Around seven in the evening, Zhou Yongxiang returned to the village, bringing someone with him.
The man was in his thirties, with a physique like a coiled spring, and carried a distinct military bearing in his every word and action.
He looked like he had served in the military, though I wasn't sure what branch.
I had originally thought Zhou Yongxiang would go into the tomb during the day, but to my surprise, as soon as he returned, he had the village chief summon several locals, and they all headed towards the mine with shovels.
As they were leaving, Wang Yang asked me, "Are you going or not?"
I hesitated, watching the group head into the depths of the mountains. After a moment, I said, "Let's wait a bit."
"Wait for what?" Wang Yang asked.
I replied, "We don't know the situation with this underground palace. Let Zhou Yongxiang and the others scout ahead. Besides, they won't be able to get in immediately; digging a mine shaft will likely take quite some time."
"So, your meaning is..." Wang Yang looked at me thoughtfully.
I sighed, "Since we're already here, it wouldn't hurt to take a look."
He grinned and said, "It seems I'm not the only one curious. You played the part pretty well before."
I retorted, "What do you mean, 'played the part pretty well'? I absolutely didn't want to go before. If you hadn't been nagging me, I never would have agreed."
Wang Yang shrugged. "Just say you want to go. Don't blame me. If you don't want to go, I won't force you."
He had hit the nail on the head. I said, without batting an eye, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have wanted to go at all."
I had spent a long time in deep contemplation during the day. I felt it was necessary for me to visit this tomb.
The deciphered map still held no clues. Now that a lead had appeared before me, I didn't want to miss it.
While others were visiting relatives for New Year's, I was here in this place, tomb raiding. I had to admit, it was quite something.
Thinking about it, it suddenly occurred to me that Zhou Yongxiang had arrived early. This meant he spent New Year's here?
What was he looking for that was so important it kept him from going home for the New Year?
The more I thought about it, the stronger my urge to descend into the tomb became.
Just as I expected, Zhou Yongxiang led the villagers to dig the mine shaft, and it took them an entire night to reopen the entrance.
The next morning, Wang Yang and I ate something and then leisurely made our way over.
The journey from the village to the mine took about an hour, passing over a small mountain.
The path was all uphill, so it took longer.
Following the tracks left by Zhou Yongxiang and his group, we quickly arrived at the mine.
When we got there, the villagers were all sitting in a spot, cooling off and resting. I didn't see Li Zha Si or Zhou Yongxiang.
Asking a villager, I learned that they had already gone down about an hour ago.
I glanced at Wang Yang, asking him what he thought, whether we should go down now or wait for them to come out.
Wang Yang said, "Why wait around outside? Of course, we should go down and have a look."
Fortunately, I had prepared some tools in advance. With the experience from the previous few times I had entered tombs, I was much more cautious this time.
My bag was packed with many essentials, and I hadn't brought anything superfluous.
When we reached the mine entrance, I saw a mine shaft more than two meters high, with a wooden frame built around it, clearly to prevent collapse.
Walking into the tunnel, the light quickly dimmed.
It was much cooler inside the mine shaft than outside, and I could faintly smell the scent of copper rust.
The cave walls were covered in a lush green; this green was copper rust.
This was a copper mine shaft itself, so this was not surprising.
After walking in for a while, we came to a fork in the road. One path was blocked, while the other had clearly just been cleared.
We followed the cleared path for less than two minutes before we saw a hole about half a meter high. Tools were placed next to the hole, presumably the way to the underground palace.
Arriving at the opening of this hole, I poked my head in to take a look. I could still see some light inside.
Crawling through this hole, the space quickly opened up, with enough height and width for people to move around.
After following this passage for a short while, we saw a figure.
I called out, "I'm Xiang Fei, who's there?"
The figure turned around and shone a flashlight towards me.
I shielded my eyes, "Stop shining it. I can't see the path anymore."
Soon, the beam of light moved away from me.
As I walked over, I saw it was Xiao Ding. He had a backpack on and was standing next to a sarcophagus, with many tools around him.
"Where are Elder Zhou and the others?" I asked.
Xiao Ding pointed to a corridor not far away and said, "They went in through there."
"How long have they been in?" I asked.
He glanced at his watch and said, "Twenty-three minutes and twenty seconds."
My goodness, his timing was quite precise.
Then he asked why we had come over. I made up a reason: "Elder Zhou is getting old, and I was a bit worried, so I came to see if there was anything I could help with."
He nodded upon hearing this, took two more backpacks from the side, and handed them to me. I opened them and found they contained more complete tools than what I had brought, even including gas masks.
I handed one to Wang Yang, and then began to survey the tomb chamber.
This didn't seem like a main chamber, but rather a side chamber. The surrounding walls were bare, with nothing on them. Along the walls were piled many bottles and jars.
I walked over and picked one up to look. I found that these tall-necked jars, based on their patterns and carvings, should be artifacts from the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, in the region of Yuncheng, the state that came to mind first was Nanzhao.
In the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, there were six small states in the Yuncheng area, collectively known as the Six Zhaos: Mengshao Zhao, Yuexi Zhao, Langqiong Zhao, Dengshen Zhao, Shilong Zhao, and Mengshe Zhao.
Mengshe Zhao was located to the south and was also known as Nanzhao. With the support of the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao successively annexed the other five Zhaos, unified the local powers, and established the Nanzhao Kingdom.
After looking around at the burial goods, the scale was not small, indicating that the tomb's owner was either wealthy or of high status.
Wang Yang leaned over and asked if I had figured anything out. I handed him the tall-necked jar, "You should recognize this, right?"
Wang Yang took it and looked. "Judging by the craftsmanship and style, it should be from the Tang Dynasty."
I nodded. "During the Tang Dynasty, you should know about the Nanzhao Kingdom in the Yuncheng area, right?"
"Are you saying this tomb belongs to the Nanzhao Kingdom?" Wang Yang asked, frowning.
"I'm only suspecting it preliminarily; I'm not yet certain."
As I spoke, I stood up and looked at the sarcophagus not far away.
The lid of the sarcophagus had already been opened. I told Wang Yang that we should go and see what was inside.
We walked up to the sarcophagus and looked inside, finding it in disarray. Apart from skeletal remains, there was only a tattered red garment.
Hearing about this garment, and remembering that Li Zha Si had previously said that Xiao Juan and Lao Gao had met here while wearing this dress, I immediately got goosebumps.
What kind of bizarre preference was this?