Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Tomb of Hui Wang of Pixian [4]

Translator: Xah

LaoDa’s surname was Jin, about the age of forty, mid-height, usually carrying Big Brother’s style, with leader’s appearance, and now they broke all credits. He was excitingly waiting for the guys to do it now. His hands were shaking. There was a cigarette in his hand but he did not smoke. It was so quiet.

He was quiet himself, but the four men could not bear it. LaoSan was the first to ask, even the notoriously slick LaoEr also lost patience.

“Big Brother, did you say that the tomb was just under the spider?” LaoEr thought about that the dark-painted spider and his scalp numbed, but when he thought of something in the tomb, he had no numbness.

Next to him, LaoSan hurriedly said: “Big Brother, what are you waiting for!”

Jin LaoDa didn’t speak. When the smoke was over, he stood up and looked at Zhang Qiu and Li Shu.

LaoEr knew that Big Brother did not want to say more in front of outsiders, he gave the brothers a wink, and pressed down on discussing the issue, but the joy on his face was uncontrollable.

Zhang Qiu stood in the distance and saw several people who seemed all smart and calm. He asked Li Shu, “They regarded us as a fool! Their faces were all brightly, I’m quite excited about these few words. Still, nothing was found here.”

Li Shu did not speak.

After the meeting, Jin LaoDa came with his younger brothers. The result of the consultation was to set fire to the spiders.

Zhang Qiu would like to say that now in this weather, it would not work well, it would easily set fire to the entire mountain forest.

But those few people must be able to get it. He knew that no one wanted to hear what he says. How could possibly a flabby person like him said anything?

Although he did not know who Pixian Hui Wang was, he looked at the appearance of these people. This tomb was also a big tomb.

They returned from their original path. This time, Jin LaoDa’s attitude was so tough. He and Li Shu were walking in front of him and Li Shu had a cold attitude but said nothing.

“Don’t be afraid.” Li Shu’s voice was low and a bit cold, but Zhang Qiu’s heart suddenly stopped.

–

After ten minutes of walking, there was a burning smell of roasting meat in the air. Zhang Qiu retched and Li Shu looked at him. Zhang Qiu waved his hand to indicate that he was alright, that he often vomited and he was used to it.

The ground was messy with the spider bodies were everywhere.

Zhang Qiu looked alertly at the ground. If a spider emerged from above his head, he would quickly pulled Li Shu to walk around and say something. (T/N: ZQ want to act tough)

It was quiet all around, with no squeaking sound, it was like the wind was still, and the silence was a little strange.

After a moment, Zhang Qiu heard someone whispered in the back, meaning that the group of spiders had ran away. If they were not in control of the situation, when they would find the tomb first, they would be burned to death. Jin LaoDa also agreed that he would become the first one again. LaoDa, who acted like a schoolboy, smiled so softly and said that Li Shu could go to take a break, said that this kind of energy was good for their brothers.

It was not that Jin LaoDa did not want Li Shu to work hard. Instead, he couldn’t see through the other person, fearing bad things, even if he was digging the tomb. (T/N: Jin LaoDa is paranoid)

As for Zhang Qiu, Jin LaoDa did not care.

Zhang Qiu and Li Shu stationed a bit far away, he was hungry, his belly noisily ‘gugu‘. Li Shu pulled out a packet of compressed biscuits and water from his bag and handed them to him.

“I’m not really…” ‘gugu‘ – Like his stomach, Zhang Qiu was red and “hungry!”

Who knew whether he was too hungry, but nevertheless he was hungry.

Li Shu stuffed them into Zhang Qiu’s arms, lightly said: “I’m not hungry.”

Zhang Qiu thought that Li Shu was still being courteous. He sat on the grass with his small mouth biting the biscuits. It was not that he was showing the cuteness of a  squirrel, it was really not worth to mention the three nibbles of biscuits, it did not even have a taste. It was very dry, he drank up more water and it upset his uncomfortable stomach.

While his teeth grinding the biscuits, Zhang Qiu stared at Jin LaoDa and the five people in the distance. LaoSi pulled out the Luoyang shovel that was inserted in the ground and pinched the mud on the shovel and said something to Jin LaoDa excitedly. Soon the few people surrounded the spot. It would seemed that was the spot they seek.

