Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Yongzhen

Thinking of this, I felt relieved, and immediately walked over to look at the stone tablet erected on the longan—this stone tablet was buried in the longan, and now, most of it has been cleaned up by Professor Qian. I measured the thickness of the stele with my fingers. It was about half a meter thick, and the width was more than four meters by visual inspection. As for the height, I couldn’t tell because the foundation of the stele was still buried under the sand. High, we won't know until the archaeologists unearth all of them. I touched the material of the stele with my hands, and sighed secretly. The stone obviously did not look like a nearby product. There were no cranes in ancient times, and how did this huge stele be transported to the bank of the Yellow River by manpower alone?And how did it get erected here?What is its function?

On both sides of the stele, there are pre-Qin bird seal characters, with two large characters on the front and densely packed bird seal inscriptions on the back. Due to the age of soaking in the sand and serious weathering, it is no longer discernible. On the other hand, I recognized the two words on the front——Yongzhen? Probably because he saw me looking at the words on the stele, Professor Qian came over and handed me a cigarette—— I didn't refuse, but the smoke came, I took out a lighter and lit it, and I lit it for Professor Qian. Looking along the stele, part of the foundation under the stele has been cleared. Looking from the top down, those blue bricks There is yellow sand and sludge on the block, but it is still as thick as it was back then.

The foundation itself should be buried in the water. Now that the weather is severe and the water level of the Yellow River has dropped sharply, the pond is revealed, and part of the stele is also exposed. After several days of cleaning, the silt and yellow sand under the pond are also gone. Almost cleaned up. However, the foundation of the stele has not yet been dug out. Now, assistant Xiao He is leading two people to dig down the stele, trying to dig out the foundation of the stele first.To be honest, I feel a little strange. It should be good to have an ancient tomb under the stele, but the problem is—even if this place is not the eye of the Yellow River, the terrain is low, and naturally it is very humid. It is really not suitable for a tomb. Fengshui is excellent, but the owner of the tomb is buried here, and he will inevitably be affected by waterlogging, and his life will inevitably be damaged. It is really not a wise person.

Perhaps, the terrain back then was not underground?As I thought about it, I looked at the surrounding terrain again. If the terrain back then was not underground, and the Yellow River longan could not be formed here, naturally it would not be a good place for Fengshui. "I am in a hurry to find you, just want you to show the words on this stele!" Professor Qian took a puff of cigarette forcefully, exhaled the smoke, and said slowly, "Xiao Xu, I feel—— If the ancient tomb is unearthed, it must be a major discovery that overturns the entire archaeological world." "I don't know the characters on this stele!" I poured a bucket of cold water on Professor Qian.

"Xiao Xu, don't tease me!" When Professor Qian heard this, he became anxious and grabbed my hand, "You don't know me, who else knows me?" "Those two big characters are Yongzhen, and the small characters—if you can recover them all, I can still try, now..." I spread my hands helplessly, I know that Professor Qian is on fire to have people dig me out of the devil city , just for me to recognize this word for him, and then I can identify the origin of this ancient tomb and confirm the identity of the owner of the tomb. Professor Qian himself is also one of the few archaeologists in China, and his knowledge must be very profound. If he can be puzzled, it proves that this ancient tomb itself is weird.

"Professor! Professor Qian! Come here, I found something!" Assistant Xiao He stood under the pond and yelled loudly. "Here we come!" Professor Qian left me and quickly ran towards the bottom of the pond. I also followed, Fatty Hu was busy following me, only the old man Jiang, the guide, was still squatting by the pond and smoking a cigarette, it seemed that he had no interest in what was under the pond. I walked over to take a look, and sure enough, under the foundation of the stele, several blue bricks had been pried open, revealing a section of black iron chain. The iron chain was thicker than my arm. It must have been buried in the ground for a long time. Just rusty.

