This thing is even more inauspicious than a corpse. William Carter cursed it for bringing bad luck, but when they took a closer look at the clay figurine, they realized something was off. The figurine had delicate patterns, lively posture, and a peaceful expression. It looked extremely exquisite, nothing like something a poor family would have made themselves.

A few of them thought it over and—oh! It was a tomb figurine.

These people were very superstitious. They all knew that this kind of thing only came from graves. Realizing that their rake might have just struck some ancient tomb buried under the Yellow River, they were terrified and didn’t even dare to touch it. They just wanted to throw it back into the water.

But one of their partners on the boat stopped them. This man, nicknamed Earl Smith, had once dealt in antiques. To be fair, he was more knowledgeable than William Carter. The moment he saw the clay figurine, his eyes lit up—he knew he’d found a way to make money. He told them to bring the figurine onto the boat, saying it was valuable and could be sold to the National Museum, and that foreigners liked this kind of thing too. Finding something like this was a blessing from above.

William Carter was skeptical, saying that salvaging things from the dead would bring retribution. But the younger men all believed Earl Smith. They went down with the rake a few more times and ended up hooking several large bronze vessels shaped like owls, covered in bird-script inscriptions.

The bird-shaped vessels were about half a meter tall, their bronze surfaces mottled with heavy corrosion. When Earl Smith scraped the surface, flakes of bronze rust fell off in sheets.

The smaller bronze pieces were fished up the same way. William Carter had basically never seen anything like them before. At the time, he didn’t know that this “scrap metal” was worth anything, but Earl Smith told them that some of these things were worth more than gold, and that they should take as much as they could. The others were scared and didn’t dare to salvage much, but Earl Smith was tireless, raking again and again, as if he wanted to bring up everything he could from below. In the water, their rake clearly hit something very heavy several times. Whenever it caught on this thing, the rake wouldn’t budge no matter what they did. Earl Smith said it was probably a coffin, and refused to give up. In the end, the rake was bent straight before they finally managed to pull up a single bronze fragment. William Carter didn’t dare to mess around anymore, saying that their tools for making a living had been passed down for generations, and breaking them would bring bad luck—the ancestors would be angry.

So they washed off what they’d salvaged, covered it with cloth, and didn’t dare go ashore during the day. They waited until nightfall to sneak the things back to the village and escape home.

Earl Smith had seen the world and knew that what they’d done could land them in jail. So he scared the others, saying it was enough to get them shot, and repeatedly warned them not to tell anyone. The four of them swore to keep it secret. Then they divided the loot into four shares and each found a place to hide their portion. William Carter buried his under the stove at home.

They waited a few days, and when it seemed like no one had discovered anything, Earl Smith relaxed. He took a small bronze piece and left town, telling them he was going to Taiyuan Prefecture to find his uncle for help and to look for buyers to sell the stuff and get some money.

He was gone for over half a year. Just a few days ago, he finally called back, saying he’d found a buyer and told them to send someone up with a few items to make the delivery.

None of them really expected to get any money out of this. After not seeing Earl Smith for over half a year, they figured the stuff couldn’t be sold, and even if they went, they might not get paid—maybe they’d even lose money on travel expenses. It happened to be the busy farming season, so no one wanted to go. William Carter, being the most honest, was given the job.

When William Carter told his wife he was leaving, she refused, and the two of them had a huge argument. In a fit of anger, he took the items and caught a train to Taiyuan. Before he left, Earl Smith told him to meet at Nangong. He asked around and found Earl Smith’s uncle’s stall, but it was closed. It was his first time in the city and he had nowhere to stay, so he had to wait outside Nangong’s gate, sleeping rough at night. He waited like this for seven or eight days, and by then he’d almost run out of money. He had no idea what had happened to Earl Smith, who just never showed up.

He’d left home after a fight with his wife, and if he went back now, he’d never be able to hold his head up. After thinking it over, he steeled himself and thought, “Isn’t this a place for selling antiques? I’ll sell these things and show that woman I’m not so useless after all.”

But he was naturally bad at talking and had no idea how to start a deal. He wandered around, and the only bit of local dialect he knew was something Earl Smith had taught him while joking around. When he tried asking, it turned out to be true, but after a few attempts, he just got cold stares. In the end, he didn’t manage to sell anything, wandered around until his money was gone, and lost his nerve. He thought, “If I go home and get scolded by my wife, so be it. Life has to go on.” So, after finishing his noodles, he planned to head back to the village—never expecting to run into us.

William Carter had had a bit to drink, and with the truth-telling that comes after alcohol, even though his speech was a bit slurred, I caught most of what he said—and it sent chills down my spine.

There’s really no telling what’s in the Yellow River. There’s everything in that silt. I thought to myself, maybe next time someone will dredge up a flying saucer.