Liu Dashao glanced at his watch. It was only a little past two in the afternoon. Thinking it was still early, he told Fan Debiao and Jackson to find a restaurant to catch up.
Inside the restaurant, Liu Dashao ordered a large table full of dishes and two bottles of the strong traditional white spirit.
Fan Debiao held a chicken leg in one hand and raised a wine cup in the other, drinking from both sides while eating messily and ungracefully.
Liu Dashao scolded him, saying that after staying in a sophisticated city like Hong Kong for so long, he had turned out like this. But Fan Debiao replied that this was real manliness—eating meat heartily and drinking heavily, the true character of a bold northeastern man.
After finishing a chicken leg in just a few bites, Fan Debiao wiped his mouth and said, “You know, this tomb raiding mission looks promising. Just look at how Wang Feifei insists on finding that coffin. In my opinion, that expedition team is nothing but a group of grave robbers.”
Liu Dashao replied to Fan Debiao, “These foreigners don’t do tomb raiding. Your mind just doesn’t think straight.”
Jackson, overhearing Liu and Fan discussing his company, chimed in, “What? Our company is an archaeological team, not tomb robbers. Does tomb raiding mean archaeology in China?”
This question momentarily stunned both Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao. They had been so caught up in their argument that they’d forgotten there was a high-ranking member of the expedition team nearby. Fortunately, Jackson didn’t understand the term “tomb raiding,” though interpreting it as archaeology wasn’t too bad. Liu and Fan exchanged glances and nodded approvingly at Jackson.
Jackson, delighted, said, “Haha… I finally guessed it right.”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao exchanged nervous glances, thinking to themselves, “Looks like we’ll have to keep misleading him about the meaning of tomb raiding forever.”
Suddenly, Liu Dashao remembered Fan Debiao’s role as a feng shui consultant and asked, “Fan Debiao, are you really so skilled in feng shui that even someone as sharp as Wang Feifei had to invite you?”
Fan Debiao placed his wine cup on the table proudly and said, “Of course! During my years in Xi’an, I learned a lot from Da Guagua. I’ve mastered techniques like locating dragon veins, identifying auspicious sites, star observation, and physiognomy.”
Liu Dashao was surprised, never expecting Fan Debiao to actually have some skills. He immediately urged him to explain a bit more.
Fan Debiao, seeing everyone’s interest, got excited and began, “Well, the Taiji gives rise to the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols give rise to the Eight Trigrams, and the Eight Trigrams evolve into the sixteen-character feng shui secret techniques. These sixteen-character techniques are incredible, that is to say…”
He suddenly couldn’t continue, stammering for a while without getting another word out.
Liu Dashao scoffed at Fan Debiao, saying, “You only know how to talk about this stuff. I learned more than this when I was ten! Was Wang Feifei blind or deaf back then?”
Fan Debiao replied helplessly, “Wang Feifei grew up overseas and didn’t know much about Chinese feng shui. I was introduced by Jackson, and I just talked randomly for a bit, and she was blown away.”
Liu Dashao, shaking his head, said to Jackson, “You’ve been fooled by Fan Debiao. Maybe we shouldn’t let him come along; he’ll just get in the way.”
Fan Debiao was upset but remained silent for a while, unable to respond.
Jackson said, “It’s okay. He’s a good shot; he’ll be useful when the time comes.”
Hearing Jackson praise his shooting skills, Fan Debiao exclaimed gratefully, “Jackson truly understands me.”
Liu Dashao glanced at Fan Debiao. When had he started speaking in such classical phrases? It seemed this fat guy’s biggest strength was his old-fashioned talk. Considering the strange things in the desert, bringing him along to shoot a few scorpions wouldn’t be bad. So he dropped the matter.
Jackson said, “Let’s drink.”
Fan Debiao raised his cup and said, “Exactly, be a real man. Brothers, let’s have one together.” He brought the cup to his mouth and downed it in one go, followed by several more.
Liu Dashao and Jackson, needing to catch a flight that night, didn’t drink as much as Fan Debiao.
It was already past seven when dinner ended. Liu Dashao and Jackson sobered Fan Debiao up a bit before heading to the meeting point to join the main group.
When they arrived, everyone else was already prepared. The three went to collect their gear, and Wang Feifei took the lead and started walking.
Liu Dashao looked up at the stars and muttered to himself, “The road ahead will be tough.” Shaking his head, he followed.
Everyone boarded the flight to Xinjiang on time. Fan Debiao, overly excited and still a bit drunk, immediately fell asleep as soon as he got on the plane, mumbling about chicken legs and duck wings, making Liu Dashao feel rather embarrassed.
Lin Miaoke, Wu Bai, Sun Li, and Tiao Zai were unusually cheerful in their seats, joking and playing around. No one could tell whether it was their first time flying or if it was the desert expedition that made them so excited.
Wang Zhicai and Wang Feifei were each holding a pile of documents, discussing the expedition plan back and forth.
Liu Dashao noticed Jackson sitting quietly and went over to ask about the team’s specific arrangements for the expedition.