"Where did you get the iron chain?" Professor Qian asked in confusion. "Let me see!" Fatty Hu said while reaching out to pull the iron chain of the cart. "Be careful, this is an ancient relic!" Professor Qian was afraid that Fatty Hu would use brute force to destroy these ancient cultural relics. But Fatty Hu didn't listen to him at all, instead he pulled the iron chain vigorously. This method really worked. The iron chain was pulled up by him for about half a meter, and then—a strange scene appeared, and I was dumbfounded Seeing that the iron chain was suddenly pulled straight, Fatty Hu was not on guard, his whole body was pulled by the iron chain with a bang, and he fell heavily on the ground.

Both Xiao He and Dan Dan couldn't help laughing, but my expression was not good--the behavior just now, it seemed that there was something pulling vigorously on the other end of the iron chain, which caused Fatty Hu to lose his center of gravity. He fell headfirst. "Fuck, Boss Xu, there's something weird down here!" Fatty Hu stood up from the ground, pulled the iron chain and looked at it. One end of the iron chain passed through the stone tablet and was firmly tied to the stone tablet, while the other end , but it hangs all the way to the bottom of the blue bricks. I don't know what is locked under it?

"What's going on?" Professor Qian and I asked at the same time. "It seems that someone below pulled the iron chain heavily, I..." Fatty Hu rubbed his head and laughed awkwardly. "Let me see!" I walked over and stretched out my hand to pull the iron chain, but unexpectedly this time, I couldn't pull the iron chain up a centimeter at all, and something seemed to be firmly stuck underneath.And just now Fatty Hu pulled up the iron chain, which was half a meter long. Professor Qian was very excited. He kept rubbing his hands and wandering around the stele.But I had a faint feeling in my heart. Could it be that this is not an ancient tomb, but something terrifying is being suppressed?

Thinking of this, I raised my head and looked at the tall stone tablet again. On the stone tablet, there were two ancient inscriptions——Yongzhen, Dragon and Phoenix Dance, with a domineering arrogance that dominates the world. Even though thousands of years have passed, they are still majestic. Even, standing on such a stone tablet, I felt a sense of oppression rising from the bottom of my heart, pressing my nerves, and feeling extremely uncomfortable. "I don't know how thick these blue bricks are!" Suddenly, Dandan, Professor Qian's only female assistant, stared at the blue bricks on the ground and asked.

