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墨書 Inktalez
Thinking of this, I turned back to take another look, and the more I looked, the more uneasy I felt.
I didn’t continue home; instead, I turned around and ran toward that open space. Deep down, I had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t just an ordinary patch of land. Perhaps those small mounds were actually something significant.
I ran quickly, heading straight down without stopping. In just a few minutes, I arrived at the open space. However, when I got there, the feeling was gone. The slightly raised mounds looked quite insignificant, and there were some disordered knee-high stones scattered about. It all seemed very ordinary. Upon closer inspection, those mounds didn’t stand out much at all. I even thought to myself, “I should be heading home to have dinner with my parents. By the way, wasn’t your grandfather’s grave buried on the hillside of that mountain on my way home?”
Liu Jian replied, “Yes, if you go to the top of the mountain and look down, you should be able to see it. My dad said that pit hasn’t been filled yet.”
I said okay and told him to bring a hoe and a shovel to that spot after lunch. Also, he needed to bring a harrow used for lifting straw—something pointed at both ends that could easily be inserted into bundles of straw; it was wooden and very sturdy.
He agreed but asked what I was planning to do. I said, “Don’t ask; it’s hard to explain. Just take those tools and wait for me there around three or four o'clock. Don’t forget; you can come alone.”
After hanging up, I called my mom to tell her I was coming home for breakfast. She happily replied, “I was just waiting for your call! I got up early this morning at five and killed a duck. I didn’t know if you’d come back for dinner, so I didn’t cook it.” I quickly assured her, “Okay, okay! I’ll be right back.” Hearing about the duck made my mouth water.
Having stayed in the trees for so long, my legs felt a bit weak. But my mom’s duck was renowned as the best in the village; every time I returned home, I had to eat it. Staying for a few days meant several meals of it—I could never get tired of it. As for the temptation of duck, let alone weak legs; even if my legs were broken, I would crawl back home.
When I reached home, the duck was already on the table in two large bowls. The aroma invigorated me. Without bothering to wash my hands, I reached for a piece to shove into my mouth. My mom saw me covered in dirt—especially my hands—and quickly stopped me, telling me to wash up and change clothes. She didn’t ask why I was so dirty; in her mind, what I had been doing was just rolling around in the dirt on the mountain, so getting my clothes dirty was normal. However, I wasn’t going to listen to her; I grabbed a piece of duck kidney and tossed it into my mouth while chewing on its spicy crunch and grinning as I said, “If you don’t clean up after eating something unclean, you won’t get sick! Mmm, still tastes so good—thanks for cooking, Mom!”
She laughed and scolded me: “If it’s so good, hurry up and take a shower so you can eat more; the food won’t run away! Your clothes, towel, toothbrush—all of that is ready for you.”
“Thanks, Mom!” By the time I said this, I had already dashed into the bathroom.
That meal was satisfying beyond words; it was truly delightful. After taking a nap at home in the afternoon, I started walking toward Liu Jian's house after lunch. My dad offered to drive me over, but I declined because I felt too full and needed to digest a bit first. When I returned to that open space, Liu Jian was already waiting there for me.
Upon seeing me, Liu Jian asked in confusion what I wanted to do. I led him to one of the marked stones and said, "Come, pry this stone open and see what's inside."
Liu Jian replied, "This is easy."
Using a harrow, he pried open the stone. Just as I had imagined, this stone hadn't come from underground; it had been moved here, so it was easy to shift aside. Beneath it was packed soil, containing some decayed grass but very little else. Clearly, this stone had been here for a long time. Aside from the decayed grass, there was nothing else, which seemed a bit unusual. In such an environment, there should at least be some worms or centipedes lurking in the shadows.
Liu Jian asked if I wanted to dig into the soil below. I nodded and said I would do the digging. Grabbing the hoe, I began to dig. Although there was a stone above, I could still feel that the soil beneath was loose. After digging about twenty centimeters, I found nothing.
Liu Jian gradually lost his patience and asked if I had found any antiques yet. I replied no and suggested we dig another twenty centimeters; if we still found nothing, we would give up. In my mind, I thought that whatever might be down there wouldn't exceed a foot; beyond that would be pointless.
Sure enough, as expected, when I reached about thirty centimeters deep, my hoe struck something that felt different from the surrounding soil. I quickly dropped the hoe and reached in with my hands to clear away the dirt on top.
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