Chapter 72: Qinling Divine Tree: Old Itch Released from Prison

Those few words were short, but they completely captured my attention.

"The fish is with me."

What fish? My mind jolted—could it be the snake-browed bronze fish? Based on the patterns on the ancient tomb carvings, these strange decorative fish should be three linked head-to-tail. I already had two in my hand, and there really should be one more to complete the set. Who was this person? Since he had this photo and knew about the fish, could he be connected to this whole affair?

Could it be one of the missing people?

I carefully went through that webpage. There was no signature or contact information, but judging by the timestamp, the message had been up for a very long time. That was a bit odd—if you're looking for someone, why not leave your contact info? Wouldn't that be pointless?

I searched in every possible way, hoping to find more information, but no matter how much I searched, only this one result was related.

I felt discouraged, but this was already a major discovery. I calculated in my mind that after I got back, I'd find some computer experts to help me analyze it; maybe we could still uncover some clues.

And so, after all that, the damn storm finally passed. The day after it ended, a Qiongsha ferry came from Qinglan Harbor in Wenchang. Since there was nothing left for us here, we packed our bags and prepared to go back. Before leaving, we went to the military clinic to find A Ning, but she was already gone. When we asked the doctor, he had no idea when she had left. I couldn't help but feel relieved—originally, I hadn't known what to do with her, and her leaving without saying goodbye suited me just fine.

It was just that I might never learn the secrets hidden behind her. But by now, I lacked nothing except puzzles. I figured I probably wouldn't see her again, and I had no interest in knowing what was on her mind.

Two days later, at Haikou Airport, I said goodbye to Poker-face and Fatty and boarded a flight to Hangzhou. Four hours later, I was back home in Hangzhou. First, I called Wang Meng to ask how the shop was doing. Aside from having no business, everything was normal—actually, having no business was part of the norm; it would have been strange if there were customers. Then I called all kinds of aunts and uncles, every relative who had dealings with Third Uncle, but none of them had any news. Finally, I called Third Uncle's place. One of his employees answered, and I asked him, "Has Third Uncle come back?"

The employee hesitated for a moment, then said, "Third Uncle hasn't been back, but a strange guy claimed to be your brother and insisted we tell him where you were. I didn't know what his deal was, but he looked shifty and shifty-eyed, not like a good sort, so I sent him away. Before he left, he left a phone number. Do you want to come take a look?"

I thought for a moment and asked him, "How old was that guy?"

"Hard to say—about your age, maybe a bit more mature-looking. Short-cropped hair, triangular eyes, a fairly high nose bridge, wearing glasses and an earring. He looked neither fish nor fowl."

"Neither fish nor fowl?" I repeated those words. Suddenly, a flash of insight hit me, and I asked the employee, "Does that guy talk kind of awkwardly?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Damn, that fellow would stutter a dozen times before finishing a sentence. I nearly suffocated waiting."

The moment I heard that, I knew who it was. Overjoyed, I quickly asked for the phone number and called. A voice came through, both familiar and unfamiliar: "Wh-who is it? (stutter)"

I chuckled and yelled, "I'm f*cking your grandmother's egg—you can't even recognize my voice?"

He paused, let out a few excited sounds, and yelled back, "You—you f*cking egg—th-three years without hearing you talk, of course I couldn't—couldn't recognize it. Look at your voice, it's really changed."

My heart ached a little. The person on the other end of the phone was Lao Yang. I'd forgotten his real name. We'd grown up together, wearing the same pair of pants. We did everything together, and for a while, we were as close as one person. His family was poor, and after he graduated from vocational school, he couldn't find a job, so he came to work at my shop. We hit it off perfectly and ran the place haphazardly. Don't let his stutter fool you—he was great at talking people around. When he was around, my shop did decent business. But three years ago, the kid went astray. He followed some Jiangxi buddy to Qinling to rob a tomb, got caught, and the buddy got a life sentence directly. Lao Yang, with his gift of gab, talked his way into being portrayed as a bright young man deceived by bad social elements, and he ended up with a three-year prison term. At first, I wanted to visit him, but the stubborn bastard was too proud to see me. Later, I couldn't be bothered, and we lost touch. I never expected he'd be out of prison now.

To be honest, I was partly responsible for him getting into tomb raiding. Since we were kids, I'd bragged to him about how amazing my grandfather was, even showing off his grave-robbing notebook. I guess that's when the crooked idea entered his head. The kid had guts; when we were young, I'd come up with ideas, and he'd end up in trouble. I never imagined he'd actually follow through.

