Vollständiges Metamorphose-Handbuch

Kapitel 3

Let them bring the pottery figures onto the boat, tell them that these things are valuable, can be sold to the National Museum, and foreigners like them too. You should say that getting these things is a blessing from heaven.

Wang Quansheng listened with some skepticism, saying that retrieving things from the dead would bring retribution. However, the young men believed Er Mazi, and they went down and used their rakes a few more times, eventually hooking up several large bronze artifacts shaped like night owls (I know these are bird-shaped vessels), covered with bird-script inscriptions.

The bird-shaped bronze vessel is about half a meter tall. Its bronze surface is covered with rust and is severely corroded. When Er Mazi scratches the surface of the vessel, large patches of rust fall off.

These small bronze artifacts were also salvaged in the same way. Wang Quansheng had basically never seen them before. He didn't know at the time that these pieces of scrap metal were valuable, but Er Mazi told them that some of these things were more valuable than gold, and that they could take as much as they could.

Several people were afraid and didn't dare to scoop up too much. Only Er Mazi was impatient. He kept digging with his rake, seemingly wanting to scoop up everything he could. In the water, their rakes clearly hooked onto something very heavy several times. Once they hooked onto this thing, the rakes couldn't be lifted up and couldn't be moved no matter what they did.

Er Mazi said he might have hooked the coffin, but he wouldn't give up. In the end, he even straightened the rake before hooking up a piece of bronze. Wang Quansheng then dared not do anything reckless, saying that his tools of the trade were ancestral heirlooms, and it would be bad luck to break them. The ancestors would be angry.

So they washed the things they had fished out clean, covered them with a cloth, and the group didn't dare go ashore during the day. They waited until nightfall before carrying the things back to the village and fleeing back to their homes.

Er Mazi, a man of the world, knew that what he was doing would land him in jail, so he threatened the others, saying it was enough to get them executed. He repeatedly warned them, and they swore that none of them would tell anyone. Then the four of them divided the items into four parts and hid them in different places. Wang Quansheng buried the items under the stove in his house.

They waited for a few days, and it seemed that no one had discovered anything. Er Mazi felt relieved and left the town with a small bronze piece. He told them that he would go to Taiyuan Prefecture to ask his maternal uncle for help, find some customers, and sell these things to make money.

He was gone for more than six and a half months. He only called back a few days ago to say that he had found a customer and asked them to send someone up to deliver some items.

The group was really counting on this money. They hadn't seen Er Mazi for more than half a year and thought the goods were unsellable. They were worried that if they went there, they might not get any money, and they might even lose their travel expenses. It just so happened that it was the busy farming season, and no one wanted to go. Wang Quansheng was the most honest, so they pushed the task onto him.

When Wang Quansheng got home and told his wife he was going out, she refused, and the two had a big fight. In a fit of anger, he packed his things and took a train to Taiyuan.

Before he came, Er Mazi told him to go to Nangong to find him. He asked around and found Er Mazi's uncle's stall, but it was not open. It was his first time in the city and he had nowhere to rest, so he had no choice but to wait at the entrance of Nangong. He stayed under a tree at night and waited for seven or eight days. He had almost used up the money he brought with him and did not know what had happened to Er Mazi. He just did not show up.

He had argued with his wife before leaving. If he went back like this, he would definitely lose face at home. After thinking it over, he made up his mind and thought, "Isn't this place an antique shop? I'll sell these things and let that woman see that I'm not such a spineless person."

However, he was naturally bad at talking and didn't know how to start a business. He just kept wandering around. That southern slang was something that Er Mazi had taught him while chatting, and he actually believed it. He asked a few times, but was only met with disdain each time, and in the end, he didn't sell anything. After wandering around for two days, he ran out of money and lost his edge. He thought to himself, "Let my wife scold me when I get back; life has to go on." So he planned to eat some noodles and then head back to his hometown, but unexpectedly, he ran into us.

Wang Quansheng had a few drinks, and in his drunken state, he spoke the truth. Although his speech was not very clear, I still managed to understand most of what he said, and it sent chills down my spine.

Things in the Yellow River are really hard to explain; there are all sorts of things in the silt. I thought to myself, maybe next time we can even fish up a UFO.

