Chapter 97

The fall of the Dian Kingdom occurred during the mid-Han dynasty, when great internal strife erupted within the kingdom, causing a portion of its people to split off. These people entered the lofty mountains and rugged ridges, living in isolation from the world; from then on, they gradually disappeared from history, and later generations knew of them only through scattered records in the 《Tuo (Old form: "Tuo", pronounced "tuo") (Right half of "xia" + "qian") Drinking Strange Inquiry》.

This group that separated from the ancient Dian Kingdom naturally formed a tribal collective, and they had a very strange ritual: they used those strange barrels suspended in water to drown living people inside, using corpses to raise fish. The fish that ate human flesh daily had strength several times that of ordinary fish. When the fish had grown, on the night of the full moon, they would take the barrel out of the water, burn the human bones inside to offer sacrifices to the six jade beasts, and then boil and eat the fish from the barrel. It is said that eating fish fed on corpses can prolong life.

How the old proprietor of the coffin shop obtained these things is unknown—whether they were ancestral heirlooms or he sought them out himself remains unclear for now. It is very likely he mastered this evil ritual and, upon discovering pre-Qin ruins beneath his coffin shop, found a very concealed location. To better conceal it without exposure, he used the legend that knocking on a coffin causes death, making nearby villagers feel apprehensive about his shop and dare not approach it easily; only after his death did these secrets come to light. However, whether this old coffin shop proprietor was truly a murderous demon king remains to be determined after the public security bureau conducts a detailed investigation and gathers evidence.

After hearing Professor Sun's words, I happened to have a braised fish in my meal, and I felt so nauseated I could barely eat my rice. The more I thought about it, the more nauseated I became, so I simply stopped eating and said to Professor Sun: "You are simply the Sherlock Holmes of the East; I've been researching downstairs for half a day and still couldn't figure it out. Impressive—you really are impressive."

Professor Sun's attitude this time was much better toward me than last time, and he said to me: "Actually, I once saw with my own eyes in Yunnan someone who had collected such a strange barrel, bought back from Southeast Asia many years ago; I never expected this evil sorcery to still be harmful in some places of Southeast Asia to this day. Do you still remember me saying last time that Old Chen saved my life? That too happened in Yunnan."

Although this nauseating and cruel sorcery is strange, it ultimately has no direct relation to us, and we have already achieved our purpose by finding Professor Sun; thus, the things Professor Sun just said, we are merely listening to casually. Shirley Yang and I were about to make a request of him regarding Professor Chen's matter, but we hadn't yet thought of how to speak up when Professor Sun mentioned Professor Chen, so we asked him to elaborate.

Professor Sun sighed: "Ah, what is there to say? Speaking of it is embarrassing, but anyway, so many years have passed. Back then, Old Chen and I were both sent to Yunnan for reform; Old Chen was about ten or more years older than me and took good care of me. I had some conduct issues at the time and became involved with a local widow—I need not say it, you should know how bad the impact was then."

I appeared to listen solemnly on the surface, but secretly laughed in my heart: "Old Sun looks like a farmer working in the fields, not at all like a professor; I never expected he had such a romantic past. Having revealed this love story, from this point one can see he is someone who cannot keep things bottled up inside, so coaxing information from him is not too difficult—the key is finding the right opening."

I only heard Professor Sun continue: "Back then, I couldn't bear the pressure, hanged myself in the cattle shed, kicked away the stool under my feet before feeling uncomfortable, yet I didn't want to die, feeling especially regretful, and began to cling especially to life. But regret came too late—my tongue had already protruded halfway, I was about to perish, when Old Chen rushed over and saved me. Without Old Chen, there would be no me today."

I knew the opportunity had come. As Professor Sun recalled the past events, moved by his feelings, he became more talkative; I seized the moment to quickly exaggerate Professor Chen's current condition by tenfold, and had Shirley Yang take out the rubbing of the strange-script dragon bone for Professor Sun to examine, telling him why we had come to seek him, and even if out of respect for Professor Chen's face, to make an exception and leak a little secret.

Professor Sun's expression changed immediately; he bit his lip, hesitated for a long time, and finally said to us: "I can take this rubbing back to help you examine it and analyze what exactly is written on it. However, you must absolutely not disclose this to anyone; it's inconvenient to say more here. Wait until tomorrow when we return to the guesthouse in Gutiang County, then you can come find me again."

