After hearing my complaints, King Leader shook his head and said, "Cloud Peak, you were reckless this time. In our line of work, we must be cautious, then cautious again. The fear is that someone will trace the clues back to us and catch us by the tail."
I apologized, "I'm sorry, boss. I'll be more careful next time."
King Leader picked up his teacup and blew on it, frowning as he said, "However, you are still one of my men, Cloud Peak. What do you think? Do you want to regain your standing?"
Without hesitation, I blurted out instinctively, "Yes, boss. I feel like I've been shortchanged."
King Leader took a sip of his tea, then covered the cup and said, "We've just established our base yesterday. We must act with discretion now. My personal advice to you is to bide your time. Once we finish this job and leave Shunde, I'll give A Mole a heads-up. She's got connections in the underworld."
I immediately nodded in agreement.
In the small warehouse of the hotel we rented, there were still several bags of raw opium, but King Leader didn't have me distribute it. Instead, he arranged another task for me that afternoon. King Leader had me assist Eldest Elder Sun with handling the batch of bronze ware from yesterday.
As I approached the warehouse, I suddenly smelled a strong scent of cumin spice. Looking closely, I saw someone had set up a charcoal BBQ grill at the warehouse door, grilling meat with a generous amount of seasoning.
Eldest Elder Sun was in charge of liquidating the goods, but of course, there was work to be done before that.
"Brother Sun, I'm Cloud Peak. The boss sent me to help," I knocked on the warehouse door.
Eldest Elder Sun opened the door for me. At that moment, he was dressed in a white protective suit, complete with leather gloves and plastic protective goggles.
Once inside the warehouse, I saw several pieces of bronze ware laid out on the ground, and beside them was a large white leather barrel containing a half-barrel of semi-transparent liquid that emitted a pungent odor.
He tossed me a set of protective gear and said, "Cloud Peak, put this on."
Though confused, I donned the protective equipment.
"Brother, what are you doing?" I asked, puzzled, as I watched him drop a bronze goblet with red mercury rust into the barrel.
The rusty bronze ware began to bubble furiously upon contact with the liquid, and the pungent smell intensified, somewhat resembling the odor of urea.
Eldest Elder Sun pointed to the goblet soaking in the liquid and explained, "In our trade, Cloud Peak, what I'm doing now is called patina removal. The chemical formula of this water was concocted by an expert at the boss's request."
"Patina removal? What does that mean, brother?"
Eldest Elder Sun smiled and said, "Patina removal is the process of removing the dark crust. The mercury rust in the water is bone-penetrating, and because this type of bone-penetrating rust covers a large area, it can easily obscure any font inscriptions. If that happens, we stand to lose a great deal."
Eldest Elder Sun continued, "People from the Southern Path call this rust removal, while we in the north call it patina removal. Remember this, Cloud Peak: for bronze ware from the Western Zhou and Warring States periods, square tripods are five times more valuable than round tripods. Those with inscriptions are ten times more valuable than those without. For each inscription character over five, the price increases by thirty thousand yuan. This tomb is from the early middle Western Zhou period. Judging by the consecrated standard layout, and to find so many bronze wares in a burial ear chamber at once, the tomb owner must have been at least a minor vassal king from the southern region." Eldest Elder Sun analyzed methodically for me.
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"If we can clean it off and reveal inscriptions identifying the tomb owner, and if we're even luckier and this minor vassal lord is named in the historical records, then we've truly stumbled upon a treasure!"
Only after hearing Eldest Elder Sun's explanation did I have an epiphany, realizing the depth of knowledge involved in this endeavor. Even the barbecue stall outside earlier, I now understood, was a deliberate ploy by Eldest Elder Sun, meant to mask the pungent odor released during the patina removal process.
The reason for wearing leather gloves was due to the corrosive nature of the liquid used to clean the bronze ware. Such precautions were necessary to protect oneself, for if this solution were to splash into one's eyes, it could cause far more damage than any copper-nickel alloy, potentially blinding a person!
After soaking for over twenty minutes, one would use a stiff-bristled shoe brush to scrub away the rust, being careful not to scrub too harshly or remove all of the mercury rust. The brushing could cease once it was clear there were no inscriptions on that section.
Donning the gloves and armed with a shoe brush, I scrubbed several pieces of bronze ware, examining each with great care. Yet, not a single inscription came to light, leaving me disheartened.
Seeing my dejection, Eldest Elder Sun, who was brushing a bronze grain vessel, said with a smile, "Cloud Peak, don't be so downcast. These things are all about fate. When it's meant to be, it will happen. You can't force it if the time isn't right."
At that moment, I was scrubbing a small bronze bean, and after a few brushes on the inside bottom of the piece, I thought I saw a faint, golden stroke of a character.
"Eh? What's this?" I lifted the bronze bean and scrubbed vigorously again.
"Big brother! Big brother, look! I've found writing! There's an inscription inside this bronze bean! The strokes are quite intricate, almost like ghost-drawn talismans," I exclaimed excitedly to Eldest Elder Sun.
He took the bronze bean and examined it for a moment.
Eldest Elder Sun, observing the few gilded inscriptions that had emerged on the surface of the bronze ware, furrowed his brow and said, "This... These inscriptions aren't Bird Seal Script, nor are they Oracle Bone Script. This is an even older form of writing, the Ancient Gold Text Six-layer Seal Script... But how could this be on a piece of Western Zhou bronze ware?" There was a look of utter bewilderment in his eyes.
The script on the bronze bean was not from the Jin Dynasty; it was an ancient text whose origins possibly predated even the oracle bone script, stretching back to a time before the Yin Shang (Shang Dynasty). Eldest Elder Sun, with his extensive knowledge and broad experience, immediately determined that the script embossed on the bronze bean was not the Bird Seal Script, but rather the Six-layered Seal Script from the Ancient Gold Text!
After a moment of furrowed brows came excitement. Eldest Elder Sun said, “Cloud Peak, continue cleaning the rest. This Ancient Gold Text and its Six-layered Seal Script are exceedingly rare; there are very few in the world who can translate such script. I must act quickly to find someone who can decipher the meaning of these inscriptions.”
Eldest Elder Sun carefully placed the inscribed bronze ware into a wooden box and promptly left with it.
Despite my continued efforts, I did not uncover any more bronze ware with inscriptions, only that single piece.
By day, we engaged in these tasks, but our true work began at night. Once everyone else had retired to sleep, we would embark on tomb raiding in pits. However, that afternoon, Eldest Elder Sun had left in such a rush and had not returned, leaving us one person short for keeping watch—a dangerous predicament that Old Master dared not risk.
Late into the night, Eldest Elder Sun returned at just past one o'clock, panting and clutching a wooden box—I knew it contained the bronze bean with the inscription.
Without a word, Eldest Elder Sun rushed to the table, grabbed the teapot, and gulped down half a pot of tea.
After wiping his mouth, Eldest Elder Sun looked at King Leader and said, “Boss, I've pulled some strings at the archaeological research institute, and they've translated those Six-layered Seal Script inscriptions.”
“Oh? What do they say?” King Leader inquired.
Eldest Elder Sun opened the wooden box, caressed the bronze bean inside, and with a somber expression, uttered four words.
“Mustard Seed Belt.” (To be continued)
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I have also posted the following more chapters [All free]: https://www.readgates.com/article/7b136c