Zhang Qiu knew that LaoSi must had carried out the Wuhua soil[1] from the Luoyang shovel. When the tomb was dug, the mature soil and the raw soil of each color in the pit would be taken out, and finally the landfill would form a wuhua soil. It was used to distinguish whether there was a tomb under the ground.

LaoEr was kneeling on the ground, Zhang Qiu did not know what he was doing, his eyes were blocked. The people who had been around retreated. Zhang Qiu had just drank and heard a buzzing noise. The ground on which he was on was shaking and quivering; like it came from under the land.

The water spilled onto Zhang Qiu’s neck, and all was wasted on him.

Zhang Qiu felt distressed, quickly screwed the bottle lid close and gave it back to Li Shu. Li Shu took a look at Zhang Qiu and his gaze moved from Zhang Qiu’s lips to his neck.

Because of the spilled water, Zhang Qiu’s skin which was wet shined pale gold under the sun. The collar was wet, so Zhang Qiu pulled his crewneck T-shirt and flapping it. Not knowing how to avoid it, Li Shu inadvertently swept away his eyes, as if looked a bit thirsty, he opened Zhang Qiu’s screwed water bottle and drank a few mouthfuls.

Zhang Qiu saw Li Shu drinking the bottle he had just used. He did not know that he was going red when he turned his face. The weather was really hot.

–

The atmosphere was a little bizarre. Zhang Qiu quietly put down his flapping hand. He looked at the distance, there was nothing to look for, “They are bombing with ground explosives. This kind of blasting is used by tomb raiders for the tomb. The range of blasting will only be in the ground, there will not be too much noise.”

Originally, he was freely talking about it. Zhang Qiu did not think that Li Shu would listen very carefully, as if he did not know the common sense about tombs.

He was studying archaeology, and the teacher in his first class had introduced the essential difference between archaeology and the tomb raider. This method was only used by the tomb raiders, they were not afraid of damaging the artifacts, and the speed was also fast.

When Zhang Qiu saw Li Shu listened carefully, he said two more things, “You see that there is not a bit of soil on the ground they blasted. The soil is inside. I heard that when some habitual criminals dug a hole, the soil would not be brought out.”

It didn’t take a few minutes, there was a muffled sound. This time, the shock under Zhang Qiu’s butt was not as strong, it was estimated to explode very deeper.

It was not until nine in the evening that the hole was opened.

In the beginning, explosives were used, and the speed was faster. When Jin LaoDa was afraid it would collapse the tomb, he wouldn’t dare to use it again. The men took turns to dig the tunnel, but they did not expect that the tomb was deep and dug for more than three hours before digging through it.

Surrounded by quietness, only a camp light was shining. The dim light shone the ghosts shadow of the grass, like jumping out from the inside and outside. Zhang Qiu didn’t know why he thought of it. He always felt something was behind the grass, staring at them.

Slowly moved over there to Li Shu, Zhang Qiu sitting next to Li Shu, and felt the feeling suddenly gone.

The four people were spread out on the ground like clay figurines, but all their faces were full of exhilaration and laughter. The dug hole was less than a meter in diameter. Jin LaoDa coughed and ordered: “First clean up and eat something hot, then we will go down.”

It stood to reason that digging for one whole afternoon, it should be a day off during the day to let the pit exposed to the air for sometime, and the pit would not run anyway, but Jin LaoDa could not wait.

Several other brothers thought that LaoDa had found a tomb after a year. In fact, this tomb took him exactly eight years to find it.

Zhang Qiu was assigned to heating cans and boiling hot water. Among the group of people, he and Li Shu were the most free people. They sat chatting under the tree one whole afternoon. However, Jin LaoDa obviously could not order Li Shu. It was only to him.

Li Shu watched him cooked next to him and occasionally lending a hand. Zhang Qiu was a little flattered because Li Shu looked so good.

The group of tomb raiders apparently did not eat at home, they stuffed the food into two mouthful, and changed the equipment. Just then, they wore the one-piece clothes when they dig the hole, and now they were replaced with a new one. Jin LaoDa changed his clothes, smiled and leaned over. He stared at Li Shu and saying, “Fellow Li Shu, you are good with hands. How do you like to be head at the opening today?”

