Leaving Big Gold Tooth's shop, the three walked down the street together, chatting about their experiences over the past few years.
Unconsciously, the three returned to Fatty's rented house, a typical Siheyuan courtyard in the capital. Fatty rented one of the rooms.
Opening the door, the space inside was quite spacious. A few kitchen utensils were placed on the table, two hardboard beds were neatly made with bedding, and boxes of tapes were neatly stacked, taking up a lot of space in the room. The surrounding walls were covered with posters of female stars from this era.
Xu Lang guessed that Fatty had bought them casually or they were given as gifts with purchases, and he had simply stuck them on the wall.
Perhaps living alone was lonely, and Fatty used this to comfort his lonely heart...
After a brief look around, Xu Lang laughed, "This place is pretty good. Later, use the tape boxes to build me a bed, I'll sleep here tonight."
Fatty laughed, "You've made a fortune, why don't you go to a hotel and enjoy yourself?"
Xu Lang smiled and said, "I don't care where I sleep, I can endure hardship, and I can enjoy myself."
While helping Xu Lang build his bed, Fatty said, "Old Hu, I think what Big Gold Tooth said is actually right, anyway, I really can't do the job of selling tapes on a cart. My business was still okay a few years ago, but now it's really not good. Look at all these unsold goods, they give me a headache."
"When I was alone, I could manage, but now both of us are reunited, and even Little Xu has joined us. If you want me to honestly sell tapes, I definitely can't take it."
"No matter how Big Gold Tooth is, what he said isn't wrong. You see, Little Xu doesn't know where he got a broken bowl, and suddenly bought it for 30,000 yuan. I'd have to sell tapes for how many years to make that much..."
Old Hu remained silent for a moment before answering, "I know you're eager, but I won't do any tomb robbing, don't even think about it. Big Gold Tooth gave us both the Mojin Talisman, he's up to no good."
Fatty said anxiously, "I didn't ask you to rob tombs, I mean collecting. If I remember correctly, the small bowl Little Xu took out just now is the one he picked up in Gangzi Camp back then."
"The locals all say there are ancient tombs in Niuxin Mountain. When we went into the forest to look for Tian Xiaomeng back then, did you forget what happened those days? Back then, we found some porcelain shards by the river, and the old folks in Gangzi Camp, don't you think they all have some good stuff?"
"We can just go and collect a few things, we can definitely sell them for a good price. Isn't Little Xu a prime example? Besides, don't you miss Old Secretary and Yanzi? Back when we were sent down as educated youths, how did the villagers treat us, you forgot?"
Old Hu thought for a moment and said, "You're right, I really miss the villagers. They really treated us like their own children, they would give us the best things first. If we can find something, we can help the villagers get rich together."
"But we can't go empty-handed, let's both pool our money together and bring more gifts back."
"Little Xu, what do you think? Do you want to go back and have a look?"
Xu Lang laughed, "Why do you think I sold the bowl to Big Gold Tooth? It's because I planned to go back to Gangzi Camp. This money might not be enough to build bridges and pave roads, but it's more than enough to wire electricity for the villagers."
"But I'll warn you both, don't get your hopes up too high. I've seen some of the villagers' porcelain, most of it is earthenware, and the porcelain is mostly broken pieces, even if there are complete pieces, there aren't many."
"I only recently found out how valuable antiques are, let's go back and collect some, then we'll sell them to Big Gold Tooth, we'll have enough money to build bridges and pave roads in the village, and we can still give the villagers some money."
Actually, Xu Lang had already known that antiques would be valuable, but he couldn't explain it. Moreover, he knew Old Secretary's personality, even if Old Secretary knew the value of the antiques, would he not hand them over?
With Old Secretary's awareness, he would still organize the villagers to hand them over.
Even though the villagers in Gangzi Camp were all very good, cutting off someone's source of income is like killing their parents. Xu Lang knew that human nature can't withstand temptation.
Furthermore, knowing the value of antiques beforehand is completely different from knowing it afterwards. Old Secretary and the villagers had helped him before, he wouldn't let Old Secretary become a pariah. That was Xu Lang's selfish desire.
Speaking of which, Xu Lang didn't care about money in his early years, he was focused on cultivation. Weighing the pros and cons, he couldn't say that antiques would be very valuable in the future, so when he left, he didn't mention antiques in the letter he left behind.
Fatty laughed, "So you had a plan all along, your awareness is higher than mine. But your money is your money, we're spending our own money, I'll pack up the tapes and get rid of them tomorrow."
While speaking, Fatty had already finished building the bed.
Touching the Mojin Talisman around his neck, Fatty said, "Thinking about it carefully, what Big Gold Tooth said isn't wrong, those tombs of the kings and dukes have so much gold and silver treasure. Are those treasures really their tomb owners'? Didn't they just loot it from the common people?"
"As the saying goes, take it from the people, use it for the people."
"It's the 21st century now, it's their turn to give back. But they can't get out of their own graves, so we have to do it for them. In that way, we're doing good deeds."
Xu Lang laughed, "Fatty, what you said makes sense, but it also doesn't make sense. But you two shouldn't play with those broken Mojin Talismans, they're not real."
Hearing that the Mojin Talisman was fake, Fatty immediately became angry, "That Big Gold Tooth bastard tricked us with a fake?"
Xu Lang said, "Speaking of Mojin Talisman, we have to start with the origin of the Mojin Lieutenant. Back then, Cao Cao had an army that specialized in digging up graves and robbing tombs, using the treasures from the tombs to supplement their military funds. Each soldier had a Mojin Talisman, officially titled Mojin Lieutenant."
"And the leader of the Mojin Lieutenant was the Faqiu Zhonglangjiang. The four major orthodox schools of tomb robbery, Faqiu Zhonglangjiang and Mojin Lieutenant are two of them."
"In the late Qing dynasty, Zhang San Ye was the most famous grave robber in the underworld. He wore three Mojin Talismans, so people in the underworld called him Zhang San Lianzi."
"Zhang San Ye had countless adventures in his life and wrote a book called 'Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Fengshui Secret Technique'."
"The Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Fengshui Secret Technique is divided into two parts, Yin-Yang Volume and Fengshui Volume. Because this book steals the secrets of heaven and earth, its power is too great, and it damages one's lifespan. Therefore, the Yin-Yang Volume was burned to offer sacrifices to heaven, leaving the Fengshui Volume to be passed down to Sun Guofu, the 'Yin-Yang Eye'."
"Later, the book was passed down to Old Hu's grandfather, and Old Hu is one of the few Mojin Lieutenant descendants."
"The Mojin Talisman is a priceless treasure for a Mojin Lieutenant. But there should only be three Mojin Talismans left in the world."
"Zhang San Ye passed the three Mojin Talismans on to his three apprentices, who were Jinsuanpan, Tiemo Tou and Feitian Suanni."
"How could Big Gold Tooth have a Mojin Talisman? And he gave out two at once, that's nonsense, how could they be real."
"But don't be angry, Big Gold Tooth is well-intentioned, although these Mojin Talismans are fake, they are also quite old in terms of workmanship. Anyway, they are free, what are you getting so worked up about."
Hearing this, Old Hu finally couldn't help but ask, "Little Xu, how do you know all this? And you're so familiar with the tomb robbery business?"
Xu Lang thought to himself, how could I tell him I learned from reading books?
Actually, Xu Lang knew these things, partly because he had read some of the original work many years ago, and more because of the video bloggers' explanations. After watching so many videos, he couldn't help but know.