However, almost everyone living along the Yellow River has heard this kind of story from the elders, so it's possible that he made it up. Although Wang Quansheng seems honest and simple, I can see that he is shrewd to the core. His honesty and simplicity are just because he has little experience, not because he is really stupid.

I listened for now, not entirely believing him, and said to him, "So all of this is what you've managed to salvage?"

Wang Quansheng nodded, then hiccuped as he asked me, "This is all I have here, but I have more at home. Boss, you've seen it all, you've heard it all, so how much are you going to pay me for all this?"

I thought to myself, people like Er Mazi definitely wouldn't give them a lot of money, and they would never imagine that this thing could be worth tens of thousands. But I can't be too greedy, so I pretended to look at it again and said to him, "It's a pity that you buried this thing in the mud, ruining its appearance. It could have sold for even more. How about this, let's not talk about the price. I'll take a loss and give you a little more. I'll give you a thousand yuan for one item. How about it for the next business deal?"

Wang Quansheng collapsed to the ground with a thud, unable to stand up immediately. I quickly pulled him up and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"My goodness, these things are really valuable! Six items, that's six thousand yuan! How much sand would I have to sift through to earn that much?" Wang Quansheng said, trembling.

I chuckled, and as I went out to ask the young master to prepare the money for me, I said, "No, no, I'll give you five thousand yuan for these five items, but I don't want this bronze piece; it's junk."

Wang Quansheng nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I was drunk and confused."

While the young master was preparing the money, I continued to ask him what this bronze piece was.

Wang Quansheng said that it had been broken off from that big thing underwater, and Er Mazi had told him to bring a piece up so that some experts could take a look. Then he asked me if I wanted it, and if so, he would give it to me.

I was very interested in this thing, and thinking that I might as well accept it, I took it. At this time, the young master brought money, and I counted it for him one bill at a time. After he took it, he counted it several times before putting it in his pocket. I did the same as him, carefully examining these bronze pieces several times to make sure they were not fakes, and then I also put them in my pocket.

Wang Quansheng was in a great mood and his tongue became much slurred. He offered to pay the bill and ordered the young master to bring more wine. I wondered how much this guy could actually drink, so I brought out another bottle of baijiu and a bottle of Fenjiu. By this time, he treated me like a close friend, pouring me drinks non-stop and even suggesting that we go to his village for a visit and he could buy whatever was left at his house.

I was already having this idea in mind, but I figured he still had a lot of stock. If I bought them all at 1,000 yuan each, I wouldn't be able to get much with my meager funds. So I decided to stall him for now, sell what I had first, and then try to buy his remaining stock. I told him to wait for an opportunity. "The price I offered for your stuff is already high. It's mainly to reserve some for future business. After I buy them, I won't have much money left, and I won't make much profit selling them. So keep the ones at your place for now. When I get my funds back, I'll come to your place to buy them. Don't tell your brothers about this. The price I offer them will definitely be lower than yours; I have to give you a referral fee, right?"

Chapter Four: Legends of Ancient Yellow River Artifacts

Wang Quansheng nodded in agreement, patting his chest and promising to keep the things for me. He even gave me a phone number in his town, saying that I could find him by calling the number and asking for someone named Wang Quansheng. He added that he would treat me to drinks later.

After eating for a while, they chatted about other things. Wang Quansheng said he had been doing this job since he was a child, and counting this year, he had been doing it for almost thirty years. In those thirty years, he had seen many strange things. The things he pulled out of the Yellow River were all sorts of things. To put it bluntly, he had pulled out no less than a hundred corpses alone. Not to mention the iron camels and iron horses he had also pulled out.

Sometimes he could even hook live creatures. Last year, he hooked a red-haired turtle the size of a washbasin in the Yellow River, with ancient characters carved on its back. Later, his wife said that the turtle with red hair was a relative of the Dragon King, so she released it. Coincidentally, that year their harvest was exceptionally good, and they returned fully loaded every time they went out to sea. His wife said that the Dragon King was helping them.

(When I heard this, I thought to myself, this old Dragon King is really idle. He doesn't do his job properly and helps you pick up trash. You really know how to flatter yourself.)

After that one time they retrieved the bronze, they dared not go back to the place. The Yellow River's flood season was approaching, and the upstream dams were releasing water; the area was too deep, and the current was much stronger than before. Otherwise, they might have gone back to see if there were any good finds. He had heard his grandfather talk about ancient tombs in the Yellow River before, but this was the first time he had personally encountered one, and he hadn't believed it before. Logically, the Yellow River deposits an astronomical amount of sand every year; the things at the bottom should be buried very deep in the silt. He just couldn't understand how his rake had unearthed them.

