Chapter 1 Origin

It’s very difficult to write this story calmly. I’ve deliberately suppressed my emotions at this time before writing this first sentence.

Normally, when a lot of things happen, you don’t want to write them down. This is because although you know the events are worth telling others, recording them makes you go through the pain, anxiety, and doubts all over again, and sometimes you even revisit the scenes from that time. It’s not a pleasant experience.

At this time, you might think it’s fate, because if I was born into an ordinary family, then even if my heart longed to experience these things, there would be no chance. But I was born into a very special family, the source of which stems from my grandfather and his special occupation (if you can call it an occupation).

In the words of modern people, my grandfather was a grave robber.

In Changsha in the 1940s and 1950s, my grandfather was a very famous grave robber, also known as Master Tu (1) by the local people. The reason why my family is very familiar with these kinds of experiences is because after the founding of the People’s Republic, my grandfather was wanted by the Ministry of Public Security for a period of time, and it seemed that it wasn’t revoked until the 1960s.

We don’t know much about Grandpa’s experiences in those days. Most of what I know comes from the discussions I accidentally overheard between my parents or by eavesdropping when my grandpa talked with my uncles. Except for some family things, my grandfather hardly mentioned anything about grave robbing.

At that time, I knew that he must have hidden many secrets in his heart because it had been a long time since the excavation of that ancient tomb. No matter how big or obscure the secret, it would certainly be revealed after half a century. This is the law of time.

Even until his death, my grandfather was still very secretive about these things and was unwilling to mention them. This was very unusual, as it is well known that secrets, like the dilution of dye, are always partially revealed to the world with the passage of time. Even if my grandfather had the biggest secret in his heart, the events of that year would normally be revealed bit by bit. But that didn’t happen at all.

Something very special must have happened when he was robbing the tomb, which prevented this important matter from being revealed with the passage of time.

What made me even more certain of my judgment was that my grandfather had a very strange will.

He died very normally, just like any old man who knew he was going to die. He didn’t have much energy to be afraid, as all of his remaining strength was used to explain his funeral arrangements.

His first words are still fresh in my memory. He said, “I never thought I could really die.”

No one else paid attention to this sentence. They only thought that he was old and a little confused before he died, so his words were out of sorts.

My father sighed. He knew it was useless to say anything besides, “We’re all here. Your eldest, second, and third sons are all here, and your grandson is also here.”

“I want to explain something,” my grandfather said. Judging from this sentence, his mind was actually very clear. “I haven’t left you much, but some of it should have some value. You three brothers should divide it among yourselves. I don’t care about the others’ children. I’m most at ease with you three.”

My father nodded, and my grandfather continued, “After I die, I must be cremated within two hours.”

This request was a bit strange, but we couldn’t disobey the old man at this time so my dad had to nod again. “During the cremation, you must ensure that no one is allowed within thirty meters of the furnace and no one is allowed to look inside of it,” my grandfather continued.

This condition was also agreed to, but after he finished speaking, the family was very confused. We waited quietly for him to explain or continue, but after the old man finished speaking, he didn’t talk again nor did he close his eyes. He just kept looking at us.

Grandpa died that night. My father was a very filial son and did everything according to my grandpa’s request. When we went to the funeral home, we were very anxious and spent a lot of money to cut in line.(2) It was a “joyful funeral” so there wasn’t too much grieving (3), but when it was time for grandpa to be cremated, we were all kept outside by my father and his brothers and had to wait for the ashes to be brought out.

So even though everyone thought it was strange, Grandpa’s reason for making that request was still unknown.

And because of my personality, I didn’t bother investigating and slowly forgot all about it. But thinking it over now, all sorts of traces of what was going to happen appeared everywhere at that time. If you’re not in this business, you really won’t know anything, but once you are, you’ll find that the clues were everywhere once you take a moment to recall.

After my grandfather died, my father was given some property, which was relatively clean. My father did geological work all his life and didn’t know anything about antiques and curios, so he neglected it from the beginning. Later, he saw that I had nothing to do after graduating from college and simply left it to me to take care of.

The shop’s neglect had something to do with my father’s character. I was young and energetic, so after taking over the shop, I decided to revamp it to make it bigger and stronger. I found one of my childhood friends, and the two of us started to make development plans and went everywhere to collect good items. As a result, we made four rounds and put the working capital of the shop and my friend’s savings towards it. My friend took a desperate risk and went to rob an ancient tomb with his cousin but ended up in prison.(4) I also didn’t dare tell my parents that the shop was out of money, but half of the shop was my own and I only needed to pay the rent and utilities on the other half.  I originally wanted to obtain the other half (eventually), but when I thought about it later, my grandfather’s store wasn’t so big. Although my father couldn’t do it, at least the store didn’t shrink and was now in my hands (if split in half). I was sure to be scolded by my father eventually.