There were three years' worth of things to say between us. Once I opened that floodgate, it wouldn't close! We talked until our mouths were sore and still weren't satisfied. I told him to come over, saying, "You got nothing to do tonight, right? Let me treat you to a welcome dinner—we'll have a big meal and drink to our hearts' content." Lao Yang was also getting excited and replied, "That—that sounds great. Your old pal hasn't had a chunk of meat in three years—I'm gonna eat my fill this time!"

And so it was settled. I was too excited to sleep, took a quick shower, tidied up the house, and went to the agreed hotel to wait for him. I ordered every big-meat dish on the menu. In the evening, the kid showed up. I took a look—huh, something wasn't right. After three years in prison, he'd actually gained weight. His face was swollen like a pig's head.

We two old friends met, didn't say a word, and first polished off half a bottle of Wuliangye. We reminisced about the old days, looked at our current situations, and couldn't help but sigh. We drank until we were full and satisfied, the plates on the table scraped clean, and then realized we'd run out of things to say.

By then I was pretty drunk. Burping, I asked him, "Tell me the truth: what the hell did you guys actually dig up back then? That Jiangxi buddy of yours even got a life sentence."

He actually looked smug, picking his teeth, and said, "It's not—not that I won't tell you, but even if I did, you wouldn't get it."

I shouted, "Cut it out! I'm not the greenhorn I was three years ago. Let me tell you, I've got a bit of a reputation now. Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing—if you can describe the shape, I can tell you what it is."

Lao Yang saw how serious I was and laughed heartily, "With—with that sorry look of yours, you and Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing!" As he spoke, he dipped his chopsticks in wine and drew something on the table. "Da—damn, have you ever seen this?"

My drunk eyes were blurry. I couldn't make it out no matter how hard I looked. It seemed like a tree, or maybe a pillar. I cursed, "You donkey's egg! After three years in the slammer, your drawing hasn't improved one bit. What the hell is that you drew? A big club!"

Lao Yang looked at it himself and thought it didn't resemble anything either. He said, "You—you—just make do with looking at it! With your—your eyesight, you're only fit for seeing this kind of drawing!"

I looked again more carefully, but I couldn't come to any solid conclusion. I told him, "This thing looks like a floating cloud pillar. See these branches? You mean they're patterns? You drew them like tree forks—I can't tell!"

Lao Yang lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "Don't—don't laugh—that's exactly what it is, tree branches. The thing I looted was a tree, but not a real one—it was a bronze tree! Have you ever seen one?"

My head was heavy, and I knew I was about to pass out. I couldn't picture what a bronze tree looked like, so I asked him, "How heavy must that thing be? Instead of looting something small, you go for a gigantic object—no wonder you got caught!"

He patted my shoulder, peeled a huge shrimp in scallion oil, tossed it in his mouth, and said, "Do you think I'm that stupid? I—I only took four pot—pottery plates, and—and two pieces of jade. It was my buddy who insisted on moving the bronze tree, saying it was a treasure. Damn, we used all our strength and found that the tree was rooted in the ground. We dug down seven or eight meters and still couldn't see the bottom of the tree. Pretty strange, right? Who knows how deep that tree goes underground! I figure it's not simple—being stuck there must have some meaning."

I got the gist and asked him, "So since you didn't take it out, how did you get caught?"

He said, "This is the weird part. We weren't willing to give up, so we dug a few other pits in other places and managed to pull out some complete pots and bowls. After we left Qinling, we wanted to find a place to fence the goods. But my buddy had been acting weird ever since he saw that thing. Once we got to the city, he'd tell anyone who'd listen about the bronze tree branches. The people in Qinling have always hated grave robbers, and the heat was always on. When we went to an antique shop to unload our stuff, a few people overheard my buddy's rambling, figured out who we were, and reported us! Lucky for me, the cop who arrested me was from our hometown. Seeing I was still young, he told me to insist I'd been 'tricked,' so I only got three years. My buddy was supposed to get four or five years, but he went crazy and spilled everything about his past grave robbing. That got him a life sentence—nearly got executed."

I said, "Oh, so you really got the short end of the stick. Worked so hard and got nothing. How many times did I tell you not to fence goods locally? You're in an illegal trade—you clash with the locals. That's instant karma."

Lao Yang gave a mysterious smile and said, "I—I wouldn't say I got nothing. Look at this—this thing?" He pointed at his earring.