My tomb robbing past

Interesting anecdotes on the road

I eagerly asked, "Tell me! Hurry up and tell me!" I shook him, clearly interested.

"Don’t shake me, there’s been an accident! Light a cigarette for your second uncle first!" I took out a cigarette, ready to light it. Second Uncle, in a hurry, shouted, "Don’t light it like that! No lighting! Use a lighter!"

"Huh? Why? Does lighting it mean my wife will die?"

"You child, what do you understand? Lighting it like that is unlucky, it either means death or encountering ghosts! Do you want me to encounter ghosts?" Second Uncle said angrily.

"Alright, alright! I’ll light it for you!"

When Second Uncle took the cigarette, it seemed he had already forgotten what he had just said. He took a puff and continued, "Last time, when we dug a hole with your grandfather and the others, it was so damp inside when we opened it! The smell was very strong, even with gas masks we could still smell it! By right, with all the moisture inside, everything except the metal should have rotted away, but the person inside was still intact. Isn’t that strange? The hole wasn’t even a meter deep, just rotten wooden planks. If we had jumped on it, the grave would have collapsed. We burned a fire outside the hole for a whole day, but the moisture inside was still very high, and the smell persisted. I couldn’t stand it and went down with a tool.”

I interrupted Second Uncle and asked, "What did you take down?"

Second Uncle seemed quite annoyed by my interruption and impatiently replied, "A shovel! A military shovel! I turned on the headlamp, lit a torch, and went down. Your grandfather was so cautious! He kept saying, if something happened, and the hole collapsed, you’d be buried alive! But we still went down. The hole wasn’t big, only a little over two meters deep. When we got down, we found water, and it was sticky. The coffin didn’t even have a lid. I even doubted it was recently deceased. But when we took out the wooden pieces, your grandfather was excited and said it had been at least three hundred years. You don’t know, we almost wrapped the coffin into a dumpling with the ropes just to pull it out! I was down there feeling around for a long time, and there was nothing but mud, just that one coffin. I was wearing gloves and taking off clothes, and the black on the insulated gloves wouldn’t come off. Your grandfather was more experienced, saying it was toxic, so we became more cautious!”

While speaking, he took a few more puffs of his cigarette. I swallowed and asked, "Then what happened?"

Second Uncle looked at me and said, "When we stripped off the clothes, it was horrifying! The person’s skin was very elastic, even the blood vessels were visible, but it was green. I ended up vomiting right away. The whole body’s clothes were rotted into mud, but the person wasn’t rotting. Your grandfather said it was eerie and suspected we had encountered a ghost. I yelled, ‘This person doesn’t even move, and you’re saying it’s a ghost, what ghost!’ Your uncle went up and touched it, and it moved. Your uncle got so scared, haha!"

"What happened to him?" I asked urgently.

"He kept shouting ‘ghost, ghost, ghost,’ and we backed away several meters, but nothing else happened. Your grandfather said to burn it, so we took a torch and went over. The corpse turned into a dry mummy in just a few minutes, and it was so black—strange, the smell was gone too!"

I nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Second Uncle, are you colorblind? Do you see red as green?"

Second Uncle's voice suddenly went up an octave, "You’re the one who’s colorblind! Can a colorblind person drive?"

"Hehe! What happened next?" I asked.

"Next? Then your grandfather set fire to the ancient corpse, saying it was an unlucky thing!"

"Oh! Was there anything valuable on that ancient corpse?" I asked.

Second Uncle replied, "Let me put it this way. Graves in Xinjiang are different from those in the interior. Most Xinjiang people were nomads hundreds of years ago. These people liked to move around and didn’t stay in one place. So, when they died, they were buried in random places. Those with money would bury a few valuable items with them, while those without money just wrapped them in woolen cloth. Generally, they’re buried less in deep mountains and forests because they might live there again in the future. If they lived on someone’s grave, that would be very unlucky."

