The Lost Tomb Vol. 1

Chapter 60: Twenty Years Ago

Poker-Face—no, it should be Zhang Qiling—spoke in an even tone without the slightest hint of emotion. From his story, I gradually began to see a corner of this huge puzzle, but I couldn't understand what he was thinking or hearing during the whole incident, nor could I understand what his real background was. For the time being, it was best to imagine him as a silent and wise young man.

Deep at the bottom of the sea, they couldn't hear the howling wind on the water's surface but they could still feel the suffocating pressure that usually came before storms.

Zhang Qiling sat quietly in the corner of the ear chamber and watched as his companions scrambled to study the blue and white porcelain on the ground. These porcelain wares didn't attract his attention at all but it seemed as if these older-looking seniors were completely captivated by them.

As they passed the porcelain around to each other, some wanted to record the patterns on them while others were discussing the meaning behind the patterns. At this time, someone suddenly shouted, "You guys, come and take a look at this! There's something strange on the bottom of these porcelain wares!"

The name of the person who said this was Huo Ling, the youngest of the three girls in the research team. Her parents were top party members(1) who spoiled her ever since she was young. She usually liked to raise a fuss in order to attract others' attention. Zhang Qiling felt a headache coming on when he heard her voice, but a girl like her was still popular in a small group like this so her delicate voice immediately attracted several of the guys' attention.

They immediately raced over, scrambling to be the first one there in the hopes that they could show off their knowledge in front of Huo Ling. "What's strange about it?" They all shouted. "Show me!" Huo Ling turned the porcelain in her hand upside down and showed it to them. One glanced at it and said, "Ah, I know what this is. It's called a kiln number. It shows where this porcelain was made."

Another guy immediately retorted, "No, Ming kiln numbers don't look like this. It may be an inscription of the tomb owner's appointed title!"

The first one couldn't stand to lose face and said, "The inscription of appointed titles generally consists of four Chinese characters. There's only one character here, which is very uncommon. What you're talking about is even more impossible."

The two of them had inherited the glorious legacy of the Cultural Revolution and started arguing with each other. It became so heated, in fact, that they were about to come to blows. Huo Ling was used to seeing this kind of scene and sighed, but at this time, she suddenly saw Zhang Qiling leaning indifferently in the corner, completely ignoring her. She gave an indignant huff before walking straight over to him and handing the blue-and-white porcelain jar to him. "Brother Zhang,"(2) she said playfully, "can you help me take a look at this? What is it?"

Zhang Qiling didn't want to get involved in this at all and just gave the jar a cursory glance. Not seeing anything that caught his eye, he turned his head and said, "I don't know."

Huo Ling's expression immediately changed. Few men had ever refused her advances like this so she couldn't help but feel annoyed. "Brother Zhang," she whined, "don't just give it a perfunctory glance! Look at it carefully and then give me an answer!" Then she shoved the jar into Zhang Qiling's hand.

Zhang Qiling sighed and reluctantly took the jar as Huo Ling proudly showed him where to look. As it turned out, a very special mark had been engraved on the bottom of this random blue-and-white porcelain jar.

Zhang Qiling had never seen this kind of pattern before and couldn't help feeling stunned. Generally, the bottom of porcelain was marked with the kiln number to indicate where it had come from, but this inscription was bumpy to the touch. It definitely wasn't the kiln number of a specific place but was more like a number.