diymy Chapter 154 Yao Jin: I came here to eat Lü Xiao's leftovers, so why do you say that I dug this
Chapter 154 Yao Jin: I came here to eat Lü Xiao's leftovers, so why do you say that I dug this
At this time, the Zheng family burial complex was completely silent.
The night wind howled through the excavated tomb passage, sounding like countless souls weeping softly.
The pale moonlight shone on the mess on the ground.
Following the visit of Lü Xiao's professional team, this long-silent graveyard has welcomed a second wave of uninvited guests.
"My goodness!" Cheng Yaojin jumped off his horse, torch in hand, the firelight illuminating the exaggerated expression on his round face.
"The place where the dead live is more spacious than where we living people live! Look at the layout, look at the grandeur!"
He held the torch and circled the entrance to the main burial chamber, marveling at the sight.
The tomb door had already been smashed open, with rubble scattered all over the ground, revealing the dark tomb passage, which looked like the gaping maw of a giant beast.
You Junda followed behind, craning his neck to peer into the tomb chamber, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper: "Something's not right, Lao Cheng, this is too clean."
He carried a torch into the tomb passage, and in the light of the torch, he saw that the walls of the tomb chamber were empty.
The ground was a complete mess, yet it was eerily clean.
Not to mention gold, silver, and jade artifacts, not even a single copper coin was left behind.
"Damn it, is this what you call plucking feathers from a passing goose?" You Junda spat. "This is clearly the goose being completely stripped of its feathers, not even a single downy feather left!"
Cheng Yaojin, however, paid no attention to it; his attention was drawn to the coffin in the center of the main burial chamber.
Although the coffin had been opened and the lid was askew, the wood was of excellent quality, and the lacquer gleamed warmly in the firelight.
"Hey, this thing is pretty good!" Cheng Yaojin stepped forward, his rough hands stroking the coffin as if he were stroking a fine horse.
"Look at the wood, look at the workmanship. My mother is getting old, and she will need this coffin sooner or later. It's ready-made, so I don't have to bother to buy one."
He circled the coffin twice, growing more and more satisfied with what he saw: "Second Brother Shan, lend a hand! Let's get this good stuff back; then our trip won't have been in vain!"
Shan Xiongxin stood silently at the entrance of the tomb, his face solemn.
His gaze swept across the tomb chamber. Most of the murals on the walls had been roughly scraped off, the stone sarcophagus had been pried open, and even the epitaph had been smashed.
The clean and efficient methods employed demonstrate that Lü Xiao has all sorts of people under his command.
"Old Cheng, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" You Junda hesitated. "After all, it's something from someone else's ancestral grave..."
"What's wrong with that?" Cheng Yaojin glared. "The person's dead, why bother with this? Besides, the grave's been dug up like this, if we don't take anything, it'll just benefit someone else. Come on, lend a hand!"
Shan Xiongxin sighed and finally waved his hand.
Several henchmen stepped forward and hurriedly cleaned out the bones from the coffin, piling them haphazardly in a corner of the tomb.
The remains of that Zheng family ancestor, whose lineage was unknown, were discarded like trash. The skull rolled around a few times, and the empty eye sockets faced the top of the tomb.
It took seven or eight men working together to lift the heavy coffin out of the tomb passage and load it onto a cart.
Cheng Yaojin personally secured the coffin with ropes, patted the coffin lid, and nodded in satisfaction: "Good, this trip was worthwhile!"
He mounted his horse and shouted, "Brothers, let's head back to the village!"
The henchmen mounted their horses, and the cart creaked and turned.
Cheng Yaojin walked at the very front, humming an off-key tune.
Although I didn't get to eat Lü Xiao's leftovers, getting such a fine coffin was worth it.
He was figuring out how to explain it to his mother when he got back. He would say that he had it custom-made, since his mother wouldn't know anything about these things anyway.
Just then, the sound of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from afar.
The group reined in their horses and looked over, and saw a group of about a hundred people carrying torches galloping towards them.
In the flickering firelight, Cheng Yaojin recognized the leaders at a glance.
Li Mi, Wang Bodang, and several generals from Wagangzhai.
"broken."
Cheng Yaojin's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously turned around to look at the coffin on the cart.
The group of people had arrived, and the torches illuminated the cemetery as bright as day.
The moment Li Mi and the others saw the scene before them, their expressions changed drastically.
The cemetery was in a mess; graves had been dug up, soil was churned up, and bones were exposed.
The main burial chamber entrance was wide open, like a giant beast whose internal organs had been ripped out, howling silently in the night.
"This...this is..." Li Mi's voice trembled.
When he dismounted, his legs went weak and he almost fell, but Wang Bodang caught him.
The elderly members of the Zheng family were struck dumb. The eldest was helped off the carriage, his hunched body trembling like a withered leaf in the firelight.
He opened his mouth, a strange hoarse sound coming from his throat, his withered fingers pointing to the dug-up ancestral grave, and after a long while, he finally let out a broken roar:
"Ancestral...ancestral graves!"
"Ancestors! Forefathers!"
The remaining members of the Zheng family fell to their knees with a thud, banging their heads on the ground, their cries heart-wrenching.
Their Zheng family's centuries of glory, the final resting place of their ancestors, has been desecrated to this extent!
Wang Bodang suppressed his shock and sharply scanned Cheng Yaojin and his group, finally fixing his gaze on Shan Xiongxin:
"Master Shan, did you open this tomb?"
His voice was calm, but the veins on the back of his hand holding the knife were bulging.
Shan Xiongxin sat upright on his horse, his face as calm as an ancient well: "No."
Two words: resolute and decisive.
"If it's not you, then why are you here?"
Li Mi, no longer caring about his composure, roared hoarsely.
His last glimmer of hope was rapidly fading.
The wealth in the Zheng family's ancestral tombs was their only means of turning their lives around.
If this money is gone, how will Wagangzhai recruit soldiers?
What gave Li Mi the right to contend for the throne?
The old man, surnamed Zheng, finally caught his breath, tears streaming down his face.
He pointed at the coffin on the cart, his voice as shrill as an owl's: "Coffin! My Zheng family's coffin is on your cart! And you still say it wasn't yours!"
Cheng Yaojin glanced at the coffin on the cart behind him and realized that things were going to get really bad.
Damn it, now even a child won't believe him if he says he didn't dig it up himself.
What kind of mess is this? Lu Xiao didn't even get to eat his leftovers, and now he's being blamed for everything.
Seeing the angry glares from the crowd, Cheng Yaojin spoke up to explain, "Would you believe me if I said we didn't dig this up?"
"You beasts! You bunch of beasts!" The Zheng family members jumped up, pointing at Cheng Yaojin and cursing, "Digging up someone's ancestral graves is an outrage against heaven and earth! You will all die a horrible death!"
Wang Bodang took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and turned to Shan Xiongxin, speaking in as calm a tone as possible:
"Master Shan, let's not beat around the bush."
The treasures in this tomb are of great importance to the people and to the great cause of overthrowing the tyrannical Sui Dynasty.
If you're willing to return 70%, the remaining 30% can be considered as hard-earned money for the brothers, how about it?"
He believed he had already given Shan Xiongxin enough face.
Only 70% is required, leaving 30% is already a huge concession.
"I told you, we didn't dig it up."
Shan Xiongxin shook his head, his voice remaining calm.
He knew who dug it, but knowing that was one thing, he absolutely could not reveal it.