The next day, though I wasn't interrogated, the police detained me as a suspect. The day after my detention, Director Lu came to see me. He looked tired, and his plump belly made the chair creak as he sat opposite me. "Little Tang, I'm about to retire, and you're causing trouble again.
"You're the director; you don't need to do the legwork of investigating and solving cases."
"Losing national treasures is a big deal. Tang Nan, I ask you, in the story you told Lin Han, the safe contained a bronze dagger and a general's俑头. Where is that general's 俑头?"
The Director's question made me guess that the experts were stumped, unable to distinguish the authenticity of the two bronze daggers. It was also for this reason that the clever Director Lu chose to break through the story.
To confirm, I asked again, "When I asked you to mark the bronze dagger Lu Yao gave you and the one I have to distinguish them, did you end up doing it?"
Hearing this, Director Lu chuckled and cursed, "You little brat, are you trying to fish for information from me? Don't worry about that. I'm asking you, where is the general's 俑头?"
"It's in the safe."
"Lu Yao said there was only a bronze dagger in the safe."
"Do you believe him?"
Director Lu, an old hand at this, chuckled, "Whether I believe Lu Yao is my business. You just answer the question. You really didn't swap the general's 俑头."
"No."
"Lu Yao lied?"
Faced with this question, it was my turn to smile. "You should ask him that. It has nothing to do with me."
Director Lu didn't dwell on this point. He smiled slightly and changed the subject. "In the past couple of days, besides your lawyer, you also met with someone named Huang Aiguo."
"Yes!"
"What did you ask him to do?"
"Did you investigate?"
Director Lu chuckled, "Tang Nan, am I interrogating you, or are you interrogating me?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I apologized and then said seriously, "Didn't I tell you? Someone is trying to frame me, so I asked Huang Aiguo to investigate if there were any suspicious outsiders."
"You asked Huang Aiguo to investigate for you? Isn't he just the owner of a local specialty food chain?"
Hearing Director Lu say that, I understood. He had investigated. Huang Aiguo couldn't do much for me. I had asked him to come, and I had indeed mentioned asking him to look for any strangers, but the crucial point wasn't Huang Aiguo. To put it this way, Huang Aiguo's appearance was to administer a dose of medicine to Director Lu, making him realize that I was trying my best to save myself and that someone was indeed framing me.
Since Director Lu asked, I deliberately put on a mournful face. "I didn't have any other options."
"Tell me, perhaps I can help you."
"When I was in Ruili, someone wanted to kill me. I don't know where they got a hunting rifle. My wife and I were saved by a fellow villager at the cost of his life. When he was trying to kill me, I asked him who he was. He said he belonged to a criminal gang called 'Living Yama.' Later, Lu Yao called the police, and they arrived in time and subdued him on the spot."
After hearing me say this, Director Lu's smile disappeared. "Is it really called 'Living Yama'?"
"Yes!"
After hearing my answer, Director Lu turned off the recorder and asked the police officer taking notes to leave. I looked at him, somewhat confused. Such private conversations were not allowed. Director Lu was the director, and he was about to retire; he had no reason to make such a mistake.
"The story you told Lin Han, I'm the only one in the entire police department who believes it."
"You probably feel my sincerity," I said, smiling in agreement.
"You little brat, don't try to argue with me. I solved the national treasure theft case in 1987. I was the captain of the criminal investigation team twenty years ago."
I was stunned. The world is always like this; just when you think you've calculated everything, something unexpected always happens. I thought only Zhao Shicheng could prove this story, but I never expected that someone who had personally experienced that event would appear before me.
"Since you know, you should let me go. You should know that what I said is correct."
Director Lu smiled sadly and looked into my eyes. "You're not wrong, and you're completely wrong."
I was stunned. "How can that be? Is the story Grandpa left us fake?"
"It's not fake, you're being too clever. You deliberately let Lu Yao send the bronze dagger so that the experts couldn't identify it, making everyone believe the content of your story. There's an expert forger in this world who has mastered ancient craftsmanship and can create cultural relics identical to antiques."
I was stunned!
"In the 80s, when you were still children, did you see fake goods?"
Fake goods? What a joke. In that era, the concept of fake goods didn't exist.
I shook my head.