Jackson explained that, according to his understanding, the coffin they were after belonged to the last golden queen, and the real purpose of this trip was to excavate her tomb.
Liu Dashao muttered to himself, “Wow, Fan Debiao was actually right. The expedition team’s real purpose is indeed tomb raiding.”
Thinking further, Liu Dashao realized that the Nice Expedition Team was a private archaeological company, and any artifacts found would be kept in their own museum. Perhaps the board members even engaged in illegal artifact smuggling. At this thought, Liu Dashao felt like he had fallen into a den of thieves.
Seeing Liu Dashao looking worried, Jackson assumed he was concerned about the dangers of the desert and reassured him, “Don’t worry about the dangers in the desert. Our company has significant resources. We’ve stationed rescue personnel at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. If we don’t emerge within ten days, they’ll launch a full-scale search.”
Liu Dashao looked at Jackson and thought, “Who’s worried about that? This kid really thinks I’m a country bumpkin!”
As he chatted with Jackson, Liu Dashao began to feel sleepy and excused himself, saying he needed to rest well for tomorrow’s desert journey. He covered his head and fell asleep.
Just as Liu Dashao was dozing off, someone shook him awake. It was Jackson, announcing that they had arrived in Xinjiang.
Everyone gathered their belongings and disembarked.
As they exited the airport, a man dressed like a driver was waving at them continuously. At first, Liu Dashao thought he was just a taxi driver trying to pick up passengers. But after Wang Feifei explained, he realized this was the driver sent to take them to Aksu.
The driver was a Xinjiang native named Anshike, who spoke fluent Mandarin. It seemed that the people of Xinjiang were increasingly united and integrated.
Anshike told everyone that the journey to Aksu would take at least half a day and suggested they rest on the way.
The vehicle was a luxurious tour bus, very comfortable. Liu Dashao and Fan Debiao had already slept on the plane and couldn’t fall asleep now. Others, probably excited the previous night, quickly fell asleep as soon as they got on the bus.
Seeing everyone asleep, Fan Debiao went to talk to Liu Dashao about tomb raiding, saying that the golden queen must have countless treasures buried underground, which was a shame to leave there. He suggested they take a few items to help fund their less-than-comfortable lifestyle.
Liu Dashao thought about it and agreed. There were many ancient kingdoms in the desert, filled with treasures. Even if the Chinese didn’t dig them up, foreign explorers would be more than happy to take them.
In this desert, digging for gold wasn’t quite grave robbing. Perhaps the golden kingdom wasn’t even founded by the Chinese. Thinking this way, Liu Dashao decided to let Fan Debiao have a go. After all, their own country’s treasures were better kept at home.
Liu Dashao warned Fan Debiao, “Whatever you dig up, don’t sell it to foreigners. You need to have some national pride.”
Fan Debiao patted his chest and said, “Come on, look at my face. I’m definitely a patriot. Even if I sell a few things half-price to fellow Chinese, I won’t let any foreigner take our treasures. You can rest assured.”
Liu Dashao was so moved by Fan Debiao’s words that he almost cried and said, “Fan Debiao, you’re a real man.”
Fan Debiao nodded proudly upon hearing Liu Dashao’s praise.
Suddenly, Liu Dashao remembered that Fan Debiao hadn’t mentioned Da Guagua much during their recent conversations. He asked Fan Debiao about Da Guagua’s recent condition, since they had been through life and death together in the Yin Mountains.
At the mention of Da Guagua, Fan Debiao sighed deeply and said, “Not long ago, Da Guagua and a group of people went tomb raiding in Xi’an. Some inexperienced ones were killed by arrows in the tomb corridor. Before I and Da Guagua even reached the main burial chamber, we encountered a mummy. Even a black donkey’s hoof couldn’t deal with it. Finally, Da Guagua…”
Before Fan Debiao could finish, Liu Dashao interrupted, “What happened? Did Da Guagua die honorably?”
Fan Debiao replied, “He didn’t die, but he was seriously injured and is still bedridden. I came along on this trip to earn some money for his surgery.”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao sighed. This man valued brotherhood more than anything else, which was the one thing Liu Dashao truly admired in him.
After hearing Fan Debiao’s story, Liu Dashao became even more determined to dig up some treasures, as he realized Fan Debiao’s salary might not be enough to cover Da Guagua’s medical expenses. Liu Dashao, out of both sentiment and principle, couldn’t let Da Guagua remain bedridden.
Thus, Liu Dashao’s main purpose for joining this trip shifted from consulting on feng shui to tomb raiding.
They arrived in Aksu around 1 PM. It seemed they hadn’t arrived on schedule. As soon as they got off the bus, a large group of people was already waiting for them.
These people were neatly dressed in yellow emergency uniforms marked with the word “tour”—evidently the rescue team Jackson had mentioned. Looking around, there were people from various countries, mostly French.
A team leader approached them as they disembarked, exchanged a few words with Wang Feifei in French, and then went off to continue organizing everyone’s work.
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