After we arrived in Taiyuan, we first went to Yatou's university professor. Yatou took care of us, so he settled us in the house where he lived. The professor had a daughter who heard abroad that the professor had died and never returned. When Yatou told her, she gritted her teeth.

In the next few days, we went to Nangong to meet old friends and chatted. We helped the young master look at shops for a few days and made one or two thousand yuan.

When the girl returned to school, she reported that she had tried many ways to learn more about her through connections, but to no avail. The senior officials didn't say anything, but she heard that two people from the People's Liberation Army who helped carry the coffin died.

We felt uncomfortable when we heard the news, but when we got to the squadron and asked, they kept it a secret and couldn't ask anything. The young master tried bribery and was almost sent to the police station.

I see that nothing has been gained and this is not a solution. We summarized it in the room. I wrote a note saying that if everything is true, this is how things should unfold.

A few years ago, the River-Suppressing Dragon Coffin was excavated by the Yellow River. Because it was more than a thousand years ago, it is impossible to estimate the age of the River-Suppressing Dragon Coffin. Who buried it in the Yellow River and for what purpose?

We can't verify it either.

Then Liu Qu, the king of Guangchuan, sank the river-suppressing dragon coffin into the Yellow River. It is assumed that he built a high-standard tomb for the dragon coffin in order to satisfy the people's complaints.

For some unknown reason, a hole formed in the top of the tomb a few years later, perhaps caused by the iron claws of the dredging ship.

A year ago, Wang Quansheng accidentally put an iron rake into a hole while cleaning garbage in the Yellow River. As a result, bronze vessels were fished out of the hole.

Six months ago, Wang Quansheng came to Taiyuan, met me, and sold the bronze to me (he died mysteriously in my room a few days later.)

Also half a year ago, I went to his hometown to look for his family, but to no avail, but I discovered the hole on the top of the Yellow River Ancient Tomb. But when I entered the hole, I had an accident. Shan Jun, who was traveling with me, died in the hole.

Four months ago, the professor started the archeology of the Yellow River Tombs.

A week ago the professor died. Two archaeological PLA members died.

I patted the paper and said: "There is no pattern in time, but assuming that the two People's Liberation Army soldiers had the same expression when they died, then there must be some reason for this kind of death, and this reason must be related to that ancient tomb. In fact, I am now

What I want to know most is————”

"Will it be our turn?" the young master continued and I nodded. Both of us looked bitter.

When it comes to the coffin, some of the dead people touched it and some did not; when it comes to the ancient tomb, some of the people entered it and some did not. But what did these people touch? What do these people have in common?

?

If everyone has touched something, after thinking about it, there is really only one thing, and that is the silt in the Yellow River's Duanshui River. But many people have touched this thing. Didn't Lao Cai say that many people go there to swim? And the yellow sand

Factory work is also inevitable.

I thought about it and had no idea, so the young master said don't worry. I don't know if it will be our turn to be idle for more than half a year. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

I sighed and thought to myself, it would be great if it was really a coincidence, but at this time, I couldn't lie to myself.

In the next few days, I was thinking about every detail of this issue, and I thought that I had been staying in Taiyuan for half a month before I knew it. At the end of the month, a few people came from above and said that the school was going to take back the house, so we had to help the girl move.

The number of books in the professor's house was beyond my imagination. It took us three days to sort out all the big stuff. By this time, the whole house was empty and only a writing desk was left. The girl said she didn't want this writing desk after using it for more than ten years. I took it.

When I pulled out the drawer of my desk, I found that it was locked.

I thought there might be money or something valuable inside, so I used a wrench to pull the drawer out.

My idea was just to see if there was anything valuable inside that I could sort out and bring to the girl. But after I opened the drawer, I found that there were still documents inside. It seemed that his most precious things were these documents.

I was sorting through it and feeling a little discouraged. Then I saw a notebook with a large pile of manuscript paper at the bottom of the drawer.

There were a lot of documents in the notebook. On the cover of the notebook was written a line: Archaeological information related to ancient coffins in the Yellow River (not for reference).

There is a signature of the professor under that line and the date should be a month ago.

