Grave Robber

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Volume 2 Chapter 1: Qia Qia

Edited by Akshaythedon

When the unconscious Xiao Bei woke up, he found himself lying in an unfamiliar place. Opposite to him was a small bamboo house where there was a young lady dressed in rural traditional clothing. She was drying something.

Xiao Bei used the bed as his support to get up but, halfway through, he suddenly felt a burst of weakness. Both his legs felt weak and finally, “pūtōng” Xiao Bei fell onto the ground in a kneeling position.

Maybe it was because of the sound caused by Xiao Bei’s fall, but the young lady was startled into a shudder. However, after turning around, a smiling expression appeared on her face as she rushed to help.

She supported Xiao Bei up and helped Xiao Bei to lay on the bed again.

Those sparrows on the branch kept on issuing “chāchā” (ED: their chirping sound) cries but they did not seem noisy at all.

“Where am I?” Xiao Bei weakly asked. His complexion was pale white, appearing as if he had just started recovering from a serious illness.

“This is my home. I found you floating along a stream and you were still unconscious after I got people to pull you out of the water. The doctor said that your current body condition was due to having suffered under excessive pressure for a long period of time. I did not expect you to wake up today. I’ll now go call the doctor!” As the young lady spoke, she was also getting ready to get up and leave.

Xiao Bei nodded his head. Just then, Xiao Bei remembered something. He abruptly got up and began to probe his body.

When he found out that he was now not wearing his original clothes, his facial expression became unsightly. “Have you seen the things on my body? Where are my stuff?!” Xiao Bei grabbed hold of the young lady.

“Ah!” The young lady was shocked from Xiao Bei’s sudden action and softly cried out in alarm. “Are you asking about that piece of beautiful jade that was in your hand? The gem that was on you, I put it away.  Oh, there’s still that bunch of keys. I’ll go get them for you.” She tentatively asked.

Now, Xiao Bei finally relaxed by a lot. He softly replied, “Oh, that’s good, that’s good.” His whole person was as if he had lost his soul. He continuously repeated these two words ‘that’s good’.

“You, what’s wrong?” On seeing Xiao Bei’s countenance, the young lady was stunned. She could not help getting tensed up as she was under the impression that Xiao Bei’s head was seriously injured.

“I’m fine, āi. You do not need to give them back to me now. It’s good that they weren’t thrown. I thought they were missing.” Xiao Bei sighed.

“How could I throw them when they were very important to you? Hēhē.”

The young lady covered her mouth and chuckled. Due to the rays of the afternoon sun, her head that was filled with hair accessories shined. This teenage girl’s laughter had a special kind of beauty to it.

“That day when I found you, I was given a shock. The you before was like a corpse, drifting along the stream. After I called people to help me pull you out, I noticed that you were tightly holding onto that piece of jade. Uncle Qia expended a lot of effort to pull out the jade from your grasp.” Like this, the young lady went on to tell Xiao Bei about the situation when he was still unconscious.

……

At that time, the young lady did not know whether that person was dead or alive and the scene was particularly scary when she saw a body floating in the water. The young lady closed her eyes but they still formed a slit as she curiously looked at the

floating body. She noticed that person was tightly holding onto something.

The young lady dumped the fresh flowers and left. Moments later, a group of villagers who were dressed in plain and simple clothing pulled that person out of the water.

This person was very young, about 20 years old. At some areas of his skin, they were either covered with blisters or were swollen. His body was covered in scratch scars and there were also grazes from sharp stones. There were even some places which seemed to have been bitten by some fierce beasts. This was truly frightening.

However, what’s extraordinary was that this person was still breathing. Though it was weak, it proved that he could still be saved. Hence they lifted the man back to their village.

This dying young man was the one that jumped into the depression, Xiao Bei.

……

“Did he wake up?” Suddenly, a voice cut in and interrupted the two’s conversation.

It was a middle-aged man, about thirty plus. He wasn’t exactly tall but was buff with a dark skin texture. The thing about him that was attention grabbing was his bright, penetrating, eagle-like eyes. In his hand was a long smoking pipe which had yet to be lighted.

“Uncle Qia, you have come. Then I will leave first.” The young left while skipping away.

“h.e.l.lo, my name is Mo Xiao Bei. Thank you for your help. For these two days, I have troubled all of you.” Xiao Bei slightly shifted his body to lean against the bedhead and smiled embarra.s.sedly.

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. I had only occasionally come over to see you. These past few days, it had always been Mi Yi, that little girl, who had been taking care of you. You must thank her. If it wasn’t for her finding you, you might not even be here ah, hēhē. I’m called Qia Qia. If you don’t mind, you can call me Uncle Qia like all the others in this village.” Qia Qia knocked the pipe bowl twice and changed the tobacco within it.

These actions caused Xiao Bei to involuntarily think of fatty because, below the altar, fatty had also been breathing in the smell of the cigarette he had between his lips for quite some time. Xiao Bei’s nose twitched and he slowly nodded his head. Afterward, he still lowered his head.

“Your body had a lot of scars and they seemed to be from a fight. What happened? If you don’t mind, you can tell me. Perhaps I might be able to help.”

In front of this man, Xiao Bei did not know why but he felt an affinity towards him. In an instant, Xiao Bei’s psychological barrier was breached and he began to narrate what he previously experienced to Uncle Qia.

Xiao Bei also included the part when fatty had parted with him. He was now choking with emotions but he did not cry. He stubbornly opened his eyes as he knew that a strong person wouldn’t easily break down into tears. If he couldn’t even do this small little thing, how would he face all his future trials and tests? He once again lowered his head.

Uncle Qia rhythmically knocked using the pipe bowl and also repeatedly changed the tobacco. Bāda bāda, he breathed in one mouthful after the other. His eyebrows wrinkled into a chinese character, “川”.

“Xiao Bei, there’s something I would like to say but I don’t know whether it would be inappropriate of me or not.”

“If there’s something you want to say, go ahead. It’s ok.”

“I think you should give up on finding the truth. This is truly too dangerous. You are young and still have a long future ahead of you. Moreover, that jade you have might not have any bewitching effect towards every single person. Aren’t you fine now? Wú, this is just my personal suggestion to you. If you really want to investigate to unravel the mysteries, I also got something to tell you.”

“Uncle Qia, I……”

Xiao Bei did not know what to say. Perhaps he really desired for a tranquil and normal life. Previously, he thought that all these were impossible, but after listening to Uncle Qia’s words, he began to feel at a loss, confused and hesitant.

“It looks like you need some time to think about it. Āi, poor child, I will take my leave first and not disturb you.”

The door closed, issuing a “zhī ya” sound. Xiao Bei felt dizzy and slipped back into the bed. Looking at the wind chimes outside the window, Xiao Bei was lost in thought.

The next few days pa.s.sed by in a blink of an eye. Xiao Bei’s mood gradually improved and he became more spirited. His body also recovered very quickly. There was a thought that kept running in his mind. Maybe, living like this peacefully with these simple and honest villagers wasn’t a bad option.

But, could he really preserve this state of livelihood?

Perhaps this was also what fatty had wished for, right? To find a place where there was a beautiful scenery to settle down and to comfortably live a life of ease. The quality of life does not have to be high as long as it was self-sufficient and that would be enough.

The night breeze blew against the wind chimes, causing it to issue melodious ringing sounds. Dark clouds quietly, without anyone noticing, hid the bright moon which was watching over people as they gradually fell asleep.

Xiao Bei did not know that there was still a huge trial hidden in the dark, waiting for him. Furthermore, the day of that trial was soon approaching.
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