Chapter 114 Two People
"This is impossible! First of all, if someone dug up the gilded plate, they would not necessarily hand it over to the museum. Secondly, if it was really handed over to the museum, how could it not be in the collection catalog?" Qin Tian retorted.
"Qin Tian, calculate the years." Tong Zhongyuan paused, then continued, "Your grandfather took the initiative to dig up cultural relics and donated them to the country in the early 1950s. Over the next decade or so, others continued to excavate. That is, between the 1960s and 1970s. Do you think that even if someone unearthed the gilded plate during this period, would they have the courage to keep it privately?"
Qin Tian was stunned.
Tong Zhongyuan continued, "Suppose someone unearthed the gilded plate and handed it over to the museum. After the Cultural Revolution, the state required the return of cultural relics that had been involuntarily handed over during the past decade. If the gilded plate wasn't in the collection catalog, it would be on the return list."
Tang Zhixu spun sharply, and the seatbelt tightened around Tong Zhongyuan, pinning him to the back seat. Qin Tian's head was pressed against the seatback by centrifugal force, and he felt dizzy, as if a kaleidoscope had been opened. Amidst the dazzling shards of color, the gilded plate shone brightly.
Tang Zhixu's cell phone rang. He picked it up from the central control and took a look. His face darkened. He pulled the car to the side, pressed the hazard lights, and got out of the car.
Qin Tian guessed he had something urgent to do. She could drive, but her priority right now was to contact Shangbo's office and get the documents.
Tong Zhongyuan said, "I'll open it. You contact Shangbo."
He had just opened the car door when Tang Zhixu came back. He sat back in the driver's seat, looking a little serious.
"Qin Tian, there's something I haven't told you."
It was rare for Qin Tian to see him so serious, and he actually found it a little funny.
"Tell me about it."
"Let's not talk about the background for now. Let me tell you the result. Director Ming will be on the news. Either tonight or tomorrow morning."
Qin Tian wondered if the curator was in the news often enough, perhaps at least three or four times a year. Besides, the Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy Exhibition was opening soon, and reporters were eager to interview him. But her intuition told her that Tang Zhixu wasn't being suspenseful, that he wasn't joking.
"What kind of news?"
Tang Zhixu turned his phone screen towards him. The screen was frozen on an email. This email was a press release with the title:
The director of the Shanghai Museum visited Sotheby's and spent a huge amount of money to buy a fake Western Zhou Dynasty work.
At the departure area of Luoyang Airport, two young men watched the pair of silver wings take off into the sky and quickly turn into a small dot in the air.
Tong Zhongyuan and Tang Zhixu simultaneously averted their gazes and walked silently towards the parking lot. They hadn't imagined this trip would be a threesome that morning, and even more outrageous was that it would become just the two of them that evening.
Tang Zhixu regretted it so much that his intestines turned green. The day before yesterday, Fang Tianyi told him four words: "Western Zhou chime bells". Wang Qiqing asked him to release the news that Mingyuanxing purchased the Western Zhou chime bells to the media. Fang Tianyi didn't know the ins and outs of the Western Zhou chime bells. After all, this was not the business of the calligraphy and painting department. He just mentioned the Shanghai Museum's move when he was talking about the Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy Collection to the media. Tang Zhixu was more well-informed than him and knew that the matter of the Western Zhou chime bells was not simple. But he was about to go to Luoyang with Qin Tian and he didn't want to cause trouble. Even if the media dug up something, it would be next week. He was worried that Qin Tian would cancel the trip after knowing it, so he didn't tell her. He never expected that the trip would not be cancelled, but Tong Zhongyuan showed up. And the media acted so quickly and were already ready to go. Qin Tianyi bought a plane ticket back to Shanghai as soon as she got the news. This was expected. Emotionally and logically, she was at the forefront of this matter. When she came to her senses, she would probably have a big fight with him. This time, we really lost both the wife and the army.
When Qin Tian said she wanted to go back, he said he would go back to Shanghai with her. Qin Tian felt that the gilded plate was her business after all. Once she left, Tong Zhongyuan and Tang Zhixu would have no reason to stay and help her find it. But she was reluctant to give up Tong Zhongyuan's idea. She vaguely felt that the answer he gave this time was very likely to be the correct answer. She asked Tong Zhongyuan what he thought. Tong Zhongyuan said it was okay, he could do it alone. Then Mo Ran took out his British passport and said that it was just that identity registration was a bit difficult. He didn't know if these museums would believe him.
