At this moment, his ears also began to buzz, his eyes felt as if they were covered by a layer of gauze, and his hands and feet started to turn cold. Based on his past experience, there was probably a mess of urine and feces in his pants by now. People who die from corpse poison always die in a terrible state, and what he hoped for most right now was that the girl from the neighboring village, Lucy Clark, wouldn’t see him like this.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, his mind no longer obeying his commands. At this moment, he vaguely began to hear that same strange clucking sound he’d heard at the entrance of the tomb.

Old Samuel faintly sensed that something was wrong. He had fought with the blood corpse for quite a while just now, but hadn’t heard it make a sound. Why was it making noise now? Could it be that the one from before wasn’t the blood corpse? Then what was it that he saw earlier? Unfortunately, by now he was almost incapable of thinking. By reflex, he lifted his head for a glance, only to see a huge monstrous face bending down to look at him, its two pupil-less eyes empty and lifeless.

Chapter Two: Fifty Years Later

Fifty years later, at the Xiling Seal Society in Hangzhou, my thoughts were interrupted by an old man. I closed my grandfather’s notebook and sized him up.

“Do you accept rubbings here?” he asked, sounding like he was just making casual conversation. I have a knack for this business, so I just brushed him off: “We do, but the price won’t be high.” Meaning, if you don’t have anything good, get lost and don’t waste my time reading.

In our line of work, you might not make a sale for three years, but one deal can feed you for the next three. I’m used to a leisurely life and hate serving those half-baked customers. Eventually, whenever I saw passersby, I’d just play funeral music to drive them away. But lately, business has been a bit too slow. The busy season is almost over, and nothing good has come in, so I’m starting to get a little impatient.

“Then I’d like to ask, do you have any rubbings of the Warring States silk manuscripts? The ones that were dug up by some grave robbers in Changsha fifty years ago and then tricked away by an American?” he asked, glancing at the items in my display case.

“You just said they were tricked away by an American, so how could there be any left?” I snapped. “If you’re looking for rubbings, go hunt for them in the market. How could you expect to find a specific one? That’s impossible.”

He lowered his voice: “I heard you have connections. I was sent by Harold Brooks.”

I became alert, my heart skipping a beat. Didn’t Harold Brooks get locked up the year before last? What, did he rat me out? I panicked, cold sweat breaking out on my back. “Wh-which Harold Brooks? I don’t know him.”

“I get it, I get it,” he chuckled, pulling a watch from his pocket. “Look, Harold Brooks said you’d understand as soon as you saw this.”

That watch was a gift from Harold Brooks’s first love back when he was in the Northeast. He treated it like his life. Whenever he got drunk, he’d take it out, stare at it, and call out, “Juan, Li!” I once asked him what that woman’s name was, and after thinking for a long time, he actually started crying, saying he’d forgotten. For Harold Brooks to give this watch to this man meant this guy was definitely someone important.

But no matter how I looked at him, I found his face repulsive. Still, since he’d come to me, I decided to be straightforward. I raised my hand: “Let’s say you really are Harold Brooks’s friend. What do you want from me?”

He grinned, revealing a big gold tooth: “A friend of mine brought something back from Shanxi. I want you to take a look and tell me if it’s real.”

“With your Beijing accent, you’re a big city guy coming all the way south to consult me? That’s flattering. There are plenty of experts in Beijing. I bet you have ulterior motives!”

He chuckled: “They say southerners are shrewd, and it’s true. You’re young, but you see things clearly. To be honest, I didn’t really come for you this time. I want to meet your old man.”

My face changed instantly: “You want to see my grandfather? What’s your intention?”

“Back when your grandfather unearthed the Warring States silk manuscripts at Biaoziling in Changsha, did he keep a copy or two of the rubbings? My friend just wants to know if the one we have is the same as yours.”

Before he finished, I shouted at the dozing clerk beside me: “Matthew Harris, see the guest out!”

The gold-toothed old man got anxious: “Why are you kicking me out all of a sudden?”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re too late. My old man passed away last year. If you want to find him, you’ll have to go join him!” I thought to myself, “That incident back then even alarmed the central government. It was a big deal. How could I let you dig up old accounts? Would my family be safe?”

“You little brat, you sure have a sharp tongue.” The gold-toothed old man grinned slyly. “It’s fine if the old man’s gone. I’m not asking for much. At least take a look at what I brought. Do it for Harold Brooks’s sake, will you?”

I glanced at him. With that fake smile, it was clear he wouldn’t leave unless I looked. I figured I might as well do Harold Brooks a favor, so he wouldn’t complain about me later. I nodded: “Fine, I’ll take a look, but I can’t promise anything.”

Actually, there are more than twenty volumes of the Warring States silk manuscripts, each one different. The one my grandfather copied was just a very short but extremely important part. Now, I have a few rubbings as my most prized possessions—money can’t buy them. The gold-toothed old man pulled out a sheet of white paper from his pocket. As soon as I saw it, I got annoyed. Damn, it was just a photocopy.