So, I had no other choice but to resolutely take on the burden. Getting by was especially hard, because although it was very common for antique dealers to become rich or poor overnight, it was necessary to have working capital. Otherwise, you would be better off selling tea eggs. It was thanks to my grandfather’s reputation at that time that a few people would come by every month. I used my grandfather’s name to dupe people, so there was always some harvest. Later, I waited for that guy named Jin Wantang.

He also came to my shop at that time because of my grandfather. He brought a silk book of the Warring States Period, hoping to find my grandfather for an appraisal. The first thing I knew about my grandfather’s deeds was that he robbed a tomb of blood zombies decades ago. He eventually managed to take out a bloody silk book from the Warring States Period, but his grandfather, father, and brother all died in that incident. I still had some reservations about this thing, but my shop’s poor operation made me have evil thoughts about it. I secretly took photos of it and prepared to make a few counterfeits to sell, but I was surprised to find that this silk book turned out to be a map of an ancient tomb.

I don’t know whether it was because I inherited my family’s grave robber genes or because I was poor and crazy, but I took part in the tomb-robbing activities. That was also where I met Zhang Qiling for the first time.

After that, the story becomes very complicated; in fact, almost a million words could be written about it. Zhang Qiling and I became friends (now that I think about it, whether we are really friends or not makes me a little sad) and I slowly discovered that he, like my grandfather, seemed to be carrying a secret that could never be told. Moreover, I found that what Qiling seemed to be carrying was inextricably linked with what my grandfather carried.

I had no choice but to start investigating him and was soon horrified to find that this Zhang Qiling had been connected with my family since my grandfather’s generation. He even appeared as a stranger in some of my grandfather’s and Uncle Three’s activities.

He had interacted with three generations of my family, but the most terrifying thing was that my grandfather had been dead for many years, yet Zhang Qiling looked the same age as me.

Although I believed he meant me no harm, I couldn’t help but wonder, who is this person? What is his aim? Was it our Wu family who barged into his mysterious secret, or was he always around us?

No one knows.

He carries a secret just like my grandfather, but are they the same secret?

I don’t even know.

But why did my grandfather leave those strange last words? I slowly found the answer among these things. All sorts of strange things that Grandpa’s generation did in those days and all those terrible plots that they were involved in slowly surfaced.

The story was over, and in the end, Zhang Qiling disappeared with all of his secrets. I thought I knew everything, but I found that everything about him was still a mystery.

I don’t know if he’ll still appear in my life after I have children, looking the same with his youthful face, but I am sure that no matter what secrets this person carries, whether it’s related to my family or not, I hope to end this before my life is over.

I hope to see him again and know his secrets.

<Extra 1.31> <Table of Contents><Chapter 2>

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TN Notes:

(1) Tu can mean soil/earth/dust/clay.

(2) Tiffany said since his grandpa had to be cremated within two hours, they were in a hurry and very anxious during the whole process. They had to cut in line in order not to waste time, so they probably paid money to those who had waited before them.

(3) Tiffany said a “joyful funeral” is when the deceased died of old age (over 80 or 90 years old), without illness, and their family was successful. It sounds like Wu Xie’s grandpa died peacefully, so there wasn’t too much grieving. Sidenote from me lol: sounds like Chinese funerals are pretty different compared to American ones. Guests have to give money to the family members in white envelopes and after the ceremony, a funeral procession to the cemetery or crematorium is held. A hired band (think like a marching band) typically leads the procession and plays loud music to frighten spirits and ghosts.

(4) He’s talking about Lao Yang from the Bronze Tree book

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I’m back! Did ya miss me?! lol. It was supposed to be a relaxing week but I couldn’t do it and ended up copying all of the Tibetan Prequel (Parts 1 & 2 ) and Sand Sea (Parts 1-4) into a word doc and running all of them through my translation sites. So basically, we’re raring to go for 6 straight books. Rejoice! 🙂 This chapter was kind of a dumb, vague recap but it is what it is. Anyways, hope you all had a good week/weekend and look forward to however many chapters I can get through tomorrow.

Updated 12/4/2021