I feared he might change his mind overnight, so I took back the rubbing of the strange-script dragon bone and agreed with Professor Sun that I would give it to him again after returning to the county guesthouse.

After finishing our meal that day, Shirley Yang and I set out to return to Gutiang County town. Before we even left the village, we were stopped by that blind fortune-teller who spouts nonsense. The blind man asked me if I still wanted to buy his 《(Enjoy Single) Zi Mi Di Eye Map》, saying he knows how to sell goods, and as for the price, well, it's negotiable.

Had I not seen the blind man, I would have almost forgotten this matter entirely, banished to the clouds. I know his 《(Enjoy Single) Zi Mi Di Eye Map》 is actually just a feng shui map, of little use; the genuine version uses special materials, making it valuable, but the content of the map itself is not much different from the 《Classic of Mountains and Seas》 and holds little significance. Moreover, this blind man's book is clearly a counterfeit product from West Sichuan, not genuine at all. I said to him: "Old man, do you still want to sell this map to those who can tell the real from the fake?"

The blind man said: "Naturally, those who recognize quality may name their price, and I will gladly part with it; those who do not recognize quality, even if offered a thousand gold pieces, will find it in vain. This divine object must not fall into the hands of vulgar commoners. That day, when I felt your bones and read your appearance for you, I discovered you have the Snake Lock Seven Apertures, born with a magnificent and imposing appearance befitting a feudal lord. Looking at the present age, who could be worthy of this 《(Enjoy Single) Zi Mi Di Eye Map》 but you?"

I said to the blind man: "If you put it that way, then your map probably can't be sold. Because this is fundamentally a forgery—those who recognize quality won't buy it, and those who don't, you won't sell to anyway; you'd better just keep it yourself. Also, stop bringing up feudal lords—my family may have once produced someone born in the Year of the Pig, or the Year of the Monkey, but certainly never anything like a pig-monkey hybrid; if I were such a creature, I'd belong in the zoo."

Seeing that I had exposed his fake map, the blind man begged me, out of fellow-trade sympathy, to take him along to Beijing, where he could tell fortunes and feel bones for people, sell some counterfeit funerary objects, and thus respond to the court's call, striving for modest prosperity.

I thought the blind man was indeed somewhat pitiable, and my compassion stirred. After discussing it with Shirley Yang, I agreed to his request: I would return to Beijing and help him find lodging near Panjiayuan, with Da Jin Ya looking after him. Moreover, his loose tongue could be useful to us in the future as a shill for our business.

But I warned the blind man: the capital is not like other places—if you keep telling fortunes for anyone and picking the big ones, saying they will become princes, dukes, or heads of state, that won't do; you might even get charged with inciting the masses to rebellion.

He nodded repeatedly: "These principles need not be explained by me; I naturally understand them. That charge is something I could never bear—if the court investigates, I would at least face execution after sentencing. Once in the capital, I will stick to saying only things that bring immediate profit upon meeting."

Thus I brought the blind man back to the Gutiang guesthouse together. When there is talk, we talk long; when there is nothing, we keep it short. And so, speaking of the next day's afternoon, after long awaiting Professor Sun's return, I immediately had the blind man wait in the guesthouse, and Shirley Yang and I arranged to meet Professor Sun at a restaurant in the county town.

In the restaurant, Professor Sun said to us: "Regarding the matter of the dragon bone's strange script, I didn't tell you last time because I had many concerns then. But last night I thought it over all night, and even for Old Chen's sake, I cannot remain silent; however, I hope you will act with great caution and not cause too great a disturbance."

I asked Professor Sun: "I don't quite understand—what exactly are your concerns? These things from several thousand years ago, why can't they be made public even today?"

He shook his head: "It's not that they can't be said, but that the time to speak has not yet come. The information I possess is very limited; these strange-script dragon bones are ancient confidential documents, recording some little-known matters, even things not entered into official histories. Although the method to decipher the heavenly script has already been mastered, due to the vast distance in time, understanding and verifying the deciphered content is extremely difficult and complex. Moreover, many of these strange-script dragon bones are fragmentary; it is rare to find them well-preserved. Once the deciphered content diverges from the original text, even a single character off can lead to a huge error..."

