I rummaged through his bag, regretting that I hadn’t checked his things before dumping the body. But I was lucky—I found a pack of “Wutai Mountain” cigarettes in his bag.

　　Part One: The River-Suppressing Seal

　　Chapter Seven: Linhe County

　　People from Shanxi say, “Don’t smoke local cigarettes, don’t drink out-of-town liquor.” Looks like this old man didn’t stick to that.

　　There were barely any cigarettes left. When I shook the pack, a train ticket fell out. I took a look: Linhe—Taiyuan. I flipped it over, and there was a phone number on the back—the same number he’d given me.

　　It must be the number for his workplace. That’s good—should be easy to find.

　　I put the wallet away and stuffed it into my own bag. By now, I’d calmed down. I figured there probably wouldn’t be any buses at night anyway, so there was no need to rush. I went to take a shower, and when I got hungry, I headed to Young Master’s shop.

　　Young Master was washing his car. As soon as he saw me, he cursed, “What the hell did you haul with my car? It stinks!”

　　I made up some excuse and brushed it off, laughing and apologizing as I ordered some food and drinks. I sat at a table by his door and asked him, “You’ve been all over—do you know Linhe?”

　　Young Master nodded. “Of course. It’s a famous place.”

　　“What’s it famous for?” I asked.

　　“Famous for being poor. Linhe, you know, it’s right by the Yellow River, and it’s really mountainous. The transportation’s bad, so it still hasn’t developed. The county seat is okay, but the smaller towns under it—some of them don’t even have electricity yet.”

　　Hearing that, I felt a bit relieved. In underdeveloped places, people are less informed, which makes things easier to handle. Plus, folks in those areas are usually more honest and straightforward—not too scheming. I’d be safer there. So I asked him how to get there.

　　Young Master suddenly leaned in and asked, “What, planning to strike while the iron’s hot and go after that fake Nanpazi?”

　　I nodded and lied, “Those things from yesterday weren’t as good as I expected, so I want to go down and see if he’s got anything better. Might as well visit their village and try my luck. It’s been a while since I’ve gone out to collect stuff.”

　　Young Master was really interested. He stopped washing the car, wiped his hands on his clothes, and said, “That’s great, Mr. Foster. I have a small favor to ask—think you could help me out?”

　　I was surprised. This guy actually called me Mr. Foster for once—I was flattered. “What do you need?”

　　He scratched his head. “Actually, I’ve got a classmate from Nangong. His wife’s having a baby, and he’s planning to move his shop to Hunan. There’s still half a year left on the lease here, but he can’t get the deposit back. He asked if I wanted it—he’d give me a good price. You know how hard it is to get a stall in Nangong these days. So I’m thinking about taking it over…”

　　So he wanted to change careers. I thought, does he want to get goods from me?

　　Young Master has always wanted to get into the business, but with me as a cautionary tale in front of him, he never dared to actually do it. But after seeing someone like me strike it rich yesterday, he couldn’t hold back anymore—which I could understand.

　　I asked, “Do you have that much money? Take over the shop? You’re not running your restaurant anymore? And don’t just believe everything people tell you…” In the grave-robbing world, “wife having a baby” is code—it actually means the den got busted, the cops found out. If you’re not in the business, you wouldn’t know that.

　　There’s a story about this: a grave-robber opened a shop in Xi’an, bringing in goods from Changsha. That year, all his suppliers in Changsha got busted during a crackdown. Back then, there were no cell phones, just word of mouth. For two or three months, he kept getting calls saying “your wife’s having a baby.” The guy didn’t realize what it meant and kept worrying the cops would come for him. But after half a year, the cops never showed up—instead, the family planning officials did.

　　Young Master tapped the table and sighed, “My classmate isn’t asking me to pay right away, so I was thinking—if you’re going out to the countryside to collect stuff, could you take me along? I’ll pick up a few things to sell and see if I’m cut out for this. Maybe learn a thing or two from you. You know my eye for this stuff—I might not be able to buy anything good on my own. And besides, with all that good stuff from William Carter, you can’t eat it all yourself, right? Let me get a piece of the action. Don’t forget, I’m the one who set up this connection for you.”

　　My first reaction was to say no. I was planning to go on the run, and having another person around would be uncomfortable. But I couldn’t say that out loud, since it was Young Master who encouraged me to find the old man in the first place. Even though he was trying to get a cut now, it was kind of taking advantage of the situation.

　　Thinking it over, maybe it wasn’t so bad. If he came with me, first, he’d been there before—local connections matter, and he could smooth the way. Second, he could act as a cover for me. Whatever I collected was mine, whatever he collected was his—that’s the rule in this business. It wouldn’t get in my way.

　　Most importantly, I really didn’t have much money left. That five thousand was for William Carter’s family—I couldn’t use it. If he came along, he could cover the usual expenses on the road.

　　With all that in mind, I nodded and agreed. Young Master was overjoyed and immediately called to the kitchen, ordering a few good dishes to treat me.