Taking the treasure map, I didn't really take it seriously. After all, if you go to antique markets, you can collect a lot of treasure maps.
As I've said before, these things aren't worth much in the antique business.
Knowing she was truly grateful, I accepted it.
I brought about three hundred thousand Chinese Yuan to the Philippines this time. To thank Zhu Li for his help, I transferred two hundred thousand to him.
He initially refused to accept anything, but after much persuasion, he finally took it.
One hundred thousand was for his trouble, and the other hundred thousand I asked him to give to Ni Li and her daughter later.
"Xiao Xiang, I know you're not from the martial world, but it looks like you'll be traveling a lot too... Consider this a piece of advice from an uncle: when you're out and about, you always have to keep something in reserve," Zhu Li said while driving.
I replied, "Thank you, Uncle Zhu."
"We've been through a lot, and we're older now. We've made many mistakes in the past. Honestly, I haven't met anyone like you in all these years."
"Uncle, are you praising me or scolding me?" I asked with a smile.
Zhu Li chuckled, "You, you still need to be more vigilant when you're out. Take that mother and daughter's situation for example, do you really think she knows nothing?"
"What do you mean?" I was startled and asked, "Are you saying she's been lying to me? Just to get me to take her out?"
Zhu Li smiled without saying anything. I thought to myself, 'No way? If that's the case, how did this woman predict from the start that I would take her out?'
Looking at the scenery flashing past the car window, I thought of Ni Li's face and her daughter again.
I took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a slow drag, a slight smile forming on my lips.
Forget it, whether she was lying to me or not, it's already happened. What else can I say?
Even if she was cunning, all she was calculating was to get herself and her daughter out of He Kou. In any case, she is indeed a pitiable woman.
Fatty didn't say a word about this matter. He knew that once I made a decision, it was almost impossible to change it.
So, he was already lying flat in the back seat, fast asleep, completely acting as if it had nothing to do with him.
Upon arriving at He Kou, we boarded a speedboat arranged by Master Gui.
The speedboat was stocked with plenty of dry rations and equipment. As we set off, Zhu Li told us that he would wait for us at He Kou.
My estimated time for this trip to Jinzi Mountain would be about four to five days.
I wasn't sure if I could find An Ying, so I could only say I was going to try my luck.
After Ah Shui started the speedboat, we traveled south along the river for over four hours before docking.
Once the boat docked, we distributed the equipment and rations, and each carrying a backpack, we entered the jungle.
Ah Shui said that if we crossed this jungle, we would reach Jinzi Mountain, but it was getting late today, so we had to find a place to stay overnight first.
Fatty and I naturally had nothing to say about this, and followed Ah Shui's arrangements.
Initially, I thought Ah Shui would be difficult to get along with, as I had seen him fight before.
But it turned out he was quite talkative and a very nice person.
Along the way, he told us a lot about Jinzi Mountain.
He said that when he first came to Jinzi Mountain, it was when Master Gui was desperate. At that time, Master Gui's enemies were looking for him everywhere.
So, Master Gui thought of fleeing to Jinzi Mountain to hide, and at the same time, take a risk for wealth and see if he could find nuggets of gold in Jinzi Mountain.
The so-called "nuggets of gold" are large pieces of gold. In the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu" recorded: "The large ones are called nuggets of gold, and the medium ones are called bran and wheat gold, husk gold."
Nuggets of gold are generally produced in large gold mines. Finding a nugget of gold is equivalent to finding a large gold mine.
It's just that at that time, Master Gui and his group hid in Jinzi Mountain for several months. They didn't find any nuggets of gold, but instead lost several brothers.
Ultimately, only Ah Shui and Master Gui walked out alive.
I asked Ah Shui, since Jinzi Mountain is so dangerous, why he was still willing to bring us here.
He smiled and said, "My life belongs to Master Gui. Whatever he tells me to do, I will do it."
"Aren't you afraid of death?" Fatty asked.
"Death?" Ah Shui said, "What's there to be afraid of in death?"
Hearing his answer, Fatty and I were stunned. He continued, "You're not from here, so you don't understand. Death is not frightening at all. The most frightening thing is to live without food, to be looked down upon. That's more terrifying than death."
Ah Shui hadn't been to school and grew up here, so his views were somewhat different from ours.
However, what he said was not unreasonable.
In the evening, I specifically found an open space to camp. The jungle here was quite damp. Sitting on the ground felt like sitting in water; my pants would get wet as soon as I sat down.
Moreover, there were many leeches and venomous snakes in this jungle.
As for snakes, as long as you don't provoke them, they won't attack you. Unfortunately, the leeches were truly troublesome.
If you weren't paying attention, they would jump onto you and start sucking blood as soon as they touched your skin.
We tied our trouser legs with ropes to prevent leeches from crawling in.
Fatty and I had applied some leech repellent, so it wasn't too bad.
Ah Shui, on the other hand, didn't care. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt, half-length pants, with his trouser legs tied at the thighs, leaving other parts exposed.
It was fine when walking on dry ground, but when passing through damp areas with deeper grass,
As soon as he came out, his entire body was almost covered in leeches, densely packed, which was terrifying to look at.
But he, on the other hand, looked relaxed and at ease. He patted the bellies of the leeches with his hands, and soon the leeches fell off one by one.
The leeches in this place were not small. Here, they called these leeches "water leeches."
They were all as big as a thumb, with stripes all over their bodies. Once they bit a person, you couldn't just pull them off; you had to pat their bellies for them to fall off.
Ah Shui made a very large bonfire. After drying the ground, he moved the bonfire aside, allowing us to rest in the dried area.
Although the environment was harsh, Fatty and I didn't mind, as we had been to places more adverse than this before.
We took turns resting to ensure that everyone could get some sleep.
After daylight, we ate something and then continued deeper into the jungle.
We walked for the entire morning and finally reached Jinzi Mountain.
Jinzi Mountain was surrounded by thick fog. You could see the fog from the outside.
Ah Shui said that Jinzi Mountain was foggy twenty-four hours a day. The fog would only lessen around noon, which was the best time to travel. After noon, we would have to find a place to set up camp.