The Initiation

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At 8:30 PM, three hours before departure.

I knelt on the ground, not daring to look Boss Wang in the eye.

There was no need to hide anything from him. I told him honestly about the predicament Li Jing's family was facing.

The light bulb in the room was dim, casting a yellowish glow. Boss Wang was holding a cigarette, his expression unreadable as he looked at me. The atmosphere between us was heavy.

Gritting my teeth, I decided to lay it all out.

I kowtowed heavily to Boss Wang. "Boss, the Li family mother and daughter saved my life. Now they're in trouble, and I, Xiang Yunfeng, believe in repaying kindness. I don't know what will happen tonight when we go down into the tomb, but I really want to help them."

"Please, Boss, lend me fifty thousand yuan!" I kowtowed again after speaking.

After hearing my words, Boss Wang extinguished his cigarette. He shook his head and said in a low voice, "Yunfeng, fifty thousand yuan is not a small amount. It's nearly ten years' worth of savings for an ordinary family. I can lend it to you, but you must agree to one condition."

"Please tell me, Boss," I said earnestly.

"This condition... you don't need to know it yet. Just remember that you owe me, Wang Xiansheng, this debt."

"In the future, you will repay me this debt."

"Do you agree?" Boss Wang's eyes gleamed as he looked at me.

I agreed at the time, all for Li Jing's sake.

Boss Wang then went to his room. About ten minutes later, he returned with a bulging plastic bag.

He gently placed the bag on the table.

"Yunfeng, here's fifty thousand, not a penny less. Take it," he said, pushing the bag toward me.

It had some weight. Inside the black plastic bag were stacks of money wrapped in newspaper, layer upon layer.

Carefully lifting a corner of the newspaper, I saw so much money for the first time. My heart raced, and I quickly covered the newspaper, not daring to look further.

Before I left, Boss Wang stood with his hands behind his back and said, "Yunfeng, remember the time. Be back before midnight tonight."

"Also, those of us in this line of work value fairness. I gave you money, and now you owe me, Wang Xiansheng, a debt. Similarly, the girl you're helping now owes you."

"I can't guarantee your safety on this trip. In our line of work, you need to be open-minded, bold, and carefree. Yunfeng, if you feel wronged..."

"Then take her."

Boss Wang's tone was calm, but his words left me unsettled for a long time.

"Should I listen to Boss Wang? But if I do, wouldn't I, Xiang Yunfeng, become a petty thug?"

Boss Wang said that the rules of the underworld were about giving and taking, but was this really a rule?

Carrying the black plastic bag full of money, I walked with a heavy heart, feeling a mix of excitement, fear, and worry.

Images of Li Jing in her Donald Duck pajamas bending over and her words from the afternoon kept flashing in my mind.

"Bang, bang," I knocked on her door.

With a creak, the door opened a crack, revealing half of Li Jing's face.

Holding the plastic bag, I smiled excitedly and said, "Li Jing, I brought the money! You and your mom don't have to worry about the debt collectors anymore!"

"Come on, let's talk outside," Li Jing said with a smile, pulling me toward the arch bridge.

The river flowed gently, and the crescent moon hung in the sky. Under the Shunde Arch Bridge stood a young man and woman.

"Li Jing, take a look. Here's the fifty thousand yuan. Give this to those people, and you and your mom will be safe," I said, handing her the plastic bag.

Under the moonlight, she opened the bag and glanced at the newspaper-wrapped money. As she looked, her eyes turned red.

Li Jing hugged me tightly, holding the bag.

"Xiang Yunfeng, thank you. You're so kind," she said, squeezing me tightly.

I could clearly feel the warmth and softness of her body, her curves pressing against me.

My face flushed red, deeply so.

Li Jing buried her head in my chest and whispered softly, "I... I keep my promises. I'm yours now."

Nowadays, this might sound clichéd, but back then, it was all real. After all, we were both young at the time.

If this happened today, it wouldn't be surprising.

If you don't believe me, try taking a brand-new iPhone to a high school. The girls there are much more open-minded. Those who blush from a hug are probably like me—timid.

That night, well... later, I somehow ended up following Li Jing to a small inn.

I won't go into the embarrassing details, but in the end, I ran away.

Looking back now, I regret it. I feel like I missed out on a beautiful moment.

At 12:14 AM in Shunde, the entire city was shrouded in darkness, except for two red dots glowing halfway up Fei'e Mountain.

Sun Laosan flicked the ash off his cigarette and said in a deep voice, "Enough talk. It's settled. Everyone, check the battery levels of your walkie-talkies. I'll go down with you to find him. Laoer is my brother. I can't just sit around."

"Boss Wang, I'll leave the lookout and fire safety to you."

Boss Wang didn't say anything. He just nodded in agreement.

And so, the five of us—me, Laosan, the Yao siblings—descended into the tomb. Above ground, safety was entirely in Boss Wang's hands.

Sliding down the tunnel, the tomb was pitch black. I turned up the brightness of my headlamp.

When we reached the tomb's ceiling, Yao Yumen stopped. She crouched down, touched the stone ceiling, and let out a soft exclamation.

"Sister Yao, what's wrong?" I asked sweetly.

She rolled her eyes at me.

"Hey, kid, call me Sister Yu. 'Sister Yao' sounds awful."

I quickly corrected myself, "Oh, Sister Yu, is there something wrong with the stone ceiling?"

She got straight to the point. "This Western Zhou tomb is a bit strange. This kind of green shale is rare in the south, almost nonexistent. It's most likely from the Luoyang or Shanxi area."

I thought about it carefully, and the more I did, the more shocked I became. It was true. Earlier, our attention had been entirely on the burial goods, and we hadn't noticed this detail.

This woman's observational skills were incredible.

This type of stone, similar to the kind found near the Longmen and Yungang Grottoes, isn't very hard but has excellent expansion properties—meaning it's stable. It doesn't crack under thermal expansion and contraction.

What shocked me was the principle of thermal expansion and contraction. Did the craftsmen of the Western Zhou Dynasty, three thousand years ago, understand this?

The bronze dou we found in the western side chamber had an inscription that read, "Marquis Jie's Belt."

Laosan said he had someone from the archaeological research institute translate it, and it should be accurate.

This kind of stone isn't found in the south, and stones don't grow legs to travel thousands of miles on their own. The only explanation is that it was transported by humans.

A journey of thousands of kilometers, such a massive green stone ceiling project, spanning the north and south of the Yangtze River—how much manpower and resources would that have required? How many carts and horses would have been worn out?

Historical records say that Marquis Jie was a minor feudal lord in the early to mid-Western Zhou Dynasty in the south, with no records of fiefdoms or descendants.

But if that were the case...

How could a minor feudal lord have such immense financial and material resources?

The massive green stone ceiling before us was evidence.

I secretly speculated that Marquis Jie's true identity might have been misrepresented.

In other words...

The historical records were wrong.