Tomb raiders: You stole my little Qilin?

The next morning, Wu Wei washed up, changed his clothes, spread the sheepskin roll on his desk, took out several thick ancient script reference books, and began to compare the obscure symbols line by line.

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, slowly moving across the table. By the time he finally put down his pen, more than two hours had passed.

Wu Wei reviewed the translated content again, confirming that there were no discrepancies in several key location descriptions, before picking up his phone and sending a message to Wu Xie: Come over here for a bit.

Wu Xie arrived quickly, and when he pushed the door open, a tuft of hair was still sticking up, indicating that he had just woken up not long ago.

He sat down in the chair next to Wu Wei's desk and peered at the parchment scroll on the table, which was covered with annotations.

"It is indeed an imperial tomb," Wu Weixian concluded.

Then, pointing to the key passages he had translated, he said, "The tomb owner was the king of a small country called 'Wei.' This country is not recorded in official history, so it was probably annexed long ago."

The parchment scroll does indeed describe a mausoleum, quite large in size, located in Ningxia.

Interestingly, the location of the mausoleum closely matches that of a tourist attraction in Ningxia.

"A tourist attraction?" Wu Xie was a little incredulous.

"Is that grave still there?"

"It's hard to say." Wu Wei leaned back in his chair.

"The parchment only records the approximate address; it doesn't show the location of the tomb entrance or any description of the entrance. Whether we find it or not depends entirely on luck."

Wu Xie thought for a moment, then took out his phone and called Fatty Wang.

The fat man's voice immediately rang out on the other end of the phone: "Ningxia? Go for it! If we can't find it, we can't find it. We'll just treat it as a vacation. I've never been there before!"

"Why don't you two go together? You've got nothing better to do in Beijing."

Wu Xie hung up the phone, turned to look at Wu Wei, his eyes filled with obvious expectation.

Wu Wei had to choose between "being dragged by his father to look at the account books" and "going out to play with his younger brother".

"go."

I suddenly remembered what Xie Yuchen said yesterday—"If I have the chance, I'd like to go out and run around with you."

Wu Wei asked Fatty Wang, "Fatty, could we add one more person?"

"Sure! It'll be more fun with more people. Who's coming?"

"Jie Yuchen".

The fat man's voice rose eight octaves:

"The head of the Xie family? Wow, that's quite a background! Come, come, welcome!"

After returning the phone to Wu Xie, Wu Wei made another call to Xie Yuchen.

The phone rang only a few times before being answered. Xie Yuchen's voice carried a hint of surprise: "Brother Wu Wei?"

"Xiaohua, we're planning to go to Ningxia to explore some tombs, do you want to come?"

Jie Yuchen paused for a moment, considered her recent schedule, and quickly gave her reply:

"I don't have anything going on lately, I'll go with you guys."

"Let me make this clear first, we might not be able to find it. We might just take a short trip and come right back."

"That's perfect, let's take this opportunity to relax together."

The group's efficiency was astonishing.

Wu Weigang had just finished translating the parchment in the morning, and by the afternoon, the four of them were already on the bus heading to Ningxia.

Wu Xie didn't recognize Xie Yuchen at first glance.

He could no longer see any trace of the little flower girl in the opera costume in his memory.

Instead, a handsome young man in a casual shirt appeared, his expression calm and composed, and his voice clear and gentle.

Wu Xie exclaimed, "Xiao Hua, you've changed so much. I remember you were half a head shorter than me when we were little, but now you're about the same height."

Xie Yuchen chuckled: "People always have to grow up."

Wu Wei and Wu Xie tacitly agreed not to tell Wu Erbai they were going out beforehand. Only after the car had left Beijing did Wu Wei take out his phone and send Wu Erbai a text message.

"Dad, Xiaoxie and I are going out to play for a few days, we'll be back soon."

Wu Xie peeked over from the side and also sent a message:

"Second Uncle, I'll keep an eye on my brother, don't worry."

Wu Erbai's message came back after a while, and both messages contained the same message: "Come back and wait!"