I said to Professor Sun: "Regarding these professional matters, you've told us, but we still don't understand. We didn't travel ten thousand li to find you just for nothing—we want to know about the Chen Dust Pearl, and also Shirley Yang's rubbing of the strange-script dragon bone, hoping you can help us decipher it to see if there are any concrete clues about where the Chen Dust Pearl might be located."

Professor Sun took the rubbing, examined it for a long time, and then said to me: "According to regulations, these are not allowed to be disclosed to outsiders; last time I frightened you for this very reason—because this information is not yet mature, publishing it would be irresponsible toward history. But this time, for Old Chen's sake, I cannot worry about regulations; today I have thrown caution to the wind. You want to ask about the Chen Dust Pearl—I know little about it, but I believe it may be some kind of symbolic ritual vessel, shaped like an eyeball, first appearing in the Shang and Zhou periods. In the unearthed Western Zhou dragon bone confidential inscriptions, as for when the Chen Dust Pearl appeared, who made it, and where its materials came from, there is no clear information. The rubbing you brought is similar to what I have seen before; I cannot dare to affirm that the symbols on the dragon bone are the Chen Dust Pearl. But I can definitely tell you that this symbol, resembling both an eyeball and a whirlpool, in the Zhou dynasty confidential inscriptions means phoenix, and the information on this rubbing is a description by Western Zhou people of the phoenix's cry on Mount Qi."

Full of doubts, I spoke up: "Phoenix? Isn't that just a fictional creature invented by ancient people? Has such a thing truly existed in this world?"

Professor Sun replied: "That's not easy to say, because the records in these dragon bone heavenly scripts are extremely important files of the ancient ruling class, inaccessible to ordinary people, so I personally tend to believe the content recorded in the dragon bone confidential inscriptions. That said, I do not believe phoenixes actually exist in the world—perhaps this is a cipher within a cipher, a hint within a hint."

I pressed further: "Are you saying this content appears to describe a phoenix, but actually stands in for some event or object, like how in some war films we watch, the Nationalist troops privately call the chairman 'Old Man,' and once someone says 'Old Man,' everyone knows it's Chiang Kai-shek?"

Professor Sun said: "Your analogy is not quite appropriate, but the meaning is somewhat close. In ancient times, the cry of the phoenix on Mount Qi foretold the overthrow of the corrupt by the virtuous, and the rising Zhou dynasty replaced the declining Shang Zhou. The phoenix, this fictional divine beast, can be said to symbolize auspiciousness and wealth; in different historical periods and religious contexts, it carries specific meanings. But as for what meaning it represents in the dragon bone heavenly script, that is hard to say; I infer that this eyeball-shaped symbol represents the phoenix based on the surrounding text in the same chapter of the dragon bone, and this should not be mistaken."

I nodded: "That's correct, because the Chen Dust Pearl itself also has another name—Phoenix Gall—and I don't know where this name originated, but it seems there is some connection between this eyeball-shaped ancient jade and that fictional creature, the phoenix. Professor, does the cipher in this rubbing mention anything about ancient tombs or places, or any such clues?"

Professor Sun said: "It's not that I'm unwilling to tell you—there really is nothing at all. I have written out the translation on paper; one look and you'll know—it's merely an ancient text describing the phoenix's cry on Mount Qi as a heavenly sacrifice. Such texts have always been highly valued by emperors, who believe they can pray for the phoenix's omen to receive the Mandate of Heaven and achieve great undertakings—just like how we now open a restaurant, set off firecrackers, hang red banners, and seek a lucky omen."

Shirley Yang and I felt as if lost in a five-li mist; we had thought this precious rubbing would reveal the whereabouts of the Chen Dust Pearl, but in the end it contained only this. I had Professor Sun write down the translation of the rubbing, read it over repeatedly, and indeed found no mention of any location. It seems this clue, left hanging for decades, has once again been broken off as of today.

If we were to search anew for new clues, it would be no less than seeking a needle in the ocean. I thought of the frustrating point, gritted my teeth, and the veins on my forehead bulged. Shirley Yang beside me also bit her lip, her whole body trembling slightly, tears swirling in her eye sockets.

Seeing us two dejected and spiritless, Professor Sun took out a photograph and placed it on the table: "Don't be so disheartened—first look at this photo I took yesterday; perhaps if you go to the deep mountains and old forests of Yunnan, you will gain something there."