I also pulled out mysnake-skin cloth bagand squatted down, stuffing thebronze artifactsinto it.

Theround and square cauldronswere heavy, so I struggled a bit.Sun Lao Santook care of me and asked me to pick up the smaller items.

I ended up picking up thebronze beansand smallerbronze cups. These types ofbronze artifactsstacked together weren’t unusual, as during theWestern ZhouandSpring and Autumn periods, such items were commonly used as kitchen utensils.

Thebronze cauldronswere used to cook meat, thecupswere for drinking wine, and thebronze beanswere for holding salt and seasonings. Thebronze beansserved a similar purpose to what we today use for dipping vinegar when eating dumplings.

It was like using asack to collect money— I was literally doing just that.

I’m relatively thin, and not very strong, so when I noticed my sack was nearly full, I decided to take it up for a trip first.

I twisted my head left and right, and at that moment, the headlamp shone on a corner of theear chamber.

"Eh? What’s that? Awater jar?"

"Er Ge! Look! There’s ajar!"

Sun Lao Er, who had been focusing on stuffing abronze cauldroninto his bag, jumped in shock at my sudden loud voice.

"Shit, Yun Feng, what the hell are you shouting for? You scared the hell out of me."

I said, "Er Ge, there’s a big jar in the corner of the wall."

Without lifting his head, he replied, "That’s just acoarse pottery jar. What good is it? It’s too big to carry down the mountain, and it wouldn’t even be worth a thousand or eighteen hundred. We don’t need that kind of junk."

After hearingSun Lao Er'swords and looking at thelarge water jarwith its stone lid, I decided not to go over.

Struggling under the weight of the full sack ofbronze artifacts, I waded through the water back to where we came from. At that moment, a rope was lowered from the ceiling of the tomb passage.

Wang Ba Tou’svoice came from above: "Yun Feng, tie the snake-skin bag securely, make sure it’s tight. After that, come back and pack more. Hurry up, we don’t have much time left."

I twisted the top of thesackfull ofbronze artifactsa few times and tied it to the rope. Then, the sack slowly started to rise asWang Ba Toupulled it up from above.

In the next hour or so, we worked hard, and by the time we were done, we had moved outeight full sacks of bronze artifacts.

Just then,Wang Ba Tou'svoice came through the intercom, urging us: "You three, hurry up and get up here. It’s almost dawn. We need to get down the mountain quickly."

Do you know the game"stacking people"?

I was first lifted to the ceiling using a humanpyramidby theSun brothers. Then,Wang Ba Touabove lowered a rope, pulling me up.

TheSun brotherswere even more impressive. After reaching the ceiling, they didn’t even use the rope — they simply braced themselves against the tomb hole and climbed straight up.

Once they got up,Sun Lao Ercouldn’t hide the smile on his face.

He looked at the many bulgingsnake-skin bagson the ground and asked, “Ba Tou, how many points do you think this is?”

Wang Ba Toushook his head and smiled: “Each profession has its own expertise. As for how many points, that’s something you’ll have to askLao Da. He’s the one who can estimate it properly.”

Later, I learned that when they referred to “points,” they meant tens of thousands, with one point equal to ten thousand. A hundred points would equal a million. Back in the early 2000s, many people’s annual salary didn’t even reach one point.

Sun Lao Dawas in charge ofscoutingandsales.

As long as there were no issues, he usually wouldn’t speak over the walkie-talkie. But if he spoke during work, it meant that strangers were nearby.

Wang Ba Tousaid, “This is just onewest ear chamber, and there’s still the east ear chamber. This is strange — we still haven’t found the main tomb. Looks like we’ll have to set up a base here. Who knows how many treasures are hidden inside? This job’s not going to be done in a day or two.”

Setting up abasein tomb robbing terminology meant encountering a large tomb where you couldn’t finish everything in one or two days, so you had to set up a base around it and keep coming back to continue the work.

