Chapter 10

A makeshift cleanup workshop was erected a little further from the site. Several simple iron sheds were strung together, with supporting steel columns driven firmly into the ground. Waterproof tarpaulins were laid inside and out, and the areas where the tarpaulins hung down were anchored to the ground to prevent the shed from being affected by the night wind, which would cause noise and impact on the work inside.

There are electric wires wrapped around the roof and lights on in the house.

In the middle were several long tables borrowed from the villagers at the foot of the mountain, placed side by side. On the tables were placed the instruments brought here and the tools needed to clean the mud.

Zhou Yi walked to the door, rubbing the exposed skin on his arms. He didn't know if it was because the iron shed was too large and there was no windproof curtain at the door, or perhaps it was because there were too many artifacts inside and it was close to the mountain, where the temperature dropped in the evening, but he felt a chill on his back.

Li Cheng walked past him and saw the things on the table. He asked, "How's the cleaning going?"

The closest staff member, wearing a mask and transparent protective goggles, looked up and replied, "The corrosion on the surface of these artifacts is not serious. They have probably been cleaned up."

"Let me see it," he turned and said to Yang Ye who was walking over.

Yang Ye understood and walked to the table, staring at the pieces of jade that had been cleaned. The shapes of these pieces were still complete, the outline marks on the edges were clear, and the pride and carved patterns on them could be seen. It was one of the batches that could be identified as such without having to look up any special information.

It was the copper and iron block placed on the outside that attracted her attention.

It was a three-dimensional rectangular antique with curved ends, a gathered bottom, a bulging interior, and a hollow center. From the outside, it appeared to be well-preserved, but there was a gap the size of a fingernail on the top edge of the object.

Li Cheng also saw it, "Bianzhong"

Yang Ye, who lived in the late Qing Dynasty, saw the style and materials of the chime bells and pointed to the missing corner. He said to Li Cheng, "There is a small gap in the bridge button. It can be repaired or not."

"Trouble?"

"good"

Li Cheng asked again: "Do you have any that look similar?"

Yang Ye glanced at him and didn't answer.

"Are there a few lines of words in the middle?" Li Cheng came closer. He could not see clearly. He searched his pockets but could not find his reading glasses. He squatted down parallel to the chimes, tilted his head back slightly, half-closed his eyes, and tried hard to see the words on the surface clearly.

"In June of the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign, the Tongzhi of Tamsui carefully wrote this." Yang Ye looked at his struggling look and spoke directly.

“Yes, I can see it clearly.”

"My eyes aren't as presbyopic as yours, and I've seen this thing before."

"Where did you see it?" Li Cheng asked her casually.

Li Cheng didn't hear her answer for a long time. Looking at the chimes in front of him, he suddenly thought of something. Then he stood up awkwardly and smiled at Yang Ye.

"Look at this," he pointed to the side, changing the subject.

Unlike other open artifacts, this one is covered with a transparent lid. Inside the lid lies a small oval bowl, but upon closer inspection, it doesn't resemble a bowl. It has a shallow center and a flat bottom, with a small half-moon-shaped handle attached to one side. The curved edges appear incomplete, and the patterns and inscriptions on the bottom are blurred. It's supported by a broken tray underneath.

Yang Ye first observed through the glass cover, put on gloves, and with the help of several people, slowly opened the glass cover.

The men didn't dare lift the cover too quickly, fearing they might damage the surface. After all, these artifacts had been buried underground for millennia, and water, soil, and even airborne substances would have damaged them. They were lucky that the artifacts hadn't been broken the moment they were unearthed.

"Boss, what are you doing? Taking the temperature?" Zhou Yiheng was far away and only saw Yang Ye pick up the antique and use an unknown object to probe the edge of the antique.

The room was very quiet and no one dared to disturb it loudly.

Xiao Xiao raised her hand, covered her mouth, and whispered, "It depends on the pattern and weight."

"Can you tell from the pattern and weight?"

"Every dynasty and every emperor had their own favorite patterns and styles," Xiao Xiao explained. "In order to facilitate distinction and classification, people in ancient times would engrave words on the surface of objects as their own marks. The styles of words and engraving techniques would also vary. You know, Qin Shihuang unified the writing system. Subsequent dynasties all had different writing methods and requirements, so the fonts used would also vary."

Yang Ye concluded, "The bronze ear cup should be from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. We need to check the details further."

"How do you know?" Li Cheng asked.

"Come here and look"

There must be some new discoveries there. Xiao Xiao said to Zhou Yiheng, "Let's go over and listen. It's time to broaden our horizons."

With the help of tools, the bronze color on the surface of the antique gradually faded. Seeing the two people gathered around, Yang Ye asked, "Do you want to hear the whole story, or the final conclusion?"

