Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 99: A New Story Begins

"Cough cough..."

A cough came from behind the two fat men. The fat man stiffened, turned around, and awkwardly laughed, "Hey, Mingzi, when did you get here?"

Behind them stood Hu Ming. Hu Ming glanced at him, then sat down on the small chair and said, "We've almost finished with everything at the factory and company. The rest is up to the guys below..."

Just then, another person walked over. As soon as the fat man saw that someone else had come to the stall, he immediately stopped chatting with Hu Ming.

"Please feel free to look around."

"Hey Lao Hu, pay attention! You can't leave me to do all this alone, Lao Hu."

Fatty said speechlessly to Hu Bayi, "We've been hustling here at this stall for quite some time now. If we hadn't just cheated that foreigner, the little money we made probably wouldn't even be enough for me to go back and resell cassette tapes."

"Boss, how much is this?"

A middle-aged man took out a square pendant and picked it up.

"5 yuan."

"You just spout off whatever you want; you're charging too much."

The fat man shouted, "Five yuan is too expensive! Believe me, someone just offered me 3000 yuan, and I didn't sell it!"

In reality, this pendant is hardly a high-quality item from the Ming Dynasty; it's just something that's commonly found everywhere.

So the five yuan the fat man asked for was indeed quite high, considering that although the economy was recovering rapidly at this time, resources were still quite scarce.

In the 1980s, factory workers earned only about forty yuan a month, with better workers earning seventy or eighty yuan.

"Nine in the second place: The dragon appears in the field; it is advantageous to see a great man," Hu Bayi suddenly muttered to himself.

"Huh?!" Upon hearing this, the fat man realized that Hu Bayi was chanting some incomprehensible sage's mantra again.

"Mingzi, Fatty, have you seen that guy?"

"Which one?" the fat man asked, looking over.

Hu Bayi ignored the fat man and pointed in the direction for Hu Ming.

Hu Ming looked in the direction Hu Bayi pointed and said, "That man in his thirties or forties, with purplish-red skin, looks like he's been doing farm work in the semi-plateau region for years. This guy must be from the Loess Plateau." "Wow, Mingzi, you can tell a master is good the moment they make a move!"

The fat man grinned from ear to ear, feeling like he'd finally gotten some work. "This country bumpkin, carrying a tattered bag, what's up, Mingzi? See if something's fishy going on?"

Hu Ming stretched his languid body and looked closely.

That's right, the older brother who looks like a man is Wang Chunlai! Looks like a new plot is about to begin!
"Hmm, I think this guy is here to sell something. Look at his hand, he's been clutching a tattered cloth bag, and there's something shifty in his eyes. He obviously has something to sell. But he doesn't have a reliable way to get things done, and he doesn't dare go to those big stores for fear of being ripped off, so he can only try his luck at a stall like ours."

"I see!" Fatty Wang nodded in understanding, then pulled Hu Bayi along to greet the middle-aged man.

As he watched the two leave, a smile appeared on Hu Ming's lips. He had actually seen through the middle-aged man's identity at a glance. This guy should be Li Chunlai from the Dragon Ridge Cave storyline. As for why he came here...

Hu Ming knew the reason very well: he wanted to lure Fatty and Hu Bayi to the Dragon Ridge Maze. However, Hu Ming did not reveal this, since he also wanted to go there. With Li Chunlai leading the way, it would save him a lot of trouble.

As Hu Ming had predicted, things turned out exactly as he had expected.

Sure enough, after Fatty and Hu Bayi chatted with the middle-aged man, he told them everything about the Dragon Ridge Maze.

It is said that in Longling, some villagers unearthed an ancient tomb, and Li Chunlai was one of them. After they dug out the coffin from the tomb, they saw many treasures, and the greedy villagers wanted to take the contents of the coffin.

So they painstakingly pried open the coffin, but after they opened it...

Something jumped out of there and began slaughtering the villagers. Many people were killed before the monster was finally subdued. However, no matter what they tried, they couldn't kill the monster. In the end, they could only slowly whittle it down with each blow.

The village chief ordered that the coffin be burned and that nothing be touched inside the ancient tomb.

After all, such a thing was a truly ominous sign! Li Chunlai, who was left behind, prepared to burn the coffin, but just as he lit the fire, several villagers came over from all around. The one in the lead, Ma Dadan, simply took everything out of the coffin.

She even left him an embroidered shoe as hush money.

Upon hearing this, Hu Ming, sitting on the bench, smiled slightly. Knowing the reason, he naturally understood that Li Chunlai was just talking nonsense. The embroidered shoes were not hush money at all, but rather a way to lure antique dealers from the capital into taking risks so they could kill and rob them.

Even though he knew, Hu Ming didn't make a fuss about it.

Others might be afraid of those idiots like Ma Dadan, but Hu Ming didn't care. They were clearly no match for him. However, having them around also had its advantages...

For some unknown reason, since his bloodline was enhanced, he found that his memory had improved significantly, and he could even remember things from his past life clearly. You have to understand that more than 20 years have passed. Apart from the Jingjue Ancient City, which he remembered at the beginning, he had forgotten most of the plot after that. Fortunately, with this bloodline enhancement, his memory is even better, and he can recall things from his past life.

(End of this chapter)