I nodded thoughtfully. Second Uncle continued, "But generally, there’s still something to gain. We don’t know if ancient items are valuable, but the old Russians do. Last time, your little uncle had a waist tag, and an old Russian wanted to buy it for a million. He refused to sell it. This kid never sold anything to the old Russians, but he sold a broken porcelain bowl for 300,000, saying it was bought by his grandmother when she was young. That was actually fake. Haha, he laughed for several days."

I chuckled a few times and then asked, "Second Uncle, do you believe there are ghosts in this world?"

He gazed ahead, adjusting the steering wheel, "There should be! But we haven’t encountered any. Your grandfather said there are!"

I asked again, "Are there any traps in those graves?"

At this point, Second Uncle looked at me and said, "Some do! Look at that hole on my shoulder!"

As he spoke, he proudly showed his dark shoulder. I saw an old injury, a diamond-shaped scar, and was about to ask when Grandpa’s car stopped by the roadside. Grandpa got out of the car and squatted by the road, coughing continuously.

At that moment, a girl got out of the car, it was Hua Jie. She was three years older than me. My family only told me that this girl was called Hua’er and asked me to call her Hua Jie. I remembered that she had always been with Grandpa, learning skills from him. I never asked for more details.

Thinking back, it had probably been two years since I last saw her. She helped Grandpa pat his back while glancing at me a few times. I felt a bit embarrassed under her gaze and only then noticed she was staring at the jade on my chest. I instinctively pressed the jade closer to my chest, and she realized she was being inappropriate.

Grandpa coughed for a while and finally recovered, telling us, "Old age is no good, you all have to rely on yourselves in the future! It seems the heavens are calling me!"

Uncle took a pot of water and handed it to Hua Jie. Grandpa drank a few sips, enjoyed the fresh air by the roadside, and finally felt better, ready to continue the journey.

When I got into the car, I noticed Hua Jie looked at me again, and that glance made me feel strangely uncomfortable.

This time, my little uncle took over driving the van. He was also very talkative, constantly telling me not to say this word or that word. I didn’t bother to argue and asked, "Little uncle, where are we going this time?"

He glanced at me and said, "What? Don’t you know? We’re going to Tacheng, Emin County, in northern Xinjiang!"

"Isn’t it southern Xinjiang? Didn’t Uncle say it’s southern Xinjiang?"

Little uncle looked at me, "Your uncle is just bluffing. Usually, he gives a fake address to people who aren’t in this line of work. If someone follows behind looking for a bargain, that’s bad luck!"

"Oh!" I was speechless, even I was being tricked, and I felt like I might explode.

The car sped along the highway, and I asked little uncle, "Have you ever dug up a ghost while treasure hunting?"

Little uncle laughed, "If we dug up a female ghost and she was beautiful, I’d take care of her right away!"

"Hehe, little uncle, don’t you have any knowledge to share?"

"Not much! Actually, it’s just hard work!" Suddenly, as if remembering something, he added, "When the time comes, you can only look, not touch. Things dug from the soil often have strange explanations!"

I nodded, "Little uncle, you’ve been digging graves for years, why haven’t you made any money?"

Little uncle laughed, "Hehe! Silly boy, I’ve made enough money! It’s for your grandfather!"

"Hey, haven’t you encountered any accidents while digging graves?"

"You’re such a jinx, don’t mention accidents! Actually, there were a few close calls! If it weren’t for me, your second uncle might have been lying in a coffin right now! Ugh, what coffin!"

I became interested and asked him to tell me more, hoping for something to brag about later. He said, "The year before last, in the southern Xinjiang Gobi desert, we found a grave with a rather old age. We had just dug a few shovelfuls and unearthed a stone statue. Under the statue was a hole, but it was impossible to see inside. Your second uncle wanted to go down, but your uncle and I said to move the statue first, otherwise, if the statue fell, the person could be buried alive. Your second uncle didn’t listen and insisted on going down. We hadn’t gone down very deep when we heard a rustling sound from the hole. We backed up half a meter, and your grandfather planned to drop a torch down, but before it was even lit, a bunch of ants came pouring out. It

was terrifying, your second uncle was nearly bitten to death by ants on the Gobi! But your uncle was really capable; we kept running forward, and someone came by car to pick us up. Otherwise, we would have mostly become ant food."

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