Tomb Raiders Codex

Chapter 19 The Ghost King Yulong Cup

The waiter didn't talk too much, and let us open the way to signal the two of us to go in, blocking the door of his house, and the image was indeed indecent, so I didn't ask much.When I entered the building, I saw an empty stage in the middle, and there were already many tea seats under the stage.There were leisurely tea drinkers sitting in twos and threes, looking frequently at the empty stage, as if they were waiting for some performance.Nowadays, there are many teahouses, and they will invite some actors to perform cross talks, sketches and so on to solicit customers.

The waiter led us all the way to the second floor, and pushed open an antique carved wooden door. After entering, there was a big room, separated into two by landscape screens, with a bed on one side and a tea table on the other.

There was no one in the room at this time, the tea table was placed by the window, and the wooden window was open, looking down from here, one could just see the tea guests and the empty table on the first floor.It seems that this is a private room of a tea house.

Several plates of dried fruit snacks were placed on the table, and the waiter served us a pot of tea, saying that the shopkeeper was busy and asked us to wait a while, drink tea and snacks first, and give us orders at any time.After finishing speaking, I backed out, leaving Tofu and I looking at each other in blank dismay.

Tofu asked suspiciously, "Which door is this selling? Doesn't it mean that we have been waiting for us for a long time?"

I said: "That's a polite word." However, since the old man has returned safely, it must be that the ghost rent did not dare to find him.People are good at being bullied, and Ma Shan is being ridden by others. Could it be that my luck is so low that even the dead ghost knows that persimmons are picky.

Thinking of this, I chatted with Tofu, drank tea and ate melon seeds, and waited for a long time but no one came.We didn't have any plans today, so we didn't care about waiting a little longer. After a while, we heard a burst of applause from below, and looked down from the height, but there were a few actors on the empty stage, babbling, acting. It's Teochew opera.

Cantonese people like to watch operas and drink tea even more.

In our side, if the family is poor and cannot afford food, they will not spend money to buy tea.But Cantonese people are different. Regardless of their family conditions, they will buy tea no matter how poor they are, and they only distinguish between good and bad.

Neither of us can understand that Teochew opera. Tofu is a person who can’t sit still. Except when he is painting, let him sit for 2 minutes, which is harder than killing him, so it didn’t take long for him to start blind in the house. change.

The furnishings here are quite elegant, but they are all dead things. After looking around, it becomes boring, so Tofu casually grabbed a newspaper on the shelf next to it.After flipping through it for a while, I suddenly let out a groan, with a slightly strange look on my face, handed the newspaper to me, and said in a low voice, "This is actually a newspaper from 04, read this news."

I took the newspaper and took a look, it was indeed an old newspaper, not a regular big newspaper, but some gossip tabloids, with an irresponsible attitude towards the news, and only reported news that attracted attention and caught wind.

And the headline of the news that Tofu refers to is a line of small characters: Tomb robbers steal a woman's corpse at night, and there are blue spots on her body. Is it poisonous from the corpse or the upper body of a ghost?
The name is eye-catching enough, but regular newspapers will definitely not report this kind of thing, nor will they use such a misleading name.I followed the content to look down, and there was a photo in it. The person in the photo had bruises on his arms, which was exactly the same as mine!
This is a young man from a mountain village. He had evil thoughts to dig an old grave in the village, but when he dug up an incorruptible female corpse, he had evil thoughts and hid the female corpse at home.In this way, a few days later, a large bruise appeared on his body, and there was no way to go to the hospital for treatment. His body gradually rotted with the bruise, and under unbearable pain, he committed suicide by taking sleeping pills.

Tofu obviously saw the door, and he was very clever, and said: "The old man must have asked someone to put this newspaper here on purpose. What do you think he wants? Perverted Chen, your corpse poison is really so powerful Will it be the same as the people in this newspaper? That's too miserable, don't worry, I will buy you the best sleeping pills when the time comes, you can rest in peace. "

I was so angry with this kid, and just about to kick him, the door was pushed open from the outside, and the old man we saw before walked in slowly by himself, standing at the door The big man and the young man, they closed the door and guarded outside.

The old man glanced at the newspaper in my hand and said with a smile: "It seems that you have already read it. This is not to scare you. If your corpse poison is not dealt with, you will definitely end up worse than him."