In the past, old-timers in the tomb-robbing business would often ask each other, “Hey, I heard you set up two big bases last year?”

The person would reply, “Oh, no, no, just got lucky and set up two small ones.”

Setting up a base had its risks, as it was easy to be discovered. If some old man or woman decided to go hiking up the mountain and accidentally fell into one of our tomb holes, we’d be done for.

So, the risk and reward were proportional. The higher the reward, the higher the risk.

After weighing the situation,Wang Ba Tounodded and said, “Western Zhouartifacts have been skyrocketing in the black market these past few years, prices change every day. I think it’s worth taking the risk. Let’s set up the base.”

As soon as we got our hands on the goods,Sun Lao Daimmediately contacted a woman calledYike Zhiand had her send people over to move the items and help cover up the tomb hole.

Yike Zhiwas a remarkable woman. Through several encounters, I learned that most of the younger men she associated with had significant backgrounds. She didn’t just serveWang Ba Touas logistics; she also reportedly worked as the logistics head for other criminal groups.

Technically, this wasn’t by the book, but becauseYike Zhiwas so capable,Wang Ba Tousimply turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it, much like how some professionals in big companies hold key positions in multiple organizations.

Yike Zhitook care of a few young men who were completely devoted to her. They worked for her willingly, bringing us generators and water pumps at night and helping us cover up the tomb hole. These tasks were all handled byYike Zhi’syoung crew.

WithoutYike Zhi, our crew wouldn’t have functioned smoothly at all.

The soil from the ceiling that was mixed withgreen and white mudwas highly noticeable. We couldn’t afford to dispose of it recklessly because of time constraints, so we decided to take it with us.

That soil was like a ticking time bomb. Many people in our line of work had gotten into trouble because of it. For example, theBabaoshan tomb-robbing crewinBeijinggot caught because they left a small pile ofgreen and white soilin the mountains, which an old lady found while walking around, leading to their complete downfall. They ended up serving ten years in prison.

The next day.

Back at the small guesthouse inShunde, I was crouched by the sink brushing my teeth, thinking about where to dispose of thegreen and white soillater.

Just then...

"Slap!"A heavy smack landed on my backside from behind.

I was brushing my teeth at the time, and with such a slap, I didn’t manage to spit out the mouthful of water I was holding. I ended up swallowing it all.

I spun around in anger, only to seeYike Zhiwearing atank top, laughing at me.

AlthoughYike Zhiwas a few years older than me, her body was still in excellent shape. It was clear that she took good care of herself, thanks to her wealth and the best skincare products she used. Thepink tank topshe was wearing exposed herlong legs, which were so fair that they made my throat dry just looking at them.

With a teasing smile,Yike Zhisaid, “Hehe, littleYun Feng, I heard fromLao Eryesterday that you’ve never even held a girl’s hand? Is that true?”

Blushing, I mumbled, “None of your business.”

Seeing me embarrassed,Yike Zhiburst into laughter, her body shaking, and her laughter was so loud it seemed almost provocative.

She beckoned me with her finger, “Little Yun Feng, don’t you want to be the45th manfor your sister?”

At that time, I was still young and didn’t fully understand the intricacies of adult relationships, so I blurted out, “I don’t want to. By the time you’re 40, I’ll have to wear 99 green hats! You shameless woman, don’t even think about it,Xiang Yun Fengis not falling for it!”

When I insulted her,Yike Zhigot mad. She grabbed the mop in the guesthouse and started chasing me around the yard.

By noon, since it was meal time, I slung myblack backpackover my shoulder, dressed like a high school student, and wandered aroundShundecity aimlessly.

My backpack was stuffed withgreen and white soil, and I needed to find a suitable place to dispose of it.

As I walked, I couldn’t stop thinking about one thing.

For some reason, the largewater jarin the corner of thewest ear chamberin the tomb last night kept lingering in my mind.

I just felt like something was off about it.

[--------------------------------------------]

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com