"Hey, this old man, his temper is not small at all." Fatty was about to go forward and reason with him, but was stopped by Cha Wenbin: "We didnt knock on the door before entering, which was wrong in itself. Visiting without his consent is even more wrong. You speaking disrespectfully is also disrespectful. Adding these three points together, whats wrong with him scolding us juniors? Its actually us who lost our manners first, so lets go apologize to him."

  Fatso twisted his neck and said, "Apologize to him?"

  Yuan Xiaobai gave him a sideways glance and said, "Hurry up, Wen Bins words werent wrong. No matter what, others are seniors, and at the age of eighty or so, its more than enough to be your grandfather."

  Both were targeting fatty, fatty was a bit embarrassed and still argued: "I didnt say he was, just joking about the cat..."

  I didnt expect Yuan Xiao Bai to surprise me this time, directly reaching out and pinching Pangzis ear, twisting it upwards, causing Pangzi to wail loudly and lift his toes off the ground.

  "Go or not go?"

  "Go on, go on, Miss, let me go, Im going, cant I?"

  Looking at Baozis surrendering expression, I also burst out laughing: "Xiao Bai, when did you learn this move?"

  Yuan Xiaobai smiled slyly and said, "With his oily mouth and glib tongue, if he doesnt come up with something ruthless, how can it be done?" This person moved from one environment to another, and after a long time, they would naturally adapt. The proud daughter of a capitalist family who had fallen on hard times was no different from a rural girl, but her nature wouldnt change; as soon as she adapted to the new environment, she would naturally drop that defensive facade, and perhaps this was the real Yuan Xiaobai.

  The fatty walked to the door of that house and said in a low voice: "Old Master Qiu, Ive come to apologize to you. It was my fault, dont hold grudges against us younger generation, its just that I didnt understand things."

  As soon as the words fell, an old man wearing a blue gown and cloth shoes walked out slowly from inside. He was holding the black cat in his arms, one hand constantly stroking the fur on its back. The old man walked to Fatsos side and looked at us again, presumably recognizing me and Xiaobai. He said to Fatso, "Dont apologize to me, apologize to it. If it forgives you, I wont have any objections."

  The fatty was stunned for a moment, then immediately transformed into an innocent and radiant child-like appearance. The expression made me want to vomit just by looking at it. He spoke to the black cat in an extremely coquettish tone: "Sister Cat, I was wrong today, I came to apologize and make amends with you. You are a magnanimous big cat, can you forgive me this time?" After finishing speaking, the fatty chuckled and stretched out his hand to touch the cat, but unexpectedly, before his hand even reached it, the cat bared its teeth and turned its head to bite him. Fortunately, the fattys hand was quick, so he didnt get bitten.

  That old man let out a "hmmph!" and turned to leave, but the fat kid saw this and gritted his teeth, pulling out a small square from his pocket: "Wait!" He slowly peeled off the paper wrapping on the outside of the square, revealing a shiny black thing inside. The cat licked its tongue and stared fixedly at the object in the fat kids hand.

  The fat man stretched out his hand with trepidation, fearing he would be bitten, and said to the black cat with a bow: "Respectfully yours." The black cat didnt stand on ceremony either, swallowing it in one gulp.

  The old man stroked the black cats back, and the cat lazily buried its head in his arms and continued to sleep. Only then was the old man willing to look at us straight in the eye, and he said to us: "Come on in."

  I followed behind Fatso and asked in a low voice: "What was that just now?"

  "Damn it, beef jerky." "Where did you get that?!" "I found it in Lao Zhangs net bag last night, just this one piece, I..." Fatso realized he had misspoken.

  Yuan Xiaobai also heard it and shouted: "Youre so bold, Shi Gandang! You actually dare to steal the socialist beef jerky of the people! I must go and expose you!"

  "Oh, dont mention it, madam. Im still stuck with my petty peasant mentality and cant compare to someone from a big landlord family like yours. Besides, I havent fallen on hard times or anything..."

  The room was very dark, with no skylight, and the only window facing forward had a thick layer of yellow paper pasted on it. A musty smell mixed with a sour stench made my nose tense up, I saw that Fatso and Yuan Xiaobai also had the same feeling, but Cha Wenbin looked very calm and relaxed.

  This is a very simple room, two long wooden benches, on which a door panel is placed, the straw mat on the door panel is leaking everywhere, and the beds tattered quilt has turned black. There is a stove at the head of the bed, with a small iron pot on it, one ear is missing, and there is still some food left inside that is half-congealed, which is either noodle paste or corn flour.

