Chapter 9 of Yunding Tiangong: Nine Dragons Carrying Corpses

The old man's plan for us was to take a tourist route, from Changsha to Shanhaiguan, and then transfer to Dunhua, all by train, the whole journey took about two days, covering nearly 3,000 kilometers. During this time, we had nothing to do but pass the time with a mobile phone and a few magazines.

I brought the check for the fish eyeball to the fat man. He was very happy to see me. Seeing that he was in a good mood, I secretly asked him why he came here.

Fatty told me that in this industry, some things have to be done in groups. For example, some big tombs deep in the mountains and old forests cannot be handled by you alone. First, there are too many necessary equipment for you to carry in alone, and second, there are too many good things for you to bring out alone. The environment of such ancient tombs is usually extremely dangerous. If you are lucky enough to fight back and forth alive, it is good. If you have to risk going in two or three times, I am afraid no one is willing. Therefore, when such a situation occurs, there will be a person who takes the lead. In ancient times, it was called "catching the tomb", and in the Republic of China, it was called "clamping the lama".

This is just like today's contractors who have projects in hand and hire plumbers to do the work. The archaeological teams in the early days of liberation also used similar tactics to find talented people.

The one who "caught a lama" this time was the bald guy. The bald guy had a wide network of contacts and knew a Beijing-based friend of Fatty, who was a local idiot. Fatty's many connections were made by his local idiot friend. After a few visits, Fatty got on the bus. As for the specific situation, it is a common practice that the person who "caught a lama" will not reveal it before reaching the destination, otherwise it may cause internal strife if others know about it in advance. So I asked Fatty about my third uncle, and Fatty shook his head and said, "Damn it, you're still asking me. If I knew that this matter was related to your shitty third uncle, I would not do it no matter how much money I get."

I sighed in my heart, thinking that the oil bottle must have been contacted by the bald man, and I probably couldn't get anything out of him. The people who know the most about the situation here, besides Pan Zi and me, are Chen Pi Ah Si.

Menyouping was as quiet as ever, and didn't even say hello to me, just dozing off. I wanted to pretend to be attentive and chat with him about the past, but after a few words I realized he wasn't listening at all. Fatty told me not to bother, saying he had been sleeping since he got on the bus.

After the car started, Fatty, Panzi and I dug a big d together and beat the runners to kill time. While beating, I was thinking about Chenpi Ah Si. This old man has not spoken since he got on the car. Panzi tried to get close to him, but he just said "yeah". He left on his own when the car started and has not come back yet. Fatty also asked me in a low voice: "Who is this skinny old man? He is so arrogant."

Pan Zi whispered to Fatty about Chen Pi Ah Si. When Fatty heard that he was over 90 years old, his face turned green and he said, "Don't tell me that this old guy has to go up the mountain with us. If that's the case, I will kill him humanely when we get to a deserted place. No one can stop me. He's going to die anyway if he goes in."

Pan Zi quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Stop talking, the old man is very cunning. If he hears you, he will kill you before you get to the place."

I recalled Chenpi Ah Si. In the teahouse, he gave me the impression of an unfathomable master of Chinese studies, surrounded by a group of people. With such a person's power and attainments, and at such an old age, how could he come alone to "catch the lama"? Isn't he afraid of harming us?

When Pan Zi was mentioned, Pan Zi laughed and said, "You don't understand this. We are all lamas brought here by the Third Master. No matter if we are young monks or abbots, we are all brought here by the Third Master. This is the rule of the underworld. If he wants to have a share, he has to follow the rules. No matter how powerful he is, there is nothing we can do." He thought about it and said, "But we have to be careful of this old man. On the surface, he is a human being, but in fact, people like him must have their own people around him."

The fat man cursed after hearing this: "I just don't understand. Why did your Third Master bring this guy out? Isn't he deliberately causing trouble? If this guy is really so evil, I think we have to take the initiative, either kidnap him or kill him."

Pan Zi looked at the door and said, "I warn you not to do anything rash. The Third Master must have a purpose in bringing this person here. Let's just give him face. He's already so old. No matter how powerful he was when he was young, it will be useless. If he really... Oh no!"

Before he finished speaking, Menyouping's hand suddenly dropped from the upper bunk and pinched Panzi's shoulder with great force, almost making him cry out.

Pan Zi grinned at him and didn't say the second half of the sentence. We were all stunned for a moment. Pan Zi didn't have a good impression of Men Youping. Just as he was about to speak, the door creaked and Chenpi A Si walked in.

We looked at each other and lowered our heads to continue playing cards, just like when we were in school and were caught cheating on an exam by the teacher.

The old man looked at us, said nothing, and returned to his bed. I don't know if he fell asleep or not.

