As they were talking, "Master Sun Jiu" had already finished vomiting, and was carried back by the fat man to sit down again. He was drunk as a mud, and even his mind was a little dazed. He sat at the table in a daze, and no one knew what he was thinking. He muttered inexplicably as if possessed by a ghost: "What a great king, with a body but no head; without the wife coming, the mountains will not bloom; burning wood and starting the pot, the liver and lungs are cooked; digging wells and cutting salt, asking ghosts for money; the bird path is crisscrossed, and it turns nine times in a hundred steps; if you want to visit the earthly immortals, you must first find the crows…"
(Note: Lao Jiu cannot leave – Zuo Shandiao, the bandit leader in "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy", has eight golden men under his command. Yang Zirong, who infiltrated the bandit group as an undercover agent, was ranked ninth, so he was called "Lao Jiu". When Zuo Shandiao tried to keep Yang Zirong, he shouted "Lao Jiu cannot leave".)
I heard what "Sun Jiuye" said was half literary and half vulgar, like an ancient poem, and also like a jingle, and the content was bizarre, and it was difficult to understand its meaning for a while. It was not until I heard the four words "want to visit the earthly immortals" that I realized in my heart: "It is probably a hint to find the entrance to the ancient tomb of the earthly immortals!"
At this time, the fat man said, "Sun Laojiu, if you don't know how to drink, don't drink. Can you drink as much as me? Look, he started to recite the Three Character Classic after drinking too much. What a mess…"
I quickly covered the fat man's mouth and pricked up my ears to listen to Professor Sun's drunken "nonsense", but after he said "If you want to visit the earthly immortals, first find the crow…", there was no more words. He fell asleep on the table and didn't say anything else.
I was so itchy that I wanted to pry Professor Sun's mouth open and make him repeat the whole thing from beginning to end without missing a word. The key sentence was: "If you want to find the tomb of the earth immortals to seal the king's tomb, you must first find what is black?" I didn't listen carefully to the first few sentences. Now that I think about it, it seems to be "What kind of good wife is boiling water for the king?"
Shirley Yang has the ability to remember what she has heard. She said: "It's not about the good wife boiling water. What Professor Sun said just now should be – a good king, with a body but no head; if the wife doesn't come, the mountains won't bloom; burning wood and starting a pot, the liver and lungs will be boiled; digging wells and cutting salt, asking ghosts for money; the bird path is crisscrossed, and it turns nine times in a hundred steps; if you want to visit the earthly immortals, first find the crows…"
I quickly wrote these words down in my notebook. It seemed that Master Sun Jiu had some information about the ancient tomb of the earthly immortals hidden in his stomach. He was so excited that he drank two more liang of wine, and then he accidentally revealed it. What kind of riddle was in his incomplete words? We couldn't understand it at all.
Shirley Yang said: "What a great king… with a body but no head…? I think the character for king has no head, which is the character for earth. Could it be a hidden word puzzle? Hinting at the secrets in the ancient tomb of the earthly immortal? If my wife doesn't come, the mountains won't open. What is the hidden word in this sentence? It shouldn't be a riddle. I can't figure out the words in the following sentences."
I was also completely confused at this point: "A king with a body but no head? Who is the headless king? And who is the founding lady? I couldn't figure out the first sentence, so I naturally had no clue about the hints that followed."
The fat man said, "Let me get a glass of cold water and spray Mr. Sun Jiu with it to wake him up. Then we'll torture him severely. If he refuses to tell the truth, we'll have to use some harsh methods on him, such as pepper spray and tiger bench. We'll use all of them on him and torture him severely."
I shook my head and said, "This is not Zhazidong or Baigongguan, and Professor Sun is not an arrested revolutionary. How can we torture him? I think we should not torture him today. After we finish our meal, we can take him home and question him after he wakes up. I don't think he would dare to hide anything."
Then the three of us had our meal full of questions. Shirley Yang paid the bill and took Professor Sun back to where I lived. At the gate, Professor Sun asked me in a daze: "Huh? Where is this? Don't let me go to the farm. I'm not a rightist, not a traitor, and I haven't killed anyone…"
I comforted him, "Don't worry, you won't be sent to a labor camp under armed escort. You see, you've arrived at my home. This place is called You'anmen. It doesn't matter if you're labeled a rightist. No matter which country you're from, as long as you live in You'anmen… you'll be safe." But my doubts deepened, and I thought, "Did Professor Sun kill anyone? Who did he kill? Although he has a bad temper, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would kill. Killing someone is not like killing a chicken. Not everyone has the courage to do that."
