untied the layers of oil paper with both hands.
When he saw a piece of shriveled skin inside, he immediately frowned.
At first I didn't think about human skin.
I just felt that this shriveled piece of skin had many reddish-brown lines on it, like runes.
But my research on ancient characters is not deep. After all, I have not studied them systematically, so I cannot recognize them.
But the smell on this skin makes me feel inexplicably familiar.
My nose has been amazingly sensitive since I lost my sight.
Even after seeing the light again later, this ability was not lost.
I took the piece of skin and looked up and down several times, then raised my head and looked at the other person.
"What kind of skin is this?"
The old man was stunned for a moment, and then gave me an ambiguous smile.
He didn't say anything, just looked at me with a weird smile.
I was a little embarrassed by the other person's look, and at the same time I noticed the wrinkles on the other person's face.
I immediately thought that this might be human skin.
When I learned that what I was holding was human skin, I had no fear in my heart.
Just a little weird.
Because I don’t know who would accept such a piece of stuff?
Not to mention it shriveled up into something like human skin.
I casually threw the shriveled human skin on the table.
Then Wandering said with all his heart: "Isn't it just a piece of tattered human skin? What did I think?"
"This thing is worthless in the antique market, and it has no collection value if you want to sell it."
Having said this, I stretched out two fingers and looked at the old man: "Twenty yuan, no more!"
"Just because you are my Uncle Yan's friend, if you sell me, I will give you money. If you don't sell, you can do it yourself..."
After saying that, I looked at each other quietly.
There was even more disdain in my heart. Is such a junk thing worthy of being so treasured?
When the other person heard what I said, he was a little stunned, as if I was telling another joke.
But the other party soon reacted.
He didn't go to get the 'baba' on the table but leaned towards me.
Then he lowered his voice and said, "Brother, do you know where this human skin comes from?"
"If you knew, you wouldn't make an offer so easily?"
When the other party said this, I shook my head repeatedly.
"An antique shop has the rules of an antique shop. They only look at authenticity and don't ask about the provenance of things."
The old man chuckled, nodded and said, "Okay, pay for it...!"
When the old man stretched out his left hand, I realized that his left hand was extremely dark, as if he had been poisoned.
But I didn't think too much about these.
Instead, he opened the drawer nonchalantly, took out twenty yuan and handed it to the other party.
The other party took the money and said: "This twenty yuan is considered a deposit. When you hand this thing over to Yama Wu, ask him to make up for it with the subsequent money."
As he said that, the old man put on his raincoat and hat, opened the door and prepared to leave.
Before leaving, the old man stopped and turned to look at me and said, "Are you that boy from the Chen family?"
This time it was my turn to be surprised. Does this person know me?
But before I could ask back, the other party said again: "Tell Yama Wu that he owes Ghost Shou a favor."
After saying that, the old man plunged into the heavy rain.
When I came to my senses and rushed out to ask for details, there was still half a figure...?
