The moment Shorty yelled, the cat was out of the bag!

The three of us had secretly captured someone, afraid of being discovered by the authorities. Who knew that what we feared most would come to pass? Jiang Yongguang actually came to our door in the middle of the night to deliver medicine.

Hearing Shorty's cry for help, Jiang Yongguang immediately became vigilant. He squinted at me and Uncle Mei, asking what exactly was going on.

Uncle Mei quickly tried to cover it up, saying, "It's nothing, just Hu Wazi playing around with his own brothers. Nothing for you to worry about! Nothing at all!"

But Shorty seized this rare opportunity, desperately pleading for help, shouting, "Help! They're going to kill me! Help! Help!"

Hu Wazi, enraged, grabbed his neck and said fiercely, "Try yelling again! I'll snap your neck right now!"

Shorty immediately became quiet, not daring to make another sound.

But he had already shouted twice, and Jiang Yongguang had heard everything. With his years of criminal investigation experience, how could he not tell that there was a problem in the cellar?

He didn't say much more to Uncle Mei, but turned to me and said, "Little Chen, you should have a sense of law, knowing what you can do and what you can't. Some mistakes, once made, can't be undone, understand?"

I nodded gently.

Jiang Yongguang pointed to the cellar and asked, "Who exactly are you holding? What are you planning to do?"

Before I could answer, Uncle Mei quickly said, "It's like this, we're assisting in a case. Hu Wazi happened to catch a tomb raider today, and he's locked in the cellar! He's helping your Xiaoling Guard with their work!"

Jiang Yongguang frowned and said, "Nonsense! Catching tomb raiders is the Xiaoling Guard's job, it's not for the people to interfere. Tomb raiders are a group of extremely vicious criminals. If you arrest them yourselves, what if you get hurt?"

After saying that, he climbed down into the cellar. When he looked closely, he saw that the "extremely vicious" tomb raider had been beaten black and blue, tied up on the ground. The "people's hero" Hu Wazi stood beside him in a commanding manner, grabbing the tomb raider's neck.

Jiang Yongguang was speechless. He pointed to Shorty and asked, "He's the tomb raider you're talking about?"

Hu Wazi quickly reported, "Absolutely! His master is Tu Xingsun! After some interrogation, he's confessed everything. He admitted that he followed Tu Xingsun on many tomb raiding expeditions, and also cooperated with Zhiguo Ren, Boss Wang, several times!"

Jiang Yongguang nodded slightly and said, "I see. We'll re-interrogate him on the specifics. We'll need you to cooperate with us and make a statement then."

Shorty was dumbfounded when he heard this, because Jiang Yongguang's tone clearly indicated that he was with the authorities!

He didn't expect that his cries for help would actually attract the authorities!

This was the scenario that tomb raiders least wanted to encounter!

Actually, according to the original plan of Uncle Mei and me, we would interrogate Shorty for a night and then let him go. Neither of us wanted to make things difficult for him, since he wasn't the murderer of Aunt Mei.

But this guy had to shout and scream, alarming the Xiaoling Guard, so he could only go to jail.

I just hoped that this kid hadn't committed too serious a crime, so he wouldn't be executed.

After confirming that Shorty's life wasn't in danger and giving Hu Wazi a few more instructions, Jiang Yongguang climbed out of the cellar.

He pointed inside the house and said to Uncle Mei and me, "Let's go inside and talk."

We went into the house together, closed the door, and Jiang Yongguang got straight to the point, "I know what you want to do. You're looking for the murderer of Aunt Mei. We're on the same page. The murderer of Aunt Mei must be among Boss Wang's gang of rats."

Since Jiang Yongguang had revealed his hand, Uncle Mei and I didn't hide anything either.

I nodded and said, "That's right, we want to avenge Aunt Mei, and we also want to find Little Mei's whereabouts. As long as we wipe out Boss Wang's group of rats, both things can be resolved."

I thought Jiang Yongguang would definitely try to dissuade us, but he didn't. Instead, he was very supportive and said, "I understand your feelings, and I won't interfere with your plan. In fact, if you investigate in secret, it might be more effective than if we, the authorities, investigate."

Uncle Mei and I didn't expect him to say that. Uncle Mei quickly asked, "Really?"

"Really."

Jiang Yongguang nodded emphatically and said,

"Tomb raiders are rats, and we are cats. Rats have a natural instinct for cats, and they'll go around them if they see them. But you're different. When you approach the rats, they might not be able to detect it."

I said, "That makes sense. Like Shorty today, he almost thought I was a fellow tomb raider."

Jiang Yongguang smiled and asked, "What? Did you use the secret code I taught you to greet him?"

I smiled shyly and admitted, "Yes, it fooled him right away."

Jiang Yongguang took out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, gave one to Uncle Mei, and put one in his own mouth. He lit them slowly, took a puff, and asked, "How is it? Did you find out any information? Is that rat stubborn? If he's stubborn enough, hand him over to me, and I'll pry him open in two days, even if he has an iron mouth!"

Uncle Mei scoffed, "No need! That kid's bones are very soft. A few punches and he'll confess everything. He didn't participate in this tomb raid, but he heard that Boss Wang's people were collecting goods in the nearby antique market. Boss Wang probably doesn't know that the ancient Shu jade slip is in your hands. He still thinks it was washed into the Tuo River by the undercurrent, and wants to try his luck to see if he can find a bargain in the antique market."

As soon as Jiang Yongguang heard this, his eyes lit up!

"This is a great opportunity! Since we know that Boss Wang's people are looking for bargains in the antique market, we can just use bait to fish! He wants the ancient Shu jade slip, so we'll sell the ancient Shu jade slip to him! Then we can follow the vine and catch this big fish, right?"

I quickly asked, "Are we going to use a national treasure as bait? Isn't that too risky?"

Jiang Yongguang laughed and said, "How could we use a real ancient Shu jade slip as bait? We'll definitely use a fake! Don't worry, I know a few ancient artifact experts who specialize in making fakes. Even experts will be fooled by the fakes they make!"

"That good?" I couldn't help but question.

Jiang Yongguang said proudly, "I'm not bragging, but ten years ago, when antiques were very popular in China, a large number of counterfeiters and traffickers emerged from all over the country. Some of these experts have family traditions, and their methods can be described as ingenious. The fakes they make are so realistic that even some experts have been fooled and collected them into provincial museums..."

I was stunned as I listened, feeling that this matter was too bizarre, but since it was Jiang Yongguang who said it, the authenticity was definitely guaranteed.

Seeing that I didn't believe him, Jiang Yongguang explained in more detail, "One year, a batch of Northern Wei pottery figurines appeared in Panjiayuan, Beijing, and they were priceless. After expert appraisal, these pottery figurines were immediately taken to the museum. But the strange thing was that the next day, another batch of the same pottery figurines appeared. The experts came over again to appraise them, and the conclusion was still genuine! After this batch of pottery figurines was sold to the museum, the same Northern Wei pottery figurines appeared again in the Tianjin antique market, two hundred kilometers away!"

At this time, Uncle Mei said, "I've heard this news. The pottery figurines and Tang tri-color pottery made by this master craftsman can be mistaken for real ones. Even experts can't tell the difference. It caused quite a stir back then, and the whole country was shocked!"

Jiang Yongguang nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "I know two experts with such skills, and one of them happens to live not far away. As long as we can get him to take action, you can have as many ancient Shu jade slips as you want."