??

  Cheng Ziyu inexplicably fell into this rare golden silk iron hook, which was clearly intentional. This girl had no background and no special abilities, who could have such a big grudge against her? After being at home for several days, the girl's complexion also started to improve gradually. During those few days, we all followed the team to conduct inspections and research, and when we came back, dinner was always arranged by her and Xiao Bai.

  I heard that Cheng Ziwen has recovered, and the Zhou family members have also come to visit a few times. However, they were all turned away by Xiao Bai each time. That woman is not someone to be trifled with. Gradually, she became familiar with us, and it turns out that she's quite pitiful. Her hometown has completely cut ties with her, and the man here is simply a devil, nowhere can she go, nowhere can she stay. Actually, I've always had this idea in my mind, wanting to match him up with Lao Er, but Lao Er is just a blockhead, ever since that girl regained consciousness, he completely stopped paying attention to her, and every day he's cold and expressionless.

  Cha Wenbin was still the same Cha Wenbin, nobody could tell whether he had anything on his mind or not, anyway, he followed us down to the river and back, getting up at a few points and sleeping at a few points without any delay. In three or four days, we roughly explored the inside and outside of Shuangyuan Village, and overall, the harvest was quite large.

  However, these receipts are only superficial. As a cultural relic protection point for application, Zhuangyuan Village is absolutely no problem, but the mountain on the other side of the river is the heartache of everyone. Finally, on the fifth day, we couldn't sit still and prepared to lay our cards on the table with the people here. We need to go to the other side of the river in a fair and square manner. Only by thoroughly opening up that mountain can we perhaps understand one or two things about this place.

  Regarding the matter of Zhuangyuan Village, everyone knows but doesn't tear off that layer of window paper. After several days of excavation, He Lao and Gu Qinghe are very certain that the existence of this village is not just a literary figure coming here to create a Peach Blossom Spring. Northern Song Dynasty's Imperial College Scholar, Zhou Ziyuan, as the emperor's favorite, it's highly likely that his ancestors had ulterior motives, and the most likely reason being, as Cha Wenbin said: guarding the tomb.

  In our country, it is not uncommon to see villages guarding mausoleums. Some villages have been guarding tombs for thousands of years, such as Henan's Shouling Village, Shaoxing's Yuling Village, and Beijing Changping's Yongling Village. Many villages can be interpreted from their names alone that their ancestors were tomb guardians. However, the village of Zhuangyuan cleverly concealed its true nature, arriving in southern Anhui under the guise of a scholar returning to his hometown. Geographically speaking, this place is only about 300 miles away from Lin'an, the capital of Southern Song Dynasty at that time. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on one side, it follows the Tianmu Dragon Vein and gives birth to it. The river flows with Caoxi into the East China Sea, making it an ideal location in terms of both geographical position and feng shui. Therefore, both experts believed that Zhuangyuan Village had a high probability of being a guardian village. If so, whose mausoleum was being guarded? This question was naturally left to them to explore. That night, the discussion meeting began in the simple dormitory.

  "What I know is that the only royal mausoleum in the entire Jiangnan region was located in Shaoxing Prefecture, Kuaiji County, Baoshan, at Tai Ning Temple. Later, it was almost completely looted. Anhui Province was under the jurisdiction of Huizhou Prefecture at that time, and the area where Shuangyuan Village is located was not a developed area, nor had I ever heard that there was a royal mausoleum in this area. The distribution of royal mausoleums after Southern Song can now be identified with certainty, which is also my biggest doubt. If Shuangyuan Village is guarding the tomb, then whose tomb are they guarding?"

  "He Lao is a cautious expert, but in my opinion, this place and San Yuan Village and Hong Village should be connected together. From the architectural form, Hong Village should be the earliest, followed by San Yuan Village, and then Zhuangyuan Village. The fact that these three ancient villages are located in a remote area at the junction of Zhejiang and Anhui provinces is already a huge question mark. So my suggestion is to open one mouth and thoroughly clarify it."

  He Lao tapped his pen on the table and said, "Time is pressing."

  "How long?" asked Cha Wenbin.

  He Lao stretched out three fingers and I said: "Three months?" He shook his head, and my heart felt a chill. "Three years?"

  He sighed and said, "No, it's thirty years." He told the students, "I don't know how many more years I can continue to do this. If there is a major discovery here, perhaps your youth will be spent here, maybe you will make history, or maybe thirty years from now what awaits you is a wasteland, and a lifetime of futile struggle. This is archaeology - until the last layer of soil is reached, no one knows what the answer is."

  Thirty years, this number is not to mention how old it is, for me, I can't even wait for more than three months. After the meeting that night, when I returned to my room, my complaints didn't stop, "What a joke, accompanying you guys here for thirty years, Wen Bin, no way, we'd better take care of ourselves, if they do things like this, even if they find the treasure, there will be only a few bones left."

  Cha Wenbin said: "Gu Qing and tonight concealed the fact that he had been to the other side, he didn't say it, we naturally wouldn't say it either. After all, if this matter is revealed, it's black, but if we keep it in our hearts, it's white. Now what we need to do is use the white to help us do black things."