I took a look at the green bricks. Iron juice was not poured into the cracks of the first layer of blue bricks on the surface, and it still needs to be excavated, but the bottom is definitely not so easy to dig. "Come on, everyone, work harder, dig up this blue brick today, let's go down and see what's going on!" Professor Qian yelled loudly. Fatty Hu rubbed his muddy hands, wiped his buttocks, leaned close to me and said with a smile, "This old man doesn't suffer from back pain while standing up and talking! Feelings are like capitalists, exploiting labor!" I looked up at the sky, the setting sun was like blood, and it had already submerged in the Yellow River, leaving only a smear of red, splashing on the turbid water of the Yellow River, like blood... "Professor, I'm afraid it's too late today, and I guess the foundation is not easy to dig!" I stated my thoughts bluntly, and looked at Xiao He and the other two young men with exhausted faces. Been busy for several days. Archeology and archaeology, looking at the scenery, is actually more difficult than old farmers, just digging graves and turning them over. Moreover, because they cannot be destroyed, many things have to be cleaned by hand, which is more difficult than turning over. "It's not easy to dig?" Professor Qian is obviously an old professor in the laboratory who only has theoretical knowledge but no practical knowledge. "The green bricks are very thick!" I said as I stomped my feet on the green bricks, and then I said, "I'm not pouring cold water on you, if you want to dig, you can rely on these three boys I'm afraid I won't even think about digging in ten days and half a month." "So powerful?" Professor Qian was not only stunned, I looked at Xiao He and the three of them with disbelief. "I can't even drive an excavator in this place!" Dandan is a girl, and after being tired for a few days, her hands are covered with blisters. Hearing this, she pouted with a look of disappointment on her face. "It doesn't matter if the excavator can't come in, we can use something else!" I said with a chuckle. "Xiao Xu, if you have any ideas, tell them quickly, everyone knows that you are an expert!" Professor Qian said anxiously, "Don't tease me, old man!" "Didn't I let Fatty come here with you, did you just let him cheat and drink with you!" I looked at Fatty Hu and smiled. "Boss, don't be unkind!" Fatty Hu jumped up when he heard the words, and shouted, "This place doesn't lay eggs, turtles don't come to shore, I've lost a few pounds from starvation, yet you still make sarcastic remarks ? Obviously, this old man is dead-headed and won't let me take medicine." Dandan waited with a pair of big eyes, looked at me curiously and asked, "Medication? What kind of medicine?" "The right medicine!" Seeing Dandan's cuteness, I immediately laughed, turned around and said to Professor Qian, "Use explosives to prescribe it directly!" "But this is a cultural relic!" Professor Qian hesitated, these foundations, these bricks are all good things, wouldn't it be a pity to blow them up? "Cultural relics, you little sister!" Fatty Hu jumped up, pointed at Professor Qian's nose and cursed, "Look at the hands of this little girl, how can you bear it, you bad old man? Feelings are not your daughter? It's just a few dollars Broken Brick, what are you talking about?" Professor Qian took several steps back in a panic, leaning on the stone tablet, just looking at me. "Explode it!" I smiled, it seems that Fatty Hu has scolded Professor Qian a lot in the past few days, I couldn't help but look at Dandan again, a very beautiful and juicy girl, about twenty years old, No wonder Fatty Hu wholeheartedly defended, "Now it's the Yellow River's severe drought, and this place is only exposed. God knows when it will rain. Wait for the water to flood up, and then you have to dig it. It will be even more difficult." I'm telling the truth, underwater excavation is not impossible, but the workload is even greater, and, once the water enters, it is even more difficult to ensure the safety of the cultural relics. Everyone knows that some things that are more than hundreds of years old look good, but they are actually decayed, and they will be broken in a handful, and it is even more difficult to tell after being damp. Professor Qian was also furious at being scolded, and immediately stamped his feet and shouted: "Cheng Chengcheng, just as you said, take medicine, use the right medicine! Really, my old man did an ancient test. Is it easy for me? Dandan is fine. It's not my daughter, and it's almost the same as my daughter, don't I know that my heart hurts, so I need you to be a good person?" I couldn't help laughing when I heard this. Professor Qian is indeed a famous archaeologist, but the problem is that this old man has never participated in the excavation of ancient tombs in his life. Do post-appraisal work. This time, an ancient stele was discovered on the ghost beach of the Yellow River. The relevant departments attached great importance to it. Professor Qian volunteered to win the archaeological work this time. Xiao He is his assistant, but he has participated in the excavation of ancient