Chapter 64: Main Text Chapter Sixty-Five: Human Face

Main Text Chapter Sixty-Five: Human Face

Face

Looking around the strange burial chamber we were in, even Pangzi, who usually didn't care about anything, began to feel afraid. Pangzi asked me: "Lao Hu, what place is this?"

I glanced at him and said: "You ask me, who should I ask? I clearly remember that we jumped down from the thief's hole in the center of the tomb's nether hall; it should be a not-so-tall vertical shaft connecting to the sloping thief's hole below. How did we end up here?"

Da Jin Ya sucked his teeth and said: "Is there still any doubt? There's only this one thief's hole on the floor of the nether hall, right in the empty center; the main coffin should be beside it. We walked three full circles inside the nether hall, and aside from the thief's hole, there's no other passage on the floor. This… we've really hit a ghost wall."

I waved my hands at the two of them; being suspicious and fearful is useless now, and this is certainly not as simple as a ghost-built wall. A Western Zhou stone coffin has appeared in the nether hall of this Tang tomb—could the chamber we're in also be from the Western Zhou? Looking at the rock paintings on the tomb wall, all are strange‑looking human faces; this narrow tomb chamber, or whatever passage it is, must certainly be connected to the human‑faced stone coffin in the nether hall.

After we entered the Tang tomb's nether hall, to save power we had three flashlights but only turned on Da Jin Ya's one. At that moment Da Jin Ya handed the flashlight to me; I lit a candle on the spot and, holding the flashlight, observed the surroundings.

We are probably in a tomb passage whose both sides are covered with red ancient rock paintings; the brushstrokes are crimson like blood, vivid as if freshly painted. If this passage were from the Western Zhou era, even if it were perfectly preserved, it could not achieve this effect—these rock paintings can be at most a couple of hundred years old.

Not only the rock paintings, but also the stone that makes up the passage shows no signs of long‑term weathering; although it doesn't look brand‑new, it certainly wasn't built several thousand years ago, and in some places gray stone stubble is exposed.

The passage is several meters wide, both ends extending straight ahead without visible end; the tomb slabs are huge rocks, simple and solemn, lacking the luxurious refinement of Tang tombs, yet possessing a different, heavy and steady kingly aura.

Da Jin Ya knew I was familiar with the layout of tombs through the ages, so he asked me for details about this passage.

I shook my head and said to Da Jin Ya: "I still dare not be certain; if the stone coffin we found in the nether hall is truly a Western Zhou artifact as you say, then this passage is very likely a matching set with that coffin—both Western Zhou objects—especially the patterns painted on the tomb wall, which share many similarities with that stone coffin."

Pangzi said: "I'd bet my life on it—absolutely a one‑of‑a‑kind thing. Damn, that big face—just one look and you'll remember it forever. That half‑smile, cold and bizarre expression is practically carved from the same mold."

I told Pangzi: "Little Fatty, what you say makes sense, but you're not looking closely enough. The stone coffin we saw in the nether hall has five carved human faces, all with the same expression; take another careful look at the rock paintings in this passage—their expressions are not so uniform."

The rock paintings on the tomb wall show a series of slightly twisted human faces, not all like the expressionless ones on the stone coffin in the nether hall; the five faces on the coffin are blank, cold with a hint of absurdity, whereas each face on the wall differs slightly—there's joy, worry, sorrow, anger, surprise, injury—but no matter which expression, they differ from a normal person's.

Pangzi, by the candle's light, looked at several faces on the tomb wall and said to me and Da Jin Ya: "Lao Hu, after a close look I feel these faces are just… off, no matter the expression… how to put it… I know in my heart what's wrong, but I can't describe it; the expressions on these faces all have a kind of… that…"

I also noticed those faces' oddity; seeing Pangzi unable to put it into words, I said for him: "They're all so fake, lacking sincerity—whether joy or anger, they damn well look fake, as if put on rather than coming from the heart."

When I said that, both Da Jin Ya and Pangzi agreed. Pangzi said: "Exactly, it's fake, Lao Hu you've got sharp eyes—actually I saw it too, but I had too many words stuck in my gut and couldn't recall them right away."

Da Jin Ya said: "That's exactly it—smiles carry treachery, anger carries mockery. We merchants usually have to feign sincerity when haggling with customers, feigning heart‑to‑heart openness; I thought our expression back then was already fake enough, but compared to the faces painted on this tomb wall it's like a petty sorcerer meeting a great master—this aura of falseness leaking from those expressions… fundamentally… is not something humans can produce."

Da Jin Ya's last sentence sent a chill through me. Gazing at the human faces on the wall paintings, I told Pangzi and Da Jin Ya: "I have that feeling too—I can't think of what kind of person would have such a strange expression; even opera actors don't have faces like that. I feel our current predicament is somehow related to these faces… but… what do these faces symbolize?"