Fatty was impatient to wait for Professor Sun to sober up, so he went to Panjiayuan to practice his stall after he got home. In the afternoon, Shirley Yang and I saw that Professor Sun was sober, so we poured him a cup of hot tea. I closed the door, moved a chair and sat in front of him, and said directly: "Master Jiu, to be honest, you were drunk just now, and you said everything about murder and being a traitor. But from my point of view, it is true that you love fame, but if you say you are a murderer, I will never believe it. I think you must have been wronged. Why don't you tell us the whole story of these things."
I patted my chest and assured Chairman Mao that if I could help in this matter, I would go through fire and water without hesitation, and would definitely try every means to clear your name. If it was beyond my ability, Shirley Yang and I would keep what you said today to ourselves and would never reveal a single word to outsiders.
Professor Sun knew that he had spoken out of turn after drinking, but seeing that Shirley Yang and I looked sincere, he had to tell us about his experiences during the Cultural Revolution. Unexpectedly, they were inextricably linked to the "Ancient Tomb of the Earthly Immortals". Eighty percent of the reason why Professor Sun wanted to find the "Ancient Tomb of the Earthly Immortals" was related to his experiences in the labor camp.
During the Cultural Revolution, Sun Xuewu was attacked. Because of his bad popularity, he was framed. At first, he was accused of having problems with his lifestyle. Later, some villain came forward and accused him of being a revolutionary traitor. How could he defend himself during the public trial? He was about to be tied up and dragged to the execution ground to be executed on the spot. Fortunately, his old classmate Chen Jiuren, also known as Professor Chen, stood up to testify that Sun Xuewu had a low level of consciousness and had never participated in the revolution, so he could not be called a traitor. This saved him from the disaster.
Later, Sun Xuewu and Chen Jiuren, two brothers in distress, were sent to Guoyuangou, Shaanxi, for labor reform. Guoyuangou actually had no orchards at all , but a stone quarry. Chen Jiuren was a scholar, how could he bear the work of swinging a sledgehammer to chisel stones? He collapsed within half a month. Fortunately, his family used their connections to get a hospital certificate for a stomach tumor, and took him back to Beijing for treatment, so he didn't die on the farm.
But no one cared about Sun Xuewu. He was alone, his wife had died long ago, he had no children, and he had no other options. He had to endure the hardship day after day on the farm. Fortunately, he was in good physical condition. He had done farm work before liberation, and he could endure such heavy physical labor for a short period of time. However, the mental pressure was too great, and his future was bleak. He didn't know what would happen in the future. Moreover, these labor reform inmates had to report on each other. If you didn't report on others, others would find ways to report on you. That was simply not a life for a human being.
Sun Xuewu met a man on the farm. He was a regiment commander during the Korean War. His surname was Feng. No one knew why he was sent to the countryside to work. Since he and Sun Xuewu always worked together, they had a similar fate and got along well. One day, regiment commander Feng secretly said to Sun Xuewu, "Old Sun, I can't stand this kind of life. I've been thinking about it for several days. Now I've made up my mind to run away. I think you're going to die soon. Why don't you run away with me?"
Sun Xuewu was shocked and asked Captain Feng, "Run? Are you going to die? Besides, although the farm is not well guarded, it is deep in the sparsely populated Daba Mountains. Even if you run away, what will happen next? Where can you hide? Will you be able to survive if you are caught?"
Captain Feng seemed to be very confident. He said, "After crossing the mountain, we will enter Sichuan. My hometown is in Sichuan. Rather than being trapped here and waiting to die, I might as well take the risk of crossing the mountains. As long as I can return to my hometown, it will be like a fish entering the sea and a bird flying into the sky.
It turns out that this captain Feng's ancestor was a local nobleman named Chen Shan in the Ming Dynasty. He was once a "Guan Shan Tai Bao", that is, a tomb robber. "Guan Shan Tai Bao" dug out the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book in an ancient tomb in Sichuan a long time ago. After comprehending the mystery, he got the Great Dao and became an immortal. He built a Dixian Village in the underground palace of the robbed ancient tomb as a place to hide the truth after a hundred years. It is said that whoever finds this Dixian Village and worships the Dixian Guan Shan Tai Bao will be able to live forever and never eat or drink from then on, and will not even touch the fireworks of the world.
