Chapter 80: He Is a Grave Robber

“Tsk, tsk, why is it all vegetarian dishes today?” Su Rou picked at the food in my lunch box, somewhat displeased with my meal.

“Shut up. I did not ask you to eat it. I brought it from home. It is not like I carried it down from the mountain.” I lifted my lunch box and started eating. I had eaten breakfast too early, and I was already hungry.

“San Wa Er, your family has moved to the county seat, and life is still that hard? Every time you go home and come back, it is always vegetarian food. Come on, try some of my mom’s braised pork.” Su Rou said as he tried to scoop his braised pork into my lunch box.

I glanced at his braised pork. It was cut into neat square chunks, glossy and red-braised, looking quite good. Unfortunately, the fatty pieces made me feel sick just looking at them, and right now I preferred simple vegetarian food.

I blocked him with my chopsticks and said, “No need. Eat it yourself.”

“You are too polite.” Su Rou cursed, but did not insist. Instead, he muttered, “I eat a big lunch box every day, at most one and a half boxes. And I am this fat, still no girl likes me. You, San Wa Er, eat three big boxes and do not get fat at all, and you even look good. All the girls in school like you. Damn it, this is unfair. How am I supposed to live like this?”

I shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice and said, “Stop talking nonsense. There is even a hen in school that the teachers feed. Why not say all the hens in school like me? I have not seen a single girl like me.”

“That is because you do not talk to anyone. All day at school, your face is like a comic book page. Who would dare get close to you?”

“What do you mean a comic book face?”

“You know how people in comic books, once drawn, only have one expression. Even if you tear the page apart, the expression does not change. You are the same. From morning to afternoon at school, same expression. Is that not like a comic book?”

Su Rou was getting more and more ridiculous. I swallowed a mouthful of rice and said calmly, “Believe it or not, I will beat you up?”

“I believe it, I believe it!” Su Rou quickly said, but still could not help muttering, “What happened to the lively and cute San Wa Er from when he was little? Now he has become like this. I know, I read it in martial arts novels. This is the temperament of a master in training, like an immortal with a refined aura.”

I did not bother with him and said directly, “I asked you out for something serious.”

“What serious thing? Do not tell me it is about Liu Chunyan?”

“What does she have to do with anything?” I found it strange. Liu Chunyan was studying in town. Could it be she had run into something strange and needed my help?

“Hah, do not think I do not know. Liu Chunyan likes you. Every letter she sends to school for you, I am the one who collects it. She writes you a letter every week. I have counted.”

“I did not even read them. I threw them in the drawer. What could she possibly say? Either bragging about her grades or complaining that I bullied her back then.” I said indifferently. I thought she was a bit crazy. We were from the same village. She came back from town every week anyway. If she had something to say, she could just say it in person. Why write letters? I really had not read them.

As for whether she liked me, I did not care at all, and I did not like thinking about these things either. I already had enough going on every day.

“Forget it, stop talking nonsense. I called you out today to talk about Guo Er,” I said.

By now I had already finished one lunch box. I still had not gotten to the point, which showed how talkative Su Rou could be.

“Guo Er? Which Guo Er? The one from the market town?” Su Rou asked.

I nodded and told him everything my mother had said, word for word. Then I asked, “You are always wandering around the market town. I heard you have contact with him too. Do you know anything about this?”

“I knew you would ask about this,” Su Rou said. “Of course I know. The situation has gotten worse these past two days. They say he keeps vomiting blood from stomach pain, but as soon as he feels a little better, he gets up looking for food. Yesterday, I heard from Yan Jiang that he suddenly crawled out when no one was paying attention and ran to the rice jar to eat raw rice. By the time his family found him, his mouth was full of blood. Probably his throat was torn by the raw rice. Just think about that way of eating.”

“Who is Yan Jiang?” I asked.

“Seriously, San Wa Er, are you for real? Yan Jiang is my underling. But he is in your class.” Su Rou rolled his eyes, clearly speechless.

“Oh.” I did not care much. There were seventy or eighty students in one class. Not remembering was normal. I then thought of something and asked, “Tell me, why does your group contact Guo Er?”

“Do not make it sound so ugly, what do you mean my group? We contact him for money. Who in the market town does not know Guo Er has money? We are basically helping him do errands.”

“What errands?”

“This is the strange part. He often asks us to dig up old histories around here. Like which village once had a landlord, or where some officials were buried. Otherwise he makes us run around the mountains to check terrain.”

My heart suddenly gave a jolt.

Old memories of going to sell jade with Old Man Jiang surfaced again.

Back then I had already heard about grave robbing. Over the years, Old Man Jiang had also mentioned bits and pieces about digging underground tombs. That old man seemed to know everything.

In recent years, with the country pushing economic development, people with quick minds had started doing business. All kinds of previously unthinkable ways of making money had been dug up by ordinary people. I began to understand what Guo Er might be doing.

His situation was very likely because he had encountered something underground.

Seeing me fall silent, Su Rou became anxious.

“San Wa Er, why are you asking so much? You said this was serious. What did you find? Tell me.”

Su Rou was one of the few people who knew about me and Old Man Jiang. That snake spirit incident was unforgettable for him. As he grew older, he must have realized the execution story was just a joke.

But as he matured, he also understood that some things could never be spoken about.

What I and Old Man Jiang had were secrets buried deep in his heart. He never told anyone, but he could not deny that we were also his deepest curiosity.

Unfortunately, over the years, nothing exciting ever happened again for him to see.

I said nothing and suddenly punched his shoulder.

Su Rou grimaced in pain.

“San Wa Er, why did you hit me?”

“I am warning you. Do not go doing shady things for a bit of money just because of others. If it gets exposed, you will end up in jail.” I said seriously.

Seeing me so serious, Su Rou reacted the same way he did when Old Man Jiang got serious. He became uneasy.

“San Wa Er, what is going on?”

“You still do not understand what Guo Er is doing? He is robbing tombs. Do you know what grave robbing is? It means digging up people’s graves and stealing things to sell. It is illegal. And you are still blindly helping him.”

“Damn it, no wonder Guo Er has money these years. But graves, that is scary stuff. How valuable can things buried with dead people even be?”

“Gold, silver, jade. If you find the right tomb, there is plenty. There is nothing you cannot see, only things you cannot imagine.”

This kid was ignorant to a certain degree.

Su Rou fell silent for a while, thinking about something. After a long moment, his expression suddenly changed.

“San Wa Er, you mean Guo Er has run into something unclean? Am I… am I going to get involved too? I used to help him take a bunch of people all over the mountains!”

“I do not know whether Guo Er has run into something unclean, but I am sure of one thing. It has nothing to do with you.” I said calmly after finishing my second empty lunch box.

But Su Rou knew me too well. He suddenly stared at me and said, “San Wa Er, what are you planning to do?”

“I am thinking, after lunch, you will help me climb over the wall and take me to Guo Er’s house. I want to see what is going on.”

“You are not bringing Old Master Jiang?” Su Rou looked uneasy.