The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 472 - 443: Whose Shotgun, Qi Da_1

Chapter 472: Chapter 443: Whose Shotgun, Qi Da_1

After hearing the news from Qi Daniu that He Tiantian relayed to him, He Jingyu felt a sudden sense of alarm in his heart.

Thinking back to their encounter with Hu Sanchuan near Peach Orchard, he wondered if it was too coincidental.

After dinner, He Jingyu headed to Peach Orchard and happened to find Qi Shugen there. He discussed the issue about Hu Sanchuan with him.

Qi Shugen was startled and said, "Let me take a look at that shotgun. I’ve heard before that Hu Sanchuan once had to fight a bear blind after running out of bullets. In the end, he killed it, but his shotgun was damaged at the barrel. Now, regulations on shotguns are strict; you can’t just find a place to have it repaired like before, you have to do it yourself."

He Jingyu and Qi Shugen entered the log cabin.

Village Chief Qi was already examining the shotgun!

"Village Chief Qi, have you heard about Hu Sanchuan from Hujia Village?" inquired He Jingyu. He knew Village Chief Qi was a shrewd man and must have connected Hu Sanchuan with the last night’s event.

"Yes," replied Village Chief Qi, "but I’ve never seen Hu Sanchuan’s shotgun. I was just about to ask someone from Hujia Village who is close to Hu Sanchuan."

Qi Shugen stepped forward, took the shotgun, and observed a welded spot on the barrel. He nodded and said, "This shotgun belongs to Hu Sanchuan. I happened to be there three years ago during his big fight with that blind bear, and it was this part of his shotgun that broke."

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Qi ground his teeth and cursed, "Damn his grandma, why do the people of Hujia Village have to be at odds with our Qijia Village? I let go of the matters concerning Hu Erlai and Hu Goudan without holding a grudge, yet they push their luck. Tomorrow, I’ll go find Village Chief Hu and have a talk."

Everything was fine until suddenly we have tomb robbers, such immoral scoundrels!

He Jingyu managed a wry smile and said, "Even if we know this shotgun belongs to Hu Sanchuan, we didn’t catch him red-handed. He could simply claim that his shotgun was stolen without his knowledge."

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Qi deflated like a punctured ball and exclaimed, "Damn it, it’s hard to be a good person these days!"

"Indeed!" agreed Qi Shugen. "Village Chief Qi, why don’t we take another trip to the county town? After all, the items in those caves indeed belong to tomb robbers. We have no idea where they’ve gone now; what if they come back if we do nothing?"

"Alright then, I’ll take this shotgun with me tomorrow and some of those shovels as well," said Village Chief Qi. As long as there are tombs in this place, even if not by this group of robbers, other tomb robbers would visit.

Before letting those dishonest and vicious people roam around the back mountain, it’s better to get the attention of the leaders.

By doing so, more archaeological teams can be sent to excavate sooner.

Once the excavation is finished, tomb robbers will no longer come, and Qijia Village will be at peace.

The items in those tombs belong to the state. The common people have this awareness; they just want to live peaceful lives and desire nothing more.

The next day, Village Chief Qi hurriedly took a bull cart filled with Luoyang shovels from the cave and rushed to the county town.

Last time Village Chief Qi went, County Chief Niu did report to the city the next day, but there has been no reply so far.

This time, Village Chief Qi came with a lot of tomb raiding tools, and County Chief Niu couldn’t sit still anymore. He directly called for a jeep from the county government and went straight to Huai City.

When Village Chief Ma of Huai City heard County Chief Niu’s report, he hastily summoned some archaeological experts from the Huai City Museum.

On seeing these items, the experts from Huai City Museum were stunned. Let’s not talk about anything else, just the variety of Luoyang Shovels was even more complete than the tools in their museum!

Ma Zijian introduced, "Village Chief Qi, this is Director Yang from our city museum. Director Yang, this is Village Chief Qi from Qijia Village, who brought over these tools."

"Comrade Qi, hello, can you explain the specific situation?" Director Yang asked curiously. From these tools, it was clear that this was an experienced tomb raiding team. If there were no accidents, then there must be an ancient tomb on the back mountain of Qijia Village, and it was likely a rare one at that.

Village Chief Qi then recounted the discovery of the robbers’ hole in the village and the events of the previous night.

Director Yang immediately said that he would go back and organize a team for an onsite investigation in Qijia Village.

Ma Zijian was now very interested in Qijia Village. If they could discover another large tomb, it would be the icing on the cake for Huai City’s work this year—outstanding achievement!

Village Chief Qi took people back, and the next day, Director Yang came to Qijia Village with five assistants—two women and three men.

The two female comrades stayed in the livestock team’s quarters, previously occupied by Old Man Bai, Xiang Rong, and Zuo Li. Director Yang and his three assistants stayed in a wooden house near Peach Orchard, close to their work site.

Qi Ling, Xiao Chen, and Old Wu also came along with Director Yang.

Director Yang was responsible for investigating the situation of the ancient tomb, while the public security organs were to investigate the tomb robbers.

Qi Ling visited Village Chief Qi first and then went to see He Tiantian’s family.

Upon seeing Qi Ling, Third Grandma Qi slapped her forehead and said, "Oh, I wouldn’t have remembered that matter if not for seeing Qi Ling!"

He Jingyu, puzzled, asked, "What’s the matter? Does it have something to do with Liu Lingli’s case?"

"No," Third Grandma Qi shook her head, "Tiantian, you know too. When we were out in New York, we saw a jeweler with the last name Qi in a jewelry store. What was his name..."

He Tiantian was picking vegetables when she heard Third Grandma Qi’s words. Her eyes lit up as she nodded, "That’s right, the man’s name was Qi... His family is from Huai City of An Province."

Qi Ling was startled, almost spilling the tea from his bowl. He asked, "Was his name Qi Da? How old is he, what does he look like?"

He Tiantian thought for a moment, "Right, right, his name is Qi Da. He also mentioned his older brother named Qi Tong, his younger brother Qi Bin, and his sister Qi Feie. He went to New York with his master in ’33 to make money. At first, since he didn’t earn any, he was too ashamed to return home in splendor, so he stayed over there. By the time he made money and wanted to come back, he couldn’t anymore. We happened to go to his shop while we were traveling, and he started talking to us after recognizing our Huai City accent. Knowing we were fellow townsfolk, he didn’t charge us for labor. We also promised to help him find his family. But after getting back home, one thing led to another, and we didn’t have the time to go to Huai City. Brother Qi, do you share the same surname and know this person?"

"Of course, I know him!" Qi Ling said, "That’s my great-uncle! My grandfather’s brother. He went to Country M in ’33, at first, there were letters, but then there was no news from him. My great-grandmother remembered him until her death and told us to find him if we got the chance. But as you have seen, with the political environment here, it’s impossible to go abroad."