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

Li Chunlai was somewhat displeased and stood up abruptly. "800? In Beijing. Boss Hu gave me 500 for one, and besides, you said that a pair is worth more!"

"Cough cough..."

Su Mo lowered his head and coughed lightly.

Big Gold Tooth paused, glanced at Su Mo, and swallowed the words he was about to say. "A thousand it is, but Brother Chunlai, don't haggle too hard. You saw how many hardships we went through on our way to Gulan County to collect treasures. Just the day before yesterday, we almost died on the Yellow River..."

"Gentlemen..."

Just then, the same waiter came back in with the dishes, saying, "Your dishes are all ready..."

Li Chunlai hinted, "One thousand yuan, one thousand yuan!"

The waiter's eyes gleamed; he knew they'd landed a big fish. "Gentlemen, please enjoy your meal. If you need anything, just call me..."

As he spoke, the waiter became very excited, quickly put down the plate, and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Lao Hu raised an eyebrow. It was obvious to everyone that Li Chunlai had just delivered the message!

I'm reminded of the Xun hexagram from Blind Chen's discussion of the relationship between host and guest last night!

Old Hu immediately became suspicious, sensing something was amiss. He stood up warily, "Fatty, you guys keep talking, I'm going to the restroom!"

The fat man didn't take Lao Hu seriously, waved his hand, and let him slip away.

"Brother Chunlai," Big Gold Tooth continued, "let's leave the shoes as they are. Let's talk about the next treasure..."

The fat man chimed in, "Come on! Next one!"

Watching the two of them put on such a charade was really boring, so Su Mo took out a cigarette and went outside. "I'm going to have a smoke!"

The fat man nodded without giving it much thought, "Go ahead, I'll handle things here with Master Jin!"

Su Mo went out of the house, lit a cigarette, and cautiously observed his surroundings.

.........

Old Hu looked around but didn't find anything unusual.

"Am I overthinking it?"

Old Hu muttered to himself and turned to go back, but as he turned, he saw Blind Chen from last night standing in the corner with his cane.

"Whoa!"

Old Hu was startled. "Grandpa, you scared me!"

Blind Chen silently "watched" Old Hu, without saying a word, like a statue.

Remembering Su Mo's words from yesterday, Lao Hu quickly pulled out several stacks of banknotes from his pocket. He didn't count them, but there should be at least one or two thousand yuan.

"Old man, we were just about to give you money for the fortune telling you yesterday, but you left in such a hurry. So we're giving you the money now!"

Blind Chen didn't say anything, reached out and took the banknotes, then took out a yellow talisman folded into a triangle from his pocket.

Old Hu took the talisman, somewhat confused, "What is this?"

Blind Chen smiled. "I won't accept a free lunch, and I won't take your money for nothing. This peace charm is one I painted with great care, unlike any other. Please accept it, and our debt will be settled..."

Old Hu lowered his head and opened the Ping An Fu (a type of fortune-telling app). He looked at it but didn't understand what it meant. Just as he was about to ask, he discovered that Blind Chen, who had just been talking to him, had vanished into thin air.

Old Hu was completely dumbfounded, staring at the talisman in his hand, somewhat at a loss.

Su Mo walked in, smiling as she reminded him, "Don't bother looking, the old man's long gone..."

Old Hu held up the yellow paper, "Not a dream?"

"Ha ha…"

Su Mo chuckled, "The Unloading Ridge Warriors aren't just tomb raiders. They rule the mountains and are incredibly skilled. This Blind Chen is the leader of 100,000 Unloading Ridge Warriors, and his strength far surpasses that of ordinary people!"

"Let's go. The old man is willing to give us pointers, which is a great favor. It seems that Gulan County is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface!"

"Brother Su, you've noticed something's wrong too?"

"Ok!"

Su Mo nodded, his eyes flashing with cold light. "Li Chunlai is acting strangely. That waiter just now must be his accomplice!"

Upon hearing this, Lao Hu breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Su Xiaoge saw through the clues, it wouldn't be difficult for him to break the deadlock with his strength.

"go!"

Su Mo turned around, "I want to see what they're really capable of!"

.........

Inside the room, Big Gold Tooth, Fatty, and Li Chunlai were still arguing endlessly about the price of a certain treasure.

After Su Mo and Lao Hu walked in, they sat down quietly. At this moment, a waiter came over with two bottles of baijiu (Chinese liquor). "Gentlemen, this is a gift from our boss, Mr. Ma. Please have a taste!"

After saying that, the waiter left.

Receiving the hint, Li Chunlai immediately shouted, "Come on, let's drink first. With good wine in our bellies, the business will be done!"

Su Mo stood up, walked to Li Chunlai's side, and knocked Li Chunlai unconscious with a single punch.

The fat man's eyes widened. "Brother Su, what are you doing?"

