Chapter 3

Translator: Zayn_

“Second Brother, it’s just 8000 Yuan from that kid. Let’s find a place and do another business. We can get it back. Is there a need to keep an eye on this place for a day?”

At the east exit of Luochuan Antique Market, two people were squatting in an alley and smoking. The lean one was the middle-aged man who had looked for Su Xiaofan. The younger man next to him looked impatient. The weather was a little hot this year. Although it was only mid-May, the temperature was already more than 30 degrees at noon. Even if they did nothing, they would still be covered in sweat.

Su Xiaofan and Zheng Dagang didn’t make a mistake. This group of people really made a fortune by robbing tombs. Usually, people in their line of work would stay at home during the day and work in the fields at night. Today, it was the opposite. The young man was not used to staying outside on a hot day, and he was even too impatient to talk.

“You don’t know sh*t. I’m not doing this for the 8000 Yuan.”

Wu Chuanbao, who was addressed as second brother, took a deep puff of his cigarette, put the cigarette butt under his shoes, and ground it hard. He said in an unpleasant tone, “The bronze ware that kid took out has never appeared in the market or in any major museums. Even if his is an imitation, it must be an imitation of the real thing. As long as we keep a close eye on this kid, we can find the real thing.”

“Second Brother, how much did they offer you? Why are you so concerned?”

The young man’s name was Wu Chuanpeng, and he was Wu Chuanbao’s fifth brother. In their line of work, they were basically from the same village or from the same family because outsiders were not trusted. If it had been a few decades earlier, the son would have been the one to loot the tomb, and the father would have been guarding the entrance of the site. It was common for the son to cheat the father because of money, but the father had never cheated the son. Over time, it had become a rule in this line of work.

Although not many people followed this rule now, most of them were still blood-related or from the same village in Tongxiang. They formed a grave robbing gang and rarely accepted outsiders. Wu Chuanbao’s grave robbing gang was like this. Everyone in it had the surname Wu and were related by blood. The furthest relationship they had was not more than five separations.

“Fifth Brother, the matter isn’t settled yet. Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask. Have you forgotten the rules?”

Hearing Wu Chuanpeng’s words, Wu Chuanbao’s face could not help but darken. In their line of work, the division of labor was very detailed. Some were responsible for scouting for the feng shui, setting the cave and searching for the tomb, some were responsible for excavating the tombs, some were responsible for retrieving items from the tomb, and the others were to look for buyers. Everyone was responsible for their own business, and no one could break the rules.

Wu Chuanbao had been involved in the smuggling of cultural relics in the south in the early years. He had many channels at hand and naturally became the one in charge of finding the next seller in the gang. All the items that were taken out from underground had to be handed to him. Then, Wu Chuanbao would take photos and send them to his old customers. After some people took a fancy to them, the price would be discussed. Finally, Wu Chuanbao would deliver the goods and trade. This set of procedures was completed.

Speaking of which, Wu Chuanbao’s group of grave robbers could be considered to be self-produced and self-sold. They could maximize their profits. Some grave robbers worked hard to get the items up, but because they had no other channels, they could only sell them at a cheap price. In the end, they ended up benefiting those cultural relic brokers.

“Second Bro, I didn’t mean it that way.” Seeing Wu Chuanbao’s face sink, Wu Chuanpeng suddenly felt a little guilty. In their gang, other than the elder of the Wu family who they all called Third Master, Wu Chuanbao had the highest status. After all, the distribution channel determined the profit they made from fighting each other. If the item could not be sold at a high price, they would have to starve.

“Fifth Bro, someone from Xinjiang specifically asked for the item this time.” Looking at his fifth brother’s expression, Wu Chuanbao felt that he had been a little too strict. After all, the money earned from selling the items still had to be distributed. Although the amount that everyone received was different, the accounts were public and his fifth brother had the right to know.

“They’ve offered this amount.” Wu Chuanbao stretched out his palm and said in a low voice, “And according to the quality, I can even receive more. Old Fifth, do you think I shouldn’t be careful?”

“Fifty thousand?” Wu Chuanpeng was stunned when he heard that. It was already considered good that a single item was worth 50,000 Yuan.

“Fifty thousand? Fifth bro, you are too short-sighted.” Wu Chuanbao sneered.

“Five hundred thousand?” Wu Chuanpeng did not manage to suppress his voice, but he immediately realized what was going on. He quickly looked around and lowered his voice, saying, “Second Bro, this thing was just a woman’s headdress in ancient times. How could it be worth so much money?”

Wu Chuanpeng had been working in the fields with his family for a few years now, so he had some understanding of the market for various items. Among the items in the tomb, the best to sell were Jade and porcelain. These two items were widely circulated and had many collectors. They were also the most recognized items in the market, and there were people in the country and abroad who could buy them.

The most difficult thing to find in an underground tomb was calligraphy and paintings. Because the tomb was humid, it was difficult to preserve calligraphy and paintings. Some of the calligraphy and paintings hanging in the tomb would be weathered away as soon as the robber’s hole was opened. However, if you could find a well-preserved calligraphy and painting of a famous person, you could make a lot of money. As for bronze, it was a heavy weapon, but the country’s crackdown was too strong, and the risk of shipping it out was also very high. Often, the price would be lowered by people.

