Chapter 139: Even Dogs Won't Do It (Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter 24)

The street entrance is very narrow, with residential houses of varying heights scattered about; along the walls are tricycles and motorcycles.

Half-grown boys dart back and forth, while women in groups of three to five or seven to eight huddle at the base of the walls, chatting idly.

The car was parked by the roadside, and the three of them walked into the alley.

At the corner, foam boxes were piled up, their lids flipped to the side, filled with kitchen waste and leftover food. A blackish-green liquid seeped from the corners of the boxes, and the sour, putrid stench hit the nose directly.

It was October, yet the old man wearing a chef's hat was still bare-chested. The wok was tossed high, and from the window cracks, already so caked with oil that their original form was unrecognizable, seeped a few wisps of the charred fragrance of Sichuan Peppercorn being stir-fried.

The sound of mahjong mixed with laughter and curses drifted out, and a thug with a dragon tattooed across his back and a cigarette dangling from his mouth walked out of the chess and card room. His gaze subconsciously collided with Gu Ming's; the burly man was startled for a moment, then instinctively looked away.

Several women dressed in revealing clothes and heavy makeup leaned against the wall. They whistled at Lin Sicheng with "whew-whew-whew" sounds and batted their eyes vigorously.

Ye Anning glared back fiercely.

Gu Ming blinked his eyes, not knowing what to say.

Lin Chengwa, you kid are going to be blessed from now on...

Continuing forward, the street gradually became wider, much quieter, and much more desolate.

This is Qujiang Township in the Chang'an District, a proper urban village. South of the village exit are rolling, verdant hills.

That is the Shanglin Park from the Han Dynasty; the Duling of Han Xuan and the Shaoling of Xu Pingjun (the Empress) are located there.

Besides that, there are many, many ancient tombs from the Han and Tang dynasties. Therefore, the local customs of the people in this area are quite fierce.

After walking a bit further, they ran into a few old ladies chatting. Lin Sicheng stepped forward to ask: "Hello, elders, may I trouble you to ask, how do I get to Tao Qizhi's house?"

The old woman was stunned for a moment: "There hasn't been anyone in that house for a long time?"

"It's fine, we're just here to take a look!"

"Oh~" The old lady's expression turned strange; she looked them up and down, then pointed ahead: "Go two more alleys, turn north, the house with the lantern hanging at the door."

"Ah, okay, thank you!"

Lin Sicheng thanked her and continued forward.

Arriving at the place the old lady mentioned, Lin Sicheng stopped and pointed: "It's here!"

The three-story small building was covered in tiles, and the aluminum alloy doors and windows shimmered with a silver light. An osmanthus tree was planted in the courtyard, with a few golden branches reaching over the wall.

It seemed quite wealthy, but the vermilion gate was tightly shut, the lock secured with wire. What was even stranger was that white lanterns hung from the gatehouse, white funeral couplets were pasted on the doorposts, and many wreaths stood on both sides.

Even stranger was that the wreaths had long since discolored, looking as if they had been placed there for several years?

The more he looked, the stranger it felt. Gu Ming stepped forward and peered through the crack in the door.

Paper money was scattered in the courtyard, and an incense table was set up at the entrance of the main room. Looking further inside, Gu Ming wore a look of astonishment.

The main door was wide open, and in the room sat a lacquer-wood coffin that was a piercing red, behind which were placed an offering table, a portrait of the deceased, and candle holders.

A mourning hall?

But what decent family sets up a mourning hall in their main living room?

More importantly, the coffin, the photograph, and the offering table were covered in dust; one look and it was clear they had been there for several years.

Seeing Gu Ming's strange expression, Ye Anning also took a look once he stood up, and she suddenly shuddered.

"Is... is there a dead person in the coffin?"

Lin Sicheng didn't speak; he squatted down, pinched three pinches of dirt, and after standing up, performed a bow.

"Swish"—Ye Anning's face turned pale.

"Is Cousin Ye afraid too?"

No kidding.

Glaring at Gu Ming, Ye Anning looked at Lin Sicheng: "Is there really someone in the coffin?"

Of course.

It has been parked here for two years, and according to the original trajectory, it will have to stay for another two years.

"That person's surname is Zhao, called Zhao Jing, from Zhao Family Bay; just cross over Shanglin Park."

Lin Sicheng pointed south: "The so-called 'rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains,' there are many people in this area who flip items, and quite a few who dig holes and go into pits. Every household, more or less, has one or two authentic pieces..."

"So after he stopped going to school, Zhao Jing followed along to flip items, but to be honest, his talent was average, and he was too honest, so he always earned little and lost much. Later, he was sentenced to a year and a half; after he got out, he settled down for a while. Then he got married and had children, and after that, he went to work at a construction site."

"He didn't last two years before he felt it was too hard, so he went back to his old trade. But unfortunately, he really had no talent, and his life naturally went from bad to worse. Like this, he didn't earn money, but the debts he owed grew more and more."

"Then, the year before last, Zhao Jing didn't know where he heard that Tao Qizhi had dug up a few treasures from Duling, so he came here by reputation. I don't know how they negotiated, but in the end, he bought a Gold Five Zhu of Han Xuan for the price of eight thousand yuan..."

