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Capítulo 11

She picked up the small glass bottle again. The bottle had a blackish-gray lead seal on its mouth. The surface of the bottle was painted with a picture of a palace on the sea, a blue sea, a yellow castle, a pointed golden roof, and some strangely shaped trees. Under the trees, an old man with a big beard was sitting cross-legged in meditation. The brushwork was delicate and very lifelike.

Nizi gently shook the bottle and vaguely sensed something moving inside.

What's in the bottle? Nizi wondered curiously, but she didn't dare to open the seal rashly.

My grandfather once told me a story about a fisherman and a devil. A fisherman was casting his net into the sea when he pulled up a sealed bottle. Curious, he opened it, and a devil jumped out, scaring the fisherman half to death. It took a lot of effort to coax the devil back into the bottle, and the fisherman quickly sealed it again and threw it into the depths of the sea.

Nizi gently put down the glass bottle and picked up the brass thimble that her grandfather always carried. "Wind Chime Temple...thimble..." Her grandfather's dying words echoed in her ears. Grandpa...what do you want to tell Nizi?

"Cock-a-doodle-doo..." A rooster from somewhere in the village crowed. The first crow was already late at night. Nizi yawned, hugged her bundle, and went to sleep fully clothed.

At dawn, Nizi had a dream. She dreamt of the castle on the glass bottle. In front of the palace gate, there was a bald, barefoot old man with a thick beard who handed her over to a dark-skinned middle-aged man. Then he spoke some strange language that Nizi couldn't understand a word of. After that, the man carried her in his arms and walked a very, very long way...

"It's dawn, Nizi, get up and start the fire!" A woman's hoarse shout startled Nizi from her strange dream.

Nizi quickly climbed off the bed, forcefully stuffed the large bundle under the bed, and then pushed open the door and went out.

"Hurry up and go to the kitchen to chop firewood and start a fire. Da'er and Er'er still need to eat before going to school," the mayor's wife, disheveled, shouted from the doorway of the main house.

Nizi walked toward the kitchen with her head down, thinking that she should quickly start a fire and heat up the food, because she was going to take Dahei to visit her grandfather's grave today.

There were still quite a few leftovers from last night. Nizi didn't care about the sweetness, sourness, bitterness, or spiciness of the food; she poured them all into the big iron pot, lit a fire, and started cooking them with a "bubbling" sound.

"Nizi, what kind of dish did you cook? It tastes awful!" The mayor's wife slammed her chopsticks on the table and said fiercely.

“Whenever my grandpa and I have leftovers, we always heat them up together…” Nizi answered cautiously.

"What a waste of such good stuff... pig brains!" the mayor's wife grumbled indignantly.

"Oh well, let's just eat as is. Fu is back from his military service today, so we should have a proper celebration," Mayor Guo said while eating.

"Are you planning to let him live in our house?" the woman asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well... my brother is a hero of the self-defense counterattack war. He's been assigned to be a special police commissioner in Fenglingdu Town. He gets paid in cash every month, plus a disability allowance," Mayor Guo replied with a smile.

"Cough..." The woman choked on a fish bone, her face turning red. Mayor Guo quickly got up, stuck his finger into her mouth to pull it out, and drool dripped from his chin.

Nizi secretly slipped out to the woodshed, untied Dahei's rope, and led it out of the old house, running all the way to the back mountain valley.

Chapter 15, Part 3

The sky was overcast, a cool breeze blew, and a light drizzle began to fall; a thin mist rose from the mountain valley.

Big Black ran ahead. Although it had been tied up in the woodshed when Grandpa was buried yesterday, it seemed to be able to smell the location of the grave and went straight there.

When Nizi arrived at the cemetery, Dahei was already lying in front of the grave, whimpering mournfully, its two front paws gently digging at the fresh soil.

Nizi's little floral jacket was already soaked by the raindrops. She hadn't grabbed an umbrella in her haste to leave, so she had no choice but to tough it out. She and Dahei huddled together in front of the grave, the cold wind seeping into their clothes, and soon they were shivering. Rain dripped down their hair, and their lips were frozen blue-purple. At that moment, Nizi wished that her grandfather's grave would open up, so she and Dahei would crawl right into it.

A tall, thin young man walked up the mountain path, wearing a black military raincoat over an old grass-green military uniform. He carried a yellow travel bag in his left hand, his legs rolled up, and his military rubber shoes were covered in mud.

"Little girl, why are you squatting alone in the cemetery on a rainy day?" the young man stopped and asked. In the Hedong area of Shanxi, people usually call young girls "little girl".

Nizi looked up at the stranger, her teeth chattering, and stammered, "I'm with Grandpa."

The young man laughed, put down his travel bag, and clumsily took off his rain awning and draped it over Nizi. Only then did Nizi notice that the man's right sleeve was empty; he only had one arm.

"Hey girl, what's your name? Are you from Fenglingdu Village up ahead?" the young man asked.

Nizi nodded and said softly, "My name is Guo Nier, and this is Dahei."

