Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 605 Dangerous Night Talk

"Ah, ah!"

Jiang Wangqi, who was leaning back in his chair, suddenly cried out. The old man next to him wiped his drool and comforted him in a hoarse voice, "It's alright, don't be afraid. These are guests we invited to discuss business."

"Gentlemen, it was my granddaughter who persuaded me to come forward to meet you. You must understand that we are not heinous villains. Everything we have done is only to maintain the interests and safety of our family. Decades ago, if my father, Jiang Shouxin, had not spent a lot of money to open up mountains, build canals, fill in reservoirs, and divert those things in the water to Zukengyuan, then Qiandao Lake would not be as beautiful and peaceful as it is today."

“Brother, you don’t need to tell them these things,” another old man said.

The old man waved his hand, his tone calm, and continued, "According to Master Chen's original words, those evil things are born with water. Qiandao Lake is where the three rivers of the Xin'an River converge. As long as the river water does not dry up, those things will never perish."

He was talking about hairy watermelons. I couldn't hold back any longer and interrupted, "No, those things will also perish. Everything we saw before was shredded by Chao Sheng's steel forks."

The old man smiled and explained, "Young man, let me ask you, do you think it's possible to kill all the crabs, fish, and shrimp in the water?"

"Legends are three parts truth and seven parts falsehood. Those evil spirits did not originate from the rebel army of that time, but existed a very, very long time ago, so long that their origins are impossible to trace. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xin'an River was called the Zhe River, hence the name Zhejiang. The folk book Youminglu from the Southern Dynasties describes a kind of thing. Ancient books describe it as being of different sizes, with a basin on its head, black hair growing in various shapes, and crab claws gathered under the basin to form a skull connected by hair. It is brave when it gets water and powerless when it loses water. The thing that the ancients saw is the same as what we modern people see."

"Back then, in order to build a hydroelectric power station on the Xin'an River, hundreds of thousands of people began a massive resettlement project. Our family could have left, but my father took on the responsibility and spent a full ten years building that saltwater cave. You came here to find treasure, so you must have done a lot of research. Have you ever thought about why the local gazetteer, which was newly compiled in the 1990s, doesn't mention that place at all? It doesn't even mention the original Laolong Reservoir."

I replied, "Because the source of the pit is related to the treasure, your family did not want outsiders to know that you had found the treasure, so you altered the new records to prevent future generations from finding that place by checking the records."

The old man shook his head and explained, "How can county annals be compiled haphazardly? Our family is wealthy, but we would never have stooped to distorting the facts back then. I won't go into more detail; you can figure it out yourselves. I'll just say one thing."

"Why was the first hydroelectric power station built here? I believe everyone knows very well how far the hydroelectric power station is from Zukengyuan. Sigh... Xin'an River, Xin'an River, in the end, is the 'River of Peace of Mind'."

The old man was calm and composed, recounting the past as if telling a story, his thoughts clear throughout.

Regardless of how much truth or falsehood lies behind his stories—because ordinary people like us may never have the chance to learn the truth about what happened back then—he starts by saying this, which puts him on a moral high ground. For example, he just said that we could have immigrated back then, but we didn't leave and chose to stay because we had responsibilities. In this way, they directly become the good guys and we become the bad guys.

The truth is, we are not upright, and these people are not upright either. They stay here, and we come here, all for one word: loss.

"money."

What is the money in Qiandao Lake?

It is the vast treasure left behind by Fang La!

I glanced at the foreman, who didn't seem to mind me speaking, so I said, "You might be right. It's our industry rule that treasures are unclaimed; whoever has the ability to find them owns them. So we won't say anything. But you can't secretly persecute us just because we've also found some things. That's not fair."

Faced with my questioning, the other party readily admitted, "That's right, I wanted you to die in an accident, just like those who came before. Because the treasure is cursed. As you can see, all the descendants of the Jiang family have suffered from the curse. We have tried all sorts of methods over the years, but none of them worked. Perhaps the only effective way is to try to transfer the curse."

I frowned and said, "Starting with the silver bottle, we've handled all three so-called Manichaean relics. Has your family's curse been transferred?"

The old man squinted: "Uncertain... This is a path that Master Chen pointed out to us. We'll only know for sure once Xue'er has offspring. If it doesn't work, we'll continue to look for other methods to help the Jiang family's descendants return to normal as soon as possible."

