Guanzhong Tomb Robbery Notes

"Oh, so your place is a Feng Shui treasure land." I praised it at the right time.

The key to scouting out information is to be able to chat.

Praise when it is time to praise, encourage when it is time to encourage, be good at understanding the other person's psychology, and never ask questions presumptuously.

Song Guoqiang was obviously in high spirits, and this was the most appropriate time to praise him.

As long as they feel comfortable being praised, they will actively tell you everything they know without being asked.

These are the best people to ask.

You can get information without leaving any trace.

"Haha, I don't know if our feng shui is good, but the scenery is pretty good. We can see Mount Li in the distance."

"You know Mount Li, right? Huaqing Pool is right there. It's where Yang Guifei used to bathe. Oh, I don't know what Yang Guifei actually looked like."

Song Guoqiang touched his chin and smacked his lips, obviously imagining the appearance of the imperial concubine coming out of the bath.

Mount Li is a branch of the Qin Mausoleum to the north. It looks like a galloping horse from a distance, hence the name Mount Li.

During the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, palaces and gardens were built in Mount Li as places for royal leisure and entertainment.

In addition to the Huaqing Palace where the imperial concubine took a bath, the beacon tower where the emperor lit beacons to trick the princes is also here, and the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang was built against Mount Li.

"It can overlook Mount Li from a distance. It must be a good place. There should be some famous places and historical sites."

Song Guoqiang touched his head and smiled innocently, "We haven't even produced a single historical figure, let alone any historical sites."

"If you're interested in historical sites, you have to go to Mount Li."

I pretended to be surprised and said, "No way, if Wu Zetian is related to your place, there must be some historical relics."

"Really? Even if there were any in the past, they'd all be turned into dirt by now. But the pomegranates and persimmons we have there are really delicious, not inferior to those in Lintong."

We talked as we walked.

Song Guoqiang basically told everything he knew.

But he had never heard of the legend of Qingshan Temple, which made me feel a little strange.

If Lu Bin knew it, why didn’t Song Guoqiang know it?

This kind of story passed down from generation to generation should be circulated in the surrounding villages in the same area.

Song Guoqiang's home is in Qingquan Village, which is a neighboring village to Jiangyuan Village where Lu Bin's home is.

The only difference is that Jiangyuan Village is on the loess plateau, while Qingquan Village is at the bottom of the loess plateau.

"It is said that this plateau was uplifted after an earthquake in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, three springs gushed out, right here in our Qingquan Village. However, those three springs have long since disappeared."

"Two college students, it's almost noon. Why don't you have a meal at my house and try some of our persimmons?"

Song Guoqiang was hospitable and invited us to his house for dinner.

Everyone was poor at that time. There was not even a restaurant in the village. If you wanted to eat, you could only share a meal with your fellow villagers.

"Then we won't be polite, but you can't eat for free. We'll pay for the food."

"What's the food money? It's just for an extra pair of chopsticks."

After leading us into the house, Song Guoqiang took his wife into the kitchen to talk, and soon heard her scolding him.

"Why are you trying to be so fat?"

"Don't you know how many bowls of noodles we have at home?"

"If we invite them to dinner, we'll have to go hungry for several meals!"

Song Guoqiang blushed and said, "Women don't know shit. These two young men are college students. They are bringing good luck to our family when they are having dinner at our house."

"Do you want our child to study well? With his literary luck, our child can at least get into a technical secondary school, and then get a stable job in a factory after graduation."

At that time, most of the children from farming families who were good at studying would choose to apply for technical secondary schools.

Because technical secondary school graduates can graduate early and be assigned to work in a factory, they can earn money to support their families early, which is more economical than going to college.

Later, the technical secondary school completely declined and became a gathering place for poor students, and its social reputation became extremely bad.

Song Guoqiang's few words silenced his wife.

"Bring us the eggs the hen laid today. Even if we don't have any meat or vegetables, we should at least make some spicy fried eggs to make it look good. We can't let people say we don't know how to entertain our guests."

"What? Eggs are for sale..."

"Just do whatever you're told to do. It's just a few bucks less. For the sake of our child's literary fortune, it's nothing to eat a few more days to help him improve."

Hongshangpo, also known as jiaotuan, is made by adding cornmeal and water and stirring continuously in a pot. A little cornmeal can make a big pot.

But even if you eat a lot of stir-fried rice cakes, you will feel hungry when you go up the hill, so it is jokingly called "coaxing people up the hill."

It is true that poor couples have many sorrows.

I took out fifty cents and walked over to hand it to Song Guoqiang's wife.

"Aunt, this is our food allowance."

Song Guoqiang quickly reached out to stop me: "What are you doing? I promised to treat you to a meal at my house."

"Uncle Song, it's only natural to pay for meals. Auntie, please accept the money."

"Well, then I'll take it. College students are sensible. I'll make you some delicious food, with plenty of eggs."

"You bitch..."

Song Guoqiang shook his head helplessly and smiled at me embarrassedly.

"Look at what's happened. I'm in a very difficult situation."

"Uncle Song, tell me any more historical stories you have."

"The Hongmen Banquet is said to have taken place right here. Our village is located northwest of here..."

Soon the food was served and we ate and chatted.

Song Guoqiang's wife is also talkative, and she is from Jiangyuan Village. As we were chatting, I turned the topic to Qingshan Temple.

"There seems to be a famous temple here in the past."

"There are no famous temples. The land temple was demolished a few years ago." Song Guoqiang shook his head, but his wife took over the conversation.

"Speaking of this, my old Song definitely doesn't know, and I dare say that there are not many people in the entire Phoenix Plain who know."

Song Guoqiang's wife raised her head and glanced at her husband, as if trying to redeem herself for being called ignorant.

"Tsk, what do you know as a woman?"

"I knew that my great-grandfather had participated in the compilation of the county annals and was responsible for compiling religious materials."

"He said that this place was once named by Empress Wu Zetian, who also ordered the construction of the imperial temple, Qingshan Temple. But someone later suppressed Buddhism, and the temple was destroyed."

"It was later rebuilt and renamed, and then completely destroyed during the Song Dynasty and never rebuilt. Now almost no one knows this part of history except my family."

"Auntie, you're amazing!" I gave her a thumbs-up and praised her. "Your ancestors were also local sages."

"That's all in the past. We can't talk about it now."

I then asked, "Auntie, are there any other legends about Qingshan Temple?"

"There are so many. When I was a child, my great-grandfather told me that Wu Zetian specifically ordered the court to allocate funds to build Qingshan Temple. After it was completed, there was a saying that there was Qingshan in the east and Famen in the west."

"Wu Zetian even used her own treasury to build a golden coffin and silver casket to seal the Buddha's relics in the underground palace of Qingshan Temple."

Buddha's relics?!

Cui Hao and I looked at each other, and our hearts started pounding.

If we can really find the Buddha's relics and carry them with us, what evil spirits can't be suppressed?

At that moment, I wanted to find the underground palace of Qingshan Temple even more.

"Don't talk nonsense, you bitch. How could Tathagata Buddha have relics? The Buddha is enjoying happiness in the Western Paradise."

"Yes, it is. My great-grandfather said it is!"