I felt a sense of sadness that he had written this line a month ago but it was no longer there. However, this topic always seems strange to people. What is "relevant reference materials"? Since it has already been referenced, why is it "not used as a reference"?

I stayed for a moment before opening the notebook. I saw a large pile of manuscript paper and many photos inside.

I roughly flipped through those things and the pictures written on them all showed some reliefs inside ancient tombs. The documents were all written in traditional Chinese. When I saw the dates above, it was obvious that the originals of these documents were from before liberation.

The writing of traditional Chinese characters was opposite to what it is now. I couldn't understand it very well, so I read a few pages and planned to put it back. But coincidentally, a few familiar photos caught my attention at this time.

It was a color photo. In the photo, there was actually a dead person hanging on a beam. When I saw the figure of this person, it seemed familiar. After thinking about it, I realized that the person in the photo was actually Lao Cai!

Lao Cai is dead?

I took a breath and hurriedly turned over the photo to read the file notes behind the photo.

Cai Minglong died suddenly on August 24, 1997.

I pulled out all the photos attached to the document and my whole body felt cold. I saw more than a dozen photos, all of which had ferocious smiling faces. Lao Cai's nephew also died seven days after Lao Cai's death. There were many more that I didn't know.

I knew everyone but I could tell that they were probably the People's Liberation Army who were at the ancient tomb excavation site at that time because they all carried the entry and exit passes of the archaeological team.

I pulled out a piece of paper and saw a long list of people's names, followed by a long list of death times, and then there were big "?" written on the side.

When I calculated the time, all the people's deaths were irregular and seemed to happen at any time.

I almost suffocated and looked down. I saw my name and then a line of small words written on the side: According to the inscription, I calculated that my birth date would be this month and that I would die suddenly on this day. There is not much time left.

I screamed and my mind went blank. Sure enough, those old men had deciphered the content of the inscription. What information did the inscription contain? What is the chain of estimated birth dates? Can we know the date of death of these people based on these inscriptions?

I looked down and saw that under the professor's own name there were some people's names. The one under him was called Lao Bian, and then down there it was me. The ones behind me in line were the young master and the girl.

The more I thought about it, the more I panicked. I pinched my fingers and calculated that the professor had written on it that my death date was only seven days from today. The young master and the girl could not help feeling a chill almost the day after me.

I no longer had the intention to tidy up the room for the professor, so I secretly took out this item and put it in my bag, then took a taxi to Nangong to discuss it with the young master.

The young master was quarreling with a foreigner trying to sell his fake enamel product. When he was talking, his saliva was flying. I slapped the foreigner twice in the face and coaxed the foreigner away and said: "Get out there! I take it!" Then I gave him the document directly and said: "Have a look.

What's this!"

The young master shocked me. He was in a bad mood when he saw that business had gone bad. He felt a little angry in his heart. He saw that my expression was very serious, so he didn't come out. He reluctantly took it, turned it over, and threw it aside. He said to me: "I can see the word crab."

don't know!"

I knew he didn't even look into it, picked up the file, turned to the photo, and showed it to him. The young master's expression suddenly changed when he took a look at it.

"What's going on? Where did you get this thing?" he asked me.

I said truthfully: "I found it when I was packing up the old man's belongings. Look at what's written on the back."

He sat up straight and took a closer look at the documents at the back. His face became uglier as he read them. Finally, he slammed the documents together and asked me, "Do you believe it or not that we will fail in a few days?"

I didn’t know how to answer him for a while. He said I believed it, which felt very hasty. But it was a bit too disconcerting to say that I didn’t believe that Wang Quansheng’s death and the professor’s death were right in front of me. Moreover, this note must have belonged to the professor. The date of his death calculated above was indeed

On the day he died, a person of his status would not have written meaningless things in his notes.

The young master raised his fingers and calculated and said: "Professor, if your calculation is correct, then we will die one day later than you. Now that one day has passed, doesn't it mean that I only have seven days to live?"

I said: "Don't believe that this is just a piece of paper so soon. It has no scientific basis."

