Chapter 18: Empowerment Ceremony

At half past eight that evening, three hours before departure, I knelt on the floor, unable to meet Wang Batou’s gaze.

There was no need to hide anything from him; I truthfully told the leader about the predicament Li Jing’s family was facing.

The room was dimly lit by a low-wattage bulb, casting a yellowish gloom. Wang Batou held a cigarette between his fingers, expressionless as he looked at me. The atmosphere between us was heavy.

Clenching my teeth, I decided to take the risk.

I kowtowed deeply to Wang Batou. “Leader, the Li mother and daughter saved my life. Now they’re in trouble. I, Xiang Yunfeng, believe in repaying kindness. Though I don’t know what will happen tonight when I go down the pit, I truly want to help those two.”

“Please, leader, lend me fifty thousand yuan!” I said as I bowed again.

Upon hearing my words, Wang Batou stubbed out his cigarette. He shook his head and said in a low voice, “Yunfeng, fifty thousand yuan is not a small sum; it’s nearly ten years’ savings for an ordinary family. I can lend it to you, but you must promise me one condition.”

“Please speak, leader,” I replied earnestly.

“This condition... you don’t need to know now. Just remember, you owe me this debt. In the future, you will repay Wang Xiansheng.”

“Do you agree?” Wang Batou’s eyes shone brightly as he stared at me.

I agreed immediately. I was doing it for Li Jing.

Wang Batou then went into his room. About ten minutes later, he returned carrying a bulging plastic bag.

He gently placed the bag on the table.

“Yunfeng, here’s the fifty thousand yuan, not a cent less. Take it,” he pushed the bag toward me.

It felt heavy. Inside the black plastic bag, money was wrapped in newspaper, stacked in several thick bundles.

Carefully lifting a corner of the newspaper, I saw so much money for the first time. My heart raced wildly. Hastily, I covered it back, too afraid to look again.

Before leaving, Wang Batou stood with his hands behind his back and said, “Yunfeng, remember the time—be back before midnight.”

“Also, in our world, we value fairness. I’m giving you money, so you owe me, Wang Xiansheng. Likewise, the girl you’re helping will owe you.”

“I can’t guarantee your safety on this trip down the pit. In our line of work, you have to be open-minded, bold, and carefree. Yunfeng, if you feel cheated...”

“Take it out on her.”

Wang Batou’s tone was indifferent, but his words unsettled me deeply.

“Should I listen to him? If I do, won’t I become just another street thug and rogue?”

The rules in this world demand give and take, but... that hardly seems like a rule.

---

Carrying the black plastic bag filled with money, my mind was a whirl of excitement, fear, thrill, and worry.

Images of Li Jing in her Donald Duck pajamas, bending over, and her words from the afternoon kept flashing through my mind...

Bang, bang—I knocked loudly on her door.

The door creaked open just a crack, revealing half of Li Jing’s face.

Holding the plastic bag, I smiled eagerly. “Li Jing, I brought the money! You don’t have to worry about anyone coming to collect debts anymore!”

Her face lit up. “Come on, let’s go outside and talk,” she said, pulling me toward the arched bridge.

The river flowed beneath, the moon hung crescent-shaped. Under the Shunde arch bridge stood a young man and woman.

“Li Jing, look! Here’s the fifty thousand yuan. If you pay back those people, you and your mother will be safe.” I handed her the bag.

By moonlight, she unfolded the newspaper and glanced inside. As she looked, tears welled up in her eyes.

Li Jing grabbed the bag and hugged me tightly.

“Xiang Yunfeng, thank you. You’re so kind,” she said, clutching me fiercely.

I could clearly feel the warmth of her body, soft curves.

My face flushed deeply, burning red.

She buried her head in my chest and whispered softly, “I... I mean it when I say I’m yours.”

Now, it might sound melodramatic, but at the time, it was all real. After all, we were both young.

Such things are no longer surprising nowadays.

If you take a brand-new iPhone to a high school, you’d find lots of girls open and affectionate—just a hug would make them blush. That’s just me being a coward.

That night... well, later, I somehow found myself, half dazed, going to a small inn with Li Jing.

I won’t go into the embarrassing details, but in the end, I ran away.

Looking back now, I regret it deeply. It feels like I missed out on a beautiful time.

...

At 12:14 a.m. in Shunde, the whole city was cloaked in darkness, except for two red dots blinking halfway up Fei’e Mountain.

Boss Sun flicked the ash from his cigarette and said solemnly, “Enough talk. It’s settled. Check your walkie-talkies’ battery levels. I’m going down with you all. The second brother is my younger brother; I can’t just sit still.”

“For fire watch and lookout, I’ll leave it to you, Leader.”

Wang Batou didn’t reply but nodded in agreement.

---

And so, the five of us—me, Boss Sun, Third Brother, and the Yao siblings—descended into the pit, leaving the safety above to Wang Batou.

Sliding down the smuggling tunnel, it was pitch dark inside. I turned up the brightness on my headlamp.

When we reached the large tomb’s stone cap, Yao Yumen stopped and crouched, running her hand over the stone. She let out a soft “hmm.”

“Sister Yao, what’s wrong?” I asked sweetly.

She rolled her eyes at me.

“Hey, you should call me Sister Yu, not Sister Yao. Sounds awful.”

I quickly corrected myself. “Alright, Sister Yu, what’s the matter with this stone cap?”

She got straight to the point. “This Western Zhou tomb is strange. This kind of green shale is rare in the south, almost nonexistent. It was almost certainly brought from the Luoyang and Shanxi area.”

I thought carefully, growing more alarmed. It was true—we had been so focused on the burial goods that we hadn’t noticed this.

This woman’s powers of observation were incredible.

This kind of stone resembled that near the Longmen and Yungang caves. It’s not very hard but has great expansibility—in other words, stability. It won’t crack under thermal expansion and contraction.

What shocked me was that principle of thermal expansion and contraction—did craftsmen of the Western Zhou understand this three thousand years ago?

The bronze vessel found in the Western chamber bore an inscription: “Jiehou Belt.”

Boss Sun said he had someone from the Archaeological Research Institute translate it and that it was probably accurate.

This stone doesn’t exist naturally in the south. Stones don’t walk thousands of kilometers on their own. The only explanation is human transport.

Thousands of kilometers, such a massive stone capping project crossing the Yangtze River north and south—that would require enormous manpower and resources, consuming countless carts and horses.

Historical records say Jiehou was a minor vassal lord in early Western Zhou's southern region, without even records of his heirs.

But if that’s true,

how could such a minor lord have such immense wealth and resources?

The massive stone capping right before us is proof.

I silently speculated that the true identity of Jiehou might have been mistaken.

In other words,

the historical records are incorrect.