The Mystic Nine

(Extra Story) 10: New Sesame Seeds

When Zhang Qishan went to Nanshan, the first obstacle he encountered was Birmingham. He sounded like an Englishman, but he was actually a native. He was called this because he used to be a porter for foreigners, and they gave him the nickname.

Birmingham was a local rich man with lots of guns and people. He had a good relationship with the locals and even the nearby officials. He was very high-spirited, and never took the newly appointed defense officer seriously. Zhang Qishan invited him three or four times, but he never went.

Those up top wanted Zhang Qishan to treat him with courtesy, so that they could train and incorporate the local armed forces of these wealthy businessmen into a unified defense of the city. The other party was well aware that Zhang Qishan couldn't use force, which made him even more unscrupulous.

Zhang Qishan had no other choice but to make a few inquiries, and later found out that Birmingham had a hobby. He was extremely fond of buying collections of tiny carvings at great expense. He especially liked Guanyin [1] carved on small beads and magnolia carved on rice grains.

Micro-carving had a long history in China, the most famous of which was Wang Shuyuan's "The Peach Pit Boat" [2]. Later, many craftsmen traveled thousands of miles to learn how to carve these square cun [3] pieces of art.

Birmingham himself was also a carver, so he was very fascinated by it. It was said that Birmingham had been a porter for a British missionary group at the time. He hoped to earn some income by following the preaching missionaries and carving crosses for them. After entering the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, he discovered that a certain place was rich in a kind of yellow-pink opium plant, which produced top-grade opium. They were a very special species of opium, so he sold them secretly and soon became a local rich man. After that, his business expanded and he became a local leader.

The opium business was extremely dangerous, so Birmingham had to be extraordinarily talented to sustain it. Zhang Qishan knew that he was different from those ordinary wealthy businessmen. He had been living among the Yunnan-Guizhou warlords for a long time, and was familiar with guns, so it was difficult to intimidate him. As a result, Zhang Qishan took a lot of money to Zheng Xiaoxi in Yangzhou to ask for a sesame seed to give to Birmingham.

This sesame seed was worth hundreds of times its weight in gold. Those in the Nine Gates called it a "boxwood sesame seed" because Zheng Xiaoxi had carved a vivid boxwood tree with thick branches and leaves on it.

After Birmingham saw it, he liked it very much. He heard that Zhang Qishan had a lot more, so he went to visit and was surprised to see that Zheng Xiaoxi was at Zhang Qishan's house. He had just finished carving the last of the "Water Margin's" 108 generals [4].

Birmingham knew that Zheng Xiaoxi had searched for the best sesame seeds over the past fifteen years. He would oil them, dry them in the sun, roast them into carbonized seeds, and then pick one out of thousands to use as his materials. He had carved more than ten a year, and had reached a total of 107 by the end of the decade. But it had been five years now and he had never carved that last one. It was said that he had never started on the last general because he was "dissatisfied", but now someone had unexpectedly enabled him to finish carving it.

All 108 characters had been vividly carved on 108 sesame seeds. With a magnifying glass, it was easy to see that the eyes were clear and soulful, and the swords were very powerful. It was truly a masterpiece. Moreover, all the figures on these sesame seeds had their names engraved on them.

After Zheng Xiaoxi had finished carving, he went to the Buddhist hall in Zhang Qishan's back garden, picked something out, and then left with it.

These 108 sesame seeds that had taken fifteen years to carve were definitely unique. With Zheng Xiaoxi's social status and artistic value at the time, the price couldn't be estimated. Birmingham knew that Zhang Qishan definitely wasn't doing this for the money, so he certainly couldn't use it to convince Zhang Qishan to step aside.