The Lost Tomb Vol. 7

Chapter 25: The Largest Grave Robbery in History (I)

I had a very clear image of an old man with a golden tooth embedded in my memory, because the person who pulled me into all this was such a man.

As soon as she said this, I felt my heart stir. There weren't that many coincidences in the world and it was obvious she was saying the old man whom she had met, Jin Wantang, was the one who came to my shop to look for silk books. He was the first overlap in both of our experiences.

It turned out that the old ghost was called Jin Wantang. I seemed to remember the owner of the shop next door also mentioning it before, and there was a strange feeling in my heart.

I never paid attention to this old man, and in fact, I also wanted to look into it in the beginning, but this kind of person's whereabouts were uncertain. I didn't have any experience or contacts at that time, what happened later had nothing to do with him, and I couldn't even remember the old man's appearance or any details that could stimulate my memories of him, so I always thought that his showing up was a coincidence.

Of course, he came to look for my grandfather and would only say that he was introduced by Lao Yang, and that the silk book had been dug up by friends. It seemed unlikely that these words alone— and the countless troubles they had caused me—were accidental, but it was very strange that what had happened afterwards had nothing to do with him. If this was a plot, it would be too abnormal.

Although I couldn't determine if his appearance was accidental, intentional, inevitable, or the workings of fate, it became a fact that he entered my shop that day, and I could never turn back.

I nodded to her and asked, "Does he know anything?"

Huo Xiuxiu shook her head: "He's white, clean, and knows nothing. But the letter did come from him. He and my grandmother had only business relations. Later on, he got greedy and tampered with an item. My grandmother found out immediately and stopped working with him."

At that time, Huo Xiuxiu thought it was very strange. If it was about such a small thing, why did Jin Wantang have such a reaction after seeing the letter? He was an old fox who knew what kind of power the Huo family wielded. He didn't know if Huo Xiuxiu had come to settle accounts or spy on him, so he wouldn't say anything.

But Huo Xiuxiu was very patient and ran to his store almost every day, nearly annoying Jin Wantang to death.

At the end of that year, Jin Wantang was also unlucky. A small eight-blade Han Dao was caught in a shipment. It was made of jade and was checked into customs. It was originally a small case, but when the jade Han Dao was evaluated, the value was too high and it immediately turned into a major case. Even his savings accumulated from a lifetime of grave robbing weren't enough to make it go away.

At that time, Huo Xiuxiu seized the opportunity and made a deal with him. With her family's connections, she threw him a lifeline and secured his shop, finally capturing his weakness.

After hesitating for long period of time he finally told Huo Xiuxiu everything over the phone one night.

It turned out that the deal back then wasn't an ordinary transaction, and may even go down as the largest grave robbery in China's history.

With the Huo family's means at that time, if they put their mind to it, they'd surely seek retaliation until there was nothing left. But Jin Wantang was fine after this activity, because the Huos and several other parties, were all weakened and had no strength or mood to pursue anything.

To those people, the memories of that ordeal were really horrible

Fatty's eyes glistened when he heard this, and he couldn't help sitting upright and saying, "Bullshit, the biggest grave robbing activity has to belong to our trip to the Tarim Basin."

Huo Xiuxiu shook her head: "We're not talking about your run-of-the-mill grave robbing. The deal went beyond the ordinary concept of tomb raiding."

Fatty said, "Oh" and stopped making any more noise, because this so-called "big deal" must have been beyond our level.

I asked, "When you say beyond the ordinary concept, do you mean they didn't rob an underground tomb, but one flying in the sky?"

"Of course not," Huo Xiuxiu said.

"Come on, damn it, what makes this deal so special?" Fatty asked.

Just as Huo Xiuxiu was about to speak, Poker-face finally spoke up: "They didn't rob the tomb for money, but for another living person."