Chapter 79: Treasure-Hunting Market

Over the next few days, He Yu and I split up our tasks. He was in charge of digging up Qiao Sangui’s current whereabouts, while I focused on attending classes and prepping for finals. The school had suddenly announced a sketching exam, and it nearly drove me crazy. I spent the whole week getting up at the crack of dawn and burning the midnight oil, terrified I’d flunk it.

That said, He Yu turned out to be a lot more reliable than he looked. He was surprisingly dependable, even going so far as to tap into his childhood connections. The whole process had its share of twists and turns, which I won’t get into here, but in the end, he made a trip down south and came back with a good haul of intel.

That evening, He Yu brought up two small folding stools he’d borrowed from the supermarket owner downstairs. He took a big bite of a sesame flatbread and didn’t forget to tear off half for me. The weather was getting hotter by the day, and our rental didn’t have air conditioning. The electric fan just made us dizzy, so we were counting down the minutes until sunset so we could go outside and breathe some fresh air.

So I grabbed a big palm fan and sat with him downstairs in our apartment complex, swatting mosquitoes while watching a few groups of old ladies dancing across the way.

“So what’s the deal? This is a big job, and you’re the commander-in-chief. You’ve been mulling it over all day. Are we doing this or not?” He Yu slapped his thigh and looked at me.

I was getting a little annoyed. “Of course we’re doing it. I never said we weren’t. But you’ve gotta wait until I’ve tied up everything on my end first, right? Don’t forget, we’ve still got a surveillance guy next door. Who knows where he’s watching us from right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re always talking about waiting. But what’s the point of waiting? You make a move that loud and we haven’t even crossed the moat yet, they’ll report you to headquarters and drag you back in cuffs. Aren’t you even a little embarrassed?” I took a bite of flatbread, grabbed the bottle of water by my feet, took a swig, and scolded him.

He Yu had actually come back from Fujian a week ago. His childhood friend ran an antiques business there. Well, “antiques business” was putting it nicely. In reality, he dove for junk in the sea and resold it at high prices to clueless rich folks. Real or fake, he couldn’t tell the difference himself, but he sold it all anyway.

Apparently, when he first got into the trade—what they call “recognizing the path,” basically a newbie paying their respects to the industry—he made a friend who just so happened to be running a stall under Qiao Sangui’s operation now.

He Yu got the address for that stall and found out the guy was in a small county near Dali. But shady fortune-teller types like them, operating without a license, usually don’t stay in one place for long. That’s why He Yu was getting anxious.

“I told you, don’t worry. He’s not going anywhere,” I said, patting He Yu on the shoulder and giving him a look to reassure him.

“Come on, how can I not worry? The duck’s practically in our hands.” He Yu stopped mid-sentence, suddenly turned to look at me, and narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute. You used to be more anxious than a monkey in a cage. But now you’re sitting here like a Zen master. Something’s off. What are you hiding from me?”

I just grinned. This had to do with the Five Masters, which, by extension, meant it had something to do with my grandfather. Even though the old man had already passed on, I still needed to get to the bottom of it. If anyone should be in a rush, it wasn’t He Yu—it should be me.

Aside from cramming for finals, I’d been combing through my phonebook, calling every number that might be useful. By chance, I got in touch with someone in the industry. His family had been doing pretty well in recent years and had taken on a few jobs in Yunnan, so he was at least a familiar face in the scene.

To be honest, we weren’t that close, but our families had some history. The day after He Yu told me the news, I thought of him and didn’t hesitate to call. I thickened my skin and told him I’d come across a strange box, but I was stuck in Dali and wanted to ask him to help find someone in the field who could assess its value.

I gave He Yu a rough rundown of the situation, and he looked at me with a sly grin. “Well, well, didn’t think you had it in you. So basically, you’re using him to spread the word in Yunnan, dangling the Nine-Ring Jade Casket like bait. I bet he’s running around like a headless chicken over there right now, trying to find someone.”

Fishing for big game always comes with risks, but it was worth a shot. First, we still had Xiao Wu tailing us, and shaking him off wouldn’t be easy—it’d take time.

Second, if that small fry really was working under Qiao Sangui, and Qiao Sangui was as well-informed as we suspected—given that even the Liu Family knew about the casket—then he definitely knew too. Which meant he’d be paying close attention to this matter.

If that assumption held, then we could draw two conclusions. First, the Jade Casket was already common knowledge among the Five Masters’ circle. Second, multiple parties were eyeing it greedily, which meant there had to be some hidden secret behind it.

“But we can’t let our guard down. The Jade Casket’s with my Fourth Brother now. It hasn’t been long, so the news probably hasn’t spread yet. But once people catch on, that duck we had in hand might just fly away for real,” I said.

He Yu choked a little, grabbed my water bottle, took a swig, and burped before asking, “So what’s your plan?”

I thought for a moment and said, “Right after my exam tomorrow, we leave. In the afternoon. While Xiao Wu’s out grabbing lunch, sneak out and get the tickets and gear. Don’t bother coming back. Just wait for me at the station with everything ready.”

He Yu gave me a mock salute. “You can count on me. Mission will be accomplished.”

And just like that, our escape plan was set. The next day, as soon as I left campus, I hailed a cab straight to the train station. He Yu was already there, dozing off in the waiting room with two big backpacks. I figured he probably thought dragging a suitcase would draw too much attention, so he packed light.

Not that it mattered. We could always buy whatever we needed once we got there.

I grabbed a cup of instant noodles, and by the time I finished eating, it was time to board. I shook He Yu awake, picked up my backpack, and got on the train.

He Yu had booked hard sleepers. At first, I was in the mood to sit by the window and sketch the scenery. But after a day of being trapped in a car full of stinky feet and the overpowering smell of instant noodles, my head was spinning.

The journey from Kaifeng to Dali spanned over two thousand kilometers. By the end of it, the moment I lay down, all I could hear was the rhythmic clatter of the green train rumbling past my ears. I swore to myself, never again would I take the train.

We were so exhausted from the trip that we decided to spend a night in Dali before heading out to the county town my friend had mentioned to ask around.

The air in Yunnan was amazing—I felt it the very first day we checked into the hotel. As soon as we arrived, I took a quick shower, collapsed into bed, and slept straight through until seven the next morning. When I woke up, I felt completely refreshed, like a new person.

The county town wasn’t far from Dali, but the place where that guy set up his stall was, unfortunately, way out in the countryside. We asked around for directions and found out it was practically tucked away in the mountains. So we first took the designated bus out there, then had to find a motorized tricycle or a roadside motorcycle to take us deeper into the hills.

The two of us wandered around the town like a couple of idiots. It had just rained, and we couldn’t find any tricycle drivers willing to go that far out into the countryside. In the end, we managed to find two guys willing to take us on their motorcycles—for a steep price. The ride was bumpy the whole way, and by the time we got off, our pant legs were covered in mud. But we were too eager to find the guy to care.

When we finally arrived, we realized the place was oddly full of outsiders. A few of the mud-brick houses we passed looked abandoned, and there weren’t many people around. There wasn’t even a proper road—just dirt paths like in some forgotten village. One look, and He Yu suddenly understood.

He leaned in and whispered to me, “No wonder this village is buried so deep. Turns out, it’s not even a real village. It just looks like one from the outside. This whole place is a front, a cover for something bigger. There’s something going on here—a major underground market where people come to buy and sell goods. That guy’s stall is probably inside.”