But the ancient tomb of the earthly immortal was hidden too deep, leaving no trace. Since the fall of the Ming Dynasty, no one has been able to find it. However, the earthly immortal left a few secret words to the descendants of the Feng family: "What a great king, with a body but no head; without the wife coming, the mountains will not bloom; burning firewood and starting a pot, the liver and lungs will be cooked; digging wells and cutting salt, asking ghosts for money; the bird paths are crisscrossed, with nine turns in a hundred steps; if you want to visit the earthly immortal, first find the black sheep…"
In this ancient mystery, there is an important secret of the entrance to the Earth Immortal Village. Except for the Feng family, they are never willing to tell outsiders. At that time, Captain Feng only told Professor Sun a small part of it, and persuaded him to run back to Sichuan with him and hide in the Earth Immortal Tomb for refuge. Although Captain Feng had served in the army and fought in wars, he was extremely superstitious about these illusory things passed down by his ancestors. It was for this reason that he was demoted here. Now he can't stand the crime of chiseling mountains and quarrying stones, so he wants to escape back to his hometown. It's hard to say whether he can live forever, but at least there is a place to go. Anyway, now he is dead inside and outside. If there is really a heavenly book in King Feng's tomb, then he will follow his ancestors to become an immortal.
When Professor Sun heard this, he felt that Captain Feng must have a mental problem. He might be overwhelmed and have a mental breakdown. How could he dare to say anything? In this day and age, just for what you just said, it would not be too much to shoot you ten times.
Professor Sun then made his attitude clear and firmly refused to go with him, saying: "If you want to go, go by yourself. Don't worry, I will never tell on you behind your back."
Captain Feng sneered and said, "As the saying goes, don't tell others what's on your mind. Since I've told you, Old Sun, about my escape plan, even if you don't expose it, I'm afraid you won't be able to get away with it after I escape. So, I'll help you."
Professor Sun was shocked: "What do you want?" Before he could finish his words, he was hit on the back of his head with a pickaxe and passed out immediately. When he woke up, Captain Feng was nowhere to be seen.
The disappearance of Captain Feng caused a sensation in the labor camp. The searchers searched the area for hundreds of miles, but they couldn't find even a hair of Captain Feng. It was impossible for him to fly away. At this time, someone revealed that he was last seen with Professor Sun. Professor Sun was brought to trial at that time, but he knew that he must not tell the truth, otherwise the investigation would only deepen. Even if he wanted to tell the truth, he couldn't. Should he say that Captain Feng went to the ancient tomb of the earth immortals to seek immortality? Who would believe it? He had to insist that he might have run away, and said he didn't know anything else. The wound on the back of his head was proof that he was also a victim.
Although the matter was left unresolved, rumors were powerful and some people began to suspect that Professor Sun and Captain Feng had a personal grudge and that Professor Sun secretly killed Captain Feng and buried the body somewhere. Although this statement was not officially recognized, it was widely circulated in private, and everyone regarded him as a murderer. Even after the Gang of Four was crushed, he still could not explain himself.
Professor Sun was not sure whether Captain Feng had escaped back to Sichuan, and Captain Feng's case was later rehabilitated. Even if he had hidden in the mountains at the beginning, he could now stand up straight, but he still had not been seen. It was as if this person had evaporated from the face of the earth. Over the years, there has always been "no one sees him alive, no one sees his body after death". Therefore, the rumor that he "had long been killed by the enemy spy Professor Sun and his body hidden in the mountains" has become even more convincing, but there is no evidence for the time being, and no one can do anything to Professor Sun.
The mystery of Captain Feng's disappearance became a thorn in Professor Sun's side. Later, when he came across various legends and records about the "Dixian Village Ancient Tomb" at work, he paid special attention to it. On the one hand, he wanted to find the ancient Zhoutian hexagrams from it so that he could make a breakthrough in his research results. On the other hand, he also wanted to find Captain Feng who had been missing for ten years and clear up the unjust accusation he had suffered.
But Professor Sun also knew that after Captain Feng escaped, he might have been fed by wild beasts in the mountains, or fell into a mountain stream and died. The possibility of him escaping to Sichuan was very small. Even if the "Ancient Tomb of the Earthly Immortal" was found, this person might not be found in the tomb. However, Professor Sun had a vague idealistic premonition that "Captain Feng is a very unusual person. Maybe he can really find the entrance to the ancient tomb and is still alive in the world."
After listening to Master Sun Jiu's story, I had some ideas in my mind: "We can't solve the riddle of the Earth Immortal Village for a while, and the bronze mirror can only be used one or two times at most. It can't be used to predict the geomantic omen easily unless it's a critical moment. But I think this Captain Feng is an important clue to finding the ancient tomb. The legends about the Earth Immortals in the Ming Dynasty are mostly confusing. It has always been said that they are in Sichuan, but there is no general area. We don't even know whether it is in Ba or Shu, or in East Sichuan or West Sichuan? It's difficult to find it without knowing the key points. But as long as we can find out which county and town Captain Feng's hometown is, we can go there in person and follow the clues to find the entrance to the tomb. It shouldn't be difficult."