He was not lying, because Shen Bing and I saw the female ghost, and we could tell that it was the owner of the tomb, and we were sure that it was an ancient tomb from the Tang Dynasty. I have heard of some of these evil tombs, such as the tombs of wealthy families like this one, where some owners were misers during their lifetime and refused to let thieves steal their burial objects after death, so there are many cases of people not leaving the tomb after death.
I asked him if he had found anything down there. He curled his lips and just as he climbed over the bend leading to the tomb wall, he found that the rope was shaking. He didn't dare to go down and hurriedly escaped. This guy is quite smart, but there is a question I can't figure out, so I asked him how he could dig such a long hole by himself. You know, ancient tombs are often more than ten meters deep underground, and a person can only blast such a deep hole with explosives.
He shook his head and said that the hole was left by two local tomb-robbing masters in the late Qing Dynasty, and the hole entrance has been sealed with soil. This is an open secret, but no one has ever dared to test the waters. It is said that one of the two masters was a woman, which is a good story in the local area.
Female tomb robbers are rare, but the world is big and there are all kinds of people. Didn't the Tang Dynasty have a female emperor? What's so strange about that? If I were born in that era, I might have become an emperor.
I looked at his rat-like clothes, which were patched in many places, and it seemed that he was not very satisfied with this job. So I gave him a few words and told him not to do this job anymore. He was lucky to meet me today. Otherwise, even if he was not caught, he would meet a dead ghost or a zongzi, and his family would not even be able to see the body.
Zhang Jinsheng hung his head and nodded continuously, swearing that he would never do this job again. He was getting older and older, and he was already 45 years old this year. He planned to retire after this time.
I lifted my feet and was about to send him away when suddenly an idea occurred to me. This guy often looked for fights in the mountains, so he must be very familiar with every place in Mangshan. So I asked him if he knew the Red River Valley.
Zhang Jinsheng tilted his head and thought for a long time before saying, "I have never heard of the Red River Valley, but there is a White Flower Valley about ten miles away from here..."
Shen Bing heard it wrongly and thought it was the Hundred Flower Valley. She glared and asked, "You are not lying to us, are you? Is there still an old naughty boy living in there?"
"Who is the old naughty boy?"
"The Old Naughty Boy is Zhou Botong. I can tell from what I heard that you haven't read The Return of the Condor Heroes." Shen Bing looked at him with contempt.
Oh, is it strange that a tomb raider has not seen The Return of the Condor Heroes? But yes, there are Tomb Raiders in that film.
After tossing and turning in the middle of the night, it was almost dawn and I was no longer sleepy, so I decided to ask Zhang Jinsheng to lead the way and take us to Baihua Valley. After packing up, it was just dawn, but Zhang Jinsheng seemed a little hesitant and walked around in circles without any intention of making way.
I asked what was wrong, was it because that place was a bit far from home and he didn’t want to take us there
He quickly shook his head and said that was not what he meant. He had heard from people that the White Flower Valley was a mysterious place in Mangshan Mountain. It sometimes appeared and sometimes disappeared. It was said that it only appeared during the peony blooming season. Once the flowers withered, the secret valley would disappear. It was very strange. He had only heard about it and had never been there. He also heard that there was a group of people from the old times living there with strange customs. Anyone who trespassed into the valley would have a part of their body cut off as punishment.