Chapter 5.2 Old Man (Extra)

Over the years, it wasn’t very common for people to ask us this kind of question on the road, especially in code. But the old man’s code was only half right, and we couldn’t really understand it. The way Little Brother walked was no different from that of ordinary people, so if this old man could tell just by that, then he must have also been a grave robber and couldn’t be ignored.

The old man’s Fujian Mandarin was actually very difficult to understand. It would have been completely impossible to understand the complicated dialect system here if I hadn’t been eating and drinking with the locals in the village during this period of time. But for the convenience of narration, I’ll still use the Mandarin pronunciation to record what the old man said.

If it was back then, we might have also responded with the answering code. But now the wind was calm and the clouds were clear. I didn’t care about grave robbing or the old demon under the mountain. Moreover, this line was very different from the past. Many young people had long since stopped using these old routines.

Little Brother naturally understood and shook his head at the old man while saying, “No.” With that, he turned to leave.

The old man froze for a moment, obviously not expecting to get such an answer. Fatty hooked his arm around Poker-Face’s shoulder and secretly gave him a thumbs up. “Very good, you’ve got to maintain your image.”

I chuckled to myself and turned to follow them, but the old man was in good health. He took a few steps and cut us off while still talking to Little Brother, “Young man, I know I’m not mistaken. The layman can’t see it, but I’ve helped those in this business for more than fifty years. I recognized that scent on your body as soon as I smelled it. I know what you do.”

Fatty and I looked at each other. I couldn’t help but think that the old man was really adamant. “Old man,” Fatty said, “we’re just passing through here. We’re in a rush to get back for the New Year, so we can’t help you.”

The old man gave Fatty an angry look and said, “Your boss didn’t speak, so who are you to get in the way of people making money? What kind of unorthodox livelihood are you making?!”

The old man spoke so self-righteously that Fatty suddenly became angry, “Which one of your fucking eyes can’t tell that I’m qualified? I’ve been to three of the Five Sacred Mountains (1)—” I immediately stopped Fatty and listened to the old man say, “My friend, go inside and take a look. You won’t regret it. There’s nothing I can do; otherwise, I wouldn’t want to share such a good deal with you.”

I felt my heart thump and said to myself, what are the chances of meeting a random grave robber after taking a shortcut to find a motorcycle? It was a pity we had washed our hands of this outlaw lifestyle; otherwise, I would have definitely joined in.

I was just about to refuse, when I turned to Fatty and saw his eyes were fierce, and his face had an “Open for business!” kind of look on it. I grabbed him by the shoulder and reminded him, “There aren’t many opportunities to enjoy this life once you’ve made it out of the business.”

Fatty sighed. The old man looked surprised when he realized that I was the one in charge of our little group.

I wasn’t interested and wanted to reject him directly, but the old man raised his hand in a gesture for me not to speak, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll help you find a motorcycle if you’ll go in and have a cup of tea. I’ll explain things to you and if you’re still not interested, then I won’t insist. I’m familiar with this village. If I don’t tell the people to show you the way, you can only go by yourselves. The road isn’t so easy to walk, so you should think it through very carefully.”

The three of us looked at each other. Although it sounded funny, this statement really grabbed our attention.

I looked at the old man coldly. I was no longer the kind of person who would find this kind of situation very interesting. Instead, I’d rather forget about it entirely. But my waist was screaming, and the pressure of my back joints rubbing against the pork ribs made me feel like they were going to explode.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, I finally compromised. For the sake of getting some motorcycles, I gave up my dignity as a man who had washed his hands of this business. I nodded and said, “Please arrange some motorcycles. Thank you, uncle.”

The three of us followed the old man into the old house with the “Lei Meilian Fishing Tackle” sign. It turned out that this old brick house was his, and I wondered if his name was Lei Meilian. It wouldn’t be surprising since the surname Lei was one of the most popular surnames of the She ethnic group in the nearby area.

There was a door to the left of the Eight Immortals table, behind which was an inner room that should have led to the backyard. Most old houses had this kind of structure.

He took us into the inner room and turned on the incandescent lamp. Even though the gloomy room was now filled with warm light, it still felt very cold. He then went and dialed a number on the landline, speaking a few words in the local dialect to help us find a motorcycle. We took the opportunity to observe our surroundings and found that there was a bed placed against the wall, while all the other walls were covered in bamboo poles. They were all thick and thin and hung in several layers. When I looked carefully, I found that they were actually fishing rods.

I liked fishing, but when I looked at these fishing rods, I had some doubts. I could see that even though they were made of bamboo, they still gave off a different kind of feeling. I turned to Poker-Face and saw that he was also looking at these fishing rods silently, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

There was a tea table beside the bed, with a tea set that was commonly found in Fujian. It was well known throughout the whole country that Fujian people loved drinking tea. The old man’s tea set wasn’t valuable, but it was definitely exquisite. There were a few low seats beside the tea table, so we sat down, put down our loads, and started to relax. After drinking a few cups of hot tea, our cold cheeks finally started to diffuse with color again.

“I see you’re in the fishing rod business.” Fatty said as he looked around at the bamboo poles on the wall. He was in a good mood once he saw that the motorcycle issue was being taken care of.

“No, these fishing rods are all mine.” The old man said. “To tell you the truth, I’m not a native. I’ve been in this village for twenty years. I came here to catch a fish.”

<Extra 5.1> <Table of Contents><Extra 5.3>

****

TN Notes

(1) It’s an idiom I think. The five mountains refer to Mt Tai (泰山) in Shandong, Mt Hua (華山) in Shaanxi, Mt Heng (衡山) in Hunan, Mt Heng (恆山) in Shanxi, and Mt Song (嵩山) in Henan. According to Baidu, there’s a theory that the 3 mountains refers to the Chinese ancient myth of the legendary three dragon veins: the Himalayas, the Kunlun Mountains, and the Tianshan Mountains (Queen of the West’s domain I think). I’m pretty sure Fatty’s saying he’s been to all three of those, so he’s plenty experienced.