Chapter 21 Section VIII

In 1937, the Japanese invaded China in an all-round way. In order to preserve the lifeline of national education, the two major universities in Peking and Nankai University took the lead in moving their schools to the south. With "Fortitude and Perseverance" as the school motto, they sang "a thousand years of shame, and it will eventually be snow" and "to be expelled" "Chou Kou restores Shenjing, returns Yanjie", traveling across mountains and rivers, traveling thousands of miles, first to Changsha, and then to Kunming. The young Li Changsheng and several of his teachers and classmates fell behind the main force because they were escorting the property of the Archeology Department. When they passed through the Huguang area, they were traveling in the wild and heard a strange thing.

The ancient tomb in the mountain suddenly caught fire by itself. It is said that the villager who passed on the message saw it with his own eyes, and he said vividly: "Here! Here! That's over there! I'm on the ground, and I can see the smoke from a distance!" When this man saw green smoke rising from the ancestral grave, no matter whose family he belonged to, he kowtowed to the ground. After knocking dozens of times, I felt that something was wrong, the smoke was too much, and I waited and watched for a while, and the ancestral grave burst into flames. It's too scary!

So continue to kowtow.First pray for a long life for his old mother, then for myself and my wife, and then for sons, daughters, pigs, cows, sheep, cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits... After two or three hours of muttering, the tomb was finally burned. The next day, their old hen laid an extra egg, oh my god, it was so clever. A group of people couldn't laugh or cry, Li Changsheng waited for a few good things to happen, and took advantage of everyone's rest to go to the place mentioned by the villagers to see, and found that the fire was really severe, the ground was scorched yellow, and the grass and trees in a radius of several meters were all carbonized. After poking it a few times, the ground collapsed as a whole.

Just when I was amazed, a voice suddenly said: "...the gates of heaven and earth are closed?" Only then did everyone realize that there was one more person in the team, a very laid-back old man. "Old man, what did you just say?" The refugee-like old man replied: "I'm saying 'Long live forever'." "What's that?" the students asked him. "Tomb God." The old man didn't want to say more, and turned to leave. The soldier hurriedly held him back and winked at Li Changsheng. Li Changsheng suddenly realized that he groped up and down and found that he didn't have a dime on him.The old man hesitated for a while, then stretched out his hand to take it: "I am ashamed to accept it, thank you."

He squeezed the matchbox tightly, sighed and said to Li Changsheng: "Bring this kind of thing, once you see 'Long Live Qianqiu', you will definitely die." "Why?" Xia Mingruo asked. "Because the 'Grave God' like 'Long Live Qianqiu' has a lot to do with fire." The old man said, "The old man we met had robbed graves for generations, and his uncle is said to have died at the hands of 'Long Live Qianqiu'. " During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the old man's uncle took his father into a tomb of the Southern Dynasty. Everything went smoothly, but two strange clay birds were found on the side of the coffin. They were about a foot high. The other is a man with a bird face.

His uncle had never seen such a thing before, so he held up the oil lamp and looked closer. Suddenly, a ball of fire exploded from the strange bird, engulfing his uncle in an instant, and the fire spread very quickly. Within seconds, the ceiling of the tomb, The ground and walls exploded one after another. It was too late and then too fast, the old man's father flew into the robbery cave. Although he was severely burned, he escaped with his life.After he recovered from his illness, he told a fortune teller about this experience, and the man was amazed and said, "Could it be 'Long live forever' as mentioned in "Baopuzi"?!"

Half of Mr. Li's face was hidden in the darkness, and he said slowly: "This kind of strange bird that can burn itself is what we saw in the small niche just now. What we saw was a bird with a woman's face. It should be 'Qianqiu' ’, ‘Viva’ is just across from it.” "I will burn myself..." Xia Mingruo murmured. "'Long Live for a Thousand Years' is auspiciousness, often appearing together with the four gods of the sun, moon, stars, gossip, five mountains, Linfeng, Qinglong and Suzaku. The door is closed, and the end is dead." The old man continued, "It is said that once you see them, you must first blow out the lamp, then close your eyes, and retreat quickly, otherwise life and death will be unpredictable."

"It's not scientific." Chu Haiyang said. The old man said: "It's very scientific, and you'll know it later. Well, it's been a long time, and what should be burned has been burned long ago. The superstition of the tomb god's 'burn when it meets light' has been broken. Young people go to 'burn' Long live Qianqiu' hold it out, be careful." Xia Mingruo said, "Huh? It's me again?" The old man said: "Raise soldiers for thousands of days, little comrade, the time for you to make meritorious service has finally come."

Xia Mingruo said: "Okay! Xia Mingruo killed himself today! Hunting the battle flag, torrential wind and thunder, in order to preserve the revolutionary fire, uncle, Comrade Huang, the vanguard on the cultural front, is entrusted to you..." The uncle laughed and scolded: "There's so much nonsense! Just watch it, don't drop the baby." The two young men stepped into the back room door and parted, one to the left and the other to the right, groped into the small niche, picked up the strange bird carefully, and returned the same way. Xia Mingruo said in surprise: "I'm just 'Qianqiu', right? It's actually hollow, with a big hole in its back."

