Chapter 149 The Sacrifice from Two Thousand Years Ago is at My Fingertips

When she opened her eyes in the morning, was this just a wet dream? Perhaps this was her true desire. Since their search for the gilded plate, they had walked through ancient cities, into deserts, and across grasslands, and he had been there every step of the way. Deep down, this was no longer a pursuit for her alone, but an adventure for them both, just like how they had once scaled the towers of Shangbo and conquered the dragon that held its treasure.

On the phone, the last message in their chat was still her explanation. He didn't reply. She covered the phone. It was almost time. The gilded plate was right before her. When she got back, she would tell him everything that had happened.

The hotel she booked didn't offer breakfast, so she ate at a convenience store. The email arrived at exactly 8:00 AM, and the moment she opened it, she saw the sender's name—Zhuang Beiyao.

After receiving the email, she walked a few steps to the Tang Museum. The museum was not open yet, so she showed the email to the staff. In fact, she was more than 50 minutes early than the scheduled time. The staff still politely led her into the reception room, brought her tea, and asked her to wait.

This was a public reception room. One wall was glass, visible to everyone passing by. Two Chinese paintings hung on the wall against which the sofa rested, fittingly. She stood up, studied it for a moment, then returned to her seat to continue waiting. Her phone vibrated, and just as she was about to glance down, an elderly man with silver hair and a refined demeanor approached her from the other side of the glass wall. She could no longer remember what he looked like in his youth, but the deep lines on his forehead and the traces of time in his eyes reminded her of his once youthful face.

Zhuang Beiyao opened the glass door and stood a few steps away from her, his eyes filled with mixed emotions.

"Yi Zhang?"

"Uncle Zhuang."

In Zhuang Beiyao's office, a middle-aged female employee brought snacks and tea slowly and then quietly left.

Over twenty years had passed since they'd last seen each other, and they'd grown from children to adults. Aside from the same eye color, Zhuang Beiyao could hardly find any memories of Qin Tian's past. He gazed at her beautiful face, and there wasn't a trace of the old friend. He took a sip from his teacup. After the initial surprise and excitement wore off, he had to get down to business.

"Is your dad okay?"

Qin Tian lowered his eyes and looked at the tea in the cup: "He is not feeling well."

Zhuang Beiyao was startled and put down his teacup. This was just a topic starter; he didn't expect her to answer like that.

"My dad has Alzheimer's disease and is already in the middle to late stages."

"...Teacher Qin."

"It won't be long before he forgets everything and everyone in the past. Maybe he won't even remember me."

Zhuang Beiyao clasped his hands together, his eyes fixed on a corner of the coffee table.

"Yi Zhang, I'm...I'm sorry about what happened before. I want to go back to see Teacher Qin, if you...don't mind."

"Uncle Zhuang, I only recently learned about the incident you mentioned. My father never mentioned it in all these years. But I know he never blamed you. The only thing he said was that he didn't follow the rules. Now that I also work in the appraisal team of the Shanghai Museum, I can better understand you back then. To be honest, I'm not sure if I would make the same choice as you did. Because no matter which path you take, you will regret it. Either you will let down your colleagues who you work with day and night, or you will let down your own conscience..."

"No."

Zhuang Beiyao stood up, walked to the wall as if fleeing, and took off his glasses. He felt in his pockets, finally found a handkerchief, pulled it out, and wiped the lenses.

Qin Tian silently watched his back, waiting. This was her only chance. She had rehearsed this conversation many times on the plane. She even wondered how Tong Zhongyuan would have conducted this conversation. If it had been Tong Zhongyuan, how long would he have waited for this moment of silence?

Zhuang Beiyao put on his glasses again, folded his handkerchief and put it back in his pocket, then sat back down.

"Yi Zhang, have you visited our museum?"

Qin Tian answered cautiously: "Not yet. I want to take a good look around later."

Zhuang Beiyao stood up and said, "Come, I'll show you around. I'll be your guide."

Qin Tian was puzzled, but said, "How dare I trouble Uncle Zhuang? I can just tour the place by myself later. Otherwise, you can assign me a tour guide."

Zhuang Beiyao had already walked to the door and opened it: "I am the best guide in the museum."

Zhuang Beiyao led Qin Tian inside the museum. The staff members they met along the way bowed to him. It wasn't even opening time yet, so the entrance was cordoned off. Seeing the director approach, the security guards quickly ran over, pulled back the cordon, and bowed to him.

Qin Tian followed Zhuang Beiyao into the empty collection hall.