Wang Quansheng quickly finished two more bottles of wine. By then it was completely dark. He paid the bill, got up to say goodbye, and said he had to go back that night. At this point, I couldn't wait for him to leave, otherwise I would have been drunk to death even if he wasn't already. Although he had a big tongue, he didn't seem particularly confused. Knowing that this guy was a heavy drinker, I told him to be careful. I saw him out.

Back at the hotel, the young master winked at me, asking how my performance went. I was in a great mood, though I'd had a bit too much to drink. I asked him to make me two cups of tea and then told him the whole story.

Upon hearing this, the young master asked in bewilderment, "How could such a thing exist in the Yellow River? Was it sunk there by someone? Or was it created by a deity?"

I laughed and said, "Many strange and unusual things have been unearthed from the Yellow River since ancient times, and there are numerous records of this in historical books. It's not surprising..."

I've actually studied the ancient artifacts in the Yellow River. Many have been salvaged throughout history, and based on the actual situation, they can be divided into four types:

The first type is above-ground cultural relics, which are buried in the yellow sand under the riverbed due to the Yellow River.

Historical records indicate that in the three to four thousand years before 1946, the Yellow River was threatened with floods nearly 1,593 times, causing 26 major changes in its course. More than a thousand years ago, Donghua Mountain was not part of the Yellow River channel, but rather a hilly area. Countless historical sites were buried in the silt by the sudden floods during those river changes. Therefore, in any county along the Yellow River, there are legends of ancient artifacts being salvaged from the river.

The second reason is that various religious rituals resulted in the sinking of divine artifacts into the river. In ancient times, the people on both sides of the Yellow River tried almost every method to control the floods. Among them, they used feng shui secrets to throw iron oxen and iron horses that were used to suppress the river into the turbulent Yellow River. Some of these things never saw the light of day again, while others were accidentally salvaged by people in later generations.

The third possibility is shipwrecks. Countless innocent lives are lost in the silt of the Yellow River, and countless ships have sunk. However, because the Yellow River's course only becomes gentler downstream, most large shipwrecks are buried in the silt of the lower reaches. Therefore, this likely isn't the case…

The fourth type is the most mysterious. In many places, inexplicable things have been dug out of the river mud. No one knows what they are, when they sank into the river, or why they were buried. For example, before the liberation, in the Gansu section of the Yellow River, an iron tree was dug up from the riverbed. They dug more than ten meters deep but still couldn't find the top. Later, a landlord had people cut the tree down, and the next day, all the trees within a ten-mile radius withered and died overnight.

This stone platform at the bottom of the Yellow River should belong to the last type, but after breaking it open, there was actually a coffin inside. I really didn't expect that. If there is a coffin inside the stone platform, could it be that the stone platform is actually the burial chamber of an ancient tomb?

I drank a bit too much with Wang Quansheng, and didn't talk much with the young master that night. We agreed that I would show him the things I had collected the next day, and then I went back to sleep. The young master told me that farmers value immediate gains. If you talk to him nicely now and he'll keep the things for you, he'll think about it when he gets home and definitely won't be able to wait. He might bring things back to sell in a week. This time, he'll have already sold some things and knows the prices, so the chances of success are much higher. Therefore, if you want to win everything, you have to act quickly.

What the young master said makes a lot of sense. I felt a little anxious after hearing it, but I had no money and there was nothing I could do. So I could only tell him that I knew what I was doing.

Back in my room, I pondered this over and over. I had considered taking these things to Shanghai to sell for a while and find some good customers, but I was also afraid that, as the young master had said, by the time I sold them all, Wang Quansheng would have sold them all too. I couldn't make a decision for the time being.

Chapter Five: The Old Man Died

That night, I had a dream. I dreamt of a great river, and Wang Quansheng was selling a top-quality Warring States period hexagonal bronze zun-pan on the other side. I was calling out to him with money in my hand, but the old man couldn't hear me. As I kept calling, a man came from the other side, took out a five-yuan note, and wanted to buy the bronze zun-pan. I was so anxious that I fell into the river.

