In Panjiayuan, the first thing they did was trick Lao Hu into going tomb raiding.

Li Chunlai!

Su Mo squinted and looked the middle-aged man up and down, already guessing his identity.

The fat man asked again, "Where did you get this shoe?"

Li Chunlai took a sip of water and slowly recounted, "Our place is called Gulan County. A few years ago, there was a severe drought, and the village chief said that only when a 'sweat demon' appeared could it rain!"

The fat man looked confused. "Sweat...sweat what? Sweat King?"

Old Hu further explained, "Hanba is a local dialect term from Shaanxi. It means driving stones into the ground to pray for rain. Yang Xunji, a Ming dynasty writer, wrote in his 'Pengxuan Bieji': 'The ignorant people of Shandong and Henan, suffering from severe drought, would gather to dig up and smash the corpses buried there to pray for rain…'"

"Oh shit!"

The fat man was getting annoyed. "This is unbelievable! Two Chinese people talking, and they actually need a translator in between! Old Hu, you talk to him, I'll just shut up..."

"Brother Chunlai, please continue!"

Old Hu looked at Li Chunlai, signaling him to continue.

Li Chunlai nodded and continued, "A few days ago, following the village chief's orders, we dug up a large coffin at the village entrance. The village bully, Ma Dadan, was afraid I would reveal it, so he pulled a shoe off the corpse and threw it to me..."

"But...but!"

Li Chunlai's face suddenly turned terrified. "That very night, more than a dozen of our brothers who were digging coffins, including Ma Dadan, died. They were all struck by lightning!"

Chapter 45: Ancient Lan County, Dragon Ridge Maze

"They're all dead! They're all dead!"

Li Chunlai was covered in cold sweat, his face showing shock and fear; he was clearly terrified.

"The corpse... the coffin!"

The fat man's eyes gleamed; he knew they had unearthed a grave...

However, upon closer reflection, the fat man felt that something was amiss...

More than a dozen people died, so you're the only one who survived, right?

Even if you were the only one who survived by sheer luck, shouldn't a normal person keep quiet about this matter?

Why did you come to Yanjing to tell us three brothers about this?

Thinking of this, the fat man immediately said, "Fellow villager, at least make your stories believable! Besides, is it appropriate for a working-class person like you to talk nonsense without ever telling the truth?"

Old Hu glared at the fat man. "Fatty, how can you talk like that? They're guests!"

To be honest, Lao Hu didn't believe Li Chunlai's words either, but he spoke much more tactfully than the fat man, "Brother Chunlai, can I see the shoes you're holding?"

Since they were antique collectors, Lao Hu didn't dwell on whether Li Chunlai's claims were true or false, and still suggested inspecting the goods.

Seeing that the people in the antique shop didn't believe him, Li Chunlai became a little anxious and quickly took out the shoes from his arms, "Look at this kid, isn't it a treasure?"

Old Hu took the shoes and examined them carefully. He exclaimed in amazement, "These shoes must be from the Ming Dynasty. It's amazing how well these embroidered shoes, which are hundreds of years old, have been preserved!"

Li Chunlai said smugly, "It's a treasure, isn't it? I wasn't lying to you..."

Old Hu gave Su Mo a wink, and Su Mo spread his hands, indicating that Old Hu could decide for himself.

Old Hu nodded calmly, then looked at Li Chunlai again, "It is indeed a treasure, but it's not very valuable!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chunlai immediately became anxious, "How could it not be valuable? This is a treasure!"

As he spoke, Li Chunlai snatched the shoes from Lao Hu's hand and grumbled, "Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"No ..."

The fat man stood up. "Why are you getting so angry while we're talking? Can't you speak properly?"

"Fatty! Fatty!"

Old Hu pulled the fat man down, "I'll handle it, I'll handle it, Brother Chunlai. You sit down too, let me explain it to you slowly!"

Hearing this, Li Chunlai reluctantly sat down. Old Hu comforted the fat man and continued, "Antiques are valued for their completeness; the more complete they are, the more valuable they are. You only have one shoe, so it doesn't have much collectible value!"

The fat man chimed in, asking, "Do you usually buy only one shoe?"

Li Chunlai subconsciously shook his head, "No!"

The fat man clapped his hands. "That's incredible!"

Li Chunlai: "..."

Old Hu slammed his hand on the table, "This shoe is worth over three hundred yuan... How about this, Brother Chunlai, it's not easy for you to come all the way to the capital, I'll offer 500. If you want to keep it, you can; if not, you can go out and look around some more. Panjiayuan is huge, maybe someone else will offer a higher price!"

This time, Lao Hu really didn't rip Li Chunlai off. The cheapest item in the Su family's shop was worth over ten thousand yuan, making them worth millions. Lao Hu didn't care about the 500 yuan; he only cared about Li Chunlai's rough skin. Feeling compassionate, Lao Hu casually added another two hundred yuan.

"I…"

Li Chunlai's face showed struggle, "I..."

No… wait!

I'm not selling shoes; his mission is to take a few antique dealers back and extort a good sum of money from them.

Li Chunlai cursed himself for getting caught up in this mess, and quickly added, "Boss Hu, it's like this, I have a whole box of these treasures. If you come back with me, I'm willing to sell them all to you!"

They've finally shown their true colors!

Su Mo, who was watching the play, sighed inwardly. It was truly a sign of the decline of morality. It was quite something that an honest farmer would fabricate such a flawless story in order to achieve his goal.

