On the third day of the new year, I received a phone call early in the morning.
The caller was Zhou Yongxiang, and over the phone, he almost commanded me to come to Yuncheng immediately.
"Shopkeeper Xiang, you must come to my place right away."
These were Zhou Yongxiang's exact words.
When I heard this, I felt very uncomfortable.
I thought, "You're not anyone to me, why are you ordering me around like this?"
However, considering he was an old man over seventy, I decided not to argue with him.
I asked him why I needed to go, but he didn't say. He only instructed me to depart immediately and that he would arrange for someone to pick me up at Yuncheng Airport.
"Shopkeeper Xiang, if you are willing to come, I will unconditionally gift you over a hundred of my collections from Guangling."
Upon hearing this, I was stunned.
There had always been a legend in the antique circles of Guangling concerning Zhou Yongxiang's collections.
It was said that his collections were all-encompassing, and many were rare treasures, antique items unique in the world.
The value of those antiques was immeasurable, after all, Zhou Yongxiang was the foremost collector in Jiangdong.
To have him offer such terms, I couldn't fathom what he must have encountered.
In other words, what kind of situation would make him willing to part with his entire fortune?
Furthermore, I was also curious about what had happened to him in Yuncheng, and if he had found the "rubbing" from the photograph.
Various questions compelled me to travel to Yuncheng.
After informing Hong Yunpeng about the matter that day, I bought a plane ticket to Yuncheng that afternoon. Wang Yang also said he would accompany me to take a look.
On the plane, I recounted the entire story to Wang Yang. After listening, he asked, "Bone flute? Copper pieces? What are those?"
I shook my head and replied, "I'm not sure either, but judging by Zhou Yongxiang's attitude, this matter must be of great importance to him."
"What did he ask you to do there?" Wang Yang inquired.
I spread my hands and said, "I want to know that too... Let's not overthink it. We'll figure it out once we get there."
The plane landed at Wujiaba Airport. After Wang Yang and I exited the airport, we quickly spotted the person Zhou Yongxiang had sent to pick us up.
I recognized this person; he was the attendant who always followed Zhou Yongxiang.
His name seemed to be "Xiao Ding."
I only knew this because Zhou Yongxiang had called him that.
This person was not talkative. From the moment we met until we got into the car, he spoke no more than three sentences.
We got into a commercial vehicle. I asked him where we were going, and he told me a place name I had never heard before.
I looked at Wang Yang next to me, confused, and asked if he knew where this place was.
Wang Yang told me it was on the border.
I was taken aback and asked Xiao Ding, "How long will it take to drive there from here?"
"Twelve hours," he replied expressionlessly.
We had just gotten off the plane, and now we had to drive for over ten hours. To be honest, if it weren't for my curiosity about what had happened to Zhou Yongxiang, I probably would have decided not to go at all.
The car didn't stop much along the way. Xiao Ding's driving skills and endurance were beyond ordinary people.
I woke up after sleeping twice, and he was still driving very diligently.
We were traveling on national highways, and many of the roads in the Yuncheng area were mountain roads. Not only were the roads narrow, but sometimes at turns, large trucks would suddenly appear. If one's attention wavered, it was highly possible for an accident to occur.
Fortunately, Xiao Ding was a competent driver, and I couldn't detect any sign of fatigue on his face.
Of course, it was also possible that he was just pushing himself.
It was already late at night when we reached our destination. Although I had eaten a lot of biscuits on the way, my stomach was still growling with hunger.
The car entered a village and arrived in front of a stilted house.
After getting out of the car, we entered the stilted house. Zhou Yongxiang had not rested; he was in the middle of a conversation with two people.
I recognized one of them as Li Zha Si, and the other was an elderly man I had never seen before.
However, based on his attire and demeanor, the elder seemed to be a local.
As soon as Li Zha Si saw me, he was overjoyed. He stood up excitedly and approached me, "Boss Xiang, hello."
I shook hands with him and replied, "Hello."
Zhou Yongxiang saw me and displayed a long-lost smile. He said to Li Zha Si, "See? Didn't I tell you? Can you tell him now?"
I was a bit confused about the situation and asked Zhou Yongxiang what was going on.
He sighed and glanced at Xiao Ding. Xiao Ding then explained to me that they had gone to great lengths to find Li Zha Si.
They had found him, but when they asked him about the item in the photograph, he refused to say anything, insisting that he had already made an agreement with someone else, and that item could only be sold to the agreed-upon person.
Later, Zhou Yongxiang managed to coax it out of him, learning that the person Li Zha Si referred to was me. Hence, he had called me to come over.
After hearing the whole story, I was at a loss for words. I never imagined that the five hundred yuan I had given out back then would play such a significant role.
Zhou Yongxiang told me that his promise to me remained unchanged. As long as I could help him find those copper pieces, all his collections from Guangling would be mine.
I asked him why he was so insistent on finding those copper pieces. He shook his head and said, "I'll tell you after we find them."
Having slept twice in the car, I didn't feel sleepy.
After sitting down, I asked Li Zha Si to prepare something for us to eat. He nodded and said it was no problem. Just as he was about to go, Zhou Yongxiang stopped him and said it wasn't necessary.
I looked at him, confused. Zhou Yongxiang said with a wry smile, "You probably won't be able to get used to their food. I'll have Xiao Ding get something."
At that time, I didn't understand what he meant. Later, I realized that the food of the Laku people was indeed not something most people could tolerate.
Especially their pickled meat stored in jars; the smell of it, even now, makes me feel somewhat...
Soon, Xiao Ding brought some food, and we began to eat and chat.
The elder sitting next to Li Zha Si was the village chief, likely a negotiator brought by Zhou Yongxiang to persuade Li Zha Si.
However, Li Zha Si was a straightforward person; once he made a promise, no one else could change his mind.
He said that since I had paid a deposit of five hundred yuan, that item could only be mine, and no one else could take it.
I asked him where the item was located, and he stammered out the details.
It turned out that in their village, a mining team had previously come to dig for copper ore.
The road that now connected their village to the outside world was built by those people, with the sole purpose of transporting the ore out.
At that time, Li Zha Si, being the young man in the village who could speak Mandarin and was strong, quickly befriended the people in the mining team and subsequently went to work at the mine.
Not long after Li Zha Si joined the mining team, a series of inexplicable events occurred at the mine.
The mining team suffered one accident after another, resulting in several deaths, and the mining operations were halted.
Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but ask, "You said many strange things happened at the mine? What strange things?"
Li Zha Si pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and then began to tell us about that past.