Chapter 23: The Person In The Coffin
Wu Xie originally thought there would be more than one thing in the box, or simply that Ghost Seal. But when the box was opened, he discovered that the space inside for items was pitifully small, only as big as a little finger, lined with white silk holding a gold-gilded Bronze Fish. Strangely, two sea snakes were carved lifelike on the eyebrows of the Bronze Fish.
To be honest, in the past two years, he had handled quite a few things, but none as strange as this Bronze Fish.
Wu Sansheng heard the sound of the mechanism and came back to take a look: “Eh, how did you open it?” He had just said that without the password one had to dismantle the box, and now his eldest nephew had opened the treasure box right after—what was going on? Was this password common knowledge? But when he saw that Snake-browed Bronze Fish, he stopped dwelling on it.
Wu Sansheng’s expression was somewhat strange, with a bit of reminiscence and a bit of pride: “So it’s this thing.”
Wu Xie was puzzled: “Third Uncle, you know it?”
One must know, among antiques, gold-gilded items were one of his specialties, but with his professional knowledge, he couldn’t tell its origin either. He had thought Wu Sansheng was experienced and might spot something, but unexpectedly, he seemed quite familiar with it—he was actually asking the right person.
Wu Sansheng carefully picked up the Snake-browed Bronze Fish and gently brushed it with his thumb: “You’re lucky to have asked the right person. I dare say, in the whole of China, fewer than a hundred people know about this thing, and only a dozen or so have seen it with their own eyes.”
Wu Xie was even more curious: “Third Uncle, from what you’re saying, you’ve seen it with your own eyes?”
Wu Sansheng smiled proudly: “Of course. I was the leader of an archaeological team for a while, about ten or twenty years ago—uh, it should have been 1984. When I was working on the Xisha Islands, I saw one in an underwater tomb. That tomb was accidentally discovered by tomb raiders when they bombed a sunken ship; the entrance was never found. I was part of the second batch of experts summoned nationwide. You know I love this stuff—the stranger the tomb, the more interested I am. At the time, relations with Vietnam were tense, so we couldn’t excavate on a large scale and had to enter from elsewhere. After clearing the outer layer of the tomb, we discovered it was actually a waterproof tomb with air underground. The first Bronze Fish was found in the tomb passage between the inner and outer walls, inside a four-cornered lion-head bronze box.”
The smile on his face gradually faded, and he sighed, as if recalling something unpleasant: “If you had taken this out back then, it could have been called a priceless treasure, but now that it’s out… alas. Back then, I could only confirm that this Bronze Fish was left behind by tomb raiders when they entered; I knew nothing else. We considered digging a tomb passage from below or elsewhere, but first, the underwater pressure issue couldn’t be solved—no one knew what would happen if seawater flooded in; second, we had already dug fifteen meters under the seabed without reaching the bottom brick, and no one could estimate how much further down we’d have to go. We knew the soil used for building the tomb wasn’t local to Xisha but white paste mud from Fujian. For the last month or so, we couldn’t reach a conclusion, and with the border situation growing tense, we had to seal all materials and hand them over, reseal the ancient tomb, and withdraw.”
Wu Xie listened for a while and felt sympathetic, thinking it was truly regrettable that such a strange tomb was sealed away like that. But then he thought of Wu Sansheng’s personality and felt something was off: “Third Uncle, you just let such a strange tomb go? That doesn’t seem like you. Didn’t you research it yourself again?”
Wu Sansheng glanced at him: “The materials were all sealed—what could I do? Who dares touch official stuff? I heard later that a few people privately kept some materials, but nothing came of their research. The official files on the Bronze Fish were supposedly archived in the national repository. I was thinking of pulling some strings to take a look, but unexpectedly, a few years ago they were all burned in a big fire—who knows if there was something fishy about it.”
Wu Xie always felt Wu Sansheng was hiding something from him: “Third Uncle, what about you? Didn’t you want to go back in and take a look yourself?”
Wu Sansheng only gave him a profound smile, clearly indicating he wouldn’t say no matter how much he asked, so Wu Xie had to give up.
But after thinking it over, he still felt unwilling: “Third Uncle, are there no other clues about this Bronze Fish? The official ones were burned, but what about those experts back then? Even if they didn’t write it down, it’s probably not easy to forget. Even if those experts are no longer alive, there are still the younger assistants or archaeology students—surely they know something?”
Wu Sansheng was stunned; he hadn’t thought of that angle: “That expert line probably won’t work. Those experts, if still alive, would be in their eighties or nineties. The assistants…” He frowned: “After disbanding, we all went our separate ways, no contact these years—I probably don’t even remember their names. Finding them again would be no easy task.”
Wu Xie deflated: “Not a single clue? Lu Shang Wang’s tomb was burned, and this Bronze Fish appearing inside must be related to him. Third Uncle, you said an identical one appeared in the Xisha underwater tomb—is there some connection between these two tombs? Can we investigate in that direction?”
