Father Pan Ma's son sighed and said to me, "It's depressing to talk about this. My father's holding onto a piece of broken iron and hiding it like a treasure, saying that he picked it up from the mountain before, and it's valuable. When he asked me to go to the county to see if he could sell it, I thought he was insane. I don't know how, but that distant relative discovered the matter some time ago. He really found someone to buy it, and the price wasn't low, but it turned out that he was really shady. Dad decided that he didn't want to sell anymore, so now that kid just won't leave. He's been stopping by everyday trying to persuade dad to sell to him, and annoying us all at the same time."
I felt moved and looked at Poker-Face. It appeared that the old man didn't break his promise because of us, but to avoid the distant nephew.
And did he say iron piece? Did the old man have something to do with what we found under Poker-Face's bed?
Agui was smoking a cigarette and said with a smile: "If you secretly steal it from your father, you can sell it and get some money. In the future, the government won't give you a penny if you give it to a collection."
Father Pan Ma's son said, "It's not that I don't want to, but the old man... one time I said I wanted to throw that thing away, but I couldn't find it because he had hid it. Ah, I really wanted to slap myself, but I didn't think that piece of broken iron was really valuable. If the sale can be made, it'll be like a golden egg falling from the sky, and my son won't need to worry so much about going to school."
As I listened, I sighed to myself. On the surface, this son was a bit unreasonable and cruel to the old man, but I could see that the family was in real trouble and we couldn't cut in on their domestic affairs.
Then, Poker-Face suddenly asked, "Did your father hide that thing two years ago?"
His son thought for a moment and nodded, "Huh, how do you know that?"
I immediately understood what Poker-Face meant, and said: "Your father must have hidden it in the mountains. The old man wasn't at ease, so he went to check on it at regular intervals. That would explain why he was behaving so abnormally."
When he heard this, Pan Ma's son thought that it was reasonable, and Agui said, "Then your father really has an interest in this matter. You'd better ask him again, otherwise he'll end up shooting you if you really steal it."
Father Pan Ma's son said, "You're right. My father has a violent temper and I'm too lazy to argue with him. If it doesn't work out, I'll just forget about it. My distant relative is the one who's really pestering us, and this could be a way to prevent him from getting rich. According to his nature, I'm afraid our family won't have any peace in the future."
We continued chatting while we waited for Father Pan Ma to come back. His son told me a lot about him, which gave me a basic understanding of the old man.
Pan Ma was a local aborigine of the area. His family had lived there for several generations and he was one of the only old hunters left. Many of the local aborigines in the newer generations had become Chinese, and they usually only hunted in their free time. Many often left the village to work, and girls were also married out to other places. Later, the tourism industry developed, and the situation changed.
Speaking of which, Father Pan Ma was also a local celebrity. He was a good marksman, and could accurately shoot a hundred yards through the trees. He was also agile and could climb trees very well. When festivals were held in the past, all the men were away fighting for the Red Army, so the villagers had to rely on him to hunt wild boar and divide the meat. Later, as the economy developed and he grew older, he was gradually ignored, so he became a bit cynical and stubborn. Eventually, he didn't get along well with his children.
This kind of old man was a classic example, and I knew a lot about it. My former neighbor was an old Red Army soldier, and he often talked about the decline of the world and disdained associating with such ignorant young people as us. This type of behavior was typically unbearable to be around.
If you think about it, it seems like one's greatest skill is to torment oneself.
We kept chatting and waiting at the old man's house until afternoon, but he still didn't come back. No matter how hard I tried to hide it, I couldn't control my anxiety. On one hand, I was afraid of something unexpected happening; on the other hand, I had waited too long.
Father Pan Ma's son was very embarrassed and told us that he would go look for him, but he never came back after he left. We stayed until evening, but we couldn't wait any longer.
Agui was very upset and cursed the father and son, saying that they were too unreasonable. When we all left, we happened to see Father Pan Ma's son hurriedly passing by. He was followed by a group of people who went straight to the mountain without greeting us.
I noticed that the son's face didn't look good, and even Agui was puzzled. When he grabbed a man and asked what was going on, the man said, "The Lai family's son found Father Pan Ma's clothes on the mountain. They were all covered in blood. He may have had an accident. We're looking for people to search the mountain where his clothes were found."
"Where were they found?" Agui asked.
"In Shuiniutou Gouzi [1]. The Lai's son came back from hunting and found them on his way home."
"So far?" Agui was very surprised.
I had no sense of the place names here, so I asked, "Where is it?"
"Zhoudu Mountain, it's the mountain pass in front of Yangjiao Mountain. It takes half a day to get there." Agui answered, and then said to us, "You go back first, I have to go and see." He quickly followed behind the others.
Poker-Face and I gave each other an uncertain look, and I thought, it's really as I expected. Something bad has happened.
Poker-Face looked calm and undisturbed, but he immediately went after Agui. I quickly followed him, thinking that there was something strange at foot, and we needed to understand what it was.
***********************
Note:
[1] Buffalo Head Ditch.