Old Hu rolled his eyes at the fat man. "You two idiots! That waiter was Li Chunlai's accomplice. They're clearly not good people!"

Su Mo urged from the side, "Let's go, we need to get out of here quickly..."

Fatty and Big Gold Tooth were shocked. Before they could think any further, Old Hu pulled them outside.

Su Mo glanced at the box next to Li Chunlai, and without thinking, put it directly into the system space.

Chapter 51: Antiques from the Western Zhou Dynasty

Old Hu pulled Fatty and Big Gold Tooth back to the dormitory, where the group quickly packed their things.

Even now, Big Gold Tooth was still a little confused. "Li Chunlai's trap? What trap?"

As Lao Hu packed his suitcase, he said urgently, "I felt something was off about that waiter who brought the drinks, so I followed him out. I didn't expect to run into Blind Chen, the fortune teller who told our fortunes last night. He gave me a talisman..."

Old Hu took out a talisman and handed it to Big Gold Tooth. Big Gold Tooth looked down at it and hesitated for a moment. "This is... the Kun hexagram from the Book of Changes?"

Old Hu nodded, "That's right, Master Jin is correct. The upper trigram is Dui, which represents a marsh. The lower trigram is Kan, which represents water. Water seeps into the bottom of the marsh, and the marsh dries up. This is the Kun hexagram!"

Su Mo warned, "Blind Chen has been in Gulan County for many years, so he must know about Li Chunlai and his gang. He's warning us to be careful of Li Chunlai!"

Big Gold Tooth instantly understood and quickened his pace. "Gentlemen, you guys are really observant. There's a trick in the antique business called 'one fish, multiple uses.' You use genuine items to fool the buyer, but as soon as you see real money, you snap it up!"

"Let's go, let's go..."

After packing their things, the group didn't dare to go through the main entrance. Instead, they jumped out of the window and slipped out of the guesthouse.

.........

Not long after Su Mo, Lao Hu, and the others left, Li Chunlai's elder brother—the fierce-looking Ma Dadan—arrived at the guesthouse with his men. Upon seeing the unconscious Li Chunlai, his expression changed. "Quick, chase after them! Don't let them get away!"

Most of Ma Dadan's men were natives of Gulan County. Su Mo and Lao Hu hadn't gone far when they were intercepted by the group.

A dozen or so people surrounded Su Mo and his companions, yelling, "Run! Why aren't you running anymore...?"

Big Gold Tooth panicked, "What do we do? What do we do, gentlemen?"

"Make it cold!"

After saying this, Su Mo rushed out and kicked one of the thugs away.

Seeing this, the other thugs were stunned for a moment, then shouted, "Get him! Give him a good beating!"

Su Mo sneered, his feet moving with such lightness that they left no trace on the snow, easily dodging the punches of these thugs. His right hand contained a power of over a hundred, making him almost one punch per enemy.

In just half a minute, the thugs on the ground were wailing and crying.

Old Hu was already used to Su Mo's strength, but the fat man shouted, "Brother Su, after we leave Gulan County, I want to learn kung fu from you for a few days!"

"Walk…"

Su Mo said in a deep voice, "This is not the place to talk!"

"Too!"

Everyone looked serious and followed Su Mo into hiding again.

No sooner had Su Mo and his group left than Ma Dadan appeared with his men, only to find his own brothers lying on the ground.

Ma Dadan roared, "Where are they? Where are they?"

"Big brother..."

One of the henchmen on the ground, enduring excruciating pain, replied, "Boss, boss... those guys were really too strong, especially that young man, he took on more than a dozen of us by himself..."

Upon hearing this, Ma Dadan became even angrier. "I asked where they are. Don't give me any more nonsense."

No matter how skilled he was, Ma Dadan didn't take these antique dealers from Yanjing seriously. You see, he not only had homemade guns, but also detonators and explosives for breaking mountains.

"them…"

The henchman on the ground pointed in the direction Su Mo and the others had left, "They went in that direction!"

The thought of his treasure being stolen fueled Ma Dan's rage. Ignoring the consequences, he roared, "Once you find those people from Yanjing, beat them to death and put them in coffins..."

"Yes…"

"Good boss!"

.........

While Ma Dadan was busy searching for Su Mo and the others, Su Mo had already hidden in a secluded old tavern.

Big Gold Tooth took a sip of beer to calm his churning emotions. "I never expected that this seemingly honest Li Chunlai would actually set us up like this!"

A murderous glint flashed in Su Mo's eyes, "If we hadn't been on the street with so many people around, I definitely wouldn't have let those people leave alive!"

The fat man nodded. "These are local thugs; they must have preyed on the local people quite a bit before..."

Old Hu took out the yellow paper talisman from his pocket and looked at it again. "The 'Kun' hexagram, all thanks to Blind Chen's tip!"

"Huh? This seems to have another meaning..."

Old Hu raised an eyebrow, as if he had discovered something again.

"What do you mean?"