"Back then, there were no methods for aging. The archaeological team, in order to move cultural relics out, chose to tamper with the accounts. This artifact, No. 35 from Pit No. 2, was a pair of brother blades from the beginning."
"There were two from the start?"
"Yes, the archaeological team was most willing to tamper with such artifacts, with one going into the national treasury and the other being kept for themselves."
"What about the general's 俑头?"
"Do you know the origin of the Terracotta Army?"
"I know a little."
"Didn't they tell you to first extract fragments, assign numbers according to their discovery location, record their current condition, and then carry out protective restoration after disease prevention and control?"
What Director Lu said was indeed what I knew. I nodded.
"The problem lies in this recording. When I investigated, I saw that the records were all handwritten.
Moreover, one page was clearly torn out."
"Where did the torn-out page go?"
"I don't know!"
"Why wasn't it investigated?"
"There was no more evidence. I suspect that Xun Chong used the task of making replicas of the 俑头 to remove the record, and then used the fragmented pieces to repair a seventh general's 俑头," Director Lu speculated.
"There's also a seventh 俑头? Why didn't my grandfather mention it?" I was completely shocked. Such a thing happened. "Old Lin didn't know either. He was responsible for the museum's research institute at the time, and these methods came from Zhao Shicheng of the archaeological team."
"You know all this, why didn't you arrest Zhao Shicheng back then?"
Director Lu was silent for a long time before saying, "If I had spoken up then, and the archaeological team was investigated, it might have caused a huge scandal. It was a period of severe crackdown. Not to mention how many national treasures were lost abroad. Those involved in vested interests would have turned me from a hero who recovered national treasures into a captain of the criminal investigation team who was suppressed by multiple parties."
"For your own sake?"
Director Lu grabbed his sparse hair with both hands. "Yes, who in this world isn't living for themselves? In the story you told, your grandfather Old Lin's purpose was for national treasures, but wasn't he also committing a crime due to his own impulsiveness, privately hoarding national treasures for many years?"
I understood Director Lu's meaning. Director Lu was only looking out for his own future; he discovered a clue and pretended not to see it. The old seniors I knew, Teacher Wang Ren, Wang Zeyi, they showed us through their actions that the world is never black and white. People don't necessarily have to be white, as long as they can uphold the justice in their hearts.
"What do we do now?"
I asked Director Lu.
"Little Tang, your plan is to stir up this murky water, to let everyone understand that national treasures were actually lost back then. Then, you prove the story your grandfather told, and the national treasures return smoothly."
"Yes! That's what I planned."
"The plan needs to change."
"How?"
Director Lu had dealt with criminals his entire life; he was very smart and experienced. Compared to my own plan, I was more willing to trust this cunning old policeman.
"You once told our officers that in game theory, all high-score strategies come from friendliness. Now is the time; it's time for a reasonable betrayal."
"You mean you want me to have my wife betray me for your sake?"
Director Lu smiled. "Tang Nan, I really like you, you understand instantly. I will do my best to investigate those who framed you and bring them to justice."
"Deal. Why don't you help me tell Lin Han to betray me?"
"Get lost, go tell her yourself. I know you have your ways." After saying that, Director Lu added, "Don't you have a lawyer?"
Director Lu notified his subordinates that I wanted to see a lawyer, and it was approved. Ye Qingcheng soon met with me again. I told her what Director Lu had told me. Ye Qingcheng didn't show much emotional fluctuation. She simply asked me, "What message do you want me to convey?"
"Tell her to accept the prisoner's dilemma that the police arranged, betray me, and say that the bronze dagger at home is fake."
"The experts can't tell the difference. Will anyone believe what she says?"
"In the Xi'an antique world, Lin Han, the Queen of the Underground Palace, is a living signboard. Let alone saying the real is fake, even if she says the fake is real, no one will doubt her."
Ye Qingcheng nodded slightly, her brows furrowed. "Sect Leader, there's something I still need to remind you of."
"What?"
"I investigated Zhao Shicheng's matter. He brought it upon himself, but he definitely didn't go crazy on his own. And this matter involves someone?"
"Who?"
"Director Lu."
This world is never black and white, but this Director Lu is beyond my imagination.
Is it really good to cooperate like this?