Chapter 319: Patrol

The old man's son sighed and said to me, "Talking about this depresses me. My old man has a piece of scrap iron that he keeps hidden and treasured like a precious gem. He says he picked it up in the mountains years ago and it's valuable. He used to have me go to the county to ask around if we could sell it, and I just thought he was crazy. Somehow, a while back, this distant relative found out about it, and he actually found someone to buy it, offering a pretty good price. But then, crazy as he is, the old man got stubborn and wouldn't sell. That kid just wouldn't leave, lurking around these hills all day trying to persuade him. It's driving him crazy."

I glanced at Poker-face, feeling a stir. So it seemed the old man hadn't stood us up because of us, but to avoid that distant nephew. An iron block? Could the old man also have one of those things we found under Poker-face's bed? Agui was smoking nearby and laughed, "Why don't you just sneak it from your old man, sell it, and get the money? Later, if the government comes to collect, they won't give you a cent."

The son said, "It's not that I don't want to. That old man is sly as a fox. Once I said I'd throw that thing away to stop him from obsessing, and he hid it. I haven't been able to find it since. Ah, thinking back, I want to slap myself. I never thought that piece of scrap iron would actually be valuable. If I could really make this deal, it'd be a golden egg falling from the sky, and I wouldn't have to worry about my son's schooling."

I listened with a silent sigh. On the surface, the son seemed a bit disrespectful, somewhat fed up with the old man, but I could tell the family was really in difficulty. This was family business, and we couldn't interfere.

Just then, Poker-face suddenly asked, "Did your father hide the thing two years ago?"

His son thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Hey, how did you know?"

I immediately understood what Poker-face meant and continued, "Your father must have hidden the thing in the mountains. He feels uneasy about it, so he goes to check on it every now and then. That's the reason for his unusual behavior."

He listened, let out an "ah" and said that made sense. Agui said, "Then your old man really set his heart on this. You'd better persuade him again. If you really stole it, your old man would shoot you dead."

The son said, "That's right. My old man has such a hot temper, I don't bother arguing with him. If it doesn't work out, then forget it. But that distant relative of mine is really persistent. I'm afraid that with his nature, blocking his money-making path will mean no peace for our family from now on."

We chatted idly while waiting for Old Man Pan Ma to return. His son told me a lot about Old Man Pan Ma, giving me some understanding of the old fellow.

Pan Ma was a local native, his family had thrived on this land for generations, and he was one of the last surviving old hunters. Most of the younger generation had become Han-ified, hunting only during the slack farming season, and often going out to work in other places. The girls all married away. Later, tourism developed here, and the situation changed.

Speaking of it, Old Man Pan Ma was something of a local celebrity. He was a crack shot, could hit a target at a hundred paces, and was nimble, especially good at climbing trees. In the old days, during festivals and holidays, Pan Ma was a big shot; everyone relied on him to hunt wild boar to distribute meat. Later, as the economy developed and he got older, he gradually fell out of favor. He became somewhat cynical and stubborn, and ended up having bad relations with his children.

This kind of old man is like a classic example; I know quite a few. My former neighbor was an old Red Army soldier, often lamenting the decline of morals, disdainful of associating with ignorant young people like us. That's typical of people who can't get along with themselves. Thinking about it, I'm like that too. It seems people's greatest talent is torturing themselves.

As we chatted, we waited foolishly at the old man's house until afternoon, but he still hadn't returned. No matter how I tried to hide it, I couldn't suppress my anxiety. On one hand, I was afraid something unexpected might happen; on the other, we had been waiting too long. The old man's son was very apologetic and said he would go look for him, but then he didn't come back either. We stayed until dusk and finally couldn't wait any longer.

Agui felt humiliated and grumbled that the father and son were too unreasonable. As we walked out, we happened to run into the old man's son hurrying past, followed by a group of people. He didn't even greet us and headed straight up the mountain.

I saw that the old man's son had an unpleasant expression. Agui was puzzled and grabbed someone to ask what was going on. That person said, "Alai's son found Pan Ma's clothes on the mountain, all covered in blood. The old man might be in trouble. We're gathering people to search the mountain where the clothes were found."

"Where was it found?" Agui asked hastily.

"At Water Buffalo Head Gully. Alai's son found them on his way back from hunting."

"That far?" Agui was very surprised.

I had no sense of direction regarding the place names here, so I asked, "What place is that?"

"That's the pass in front of Zhoudushan and Yangjiao Mountains. It takes half a day to get there," Agui said to us. "You two go back first

I exchanged a look with Poker-face, feeling indescribable. I thought to myself, it was really as I had predicted - this matter had also gone wrong.

Poker-face's expression was calm, showing not a trace of emotion, but his steps followed. I quickly caught up, thinking to myself that this was indeed suspicious, and we needed to find out clearly.