Xiao Xiao looked at Zhou Yiheng and decisively replied, "Of course it has to be complete."

"Since the Yao, Shun and Yu eras over 4,000 years ago, people at that time had already begun casting bronze ware. At that time, red copper and bronze coexisted, and brass also appeared, but in rare quantities. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze ware was not only used as containers, but also in ancestral temple ritual vessels, such as the Simuwu Ding, the Nine Dings of the Emperor, and the Seven Dings of the Princes. The size of the tripods also demonstrated the level of power. In the Warring States Period, bronze ware at that time was mainly used in rituals, music, and weapons, and its appearance and shape became more complex, such as the largest set of bronze chimes to date, zun plates, and ice jars found in the tomb of Zenghouyi. Towards the end of the Warring States Period and during the Qin and Han dynasties, due to the influence of the overall environment, the use of bronze ware gradually decreased, while iron products increased. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emergence of ceramics further reduced the number of bronze utensils for daily use. However, the small number does not mean that bronze ware did not exist. Among the kings and princes, the use of bronze ware still existed."

Li Cheng nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"Although the ear cups look simple, the surface patterns are complex and the overall color is similar. No other metals were mixed in during the production process. And look at this piece..." She squatted down and pointed at the tray under the ear cups. "The inscriptions here are random and don't look like pictures. From this angle, they look like words."

The student asked, "Could it be that the lines of the drawing have been eroded by the soil, causing the mess on the surface?"

"That shouldn't be the case," Li Cheng said. "The tools used for writing are different from those used for drawing lines. Although corrosion will affect the surface, looking at these characters, there is a very obvious structure of shrinking strokes."

The student picked up the magnifying glass on the table and pointed it at the small words that Yang Ye was pointing at at the bottom of the ear.

Xiao Xiao also came over and saw the magnified words. Although he couldn't see what was written clearly, after looking at them for a long time, he felt that the fonts were inexplicably familiar. "Why are these words a bit similar to what we write now?"

Li Cheng said: "When the characters on bronze ware were simplified, sometimes strokes or radicals were deliberately omitted to achieve the effect of overall simplification. Therefore, there are some similarities with modern characters. Judging from the connection of the strokes here, it can only be from the same dynasty."

"Han," Yang Ye replied, and she continued, "This ear cup and the tray underneath are probably not the same."

Li Cheng said: "You also discovered it"

"The one below looks more like a fragment that fell from a larger piece. Although they are all bronze, they are probably not the same kind. The same goes for these pieces. The outlines are too messy. They must have been broken before, or something happened since then. After years of corrosion, they have been reassembled. There must be more than one tomb here."

The student muttered at the corner of the table, "The chime bells just now were from the Tongzhi era, and the corrosion condition is different from this one."

Li Cheng pinched the flesh in his palm and said, "Combining two unrelated tombs together."

While Li Cheng was talking, Zhou Yiheng whispered to himself, "Double tomb"

Although the shed was spacious, it was still quite quiet. Zhou Yiheng was talking to himself, thinking no one would pay attention to him. However, as soon as he said it, others heard him and turned to look.

"What's wrong?" He felt a little embarrassed by being stared at.

Yang Ye said: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."

Although this type of burial method is rare, in their line of work, rare does not mean it does not exist.

"You're quite capable, young man!" Li Cheng asked Yang Ye in surprise, "Is this your new assistant?"

"Yeah," Yang Ye responded.

Xiao Xiao was confused and asked, "What is a double tomb? Can two tombs side by side, one above the other, really exist?"

Li Cheng explained, "In theory, it is possible. In the same place, the soil hardness will be different because of the different depths of the soil layers. There are gaps between the soil layers, and after the land has been turned over, the soil underground will become loose as a whole. Air or water droplets will mix into the soil. You may not feel anything underground, but if you want to put another tomb on top, over a long period of time, the accumulated soil layer below will inevitably affect the tomb above, which will easily cause the soil surface to sink and collapse. But if the two tombs are not too large and the thickness of the soil layer in between is completely sufficient, then you can put two tombs of different dynasties and different depths in the same place."

Yang Ye raised his eyebrows and said deliberately, "It's possible that the previous tomb robbers didn't pick it up and left it behind?"

"No, there is no sign that the tomb has been turned over."

Yang Ye asked in return: "What can you see now about the traces of tomb robbery from almost a hundred years ago?"

"Hey, I can tell." Li Cheng was confident and retorted like a kindergarten kid.

Yang Ye glanced at him, as if praising, or perhaps mocking, "Your eyes are really sharp."

After a brief joke, Li Cheng became serious. "After being robbed, the integrity of the entire tomb will be destroyed, but when we opened it, we didn't see any such situation."

