Aoba Office

On March 26, 2009, he accompanied An Yu to return the Buddha head.

On March 27, 2009, I received a call from the client. Telephone recording 200903270938.mp3.

"Hello, Mr. Dou. We have finished handling the matter of the Buddha's head."

"Well, I know. I..."

"Did something happen to you?"

"Well...I, I dreamed of that monk again. But this time...this time, the monk's look...how to say...it's the word, compassion, compassion! His expression, again Thank me. But...but it seems..."

"What did he say?"

"I just want to say thank you. But... I always feel that his expression seems forced, as if he is sad? I'm not sure. Did something happen?"

"Well... there is something happening here at Qingcha Village. When we found the Buddha's head, local people were present and they saw it. We can't hide this matter and block the news. Next, the local cultural relics bureau and the Buddha The family’s organization should conduct an on-site inspection and those Buddha statues should be taken out and processed separately.”

"Do it differently?"

"The cultural relics will be appraised first, and based on the results of the appraisal, it will be decided whether it will be a closed collection or a public exhibition. The location of the Buddha statue cannot be hidden, and the local government will definitely protect it."

"I see... Huh... I always feel that it's a little weird. I should go there again in the future to see the complete Buddha statue. It's good to be able to do this."

"Yes."

On March 27, 2009, the commission ended.

————

After listening to the last recording, I felt a sense of relief.

I have a vague impression of the Buddha statue in Qingcha Village.

I searched online and found the report. When I saw the title, my heart skipped a beat.

"The Buddha statue in Qingcha Village was stolen"? !

I quickly clicked on the link and saw the full content of the news.

This is reported by a professional news website.

The article begins with a story about the theft of the Buddha's head at Qingcha Village, and there are several photos of it.

In the dim cave, the Buddha statues seemed to be covered with a layer of black gauze, hazy. This should be a photo of a scenic spot.

When the police were investigating the scene, they turned on their headlights and illuminated the entire Shandong Province.

Those Buddha statues range from large to small, and each has a different face, body shape, and cassock, which are very delicate.

The strong light makes these exquisite things appear to people, and also destroys the mystery and tranquility of this cave. The policemen walking among the Buddha statues make this photo look devoid of any "Buddha" tranquility and full of hustle and bustle.

The stolen Buddha head was a Buddha statue in the deepest part of the cave.

The cut on the broken neck was smooth, and it should have been done by professionals.

Such cuts, even though they knew they were just stones, gave people a bloody feeling.

The police have not yet found any key clues and are conducting extensive searches and investigations.

The news was three years ago.

I searched the web and the first piece of information was this. Either the media didn't follow up, or there was no clue for three whole years.

The middle section of the article introduces the situation of the Buddha statues in Qingcha Village. In 2009, the Qingchazhuang Buddha Statue Cave was discovered.

The word "coincidence" is used in the article to describe it, because the cave was discovered, and also because the Buddha head inside was stolen. The stolen Buddha head was found in the Qingcha Village tea garden, and they followed the clues and found the cave.

What is puzzling is that the locals provided this version of the story of the discovery of the cave, but according to careful research by archaeological experts, all the Buddha statues in the Qingchazhuang Cave showed no signs of damage. All the Buddha statues were intact. None of them had their heads missing, and there were no signs of repairs. In the local version of the story, the repair work was completed by the abbot of a local temple. The host passed away after the incident. This adds a lot of legendary color to the story.

The origin of the Buddha statues in Qingcha Village and who carved them have also been a focus of research by experts in the fields of history and religion over the years.

I took a look at what was covered in this article.

The old man An Yu seemed not to have made public the stories passed down by his family. His relative was not mentioned in the article.

After this introduction, the last paragraph of the article is a link to further reading, listing news about stolen Buddha heads and stolen cultural relics in those years. The sheer number of these links is staggering.

I looked for other news.

It seems that the stolen Buddha head has never been recovered.

No one knows anything about those monks in history.

This makes me feel depressed.

But I can't do anything except feel depressed.

The phone beeps. It was a message from my sister.

She arranged a group trip with her classmates, updated her social media page every day, and sent me messages to tell me about her day's itinerary.

Because we were traveling abroad, the exotic scenery and food gave us novel experiences. My sister updated a lot of content and sent me a lot of itineraries. This one tastes delicious, that one looks great, and a certain brand is so cheap there.

Thanks to the developed global express delivery business, my sister doesn’t have to drag a suitcase back. After seeing and buying it, several of their classmates put together a package and sent it back to their country.

The person who collects the express delivery is not me, but the mother of one of her classmates. I don't have to worry about this anymore.

The most I can do is ask my sister if she has enough money, and then remind her to pay attention to her safety.

After finishing the day's usual reporting and communication, I closed my laptop, washed up and went to bed.

While sleeping, I saw Buddha statues one by one.

I felt like I was in a dark cave with only Buddha statues around me.

I can only hear my own breathing and heartbeat... no, the breathing and heartbeat of more than one person.

This seems like a nightmare.

I nervously tried to look left and right, but found that I couldn't move.

Suddenly, dazzling light penetrated into my eyes.

I subconsciously squinted my eyes, and I did.

"You're out of your mind! Turn on such a big light!" A low-pitched roar made me a little stunned.

The light quickly dimmed.

"I made a mistake. I made a mistake." A shy voice apologized.

The lights were dimmed just right, allowing my view of the scene to become clearer.

The scenery in front of me seems to be the Buddha Statue Cave in Qingcha Village. Among the Buddha statues, there are three people walking carefully and furtively.

"Boss, let's do it. What else are you looking at?" said a man with a sinister look on his face.

The one holding the flashlight nodded repeatedly.

To my surprise, the man with a gangly look turned his head and looked at me.

I heard myself speaking, and I heard a voice different from my own.

"Choose that one."

After the words fell, I saw the raised hand.

That hand doesn't belong to me either. This wrinkled hand with only a lot of veins and calluses definitely does not belong to me, but to an older person.

Even the voice that didn't belong to me had a hint of maturity and age of a middle-aged man.

"This?" The person holding the flashlight turned it and pointed it at a Buddha.

"No, the innermost one."

"The innermost part? It's so damn troublesome." The man with the sinister eyebrows spat.

"Whichever the master chooses is your choice. Go quickly." The arrogant man shouted in a low voice.

The two men got busy.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw it, and I immediately wanted to jump out and stop it.

"Amitabha. Seniors, don't be offended. A poor monk will do good and save people when he gets money. It's better than you staying here and wasting your strength on a bunch of white-eyed wolves."

The voice behind me made me stop subconsciously. I turned around and saw a middle-aged man in sportswear with a bald head.

His head was bald and scarred. Putting your hands together and bowing slightly, it looks very formal.

This made me shocked and even more angry.