Chapter 11: Wrap

After listening to my complaints, Boss Wang shook his head and said, "Yunfeng, you were reckless this time. In our line of work, we must be careful—careful above all else. The last thing we want is to be tracked down and have our flaws exposed."

I apologized, "I'm sorry, Boss. I'll be sure to pay attention next time."

Boss Wang picked up his teacup, blew on it, and frowned. "Still, you are one of my people now, Wang Xiansheng's man. So, tell me, do you want to settle the score?"

I didn't hesitate. "I do, Boss. I feel like I've been cheated."

Boss Wang took a sip of tea and replaced the lid. "We just established our base yesterday; we need to keep a low profile. My advice is to swallow your pride for now. When we finish this job and are ready to leave Shunde, I'll have a word with One-Mole. She has connections in the underworld."

I nodded immediately.

There were still several bags of white clay in the small warehouse we rented, but Boss Wang didn't ask me to distribute them. Instead, he assigned me a different task for the afternoon: helping Old Sun process the batch of bronzeware we had recovered.

As I approached the warehouse, I caught a heavy scent of cumin. Looking closer, I realized someone had set up a charcoal grill right by the entrance, roasting meat with a generous coating of spices.

Old Sun was in charge of turning the goods into cash, but there was prep work to be done first.

"Brother Sun, it's me, Yunfeng. The boss sent me to help," I said, knocking on the warehouse door.

Old Sun opened the door. He was wearing a white protective suit, leather gloves, and plastic goggles.

Inside, several bronze artifacts were laid out on the floor, alongside a large white plastic drum filled with a translucent, pungent liquid.

He tossed me a set of protective gear. "Put these on, Yunfeng."

I didn't quite understand, but I obeyed.

"Brother, what are you doing?" I asked, watching him drop a bronze wine vessel—covered in red mercury rust—into the drum.

As soon as the rusty bronze touched the liquid, it began to bubble and hiss, releasing an even stronger, urine-like stench.

Old Sun pointed to the submerged vessel. "In our trade, this is called 'killing the patina.' The chemical ratio of this solution was mixed by an expert hired by the boss."

"Killing the patina? What does that mean?"

Old Sun smiled. "It means removing the black layer. The mercury rust from water pits can penetrate the metal, and this deep rust often covers up inscriptions. If that happens, we stand to lose a fortune."

He continued, "People in the south call this 'rust killing,' while we in the north call it 'killing the patina.' Remember this, Yunfeng: for Western Zhou and Warring States bronzes, a square tripod is worth five times more than a round one. Those with inscriptions are worth ten times more than those without. Once you have more than five characters, each additional character adds thirty thousand to the price. This tomb is from the early-to-mid Western Zhou period. Given the structure of the tomb and the sheer volume of bronzeware in the side chamber, the tomb owner was at the very least a minor vassal king in the south." Old Sun analyzed the situation with professional precision.

"If we can clean off an inscription that reveals the owner's identity, and if we're lucky enough that this vassal appears in historical records, then we've truly struck gold!"

Hearing his explanation, it all dawned on me. There was so much nuance to this. As for the barbecue stand outside, I now realized Old Sun had set it up deliberately to mask the harsh, chemical smell of the cleaning process.

The leather gloves were for protection; this solution was highly corrosive. If even a drop splashed into your eyes, it would be far more damaging than any nickel-copper alloy—it could permanently blind you.

You soak them for twenty minutes, then scrub the rust with a stiff-bristled shoe brush. You can't scrub too hard, and you don't want to remove all the mercury rust—once you've confirmed there's no inscription, you stop.

I put on the gloves and began scrubbing several items. I was incredibly meticulous, but I didn't see a single character, which left me feeling rather dejected.

Seeing my mood, Old Sun, who was busy scrubbing a bronze grain vessel, laughed. "Don't be so discouraged, Yunfeng. This is all about fate. When the time is right, it’ll appear; if it’s not meant to be, you can’t force it."

I was scrubbing a small bronze bean vessel, rubbing the inner base with the brush, when I thought I saw a glimmer of pale gold strokes.

"Huh? What's this?" I held the vessel up and scrubbed it harder.

"Brother! Brother, look! I found a character! There's an inscription inside this bronze bean! The strokes are so complex, they look like ghost runes!" I shouted excitedly.

He took the vessel and examined it.

As Old Sun looked at the gilded inscriptions revealed on the bronze surface, he frowned. "This... these aren't bird-script or oracle bone script. These are six-fold seal characters, an ancient gold script even older than oracle bone script... How could this be on a Western Zhou bronze?" His eyes were filled with confusion.

Ancient gold script was not from the Jin Dynasty; it was an archaic form of writing, potentially dating back even before the Shang Dynasty. Old Sun was knowledgeable, and he immediately identified the script as the rare six-fold seal.

After his initial shock came excitement. "Yunfeng, keep scrubbing the rest. These six-fold seal inscriptions are incredibly rare. There are only a handful of people in the world who can translate them. I must find someone to help me decipher what these characters mean."

Old Sun placed the artifact into a wooden box and rushed out.

By the time we finished cleaning everything else, I hadn't found any other inscriptions. That was the only one.

We usually worked at night, digging into the tomb after everyone else had fallen asleep. But with Old Sun having rushed off and not yet returned, we were short a lookout, which was too dangerous. Boss Wang wouldn't risk it.

Old Sun didn't return until after midnight. He was panting, clutching the wooden box containing the bronze vessel. He didn't say a word, just ran to the table and gulped down half a pot of tea.

Wiping his mouth, he looked at Boss Wang. "Boss, I pulled some strings at the Institute of Archaeology. Those six-fold seal characters have been translated."

"Oh? And what do they say?" Boss Wang asked.

Old Sun opened the box, touched the bronze bean, and said four words with a grim expression:

"Jie Hou Dai Zi."