A makeshift cleanup workshop was erected a little further from the site. Several simple iron sheds were strung together, with supporting steel columns driven firmly into the ground. Waterproof tarpaulins were laid inside and out, and the areas where the tarpaulins hung down were anchored to the ground to prevent the shed from being affected by the night wind, which would cause noise and impact on the work inside.

There are electric wires wrapped around the roof and lights on in the house.

In the middle were several long tables borrowed from the villagers at the foot of the mountain, placed side by side. On the tables were placed the instruments brought here and the tools needed to clean the mud.

Zhou Yi walked to the door, rubbing the exposed skin on his arms. He didn't know if it was because the iron shed was too large and there was no windproof curtain at the door, or perhaps it was because there were too many artifacts inside and it was close to the mountain, where the temperature dropped in the evening, but he felt a chill on his back.

Li Cheng walked past him and saw the things on the table. He asked, "How's the cleaning going?"

The closest staff member, wearing a mask and transparent protective goggles, looked up and replied, "The corrosion on the surface of these artifacts is not serious. They have probably been cleaned up."

"Let me see it," he turned and said to Yang Ye who was walking over.

Yang Ye understood and walked to the table, staring at the pieces of jade that had been cleaned. The shapes of these pieces were still complete, the outline marks on the edges were clear, and the pride and carved patterns on them could be seen. It was one of the batches that could be identified as such without having to look up any special information.

It was the copper and iron block placed on the outside that attracted her attention.

It was a three-dimensional rectangular antique with curved ends, a gathered bottom, a bulging interior, and a hollow center. From the outside, it appeared to be well-preserved, but there was a gap the size of a fingernail on the top edge of the object.

Li Cheng also saw it, "Bianzhong"

Yang Ye, who lived in the late Qing Dynasty, saw the style and materials of the chime bells and pointed to the missing corner. He said to Li Cheng, "There is a small gap in the bridge button. It can be repaired or not."

"Trouble?"

"good"

Li Cheng asked again: "Do you have any that look similar?"

Yang Ye glanced at him and didn't answer.

"Are there a few lines of words in the middle?" Li Cheng came closer. He could not see clearly. He searched his pockets but could not find his reading glasses. He squatted down parallel to the chimes, tilted his head back slightly, half-closed his eyes, and tried hard to see the words on the surface clearly.

"In June of the fifth year of the Tongzhi reign, the Tongzhi of Tamsui carefully wrote this." Yang Ye looked at his struggling look and spoke directly.

“Yes, I can see it clearly.”

"My eyes aren't as presbyopic as yours, and I've seen this thing before."

"Where did you see it?" Li Cheng asked her casually.

Li Cheng didn't hear her answer for a long time. Looking at the chimes in front of him, he suddenly thought of something. Then he stood up awkwardly and smiled at Yang Ye.

"Look at this," he pointed to the side, changing the subject.

Unlike other open artifacts, this one is covered with a transparent lid. Inside the lid lies a small oval bowl, but upon closer inspection, it doesn't resemble a bowl. It has a shallow center and a flat bottom, with a small half-moon-shaped handle attached to one side. The curved edges appear incomplete, and the patterns and inscriptions on the bottom are blurred. It's supported by a broken tray underneath.

Yang Ye first observed through the glass cover, put on gloves, and with the help of several people, slowly opened the glass cover.

The men didn't dare lift the cover too quickly, fearing they might damage the surface. After all, these artifacts had been buried underground for millennia, and water, soil, and even airborne substances would have damaged them. They were lucky that the artifacts hadn't been broken the moment they were unearthed.

"Boss, what are you doing? Taking the temperature?" Zhou Yiheng was far away and only saw Yang Ye pick up the antique and use an unknown object to probe the edge of the antique.

The room was very quiet and no one dared to disturb it loudly.

Xiao Xiao raised her hand, covered her mouth, and whispered, "It depends on the pattern and weight."

"Can you tell from the pattern and weight?"

"Every dynasty and every emperor had their own favorite patterns and styles," Xiao Xiao explained. "In order to facilitate distinction and classification, people in ancient times would engrave words on the surface of objects as their own marks. The styles of words and engraving techniques would also vary. You know, Qin Shihuang unified the writing system. Subsequent dynasties all had different writing methods and requirements, so the fonts used would also vary."

Yang Ye concluded, "The bronze ear cup should be from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. We need to check the details further."

"How do you know?" Li Cheng asked.

"Come here and look"

There must be some new discoveries there. Xiao Xiao said to Zhou Yiheng, "Let's go over and listen. It's time to broaden our horizons."

With the help of tools, the bronze color on the surface of the antique gradually faded. Seeing the two people gathered around, Yang Ye asked, "Do you want to hear the whole story, or the final conclusion?"