"Guo Ni'er, judging from the weather, this rain isn't going to stop anytime soon. Let me take you home," the young man said kindly.

Nizi looked up at the sky, where dark clouds were gathering and the rain was gradually intensifying. She sighed helplessly and said, "Dahei, let's go back and come back tomorrow."

The rumble of spring thunder echoed in the sky, and heavy rain poured down. The young man and Nizi, sharing a rain shelter, walked along the muddy path toward the town.

Fenglingdu Town is not large; it is essentially just Fenglingdu Village. Due to its important location at the Yellow River ferry crossing, it has remained a town since the Republican era.

Arriving at the old locust tree in the east of the town, Nizi pointed to the old house and said, "That's my home."

As soon as they stepped onto the steps, they ran into the mayor's wife. When she saw Nizi, her face contorted with anger, but then her expression suddenly changed, a smile spreading across her face. She exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, isn't this Youfu? Your brother went to the ferry to pick you up. Didn't you run into him?"

Nizi looked up and thought to herself, "So this man with one arm missing is Mayor Guo's younger brother, Youfu."

“Sister-in-law…it’s like this, I went to the home of a fallen comrade yesterday,” Guo Youfu explained, looking around the old house with a surprised expression, “You and my brother moved?”

"Oh, you just had a housewarming party yesterday, yes, come in quickly." The mayor's wife stepped aside.

"Then who is this Guo Nier...?" Guo Youfu asked, puzzled.

“She’s your brother’s adopted daughter,” the woman replied, then said to Nizi, “Nizi, call him uncle.”

"Uncle Guo," Nizi said softly, glancing gratefully at Youfu.

Chapter Sixteen, Part 1

"Your position is a special police commissioner. Your administrative relationship is with the town government, but your work is guided by the county public security bureau. Your salary is forty-eight yuan and six jiao. Fenglingdu Town is very small, as you know. Your main task is to maintain order and security at the Yellow River ferry crossing, and you also have a secret mission." Mayor Guo took a sip of the local Duihua wine, his face flushed.

"What secret mission?" the younger brother asked, puzzled.

“An ancient tomb,” Mayor Guo said mysteriously.

"An ancient tomb?" Youfu was even more surprised.

"Do you know about 'Feng Hou Tomb'?" Mayor Guo refilled his cup.

Youfu smiled and said, "Of course I know. When we were kids, didn't we often play at 'Fenghoudui'? Legend has it that it's the place where Fenghou, a minister of the ancient Yellow Emperor, was buried."

"That's right, Fenglingdu got its name from the tomb of Feng Hou. According to the county records, there was indeed a tomb of Feng Hou, which was two meters high and thirty meters in circumference. There was also a stone tablet erected in the 38th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty in front of the tomb. However, during the Japanese invasion of China, the Japanese army occupied Fenglingdu, and the temple and the tablet were destroyed. The tomb of Feng Hou was also razed to the ground," Mayor Guo explained.

The child listened with great interest, while his sister-in-law peeled a chicken head, picked out the brain, and fed it to Erguai. It was said that if children ate chicken brains, their grades would improve.

Mayor Guo downed his drink in one gulp and said in a drunken voice, "This is not a legend. Feng Hou is indeed buried in Fenglingdu, but we just can't find her."

“Thousands of years have passed, and the wind has long since turned to dust. The common people just consider it an ancient legend. Do you think anyone still remembers it?” Youfu shook his head and said dismissively.

"It's not that we're eyeing it, but someone is eyeing 'Feng Hou Tomb'," Mayor Guo whispered.

"Who?" Youfu asked.

"This is the secret mission you, the special commissioner of the public security bureau, are tasked with uncovering. Secretary Qin of the county party committee personally instructed me to do so," Mayor Guo said solemnly, looking directly at his younger brother. "Recently, people with accents from other places have appeared in the Fenglingdu area. They are active at night and hide during the day. Some villagers have encountered them in remote mountains at night, and they are carrying tools such as Luoyang shovels. They are very suspicious."

"Are they tomb raiders?" You Fu asked warily.

“Yes,” Mayor Guo nodded and continued, “Secretary Qin of the County Party Committee is my father-in-law. He asked me to keep an eye on these tomb raiders and report to him at any time.”

Fu pondered, “Tomb raiders usually target antiques and gold and silver jewelry. I can’t think of any connection with Feng Hou Tomb. Thousands of years ago, the Yellow River Basin was still a tribal clan society. There might be some primitive stone tools or something, but they wouldn’t have much commercial value.”

Mayor Guo leaned close to Youfu's ear and whispered, "It's certain that they are looking for Feng Hou Tomb. My father-in-law said that this news came from the capital."

"The capital?" Youfu realized at this moment that things were getting serious.

Chapter Sixteen, Part 2

In the woodshed, Nizi was hugging the old black dog and whispering to it.

"Nizi! Go to the kitchen and clear the dishes." The voice of "Landlady" came from the courtyard. Nizi had already secretly told Dahei that this was the nickname she had given to the mayor's wife.