He smiled and suddenly said: "Well, the one behind the professor is Lao Bian. If this legend is true, then he is dead today." He laughed and intervened: "It's impossible, impossible, Professor.

How could he die of a heart attack in such a condition?"

After saying this, even he himself felt that his tone was a bit strange and laughed at himself.

When I saw the way he spoke, he seemed to recognize Lao Bian and asked him what was going on.

The young master blushed and scratched his head. He didn't know what to say. I pressed him again and again before he revealed it. It turns out that after I returned to Shanghai, he went to Wang Ruonan's work unit and tried to chase her. He went back and forth, but he didn't catch her. Instead, he got to know a lot of people and Wang Ruonan.

Otherwise, they wouldn't come to Shanghai together to find me.

Lao Bian is a technician in their archaeological team who is responsible for cleaning and repairing bronzes and sanding pottery. He is a veteran employee who is very good at sanding. He is responsible for the restoration of many very important national treasures.

I looked at the indicator that there were still five or six hours left before Nangong closed and said, "Let's do it! Don't you know him? Why don't we go to that old Bian for a drink later and try to trick him about those inscriptions?"

Stay with him until twelve o'clock to see if anything happens to him. If nothing happens, it's the best indication that our materialism has achieved a huge victory. If something really happens, then we can also know what's going on.

.”

After saying this, I felt a little funny myself. Those of us who received an atheist education are now talking about these things that are completely different from our worldview, and we are talking about it so seriously. If others know, there will be no place for this face.

Unexpectedly, the young master actually agreed to my proposal. It seemed that he also had this idea and said: "Anyway, the whole unit is in chaos now. The project here will not be started until the new leader comes. Today, he must have just treated it as if he had nothing to do."

It's okay for him to reminisce about old times. This guy is quite interesting. I'll introduce him to you."

We went to a roadside shop and bought a few bottles of soju and side dishes. We also straightened our clothes. I followed the young master to Wang Ruonan's unit. Since Wang Ruonan was not there, we asked a few people, found Lao Bian's dormitory, and knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man. I heard the young master greet him and knew he was Lao Bian.

Lao Bian was a little surprised to see that it was the young master, because he didn't know the young master or me, but he was an alcoholic. Once he saw the soju in our hands, he couldn't resist our entry.

We entered the room, spread newspapers on the floor, and brought in the wine and meat. We had been so panicked for the past few days that we didn't have time to have a good meal. Now it was just the right time to have a toothpaste and eat him to his heart's content.

The young master is a master of public relations and is very good at talking. I can't hide my words. The two of them quickly had several drinks and introduced each other to each other. I came under the guise of asking him for advice on bronzeware and I blew him off a few times.

After a while, Lao Bian's nose turned red, his tongue immediately became louder, and he began to lose control of his mouth.

For people like us who like to drink, it takes a very short time from not being drunk to not being drunk at all, which is called entering the state.

However, after drinking to such a state, he said he was confused. In fact, he knew better than anyone else. Lao Bian took a sip of the drink without making any witty remarks and suddenly asked us: "If you two have anything to do with me, just tell me. Don't be careless here."

When I heard this, he really understood that people are difficult to deal with. I looked at the young master and said to myself, "You better tell me. Otherwise, why don't you kick us out if I say we'll wait here to see if you die at night?"

The young master smiled and said: "Old Bian really showed you that the two of us who came to your place really have something to ask of you."

Lao Bian said: "What's so embarrassing about this? You're famous for being a snobbish person who doesn't do anything good. You spent a lot of money today and came to my place to treat me to a drink. What kind of friendship do I have with you? I know it's bad luck. I can't control this drink."

Don't worry if the bugs got into your way. Since they ate you, if you need help, just say so. As long as it's not murder and arson, everything else will be easy."

When I heard you talk like this, it was obvious that he knew we had something to ask him for and was determined to scold him first. However, we really didn’t dare to get angry, so we nodded and apologized, and the young master said, "Are you serious?

I can’t tell you are still a cheerful person!”

Lao Bian opened his mouth and said, "Let's talk about it. Let's continue drinking after that."
To be continued...