Chapter 13 1
Professor Dongfang was confident that he had not misjudged Mu Linfeng. He knew that he did not need to reason with people like Mu Linfeng, because the more people kept their promises, the more likely they were to fall into this difficult situation. Everyone may have experienced this kind of conflict between inner beliefs and reality, and any choice would be painful.
After listening to Mu Linfeng's narration, the professor not only did not blame him, but also did not give him any advice. He just asked him to compare his deeds with his great-grandfather's, which made Mu Linfeng even more embarrassed to face the professor.
There was no other sound in the woods except for the occasional call of the gray magpie. The breeze seemed to have stopped blowing, and the branches had stopped swaying. Everyone was looking at Mu Linfeng silently. The quietness was filled with a dull atmosphere, which made people feel a little depressed.
Mu Linfeng lowered his head and pondered for a long time, then looked up at Professor Dongfang and said slowly: "Professor, I am a little confused. Please give me some time to think about it, and then I will tell you the decision."
Professor Dongfang nodded, knowing that asking Mu Linfeng to make a choice right away would be disadvantageous, so he had to give him some time to think about it. So he said softly, "Lin Feng, I came to Qingzhou this time not only to visit you, but also to discuss something with you in person."
"Oh, if you have anything to say, please tell me."
The professor told Mu Linfeng the main purpose of this visit: "Last time we met, I mentioned that the Yinfubu people living in Central America are descendants of the Yin people of the Shang Dynasty. We just got a message that two years ago, a tomb of the ancestor of the Yinfubu people in the jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula was robbed. An important clue came from the tomb robbers. There was a mural in the underground palace of the stolen tomb, which is likely to be the sea route of the Yin people's eastward crossing. If this is true, the Tianzhi Floating Bridge Island can be found through this sea map. In addition, it is said that this ancient tomb has many burial objects. Because the terrain in and out of the jungle is very dangerous, tomb robbers The people only took away the more valuable gold products and jades, and a large number of burial objects were left in the tomb. These burial objects are very likely to be the historical evidence we are looking for. If these burial objects can prove our research results, we don’t have to look for You Houxi’s tomb anymore. Therefore, we are going to propose to the higher authorities to form an expedition team to go to the Yucatan Peninsula to find the tomb of the ancestor of the Yinfubu people. I thought of you at the first time and wanted you to join the expedition team. With you participating in the operation to find the tomb, the chances of success will be much greater..."
When Mu Linfeng heard the professor say that if they found this tomb, they might not have to look for You Houxi's tomb anymore, he felt relieved. As long as they didn't look for the tombs in the "Emperor's Burial Mountain Map", he wouldn't have broken his oath. After the professor finished speaking, he hurriedly asked, "When will the expedition team set out?"
"We have to wait for the approval from the higher-ups before we can set this up. I can't say exactly when it will take, but it will probably take a month or so."
Mu Linfeng pondered for a moment, then said, "If the expedition departs in a month, I promise to join."
Xiao Cao asked in confusion: "Why are you joining us when we are leaving in a month?"
"It's like this. From my ancestor to my great-grandfather, everyone wrote a book called 'Tomb-Looking Notes'. There are eighteen books in total. These notes are their valuable experience in making 'lumps' and looking at tombs. If you want to truly master the ancestral skills of looking at tombs, you must study all the notes left by your ancestors. I calculated that it will take about twenty days to finish studying the notes. By then, I will be confident..."
Professor Dongfang looked at Mu Linfeng happily and said, "Okay, that should be enough time. Besides, going on an adventure to the jungles of Central America is not a trivial matter. We must be fully prepared. I think it will take at least two months."
"That's great. I promise that I can master the tomb-reading skills inherited from my ancestors within two months. Professor, count me as one of the members of the expedition team." Mu Linfeng said excitedly, wiping away the gloom on his face.
"Haha, I'm not counting you as one of them, but you are the main one..." At this point, the professor shook his head and sighed, "I'm old and no longer able to go into the jungle to explore. This important task will depend on you young people to complete it."
