Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 384 Strange Story

Zhang Wuxun carried the backpack he had seized from the Wang family; it was fully stocked with necessities. He walked far around the camp below.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, he had already donned a human skin mask, altering his height and voice, and completely transformed into another person.

With his hair all white and mangled, Zhang Wuxun rode an oxcart to a town near Banna, inquired around, and found a small shop where he could get a haircut.

Wang Xiaoli had a considerable amount of cash in her wallet, as well as a card.

However, Zhang Wuxun had already broken the card into pieces and thrown it into the garbage truck. Who knows if there was any tracking chip or anything inside? Let them rummage through the junkyard.

Zhang Wuxun didn't want to use the smelly hair dye, so after describing and communicating with the barber shop owner, he finally had to get a simple buzz cut because it would be easier to wear a hat.

Fully armed, Zhang Wuxun, holding the new identity he obtained from the person who pasted small advertisements on the wall cracks, boarded a green train bound for Ankang.

Thank goodness this was an era before identity verification was implemented, otherwise Zhang Wuxun would have been unable to move an inch.

In late October, Zhang Wuxun, having recovered his health, went to Mount Taibai for the third time.

In mid-November, Zhang Wuxun emerged from the Qinling Divine Tomb. Using his materialization ability, he assumed a new identity and, carrying the Tibetan beaded bracelets he had taken from Zhang Ruitong's coffin, approached a familiar yet unfamiliar person: Big Gold Tooth.

Before heading to Medog in southern Tibet, he had to figure out a few things.

Zhang Wuxun knew very well that once his new face appeared in Motuo, he would inevitably be targeted by various forces, which was exactly what he wanted.

Because the face he changed into was Wu Xie's face.

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Zhang Wuxun pulled his baseball cap down low and wore a disposable mask over his face.

When he walked into the shop with his backpack, Jin Wantang was holding a magnifying glass, looking at the ivory thumb ring in his other hand from left to right, with a sly smile on his face, occasionally clicking his tongue in admiration.

Zhang Wuxun sat down at a table to the side, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it all. Jin Wantang didn't even notice that someone had entered the shop.

Zhang Wuxun clicked his tongue inwardly, got up and walked over, snatching the ring from Da Jinwantang's hand before Da Jinwantang could react.

"Who! Who! Who!"

Jin Wantang jumped up from his chair and asked three questions in a row in shock.

"Sit down, sit down." Zhang Wuxun took off his mask, held the ring on his finger, and walked back to the table. "Why are you so excited?"

Jin Wantang was stunned for a moment, squinted and looked carefully, then exclaimed and immediately came out from behind the counter with a big smile on his face: "Oh, it's Young Master San! What wind blew you here today? How did it manage to bring you here, Young Master San?"

As he spoke, he reached out and took the ring from Zhang Wuxun's hand.

"Hey~" Zhang Wushen dodged the hand. "No rush, I'll keep it for you. You don't come here unless you need something. To be honest, Mr. Jin, I came here today to ask you something."

Jin Wantang looked at the ring with heartache, afraid that he might accidentally break it. He quickly replied, "Yes, Third Master, please speak freely. I, Old Jin, will tell you everything I know."

"Okay, I'm relieved to hear that." Zhang Wuxun smiled innocently and casually put the ring on his hand.

"Hey, hey!" Jin Wantang exclaimed, "Third Master, this won't do! This is a family heirloom."

"Come on, you call this a family heirloom? This is clearly an ivory thumb ring with inscriptions from the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty. It smells freshly dug up from the ground. Where did you get this as a family heirloom? You can't possibly bring people to dig up your ancestors' graves, you unfilial descendant."

In the short time it took Zhang Wuxun to hold the ring in his hand, he had already figured out the whole story behind it.

Jin Wantang was surprised that he recognized him so easily. His expression changed several times, and he chuckled awkwardly, "Young Master, you really have a discerning eye. Hehe, what were you about to ask?"

Zhang Wuxun then changed the subject, saying, "I heard you are quite knowledgeable about Tibetan antiques. I have a few items that I'd like to consult with Mr. Jin about."

Upon hearing that he was asking about something he was good at, Jin Wantang straightened his back immediately. "If you're asking about this, then you've come to the right person."

"In the world of antique collecting, I, Big Gold Tooth, am a man of immense knowledge, a veritable literary genius. In the capital, I'm one of the top figures..."

Jin Wantang boasted for a long time, exaggerating himself into a god-like figure rarely seen in heaven and earth.

Seeing that he was going on and on, Zhang Wuxun calmly turned the ring on his hand.