Xiao Xiao looked at Zhou Yiheng and decisively replied, "Of course it has to be complete."

"Since the Yao, Shun and Yu eras over 4,000 years ago, people at that time had already begun casting bronze ware. At that time, red copper and bronze coexisted, and brass also appeared, but in rare quantities. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze ware was not only used as containers, but also in ancestral temple ritual vessels, such as the Simuwu Ding, the Nine Dings of the Emperor, and the Seven Dings of the Princes. The size of the tripods also demonstrated the level of power. In the Warring States Period, bronze ware at that time was mainly used in rituals, music, and weapons, and its appearance and shape became more complex, such as the largest set of bronze chimes to date, zun plates, and ice jars found in the tomb of Zenghouyi. Towards the end of the Warring States Period and during the Qin and Han dynasties, due to the influence of the overall environment, the use of bronze ware gradually decreased, while iron products increased. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emergence of ceramics further reduced the number of bronze utensils for daily use. However, the small number does not mean that bronze ware did not exist. Among the kings and princes, the use of bronze ware still existed."

Li Cheng nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"Although the ear cups look simple, the surface patterns are complex and the overall color is similar. No other metals were mixed in during the production process. And look at this piece..." She squatted down and pointed at the tray under the ear cups. "The inscriptions here are random and don't look like pictures. From this angle, they look like words."

The student asked, "Could it be that the lines of the drawing have been eroded by the soil, causing the mess on the surface?"

"That shouldn't be the case," Li Cheng said. "The tools used for writing are different from those used for drawing lines. Although corrosion will affect the surface, looking at these characters, there is a very obvious structure of shrinking strokes."

The student picked up the magnifying glass on the table and pointed it at the small words that Yang Ye was pointing at at the bottom of the ear.

Xiao Xiao also came over and saw the magnified words. Although he couldn't see what was written clearly, after looking at them for a long time, he felt that the fonts were inexplicably familiar. "Why are these words a bit similar to what we write now?"

Li Cheng said: "When the characters on bronze ware were simplified, sometimes strokes or radicals were deliberately omitted to achieve the effect of overall simplification. Therefore, there are some similarities with modern characters. Judging from the connection of the strokes here, it can only be from the same dynasty."

"Han," Yang Ye replied, and she continued, "This ear cup and the tray underneath are probably not the same."

Li Cheng said: "You also discovered it"

"The one below looks more like a fragment that fell from a larger piece. Although they are all bronze, they are probably not the same kind. The same goes for these pieces. The outlines are too messy. They must have been broken before, or something happened since then. After years of corrosion, they have been reassembled. There must be more than one tomb here."

The student muttered at the corner of the table, "The chime bells just now were from the Tongzhi era, and the corrosion condition is different from this one."

Li Cheng pinched the flesh in his palm and said, "Combining two unrelated tombs together."

While Li Cheng was talking, Zhou Yiheng whispered to himself, "Double tomb"

Although the shed was spacious, it was still quite quiet. Zhou Yiheng was talking to himself, thinking no one would pay attention to him. However, as soon as he said it, others heard him and turned to look.

"What's wrong?" He felt a little embarrassed by being stared at.

Yang Ye said: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."

Although this type of burial method is rare, in their line of work, rare does not mean it does not exist.

"You're quite capable, young man!" Li Cheng asked Yang Ye in surprise, "Is this your new assistant?"

"Yeah," Yang Ye responded.

Xiao Xiao was confused and asked, "What is a double tomb? Can two tombs side by side, one above the other, really exist?"

Li Cheng explained, "In theory, it is possible. In the same place, the soil hardness will be different because of the different depths of the soil layers. There are gaps between the soil layers, and after the land has been turned over, the soil underground will become loose as a whole. Air or water droplets will mix into the soil. You may not feel anything underground, but if you want to put another tomb on top, over a long period of time, the accumulated soil layer below will inevitably affect the tomb above, which will easily cause the soil surface to sink and collapse. But if the two tombs are not too large and the thickness of the soil layer in between is completely sufficient, then you can put two tombs of different dynasties and different depths in the same place."

Yang Ye raised his eyebrows and said deliberately, "It's possible that the previous tomb robbers didn't pick it up and left it behind?"

"No, there is no sign that the tomb has been turned over."

Yang Ye asked in return: "What can you see now about the traces of tomb robbery from almost a hundred years ago?"

"Hey, I can tell." Li Cheng was confident and retorted like a kindergarten kid.

Yang Ye glanced at him, as if praising, or perhaps mocking, "Your eyes are really sharp."

After a brief joke, Li Cheng became serious. "After being robbed, the integrity of the entire tomb will be destroyed, but when we opened it, we didn't see any such situation."