Although I often tout myself as a genuine Mogold Captain, I'm only skilled at reading feng shui, locating dragon veins, and treasure halls; next, from studying the *Sixteen-Character Yin‑Yang Feng Shui Secret Technique*, I'm quite familiar with the layout of tombs through the dynasties. But when it comes to cultural factors, historical background, and artifact appraisal, I know only a little—even that little is mostly guesswork based on my own speculation, with no solid foundation.

Regarding the giant‑faced stone coffins we've encountered now, and the many strange‑expression human‑face rock paintings on the tomb wall, aside from a few intuitive impressions I know nothing about this—I am far inferior to Da Jin Ya; although he isn't a professional archaeologist, he still has years of experience steeped in the antiquities trade.

I said to Da Jin Ya and Pangzi: "Little Fatty, Gold Master, I see many unimaginable things in this ancient tomb; wandering around randomly isn't a solution—if we keep blundering about we might run into further anomalies, so we must now devise some countermeasures."

Pangzi asked: "Lao Hu, do you have any idea? If you do, speak up quickly—don't keep us in suspense. I'm not hiding anything from you; I really am a bit scared right now."

I know Pangzi isn't one to voice fear lightly; his saying he's scared shows we're facing a situation we have no handle on—though our lives aren't threatened, our nerves are near breaking point. So I told Pangzi: "I haven't yet thought of a solution; the prerequisite for finding a countermeasure is figuring out what's actually going on. Right now it's like being ambushed on a battlefield—we see the enemy but they're hidden, we can only take the hits, with no chance to strike back. Because we don't know what kind of situation we're up against."

Pangzi said helplessly: "We three are like three little mice fallen into someone else's hands, being tossed about till we're dizzy, yet still can't figure out what's happening. Next time I won't bring weapons or explosives—I'll never enter an ancient tomb again."

I gave a wry smile and said: "If we still have a next time, we'll talk about it then." I then asked Da Jin Ya: "Gold Master, although we're now in a strange environment, we temporarily won't face any lethal danger; as long as we sort out the clues, escaping isn't a problem. After all, you haven't spent all those years handling funerary objects for nothing—you can tell that human‑faced stone coffin is a Western Zhou object. Could you explain it in detail? Let's analyze; maybe we'll come up with some ideas."

At this moment Da Jin Ya was, contrary to Pangzi, not so tense; he and Pangzi differ—Pangzi isn't afraid of wolves, insects, tigers, leopards, rice‑dumpling zombies, he only fears things that don't require effort—in short, he dislikes using his brain. Da Jin Ya most fears direct threats; although many Western Zhou objects have suddenly appeared in this Tang tomb, they're merely strange, not particularly deadly, or put another way, not instantly lethal. So although Da Jin Ya also feels tense and fearful, he can still cope with this mental pressure for now.

At this point Da Jin Ya, having heard my question, thought a moment and then said to me: "Lao Hu, you know this too—in our line of work in Beijing, the usual items we deal with are mostly from the Ming and Qing dynasties; the older they get, the higher their value, all traded privately, dare not be resold in the open antiques market. By the time we get to Tang‑Song funerary objects, in our trade they're already top‑grade; going further back to pre‑Tang‑Song ancestral artifacts, they can basically be called national treasures—buying and selling them means turning tail. I've been in this business so long that the oldest things I've handled are just a few small Tang‑dynasty pieces."

Seeing Da Jin Ya saying nothing useful, I asked again: "So you're saying you're not sure whether that human‑faced stone coffin is a Western Zhou object?"

Da Jin Ya said: "Of course I've never handled such ancient funerary gear; a Western Zhou stone coffin—if you ask whether it's valuable, you could say its worth is city‑rivaling. The problem is nobody dares to buy it; if we sold it to foreigners we'd be charged with treason, so to us it's actually worthless. Although I've never dealt with Western Zhou items, I sometimes study to broaden my knowledge and sharpen my eye—I often read books on this subject and visit museums to improve my professional ability; regarding these antiquities I'm something of a half‑expert. This stone coffin is a Western Zhou object—I won't mistake it. On this point I can guarantee: using human faces as ornamentation on vessels was all the rage in the Yin‑Shang era; many important ritual vessels bear such carvings."

I exclaimed: "You just said that human‑faced stone coffin was Western Zhou, didn't you? If I remember correctly, Yin‑Shang predates Western Zhou—so is this stone coffin Western Zhou or Yin‑Shang?"

Da Jin Ya said: "My grandfather, please hear me finish my words, this kind of decoration flourished in the Shang and Yin dynasties, lasting until the Three Kingdoms period, still used on some important occasions and objects, but the times differ, so its characteristics also differ; the stone coffin we saw has a characteristic—do you know what it is?"