"Mine too," Chu Haiyang took the lead back to the front room, "Don't be careful." "Hurry up, this explosive bag is not light." Xia Mingruo walked with some difficulty, "It dangles like it's full of water." "It's not water," the old man asked. "Can't you smell the ocean? It's kerosene." He said: "I was negligent just now. In fact, starting from the corridor, this tomb is full of kerosene smell. It's just that you have stayed in it for too long, but you can't feel it. Mr. Li should know, right?"

The uncle shook his head and didn't tell the truth: "I can't smell it. I have rhinitis, but my throat is a bit sweet. If people inhale too much gunpowder powder, their throat will become sweet." He wished he could eat by his nose, no wonder he had rhinitis. Xia Mingruo stuck out his tongue, feeling a little scared: "This is like a powder magazine! We used so many crowbars and shovels when we opened the stone coffin just now, it's lucky that nothing happened. What should we do after we can? We always need tools to cut. " "Let's spend more labor," said the old man. "Some ancient tombs will form fire pits due to long-term airtightness, such as Xinzhui Tomb. The flammable gas is mainly a mixture of methane. This tomb is also a fire pit, a man-made fire pit, very Rare. Mingruo, what's wrong?" Xia Mingruo squatted in front of the strange bird and observed: "Teacher, I said what reflected light just now, their eyes turned out to be glass, such a large piece of glass, look." Chu Haiyang leaned over and said, "Really, it's really well ground. This is from Dashi via the Silk Road, right? It's priceless." "Hahahaha, one yellow and one green!" Xia Mingruo pointed at Lao Huang and smiled, "I have the same eye color as yours, so what's the relationship between you three?" Lao Huang declined to comment. Captain Zhou ran down again because he was worried: "Professor?" The old man hurriedly said: "Good job, Lao Zhou, take these two things out together with Hai Yang, and seal them when you get out. Don't pour out the liquid inside, keep it for testing." "What about the inner and outer coffins? When will we be able to deal with them? This sarcophagus is so big, it's not easy to transport it out." Chu Haiyang asked. The old man pinched his fingers: "It's been three days, and Xin Zhui's tomb has also been vented for two or three days." The archaeological team came back three days later, and it took another three days to get the sarcophagus out. Everyone peeled off a layer of skin.It's dog days outside, and the food will go bad in a few hours, let alone dead.Fortunately, there was an old rear factory in the nearby village, who was willing to fully support the country's archaeological cause and lent them the underground ice cellar, and everyone was relieved. But the ice cellar is still not enough, and a large amount of ice cubes have to be transferred every day to maintain it.The original plan was to transport the sarcophagus and corpse to Luoyang for processing, but due to the hot weather, transportation became very difficult.The archaeological team really spent a lot of time in those few days, and the old man's head became even more bald. Later, he couldn't bear it, and clamored to open the coffin, because he also belonged to the level of an expert leader, and Captain Zhou had also achieved outstanding results in the past few years, so his superiors agreed. The archaeological team then gathered in the ice cellar, their hearts beating with excitement.As soon as the coffin lid was opened, everyone jumped up and fled spontaneously. The old man howled and beat them for a long time before driving them back. The smell of kerosene is gone, but it is a more difficult smell than kerosene. The smell of carrion. Stinky, really stinky, but happy. This is the second complete wet corpse discovered after the Mawangdui Xinzhui tomb since the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is a male with a lot of head, torso and limbs.Although the whole situation can only be known in the laboratory, people can see soft tissue from the half-decomposed hands of the corpse. For a while, all the gold, silver and jade objects in the coffin became unimportant. For archaeologists, an ancient corpse is the real priceless treasure.The ethnographic research on the ancient Chinese cannot always fall behind the covetous Japan, so how can we be worthy of our ancestors. Captain Zhou's nose fluttered, wanting to laugh, cry, or yell out loud. He turned his back to see the old man, and saw that his face was already full of tears. The news spread to Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Beijing immediately.The Institute of Archaeology was a sensation, and the experts and scholars were very excited. The director and the leader of the archaeological field, Mr. Xia Nai, originally wanted to come here in person, but unfortunately he was unable to make the trip because he was far away in Hohhot. After work, the old man washed his feet by the river and sang while washing: "I don't respect the highland barley wine, I don't make buttered tea, I don't offer khata. I sing a song from my heart and dedicate it to my relatives Jin Zhuma. Ya Lasuo , Dedicated to my relatives, Jin Zhuma. The people's country will be red for thousands of years! Oh, ten thousand years! Hey! Xiaoshi!" Xiao Shi was rubbing his socks hard: "Hey Bazaar!" "Hey!" the old guy continued, "I would like to present a glass of highland barley wine to my beloved Chairman Mao. I wish you a long life! Hi!" The members of the archaeological team all smiled, thinking that the old man was confused again. The old man was still singing: "How about Alamu Khan..." Shi Weidong twitched the backup dancer with his socks in