Everyone has their reasons.
This matter is highly contentious.
But now is not the time for arguing, and arguing wouldn’t lead to any clear resolution because there are no city leaders present, only provincial cultural department leaders. The levels and departments involved are too varied, and what happens between the two counties isn’t within the scope of what the provincial cultural department can address.
“First, save the injured.”
“Check the injuries of everyone.”
“Is there anyone with serious injuries, Secretary Yang?”
“Call an ambulance, quickly get someone over here.”
“This area has no signal; we can only call from down the mountain. I’m afraid we might be too late.”
“Then have someone carry the injured down the mountain, don’t waste time on it.”
Seeing the scene, Shao Dongan, from the provincial cultural department, didn’t care about their troubles. His primary reason for being there today was for legitimate business.
“Hello, isn’t this Director Chu?” Shao Dongan recognized Director Chu.
Director Chu, looking closely, replied, “Yes, it is. You are Director Shao, right?”
Shao Dongan approached and shook hands with him, saying, “Yes, we met a few months ago at a meeting in the capital.” Then he turned to shake hands with Teacher Mu, saying, “You must be Teacher Mu, right?”
Teacher Mu replied, “Just call me Old Mu, Director Shao. There’s no need to be so polite.”
Shao Dongan laughed, “How inappropriate! You’re a big name in our field.”
Teacher Mu smiled and said, “What’s there to be a big name about? Just another person.”
Finally, Chu introduced Teacher Meng to him, and Shao Dongan immediately recognized him as a researcher from the Palace Museum. He greeted him warmly, aware that all three teachers were figures of significant stature. While they might not possess much in terms of traditional power recognition, they were all authorities in their field. This reputation and social standing couldn’t be measured by the amount of power they held.
Shao Dongan mentally noted the respectful attitudes he should take toward the three teachers: “This ancient tomb can now be confirmed as a royal tomb group.”
Director Chu nodded, “Close to it.”
Teacher Meng, seeing they had brought equipment, said, “You should recheck it.”
Shao Dongan shook his head. “All three teachers have confirmed it. What else do we need to confirm? We are just here to take some records. It would be foolish to show off to teachers like you.” Saying this, he instructed his subordinates in the cultural department to start recording, and everyone went beyond the cordon to begin their work. As Shao Dongan said, while their provincial cultural department had many experts and professionals, and even a department dedicated to ancient tomb protection, they were still hesitant to consider themselves professionals in the presence of these three teachers. The levels were simply incomparable.
Down the mountain, on a public road, the Secretary of Baohong City’s City committee, Qian Litao, was sitting in a car on his way to Qingluan Mountain. It was originally agreed that he would come with the provincial cultural department’s leaders and staff, but some urgent matters arose in the city, causing them to arrive late.
Qian Litao answered the phone, “Hello.”
“Secretary Qian, just got the news. It seems there’s a fight between Yanbei County and Jiaolin County over the issue of the ancient tomb’s ownership at Qingluan Mountain.”
“A fight?” Qian Litao’s face darkened.
“Yes, it seems they even fired guns,” the person on the other end of the phone replied.
Qian Litao hung up the phone and turned to the driver, saying, “Drive faster.”
The driver knew something was wrong and quickly accelerated. Although the city cars following behind were unaware of the situation, seeing the lead car speed ahead, they too hurried to keep up.
Another incident with Jiaolin County. Can’t you all stay calm for even a day? Qian Litao couldn’t help but think of Dong Xuebing. This new county party secretary was a troublemaker. Although Qian Litao still didn’t know the whole situation, he was sure the problem was somehow related to Dong Xuebing. Before he arrived, Jiaolin County was peaceful, harmonious, and thriving. But since Dong Xuebing took over, it seemed like something went wrong every day—county office buildings were demolished, students disappeared within their county, foreign guests were squeezed out, and a cultural event nearly turned into a mass incident involving thousands involved.
You bring bad luck with you, Dong Xuebing.
Qian Litao wouldn’t know it, but his mumbled curse was oddly accurate, hitting Dong Xuebing’s nickname spot on.
At the ancient tomb excavation site.
Dong Xuebing led people from Jiaolin County, working alongside staff from the provincial cultural department, doing measurements and recording data. However, seeing Yang Gan from Yanbei County gave orders for a dozen cultural department staff from his county to come up. They were taking notes, taking photos, and showed no courtesy, bringing their professional equipment up the mountain earlier into the cordoned area.
