"Mr. Fu is quite a figure in this area, isn't he?" I asked.
Fu Honglang beamed, "Naturally."
"Then, Mr. Fu, if someone were to kidnap you, what would you do?"
"Haha…" Fu Honglang laughed, "Who in Shangdu would dare kidnap me?"
Fatty and I exchanged a look, somewhat speechless.
Fu Honglang looked confused, "What's wrong?"
Fatty said, "Boss Fu, if I were your wife, I wouldn't bother with you either… Isn't this a classic case of protesting too much?"
Fu Honglang blinked, his eyes darting around. After a long moment, he finally understood and slapped the table, "That's right! How did I not think of this! Damn it, I was wondering why Gui Zhi hadn't contacted me for so long, I thought she didn't want me anymore! Turns out this is the reason!"
He then shouted, "Jianghu Rat! Get over here!"
"Boss… I only mentioned that idea casually at the time… I…"
Fu Honglang slapped him. "I'll show you for mentioning it casually! You son of a bitch, what kind of stupid idea was that?"
Jianghu Rat covered his face, looking utterly miserable. I quickly intervened, "Mr. Fu, shouldn't we discuss the main issue?"
By now, I had a general understanding of Fu Honglang. There's a saying, isn't there?
Simple-minded and strong, that's him.
I couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to get to where he was.
"I'll let you off today. For the next few days, you'll prove your worth by taking good care of Brother Xiang and the others." Fu Honglang said.
Jianghu Rat nodded vigorously, "Boss, you can count on me…"
It was only later that I learned Fu Honglang was a rough fellow, uneducated but generous, who had been in the tomb raiding business for over a decade.
He had followed his uncle for many years, and after his uncle retired, he gathered his own crew and went solo.
Although he was skilled at tomb raiding, he had trouble selling the items he retrieved from underground.
Consequently, he had suffered many losses in the past, often being cheated out of his finds.
It wasn't until he met his wife, Mao Gui Zhi, during a tomb expedition that this formidable duo, like a pair of matching swords, forged a path in Shangdu.
He was responsible for raiding the tombs, while his wife handled the fencing of stolen goods. Their partnership was seamless.
Because of this, Fu Honglang and Mao Gui Zhi were virtually inseparable in their decisions, with him deferring to his wife on almost everything.
Even Fu Honglang's name was given to him by his wife.
It was said that Fu Honglang's original name was not this, but Fu Ergou.
Of course, these were things Fu Honglang told me later. When I first met him, the man struck me as utterly "bizarre."
Imagine, a man in his thirties, whose speech and actions were like a child's, making him utterly incomprehensible.
If you were to call him simple, he possessed a certain cunning. If you were to say he wasn't simple, some of his actions were utterly bewildering.
The very act of him using himself as bait to draw out his wife was something an ordinary person wouldn't do.
"Brother Xiang, now that you're here, you are our guest. As the saying goes, kindred spirits can meet across a thousand miles… a thousand what?"
"A thousand miles," Fatty interjected.
"Right, right, kindred spirits can meet across a thousand miles, and those not meant to meet won't speak…." Fu Honglang chuckled, "Now that you're here, consider this your home, don't be shy."
I smiled, "Mr. Fu…"
"Mr.? I'm not a teacher. I'm older than you, just call me brother."
I managed a wry smile, "Brother Fu, can you tell me what happened between you and Sister-in-law?"
"What else could have happened? A while back, one of my men somehow got hold of something…" Here, he glanced at Jianghu Rat beside him, "What was that thing called?"
"The Dead Sea Scrolls."
"Yes, yes, the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was some foreign item, with lots of incomprehensible writing on it…" Fu Honglang recounted, "When I was doing business, I happened to know a pastor, so I sold it to him. Later, my wife found out, chewed me out thoroughly, and even went and got the item back."
He wore a crestfallen expression. "What do you make of this? I usually let her have her way, but this time she went too far. In a fit of anger, I said I wanted a divorce…"
"I was just speaking in anger, I didn't expect her to take it seriously and leave the next day!" Fu Honglang sighed. "All my money for these years is with her. With her gone, I'm in a bind. I have so many men who rely on me for a living, where would I get the money? So I listened to Jianghu Rat and set up a black market stall…"
When I heard "Dead Sea Scrolls," I was genuinely shocked.
Because, by all accounts, the Dead Sea Scrolls should not have appeared in Asia.
The so-called "Dead Sea Scrolls" are not a single book, but rather several parchment scrolls, and not just one set.
This item is no ordinary antique; the Dead Sea Scrolls can be considered one of the most famous archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
It was in 1947 that a sixteen-year-old Arab shepherd discovered the first Dead Sea Scroll in a cave near the Dead Sea.
It was written in Hebrew and is currently the oldest known copy of the "Old Testament" in the world.
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest version of the "Old Testament" was called the Leningrad Codex, dating back over a thousand years.
The Dead Sea Scrolls predate the Leningrad Codex by over a thousand years.
I couldn't help but ask, "Brother Fu, are you sure that item was the Dead Sea Scrolls?"
Fu Honglang frowned, "I don't know about that."
"Then how do you know it was the Dead Sea Scrolls?"
"When I first acquired it, I consulted an antique appraiser. He told me."
"And what did it say?" I asked.
Fu Honglang replied, "I don't know, but my wife should."
"Sister-in-law knows?"
"Yes." Fu Honglang grinned, "My wife studied abroad; she knows much more than I do."
I was somewhat taken aback, finding it difficult to imagine how he and his wife managed their relationship.
"So, that Dead Sea Scroll is currently in Sister-in-law's possession?" I asked.
Fu Honglang nodded, "Yes, it's been almost a month now, and she hasn't shown up…"
His eyes were filled with melancholy as he picked up his cup of tea and took a gulp, making the water taste like wine.
As he set the cup down, he murmured, "Gui Zhi, you're truly heartless…"
"Brother Fu, haven't you tried looking for Sister-in-law?" I inquired.
Fu Honglang replied, "I know my wife's temper very well. If I were to approach her, she would only get angrier… Alas, what a sin!"