In the afternoon, I put flowers in the old lady's hair and I listened.
The boss said this: "Sister, don't worry, you don't have to worry about this anymore, I will help you solve it."
The old lady seemed touched and said, "I believe you can."
I quietly asked the boss: "Then do we still need money? 600,000 yuan for burial expenses?"
He raised his head and frowned and said: "That's still necessary, one code is the same, these are two different things."
After we left Shanngling Village, we went directly to a place called Yanxia Village 40 kilometers away. This place was very remote and wasted time.
"Is this here?"
"Is there anyone living here? Why is it so dark and no lights are on?"
He glanced at his phone and confirmed, "The address given by Mr. Li should be correct. Che Baohua is much older than me. I heard that he has been ill and bedridden for a long time. His adopted son has been taking care of me in the past few years.
"
In front of us was a dilapidated rural courtyard. It was unlocked. After knocking a few times and no one responded, we went straight in.
"You damn old man! Open your mouth and eat! Damn it!"
"Eat it or not! If not, I'll take it and feed it to the dog!"
In the room, an old man was sitting on the bed, and a middle-aged man about 50 years old was feeding him food from a bowl. The old man had a dirty rag on his chest and a few grains of yellow millet stuck to his chin.
"What?
"You still want to eat vegetables? Why don't you eat chicken feathers? You are about to die and why don't you tell me where the golden seal is hidden? You are going to put it in the fucking coffin."
"cough!"
He put his head in the doorway and coughed.
"Who are you two? Who are you looking for?"
I said, "I came to see Che Baohua to ask something."
"Fuck," the man cursed, put the bowl aside, stood up and said, "Don't worry about finding my adoptive father. You are also here to inquire about the gold seal, right?"
We didn't talk.
He smiled and stretched out his hand: "Old rules, give me 50 yuan, and you can ask whatever you want within half an hour. Just don't hit the old man."
He winked with his head.
I didn’t have 50, so I gave him 100 quickly and said there was no need to look for it.
"Hey, this can't be fake money, can it?" He rubbed his fingers for a long time and said, "You can chat whatever you want, I'll wait at the door."
This was not the first time he had seen a situation like this. Ever since Boss Hu and Tu Mouzi were imprisoned, many people had come here, hoping to find out from Che Baohua the whereabouts of Queen Tianyuan's golden seal.
So far, I haven't heard of anyone succeeding. As time goes by, more and more people say that Che Baohua didn't hide the gold seal at all back then. It's all rumors.
After closing the door and turning on the light in the room, I stood, moved my head to a mat, and sat in front of the bed.
Che Baohua is 94 years old this year. He has lived for almost a century. He is two years younger than the old scholar I know. His face is wrinkled and his arms and legs are as thin as twigs. I dare not touch them for fear of accidentally touching them.
He suffered a broken bone.
"Hey..." He sighed with his head.
"Brother Che, you should know me, right? I am Wang Xiansheng, and I am the disciple of Wang Pingling of the Northern School."
Che Baohua seemed not to have heard, and remained sitting on the edge of the bed without moving, with leftovers at the corners of his mouth and dull eyes.
It's like Alzheimer's disease. I can't tell if it's just an act or if it's true.
He gave me another look with his head.
I quietly walked to the door and took a look outside. The middle-aged man was some distance away and smoking.
I turned my head to show that no one was listening.
He looked at Che Baohua on the bed again and said: "Times have changed, and time is not forgiving. Brother Che, back then you were also the greatest tomb robber second only to the Huiguan level. I respect you seniors very much."
After saying that, he walked over and slapped him without any warning!
The next second.
Che Baohua stood up and said loudly: "Boy! There is something wrong with you! Why are you hitting me!"
I was stunned.
This speed of standing up! This loud voice!
He also called a man in his seventies a boy! Is this... the same person?
"Haha," Tou Tou said with a smile, "Just kidding, big brother, how about I ask you to call me back?"
"Stop talking nonsense, why are you looking for me? If you want to know where the golden seal is, I don't know, you can leave."
