The Autobiography of a Tomb Raider

Shunde Nanfeng District.
The streets were lined with small eateries, bustling with diners enjoying their meals. I wandered around for a while, several times on the verge of dumping the soil I was carrying. But each time, I hesitated. After all, this was my first time doing something like this. Despite my earlier confidence, when the moment actually came, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of fear.
I was terrified that someone in uniform might tap me on the shoulder and ask what I was up to.

After circling around for a while, I finally came across a small river. Seeing it, my eyes lit up, and a plan formed in my mind.
Shunde is known as the land of aquatic products, with abundant water resources. My reasoning was simple: once the blue-white soil was dumped into the river, it would dissolve into mud, and no one would ever notice.
Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, I quickly unzipped my backpack and prepared to pour the soil into the river.

"Wait! Stop!"
"What are you doing?!"
A sharp, clear voice suddenly rang out behind me, startling me so much that I nearly tumbled into the river.

Heart pounding, I turned around and saw a girl pointing at me, hands on her hips.
She was wearing a school uniform, her hair tied in a ponytail, her cheeks flushed. On her arm was a red armband with the words "River Cleanup Crew" written on it.
"It’s you I’m talking to! What are you looking at? What were you about to throw into the river? Were you planning to dump garbage?!"

The zipper of my backpack was still open, and I panicked. I quickly waved my hands and stammered, "N-no, I wasn’t dumping garbage."
"Don’t lie! I saw it! What’s in your bag? Let me see!" she shouted, stepping closer to me.
Seeing her approach, I was terrified. In a moment of panic, I grabbed my backpack and started running.

"Hey, stop!"
She chased after me, and soon we were running along the riverbank.
As I ran, my foot slipped, and I fell straight into the river.

The blue-white soil in my backpack sank to the bottom as soon as it hit the water. I couldn’t swim, and I flailed around, swallowing several mouthfuls of river water as I screamed for help.
In the end, it was the girl who saved me.
The girl’s name was Li Jing, a local of Shunde. At the time, she was a sophomore at Shunde No. 3 High School. That day, she was covering for her mother, who was responsible for cleaning up garbage along the moat.
After being pulled out of the water, I was drenched like a drowned rat, but deep down, I felt a sense of relief. The bag of blue-white soil I had been carrying was gone, and no one had caught me in the act.

The girl, who had also gotten soaked while saving me, grabbed my clothes and demanded, "Why were you running? You can’t even swim! Were you trying to get yourself killed? What was in your bag?"
Blushing, I stammered, "I just slipped and fell into the river. My bag had books in it. They’re gone now, but I can always buy new ones."
She eyed me suspiciously, clearly not buying my explanation.

"I think you’re hiding something. There’s been a lot of illegal electric fishing around here lately. You’re coming with me to see my mom. You can leave only if she says so."
"Let’s go!" Without waiting for my response, she tugged at my clothes and started dragging me along.
I waved my hands frantically, shouting, "I’m not an electric fisher! I’m not!"

But of course, I couldn’t tell her the truth. If I admitted I was a tomb raider, it would be even worse than being caught for electric fishing. That crime carried a much heavier penalty.
Several times, I thought about making a run for it, but I didn’t dare. I knew that if I ran, this girl’s stubbornness might lead her to investigate further, potentially exposing our entire group.
Li Jing’s home was right by the moat. Back then, there was a pedestrian bridge over the river, and to get to her house, we had to cross it.

On the bridge, there were several street vendors. Some sold children’s toys, others sold shoe inserts and socks, but one stall stood out—a fortune-telling stall.
The fortune teller was in his fifties, wearing round sunglasses. Next to him was a pack of Honghe cigarettes, the hard-pack kind that cost five yuan. He had a cigarette constantly dangling from his lips, lighting a new one before finishing the last.
"Well, well! Little Li Jing, you’re even more capable than your mom! Did you catch another litterbug?" The fortune teller sat on a folding stool, smiling as he spoke.

The girl, Li Jing, visibly preened at the compliment. "Li Banshen, you’re right! This guy ran as soon as he saw me and even fell into the river. I think he’s one of those electric fishers."
The fortune teller puffed on his cigarette, exhaling clouds of smoke that almost obscured his face.
"Ah, electric fishing, huh? Young man, that’s not good. People who fish with electricity damage their own luck. They’ll face retribution."

Li Jing burst out laughing. "Li Lao Liu, I only call you Li Banshen (Half-Immortal) as a joke. Don’t take yourself so seriously! Remember the last time you told Auntie Li that her pig would be pregnant within a month? What happened? The pig died of diarrhea on the third day! Where’s the piglet?"
The fortune teller coughed awkwardly. "That pig was just unlucky. It’s not my fault the prediction didn’t come true. If you don’t believe me, how about I read your fortune?"
Li Jing doubled over with laughter. "No, thanks! I don’t dare let you read my fortune. You probably haven’t had a customer in days. If you want to practice, read his fortune instead. Tell me if he’s really an electric fisher." She suddenly pointed at me.

Somehow, I ended up letting him read my fortune.
The fortune teller first asked for my birthdate. Then, he pulled out a tortoise shell containing three Qianlong Tongbao coins.
He shook the shell in various directions, and the three coins fell out onto the table.

Whether by coincidence or not, all three coins landed face down. Two of them were stacked together, while the third lay alone, far apart from the others.
I remember it vividly. The fortune teller’s playful expression vanished. He stared at the coins, dumbfounded, for a long time. His Honghe cigarette burned down to the filter before he finally snapped out of it.
He looked at Li Jing, then at me, and sighed, shaking his head repeatedly.

Li Jing laughed and asked, "Well, Li Lao Liu, what did you figure out? Is this guy really an electric fisher?"
The fortune teller lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, and looked at me with a meaningful expression. "Young man, you’re not simple."
Feeling guilty, I cautiously asked him what he had seen.

He chuckled and said, "The water’s deep, but the pond is shallow. In a shallow pond, there are many turtles. You’re the most valuable turtle in the pond, but in the end, you won’t escape your fate. You’ll be slaughtered and turned into a bowl of turtle soup."
At the time, I was furious when he called me a turtle. But now, looking back at his words, I realize how profound they were.
Later, I returned once to look for this fortune teller, but I never found him. When I asked around, some said he had smoked too much and died of lung cancer a couple of years ago because he couldn’t afford chemotherapy. Others said he had left Shunde and disappeared.

If I could see him again now, I would gladly pay a fortune to have him read my fortune once more.
To tell me if Xiang Yunfeng will ever settle down.
To tell me where I should go from here.

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