What like?!

Zhang Qiu’s abdominal muscle convulsed. This Jin LaoDa did not give Li Shu another choice at all, are those five people coming up to fight?!

Wait! Five people?

Zhang Qiu glanced behind Jin LaoDa and he was so scared that he took a shaky breath with trembling lips, “Be– behind.”

Jin LaoDa’s face changed, with his skill, he quickly rolled to the left, and the back of the thing swept away empty. By the dim light, Zhang Qiu could only see clearly. “This fucking is not a person, this is a jiangshi!”

The eyes of the two black holes stared blankly at him. Zhang Qiu was scared shitless and his legs shook like a sieve. He couldn’t move at all. His throat seemed to be blocking its owner. It was actually the jiangshi was too close to him.

It seemed like a million years, but from outsider’s view, it only took a few seconds.

The jiangshi was clearly in front of Zhang Qiu, but he turned to Jin LaoDa. LaoSan at the back reacted with several actions. He grabbed the gun in his hand and aimed it on the back of the jiangshi. The jiangshi was shot, it directly fell on the ground.

LaoEr hit the head with a stick and with enough strength, the jiangshi’s head rolled like a watermelon ‘gulululu‘ onto the grass. The body was separated from it’s head, but the body was still twitching on the ground before it completely quite down.

“Fucking zongzi[2]!” LaoEr snorted, but also  the cold sweats on his head was reflected, “Is the zongzi crawling out of the hole?”

LaoSan took a flashlight, shone it towards the hole and shook his head. The other four people sighed with relief.

Now the issue was difficult to dwell.

A zongzi climbing out of a hole, there might be something else at the bottom, so it was impossible for this group to give up. How could a treasure that was within an easy reach to be given up easily?

“It’s all right. It’s just a zongzi. We have a lot of people.” Jin LaoDa comfortably said, but the effect wasn’t very good. He himself was shocked just now, but he was going to go down this pit, he was not going to talk nonsense. Looking at Li Shu, who had been standing still: “Fellow Li Shu, please do something!”

Zhang Qiu’s face turned white at Jin LaoDa’s words, he subconsciously pulled Li Shu’s sleeve.

This group of tomb raider were all crazy, and this kind of danger was against the three-views matters, but they made Li Shu to go head-to-head. Who was it that like to dig and go digging?

Zhang Qiu had not yet open his mouth, a gun with a black hole was put on his head. Without restraint Zhang Qiu curses were choked back, really his motherfucking.

LaoEr put a gun against Zhang Qiu and looked at Li Shu.

Li Shu coldly glanced at LaoEr’s hand holding the gun, said: “Let go.”

LaoEr inexplicably loosening his hand, and felt something wrong. How did it happened in just a split second, he was not aware of it? He could see Li Shu pulled Zhang Qiu toward the hole. Then the words in his heart were thrown aside, controlled by some consciousness.

Jin LaoDa would also be particularly considerate and smile. He handed the flashlight by hand, “Fellow, don’t worry, I’ll follow you and help you with anything behind you.”

Only the fool would believed Jin LaoDa’s words. It was assumed that he was the first to run.

Zhang Qiu thought about it and listened to Li Shu said, “Zhang Qiu will be behind me.”

Li Shu didn’t ask this as a question. It was determined by the decision.

Jin LaoDa smiled awkwardly, but did not refute it. He merely measured the look-feeble-like-a-chicken Zhang Qiu, and thought that when the kid went down after a moment, he would block the zongzi at the front for him. Then he smiled and agreed.

“Don’t talk nonsense, hurry down.” LaoSan said impatiently.

Li Shu went to the hole and glanced at LaoSan, spoke nothing, only directed Zhang Qiu behind him and said, “Follow me closely.”

---

Footnote:

[1] 五花土 Wuhua soil is an archaeological term. It refers to the excavation of the soil and the soil of different colors in the pit when the earthen pit is excavated. After the burial, the mixed soil is backfilled into the pit.

[2] Zongzi literally means wrapped rice dumpling. In this context, it could mean a mummy but there is another pinyin for mummy, so I left it as it is; zongzi

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