Chapter 315: A Night of Miracles, Trending Across the Entire Web!

Forbidden City, Taihe Gate Square.

Stunned on the spot for a long time, Zhao Zhenhua finally came to his senses and hurriedly took out his phone!

His fingers were trembling uncontrollably due to extreme shock and excitement!

Relying almost entirely on muscle memory to swipe across the phone screen, he finally found the number labeled "Dean Wang Yuanwu."

"Beep, beep, beep!"

The dialing tone seemed exceptionally long in the silent night, each sound striking against his wildly beating heartstrings.

Before long, the call was finally answered.

From the other end came Dean Wang Yuanwu's hoarse voice, carrying a hint of sleepiness and slight displeasure at being disturbed:

"Hello, Zhenhua? It's so late, what is it?"

"Dean! Dean! It's... it's me! Zhao Zhenhua!"

Zhao Zhenhua's voice was somewhat distorted by his urgency; he took a deep breath, trying to suppress the emotions that were about to burst through his chest:

"You... you must come to the museum immediately! Yes, immediately! Right now! Come to the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square!"

Wang Yuanwu was clearly bewildered by this rapid-fire speech, his tone filled with confusion: "Now? Zhenhua, calm down, what happened? Is it a security issue or..."

"It's not security! It's the artifacts! Those artifacts, they have actually returned!"

Zhao Zhenhua interrupted him, looking at the scene in the square shimmering with the ghostly light of history under the moonlight and palace lanterns, his voice choked with tears:

"It's the British Museum! Those in the British Museum... the Shang and Zhou bronzes, the Tang and Song paintings, the Jingdezhen porcelain... they... they have all returned! They are placed right in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony! It's as if... as if they descended from the heavens!"

The other end of the line fell into a deathly silence for a full three or four seconds, with only the faint sound of static audible.

Zhao Zhenhua even suspected the signal had been cut off, so he called out urgently:

"Dean? Dean Wang? Are you listening?"

"……Zhenhua."

Wang Yuanwu's voice rose again, all sleepiness gone, replaced by a tremor that could still be detected despite his best efforts to suppress it:

"Do you know what you are saying? This joke is not funny at all! Are you sure you aren't sleepwalking, or seeing some kind of mirage?"

"Dean, this is really not a joke!"

Zhao Zhenhua was almost growling:

"That 'Xing Hou Gui' vessel we have only ever seen in photos and literature is now sitting squarely on the imperial dais, and the scroll of the Tang dynasty copy of the 'Admonitions of the Court Instructress' is right by the Golden Water Bridge! There are too many, I can't see the end of them! Dean, this is a miracle! It is a miracle!"

"Clatter!" A clear, crisp sound came from the other end of the phone, like a teacup falling onto a hard floor.

Immediately following was heavier breathing, and Wang Yuanwu's voice rose sharply, filled with incredulous ecstasy and horror:

"Wait! Stay where you are and don't move! Notify internal security for the highest level of alert! But don't go public yet... No! It's impossible to keep it hidden! I'm coming right now! Immediately!"

The phone was hung up abruptly.

Zhao Zhenhua could imagine that the old dean, who was over sixty and always known for his composure, must be in such a state of panic right now that he probably rushed out of his house without even having time to put on his coat properly.

Almost at the same time Zhao Zhenhua was making the call, the internet world had completely exploded because of another perspective!

The live broadcast signal, which had originally been focused on the magician Chu Chen inside the British Museum in London, had been switched by the backstage director to the magnificent Forbidden City's Hall of Supreme Harmony!

The camera first provided an aerial view, then slowly zoomed in!

On the once empty and vast square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, countless precious artifacts were now densely displayed!

They stood there quietly, as if they had never left this land, the dust of history gently brushed away by the night wind, revealing an astonishing brilliance.