his hands: "Yakexi! Yakexi!" Xia Mingruo climbed to the top of the tree, laughed and applauded, and still did not forget to say: "One more! One more!" "Not coming!" The old man wiped his sweat, "Drink! Comrade Mingruo! Go buy wine!" "Decree!" Xia Mingruo slid down from the tree, calling out to his follower, "Stop!" "arrive!" "Occupy the highlands of the commune supply and marketing cooperative!" "Oh——" Liu Gousheng got a few coins, and Sa Yazi rushed out. Xia Mingruo followed behind and urged: "Charge with all your strength! Cannon fire cover! Pay attention to concealment!" Liu Gou accidentally dropped his shoe while crossing the dirt slope, and hopped back to wear it. Xia Mingruo shouted again: "Instructor—hold on—" Chu Haiyang came from the construction site and slapped Xia Mingruo on the head angrily: "Bullying the kids." "You don't understand the situation, kid is willing," Xia Mingruo asked loudly, "Son of a dog—! Are you willing—?" The child turned around and danced: "Yes—!" "Here!" Xia Mingruo said calmly. Chu Haiyang was speechless, but the old man suddenly came back to his senses: "Yes... yes! I'm going to send a telegram to Beijing! I need to send a technician!" "Go! Go!" He hurriedly put on his shoes, but Chu Haiyang stopped him, "No, you stay here, I'll go." Xia Mingruo said with a smile: "When you go to Beijing, you might send someone here. It's probably someone with the surname Ji." The old guy thought for a while, refused to admit it, turned his back and went back to rest. Shi Weidong followed with trembling eyebrows. In the evening, the archaeological team held a banquet and drank wine to celebrate their achievements. When they met the enamel tank, they roared and vowed endlessly. They chewed the bark and ate the grass roots. They will show their skills in the future. We will write the spring and autumn with our blood. Uncle You Qi drank too much, jumped on the table and sang pornographic songs, what brother, sister, we two are on the bed, weeping when I think about it.The old man was also unclear, clapping and stomping his feet to say yes!it is good!True temperament! The efficiency in Beijing is high. On the third day, I heard that the technicians were already on their way to Luoyang. The crowd cheered and worked hard day and night. They even removed and cleaned the floor tiles of the tomb one by one. Then they found a hidden pit by accident. Inside was a stone tablet with a cat ghost pattern on it.The old man studied for a long time and said that it might have been buried when the tomb was built. If his guess is correct, it can only show that the builder of the tomb has evil intentions and has a grudge against the owner of the tomb. The owner of the tomb is really pitiful, he just can't get entangled with the cat ghost, as for why he can't be entangled, it will take three to five years to study.When we ordinary people look at archaeology, what we look at is curiosity, and what treasures have been dug up?How much is this baby worth?Archaeologists look at the history behind the treasure, so a corpse may be more precious than a room of porcelain, and a jar of ancient wine may be more valuable than a table of jade.Treasures and antiques are all valuable, but the truth of history is priceless. One dish can never affect China for three hundred years, but one thing can, such as Xiao Heyue chasing Han Xin, or Chongzhen killing Yuan Chonghuan. During the recuperation period, Xia Mingruo suddenly deviated from the normal track and said that he wanted to teach Liu Gousheng arithmetic. It turned out that this kid was still a long way from being a "stupid". Only after asking the teacher at the township primary school did he find out that he was studying for the third grade. Xia Mingruo was very moved by this, patted the child on the shoulder, pointed to the sunset and said: "Madame Curie buried her head in the experiment, Deng Jiaxian played two heroes, Lin Zexu Humen sold cigarettes (what does this matter?), dog left, you We have already stood on the same starting line as them, the truth is ahead! Victory is also ahead!" With crystal tears in Liu Gouxun's eyes, he looked up at the little face of his mentor who had been bitten beyond recognition by mosquitoes, and vowed that from now on, he would go to heaven and earth, and follow him forever. Chu Haiyang persuaded him to rein in the precipice: "Why don't you follow anyone, why do you want to follow him?" Liu Gouzeng became curious: "Why can't you follow?" "You don't even know who he is," Chu Haiyang said while repairing the electric meter. "When we were in elementary school, there was a lot of martial arts, and some people always put bricks in schoolbags. It's just that they put bricks in their bags. Xia Biexin wants to pack them." Two pieces, one piece is taken and another piece is called a spare weapon, which is called a shame." "The most shameless thing is," Chu Haiyang continued, "this person had too many feuds when he was young. In order to prevent others from making decisions, he could only put iron sheets in his hat. As a result, a piece of his head was worn bald. Long hair." "Nonsense!" Xia Mingruo said, "You are bald." Chu Haiyang laughed loudly: "Hey! Look, you still don't admit it, who is the one who lent you the hat? Who is the person who helped you with the potion? I said why don't you put it on now? Put it on, put it on, The old man's today is your tomorrow." Unfortunately, the old man just appeared, and he slowly revealed his face from behind Chu Haiyang, his eyes slanted upwards, and he paused every word: "Bald, ladle." Chu Haiyang jumped up, grabbed the vise with one hand, and dragged the wire and meter with the other, and fled away in a hurry.