Nizi patted Dahei's head, sighed, got up, and pushed open the door to leave.

At the kitchen table, the Guo brothers were still sitting there drinking tea, with bowls and chopsticks piled up to the side. The "landlady" had already taken Da Guai and Er Guai back to their room, and Ni Zi was left to do the remaining chores.

With a "smack," Ni Zi was startled and looked over.

Mayor Guo slammed a pistol on the table, his small eyes squinting behind his glasses, and said, reeking of alcohol, "This is a Type 51 pistol that I brought for you today. The sights are a bit worn out, and it sometimes jams, but it's still much better than being empty-handed. Those tomb raiders are all daredevils."

"Thanks, bro." Youfu grabbed the pistol with his only left hand, pried open the bolt with his thumb, rubbed it hard on his left trouser leg, and with a "click," the bullet was chambered.

"Be careful!" Mayor Guo hurriedly said.

“Don’t worry, I’ve used it before,” Youfu smiled, lightly tapped the safety button with his index finger, then put it in his pocket and said, “I’ll start investigating tomorrow.”

"Here's some information I found about Feng Hou Tomb. Take a look when you have time." Mayor Guo handed Youfu a stack of documents.

"Okay, I'll go back to my room first." Youfu stood up and said, watching Nizi's thin and frail body washing the dishes, looking down at his own one arm, sighing slightly as he walked out of the room.

The rain has stopped, the night is deep, and it's quite chilly.

Youfu's room was arranged in the west wing, right next to Nizi's room; the bed was already made. He turned on the light, sat down at the table, and began to look through the mimeographed documents…

The *Records of the Grand Historian: Basic Annals of the Five Emperors* recounts that the Yellow Emperor once had a dream in which a rare and powerful wind blew away all the dust and grime of the world, leaving only a pristine white landscape. Upon waking, he pondered the dream, thinking, "The wind is the signal, the ruler. The dust is swept away, and the ruler resides on the border. Could there be someone in the world named Feng Hou?" He lost his appetite and could not sleep, searching far and wide. Soon, his dream came true; he found Feng Hou in a remote corner of the sea (present-day Shedong Village, Jiezhou Town, Yuncheng City), and discovered that he indeed possessed extraordinary talent, appointing him as his prime minister. Afterwards, he quelled the rebellion of Zhuolu in the north, pacified Chiyou in the south, and brought peace to the country, making indelible contributions.

Youfu continued to peruse the documents.

For three years, the Yellow Emperor and Chi You fought 72 battles, neither gaining the upper hand. Finally, they clashed in a decisive battle at Zhuolu. Chi You, possessing great supernatural powers, conjured a dense fog that lasted three days and three nights, disorienting the Yellow Emperor's army and rendering them unable to fight. Chi You, however, used the wind and sand to his advantage, charging forward recklessly. Just when it seemed he was about to gain the upper hand, Feng Hou invented the "compass chariot," allowing the army to finally discern directions in the fog. This enabled the Yellow Emperor to decisively defeat Chi You, beheading him and dismembering his body for burial in a different location. Later, this place was named "Jiezhou," and the local villagers, descendants of Chi You's tribe, called it "Chi You Village" (now called Congshan Village). Tragically, Feng Hou died in the chaos of this battle.

Feng Hou died in battle, and to commemorate his achievements, the Yellow Emperor personally selected a burial site for him in Zhao Village, north of the Yellow River. Later generations renamed Zhao Village "Feng Hou Mausoleum," meaning the tomb of Feng Hou. It was commonly known as "Feng Hou Tomb." Later, the Yellow River ferry crossing in this area was called Fengling Ferry.

According to the "Treatise on Literature" in the Book of Han, Feng Hou's "Thirteen Chapters of Feng Hou's Military Strategy" and his invention of the compass chariot have long been lost.

Youfu closed the documents and fell into deep thought.

Chapter 16, Part 3

"Uncle Guo..." came a shy voice from behind.

Youfu turned around and saw Nizi standing timidly by the door.

"Oh, Nizi, come in quickly," Youfu said.

Nizi walked into the house, her eyes fixed on Youfu's empty right sleeve, and asked softly, "Uncle Guo, where's your right hand?"

Youfu sighed and said with a wry smile, "It was shredded by shrapnel."

"Was it done by bad guys?" Nizi asked again.

“No, they are good people…they are our own people,” Youfu said, looking at Nizi’s sincere and surprised eyes. “Our reconnaissance company attacked and infiltrated too quickly, and communication was lost. We were bombed by our own people’s artillery shells from the rear.”

Nizi opened her eyes wide, seemingly unable to understand at first.

"Nizi, I heard that you and your grandfather used to live in this old house together?" Guo Youfu asked.

Nizi nodded.

“My brother and sister-in-law adopted you, but it seems like you’re not very happy, is that right?” Guo Youfu said, looking at the child.

Nizi's nose tingled, and she almost burst into tears. She then lowered her head and ran out silently.

Guo Youfu shook his head, took off his clothes, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed.