Jin Wantang

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### Also known as

Golden Toothed Old Man (金牙老头/Jīn Yá Lǎo Tóu),
Gold Tooth (大金牙/Dà Jīn Yá)

## Appearances

### Other

Mahjong

**Jin Wantang** is a character that sporadically appears throughout the *Daomu Biji* novel universe. He first appears in *Volume 1* and leads Wu Xie to discover the Seven Star Palace tomb.

Jin Wantang is from Beijing and has a shop in Liulichang, Beijing.

## History

### Early Years

Jin Wantang's father entered the pawnshop business when he was 6-years-old and left when he was 17-years-old. After liberation, Jin Wantang's father worked as a laminating worker in a factory, and was so poor he left Jin Wantang with nothing when he died. However, Jin Wantang's father was able to teach him various skills in appreciating the major masterpieces of calligraphy, painting, jade, copper, embroidery, wood, and porcelain.

### Gaining Prestige

In the early 1960s, Jin Wantang started working in Liulichang, Beijing. With a fire in his eyes, he started from two yuan and a few old books. Within two years, he was thriving in a depressed collection market and an old book brought in a net worth of ten thousand yuan.

During this time, speculation and government crackdown also appeared. Jin Wantang inherited his cautious nature from his father and stopped at the right time. Although his business couldn't continue, his reputation remained and he earned some foreign friends. Large institutions, large families, and university research institutes invited him to make evaluations and appraisals.

### The Largest Grave Robbery

Jin Wantang had known the Huo family and had been cooperating for some time. Around the end of 1962, he, along with members of the mystic nine, joined in the largest grave robbery. He went to the mountainous area of Sichuan and stayed in the camp avoiding the accidents in the tombs. Other people brought back silk books and bamboo slips asking him to identify and classify them. After examining the materials, he realized there was a huge cluster of ancient tombs because the batches of silk books and bamboo slips that he identified were preserved differently, and the contents inside were all-encompassing. He soon realized that the ancient books was the ultimate goal of the team.

For the next three years, he had been constantly identifying those ancient texts that were difficult to understand, speculating on dynasties and uses, and trying to translate their meanings. Jin Wantang was so anxious that his teeth began to fall out and his weight changed from 150 kg to 70 kg. Soon, the books stopped coming. He started to venture outside of his tent and began to recover.

In June of the third year, there was a big accident. Later in the evening, a large roll of silk books practically soaked in blood was delivered to him. Three days later, he saw Huo Xiangu and the other members of the Mystic Nine for the first time, they wanted to watch him start the final appraisal. He only took one look at the large volume and saw that it was a silk book written by Lu Huang in the Warring States Period.

Lu Huang silk books were extremely difficult to decode. He could only recover the approximate text and write it in modern Chinese characters. Discovering the meaning of the code would take almost another ten years. Soon, Jin Wantang became greedy and secretly slipped a piece of the Lu Huang silk into his sleeve. After he successfully sewn the silk into his shoe, he decided to steal another. But that night, the team had planned for him to return to Beijing. Xiu Jiuye ordered a body search before Jin Wantang had a chance to leave. The hidden silk in his sleeve was discovered, but the one he hid in his shoe was not.

After this, he met the tenth person outside of the nine members of the mystic nine. This person was called leader by others. The leader used a painful technique on Jin Wantang who then gave up the silk hidden in his shoe. Huo Xiangu intervened in the matter. In the end, Jin Wantang was made to waive his right to any remuneration.

After arriving in Beijing, he was uneasy for several years. He kept a low profile and was eventually able to calm down. He later heard that there was another big event on the cliff and as a result, the Mystic Nine suffered numerous casualties and was weakened.

### Meeting Huo Xiuxiu and Wu Xie

Around 2000, Huo Xiuxiu became curious about her family's past and looked into her grandmother's letters. She found Jin Wantang's address and sent him a letter pretending to be her grandmother. Jin Wantang responded and based on the return address, Huo Xiuxiu found out where his shop was.

Huo Xiuxiu wanted to learn what had happened to her grandmother back in the day. Jin Wantang refused to tell her at first, but when he got in trouble with authorities for smuggling a valuable antique, Huo Xiuxiu made a deal with him.

On February 1, 2003, Jin Wantang brought Wu Xie the silk manuscript from the Warring States Period saying he wanted to talk to Wu Xie's grandfather. He went there on the recommendation of Lao Yang.

## References

1. ↑ In the published English translations, he appears in *Cavern of the Blood Zombies*.
2. ↑ Looking for the Dead in the Sea of Lights, Chapter 2; Volume 7, Chapter 24.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Volume 7, Chapter 24
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Volume 7, Chapter 26
5. ↑ Volume 7, Chapter 26 ("It was the turn of 1962 and 1963...Jin Wantang was among the team".).
6. ↑ Volume 7, Chapter 26 ("It was the turn of 1962 and 1963. A huge team of horses quietly entered the mountainous area of Sichuan."); Volume 7, Chapter 27.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Volume 7, Chapter 27
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Volume 7, Chapter 28
9. ↑ Volume 7, Chapter 24 ("[Huo Xiuxiu] started to seriously look into this matter probably four years ago when she was fifteen years old."); Volume 8, Chapter 82 ("Month B in 2004—[Volume 7] Stone Shadow in Qiong Cave").
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Volume 1, Chapter 2; Volume 8, Chapter 82 ("February 1, 2003— Jin Wantang brought Wu Xie the silk manuscript from the Warring States Period".)