Uncle Chen and I chatted until late at night.
I didn't expect that a seemingly typical old man from the countryside would know so much and answer everything I wanted to know.
It was only when I asked Uncle Chen what happened to his father and Uncle Yan back then.
Uncle Chen shook his head helplessly.
"Oh, my child, it's not that Uncle Chen didn't tell you, it's just that Uncle Chen really doesn't know the details. When this happened, I had been helping your Uncle Yan in Hainan to handle the handicap."
"When I come back, your father will have been buried...!"
"Actually, Liu Mei chose this time to hand over these things to you. Although on the surface it seems to be forcing her to marry him, she combined with the people below to deny your Uncle Yan's rights."
"But actually, why not take this opportunity to remove you from this circle?"
As Uncle Chen spoke, he took out his old smoking gun from the house and started talking while smoking.
"My child, although your Uncle Chen has never been to the tomb and has always been walking around on the ground, your eyes are much clearer than most people!"
"Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, tomb robbing was so rampant across the country?"
"All kinds of warlords, bandits, and even ordinary people participated in it. There is a saying that everyone is a soldier. This sentence can also be said here. It is not an exaggeration to say that the living environment at that time was that everyone was a thief."
"After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the culture of tomb robbing in the country also tended to calm down. Following the policies of great men, all tomb robbing gangs went underground, and the top ten tomb robbing gang systems were formed."
"But this approach undoubtedly does more harm than good. Over time, it has become a kind of underground society, and it is no different from those underworld!"
"No, as soon as the millennium arrived, red-headed documents were issued. In the future, the control of tomb robbers will only become more and more strict. In particular, organized and disciplined tomb robber gangs are the focus of national investigation and punishment."
"There are no stupid people in our old Chen family. If you think about it carefully, is this the truth?"
At night I lay in bed tossing and turning and couldn't sleep, thinking about Uncle Chen's words over and over in my mind.
What Uncle Chen meant was that the reason Liu Mei gave this thing to me was, firstly, to take it out, and secondly, to let me make my own choice.
But grandpa, I can't worry about my father's affairs at all.
In the end, I was really confused, so I got up and went to the yard.
I am holding an ancient coin in my hand. This ancient coin is the Qianlong Tongbao and was given to me by Uncle Yan when I followed him.
The bright moonlight overhead fell on the ground, reflecting light like layers of white frost.
I held the copper coin in my hand and threw it towards the sky.
I watched the Qianlong Tongbao flipping continuously in the air, and finally fell in front of my feet.
Seeing the result, I smiled bitterly and shook my head. I bent down to pick up the coins and turned around to go back to the house.
Uncle Chen was wearing clothes, leaning against the door frame of the living room, holding an old smoking gun in his hand and looking at me kindly.
When he saw me picking up the copper coins, he smiled and said, "How's it going? Have you made a choice?"
I lowered my head and glanced at the copper coins in my hand and said, "Yes, although it is not exactly what I thought, there is something you said that I think is quite right."
"oh?"
Uncle Chen narrowed his eyes and knocked his old smoking gun on the door frame.
"That sentence? Tell me about it?"
I walked up to Uncle Chen and said, "Uncle Chen, you are not young anymore, so you should smoke less."
Chen Bo smiled happily, put away his hand that was about to stuff tobacco into it and said, "Okay, I won't smoke anymore."
I hummed and replied: "Uncle Chen, you told me during dinner that human power may not be able to defeat the sky in some matters. Many matters of the older generation cannot be handled by the younger generation."
"I always thought before that no matter what, I must find out the cause of my grandfather and father's death, but maybe I should have figured it out now."
"Since those who want to rob tombs must make corresponding preparations, these are their fate."
"As for what Grandpa and Uncle Yan said about the curse on me, I think we have the answer now."
I spread my hands and said, "When I went to the ground before, Uncle Yan told me that he took me to the ground just to see if there would be any changes in my body."
"Although the master from Mount Wutai said that I might not survive until the age of twenty-four and the curse would come true, it has actually been proven that I have gone to the ground and nothing unknown happened to me."
"At this time, Aunt Mei also took me out of the original circle, so I think if I continue to persist, I may not be the only one hurt."