He woke up from the fall and realized he had fallen out of bed. He shook his head and thought to himself, "Damn it, having this kind of dream seems like a divine revelation. I should probably go find Wang Quansheng first."

At this time, the sun had just risen outside, and the view outside the window was still a hazy gray, so the room was poorly lit.

I checked my watch and it was already five o'clock. The antique market was about to open, which was the time when the best items were the most plentiful, but also when the fakes were the most numerous. I usually don't go out early, but after thinking about it, since I was awake, I decided to go and have a look around to see if I could find a good customer, sell some of my items, and then head back to Linhe County to buy up all of Wang Quansheng's goods.

Thinking of putting on some clothes, I turned on the fluorescent light on one side.

Just as I was about to put on my pants, I suddenly caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and saw someone crouching in the shadows in the corner of my room.

The person was crouching there with their face turned towards the corner, looking eerily ghostly. Because that spot was a blind spot next to a TV cabinet, it was impossible to see them clearly. I'm not a very brave person, and when I saw someone suddenly appear in the dark room, I felt a chill run down my spine. My first thought was that I was seeing things, but upon closer inspection, I realized there really was someone there. I thought, "Oh no, it's haunted."

That place is where I put those small bronze items I received yesterday. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Are funerary objects really that evil?

For a moment I didn't dare to move, and the ghost didn't move either, it just stood there frozen, and I felt cold sweat pouring out of my body.

After a while, I calmed down and tried to move it, but the ghost still didn't react. I was a little puzzled. Could it be a stupid ghost?

As the sky grew brighter, the situation gradually became clearer. I mustered my courage and approached, and immediately realized that the ghost's clothes looked very familiar.

A thought flashed through his mind and he immediately remembered that Wang Quansheng had worn those clothes last night. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the person squatting there was indeed that old man.

Didn't Wang Quansheng see me off yesterday? How come he's in my room in the middle of the night? I was extremely puzzled. I turned around and saw that my window was open. Could he have climbed in through the window? But I'm on the sixth floor. Does this old man have the legendary skill of walking on snow without leaving a trace?

I thought about it for a moment, then exclaimed, "Oh dear!" I thought to myself, "Don't let this old man's honest appearance fool you. Shanxi is a place known for bandits. This old man climbed into my room, probably intending to steal everything he sold me and take it all back."

I yelled twice, but the old man didn't react. He remained squatting motionless. I thought he was playing dead, so I quickly pulled a few coins from my pocket and threw them at him, hitting him on the head. I shouted, "Hey, Wang Quansheng, what's going on? Forgot your things?"

The old man remained motionless, as if he were dead. The coin fell to the ground with a crisp sound and rolled back to my feet.

I was a little angry. Seeing that Wang Quansheng was skin and bones, I wasn't afraid of him. So I walked towards him. I didn't have any weapons with me. I was afraid that the old man was trying to cheat me, so I picked up a stool, took four or five steps closer, and kicked the old man with my toe from a distance.

Wang Quansheng swayed, then suddenly collapsed like a lump of mud, falling to the ground motionless. I smelled alcohol all over him, his gray hair almost plastered to his face. My heart skipped a beat, as if I realized something.

I immediately put down the stool and carefully touched the old man's hand. My heart skipped a beat when I touched it—it was ice cold.

Experience tells me that something's wrong; if the old man's like this, it's a big problem.

I checked his pulse a few more times, but I couldn't feel it anymore. Then I remembered how to check his pupils on TV, so I parted the hair on his face and looked into his eyes.

I gasped after just two taps. I was so startled that I immediately let go and took several steps back.

Beneath the tangled white hair plastered to his face, the old man strained to open his cloudy eyes, his pupils already dilated. What was truly chilling was that the corners of his mouth were stretched into an incomprehensible grin, an expression that was nothing short of a sinister smirk.

I was very puzzled. What happened? This old man, perfectly fine, how did he end up dead in my room? Did he come to steal something in the middle of the night, and then have a heart attack or stroke halfway through? But what's with that expression?

What could he have seen that would make him make such a terrifying expression? I'm the only one in the room, could it be that he was scared to death when he saw me?

Am I that ugly?

I was about to go out and call the police, but then I suddenly realized something was wrong. This old man died in my room. It was too suspicious. What should I say when Lei Zi comes?