With him here, we dared not discuss things, so we had to concentrate on playing cards. Time passed little by little, and at nearly midnight the next night, our car stopped at Shanhaiguan.

Shanhaiguan is the first pass in the world, but it is a man-made attraction, most of which was rebuilt in 1986. The next bus we were going to take was two hours away, and Fatty asked if we wanted to go take a look. I said it was early in the morning, and there was no moon, so why would we go and see the birds? So a few of us followed a large group of people from all over the country who were also taking the same bus and walked to the station waiting room.

It is now the eve of the Spring Festival travel rush and there are already a lot of people. The station smells bad. There are all kinds of people staying overnight, some even sleeping on the floor with their bedding rolled up. We carefully followed the flow of people in, for fear of stepping on others.

There were a lot of people, walking in a very chaotic manner, and it took us a while to break through. Menyouping and Chenpi Ah Si rushed to a place far away from us, and Fatty was stepped on by several people and kept cursing. I wanted to tell them not to get separated, so I raised my hand to let them see where I was, but Pan Zi grabbed my hand and pulled me to squat down.

I was puzzled, and then I heard him say, "It sounds like a warning! Hold it in."

When I heard that, I quickly followed the trend and sat on the ground to one side. There were people on both sides. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw several uniformed policemen and auxiliary police checking ID cards at the gate.

I lowered my head and whispered to Pan Zi in Hangzhou dialect, "It's okay. This happens all the time in Hangzhou. They just check our ID cards. We don't have any equipment with us, and we're not wanted. What are we afraid of?"

Pan Zi pointed with his chin at a few inconspicuous men in the crowd and said, "The one at the door is the gatekeeper. The plainclothes officers are among the crowd, looking for someone. Keep your head down so that you won't be recognized."

I looked up and saw a familiar person between the people. He was looking in our direction. I wanted to take a closer look, but he suddenly stood up and pointed at me and shouted, "There!"

I saw that the man was still wearing handcuffs, and my heart skipped a beat. I took a closer look at him and thought, damn, isn't that Chu Guangtou? How come he's already in prison after not seeing him for two days?

"Fuck you !" Pan Zi yelled, and he pulled me up and ran away. A group of plainclothes officers rushed over from behind, shouting, "Stop!"

We rolled over several rows of seats and pushed through the crowd. As Pan Zi passed by, everyone made way for him. But as soon as I passed by, they surrounded me. I screamed in my heart, what is this? Do I look so easy to bully?

I saw the people in front of me blocking me, and the police behind me also arrived. Suddenly, there was a snap, and a fluorescent light above the waiting room broke, and everyone was startled. Then, there was a snap, and another one broke. I took the opportunity to duck and squeeze through the two people, squeezing through the crowd, trying to squeeze to the door.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me and pulled me aside. I looked over and saw it was Pan Zi. He shook his head, meaning, let's go out from the railway track.

The fluorescent lights above our heads shattered continuously, the waiting hall became darker and darker, broken glass kept falling down, and all of a sudden there was a lot of noise, children crying, and screams. Many people pushed towards the entrance, and we followed the crowd and squeezed out.

I saw Fatty gesturing at us from afar, so I moved closer to him. Just as I was about to ask Menyouping, that guy suddenly appeared like a ghost. Fatty asked Panzi, "Leizi broke your chopsticks for picking up Lama, what should I do now?"

Pan Zi cursed: "That bastard, he exposed us so easily. People are so fucking unreliable nowadays. If I get the chance, I'll beat him to death!"

The fat man said, "Why are you so excited now? What do you want to do?"

Pan Zi scratched his head, not knowing what to do, and came to see me again. I was about to scold him, but Men Youping patted our shoulders and said, "Follow the old man."

We followed his gaze and saw Chenpi A Si looking at us not far away, with a few middle-aged men standing next to him who appeared out of nowhere.

Men Youping walked straight towards him. We had no way to negotiate at this time, so we had to bite the bullet and walk over with him. Chenpi A Si saw us coming and gestured to a few people nearby. Those people immediately dispersed into the crowd. He also turned around and walked into the crowd.

Go.

Under the cover of the crowd, we finally escaped from Shanhaiguan Railway Station in the dark and came to a park. We stopped and looked at each other. Everyone looked unhappy. This was really a bad start. I thought that according to the bald man's plan, we could get to the

We arrived at the destination, but within two days, Baldy was caught, and he personally brought Lei Zi to arrest us. With such loyalty and a thirty-year relationship, it seems that Uncle San's vision is not very good.

We squatted in the bushes to rest for a while. Chenpi Ah Si looked at us, suddenly sneered, and said in a hoarse voice: "With just a few of you, you want to dig up the nine-dragon coffin of the Emperor of Dongxia. Is Wu Sanxing senile?"