Tang Zhixu's back teeth ached from clenching their teeth. He patted Qin Tian's shoulder and said, "I'll stay too. You go back first. I'll ask the office for the documents. We'll go to the museum tomorrow. I'll contact you anytime if you have any questions."
Tang Zhixu fastened his seat belt and said to Tong Zhongyuan in the passenger seat, "Let's go to the hotel first."
He had just walked to the parking lot to cancel Qin Tian's hotel reservation. Now that she had left, there was no need to stay in the cheap hotel she had booked.
"I changed hotels." Tong Zhongyuan replied.
He had just changed the hotel on his phone. Since Qin Tian was not there, he didn't want to stay in a cheap hotel.
"Which hotel did you change to?" Tang Zhixu asked. He had a vague premonition in his heart.
"Marriott."
Tang Zhixu didn't say anything else. He turned on the navigation and drove in silence towards the only five-star hotel in Luoyang City.
It was already 7 p.m. when Qin Tian returned to the library. Fang Molin, who had a child, had left work on time, but Yang Yuxin was still there. Seeing her finally back, he breathed a sigh of relief; now he could go home. He handed her the printed materials and the USB drive.
"It's all here. I've translated 24 words in total, 12 of which are repeated, and none of them form a complete sentence."
Qin Tian took the information and said, "Thank you for your hard work."
He packed his bag, put the lid on his teacup, and started putting on his coat.
Qin Tian looked at him and said calmly: "Continue tonight, try to finish one or two sentences at the beginning."
Yang Yuxin was stunned, wearing a coat with one sleeve hanging on his body. Qin Tian took the documents back to the office.
"If you have any new discoveries related to the source, name, or era, please let me know immediately."
Qin Tian closed the door and took up the material to study. Four days, two people, and 24 characters translated was not a small number. But upon closer inspection, she saw that most of these characters were common, repeated characters like Wang, Yue, Yu, Yi, Er, San, Si, Da, Xiao, and Ren. Few characters had been truly deciphered.
Qin Tian held her head and ruffled her hair. If she had known this would happen, she shouldn't have handed it over to them. If she had focused on it for four days, she might have had a clue by now. What should she do now? It was only when she was on the plane that she thought about why Tang Zhixu knew that the news would be on the news tomorrow? He had been dealing with reporters recently. Did he have the news in advance but didn't tell her? Forget it, now is not the time to pursue it. Let's talk about it after the matter is over.
Qin Tian arranged the characters on the chime bells in order. Generally speaking, characters near commonly used characters are easier to decipher. For example, numbers are often followed by months and quantifiers. Because of this, Yang Yuxin and Fang Molin only translated easy characters, which is why they couldn't even make a coherent sentence!
She threw down their manuscripts and took out the rubbings to compare them herself. Among the 14 chime bells, 9 contained repeated three-character phrases. Of these three characters, two-character phrases appeared alone twice, and a single character appeared as many as four times. Such obvious information, yet these two people turned a blind eye. If she guessed correctly, these three-character phrases were likely official titles! For example, Marquis of Haihun, Duke Huan of Qi, King of Yue, and Earl Jing. For chime bells of this specification, both the recipient and the maker must comply with regulations and be at least an earl. The official title must be checked for these three characters first.
She opened the door and called Yang Yuxin. She shared her thoughts with him and asked him to find all the inscriptions related to titles. An hour later, she confirmed that the middle character of the three characters was "Hou"!
After years of working together, this was Yang Yuxin's first time working with Qin Tian. Honestly, Qin Tian was younger than him, yet Ming Yuanxing had promoted her, which had made him uncomfortable. But today, he finally understood why Qin Tian was the one who got promoted.
Qin Tian wrote the word "Hou" on the whiteboard and wrote on the blackboard.
"Since 'Hou' is the middle character, we can assume the characters after 'Hou' are the name. The characters before 'Hou' are crucial. Titles of nobility in the Western Zhou Dynasty were usually named after their geographical locations: Wei, Qi, Jin, and Lu. Start by looking up these four characters. I'll look up the first two, and you the last two."
It was late at night. Yang Yuxin knocked twice and walked in. Qin Tian looked up from the pile of books.
"Found it."
He walked to the whiteboard, picked up the oil pen, and wrote a word in front of the word "Hou".
Jin
Qin Tian stood up.
"Jin Hou" - Shanxi
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