"I am the only one in our Chen family. If I die, maybe there will be no one left in the future."
"So I decided not to get to the bottom of some things. As for the Warring States Period bronze mirror, I will give it to the museum later. Of course, I will wait until the crackdown is over."
After hearing this, Uncle Chen showed a happy smile on his face.
"Okay, okay! My child, it's best for you to think like this. It's rare that you can understand your Uncle Yan's mood for so many years...!"
"It's getting late, let's take a rest early...!"
After speaking, Uncle Chen returned to his room.
And I went back to my room and lay down.
Maybe it’s because I really put something down in my heart, so I slept very well this time.
I also had a dream about being in a group with my father and mother.
In the dream, my mother told me to live a good life and never follow my mother's old path again.
When I woke up, tears were still hanging in the corners of my eyes.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and got up, washed my face and brushed my teeth. After dinner, I visited the graves of my parents with Uncle Chen.
Time passed day after day in this ordinary life.
When there was farm work, I would go to the fields to help Uncle Chen. In my spare time, I would take out the antique books collected by Uncle Yan and read them.
After all, I am not obsessed with going to the fields or investigating my parents' affairs, but I still need to live, and I can't always follow Uncle Chen to farm.
So my plan is to read all the books left by Uncle Yan, and then go to Beijing or Tianjin to find a job in an antique store.
Although the bank card Uncle Yan left me contained six digits, which was enough for me to open a small shop of my own.
But in the antique market, this thing requires qualifications.
Otherwise, no one would believe that a young man could identify treasures.
As for the book and notes left by my father, I also read them during this period of time.
In particular, the analysis of dragon veins and ancient tombs in the book "The Secret of Taosha Yin and Yang" benefited me a lot.
Among them, the explanation of Yin Yang and the Five Elements is very unique. It can be seen that the person who wrote this secret ancient book must be a person who is well versed in astronomy and geography.
What are the three combinations of the four meridians and the three pulses, the three combinations of Xuan Kong are really wonderful, the three combinations of the four births are the secret of heaven, and the secret technique of Shuangshan and Five Elements includes all the mountains and rivers in the yin and yang five elements.
Of course, there are many details, etc., many of which I couldn't understand at once. I just felt that many secret techniques in this book were studied for ancient tombs and Feng Shui.
And with this book, why worry about not finding the ancient tomb you are looking for?
It's no wonder that my father spent more than ten years digging dozens of tombs and digging out a lot of sand for the truth, which turned Uncle Yan, a small tomb robber, into a powerful leader.
It can be seen that although the tomb robbing business is dangerous, the money can be made very quickly.
It is in line with the saying, gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times!
I originally thought that life would pass by like this boring and plain, but what should come will always come.
Even if I finally put things aside, you will have to face the choice again the moment fate comes over your head.
Just two days after the second day of the second lunar month, when I was taking a shower at night, Uncle Chen told me that some dark red marks appeared on my back.
At first I thought it was because I was not used to sleeping in my hometown, or I was bitten by some small bug, or it was caused by some skin allergy.
Then I got some Chinese herbal medicine, applied some on it and then ignored it!
But later on, there were more and more dark red spots on my body.
In the end, the color was slightly purple. Although it was not obvious, the entire back was densely packed and looked very scary.
It's like being beaten up by a group of people!
Upon seeing this, Uncle Chen asked me to go directly to the city for a check-up tomorrow morning, but I felt that it was a bit of a fuss. After all, it didn't hurt or itch.
But Uncle Chen's face was very ugly. He sat in the main room and kept smoking cigarettes.
After a long while, he slowly said: "Xiao Xu, you must listen to me and go have a look quickly, otherwise, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, Uncle Chen, if you have anything to say, just say it...!"
I didn't know why Uncle Chen was so serious all of a sudden, and I couldn't help but feel nervous.
Originally I thought I was mentally prepared, but when Uncle Chen said those words, I was still so frightened that I sat on the ground for a long time without reacting.
Uncle Chen said: "Xiao Xu, I suspect that what you have is not a skin disease, but...!"
"But...but..."
Uncle Chen stuttered for a while, and finally uttered two words!
"Zi...Madara...!!"
