Northern Grave Robbery Notes

I spent seven years inside because of my good behavior, l was granted a sentence reduction. On the first day l got out, l received several phone calls, with bosses persuading me to work with them. One offered a hundred thousand a month with a car, another offered two hundred thousand a month plus shares. Most of these calls came from two places: Panjiayuan in Beijing and Shenyang Road in Tianjin. After some thought, l turned them all down. l entered this line of work by mistake in the first place. Even though l could get rich overnight, l paid the price. Seven years of my life, from a clean-cut young man to a thirty-something with a beer belly. The girl l knew back then now has a child old enough to run errands. l was completely alone, so in the end, l chose to go to Dali. l bought a small storefront by Er hai Lake and opened a little supermarket. When there's no business, l walk by the sea, enjoying the sea breeze, and my days are quite leisurely. The address of my little supermarket is on Donglu of Cangshan, next to Lemart. lf any friends would like to visit, l will welcome them with tea. A while ago, the ancient Shu civilization was discovered, which unearthed a sensational national treasure, a golden mask. Actually, my path to sudden wealth has something to do with these things, and it's inseparable from two words: antiques and tomb raiding. In the past few years, novels and TV series like "Ghost Blows Out the Light," "The Lost Tomb," and "The Golden Eyes" were all the rage. Now that l have some free time, l also write about the things in this line of work. l've never seen the Yunding Tiangong or the Divine Tree of the Qin ling Mountains, nor do l have the golden eyes, but l entered the antique business at sixteen and indeed witnessed many things that ordinary people can't understand. Let me start from the beginning. I was born in a small mountain village in the northeast of our country, right next to Mohe, where the winters are so cold they could freeze you to death. My grand mother raised me; l never saw my parents, nor did l want to ask what their names were.There's an old saying that grandparents dote on their grandchildren more, and as a child, l was quite mischievous, not listening to teachers and performing poorly in school, consistently ranking at the bottom of my class. At that time, the village provided us with a subsistence allowance, which was about eighty-something yuan per month, and there was also some kind of orphan hardship subsidy, which was over a hundred yuan per month. it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that my family was struggling to survive. During junior high, the TV would always show treasure hunting programs from the central station, which l watched with great fascination. Those bottles and jars that people didn't take seriously turned out to be antiques worth tens of thousands, according to the experts, enough to exchange for a house or a car! l lied to my grandmother, telling her that the school required us to buy study materials, and when she gave me money, l ran to the bookstore and bought books about antiques instead. The first book l remember reading was "Fifty Precious Ancient Coins" by Mr. Dai, a thick volume. Ancient coins,also known as "purple money" in our area, opened my eyes to a whole new world,and l became obsessed with antiques. l rummaged through our house and even tricked my classmates into stealing copper coins from their homes to sell to me at a uniform price of fifty cents each. l saved every penny, never ordering dishes in the cafeteria, and later sold a bunch of textbooks for seven yuan. My studies were so poor that the teacher just sighed and said that l was finished, that if l didn't study hard, l would only become a scourge on society. l disregarded the teacher's words dreaming of getting rich. Even if l became a scourge, l was determined to be a wealthy one. I was born in a small mountain village in the northeast of our country, close to Mohe. where winters are so cold they could freeze a person to death. My grandmother raised me; l never met my parents and didn't even want to ask their names. As the old saying goes, grandparents are particularly fond of their grandchildren. As a child,I was quite mischievous, didn't listen to my teachers, and my academic performance was terrible, always ranking at the bottom of my class. My grandmother had an accident while sweeping snow in the yard; she fell and broke her leg, and the medical and surgery fees amounted to more than three thousand yuan. At that time, our family couldn't even come up with six hundred yuan. l remember vividly how my grandmother lay on the kang bed, covered with thick blankets, crying at night. My uncle by marriage had opened several farm stays in the Snow Village of Mohe.and his business was doing well. l went to