Huo Xiuxiu was somewhat surprised: “You know about this matter?”
The Silent Oil Bottle shook his head, leaning against the wall and gazing out at the shadows of the ivy outside the window, the moonlight casting a mottled glow on his face, making him look very pale.
“Then how do you know they aren’t doing it for money?” Xiuxiu asked.
The Silent Oil Bottle replied淡淡道, “The inevitability of history.”
Huo Xiuxiu glanced at me, perhaps unaccustomed to the Silent Oil Bottle’s attitude. I actually wanted to say that the fact he could talk to you was already a sign of respect; when he was leaning there just now, I thought he wasn’t listening at all.
But I understood the Silent Oil Bottle’s point. Once the amount of money reaches a certain level, whether it increases or not becomes meaningless. If this is the largest tomb-raiding operation in history, motivated by money, it would be a tragedy for our line of work. There are many things in the world more valuable than money. Wasn’t there a legend about two big bosses shelling each other’s ancestral graves in a fight for territory?
The inevitability of history—the world’s greatest conspiracies, the greatest wars, the greatest everything—all have some kind of “inevitability” behind them. I just didn’t know why he suddenly felt this way.
I explained a bit, and Huo Xiuxiu thought about it and seemed to understand: “You men are just more sensitive to these things than we women are. We girls don’t really have any feelings about the inevitability of history.”
I urged her to continue and not waste time. She took a sip of liquor and continued.
The “largest deal in history” that Jin Wantang participated in stemmed from his keen eye. In that era, he was well-known in Beijing’s eclectic community for his sharp vision and extensive knowledge. From cigarette boxes to women’s undergarments, there was nothing he wasn’t knowledgeable about. It was said that his father entered a pawnshop at six and became a prominent figure at seventeen. After the liberation, he worked as a framing worker in a factory, remaining poor until his death, leaving nothing for his son Jin. However, through countless life experiences, his father deliberately passed down various skills in appreciating paintings, jade, bronze, embroidery, wood, and porcelain to him without him realizing it. In his own words, he spent the first half of his life reaching a state of unity with ancient artifacts.
So, in the early 1960s, when he was drawn into Liulichang for a visit, he unexpectedly discovered that this desolate alley, which seemed empty, was actually filled with treasures.
Starting with just two yuan, Jin Wantang, with his keen eye, began with a few old books. He turned two yuan into three, then three into five. Within two years, no one expected that he could amass a fortune of over ten thousand yuan in such a depressed collecting market, relying solely on old books. His skills in ancient texts and books reached a transformative state.
Of course, he made money, and the “Office for the Prevention of Speculation” emerged. Fortunately, Jin Wantang inherited his father’s extremely cautious nature and knew when to pull back, so his fortune of over ten thousand yuan was never discovered.
However, business could no longer be conducted, but his reputation remained among the people. Soon, he became well-known, and foreigners sought him out. Large institutions, prominent families, and university research institutes began asking him for evaluations and appraisals. For a time, he was in the spotlight. That big deal came at the peak of his success.

The leading party was the Huo family, who had already established a cooperative relationship with him for some time. He didn’t suspect anything unusual and readily agreed.

Based on his later recollections, he told Huo Xiuxiu that he estimated the total number of people involved in the entire “deal” exceeded two hundred. If you included those who were involved but didn’t actually take action, such as those collecting information and buying equipment, the number could reach into the thousands. In that era, obtaining decent Soviet equipment required countless layers of connections.

However, none of this was enough to highlight the uniqueness of this deal. What made Jin Wantang believe that this transaction was indeed extraordinary was the unusual leader of this deal. It wasn’t a unique transaction; many people were involved, reportedly a total of nine individuals.

Upon hearing this, my heart skipped a beat. Huo Xiuxiu paused for effect like a skilled storyteller, revealing an expression that seemed to say, “You’ve thought of it too, haven’t you?”

I rubbed my face and said, “It can’t be possible, right?”

Xiuxiu replied, “I didn’t believe it at first either, but the facts are evident.”

Nine people immediately made me think of the Old Nine Gates. However, the Old Nine Gates is not a formal organization; it’s merely a codename given to them by others in the martial world. It’s extremely loose-knit and not planned by any marketing company, so the likelihood of them all working together on a single endeavor is nearly nonexistent.

For example, the Buddha, the Jade Emperor, and Jesus Christ are known as the three major religious leaders, but they each have their own lineages. It would be reasonable for the Buddha to gather Guanyin and the Eighteen Arhats to fight, but it would be impossible for the Buddha, the Jade Emperor, and Jesus to join forces in a battle.

The various factions within the Old Nine Gates are actually quite different from one another. Although their distinctions are not as pronounced as those between Jesus and the Buddha, they are still quite clear in the martial world. The idea of the Nine Gates joining forces is, in fact, impossible.

However, I could think of one extreme possibility: in that era, although this possibility was slim, it was absolutely feasible. That is, there could be a powerful outsider intervening in this matter.

It’s like in a Hong Kong film where a certain warlord hears that the Four Great Dan performers are exceptional, so he says, “Bring them all to me.” The Four Great Dan performers, each with their unique singing styles, would end up singing chaotically on stage, causing a lot of discomfort. Perhaps there was also an outsider who heard that the Old Nine Gates were formidable and decided to gather them all together.

However, during that time, the Old Nine Gates were scattered across various locations, and some individuals were essentially wandering. As the saying goes, “A high-ranking official cannot control a beggar.” If an outsider wanted to gather them, there would likely still be some who would refuse to comply.

Huo Xiuxiu nodded and said, “I was very surprised to hear this. It seems that no one in the martial arts world could have known that the famous but contentious Changsha Nine Gates Commander would form such an unprecedented alliance. I also agree with your analysis; there must be an external force involved, otherwise, such a strange situation would not arise. However, your doubts are unfounded because that external force must have a spokesperson within the old Nine Gates. This spokesperson has done the work of mediation. I just don’t know who that mediator could be, someone who could persuade these local tyrants to willingly become the ‘lama’ being mediated, and to sit together and cooperate.”

I thought to myself that it would be impossible to verify this now, but in the 1960s, there indeed were people within the old Nine Gates who had such qualifications. That person would be the leader of the Nine Gates: Zhang Dafoye.

I wasn’t sure if Zhang Dafoye was still alive at that time, as he was from an earlier generation than those beneath him. If it wasn’t him, it could also be his descendants.

What troubled me a bit was that my grandfather had never mentioned this matter to me, and his notes did not record any hint of it either. It seemed that he completely wanted to keep this a secret, even from himself, unwilling to recall it. Could it be that this matter was the core of the entire situation?

However, the old Nine Gates had already changed significantly due to generational differences before the liberation. The younger generation, like my grandfather and Grandma Huo, were still in their prime. Due to the impact of liberation, everyone’s circumstances varied greatly. I couldn’t imagine how much effort it took to gather these people together. At that time, the notorious Hei Bei Lao Liu was already begging for food, and some were quite elderly and unsuitable for long journeys, so the next generation replaced them. Thus, I could foresee that this group would have varying qualifications, experience, and physical strength, which had already sown the seeds of disaster from the very beginning.

It was the intersection of 1962 and 1963 when a large cavalry quietly entered the mountainous areas of Sichuan. Jin Wantang nervously left Beijing and was also among the cavalry. This cavalry comprised both old and young, with a mix of various people. The old Nine Gates were divided into factions, with clear boundaries.