“You’re asking me, but who should I ask? The map they gave me told me to find this object. Otherwise, how could I have been tricked by that kid?”

Wu Chuanbao shook his head gloomily. He had been in this line of work for more than 20 years and had handled countless cultural relics. As long as it was something that came out of the soil, he could tell with a single sniff. He did not expect to fail at the hands of a young boy.

The loss of 8000 Yuan was a small matter, but his old customer in Xinjiang specifically wanted this item and even raised the price by 300,000 Yuan. This forced Wu Chuanbao to turn back to Su Xiaofan, because according to the buyer, if Su Xiaofan did not have the real thing, he would not be able to make such a high-quality counterfeit.

“This thing is so precious, how could that kid have the real one?” Wu Chuanpeng glanced at the antique market. “Second Brother, I think we should look for a few more tombs. Maybe we’ll run into one. Didn’t you say that many of Qin and Han’s tombs had this thing?”

There were different kinds of people in the martial arts world. Wu Chuanpeng and the others had learned from their ancestors. Although they were timid and could not do this business, martial arts was not their strong point. He could also see that the boy with the surname Su had some connections in the antique market. If he really wanted to go all out, they might not be able to gain an advantage.

“You think I don’t know?” Wu Chuanbao said unhappily, “These things are basically scattered in the tombs. Unless the archeologists use a brush to clean it up bit by bit, they won’t be able to find it. If we want to find a complete one, it’s purely based on luck. It’s not as simple as you say.”

Wu Chuanbao had seen Dai Sheng before, but they were all incomplete. Such a small object was buried in the soil, and it was impossible to find it without careful work. It was the most convenient way to get ideas from Su Xiaofan.

“Fifth Brother, it hasn’t been peaceful in Xiao mountain recently. Third Master said that we won’t go to the fields for a while.” Wu Chuanbao’s face suddenly revealed a trace of fear.

“Second Brother, I’ll listen to you and Third Master.” Seeing the expression on Wu Chuanbao’s face, Wu Chuanpeng could not help but shiver. He knew what his Second Brother was talking about.

It was strange. Since the end of the new year, the gravediggers around Luochuan had been in trouble one after another. It wasn’t that they were caught by the police, but that there were several accidents in the process of tomb raiding.

First, it was the gang from Chuanbei. At the next Han Dynasty tomb, the tomb’s hole suddenly collapsed and buried two people alive. Even the person guarding the hole was not spared. Only the person in charge of selling the stolen goods who was not at the scene managed to escape, but he was so scared that he left Luochuan and disappeared.

There was also a gang in Shanxi. It took them half a year to dig up a large tomb of the Qin Dynasty. The gang was relatively strong, and the holes were reinforced. When they went down, they all wore oxygen masks. Because it was a large tomb, there were many things inside. Five people went down at that time, and three people stayed outside to guard it.

What was unexpected was that the five of them went down for more than two hours without any movement. Seeing that the sky was about to turn bright, the three people guarding the top couldn’t hold it in anymore and went down one after another. There were a total of eight people, but only one came up in the end. However, the person who came had gone crazy. He just knelt at the entrance of the cave and kept kowtowing. When the nearby villagers found him, he was already dead.

The tomb of the Qin Dynasty was excavated and people died, which naturally alerted the relevant departments. The local archeology department originally wanted to carry out a protective excavation, but they didn’t expect that after only one day of excavation, a worker hired from a nearby village would die. It was said that even the garrison was alarmed at that time. In the end, experts from Yanjing came and concluded that there was mercury poison in the tomb. It was not yet suitable to excavate it, so they buried the tomb.

These two things were very big, especially in the underworld circle. Almost everyone knew about it. Some rumors said that the Fushan underworld was disturbed, so they punished those people. Some said that they dug up zombies and all of them had their vitality sucked out. In short, all kinds of rumors were flying around.

Those who did the business of the dead naturally had more respect for ghosts and gods. After these two incidents, almost no one dared to fight in Luochuan’s territory anymore. Many gangs went to Xianshan and Shanhai. In an instant, Luochuan city, which was originally plagued by grave robbers, became much cleaner and more peaceful.

“It’s really strange. When I went into the tomb a while ago, I kept feeling like I was being watched by something. Second Brother, let’s find an expert to take a look at us and ask for an amulet or something.” When talking about this matter, even under the bright sun, Fifth Wu felt a chill.

Recently, in Luochuan city, especially near the boundary of Xiao mountain, there were always some inexplicable things happening. A few days ago, a very evil thing happened in the village that Wu Chuanpeng and the others rented. Perhaps they had been fed too much hormone feed, but the dozen or so roosters of the big chicken family in the village actually had sex with thousands of hens overnight. The whole night was a mess, and the whole village was not at peace.

As soon as this incident happened, Wu Chuanbao and the others were so scared that they immediately checked out of their houses in the village and moved to Luochuan city. It was also because of this that he ran into Su Xiaofan, who had set up a street stall.