Chapter Ten: The Brick Tomb

Beforehand, when Professor Chen said that what had been discovered this time was a large multichamber brick tomb, I naturally imagined it as a house built underground with blue bricks. But now, standing at the edge of the trench, I saw seven enormous stone gates lined up in a row below.

The gates were all built of brick and stone. Outside them, the archaeologists had excavated a passage more than three meters wide, and on both sides they had built steps leading up and down with planks and stones.

The group came to the edge of the steps. Professor Chen turned to the people behind him and said, "Once we go down, we will turn on the satellite locator. You must follow the route we take and draw up a map of the tomb palace so that the later excavation work can proceed..."

As I listened to Professor Chen giving his instructions, I could not help nudging Fatty with my elbow. "Hey, look at them. They even use satellite positioning systems now. When are your people going to update their equipment?"

"Rubbish." Fatty glanced at them with disdain. "What use is that kind of thing in a really dangerous place? What we need is experience and wisdom. Those instruments are at best psychological comfort. It's rainy in the south, so there must be a lot of water below. Hmph, roads will be hard enough to walk as it is. Let's see how he handles his instruments then. You're a descendant of a family of tomb raiders, so don't go learning bad habits from them."

Fatty was clearly not fond of high-tech gadgets. After the two of us muttered to each other for a while, the men who had been pulling the ropes came up to the edge again. Only then did I notice they had been hauling a huge tarpaulin; soil had already been spread over it earlier. Now, from the way they moved, it seemed they intended to cover it again after we went down.

"Hey, if you cover it like that, what if there's no ventilation below?" I asked loudly.

Beside me, Yang Lang explained that the seven stone gates below were covered with many carvings. If they were left exposed and it rained, they feared the carvings might be damaged. So before the official excavation began, they absolutely had to be covered with something. As for the ventilation problem, Yang Lang told me not to worry. They had already tested the place below, and the tomb did have some degree of airflow. Moreover, this kind of multichamber brick tomb had many light wells; it was possible that one of them connected to the outside.

Professor Chen glanced at his watch, then said to Fatty, "Mr. Cao, we can begin."

Fatty nodded and was the first to descend the steps. The archaeologists behind us immediately burst into cheers; some shouted, some wished us a safe journey. In such an atmosphere, I too felt my blood stirring.

Damn it, tomb robbers always work in secret, but this time not only was I going in with the officials, there were even people beating drums for us. The thought made me feel quite smug.

After descending for more than twenty meters, we reached the front of those seven gates. Unlike the last time in Gulin, the moment I got down here I felt dampness and stifling heat surge toward me all at once. We had not even gone in yet, and several of us were already sweating.

Just as Fatty had said, there seemed to be standing water here. Even at the entrance there were many small puddles. If it had been one or two in the afternoon, this place would have been practically a sauna.

But soon everyone was drawn to the brick reliefs on the gates. When I went closer, I discovered that all the murals here were carved into bricks, and all of them used incised lines. I could not help wondering and asked Professor Chen, "These carvings are very complicated, Professor. Why haven't the bricks up there cracked at all?"

Professor Chen said, "This kind of brick carving is different from stone carving. It is first carved when the bricks are still made of clay, then the clay blanks are placed into the kiln and fired. After the blanks become bricks, they are pieced together one by one into the original pattern. The process is extremely complicated."

After hearing that, I could not help saying, "Why make it so troublesome? Wouldn't it be fine to just find a stone and carve it?"

"What do you know?" Suddenly Zhuge Xuan's voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw her holding a camera, with those two imperial guards still behind her.

The sight of this woman made me uncomfortable at once. The little bit of eagerness to learn I had just worked up vanished in an instant. But I also had no way to show my annoyance, after all this little girl had already caught me and Fatty by the tail.

So I gave a wry smile and put on an interested expression as I said to Zhuge Xuan, "I would be pleased to hear your enlightened opinion."

Unexpectedly, the girl ate that up at once and smiled at me. "I'll tell you, brick carving and brick tombs do involve a rather complicated process, but compared with other kinds of great tombs, this is already quite economical..."