Ling Xiao walked up to Mu Linfeng and said with a smile: "It seems that we are going to become comrades-in-arms."
Xiao Cao lost no time in saying to Li Jianping, "Boss, am I also considered a member of the expedition team?"
Li Jianping smiled slightly, looked at Professor Dongfang and said, "It's up to the professor to decide."
Professor Dongfang said happily, "If we can find the tomb of the ancestor of the Yinfubu people, it will be no less than discovering a treasure trove for the archaeological community, and its academic value is inestimable. For such an important matter, your National Security Bureau must send people to participate, not to mention that there are so many people abroad who are concerned about this matter."
After Professor Dongfang gave this reminder, Li Jianping looked at Mu Linfeng and asked, "Lin Feng, did you encounter any unexpected situations in Tanfang Village?"
Mu Linfeng felt very strange. Li Jianping seemed to know what happened at Mr. Tan’s funeral. He nodded and said, “Yes, someone is indeed behind this, and they are doing it one after another.”
"Have you found out who it is?" Li Jianping asked again.
"I have never seen this person, but from the footprints he left behind, I can tell that he is about 30 years old, of medium build, thin, agile, and very good at climbing..."
Xiao Cao looked at Mu Linfeng in surprise and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Damn... the real person never reveals his identity... Brother Mu's tracking skills are comparable to the trace experts in our technical department!"
Mu Linfeng waved his hand and said, "It's just a trivial trick. I'm sorry to make you laugh."
"Your analysis and judgment are very accurate." Li Jianping looked at Mu Linfeng with approval, and without turning his head, he said to Xiao Cao: "Show Linfeng the photo of Ma Ermu."
Mu Linfeng took Ma Ermu's profile photo from Xiao Cao. It was his graduation photo when he was in college in the United States. He was wearing glasses and looked gentle and refined, making it hard to associate him with a tomb robber.
Seeing Mu Linfeng identifying the photo: Li Jianping asked: "Have you seen this person?"
Mu Linfeng shook his head: "No, I have never met him, but his features seem somewhat familiar."
Xiao Cao joked, "Haha, isn't it because of what you said, that there is a certain blood relationship between you two?"
"Blood relationship is bullshit, it's not even remotely related."
Professor Dongfang was very interested in the conversation between the two and immediately asked Mu Linfeng, "Oh, what is your blood relationship?"
Mu Linfeng said casually: "My great-grandmother was born in the Jinling Ma family. She should be a family with Ma Ermu's ancestors."
Professor Dongfang pointed to the tombstone beside him and asked, "Is this Mr. Ma? That must be a very legendary story."
Mu Linfeng didn't want to talk about this matter, so he quickly changed the subject and said to the others, "It's getting late, let's go back first."
Unconsciously, more than an hour had passed. The sun was setting, and the woods looked much darker. The five people began to walk back. Professor Dongfang had achieved the purpose of his visit. After chatting with Mu Linfeng about other things, the four of them did not go to Mu Linfeng's residence, and then drove away from Mujiaying.
When Mu Linfeng returned to his residence, Zhang Xiaosan and Gao Hongjin had already prepared a table of delicious dishes, including large pots of whole chickens, whole lambs, green onions and other authentic farm dishes from the mountains.
Seeing that only Mu Linfeng came back, Gao Hongjin asked curiously: "Why are you alone? Where are the friends who came?"
Seeing that they were all his favorite dishes, Mu Linfeng's appetite immediately grew. He sat down at the table without even washing his hands, picked up a chicken claw, and said as he ate it, "It smells so good... To be honest, I'm really hungry..."
"Damn, why are you like this? Your friends came into the mountains to see you, why didn't you invite them to have a meal? The little cripple and I have worked in vain." Gao Hongjin said unhappily.
Mu Linfeng said nonchalantly while eating: "Why are we working in vain? Let's eat by ourselves... Come on, come on, both of you, start eating."