tombs several times. Professor Qian and my father have a close relationship and know that I have also participated in the excavation of some ancient tombs, so he wanted me to come with him before he left. I can't go away because of something, so I recommend Fatty Hu to accompany him for a while. Fatty Hu served as a soldier in his early years, specializing in blasting work. With his burly body and great strength, he is most suitable for physical work. He used to follow me, and I didn't need to worry about physical work. Professor Qian, who was originally in high spirits, worked in the Yellow River Ghost Beach for several days and suffered a lot of grievances from Fatty Hu before he dug a foundation. Seeing that he didn't know how many days it would take to dig the foundation, the old man naturally It's also a disappointment. "Boss, I didn't bring much medicine, just look at this place!" Fatty Hu said while tapping the ground with his hands, "I'm worried that if the medicine is not strong enough, it might not be able to be prescribed?" "Let me see!" As I said, I squatted on the ground and started tapping on the floor tiles for a while. Professor Qian handed me another cigarette, and I waved my hand to signal him to wait a while. After beating on the ground for a while, I can basically determine that the weakest part of the floor tiles should be about two and a half meters away from the stone tablet. look. This distance once again made me a little confused. I naturally knew that an ancient tomb like this is naturally huge in scale. If you go down through a tunnel from above, you will definitely not be able to reach the tomb directly. There must be a corridor and so on. It's just that this corridor seems to be too wide?In other words, this corridor does not start from the foundation of the stele? "Here!" I stomped my foot and greeted Fatty Hu. "Boss, are you sure?" Fatty Hu asked hurriedly. "Your boss, when did I miss it?" I took the cigarette from Professor Qian, and greeted Xiao He, Dan Dan and the others, "Everyone spread out and let the fat man do the work!" "Spread away, look at Fatty!" Fatty suddenly became interested, and even his throat became louder. I climbed to the top of the pond, saw the old man Jiang was still smoking, immediately took out a pack of "Zhonghua", and handed it over directly.The old man Jiang was taken aback, took the cigarette, tore open the package, and took out one. I was busy lighting it for him with the lighter. "Ask the old man about something!" I said looking at old man Jiang. "Young man, just ask if you have anything to do, you're welcome!" Jiang old man said, and returned the remaining cigarettes in his hand to me. I found that there was a hideous scar on the back of his right hand. When doing farm work, it was accidentally left behind. There is no good medical equipment in the countryside, so the scar did not heal very well, and it was ugly and hideous. "The old man has been living here?" I asked. The old man Jiang took a puff of smoke with his head, exhaled the smoke, and then nodded his head. In the twilight, the old man's face was covered with layers of wrinkles, dry and dark yellow... Old man Jiang just nodded his head. For some reason, through the smog and twilight, in the dimness, the old man's eyes were like wolf's eyes, which glowed unexpectedly, and those who watched felt chills. "In this Huangtu Village, there used to be a family named Xu?" I asked, I still want to verify whether it was this tomb that grandpa and the others stole? "Xu?" Old man Jiang thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it." "The old man is thinking about it, probably before liberation!" I hurriedly said again. "That's true!" Old man Jiang nodded without even the slightest hesitation this time, "I once heard my grandfather say that there used to be an old man Xu in Huangtu Village who offended the God of the Yellow River for some reason. It turned into a monster, and then the corpse floated on the Yellow River—here, it’s here!” While talking, the old man Jiang followed me up a few steps, pointed to the river beach not far away and said: "At that time, the body floated up, and everyone in the village came to see it, but——it didn't look like a person anymore! " "It doesn't look like a human, so what else will it look like?" Professor Qian came over and asked curiously. "Monster!" Old man Jiang said, "I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard people say that there was another head growing on the back of the head, and the whole body was covered with rotten black scales. Clothes, people in the village can't recognize them at all." I felt a thump in my heart, and a chill ran down my spine for no reason. A head grew on the upper reaches of my head. Couldn't it be that my grandma said that there is something behind the head?And the black scales, the same as what grandma said?So, that old man Xu is really my grandfather? Moreover, the authenticity of grandma's story has been confirmed once again from old man Jiang. "Then what happened then?" I asked anxiously. "Old man Xu's body, the old man in the village said it was unlucky, he was afraid that he had hit an evil