Shao Dongan frowned, “Why are there so many people here?”
There were already about forty to fifty people crammed into that small area.
An official from the provincial cultural department remarked, “There are too many people here; it’s disturbing our work. What are they doing? There’s not even space to move.”
Zhang Dongfang wasn’t happy, saying, “Old Yang, what do you mean by this?”
The two seemed to be old acquaintances, clearly with a strained relationship.
Yang Gan sneered at Zhang Dongfang across from him, “Who are you guys to interfere in our county’s affairs? Leave here quickly. Don’t bother the work of the provincial cultural department. Old Zhang, you’re just causing a mess.”
Zhang Dongfang laughed in anger, “Who’s causing a mess here? You keep holding onto things, don’t you? First, you sent people up secretly to beat and smash things, and now you’re openly robbing us. Is this how your county works, Yang Gan? What happened to your party principles?”
Yang Gan and Zhang Dongfang started arguing.
At that moment, Qian Litao arrived with a group of people, visibly furious.
“It’s Secretary Qian!”
“Uh, Secretary Qian’s here!”
Everyone saw the City secretary, and the arguing quickly stopped.
Qian Litao looked around and saw broken spotlights and tents, bloodstains on the ground, and several police officers sitting on the ground, treating their wounds. He immediately exploded, shouting, “What is going on here? What kind of mess is this? Look at what you’ve done!”
Playing the victim, Yang Gan said, “Secretary, here’s the situation. Jiaolin County not only took our county’s land but also attacked our police officers who were trying to advise them.”
Zhang Dongfang retorted, “Who started the fight first?”
Yang Gan, brazenly, replied, “We were enforcing the law. Who started it?”
Zhang Dongfang pointed to the ground, “Enforcing the law? Moving ancient artifacts and smashing our tents—really? Where are their IDs? Why didn’t they show any identification to our people? How are we supposed to know if these police officers are from Yanbei County?”
The two argued back and forth, the situation laid bare.
Qian Litao listened to their arguments and finally understood. He glanced at Dong Xuebing, who had been quiet all along, thinking that this young man indeed stirred up the trouble. However, Qian Litao also knew that the root of the problem lay with the aggressive approach of Yanbei County’s police officers—smashing things and hitting people. They didn’t even bring their work identification, and then they fired a gun, threatening people from Jiaolin County. No matter how you looked at it, it sounded unreasonable. The fact that Dong Xuebing led the fight was secondary; it was unavoidable when these police officers had no IDs, and their identities were unconfirmed. People were quick to label them as tomb robbers. Even Qian Litao couldn’t deny it—Dong Xuebing might be infuriating and troublemaking, but his skill in managing situations and extricating himself from them was remarkable. Even an experienced veteran cadre like him, Yang Gan, fell short under Dong Xuebing’s influence.
“Secretary Qian,” Yang Gan finally admitted, understanding that this situation couldn’t be reversed. Getting Jiaolin County to pay for medical expenses was out of the question. So, he had to swallow his pride for now. What he was eyeing was something else—the ancient tomb issue. They absolutely couldn’t let go of that.
“Forget everything else for now. I want to ask the people from Jiaolin County why they took the ancient tomb in our county. They’ve set up barricades and command posts.”
Dong Xuebing finally spoke, “Who told you this is your county’s tomb?”
Yang Gan was prepared. “Fine, let’s look at the map.”
A staff member from Yanbei County quickly took out a map. Yang Gan took it, spread it on the ground, and used a pen to mark a few points. “Here is Qingluan Mountain, and here is the boundary between the two counties.”
Of course, Jiaolin County also had this map, and both Dong Xuebing and Zhang Dongfang had seen it long ago.
Dong Xuebing sneered and pointed at the map, “The tomb is here, clearly within our county’s territory. Thank you, Secretary Yang, for providing the exact evidence.”
Yang Gan was infuriated, pointing at the map with his pen, “The tomb is here, just on this side of the boundary line.”
Both sides held their ground, insisting on their interpretation. After some positioning and a series of confirmations, they tried to determine whose territory the tomb lay within.
Finally, both Qian Litao and Shao Dongan took a look at the map. They found that the tomb’s location was tough to say which county it belonged to; it seemed to straddle the boundary line right in the middle.