I can't tell the truth. I bought his stuff yesterday, which is actually considered buying stolen goods. If I tell, I'll still go to jail. But if I don't tell, things will get even more complicated.

In those days, people had an innate fear of the police. Plus, my profession was shady. Everyone in the industry knew that how many antiques were truly legitimate. Eighty percent of the antiques on the market were either a few days old or hundreds of years old, and their origins were basically from the ground or the sea. Theoretically, individuals had no right to own these things. The money I made was completely illegal.

Chapter Six: Avoiding the Storm

My mind was racing at that time, and I immediately realized that I couldn't call the police. It's the same principle as double-crossing. If I sold drugs and then killed the person who bought them, the person who bought them absolutely couldn't call the police. If they did, they would definitely end up in jail.

What should I do? I panicked and was completely lost. I spun around in circles for a while, and suddenly, a scene that often appears in foreign movies popped into my head: disposing of a body.

Upon closer inspection, it seems feasible! This old man isn't a local; he's dressed in rags, and he sneaked into my room. I have absolutely no connection with him. If I just dump him somewhere far away, he definitely won't be able to trace it back to me... But how do I transport him?

I remembered that there's a cart for buying groceries, right? There's a bridge archway a few dozen miles outside Nangong, and basically no one stops there in the morning. If I put the body there, people will definitely think that the old man was a beggar who froze to death.

Thinking of this, I ran downstairs without even fastening my belt to knock on the young master's door and ask to borrow his cart.

The young master got up very early. He had just returned from the morning market where the prices were much cheaper than at other markets. So he was dressed neatly. When he opened the door and saw me like this, he thought I was there to borrow the restroom. When he heard that I wanted to borrow his car, he found it very strange.

I didn't care about him. I took the key, pushed his cart to the back door of the guesthouse, went to my room, wrapped the old man's body in a blanket, carried it on my back, covered my head, and ran to the back door.

The waiter outside, who was up early, thought I'd just returned from the market and joked, "Mr. Xu, you've had a good haul today! Such a big bag of stuff. Did you pick up a terracotta warrior or a clay figurine?"

I greeted him vaguely, cursing his ancestors in my heart, and then ran downstairs to turn the body over onto the cart.

As soon as I rolled down, I felt my back was incredibly wet. I touched it and it was sticky and had a strange smell. I didn't care about that at the time, so I got on the car and drove straight to the underpass.

I've been coming to this area every year, and I know it like the back of my hand. I encountered many people along the way, some were exercising, some were buying groceries, but none of them paid any attention to me. I was on edge, pretending to be calm, humming a song as I rode very fast, afraid of running into the police. Fortunately, the police officers are usually night owls, and I arrived at the bridge underpass in the suburbs without any incidents. Seeing that no one was around, I decided to unload the body from the back of the truck bed.

But when I looked back, my mind went blank and I froze.

There was nothing in the truck bed; the body—it was gone. Only the blanket I had wrapped the body in was still dragging on the back of the truck.

Holy crap! I thought to myself, could it have fallen off halfway? That's impossible, I didn't ride through any particularly bumpy places along the way.

But given the current situation, we can't say that the old man came back from the dead and ran away. The only reasonable explanation is that he got lost along the way.

My mind was in complete turmoil. This was damn interesting. Imagine a young man riding his bike, humming a song, and suddenly a dead body falls out of the back of his bike. The old ladies would definitely shout, "Young man, you dropped something!" and run over to see what was going on. They'd probably all faint from shock.

This guy's unlucky; even drinking cold water can cause problems. I just stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do. I stood there for a good ten minutes, doing nothing, feeling completely lost. Just then, a train suddenly passed over the bridge, its whistle blowing, which startled me and brought me back to my senses.

I ran to the riverbank, washed my face with the water to clear my head, and thought that if the body had fallen on the road, someone would definitely have seen me. However, it probably wouldn't be long before they found me. I was a stranger, and I was riding a tricycle; anyone who saw me would likely mistake me for a local deliveryman. After thinking it over, I decided that business was out of the question now, and I should just make my escape.

My mind raced. The things I had on me could probably fetch 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. I'd ship them to Shanghai first, then have someone in Shanghai help me transfer the money to my account. That should last me two or three years. I figured if the corpse really did fall out along the way, as long as I didn't show up, I'd be fine in two or three years. 50,000 to 60,000 yuan should be enough to last me that long.