Hearing this, the burly man hurriedly removed his hard hat, kowtowing loudly as he confessed the hidden details.
It turned out the coffin wasn’t discovered five days ago, but earlier, in the dead of that night.
The man, named Liu Hu, and another worker, Yao Xin, were both from the same hometown and worked together on the site.
Though they appeared honest, the two were full of mischief. Their daily wages weren’t enough, so in the wee hours, when the supervisors were asleep, they’d sneak around, pilfering materials to sell for extra cash.
Wang Qiang’s site was vast, so these thefts went unnoticed for a while.
But one day, in a pit freshly dug by an excavator, Yao Xin, while shovelling, uncovered the mysterious coffin.
Having read his fair share of tomb-raiding novels, Yao Xin thought he’d struck it rich the moment he saw the coffin.
He jumped in, opened it, and found a dazzling double-sided golden Buddha inside!
Blinded by greed, Yao Xin grabbed the Buddha, intending to slip away quietly. But halfway, he was spotted by Liu Hu, who was stealing materials elsewhere on the site.
Caught red-handed, Yao Xin had no choice but to confess. Liu Hu, being cut from the same cloth, wasn’t much different.
But his reaction was peculiar. Instead of blaming Yao Xin, his face grew grave.
Recalling details from online tomb-raiding stories, which warned against looting everything to avoid cursed consequences, Liu Hu, perhaps out of caution or for peace of mind, urged Yao Xin to split the double-sided Buddha, return half to the coffin, and rebury it.
The next morning, as the site resumed work, Yao Xin, following Liu Hu’s plan, staged a charade, “accidentally” digging up the coffin with the excavator and reporting it.
As for the now-missing Yao Xin, he had secretly taken the other half of the Buddha, planning to fence it and split the profits with Liu Hu.
“What… if that bloke’s already sold the Buddha, aren’t we all doomed?”
Wang Qiang, hearing this, grew deeply worried, his brows furrowing as he looked at Xu Fei.
But Xu Fei, clearly confident, showed no trace of panic.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Wang. This Buddha is no ordinary relic. Anyone with a bit of knowledge would know it’s not something to be casually bought. I’d bet Yao Xin hasn’t managed to sell it yet!”
“If anyone’s desperate, it’s him!”
Though the Buddha gleamed with golden allure, it was adorned with intricate, mystical patterns.
From *The Art of Myriad Treasures*, Xu Fei had gained extensive knowledge about antiques.
He knew true experts in the trade were meticulous. When acquiring such “miscellaneous” items, they demanded a clear provenance.
In other words, no matter who tried to sell the relic, the buyer needed to verify its full history before daring to purchase.
As the saying goes, “Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes will get wet.” Antique dealers dreaded acquiring “unclean” looted goods, a major taboo in the industry.
“Since that’s the case, we’ve still got time. Quickly send people to every antique market in the city. Even if we have to dig three feet deep, we must find Yao Xin!”
Wang Qiang sprang into action. With a single order, his assistant promptly complied, and the matter was, for the moment, set in motion.
