The Lost Tomb : Extras & Special Stories

(Extra: Wu Xie's Private Notes) Chapter 22: Erdao Baihe

I'm now on the train to Erdao Baihe. The sorghum fields outside are passing by in a flash and the people in the same carriage as me have already fallen asleep. I tried, but I just can't sleep.

I had been to Changbai Mountain once before. It was a few years ago when I was a little boy. At that time, I never imagined that I would be going there again in this way. I never thought that one day, I'd have to write something before going to bed to calm down.

Seeing that the sorghum has been harvested and the snow hasn't melted completely, I can't help but think of my last trip to Changbai Mountain.

Now that I think about it, something was strange about that trip. I vaguely remember that there seemed to be some turmoil in the house at that time, and my father and grandpa had a big fight.

My father was a gentleman, or someone who had a lot of patience. He had never fought with Grandpa before, so this quarrel made me feel very strange. But I was too young at the time, so I didn't really know what they were arguing about.

After that, my father suddenly decided to travel to Changbai Mountain. That year, I saw the snow-capped mountains. The white snow and endless valleys were exactly the same as those in the movies.

Now that I think about it, I feel a little surprised. Why did I have such a deep impression of the snowy scene at that time? And I can still associate it with movies at a glance? My memory of the journey that year is blurred now, and only a rough idea remains, but why can I only remember that snowy mountain?

Maybe it's because the mountain has a special symbolic meaning in the local area? Or maybe it's because of something else?

I really can't remember, and don't want to think about it.

Earlier in the morning, I chatted with Fatty about some topics other than women and grave goods.

I keep thinking that Fatty is someone who has a lot of hidden depths, and it turns out that my judgement was right. When I talk about various topics with him, I find that it's not that he doesn't understand, it's just that he thinks more directly.

I have known all kinds of people in all kinds of professions. I know that there are certain people who live in the simplest and most practical way, and Fatty is undoubtedly one of them.

If you intend to challenge him, he can directly say something that you can't refute. Of course, I don't know whether it's due to his wisdom or mere instinct. In other words, the principles of saints and fools are originally the same. The difference is that saints use this principle to benefit others, while fools benefit themselves.

The topic I discussed with him was mainly about the protection of cultural relics. I used to wonder why archaeological teams kept chasing after grave robbers.

Most of the tombs were found because of rescue excavations, not because of grave robbers. Farmers and construction workers were the first group of people to discover these ancient tombs, since they often accidentally discovered them while carrying out their projects.

Archaeological teams chasing after grave robbers was a bit mysterious, and it seemed that grave robbers had some skills that archaeological teams didn't.

There was no fixed answer to this question. Pan Zi said that some of the most basic skills couldn't be learned in university, and it was unlikely that a group of grave robbers would be invited to become professors at the university. As a result, students could only learn some skills about standard excavation.

As for the skills on how to smell the soil and locate the tomb, those things required practicing on the spot. How could there be that many ancient tombs to act as teaching aids?