  According to him, such a large-scale project is not something that we few little cats can accomplish on our own, and must rely on the power of a third party, which is the government. Therefore, this opportunity is excellent for us who are eager to find Fatso.

  Cha Wenbin continued: "I also contacted Long Ye, and he didn't tell me about the situation here either. I think if he knew we were eyeing this place, he would have shown up one way or another. I hope to use his influence to push things from behind, usually you can only use ordinary means at ordinary times."

  Just as we were talking, there was a sudden knock at the door. Who could it be at this late hour? I put on my clothes and took a flashlight to open the door. Ye Qiu and Cha Wenbin also came out with me. Outside, He Lao and Gu Qinghe were also there, neither of them had slept either. The five of us went together to open the door. Which great god was it that had such nerve?

  Who is the newcomer? There's a saying that goes, "When Cao Cao arrives, the dragon king comes!" Several people came together with him, but I didn't recognize any of them. He was still as handsome as ever, but when he saw Ye Qiu, he was taken aback for a moment before quickly regaining his composure and said, "You're here too?" He extended his hand towards Ye Qiu, seemingly wanting to be friendly, but Ye Qiu clearly had no interest in this courtesy and turned away, leaving the man standing there awkwardly for a while.

  They entered the house, turned on the water, and four people came in total. Cha Wenbin asked: "How did you get here so quickly?"

  Long Ye didn't answer Cha Wenbin's question first, but instead said to He Lao: "Professor He, take a look at this letter first." As he spoke, he took out a cowhide paper from his handbag, which was an file bag with a wax seal on the envelope. I couldn't see that this guy actually knew He Lao, which surprised me.

  "Oh? Who are you?" As soon as he spoke, He Lao seemed to not recognize Long Ye, but from his eyes, it could be seen that he was somewhat wary of Long Ye.

  The Dragon Lord took off his windbreaker, revealing a crisp standing collar Zhongshan suit underneath. With that enigmatic smile on his face, he was indeed a master of ambiguity. He spread out his hands and said, "Unknown junior, I'm just a messenger, please."

  He Lao tore open the envelope, and inside there was a white paper. Through the back I seemed to have seen that this letter had been stamped with an official seal, the kind with five-pointed stars. He Lao only glanced at the letter briefly before slamming his hand on the table and saying: "You are committing a crime! You are causing destruction! I absolutely will not permit such things to happen!"

  "Long Ya took a sip of tea and said, 'I'm just doing my job according to the instructions. Professor He doesn't have to make things difficult for me either. We should understand each other. Different professions, different divisions of labor, naturally the methods are also different.'"

  "You're just a bunch of robbers! Too polite and too outrageous, this is academic research not your robber logic. Mr. Gu Qinghe is an American scholar, are you not afraid to destroy international cooperation by doing so?! This old man is quite interesting, how did he learn my set too? Bringing out the American to pressure, but what he doesn't know is that Gu Qinghe and Long Ye are also very familiar with each other."

  "Alright, my task is done. As for Mr. He, whether he stays or leaves is up to him. Tomorrow morning, all the villagers here will be sent away. For this week, I'm in charge of this place." Then he beckoned to Cha Wenbin and said: "Come, I have something to tell you."

  Cha Wenbin looked at He Lao and said, "Let's talk it out here, I don't want any misunderstandings."

  "First of all, let me tell you that Crazy Wind is dead, died in Yunnan," Long Ye said with a sharp gaze sweeping around the crowd. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Out of seven brothers, five are dead. Don't think we're just bandits or thugs, damn it, we're also fighting for this country!"

  Longye's roar was obviously directed at someone, but this news made Cha Wenbin extremely surprised, and he muttered: "How is that possible?" I've seen that person called Kuangfeng before, and I also know he's one of the few "friends" Cha Wenbin has.

  "Intelligence failure, for Mr. He, archaeology is a job, but for us, it's a war." The man then pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the corner of his eye, saying: "Sorry, Professor He, I got excited. You have your way, you're a respectable scholar, but I also have my rules, can't help myself. Mr. He, do you know about the Nine Tripods?"

  He Leng snorted and said: "The 'Shi Ji - Feng Chan Shu' records: 'Yu collected the gold of the nine pastures, cast the nine tripods. All were tried on the upper emperor's ghostly gods. When the sage rose, the tripod moved to Xia Shang. The Zhou virtue declined, the Song she was lost, and the tripod sank, hiding without being seen.' All history before Yin Shang still exists in historical records, but so far, no physical evidence has been unearthed to prove its existence."

  "Long Ye tapped the table and said, 'This is where we differ.' He then pulled out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Old He, saying, 'Take a look.'"

  He Lao was initially somewhat disdainful, but when he picked up that photo, I saw the expression on his face was shocked, it was a shock he had never experienced before. His hands even started trembling, and under the white fluorescent lamp above his head, he looked left and right, muttering to himself: "Impossible, this is impossible..."

  "Professor He, I'm telling you, this is what my deceased teammate brought back from Yunnan. Unfortunately, the lives of those five people only brought back this photo. Do you still think we're robbers and thugs?" Long Ye's voice rose again: "Five lives! Which one didn't have a father or mother? Which one didn't have ideals or aspirations?"