Jin Wantang immediately fell silent and poured tea for both of them. "Ahem, saying more is just empty talk. If you don't mind, Third Master, why don't you take out the items and let me take a look?"

Zhang Wuxun nodded, "Okay, I'm sorry to have taken up Mr. Jin's time."

Jin Wantang rubbed his hands together happily. "No problem, no problem. If it can make you, Third Master, go to such lengths, it must be a rare treasure."

Zhang Wuxun chuckled, "These are all old items I found in my third uncle's storeroom. There are some strange things about them that I don't quite understand, so I asked around and that's how I found you."

As he spoke, he took out a wooden box from his backpack, which contained more than a dozen pieces of Tibetan-style jewelry.

Jin Wantang immediately said, "These are all ornaments from the Tibetan Buddhist system. When did Third Master ever go to the snowy region?"

"Never mind that. Take a closer look at these bracelets. Do you see anything unusual about them?" Zhang Wuxun said.

Upon hearing this, Jin Wantang pulled out a thin disposable towel from behind the counter, placed it on his hand, picked up the largest Buddha amulet, and examined it closely in the sunlight.

After looking at them one by one, Jin Wantang hissed.

Zhang Wu asked him what he had discovered.

Jin Wantang took all the jewelry out of the box and carefully placed it on the table, dividing it into two parts.

"Young Master, look at these items you brought. Although they are all very ordinary Tibetan jewelry, look at this pile on the left. On these three chains of beads, there is a very strange red bead."

"Young Master, do you know what this bead is?"

Zhang Wuxun glanced at him. "Moonstone."

“That’s right! Young Master San has good insight. This kind of inorganic gemstone is extremely rare.” Jin Wantang chuckled. “But you would never guess what else I found on this moonstone.”

Zhang Wuxun chuckled and started twirling the ring again.

"No, no, no!" Jin Wantang cried out. "Don't keep scaring me with this. This treasure is something I finally got my hands on, and I plan to keep it as a family heirloom."

Zhang Wuxun stopped what he was doing and urged him, "Stop being so mysterious, just tell me. Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you for nothing, I'll pay for the consultation." He then made a hand gesture.

Upon seeing the number, Jin Wantang's smile became much more genuine. "You're being too polite. Alright, I won't stand on ceremony with you then. Look, aren't the perforations on these moonstones quite rough?" Zhang Wuxun looked at them and indeed they were. Without careful observation, one might mistake them for the unavoidable wear and tear that had accumulated between the rope and the holes over the years. So he asked him, "What's the secret?"

Jin Wantang pulled a high-powered magnifying glass, about the size of a thumb, from his inner pocket and examined the pearl hole carefully. However, the more he looked, the more sweat beaded on his forehead.

Even though there's heating in the house, it's not this hot in this cold weather, even though you're only wearing a T-shirt and sweater.

Zhang Wuxun narrowed his eyes slightly; this old guy really did know something.

Jin Wantang then exchanged two more beads, his hands trembling slightly, and the playful smile on his face was long gone. Finally, he said to Zhang Wuxun, "Third Master, did you already know something beforehand, which is why you specifically came here to find me?"

Zhang Wuxun raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

Jin Wantang sighed heavily. "You came to see me because of a child surnamed Zhang, right?"

"Young Master, you can't get too involved. Some things can only be let go by turning a blind eye. If you get too caught up in cause and effect, you'll only end up hurting yourself."

Zhang Wuxun sneered, "The sun has risen in the west! Boss Jin, you've become a vegetarian and a Buddhist. All of this started with that Lu Huang silk you brought me."

Jin Wantang jumped up in anger upon hearing this, "You can't say that! I was coerced back then and had no choice in the matter."

"Coerced?" Zhang Wuxun sneered. "Coerced by whom? Money?"

Jin Wantang knew he couldn't fool them, so he had no choice but to change the subject, "Since you insist on investigating, then fine, I'll tell you everything I know."

"Since you've come to me, it means you already know what the micro-carved patterns on these beads are, right?"

Seeing Zhang Wuxun nod, he continued, "Before I tell you this story, I have to tell you a rather strange one."

“I used to work in Liulichang, doing antique appraisals and translating ancient books. I made a lot of money. Once, I went to the home of a wealthy man surnamed Ma. He asked me to help him appraise a memoir by his grandfather, whose name was Ma Pingchuan.”

"When I was doing the research later, I read the first part of the memoir of this man named Ma Pingchuan, and it contained this story."

The story goes something like this—

In Maba Town, Huai'an, there is a place called Ma'an. Ma Pingchuan used to be a local tycoon, very famous, and controlled all the opium trade in that area.