Ye Anning was stunned: "Fake?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Of course! Let alone eight thousand, you couldn't buy a Han Xuan Gold Five Zhu for eight hundred thousand... He tried to sell it around but couldn't. After finding out it was fake, Zhao Jing came to get a refund. Tao Qizhi naturally couldn't possibly refund him, and just like that, back and forth, they dragged it out for over three months..."

"Afterward, Zhao Jing was pushed to the limit and said that the eight thousand yuan was borrowed, and if Tao Qizhi didn't refund it, he would risk his life. Tao Qizhi didn't believe him and said, 'If you have the ability, hang yourself here, and I'll refund you'..."

Lin Sicheng sighed and pointed to the gatehouse: "Then, Zhao Jing hanged himself here..."

Gu Ming was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked up. Suddenly, on the top beam of the gatehouse, hung a pair of trouser legs tied together.

He looked completely unable to comprehend: "Just for eight thousand yuan?"

"Yes, eight thousand yuan!"

Lin Sicheng nodded heavily: "You only think that I earn tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands at a time, but you never thought: eight thousand yuan is basically the annual net income of a strong laborer in their twenties or early thirties. Many families even struggle for a year and still can't save eight thousand yuan..."

"And in this area, there are so many people flipping items; over eighty percent of them don't even earn eight thousand a year. Most of them owe a mountain of debt, and in the end, when they are truly forced into a corner, they have no choice but to take risks..."

"Think again, on our way here, there were plenty of women chatting and plenty of children running around playing, but apart from that chess and card room, how many men have you seen?"

Gu Ming shuddered: "They went inside?"

"Only a portion went inside; most of them fled!"

"Everyone wants to get rich, everyone wants to buy authentic items, but where do so many authentic items come from? And among ordinary people, how many can distinguish the difference between a High Imitation and an authentic one?"

When they lose so much they have no other way, driven to a dead end, they can only dig holes and go into pits. But your father is a Police officer; go back and ask him—forget about imperial tombs, just for an ordinary Han Dynasty tomb, how many years do you get sentenced for digging a single shovel?"

"And with your careless temperament, it's no different than having 'I am so easy to trick' carved on your forehead. Then compare yourself to the one lying in the coffin; how many years would it take for you to end up like that!"

Pausing slightly, Lin Sicheng sighed again: "And even for those with a bit of an eye who are cautious enough, they might not even encounter one item worth over eight thousand yuan in a year; items worth a few hundred or a thousand are the norm."

"And after a year of tossing and turning, you might not even earn eight thousand. Instead, you're always on edge, afraid of being cheated... So Gu Ming, in this line of work, picking up a bargain is just a legend; getting swindled is the norm!"

Gu Ming was stunned and could not say a word.

Ye Anning fluttered her eyes, looking left and right.

After a long while, Gu Ming peeked through the door crack at the coffin, then looked at the trouser legs hanging from the door lintel.

Lin Sicheng sneered: "What, you don't believe me?"

"I don't disbelieve you!" Gu Ming shook his head, "I was just thinking: it's been two years, why hasn't there been a burial?"

"A human life, gone just like that, how could they bury him? The Zhao family is also a large clan, so they set up the mourning hall right here and demanded one million from the Tao family. The Tao family could only report it to the police, and afterwards, the Police Station, the district authorities, and the Municipal Bureau all came, but it was useless."

"Then, upon investigation, Tao Qizhi was the one who ended up inside first: although the Gold Five Zhu was fake, his home had plenty of other real items... He was sentenced last year, eighteen years in the end!"

"The Tao family saw this and thought, 'I'm already in jail, why would I pay you a damn thing?' Then, the two sides reached a stalemate... The relevant departments mediated several times, but the Zhao family wouldn't budge from their one-million demand."

"In the end, Tao Qizhi's wife was tortured to the point of desperation; she abandoned the child and ran away. After that, the grandparents had no choice but to take their grandson and move away overnight."

"And Zhao Jing's wife also abandoned their child and remarried. Since his parents died long ago, his clansmen took the opportunity to seize the family's assets, and they also wouldn't budge from the one million. In the end, he could only be left exposed here... Thus, one family was torn apart, the other was ruined, and he didn't even have a place to be buried..."

Lin Sicheng spread his hands: "So, you still can't do it?"

Gu Ming took another look at the coffin inside and gritted his teeth bitterly: "Do it? Why the hell would I do it?"

Not even a dog would do it!

Better not to.

Otherwise, Gu Shu and I would have to use some methods on you, kid.

Lin Sicheng nodded secretly and looked at Ye Anning again.

Ye Anning pursed her lips: "I generally don't buy!"

She generally doesn't buy, but that was in the past.

But it felt like after getting to know him, while Ye Anning admired him, deep down, she seemed to have steeled herself a little.

It was roughly similar to that mentality of "wanting to prove oneself."

And once someone like that falls, they take a huge tumble.

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "Sister Anning, it's best if you never buy!"

Ye Anning smiled: "I'll call you when I buy, okay?"

Lin Sicheng was stunned: could he even say no?

He nodded, and Ye Anning smiled until her eyes narrowed...