After that, he took out a cigarette and a match from under the bed sheet, struck it, and blew out a smoke ring very comfortably.
He raised his head and said with a smile: "Brother, you misunderstood. I am not interested in the whereabouts of Jinyin. I came here to ask you about how you helped the old Qin family find tombs around 1950."
"Old Qin family...Which old Qin family?"
"It was the family who later immigrated abroad. At that time, they lived in Ling Village, Manshan Mountain."
"oh....."
Che Baohua frowned and thought for a long time.
"So you are talking about the descendants of that Huizhou merchant family. I still have an impression. What do you want to ask?"
"I want to ask you about helping to find the tomb."
The old man asked: "After so many years, they still haven't found it? I still remember the second son of the Qin family, is he still there?"
The second eldest son of the Qin family refers to the old lady’s father.
"The person is no longer here," he shook his head.
"call...."
When he heard that the person was gone, he blew out a puff of smoke. Che Baohua looked a little sad, as if he remembered his old friend.
"So, the descendants of the old Qin family asked you to find their ancestral grave again?" he asked.
Nod your head and say yes.
After flicking the ashes from his cigarette, Che Baohua recalled: "Actually, we visited more than 70 tombs in total that year, and we felt we were about to find them. Then Qin Laoer suddenly left the country."
"Boy, you also know that it was not easy to go abroad in those days. If you missed some opportunities, you would not be able to go out. At that time, our group of people explored some places and made sketches. I forgot where to put them. I will look for them for you.
"
In today's northern sect of tomb robbers, in terms of seniority, few people dare to call Yinhu "boy", and he can be counted among them.
Che Baohua, the head master Wang Pingling, and the old scholar in the system, these three people can be said to be tomb robbers during the Republic of China.
"Where is it... Hey, I seem to remember it being here, but I can't find it..."
The old man rummaged through the cabinets in the house, and stepped on the stool to search on the top of the cabinets for a long time.
Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he clapped his hands fiercely, lay down under the bed, and pulled out a dusty leather box from under the bed board.
The old leather box was of good quality and had not been broken for so many years. It was just covered with a thick layer of dust and a lot of rat droppings.
"Hoo! Hoo!"
After blowing some dust, he opened the suitcase.
It is full of old iron kettles, light bulbs, various plastic bags, and a lot of miscellaneous things.
He asked us to help find it together and said it was a small leather notebook.
I opened a plastic bag and said, "What is this? Is this an iron egg?"
Che Baohua took a look and said: "What iron eggs? They are sandwich chocolate balls from the 1970s. They seem to have expired."
"Why?"
"That's it! Found it! So I put it here!"
He handed the yellowed cowhide book to the boss and said, "Boy, take it away. It's not convenient here. You can go back and read it slowly. I hope it can help you."
At this time, a shout suddenly came from outside the hospital.
"Hey! You two! It's time! Do you still want to add more time? 50 yuan for half an hour!"
He wiped the dust, put his cowhide book close to his body, and said sincerely, "Old senior, at our age, I'm afraid we won't have the chance to see each other again. Please take care of yourself."
"Tell me what you guys are saying! Do you want more money?"
At this time, while watching the bed, Che Baohua looked like he was demented again. He sat on the bed with dull eyes, rice grains stuck to the corners of his mouth, motionless.
After we came out, his adopted son cursed in a low voice: "Two poor men, they are reluctant to spend fifty yuan, and they still want to find a gold seal."
...
Thinking about it, I have never seen Che Baohua again. However, Boss Hu was released from prison in the autumn of 2008. As a tomb robber who had been seriously out of touch with society for 15 years, I heard people say that the first person who was released was
In the next two years, Mr. Hu bought a house, a car, a Cadillac, and a new wife.
This is not small money.
Many people can guess where the money comes from.
The two of them had agreed at the beginning that Che Baohua would wait for him to come out for fifteen years, and then he would split the money 50-50.
This is the "credibility" that the older generation of the Northern School pays attention to.
