I also pulled out my snake-skin cloth bag and squatted down, stuffing the bronze artifacts into it.
The round and square cauldrons were heavy, so I struggled a bit. Sun Lao San took care of me and asked me to pick up the smaller items.
I ended up picking up the bronze beans and smaller bronze cups. These types of bronze artifacts stacked together weren't unusual, as during the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods, such items were commonly used as kitchen utensils.
The bronze cauldrons were used to cook meat, the cups were for drinking wine, and the bronze beans were for holding salt and seasonings. The bronze beans served a similar purpose to what we today use for dipping vinegar when eating dumplings.
It was like using a sack to collect money — I was literally doing just that.
I'm relatively thin, and not very strong, so when I noticed my sack was nearly full, I decided to take it up for a trip first.
I twisted my head left and right, and at that moment, the headlamp shone on a corner of the ear chamber.
"Eh? What's that? A water jar?"
"Er Ge! Look! There's a jar!"
Sun Lao Er, who had been focusing on stuffing a bronze cauldron into his bag, jumped in shock at my sudden loud voice.
"Shit, Yun Feng, what the hell are you shouting for? You scared the hell out of me."
I said, "Er Ge, there's a big jar in the corner of the wall."
Without lifting his head, he replied, "That's just a coarse pottery jar. What good is it? It's too big to carry down the mountain, and it wouldn't even be worth a thousand or eighteen hundred. We don't need that kind of junk."
After hearing Sun Lao Er's words and looking at the large water jar with its stone lid, I decided not to go over.
Struggling under the weight of the full sack of bronze artifacts, I waded through the water back to where we came from. At that moment, a rope was lowered from the ceiling of the tomb passage.
Wang Ba Tou's voice came from above: "Yun Feng, tie the snake-skin bag securely, make sure it's tight. After that, come back and pack more. Hurry up, we don't have much time left."
I twisted the top of the sack full of bronze artifacts a few times and tied it to the rope. Then, the sack slowly started to rise as Wang Ba Tou pulled it up from above.
In the next hour or so, we worked hard, and by the time we were done, we had moved out eight full sacks of bronze artifacts.
Just then, Wang Ba Tou's voice came through the intercom, urging us: "You three, hurry up and get up here. It's almost dawn. We need to get down the mountain quickly."
Do you know the game "stacking people"?
I was first lifted to the ceiling using a human pyramid by the Sun brothers. Then, Wang Ba Tou above lowered a rope, pulling me up.
The Sun brothers were even more impressive. After reaching the ceiling, they didn't even use the rope — they simply braced themselves against the tomb hole and climbed straight up.
Once they got up, Sun Lao Er couldn't hide the smile on his face.
He looked at the many bulging snake-skin bags on the ground and asked, "Ba Tou, how many points do you think this is?"
Wang Ba Tou shook his head and smiled: "Each profession has its own expertise. As for how many points, that's something you'll have to ask Lao Da. He's the one who can estimate it properly."
Later, I learned that when they referred to "points," they meant tens of thousands, with one point equal to ten thousand. A hundred points would equal a million. Back in the early 2000s, many people's annual salary didn't even reach one point.
Sun Lao Da was in charge of scouting and sales.
As long as there were no issues, he usually wouldn't speak over the walkie-talkie. But if he spoke during work, it meant that strangers were nearby.
Wang Ba Tou said, "This is just one west ear chamber, and there's still the east ear chamber. This is strange — we still haven't found the main tomb. Looks like we'll have to set up a base here. Who knows how many treasures are hidden inside? This job's not going to be done in a day or two."
Setting up a base in tomb robbing terminology meant encountering a large tomb where you couldn't finish everything in one or two days, so you had to set up a base around it and keep coming back to continue the work.
In the past, old-timers in the tomb-robbing business would often ask each other, "Hey, I heard you set up two big bases last year?"
The person would reply, "Oh, no, no, just got lucky and set up two small ones."
Setting up a base had its risks, as it was easy to be discovered. If some old man or woman decided to go hiking up the mountain and accidentally fell into one of our tomb holes, we'd be done for.
So, the risk and reward were proportional. The higher the reward, the higher the risk.
After weighing the situation, Wang Ba Tou nodded and said, "Western Zhou artifacts have been skyrocketing in the black market these past few years, prices change every day. I think it's worth taking the risk. Let's set up the base."
As soon as we got our hands on the goods, Sun Lao Da immediately contacted a woman called Yike Zhi and had her send people over to move the items and help cover up the tomb hole.
Yike Zhi was a remarkable woman. Through several encounters, I learned that most of the younger men she associated with had significant backgrounds. She didn't just serve Wang Ba Tou as logistics; she also reportedly worked as the logistics head for other criminal groups.
Technically, this wasn't by the book, but because Yike Zhi was so capable, Wang Ba Tou simply turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it, much like how some professionals in big companies hold key positions in multiple organizations.
Yike Zhi took care of a few young men who were completely devoted to her. They worked for her willingly, bringing us generators and water pumps at night and helping us cover up the tomb hole. These tasks were all handled by Yike Zhi's young crew.
Without Yike Zhi, our crew wouldn't have functioned smoothly at all.
The soil from the ceiling that was mixed with green and white mud was highly noticeable. We couldn't afford to dispose of it recklessly because of time constraints, so we decided to take it with us.
That soil was like a ticking time bomb. Many people in our line of work had gotten into trouble because of it. For example, the Babaoshan tomb-robbing crew in Beijing got caught because they left a small pile of green and white soil in the mountains, which an old lady found while walking around, leading to their complete downfall. They ended up serving ten years in prison.
The next day.
Back at the small guesthouse in Shunde, I was crouched by the sink brushing my teeth, thinking about where to dispose of the green and white soil later.
Just then...
"Slap!" A heavy smack landed on my backside from behind.
I was brushing my teeth at the time, and with such a slap, I didn't manage to spit out the mouthful of water I was holding. I ended up swallowing it all.
I spun around in anger, only to see Yike Zhi wearing a tank top, laughing at me.
Although Yike Zhi was a few years older than me, her body was still in excellent shape. It was clear that she took good care of herself, thanks to her wealth and the best skincare products she used. The pink tank top she was wearing exposed her long legs, which were so fair that they made my throat dry just looking at them.
With a teasing smile, Yike Zhi said, "Hehe, little Yun Feng, I heard from Lao Er yesterday that you've never even held a girl's hand? Is that true?"
Blushing, I mumbled, "None of your business."
Seeing me embarrassed, Yike Zhi burst into laughter, her body shaking, and her laughter was so loud it seemed almost provocative.
She beckoned me with her finger, "Little Yun Feng, don't you want to be the 45th man for your sister?"
At that time, I was still young and didn't fully understand the intricacies of adult relationships, so I blurted out, "I don't want to. By the time you're 40, I'll have to wear 99 green hats! You shameless woman, don't even think about it, Xiang Yun Feng is not falling for it!"
When I insulted her, Yike Zhi got mad. She grabbed the mop in the guesthouse and started chasing me around the yard.
By noon, since it was meal time, I slung my black backpack over my shoulder, dressed like a high school student, and wandered around Shunde city aimlessly.
My backpack was stuffed with green and white soil, and I needed to find a suitable place to dispose of it.
As I walked, I couldn't stop thinking about one thing.
For some reason, the large water jar in the corner of the west ear chamber in the tomb last night kept lingering in my mind.
I just felt like something was off about it.
[--------------------------------------------]
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