Before the time of the Wei and Jin dynasties, people in the Central Plains prized the notion of treating the dead as though they were still alive. That is to say, whatever kind of life a person, usually a man, led while he was alive, the same things were expected to continue after his death. So the emperors, generals, and ministers of that era all went to desperate lengths to find themselves a good place and build vast spirit palaces. When they died, they would also have a large portion of their wealth buried with them so they could continue enjoying it in the underworld.

By the Eastern Han, this lavish way of burial had gone even further, to the point of absurdity.

In Eastern Han times, there were two paths to officialdom: being recommended for filial piety and incorruptibility, or being recommended for scholarship and talent. So whether or not a person was filial was no longer merely a matter of character. One of the most important manifestations of filial piety was the funeral one gave to one's parents. Thus, in order to become officials, people at that time began to stage funerals on a mad scale. There were countless men who bankrupted themselves and sold off their land and fields just to arrange funerals for their mothers and fathers. As a result, much of the wealth of the Eastern Han was buried in tombs, which was also one of the important reasons for the dynasty's decline and collapse.

And the first person to truly change this mistaken practice was Cao Cao. The simple funerary style of the Wei and Jin periods was also brought about by Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and others. For that reason, tomb constructions in those days were not too grand. Bricks, which were easy to transport and readily available everywhere, gradually came into wide use in tomb building, and brick carving flourished as well.

Seeing that I was listening so intently, Zhuge Xuan patted my shoulder. "If there is anything you do not understand in the future, just ask me." After giving me a smile that seemed to say I was a promising student, she moved aside and continued taking photographs.

By then, Yang Lang had already hung a fluorescent lamp in one of the gates ahead of us, then shouted upward, "We're ready!"

After he finished shouting, the people above began slowly folding the tarpaulin shut.

As if I had suddenly gone blind, the surroundings were immediately swallowed by darkness. Only after a good three or four seconds did I make out the glow of the fluorescent lamp before me. Then the others one after another switched on their flashlights and gathered in front of the gate with the lamp, preparing to enter the ancient tomb.

Before setting out, Professor Chen said to everyone, "The situation inside may be complicated. Before doing anything, make sure to ask me and Mr. Cao first."

The others had no objections; only Zhuge Xuan gave a quiet huff. Fatty ignored her and began arranging the order in which we would enter the tomb. This time Fatty was leading, so of course he went in front. I and Professor Chen followed closely behind, then came Peanut, Zhuge Xuan, Zhang Yadong, Zhang Yaxi, and finally Yang Lang at the rear.

But just after Fatty had arranged everything, someone in the group suddenly raised a hand. "Re-re-report."

Seeing Peanut standing on tiptoe with his hand up like a student, I nearly laughed aloud.

Fatty said, "Pea... Chen Zixiang, what is your question?"

Peanut's acting skills were absolutely on the level of a best actor. At that moment, he looked nervously around and said, "I, I'm a little scared. Can I walk at the back?"

"Hmph." Zhang Yadong suddenly let out a cold laugh. "If you're scared, then don't come."

"Exactly. Coward," Zhang Yaxi chimed in.

Fatty and I could understand Peanut's intention. With Fatty standing in front, not to mention his capabilities, even his bulk alone was enough, and with Professor Chen's experience added in, the front of the group was not a problem. If Peanut were behind us, then at the very least Fatty and I would feel most at ease.

"Don't laugh." Fatty barked at the two brothers, then said with feigned seriousness, "All right, then you'll walk last. Since you're timid, I'll specially assign my capable assistant Miss Yuan to steady your nerves."

"Miss Yuan?" Fatty's words left the others baffled, but he gave no explanation. After saying that, he picked up his mining lamp and went in first.

Everyone followed immediately. I and Peanut paused and took our places at the very end of the line.

But just as everyone was moving inward, I suddenly saw Yang Lang stop where he was. His eyes kept sweeping over all of us, his brow furrowed, as though something had left him deeply puzzled.

"What is the matter with you?" I could not help asking.

Yang Lang did not react at first. Then he gave me a stiff smile. "Uh, n-nothing." With that, he lowered his head and walked on ahead.

I saw that he looked somewhat flustered, so I could not help glancing over the rest of us, but I did not find anything unusual.