  Apart from that, there is a wooden box beside the bed. The black cat is curled up in it at this moment. A kitten keeps poking its head out, perhaps our arrival as strangers has made it feel uneasy.

  The old man sat on the bed by himself, and there was no place for us to sit down either, so we could only stand awkwardly beside him.

  "Uncle Qiu." Zhang Wenbin took out the net bag containing canned goods and gently placed it beside the bed, inside which were also two bottles of liquor. Then he said: "We are educated youths from the city who have been here for over half a year now, and were not too familiar with this place either. We heard that youre the person in this village who has seen the most of the world, so today weve come to pay our respects."

  The old man glanced at the things we brought over, looked up and down at Cha Wenbin, and finally spoke: "Take the things away, I cant eat this, its a waste of life. If you have something to ask, ask, if I can say it, Ill say it, if not, dont ask too much."

  "That night, the junior opened the skylight and spoke plainly. A few days ago, we dug up two ponds in the village, one of which was empty, but there was a gold coin inside, and the other was full of human skulls. There are eighteen such ponds in the village. Today, I went with friends to take a look at the mountain, these ponds shouldnt be natural, but rather someone deliberately made them. The junior cant figure out the mystery behind this, so he wants to ask Old Man Qiu about the origin of these ponds."

  "Get out, I dont know."

  The fatty sighed and said: "I told you, its useless to ask."

  Cha Wenbin took a step forward and said quickly, "No, you know why not? Your daughter, she jumped into which pond to kill herself?"

  The old man suddenly stood up and shouted in a very bad tone: "Say that again!"

  Cha Wenbin didnt show weakness either and immediately counterattacked: "Id like to ask, which pond did your daughter jump into?"

  The two of them were facing each other, the atmosphere was very tense. I was afraid that old man would pick up a stick to drive us away. I also didnt understand why Cha Wenbin asked this way.

  The confrontation lasted for about a minute, during which Zhang Wenbin did not retreat half a step. I really admired him; if it were me, I would have been scared away by Old Qiu long ago. But he stood still, exuding an inexplicable aura that transcended his age.

  At last, the old man sat down and sighed: "Alas, how did you know?"

  "You dont need to know how I found out, but I know youre in trouble and we can help."

  "How can I help?"

  "Help you find her remains and re-bury them."

  "Really?"

  Cha Wenbin nodded and said, "Weve already drained two ponds, so whats the harm in draining one more? But as a condition of exchange, you must tell us the truth about these eighteen ponds."

  Unexpectedly, after Cha Wenbin finished speaking, the old man suddenly burst into tears, his eyes streaming with tears that wouldnt stop. Bai Xiaobai had to quickly pull out her handkerchief and pass it over. No one expected that a fierce-looking old man would be reduced to such a state by a single question. In this world, theres nothing more painful than an elderly person sending off a younger one, but at that time we were still young, so Cha Wenbin only understood the feeling later when he personally experienced it.

  The old man patted the bedside and sighed: "Alas, its all because of me!"

  Zha Wenbin also sat on the bed and said to Qiu Dajye: "Dont be in a hurry, you can say it slowly."

  "Im not a local either, my hometown is Xian. When I was young, it was during the war-torn era, my parents passed away early, and at 7 or 8 years old, I became an orphan, wandering around everywhere to survive, stealing and robbing to get by. At 10 years old, I stole a bun from a landlords kitchen and got caught, they cut off one of my fingers."

  Old Master Qiu slowly rolled up his long sleeves, revealing that his left ring finger was indeed shorter by half.

  He continued: "After that, I started wandering north, people said the north had food, when I arrived in Mongolia, I was so hungry I couldnt take it anymore, and was rescued by a few passing merchants. Later on, I found out they werent ordinary people, those few were searching for a treasure."

  "What treasure?"

  "In the midst of a casual conversation, the master of the house mentioned that there used to be a country called Qingqiu on this side. At that time, the king relied on burning, killing, looting, and plundering to rob all the tribes around, including the three northeastern provinces and the territory of Goryeo. But somehow, this country was destroyed, leaving behind a large treasure trove. Those people had a map in their hands, made of sheepskin paper, with lines and stripes drawn on it, and then they found their way here."

  "Has the treasure been found?" Fatso was very concerned about the treasure.

  Qiu Da Ye shook his head and cast a glance outside the door, gritting his teeth as he said: "What they found wasnt treasure, but a devil!"