During the few minutes she walked over, she wondered if Zhuang Beiyao truly wanted to proudly introduce the Tang Dynasty Museum to her, or if he had something he wanted her to see. Could it be the very thing she wanted to see? But how could that be possible? If it was a Han Dynasty gilded plate, it couldn't possibly be shipped abroad.

Zhuang Beiyao walked straight to the center of the hall. Inside the floor-to-ceiling glass case, a golden artifact glowed with an ancient and mysterious brilliance under the display lights.

As the distance grew closer, Qin Tian's heartbeat quickened. Zhuang Beiyao stopped at the glass counter, his hands hanging down, staring at the collection for a long time.

"Yi Zhang," he whispered, "This is the heirloom your father has been looking for. I never told him..."

Qin Tian walked silently to the gilded plate and his fingers fell on the glass cover.

The tower-like Jianque (a traditional Chinese que) features distinct tiles, and officials in ceremonial uniforms bow. Han Dynasty-style carriages and plump, round-bellied horses are seen. The entire painting, in relief, depicts officials arriving before a Han Dynasty sacrifice. The reverse side features 21 mythical beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. The inscriptions next to the vaguely defined figures in the photo are clearly visible: the names of thirteen Han Dynasty figures: Gongsun Qing, Xu Yan, Li Yannian, Ding Yi, Dongfang Shuo, and Wuqiu Shouwang. The character "Qiu" is the very name designated as a taboo in the third year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty.

This means that the cultural relic that made Han Yehua famous in one battle, which three generations of Qin and Han people had painstakingly hidden and searched for at the ends of the earth - the large gilded bronze plate of the Han Dynasty is a Qing Dynasty imitation of the Han Dynasty.

"This piece is a treasured possession of your maternal grandfather, Han Yehua. In the Henan antique world, Han Dynasty gilded plates are almost universally known. But my ancestors were farmers who knew nothing about cultural relics..."

When did their intersection begin? Zhuang Beiyao's gaze passed through the gilded plate and fell into a distant era.

"At that time, the entire province of Henan received an order to find the Han Dynasty gilded plate and mobilize the entire population to hand over the treasured artifacts to the state for safekeeping. However, for more than a decade, Mr. Han never revealed the whereabouts of the gilded plate.

Although my father didn't understand cultural relics, he was a member of the mobilization committee for handing in cultural relics. During that time, in a province like Henan, which was rich in cultural relics, he mobilized countless families with collecting interests and saved thousands of cultural relics for the country. Ten years later, he was the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee in Xiding City.

Zhuang Beiyao's bitter voice gradually became softer. After a long silence, his voice sounded again.

"But he never found that one thing, that gilded plate. This had always been his wish. Until, on the eve of the end of the movement, he received news that all the cultural relics that he had involuntarily handed over that year would be returned. During that time, my father was very worried and had a bad temper. I was young at the time and didn't understand why he became like that. Later I realized that this decision turned my father's contributions of those years into a sin. To encourage him, my mother used her savings to ask someone to buy a few ancient coins and handed them over to the Xiding Museum, saying that she supported his work and that he had done nothing wrong in recent years. Not long after, the Xiding Museum sent people to return the handed-in cultural relics. In addition to the coins, there was also a list of unclaimed cultural relics. The first item on the list was the large Han gilded bronze plate that my father had been looking for.

Due to the limited appraisal and exhibition capabilities of the Xi'an Museum of Art, many of the confiscated artifacts were kept in storage and never exhibited. It was not until they were returned that this gilded plate was discovered.

My father didn't know much about cultural relics, but he recognized this gilded plate because he had seen a photo of it. I don't know why, but that day, my father claimed it.

Zhuang Beiyao lowered his eyes. His father knew Han Yehua had died while serving his sentence in Qinghai. His mother had been instructed to buy the ancient coins and send them to the Xibo Museum, so she could legitimately take possession of the ownerless artifacts. This reason had stayed with him throughout his life, leaving him unable to justify or articulate it.

"That night, my father turned on all the lights in the house and asked my sister and me to come see this gilded plate. The moment I saw it, I asked him if I could touch it. He said, 'Touch it!' To this day, I still remember the cool touch, the slightly raised figures, and the sunken lines. At that moment, I thought that one day I would work in a museum and search for more and more gilded plates. Later, my father was transferred for work, and the whole family came to Shanghai. I also entered the Shanghai Asia Museum and met Professor Qin."

Qin Tian's gaze shifted from the gilded plate to Zhuang Beiyao.