Merchant of the Underworld

We arrived at the village on the address before dark.

The tea gardens all over the mountain look vibrant against the setting sun. The busy tea pickers in the tea gardens want to take advantage of the last light to pick more tea leaves. After all, the tea picking time is very short, and the tea leaves may be old tomorrow.

Li Mazi looked out through the car window: "Brother Zhang, there seems to be more than one tea garden here. Why don't you go down and ask about it."

"Don't worry." I drove the car into the village and stopped steadily: "You take care of Lao Gang in the car, and I'll go down and take a look."

Li Mazi had a bitter look on his face: "You want me to be in the car again? He sleeps like a dead pig, what can I take care of? Brother Zhang, let me go down with you to explore the road, I'm in the car It’s uncomfortable to hold it in.”

I sighed and nodded reluctantly.

Li Mazi and I walked around the village for a while, and finally found a dirty warehouse, where a shirtless man was sitting under a big tree playing with his mobile phone.

Li Mazi and I walked over and asked, "Brother..."

Before I could say anything, the big man pointed impatiently at the room: "Go in and get it yourself, and come out to settle the account."

"No, you misunderstood, we don't buy anything." I said politely.

The big man raised his head and glanced at me in his busy schedule: "Don't want to buy anything? What are you doing here if you don't want to buy something? Are you looking for a slap?"

Li Mazi suddenly became angry: "Why are you talking?"

I quickly pressed Li Mazi's shoulders: "Brother, I want to ask you something."

The big man continued to play with his mobile phone: "I'm mute and can't speak."

Li Mazi shouted: "Aren't you just talking?"

"I'm happy to have your mouth on my face." The big man glanced at Li Mazi dissatisfied: "You damn pock, are you looking for a beating? Do you believe that if I shout, a whole village of people will come out and beat you up? I guarantee it. I’ll beat you until your own mother doesn’t even recognize you.”

This is not a lie. In this kind of remote mountain village, the folk customs have always been strong and the internal unity is extremely united. People from the Public Security Bureau can't function here.

Li Mazi didn't dare to say anything anymore.

I thought about it, took out a hundred yuan from Li Mazi's trouser pocket and handed it to the big man: "Brother..."

"Fuck, you're not done yet..." The big man didn't curse the next words. He stared at the money in my hand and said, "What do you mean?"

"Let me ask you something. If you can help me, the money will be yours." I said.

The big man grabbed the money and looked at the sunset carefully. After confirming that it was real money, the smile on his face couldn't be more warm: "Brother, you ask! I'm not bragging to you, there is no one like me in this village." Anyone who knows, there’s nothing I don’t know, I can definitely help you, you’ve asked the right person.”

Li Mazi curled his lips and cast a disdainful look.

"Brother, I heard that there is a tea planting base in our village?" I asked.

The big man nodded: "There are several tea growing bases in our village. Which one are you asking about?"

"The boss's surname is Song," I said.

"He!" the big man suddenly said, "Didn't he commit suicide by jumping off the building?"

Speaking of this, the big man deliberately lowered his voice: "I heard that the village is in a riot because of this matter. This turtle grandson owes us a lot of money, and now he is enjoying the blessings, but what about this?" Old Liu is in trouble."

"Who is Old Liu Tou?" I suddenly became alert. Could it be the old farmer who gave Old Song a one-word bell as Mrs. Chen said?

"Old Liu Tou is Boss Song's partner, and he is also responsible for the tea planting base. As promised at the beginning, Old Liu Tou will be responsible for helping to look after the tea garden and picking it in season. This tea picking is a three or two day job. If it is delayed, Over time, the tea has aged and cannot be sold at a high price. Old Liu Tou has a small family, so he can only hire people. It doesn’t cost money to hire people these days? Old Liu Tou is still waiting for Boss Song to pay people to settle wages. Well, now that Boss Song is gone, the workers are making trouble in front of Old Liutou's house, forcing Old Liutou to hang himself." The big man became more and more excited as he talked, with a face full of gossip.

"How is the relationship between Boss Song and Old Liu Tou?" I asked in a low voice.

The big man thought for a while: "It seems not bad. I heard that the mistress of Old Liu Tou's family found a treasure under the well and bought it for Boss Song. Everyone said that Old Liu Tou was cheated and the thing was taken to the market. The price will definitely be higher than the price offered by Boss Song. Old Liu Tou also said that Boss Song treats him well and would rather suffer a small loss. This is good, if you suffer a loss, you will make a fortune..."

Li Mazi and I exchanged a look.

This so-called treasure should be Yizhong.

Li Mazi asked in a panic: "Is that baby a bell?"

"How do you know?" The big man looked at Li Mazi and his eyes became obviously alert. He looked at us a few times: "What on earth do you do?"

I could only make nonsense: "We are two reporters from a newspaper. We heard about this incident and thought there was news to dig up, so we came here to find some material."

"Ah!" The big man felt relieved.

We asked him about the specific location of Old Liu Tou's home, and before it got dark, we quickly found Old Liu Tou's home according to the big man's instructions.

There were several dilapidated mud-roof houses with dim lamps on, and a buffalo barked hungry in the yard.

Li Mazi glanced around a few times: "It's probably right here."

We walked into the messy yard and shouted: "Is this Uncle Liu's home?"

An old man's dull reply came from the room: "Who are you looking for?"

Li Mazi and I bravely entered the house. We saw a table in the middle of the dirty and messy room, with green onions and raw sauce on it. Sitting next to the table was an old man who was still in good health and was drinking Laobaigan. . He glanced at us drunkenly: "Who are you looking for?"

"Uncle Liu, we are reporters from the newspaper. I heard that your mistress found a treasure some time ago and would like to interview you." Li Mazi copied exactly what I had said to the big man before.

Old Liu frowned and cursed displeasedly: "Go, go, no one will interview you, get out of here."

Li Mazi didn't expect to be treated like this and looked at me at a loss.

I sat down opposite Old Liu and calmly put the plastic bag in my hand on the table: "Do you recognize this?"

Old Liu Tou glanced at it uneasily.

I gently opened the plastic bag and revealed the clock inside.

The clock is ticking forward.

Li Mazi was startled and said dumbfounded: "Brother Zhang, it...why did it start spinning again?"

Old Liu was stunned: "This... why is this in your hands? Who are you?"

"It doesn't really matter who I am." I sneered: "Your mistress found this one-piece clock, right? Is your mistress here?"

When Old Liu Tou heard me mention the mistress, his eyes turned red: "No, he is gone."

I was stunned: "When did it happen?"

"A few months ago, I got stuck in the mud." Old Liu took a sip of the strong wine in his glass: "He found this treasure. He had been counting on making a fortune from it. He knew that I sold it to Boss Song at a low price. , he lost his temper with me..."

The quagmire that killed Mistress, the black mud that killed Lao Song and Mrs. Chen.

Will there be any connection between them?

"Then do you know where the mistress found the Yizhong?" I didn't dare to waste any more time and asked the most puzzling question directly.