spirit, or he might have angered the river god. On that day - the Yellow River was also severely drought." Jiang old man looked at us again while talking. . I don't know why, but I always feel that there is a weird taste in the way he looks at us. "Later, after a discussion among the elders in the village, he burned his body in the sun, and his wife left Huangtu Village that night, probably dead, or fled to another place. " Jiang old man said, and looked at me again. I'm a little baffled, what does this old man always look at me for? "Xiao Xu, why are you asking this?" Professor Qian suddenly asked, "Huh? Xiao Xu, your surname is also Xu, don't tell me—" "What are you talking nonsense about?" I was like Professor Qian. Professor Qian laughed and was about to speak, but at this moment, there was a loud bang in our ears, and for a moment, dust was flying, and the earth was shaking. I was busy covering my ears, stepped back a few steps, and then looked over.Sure enough, the fat guy was lighting the explosives, and he didn't even greet us. Then, at this moment, he was covering his ears, stomping his feet and watching us and couldn't stop laughing.This damn guy seems to be sincerely trying to scare us. Old man Jiang was also taken aback by the sudden blasting sound, but he just took a step back, waiting for everything to calm down. We looked closely, and sure enough, a big black hole had appeared on the floor tiles under the pond. It is as wide as a person. "It's done, boss, come and have a look!" Fatty Hu first jumped into the pond, then stood at the entrance of the cave and greeted me. "Uh..." I don't know why, the moment the hole opened, I was probably startled by the sudden explosion, and my heart jumped for no reason. And the old man Jiang also seemed to be frightened, and he couldn't help shaking. I sighed softly, stretched out my hand to support him and said, "Old man, it's all right!" "Hey - I'm getting old!" Jiang old man fumbled in his pocket while talking. I hurriedly took out a cigarette and handed him one. He took it, but his fingers trembled more helplessly. I even lit him with a lighter, but he failed to light it twice in a row. Holding his hand, he was able to light the fire. I looked at old man Jiang smoking a cigarette tremblingly, and asked, "Do you want to go down and have a look together?" "No... no need..." Jiang old man's voice trembled a little. "Well, okay then!" I nodded at him, and walked down the stairs dug out of the pond step by step. As for Professor Qian, Xiao He and others, they couldn't wait to rush down. Even Professor Qian's speed was too fast, and he fell to the ground, rolling mud and sand all over his body. However, he didn't care at all, and rushed to the entrance of the cave, looking inside with his head. At this time, the sky was completely dark, and there was only a smear of red in the sky like dried blood-the late autumn night always came earlier. I went to the entrance of the cave and opened my head to look inside. The entrance of the cave was dark and I couldn't see anything clearly.The sound of my breathing was sucked into the black hole, and then amplified without limit, hehehe—— The heavy panting sound coming up from the hole made my heart a little uncomfortable.Below the entrance of the cave, there is infinite darkness and dead silence, as if all hope of life is cut off below. A gust of cold wind blew by, and I shivered involuntarily. "Flashlight! Flashlight!" Professor Qian shouted. Dandan frantically took out the flashlight, turned it on, and handed it over - a pale beam of light, thrown into the darkness. At the moment when the pale beam of light fell into the entrance of the cave, I vaguely saw a black shadow, whoosh, jumped away, and quickly sank into the darkness.I lowered my head and looked down carefully, but there was nothing. Could it be that you are delusional?I wondered in my heart, what is that black shadow?It can't be human?Could it be that it is a ghost?Or, is it the evil animals that live in ancient tombs? There seems to be a corridor in the cave, nothing can be seen, darkness—only boundless darkness, and a dead silence, a vague panic, slowly knocking on my heart, all at once... "This should be the tunnel!" Professor Qian looked up at me and asked. "Yeah!" I agreed noncommittally. I always felt a little uncomfortable in my heart. It's really strange. I'm only 25 years old this year. I pay attention to exercise on weekdays. I'm physically strong and don't have any diseases. Why do I feel something wrong today? ?Tired of traveling all day? "Who will go down first to find out?" Professor Qian called out. "Professor, I'll go!" Xiao He took the initiative to invite Ying. There was an extreme excitement on this young man's face. I don't know if it's because he has been doing physical work for days or something. I always feel that there is an abnormal blush on his face. . "It's getting dark today, or tomorrow!" Dandan is a girl, after all timid, leaning towards me in fear. "Hey..." Fatty Hu never forgot to show off in front of girls, and laughed loudly, "Little girl, it's going to be dark." I gave Fatty Hu a hard look, but Fatty Hu just grinned.