I guessed right, the old boy really did it on purpose, but I hate being led by the nose the most, so I said: "So what, when I was scared? I don't care about it." Please worry about it, we have something to talk about, if nothing else, I won't accompany you."

The old man smiled, like an old fox, and said, "You young people are short-tempered. If that's the case, I won't play around with you anymore." Let's talk, and took out a blue and white porcelain bottle from his arms. A cork plugged it, and then he pulled out the cork, shook it, and poured out a pill that was as red as blood, but the size of a soybean.

"This is the 'red pill' for detoxification, eat it."

Tofu doubted: "Are you sure it's not poison?"

The old man smiled and said: "Why should I give you the poison, even if I don't give you the poison, sooner or later you will die."

I pinch it and put it on the tip of my nose, it has a strong metallic smell.Grandpa's work notes once recorded this kind of 'red pill'. Its full name should be called Pishi Dan, but outsiders will know what this medicine is for as soon as they hear it, so it is directly referred to as red pill in jargon.

According to legend, the method of developing this thing has long been lost, and only some of them survived in some ancient tomb robber families.

As soon as I smelled it, I knew it was the real thing. The taste was exactly the same as what my grandfather described, so I couldn't help being surprised.I thought that the method of making this red pill has long been lost, and it can be said to be a life-saving panacea. If you eat one, you will lose one.What is the old man's intention to give me so generously?

I am a businessman, so I naturally know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.But life-saving is the most important thing. The medicine has already been delivered to the door, so there is no reason to push it back.Immediately squeezed the pill and took it, only felt that the mouth was spicy, but after a while, there was a fragrance rising up, and one could smell it even while exhaling, it was indeed a miracle medicine.

When the old man saw that I was convinced, there was a flash of praise in his eyes, and he said: "You are so brave, it seems that I am looking for you this time, and I did not find the wrong person."

"Everything is courteous, so just say what you have to say. What is the relationship between my grandfather and you? What do you want to do now?"

The old man smiled and said: "It's a long story, and it has to start with three people. Listen to me patiently, and you will understand." Then, he clapped his hands, changed Hu Maofeng, a few People drink tea while listening to him.

The old man's surname is Zhao, and people in Taoism call him Second Lord Zhao. The reason why he is called Second Lord is not because he is the second child in the family.Second Lord is a kind of respectful title. In the past, Guan Yu and Guan Yunchang were called Guan Second Lord. Therefore, among the heroes who made friends in ancient times, the most powerful and loyal ones were often honored as Second Lord.

Zhao Erye's family has been digging mushrooms upside down for eight generations, and has accumulated a wealth of family wealth.Of course, Mr. Zhao seldom goes to the ground by himself now. Most of the time, he organizes the manpower, finds the tomb, provides equipment, and conducts group excavation.He eats most of the things he digs out, and the rest is distributed to those who go to the ground.

In the business of tomb robbery, there are too many categories, such as loose robbers, joint robbers, family robbers, gang robbers, and even official robbers.In the case of me and Tofu, two people who know each other well and trust each other, combined to dig mushrooms, is a knot robbery, while Mr. Zhao is a combination of family robbery and gang robbery.

As for official robbers, such gangs are very secretive and generally unknown.If you encounter it, you have to go around it, otherwise you will be in great trouble.

In Zhao Erye's own words, in the tomb robbery circle in Guangdong, he is a character who stomps his feet and the whole circle trembles.

Why did you come to me this time?There is a background, and it is also related to Hu Laoxia.

This Hu Laoxia has always been active in Guanzhong, why did he suddenly come to Shenzhen?His purpose is to return to the tomb under the Yonghe River.The person buried in that tomb was a civil official in the Daoguang period. He was upright and loved by Emperor Daoguang.

When he died, Emperor Daoguang gave him a treasure to be buried with him. This treasure is called the "Ghost King Yulong Cup", which is said to have been made by a folk artist who made jade during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.The cup records a legendary experience of his, which is the so-called ghost king encountering a dragon. Of course, there are many legends about how he met the dragon, and it is hard to know.

Nothing can be seen on the surface of the cup, but after filling it with wine and lighting it with a candle, something like a comic book will appear in the center of the jade cup.The production process can be described as uncanny workmanship.

(End of this chapter)