The Ma family has been established in the area for generations, with ancestral graves and a prosperous family for several generations.

Until one year, something happened to the burial mound where the Ma family's ancestral graves were located.

Overnight, crops in hundreds of acres of fields behind the village, centered around the burial hill, withered and died without any apparent reason.

This caused great panic at the time, and the rumors spread like wildfire, with everyone thinking that some kind of ghost or god was causing trouble.

The head of the family at the time, Ma Pingchuan, also felt that there might be a problem with his family's ancestral graves. He then invited several geomancers and feng shui masters to hold a meeting, trying to find a way to resolve the issue.

Ma Pingchuan was a man of great courage and decisiveness. He was very efficient in resolving this matter and immediately spent a lot of money to find a new auspicious burial site to relocate the graves of his ancestors.

Unexpectedly, the relocation caused problems.

The ancestral coffin in my family's ancestral grave has mysteriously disappeared!
Ma Pingchuan was furious and immediately ordered the other coffins to be dug up. All the coffins were exhumed. As a result, a group of people dug down dozens of meters deep, as if in a war, with dust flying everywhere. In the end, they were surprised to find that there were no coffins under the tombs that their family had been worshipping for hundreds of years.

Ma Pingchuan was so angry he almost fell over backwards. He thought to himself, "No wonder the crops withered; it really is a problem with the ancestral graves."

Damn it, even the coffin lid is gone. Wouldn't our ancestors be furious?

Enraged, he ordered his men to seize the soldiers guarding the cemetery and torture them severely. He was convinced that these traitors had conspired with tomb raiders to destroy the Ma family's ancestral graves.

Those thugs were beaten until their skin was torn and bleeding, and they kept crying out that they were innocent. In the end, they were all beaten to death, but they couldn't get anything out of them.

Ma Pingchuan then realized something was amiss; even the toughest tongue couldn't withstand a whip dipped in chili water.

He must find out exactly what happened and who dared to mess with him.

After a thorough investigation, Ma Pingchuan discovered that all the ancestral graves without coffins were concentrated in that field where the crops had withered.

After searching high and low, they still couldn't find anything, and this matter became a real worry for Ma Pingchuan.

After all, the Ma family only encountered such a major problem when he was in charge. If it wasn't resolved, he would have no face to face his ancestors after he passed away.

So he spent a lot of money and offered a huge reward: whoever could solve this problem would become a distinguished guest of the Ma family.

The local feng shui masters saw through the scheme and knew that getting involved in such matters could cost them their lives, so they all made excuses to run away.

Many feng shui masters from other places came here because they thought it was profitable and took the risk. The tug-of-war lasted for more than a month, and in the end, they still couldn't come up with a clear answer.

Feeling cheated and tricked, Ma Pingchuan was furious. He beat up the ringleaders and kicked them out the door. Seeing this, the others didn't dare to stay a moment longer and packed up and ran away.

From then on, Ma Pingchuan closed his doors to visitors, and any more of these charlatans who came to his door were beaten and driven away with sticks.

On the third day after closing the door, Ma Pingchuan was practicing Tai Chi in the yard when he suddenly caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a child sitting on the eaves of his house.

It was dusk, and at first he thought the sunlight coming from the west was too dazzling and made him see things.

Looking at it from a different angle, I realized that there was indeed a person sitting on the eaves.

It was a boy of eleven or twelve years old, wearing a blue cloth long gown, with a serene face, huddled in the corner of the eaves, quietly watching Ma Pingchuan without saying a word.

Ma Pingchuan was startled. He had been experiencing a lot of supernatural things lately, and he had become somewhat paranoid. He thought it was some kind of fox spirit or mountain monster, or that the recent events had attracted some unclean thing to the Ma family.

He immediately ordered his guards to rush forward and seize the child; if they couldn't catch him, they were to shoot him dead.

His vigilance was actually quite reasonable, as his house was heavily guarded. Normally, let alone petty thieves, not even anything that ran on the ground or climbed in the trees could get in.

How could such a small child suddenly appear here and be allowed into the inner courtyard of this deep mansion without anyone noticing? What are the guards doing? Don't they want their heads?

Therefore, he reasonably suspected that the child was not human, but an evil being that could use illusions, and that, judging from the appearance, the target seemed to be him.

The guards crowded around and formed a circle, about to climb the ladder to catch the child, but when they looked up, they found that the child had already disappeared.

Thank you to [不念], [书友20221026181335786], and other generous donors! Sending love and goodnight!

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(End of this chapter)