Neither of them dared to reply.

A short while later, Wu Erbai sent another message to each of them, with the same content: "Be careful."

Wu Wei and Wu Xie exchanged a glance and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

On the way, Wu Wei silently called 999 a few times in his mind, but there was still no response.

It was already evening when the car entered Ningxia.

The driver arranged by Xie Yuchen picked them up and dropped them off at the hotel entrance.

Fatty Wang looked up at the magnificent lobby before him, his eyes shining with envy: "What a grand gesture!"

Xie Yuchen said calmly as she entered the revolving door first: "It's rare to go out, so it's always good to be comfortable."

Wang Pangzi whispered to Wu Xie, "When will Fatty get to have this kind of entourage!"

Wu Xie said to Fatty, "When you turn that shop in Panjiayuan into a chain store..."

Fatty Wang counted on his fingers and said, "That would have to be in my next life."

The two exchanged a glance, laughed, and followed.

After settling into their rooms, the group had a simple meal at the restaurant downstairs.

Ningxia's mutton lives up to its reputation. The aroma of the hand-pulled mutton was irresistible when it was served, and Fatty Wang devoured most of the plate by himself.

After dinner, before it got completely dark, the group decided to take a walk around the area marked on the parchment.

After taking a taxi to the outskirts of the tourist attraction, the setting sun painted the distant grottoes and mountain walls a golden-red hue.

At the foot of the mountain, a few shrubs whose names I don't know are scattered about, and when the wind blows, they raise a small patch of yellow dust.

I must say, the scenery here is truly beautiful.

Instead of entering the scenic area, the group strolled leisurely along the surrounding hillsides and wastelands.

Each person grabbed a stick and tapped and poked here and there, trying to find some unusual traces.

After walking for a while, we found nothing. The ground was covered with gravel and yellow soil, and we couldn't even find a decent crack.

To make matters worse, four people acting together would make them too conspicuous.

Not long after, a middle-aged man in a security guard uniform strode towards them.

"What are you doing?" The security guard's voice was loud and clear, with a distinctive local accent from Ningxia, and carried far across the open hillside.

All four people stopped what they were doing at the same time.

Fatty Wang hid the wooden stick behind his back and said with a grin, "I wasn't doing anything, just wandering around."

The security guard's gaze swept over the four young men, his eyes becoming suspicious.

"Are you trying to sneak in without a ticket? Huh? Let me tell you, don't even think about sneaking in. If you want to go in, you'd better buy a ticket."

The four looked at each other, feeling somewhat awkward for a moment.

Fatty Wang coughed and said, "No, uncle, we're just hiking to get some exercise."

The security guard clearly didn't believe them, standing on the hillside with his arms crossed, staring at them with a suspicious look.

Wu Wei tugged at the fat man's sleeve, and Xie Yuchen silently put the wooden stick on the ground. Wu Xie lowered his head and pretended to look at the scenery.

The four men felt uneasy under that gaze, and the fat man gave the security guard an awkward smile.

"We're leaving now, we're leaving now."

After saying that, he waved his hand, and the four of them sheepishly returned along the same route.

Even after walking quite a distance, I could still feel that scrutinizing gaze behind me.

Back at the hotel, the group spread the parchment scroll out on the coffee table again, and Wu Wei translated the contents of the scroll for them.

After listening, the three looked at each other, none of them able to come up with a good solution.

The records on the parchment were too vague, only giving a general location without any details about the entrance.

If an ancient tomb were so easy to find, they wouldn't have had the chance to snag a bargain.

Xie Yuchen was the first to break the silence:

"If we can't find it, we might as well consider it a vacation. The grottoes and mountain scenery here are quite nice. We can go in openly tomorrow and maybe find some clues."

Fatty Wang stretched and yawned: "Exactly, exactly! Let's treat this as an outing!"

Wu Xie nodded in agreement and rolled up the sheepskin scroll that had been spread out on the coffee table and put it away.

The group returned to their rooms, planning to properly experience being tourists the next day.