Seeing this, Gao Hongjin said nothing more. He sat down, grabbed a bottle of beer, bit off the bottle cap with his teeth, and drank half of the bottle in one breath. He wiped the beer foam from the corners of his mouth with his hand and said cheerfully, "Okay, let's have a good drink together to celebrate the first job we took on. After all, we finally completed it successfully without any danger."
Zhang Xiaosan hurriedly opened two more bottles of beer and handed one to Mu Linfeng.
Mu Linfeng also got excited. He raised the bottle and said, "Okay, let's each play one first." After that, he raised his head and drank the whole bottle of beer in one breath.
Mu Linfeng was very happy, not only because of what Gao Hongjin said, but mainly because Professor Dongfang's visit made him put down a psychological burden. To be honest, Mu Linfeng always felt bad since he told Li Jianping that he wanted to quit the research group. He finally didn't have to make a painful choice anymore, and it was like a stone fell to the ground.
The three of them didn't use glasses, they drank directly from the bottles. Soon, the pack of nine bottles of beer was finished, and Zhang Xiaosan dragged another pack over from the side.
Gao Hongjin had almost finished drinking. He burped and said to Mu Linfeng, "I'm going back to the city tomorrow. It may take a few days for me to come back."
"Oh, is there something wrong?" Mu Linfeng took another bottle of beer opened by Zhang Xiaosan.
"I've handed in my resignation letter to the hotel, but the formalities haven't been completed yet. I'll go back and get it done, and then I'll arrange things at home and come back."
Mu Linfeng waved his hand: "You don't have to rush back, just stay at home for a few more days. I'll call you if there's anything."
"Okay, I'll find some friends in the city, tell them about our situation, and ask them to help spread the word."
The three of them drank and chatted, and each of them drank nearly ten bottles before they finished.
The next morning, Gao Hongjin went down the mountain and took a bus back to the city. Zhang Xiaosan contacted the craftsmen to build the wall of the old house first, so that it would look like a home.
Mu Linfeng began to carefully copy the "Tomb-Looking Notes" left by his ancestors. While copying, he studied it attentively and learned the art of tomb-looking at the same time.
Soon a week passed, and when Mu Linfeng copied the "Tomb Notes" written by the eleventh generation descendant of the Mu family, he unexpectedly found an important clue to the tomb of King Heng. Mu Linfeng did not bother to copy it anymore, and quickly took a quick look. It turned out that the funeral of the fifth generation King Heng was organized by the eleventh generation descendant of the Mu family.
Seeing this, Mu Linfeng remembered that he had read these notebooks in reverse chronological order, and the funerals of the other Heng kings were most likely handled by the ancestors of the Mu family, so he quickly flipped through the last few volumes of notebooks, and indeed his guess was verified.
The Heng King passed down the throne to seven kings in Qingzhou for six generations, including two princes in the third generation. Except for the sixth Heng King Zhu Youluo, who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in the autumn of 1645 and was executed for treason in May of the following year, the funerals of the other six Heng Kings were secretly handled by the descendants of the Mu family.
Mu Linfeng discovered from the "Grave Notes" left by his five generations of ancestors that not only was the funeral of Prince Heng handled by the Mu family, but also the funerals of many princes and princesses. What puzzled Mu Linfeng was that he had never heard of his ancestors handling the funerals of the five generations of Prince Heng, and there was no such thing among the people. It was not until he read the notes of the seventh generation of the Mu family that Mu Linfeng finally found the answer.
The seventh generation descendant of the Mu family is called Mu Jiajun. The Hengwang Mausoleum is the place he personally found by searching for dragon points. The location of the Hengwang Mausoleum is extremely secret. It can be said that it is located in a very mysterious place. Although it is within the Qingzhou boundary, no one knows the exact location. Moreover, the six Hengwangs of the five generations, as well as many county kings and many princesses are buried in the same place. This is also the reason why people have not known where the six Hengwangs and princesses are buried for many years.
