The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 9: Wu Xie's Story (Part 1)

It happened on a sunny afternoon in a Tibetan-style cafe by the Jiangnan River. At that time, Wu Xie wasn't a grave robber, but a photographer named Guan Gen. Of course, this was only a disguise to get into some archaeological projects, but he did study photography for a long time.

The name of this cafe was "Kekexili". The walls were covered with Tibetan-style tapestries and curtains, and inlaid with prayer wheels and several waist-high Vajra pictures. In the corner was a large gold-plated incense burner, which slowly emitted Tibetan incense. Whether it was the sights or smells, this shop had a very strong Tibetan aesthetic.

However, Wu Xie didn't particularly like it here. Outside the window was the Grand Canal Cultural Park on the banks of the Jiangnan River, where you could see some Han-style wooden buildings with overhanging eaves. Looking out the window at the Han Dynasty eaves in a Tibetan-style cafe made him very uncomfortable, but that may have been because he was engaged in photography and had an almost abnormal desire for style coordination.

But it was obvious that the meeting host didn't mind this kind of abruptness.

It was a gathering of seven people: two old critics, a publisher, a female writer, Wu Xie, and two journalists, all of whom were local celebrities. The meeting had been set two months ago, mainly to plan a new book about the desert that the female writer was about to begin writing—in this era, the hard work of writing was no longer done privately. Every aspect of the planning process was often started early, beginning at the same time the author started to write. Even her trip to Badan Jilin two months ago to gather research was a hyped-up piece of news at the time.

The meeting started at nine o'clock in the morning and continued on into the afternoon, but Wu Xie actually didn't know what they were talking about. Publishers, writers, journalists, and photographers were all unreliable people, chatting and going a thousand miles off topic.

He didn't take part in much of the discussion. First, his work was very simple and those plans had little to do with him, so he could only be regarded as an obligatory observer here. Second, his attention was focused on the woman writer for a long period of time because she was somewhat unusual.

Her name was Lan Ting and she was a freelance writer, or at least that's what she wrote on her business card to Wu Xie.

Wu Xie was surprised since few writers would get business cards for themselves, but he was quite familiar with the name. In recent years, this name had always appeared in various newspaper articles. It seemed like she wrote mysteries, and was regarded as a rising star. Wu Xie always thought that her name had something to do with the Orchid Pavilion preface [1], so he was very impressed.

Lan Ting was quite beautiful, with long curly hair and a bohemian style of dress. When she looked around, she had a kind of ethereal beauty that was rarely seen, unlike the two unkempt old ghosts at the same table. He knew a lot of writers— whether they were ugly or disabled—but they were all men. It appeared that female and male writers were two completely different things.

She attracted Wu Xie's attention because she looked a little uncomfortable. The whole table was very relaxed, even laughing from time to time, but she kept quiet and seldom expressed her opinions. Wu Xie found her hands were unconsciously fiddling with her hair.

To master a considerable degree of psychology, a photographer must be able to use language to control a model's emotions, and doing business in an antique shop also required this ability to sense and observe. According to Wu Xie's experience, Lan Ting's little movements were generally due to inner tension and anxiety.

But under such circumstances, what was she worried about? There was no reason to worry about whether the book would be a bestseller or not. Nor was there a reason to be so nervous if she was having an affair with the publisher.