him to borrow money for my grandmother's medication. Although he didn't say much to my face, l overheard him saying behind my back that l was a jinx and that our family was a fallen house hold.He considered the money lent as lost and advised my aunt to reduce contact with us. One winter night in Mohe, with temperatures below minus thirty degrees Celsius, l sat on a rock for over three hours. The words of my uncle, in his arrogance, shattered the self-esteem of a young boy. Clutching the borrowed money, l swore to myself: "l, Xiang Yunfeng, must make something of myself!" l dropped out of school on my own. Strictly speaking, l didn't even have a junior high school diploma; l was just an elementary school graduate.Out of the three thousand yuan, after spending on my grandmother's surgery and medication, l secretly kept seven hundred and fifty-three yuan for myself. l didn't just collect copper coins; l also went to neighboring villages to collect porcelain and silver dollars. Rural people only recognized the value of silver dollars and didn't pay much attention to bottles, bowls, and other porcelain items. By reading books and watching treasure appraisal shows every day, l gradually developed some basic expertise. l bought a pair of Western blue chicken feather dusters from the late Qing Dynasty for one hundred yuan, several small Republican-era pastel beauties salt shakers for less than two hundred yuan, and three mid-Qing Dynasty blue and white bowls for one hundred and eighty yuan. Unfortunately, all three bowls had hairline cracks and were not well-preserved. I had also saved a small bag of copper coins, about two hundred in total, mostly from the Song and Qing dynasties, with the most being Daoguang, Guangxu, Qianlong, Huang Song, and Yuanfeng coins. l knew these were not very valuable due to their large circulation. Among them, l was most satisfied with three well-preserved Yongzheng coins; l knew Yongzheng Tongbao could be worth some money, but l didn't know how much at the time. After buying these items, l spent over five hundred yuan and had 240 yuan left, which was about the average monthly salary at the time. I had a good relationship with a female classmate who helped me by lending me two 30-inch suitcases. l carefully wrapped the eleven pieces of porcelain and a small bag of copper coins with bedding, fearing they would break, and stuffed a lot of foam for protection. In the end, l filled two large suitcases and a backpack. My grandmother didn't understand my actions, saying l was not doing anything worthwhile and that she had raised me in vain. My uncle and the villagers also knew about this, and many gossiped about me behind my back. Bearing the scorn and misunderstanding of others, on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, l left Mohe with my belongings. At that time, l believed that people in Beijing were the wealthiest, and naturally, l wanted to sell my antiques to them. Besides, l had long yearned for the legendary Panjiayuan. There was no direct transportation from Mohe to Beijing, so l had to take a train to Siping first and then from Siping to Beijing West. The entire journey was over two thousand kilometers and took more than fifty hours. To save money, l chose the cheapest hard seat option. Carrying two large suitcases and a backpack, with greasy hair and dressed plainly, l attracted whispers and stares from other passengers at the station.I had never traveled far from home before. This was my first time on a train, and l was alone. After buying the train ticket, l had less than a hundred yuan left. If l couldn't sell my items, l wouldn't even be able to afford the return ticket, let alone food. The food on the train was expensive, and l didn't dare to spend money, so l kept drinking hot water from the cup l brought. When l was starving, l bought a bag of fried dough twists for four yuan. For a country kid's first time in Beijing, everything was novel. l had never seen the security scanners at the station before. I wasn't very old at the time, but l wasn't shy and was willing to talk to strangers. l asked people how to get to the Panjiayuan antique market. The ticket seller was very kind and suggested l take the subway, even telling me how to transfer. From Beijing West Station, l took Line 9, then got off at Liuligiao to transfer to Line10, and finally got off at Panjiayuan Station. Fortunately, l have a good memory and didn't take many wrong turns. Back then, the subway was two yuan for unlimited rides as long as you didn't exit the station. After getting off the subway, the sidewalks were all anti-slip, and it was quite a struggle to carry the backpack and drag the two large suitcases. After crossing the Huawei Bridge, l finally saw the golden horizontal stele standing outside the north gate." Panjiayuan Second-Hand Market." "I've finally arrived."