Because the location of this extremely secret royal tomb is known only to the Mu family, so since the first generation of King Heng, the funerals of all important figures who died in King Heng's mansion have been arranged by the descendants of the Mu family, and this matter has been kept secret from the outside world, in order to prevent outsiders from knowing where the real King Heng's tomb is. Therefore, in the entire Qingzhou Prefecture, only the descendants of the Mu family know where King Heng is buried.
After learning about these situations, Mu Linfeng suddenly had an impulse in his heart. He must find the mysterious place where the real Hengwang Mausoleum is hidden and uncover the mystery of the disappearance of his great-grandfather Mu Dingwu. So he began to carefully study the letters left by several distant ancestors. He wanted to find this place that fascinated many people...
The very next day after Mu Linfeng discovered the clue to King Heng’s Tomb, Gao Hongjin returned from the city, and he drove there.
As soon as Gao Hongjin entered the yard, he shouted loudly: "Lin Feng, come out and take a look, I just bought a second-hand car."
Upon hearing this, Mu Linfeng quickly packed up the things on the table, then came out of the room and asked with a smile, "What car did you buy?"
Gao Hongjin said excitedly: "It's at the entrance of the alley. You'll know if you go out and take a look."
The two came out of the house and saw a black Passat parked at the entrance of the alley. Mu Linfeng walked around the car. The car was 70% new, with a 1.8T mark on the rear and a turbocharger. Mu Linfeng immediately showed an envious expression: "Not bad, how much has it run?"
Gao Hongjin boasted, "It cost about 200,000 yuan. It's a company car. There's nothing wrong with it. A very good friend of mine got it for me. It cost less than 80,000 yuan. How's it?"
Mu Linfeng said repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad, very cheap, you really have a way to buy such a good car for 80,000 yuan."
"I'm doing this for our own business. It's not convenient for you to live here without a car." Gao Hongjin waved at Mu Linfeng and said, "Get in the car and go for a spin."
After the two got in the car, Gao Hongjin started the car immediately, then drove out of the village and headed for the road down the mountain. Soon Mu Linfeng found that Gao Hongjin was driving towards the city, so he said to him: "The car is in very good condition, no noise at all, and has traveled a long way. Let's go back."
"Now that you're out, just have some fun. Why are you in such a hurry to go back? Don't make yourself like an ascetic monk. You should also come out to relax..." Gao Hongjin said nonchalantly.
Mu Linfeng saw that Gao Hongjin's test drive was fake and seemed to want to drag him out to play, so he smiled and asked, "Where do you want to take me to play?"
"Of course it's your favorite place. Don't worry, I know you are noble and I won't take you to a messy place."
It was convenient to have a car, and it only took half an hour to get to Qingzhou. However, Gao Hongjin did not drive into the city, but turned to the rural road to the western suburbs. After driving for a few minutes, the Passat stopped in front of a two-story building.
After getting off the car, Mu Linfeng found that it was his first time here. The whole building was shaded by green trees, surrounded by orchards, and the environment was quiet. There was an antique plaque hanging at the door of the building, with four large gold-plated characters "Baxi Tea House" written on it. There were seven or eight cars parked in the open space in front of the building, and it seemed that the tea house was doing good business. "How is it? Is it a different taste to drink tea here?" Gao Hongjin asked with a smile.
Mu Linfeng nodded: "Yeah, not bad, it's a good place to drink tea."
"Haha, not only is the place nice, the key is that there is good tea. Come in quickly." As he said this, Gao Hongjin was the first to walk into the teahouse. From the looks of it, it seemed that he came here often.
The building looks ordinary from the outside, but surprisingly the interior decoration is very unique. There is an exquisite bridge as soon as you enter the door, with rockery, flowing water and green bamboo on both sides, giving people a quiet and elegant feeling.
A waitress in cheongsam came over immediately and led the two into an antique single room without asking any questions. It was obvious that Gao Hongjin had already made arrangements.