The man said, “If I’m not mistaken, the Master Chen you mentioned is the Feng Shui master, but he’s only sixty years old. I’ve never been able to find his real name, but it turns out his surname is Chen.”

Xu Tongshan said, "You guessed right, Chief Wang. 'Master Chen' must be an honorific title. This person must be called something like Chen. How did he manage to live to this day? He's really resilient."

The old man's calm vanished instantly, replaced by rage. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "The Jiang family was able to find the treasure back then because of his divination! He's the living ancestor of the Jiang family! Don't be so smug just because you managed to escape from this courtyard last time. That feng shui master you hired from Fujian isn't even worthy of carrying his shoes! Master Chen isn't someone you can call 'Master Chen'! As for the name 'Six,' you ants are even less worthy to mention it!"

Watermelon Head kicked over the stool next to him.

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"Fuck you! You old bastard! Who are you calling unworthy? Watch your mouth! You started this whole thing!"

Xu Tongshan looked at the watermelon-headed man, frowned, and said, "I've told you many times not to swear, to be polite, and to lift the chair up."

"Help him up!"

With a dark expression, the boy with the watermelon-shaped haircut silently helped the chair up.

"I'm sorry, Master, please don't take it to heart. Young people are hot-tempered and can't stand being wronged. I apologize to you on his behalf."

The old man's face was ashen, and he remained silent.

Xu Tongshan continued, "I am here not only as an ally of Chief Wang, but also on behalf of the church. So I will speak directly to the church's opinion."

"Whether they were discovered in Qiandao Lake before, are now, or will be discovered in the future, all the relics left by the Holy Ancestor shall belong to our church. In addition, your family's influence must not extend into our territory. These are two bottom lines. Do you agree?"

The old man thought for a moment, then calmly said, "I can agree to these two conditions."

Xu Tongshan nodded and looked at Jiang Zhaoxue, saying, "Alright, this young lady should be the future head of the family. Please remember what I said tonight: do not provoke us, and do not touch our interests. Otherwise, we will find your entire family and make you disappear one by one."

If the previous paragraph was a statement, then this paragraph is an undisguised threat. Although Jiang Zhaoxue did not change her expression after hearing Xu Tongshan's words, I noticed that her chest heaved more, obviously she was taking deep breaths to suppress her emotions.

Beside him, Jiang Zhaoxue's uncle, the one who was mute, had a gloomy expression and made a series of hand gestures at the old man.

The old man shook his head after reading it. "I don't understand sign language, so I don't know what it means."

"Boss Wang, it's your turn," Xu Tongshan said, turning his head.

"Okay, then I'll just say it directly."

The leader said, "First of all, as my apprentice just said, what you find with your own abilities should belong to you. This is the rule of the underworld. You have no right to interfere, let alone secretly persecute us. I will forgive and forget what happened before. Please let us leave in peace."

The old man took a deep breath and said, "If I agree to your demands, what in return can you promise our family?"

Xu Tongshan immediately smiled and said, "On behalf of the church, there is only one thing I can promise you, which is to allow your family to continue to exist."

He turned serious and said, "I can promise you that all four of the plans targeting you will be cancelled. After we leave safely, I, Wang Xiansheng, will not reveal any information about your family to the outside world during my lifetime, including the secrets of Meifeng Island, Dongshan, and Zukengyuan."

I was shocked. They've come this far, how come the boss still has four plans? Is this a deliberate warning or is there really one? Didn't Brother Yu say that blowing up the mountain was the final plan?

The old man tapped the armrest of his chair lightly, as if deep in thought. After a dozen seconds, he turned to look at Jiang Zhaoxue.

The woman rolled her eyes; even though she couldn't see anything, she kept looking out the window.

Suddenly, I heard a strange cry.

The sound seemed to come from afar and approach, and it seemed to be the call of some kind of large bird.

I believe that not only I heard it, but everyone present must have heard it, because the shouts became clearer and clearer.

Both Ba Tou and Xu Tongshan looked out the window at the same time.

The old man, the head of the Jiang family, immediately got up, picked up his cane, and after taking two shaky steps, he threw down the cane and knelt on the ground.

Jiang Zhaoxue did not kneel; the woman closed her eyes and slowly lowered her head.

In an instant, all the candles in the room went out! At the same time, a potted plant on the windowsill suddenly fell to the ground.

Just listen to a snap!

It fell to pieces.