I also pulled out a vinyl bag, crouched down, and started filling it with bronze artifacts. The round and rectangular tripods were heavy and difficult for me to handle. Third Brother, taking care of me, told me to pick the smaller ones. So I gathered bronze dou vessels and smaller bronze jue vessels. It wasn't unusual for these types of bronzeware to be piled together, because during the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods, such items were all kitchen utensils. Bronze tripods were used for cooking meat, jue vessels for drinking wine, and dou vessels for holding salt and seasonings—their function was similar to the vinegar dishes we use today for dipping dumplings.
This was what you'd call "picking up money with a vinyl bag"—and that's exactly what I was doing. I was relatively thin and not very strong, so once my bag seemed nearly full, I decided to make a trip up first.
I turned my head left and right, and just then, my headlamp shone into a corner of the side chamber.
"Huh? What's that? A water vat?"
"Second Brother! Look! There's a vat!"
Sun Lao'er, who was intently stuffing bronze tripods into his bag, was startled by my sudden shout.
"Damn it, Yunfeng, what are you yelling for? You scared me half to death."
I said, "Second Brother, there's a large vat in the corner. A really big one."
Without even looking up, he replied, "That's just coarse pottery. It's not as valuable as bronzeware. It's too bulky to transport down the mountain, and selling it for a few hundred wouldn't even cover the effort. We don't want that thing."
Hearing Sun Lao'er's words and taking another look at the large vat with its stone lid, I still didn't go over.
Struggling to carry a bag full of bronze artifacts, I waded back through the water. Just then, a rope was lowered from the ceiling of the tomb passage.
Old Scar Wang's voice came from above: "Yunfeng, tie the vinyl bag securely. Once you're done, go back and pack more. Hurry up, we're running out of time."
I twisted the vinyl bag full of bronze artifacts a few times, tied it to the rope, and watched as it slowly rose—Old Scar Wang was pulling it up from above.
Over the next hour or so, working overtime, we managed to transport a total of eight full bags of bronze artifacts.
Then, a voice came over the walkie-talkie urging us: "You three, get up here quickly. It'll be dawn soon, and we need to hurry down the mountain."
You know what human pyramids are, right?
The Sun brothers used a human pyramid to boost me up to the ceiling of the tomb passage. Then, Old Scar Wang lowered a rope and pulled me up. The Sun brothers were even more impressive—after reaching the ceiling, they climbed up the tunnel without even using the rope, bracing their feet against the walls.
When we got up, Sun Lao'er couldn't hide the smile on his face.
Looking at the bulging vinyl bags on the ground, he said with a laugh, "Boss, how much do you think this is worth?"
Old Scar Wang shook his head and smiled. "There's a specialty for everything. For estimating the value, we'll have to ask the eldest brother. He's the one who's accurate with that."
Later I learned that when they talked about "points," they meant ten thousand. One point was ten thousand, a hundred points was a million. Considering the wage levels around the year 2000, many people couldn't earn a single point in a year.
Old Sun was responsible for lookout and sales.
As long as everything was normal, he usually didn't speak on the walkie-talkie. Conversely, if Old Sun initiated a conversation during work, it definitely meant a stranger had approached the area.
"Boss, this is just the western side chamber. There's still the eastern side chamber. It's damn strange that we haven't found the main burial chamber yet. I think we'll have to set up a base here. Since we haven't located the main chamber, who knows how many treasures are still inside? This job can't be finished in just ten or eight days."
In tomb raiding, "base" specifically referred to a situation where a large tomb was encountered—one that couldn't be fully looted in a day or two—requiring the establishment of a temporary base around the tomb for extended operations.
In the early days, when acquaintances in the tomb-raiding circle met, they often asked, "So-and-so, I heard you managed to hit two big bases last year?"
The person might reply, "Not at all, just got lucky and set up two small bases."
Establishing a base was risky because it increased the chances of being found out. If some old man or woman decided to take a morning stroll up the mountain and accidentally fell into our tunnel, we'd be finished.
Therefore, reward and risk were proportional. To gain high rewards, one had to take risks.
After weighing the pros and cons, Boss Wang nodded and said, "The market for Western Zhou artifacts has been skyrocketing lately, with prices going crazy. I think it's worth the risk. Let's set up a base."
Once we succeeded, Old Sun immediately contacted Freckles and had her send people to move the artifacts and help cover up the tunnel.
Freckles was quite an extraordinary woman. Through several interactions later, I learned that most of the "sworn brothers" and followers she acknowledged had significant backgrounds. Not only did she serve as the logistics coordinator for Boss Wang, but she was also reportedly the logistics coordinator for other groups as well.
In principle, this was against the rules, but Freckles was highly capable, so Boss Wang turned a blind eye to it.
It was like those professional managers in large corporations who often held important positions in multiple companies at the same time.
Freckles had a few young followers who were loyal to her. They willingly worked under her, delivering generators and water pumps at night and helping us conceal the tunnels—all tasks handled by these young followers.
Without Freckles, our group wouldn't have been able to operate as smoothly as we did back then.
The soil mixed with blue clay from the tomb's ceiling was too conspicuous. With time being tight, we didn't dare discard it carelessly, so they brought it back with them.
That soil was like a time bomb. Many in our line of work had been tripped up by such soil. For instance, the Babaoshan tomb-raiding group in Beijing was once exposed because they left a small pile of blue-and-white soil in the mountains, which was discovered by an old woman taking a stroll. The entire group was caught and served over ten years in prison.
The next day, back at the small hotel in Shunde, I was squatting by the sink brushing my teeth, thinking about where to dispose of the blue-and-white soil.
Just then—smack!—someone slapped my butt hard from behind.
In the middle of brushing my teeth, the surprise caused me to swallow a mouthful of toothpaste water before I could spit it out.
Furious, I turned around and saw Freckles wearing a tank top, laughing.
Although Freckles was a full twelve years older than me, she maintained her figure well. Thanks to her wealth, she used the best skincare products available at the time. Her exposed thighs under the pink tank top were pale and smooth, making my throat go dry just looking at them.
"Hehe…" Freckles said to me flirtatiously, "Little Yunfeng, I heard from Second Brother yesterday that you've never even held a girl's hand. Is that true?"
Blushing, I retorted, "None of your business."
Seeing me shy, Freckles laughed even harder, her body shaking with amusement.
She crooked her finger at me and said, "Little Yunfeng, how about becoming my 45th man?"
Still young and inexperienced, I blurted out, "No way! By the time you're forty, I'd have to wear ninety-nine green hats! You shameless woman, don't you dare ruin me, Xiang Yunfeng!"
Enraged by my words, Freckles grabbed a mop from the hotel and chased me around the courtyard.
At noon, during the lunch rush, I disguised myself as a high school student with a black backpack and wandered around Shunde.
The backpack was filled with blue-and-white soil, and I needed to find a suitable place to dispose of it.
As I walked, one thought kept nagging at me.
For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about the large water vat with a lid in the corner of the western side chamber of the tomb.
I always felt that something wasn't quite right about it.