Seeing this scene, the live stream's comments went instantly wild:

【！！！！！！！！！！！】

【Holy crap!!! Did they really teleport back?!】

【The Forbidden City?! It's the Forbidden City! Those artifacts have really come home!】

【Oh my god! This is too incredible!】

【Crying! So excited!】

【Ancestors above, your unworthy descendants have witnessed the return of our treasures today! (Bursting into tears emoji)】

【High-energy content ahead! All non-combatants, please stand up immediately!】

【So spectacular!】

The comments were so dense they completely covered the screen, like a torrential downpour, venting the indescribable shock and excitement of hundreds of millions of netizens!

After the Program Team's stunt, social media and news platforms also fell into an unprecedented frenzy in the blink of an eye!

The top ten of the Weibo trending list were instantly slaughtered by related topics, all followed by a bright red "Explosive" tag:

#Chu Chen empties the British Museum# (Explosive)

#British Museum Chinese collection artifacts appear in the Forbidden City# (Explosive)

#Artifacts come home# (Explosive)

#Huaxia treasures return through the air# (Explosive)

#Please let the Forbidden City take in the wanderers# (Explosive)

#Tonight we are all witnesses to history# (Explosive)

#Dean Wang, open the door quickly# (Trending) (Netizens' joke)

#What is the principle behind this magic# (Trending)

#BBC reports on Chu Chen's magic# (Trending)

#Mountains are hard to cross, yet they are all the homesickness of foreign lands# (Trending)

All ten trending topics were related to Chu Chen and the return of the artifacts!

The well-known history blogger "Archaeology Senior Brother" even posted ten consecutive Weibo posts, and the most popular one among them was written like this:

"As an archaeologist, I have fantasized about this scene countless times in my dreams. When it truly happened, I couldn't type a single word, only weep before the screen. This is not magic; this is the deepest longing in the heart of every son and daughter of Huaxia coming true! Mr. Chu, please accept my highest respect!"

Beyond Weibo, short video platforms could not escape this calamity either; the homepages of TikTok and Kuaishou were almost entirely occupied by related videos!

A video posted by an international student in the UK, "Directly witnessing the empty exhibition hall of the China Pavilion at the British Museum," instantly surpassed one hundred million views!

The comment section was flooded with "Thank you for your hard work" and "Welcome home."

The official account of China Television News released an aerial video of "Cultural relics gathered in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City!"

Accompanied by the stirring background music of "Scales of the Heaven and Earth Dragon," the number of likes exceeded twenty million in just half an hour, becoming the most powerful short video of the year!

Countless ordinary users uploaded reaction videos of themselves in front of televisions and computers, jumping up in shock, hugging each other in excitement, or covering their faces and weeping, creating a wave of secondary dissemination!

New media exploded in popularity, and official media were not to be outdone!

Xinhua News Agency was the first to issue a flash report: "A night of miracles! A large number of cultural relics lost overseas have suddenly appeared in the Forbidden City; the cause is currently under investigation."

The People's Daily official Weibo posted a micro-comment: "No matter the way you return, long-wandering travelers, welcome home! Tonight is destined to be sleepless."

The Global Times reported more sharply: "The British side has fallen into chaos; the director of the British Museum has urgently come forward, stating they are 'trying to understand this supernatural phenomenon,' and the London police have intervened."

International media such as the BBC and CNN interrupted their original programming to broadcast breaking news with extremely sensational headlines: "Did an Oriental magician complete the 'Great Move of the Century'?"

"The British Museum encounters a force majeure, 'losing' its entire Huaxia exhibition hall!"

"A supernatural event or a highly sophisticated sleight of hand? The whole world is watching!"

The clamor on the internet was like a tsunami; starting from this sleepless night in Yanjing time, it rapidly swept across the country and subsequently shook the entire globe!

Every social platform, every news website, every group chat, and every social media feed was discussing the same topic—Chu Chen's magic, and that batch of national treasures that had traveled ten thousand miles to return miraculously.

Outside the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, the crowd that had heard the news gathered in ever-increasing numbers!

People looked up at the palace walls, waving national flags, as cheers, singing, and excited weeping merged into one!

The ancient Forbidden City became the focus of the entire world on this night, witnessing an unprecedented and heart-stirring "journey home"!