Observing the familiar surroundings, the sarcophagus in the center, and the murals on the stone walls, I felt as if I hadn't traveled abroad but remained in my own country.
How could there be an ancient Chinese tomb here?
After descending, Fatty had the same reaction as I did. Looking at the layout and structure, he couldn't help but ask me, "Brother Xiang, is this a tomb?"
"It should be."
"Is this our Chinese tomb?"
"Mm."
"Why would there be an ancient Chinese tomb here?"
I shook my head, at a loss for an answer for Fatty.
However, Fatty didn't seem to care about the answer. He walked directly towards the sarcophagus, looking like he intended to open it.
"What are you doing?" I quickly grabbed him.
Fatty turned to me and said, "I just want to see what's inside."
"Don't mess around. The hole we came down from looks like a tomb-robbing tunnel. If there's a tunnel, this ancient tomb has most likely been thoroughly looted."
Hearing this, Fatty's eyes darted. "Brother Xiang, you mean the wooden house we entered was a diversion? This tomb was already discovered by the person who built the wooden house..."
Before Fatty finished speaking, Ah Shui came over. "You're saying this is an ancient tomb?"
Fatty and I exchanged glances. I nodded. "Yes... Brother Ah Shui, as you know, we deal in antiques, so we can tell if it's an ancient tomb at a glance."
Ah Shui was an amateur and didn't quite understand. After I said that, he naturally believed me.
"I heard you saying that this ancient tomb seems to belong to our ancestors? How did it end up here?" Ah Shui asked.
"I'm wondering about that too," I said. "Let me take a look around first."
Holding my flashlight, I walked to the wall and began examining the murals.
Besides the murals, there were some characters on the wall, all of which, upon closer inspection, were in Song Dynasty font.
From the characters and the pictures, it seemed to be a record about a woman.
The murals depicted a woman who led many people to cultivate in barren land and taught children to read, among other things. Later, this woman died, and she was buried in this place.
The murals were too crude, with no artistic skill, just simple illustrated records.
Some of the accompanying text was also crooked, looking worse than my own handwriting.
"Brother Xiang, could the woman mentioned here be Nuwa?" Fatty leaned over and asked.
"Nuwa? Did you see anything about mending the sky?" I retorted impatiently.
"Although there's no mending the sky, the records here are quite similar. Look, this woman led them in farming, weaving, and literacy..."
As he spoke, Fatty's eyes lit up. "Could this be Wu Zetian?"
"Fatty, if you really don't know history, please don't speak," I said irritably. "Wu Zetian lived in the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty used Kai script, while this is Song Dynasty font."
"Kai script and Song Dynasty font don't look that different..."
"Alright, go find somewhere cool to hang out."
"Then who do you think this woman is?" Fatty asked.
I pondered for a moment. "She was probably just a noble."
"A noble? Then why did she come here?"
"How would I know?"
Fatty asked, "Then you must know which dynasty this tomb belongs to?"
"It looks like the Song Dynasty."
"Song Dynasty? Did people come to the Philippines in the Song Dynasty? How did they get here? Did they fly here like us?" Fatty taunted me.
Just as I was about to retort, I suddenly thought of something!
Southern Song Dynasty, Battle of Yamen, Lu Song!
When the Japanese pirates invaded us in the past, they said something: "After Yamen, no more Zhonghua; after the fall of the Ming, no more Zhongguo."
The Yamen mentioned in this saying refers to the Battle of Yamen.
The Battle of Yamen, also known as the Battle of Yameng, was a large-scale naval battle between the Song Dynasty army and the Mongol army at Yamen in the second year of Xiangxing of the Southern Song Dynasty!
This battle was the decisive confrontation between the Song and Yuan dynasties. Ultimately, the Yuan army, despite being outnumbered, achieved victory, and the Southern Song Dynasty perished.
It is said that when the Southern Song Dynasty was annihilated, Prime Minister Lu Xiufu carried the young Emperor Zhao Bing into the sea, and the remaining loyal officials followed suit, with an additional hundred thousand soldiers and civilians leaping into the sea to their deaths.
Thus, the Yuan Dynasty unified China.
After the Battle of Yamen, some Song people fled to Nanyang and established Lu Song, while others went to the Americas to settle down.
This means that the ancient tomb we are in could very well have been left behind by the descendants of Lu Song.
Thinking about this, I felt it was highly probable.
I shared my speculation with Fatty, who listened, somewhat bewildered, clearly not understanding. "Did our ancestors really come to the Philippines?"
I nodded. "It's very likely. Otherwise, how do you explain this ancient tomb?"
Fatty licked his lips and asked, "Then, Brother Xiang, are antiques from the Southern Song Dynasty valuable?"
"Are you thinking of opening the coffin?" I asked.
Fatty grinned and nodded. "Since we're here, wouldn't it be a shame not to take a look..."
"I already told you, the hole we came in through is a tomb-robbing tunnel. This place has already been visited by someone else."
"So what? What if they left behind some good stuff? If we can't get the meat, drinking the soup is fine too."
I thought for a moment and looked around. "Alright, let's open it and see."
"Great!"
Fatty then called Ah Shui over to help open the sarcophagus.
After the three of us struggled to open the sarcophagus, we found it empty, with nothing inside.
Actually, I had anticipated this result. According to Ah Shui, when they were here before, they found a golden Buddha in the wooden house.
That golden Buddha was likely taken from this ancient tomb. Since someone had already tampered with the contents here, they wouldn't have left anything behind.
In other words, this ancient tomb was discovered by that mysterious old man, and the reason he lived here for so long was probably to take out the items one by one.
To think I'd encounter tomb robbers even when I'm abroad. It's truly a frustrating situation.
"Damn it, they didn't even leave us a drop of soup!" Fatty grumbled. "This is too unethical, leaving nothing behind."
"I told you before, if they could come here to rob tombs, they were clearly professionals. Would professionals leave behind any scraps for you?" I said.
Fatty sighed. "It seems our trip here has been a complete waste of time. We didn't find the golden Buddha, and the ancient tomb we found is empty."
"Fatty, it's not impossible for you not to have come for nothing," I said with a smile.
Fatty leaned closer. "Brother Xiang, what do you mean?"
I pointed at the sarcophagus, gloating. "Look, that thing is also valuable. Why don't you find a way to get it out?"
Upon hearing this, Fatty shot me a fierce glare. "Fine, Brother Xiang, you're just enjoying my misfortune, aren't you?"