But this kind of thing, as long as you’re someone living by the Yellow River, you’ve basically heard the elders talk about it, so this story could very well be something he made up. William Carter may look honest and simple, but I can tell that he’s sharp to the core—his simplicity is just due to his lack of experience, not because he’s actually stupid.

I listened for the time being, but didn’t fully believe him, and said to him, “So, are these all the things you’ve fished up?”

William Carter nodded, hiccupping from the alcohol, and asked me: Everything I have with me is here, but I still have some at home. Boss, you’ve seen and heard it all—how much can you give me for these things?

I thought to myself, someone like Er Mazi definitely wouldn’t give them much money, and they’d never imagine these things could be worth tens of thousands. But I can’t be too greedy, so I pretended to look them over again and said to him, “It’s a pity you buried these things in the mud. Their appearance got damaged, otherwise they could’ve sold for even more. How about this, let’s not haggle over the price—I’ll take a loss and give you a bit more. One item, I’ll give you 1,000 yuan. Next time we do business, how about it?”

William Carter plopped down on the ground with a thud, unable to get up for a moment. I quickly pulled him up and said, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Oh my god, these things are really worth that much? Six items, that’s six thousand yuan? How much sand would I have to sift to earn that much?” William Carter said, trembling.

I chuckled, and while heading out to have the young master help me prepare the money, I said, “No, no, for these five items, I’ll give you five thousand yuan. But I don’t want this bronze piece—it’s just junk.”

William Carter nodded as well, saying, “Yes, yes, I got drunk and confused.”

While the young master was preparing the money, I continued to ask him, what is this bronze piece?

William Carter said, that was something that flaked off the big thing underwater. Er Mazi told him to bring a piece up too, so he could find a few experts to take a look. Then he asked if I wanted it—if I did, he’d just give it to me.

I was quite interested in it, thinking it would be rude to refuse, so I accepted it. At this point, the young master brought the money, and I counted it out for him bill by bill. After he took it, he counted it several more times before stuffing it into his pocket. I did the same, carefully checking over these small bronze items several times to make sure they weren’t fake, then put them in my pocket too.

William Carter was suddenly in a great mood, his tongue much more nimble, and insisted on paying for this meal. He also called for the young master to bring more wine. By now, he already saw me as a close friend, pouring me drink after drink, and even said I should visit their village sometime, so I could buy the rest of what he had at home.

I was already thinking about this, but I figured he still had quite a bit of stuff left. If I really bought them all at 1,000 yuan each, I wouldn’t have enough money to buy much, so I decided to keep him steady for now—wait until I sold what I had on hand, then go after his stock. So I said, when there’s a chance. The price I’m giving you is already high, mainly to keep the door open for future business. After I buy these, I won’t have much money left, and even after selling them, I won’t make much. So keep the ones at your house safe for now—when I have the funds, I’ll come to your place to buy them. And don’t tell your brothers about this—when the time comes, the price I give them will definitely be lower than yours, and I’ll give you a referral fee, right?

William Carter nodded in agreement, patting his chest and promising to keep the items for me. He even gave me a phone number for their town, saying if I called and asked for William Carter, I’d be able to find him, and he’d treat me to drinks then.

We ate a bit more and chatted about other things. William Carter said he’d been doing this since he was a kid, and counting this year, he’s been at it for almost thirty years. In those thirty years, he’s seen plenty of strange things. The stuff he’s fished out of the Yellow River includes just about everything. To put it bluntly, he’s pulled out no less than a hundred corpses. As for things like iron anchors and iron horses, those are nothing to mention.

Sometimes he even hooked live things. Last year, he fished up a red-haired turtle the size of a washbasin from the Yellow River, with ancient characters carved on its back. Later, his wife said that a turtle with red hair was a relative of the Dragon King, so they released it. And as luck would have it, that year their harvest was especially good—every time they went out on the boat, they came back fully loaded. His wife said it was the Dragon King helping them.

After that one time fishing up bronze at that spot, they never dared go back. This time of year, the Yellow River’s flood season is about to start, and the upstream diversion dam is releasing water. The place is too deep, and the current is much swifter than before. Otherwise, they could still go see if there’s anything good. As for ancient tombs in the Yellow River, he’d heard from his grandfather that there were tombs at the bottom of the river, but this was the first time he’d encountered one himself—he hadn’t believed it before. Normally, the amount of silt deposited by the Yellow River each year is astronomical, so anything down there should be buried deep under the mud. How could his rake have dug it up? He just couldn’t figure it out.

William Carter soon finished off two more bottles of liquor. By now, it was completely dark. He paid the bill and got up to leave, planning to head back overnight. At this point, I was already wishing he’d leave quickly—if he didn’t, I’d end up drinking myself to death even if he wasn’t drunk. Seeing that, although his tongue was a bit tangled, he wasn’t actually that muddled, I knew this guy could really hold his liquor, so I told him to be careful and saw him out the door.