Wu Sansheng was helpless: “We never even entered that underwater tomb back then and didn’t know whose it was—there’s no way to verify. That Bronze Fish was left there by tomb raiders—what does it have to do with Lu Shang Wang? And from my speculation, this Bronze Fish appearing in Lu King’s Palace is probably a coincidence, nothing to do with Lu Shang Wang—hmm?”
He suddenly stood up, as if remembering something, pacing back and forth in place.
“Third Uncle, what’s wrong? Did you remember something?”
“Nothing, I have to go out and handle something. Anyway, this thing has nothing to do with Lu King’s Palace; investigating that way won’t lead anywhere.” Wu Sansheng left in a hurry, and it wasn’t until half a week later when Panzi could be discharged and walk on his own that Wu Xie handled the discharge and returned to Hangzhou that he saw him again.
At that time, Wu Xie was slacking off in the shop, with Panzi temporarily resting there, planning to go back to his own place in a couple of days.
“Panzi, come with me to handle something!” Wu Sansheng came in, glanced at Wu Xie without greeting him, called Panzi, and prepared to leave directly. Panzi was still limping a bit, but seeing Wu Sansheng’s somewhat serious expression, he packed his things in a flash without a word, greeted him, and left, leaving Wu Xie stunned.
“Hey hey hey, Third Uncle, why so urgent? Did you find some clue about that Bronze Fish last time? Let me come along too!”
Wu Sansheng pushed him inside: “You don’t need to come; this has nothing to do with you…” But seeing Wu Xie’s curious and frustrated face, he hesitated and told him: “This has nothing to do with the Bronze Fish; it’s related to that Jia Lama’s Xiaoge from last time. When we mentioned the Xisha expedition team, I remembered an assistant who looked a lot like this Xiaoge, but it’s been twenty years and I’m not entirely sure, so I had the servant send over the group photo from that expedition in the family album. Unexpectedly, there really is someone who looks just like him. No, not just like—exactly the same. I looked closely; it’s truly identical. But how could there be two exactly identical people? Even father and son wouldn’t be possible. But if not, how could someone look exactly the same as twenty years ago? Lu King’s Palace is destroyed now, so we can only try our luck in Xisha.”
He glanced at Wu Xie, inwardly frustrated—the timing was already tight, and if not for worrying that this nephew might sneak after him to the seabed and encounter danger, why would he say so much?
“Enough, stop asking. I’m going with some clues and should be back soon. You rest up properly and pay more attention to this shop of yours. What did you accomplish last year?”
At this point, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes, seeing Wu Xie still smiling embarrassedly there, feeling exasperated at his unfulfilled potential. Loss! Loss! Loss! All losses! Not a single profitable month! This kid was a real talent!
Wu Xie was hit on a sore spot and felt embarrassed, so naturally he couldn’t insist on going along and could only watch enviously as Panzi and Wu Sansheng hurried away. The next week passed in slacking off, with no business coming and nothing to do—he felt like he’d start molding if it stayed this idle.
Just then, something strange really came knocking.
That day, a car stopped at his door, specifying a delivery for him. He went out and saw at least two people unloading a particularly large box from the car, about one person wide and nearly two meters long, and it looked very heavy. It wasn’t a holiday—who would send him such a big box?
“Who sent it?” he asked the delivery guy, who checked the order for his signature: “Someone named Zhang Qiling. They say he’s a strange guy, wearing a hood so you can’t see his face, carrying a knife on his back.”
Wearing a hood, carrying a knife, and connecting to the name Zhang Qiling—he vaguely remembered Lin Yan saying that Jia Lama’s Xiaoge was called Zhang Qiling! But what would he send him? Could it be related to the last trip to Lu King’s Palace?
He went to one end of the box and tried to lift it, but couldn’t, so he called to the two delivery guys: “Can you help move it into the shop? It’s too heavy for me alone.”
The delivery guys looked reluctant: “Fine.” But they still helped him move it.
Once he was alone in the shop, he got a knife and started dismantling it. The tape on top was wrapped very tightly; it took all his strength to cut it open. Who would have thought that Jia Lama’s Xiaoge would send him something related to a tomb.
It was a coffin.
He could tell it had some age, possibly mid-to-late Ming dynasty. But why send him a coffin? He circled the coffin once and found no clues. If not the coffin itself, then… something inside the coffin? There wouldn’t be a corpse inside, would there? Delivery services take this kind of thing? Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but shiver.
But thinking of the mist surrounding Mute Bottle’s identity, his various miraculous abilities, and his final act of taking Lin Yan away… He paused, then mustered his courage and slowly pushed open the coffin lid bit by bit.
Looking at the thing inside, he was dumbfounded, and his impression of Zhang Qiling changed dramatically.
Inside the coffin was a person.
Someone he was somewhat familiar with.
It was Lin Yan!
He was dead? How could that be? Wu Xie trembled as he held his hand under Lin Yan’s nose—one second, two seconds… warm breath blew over it. He breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed beside the coffin.
So Zhang Qiling took Lin Yan away just to put him in a coffin two weeks later and send him via delivery?
At this moment, Wu Xie was completely baffled.