Upon hearing that there was another large box of treasures, Lao Hu and Fatty were suddenly dumbfounded; neither of them had followed Li Chunlai's train of thought.

【Ding! 】

The long-awaited system voice sounded: [Congratulations, host, you have triggered the main storyline of the Ghost Blows Out the Light world. Choose from the following!]

[Choose option one: expose Li Chunlai's lie and be rewarded with a golden Luoyang shovel!]

[Option 2: Follow Li Chunlai to Gulan County and participate in the Dragon Ridge Cave storyline. The reward is the Golden Inner Armor (the same inner armor worn by Chen Yulou, the former leader of the Unloading Ridge faction. It is lightweight and sturdy, and can withstand ordinary swords and homemade firearms)]

[Option 3: Refuse Li Chunlai's invitation and solo the Dragon Ridge Cave storyline. Reward: Unloading Ridge Grass Shield (an essential weapon for Unloading Ridge bandits when entering tombs; it is impervious to water, fire, and poison)]

Soloing the Dragon Ridge Caves?

Without even thinking, Su Mo immediately rejected this option. However, his expression changed slightly when he saw the golden inner armor.

Su Mo raised an eyebrow and glanced at Old Hu. Old Hu immediately understood and said to Li Chunlai, "Brother Chunlai, we need to consider this matter. Your Gulan County is far away in Shaanxi Province. None of us have ever been out of town before. We need to plan this carefully..."

"Please wait a day or two. Of course, we will give you a satisfactory answer regardless of whether we go or not!"

Li Chunlai had been staking out Su's shop for a long time before coming here. He knew that Su's shop had been on a shopping spree in Panjiayuan Market these past few days and that Su was a big spender. This was exactly the kind of person he was looking for.

If we can get them to Gulan County, we'll definitely make a fortune!

Li Chunlai smiled憨厚ly and said, "Okay, okay, I'll wait for you!"

As he spoke, Li Chunlai took out a pen from the table and wrote down the address of his hotel. After doing this, Li Chunlai picked up his bag and turned to leave.

"Brother Su..."

Seeing Su Mo's thoughtful expression, Old Hu asked, "What do you think about this matter...?"

Su Mo pondered for a moment and said, "I think we can take a look. We've already scouted through Panjiayuan, so there probably won't be any good treasures coming out anytime soon. This is a good opportunity for us to go to the countryside and collect some antiques from the local people!"

Su Mo didn't take Li Chunlai or Ma Dadan seriously at all.

"it is good!"

Upon hearing about collecting treasures, the fat man became somewhat interested. "Going to the countryside would be good; I feel like my body is about to give out these days!"

"it is good!"

Su Mo nodded, "Then it's settled!"

Without further ado, Su Mo had Yingzi pack up tools such as a hand lamp, a windbreaker, and a backpack that afternoon.

Having a woman in the shop was a good thing. Yingzi put away the people's belongings as they should and threw them away as they should, giving the antique shop a completely new feel.

"Gentlemen..."

Big Gold Tooth walked into the room and saw several people packing their equipment. He casually asked, "Going into a tomb again?"

Big Gold Tooth was his own brother, so Fatty didn't think much of it and told Big Gold Tooth about what had happened that day.

Upon hearing this, Big Gold Tooth immediately became interested. "Gentlemen, could you take me with you? I'd like to go out and broaden my horizons!"

Chapter 46: River God, Fishbone Temple, Iron-Headed Dragon King

Hearing Big Gold Tooth's words, Fatty laughed and teased, "Big Gold Tooth, do you think we're playing house? Li Chun said there's a tomb in Gulan, we might have to go down into it, your little arms and legs can't take the strain!"

During this time, the group had spent a lot of time drinking and bragging together. Big Gold Tooth knew that Fatty was just like that, so he wasn't angry. Instead, he looked at Su Mo with admiration and said, "I naturally wouldn't go with others, but you three are a tomb raider, one of you is a general, and the other two are tomb raiders. With you protecting me, what do I have to worry about?"

Big Gold Tooth was the one who knew how to flatter everyone, making them burst into laughter.

"The land of Shaanxi is filled with countless buried treasures!"

Big Gold Tooth's eyes lit up, "Following these three gentlemen, I, Big Gold Tooth, can also get some good fortune, right..."

During their last trip to the ancient city of Jingjue, Lao Hu and Fatty indirectly became millionaires, while Da Jin Ya could only watch helplessly, and to be honest, he was also very envious.

"Okay, okay..."

Su Mo laughed, "We'll agree to Master Jin's terms, okay? You're already praising us to the skies..."

"Got it!"

Big Gold Tooth was overjoyed. "Please bear with me on the way, gentlemen. If I offend you in any way, please forgive me!"

While the group chatted, Su Mo walked into the house. "Yingzi, get me a few sets of clean clothes..."

Old Hu and Fatty thought this trip to Gulan County was just an ordinary rural trip, but Su Mo knew that they would definitely be going into tombs in the future, and the dangers there would be even greater than those in the Jingjue Ancient City.

Hearing Su Mo's call, Yingzi came in, her face hesitant, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.

Su Mo asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No ..."

Yingzi shook her head. "Can I go to Gulan County with you?"

Su Mo frowned and immediately refused, "Of course not, it's too dangerous..."

Yingzi lowered her head, looking somewhat unhappy.