The plum rain soaked the whitewashed walls of Qinghefang. Su Chen stood in the courtyard of the Ruijinxiang dyeing workshop. The hanging silk swayed in the wind. Tang reached out to touch it, but was stopped by Qin Feng: "You, you are shining with copper green!"
The old master beside the dye vat trembled as he held up the account book: "All the raw silk this month is badly dyed..." Su Chen twisted the silk thread towards the sun, and the indigo pattern was faintly visible in the middle of the silk thread - it was the Big Dipper in the "Heavenly Works' Book". Tang Xiao kicked open the door of the warehouse, and twenty camphorwood boxes exuded a musty smell. On the bottom of the boxes, the words "At the hour of Shen, the sky and water meet" were embroidered in gold thread on the lake.
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The whistle of the canal cargo ship startled the egrets, and Su Chen stood in front of the stone carvings on the bridge pier. Tang 꿦 dug the moss and revealed the inscription "Rebuilt in Bingshen Year of Guangxu": "What does this broken bridge have to do with the Cansha case..." Before he finished speaking, the cargo ship suddenly tilted and the whole box of silk fell into the river. Qin Feng picked up the wet silk, and the water stains were actually on the deck to form a bloody Bagua formation.
"Kan represents water, Li represents fire." Su Chen dipped his finger into the canal water and deduced on the board, "Water and fire are not yet in harmony, the main force is in the southeast." The captain suddenly knelt down: "The other day I picked up an iron box..." The cinnabar mark on the "Hegongtu" in the box pointed to the quarry in Shaoxing East Lake.
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The black-sailed boat passed through the gourd-shaped stone wall, and Su Chen's fingertips brushed over the thousand-year-old axe marks. Tang 꿦 suddenly screamed: "This stone wall is bleeding!" Qin Feng sniffed the red stains: "It's cinnabar mixed with yellow wine!"
There were chiseling sounds coming from the cliff walkway, and the people climbed to the stone chamber halfway up. Twenty wine jars were arranged in the shape of a Big Dipper, and the seals of the altar body "Yun Ji Ji" were all bitten by rats. Su Chen knocked open the empty altar, and half a land deed with tooth marks was stuck to the bottom - it fit perfectly with the rust marks of the old anchor of Ningbo Port.
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The water of Jian Lake shone with amber light in the moonlight. Su Chen opened the straw seal of "Xiaozhen Wine Shop". Tang Xiao scooped up the wine to taste it, and the silver spoon turned black in an instant: "It's poisonous again!" Qin Feng dug up the green bricks of the cellar, revealing the bronze wine cup hidden in it. The star map engraved on the bottom of the cup was missing the position of "Tianxuan".
The night watchman rang the gong, and the wine shop's beams suddenly tilted. Twenty wine jars rolled down the slope and smashed in front of the stone archway. Su Chen pieced together the porcelain fragments, and the bloody remnants of the "Book of Wine" appeared: "At the hour of You, the koji turned to ash."
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It was the hottest time of the year, and the room where the koji was made was as hot as a huge steamer, making people feel suffocated and depressed. Su Chen walked to a pile of moldy koji with sweat all over his head. He carefully reached out his hand and slowly lifted the wet cloth covering it.
At this moment, Tang 꿦, who was standing nearby, suddenly sneezed loudly without warning. "Oh my! Why does this cake have a strange smell? It smells like... like femur powder!" Tang 꿦 complained while rubbing his nose and frowning.
Hearing Tang Xiao say this, Qin Feng also stepped forward immediately. He took out an exquisite silver hairpin from his arms and gently inserted it into a piece of koji cake. Then, he slowly picked up the koji cake and observed it carefully.
As Qin Feng moved, everyone was surprised to find that inside this piece of glutinous rice cake was half a jade belt hook with the letter Q on it! What was even more shocking was that this half jade belt hook looked exactly like the evidence in the Suzhou Embroidery Case that happened a while ago, and it was obviously of foreign origin!
At night, thunder cracked the secret door of the wine cellar, and twenty ceramic jars glowed in the lightning. Su Chen inserted the jade belt hook into the groove of the stone wall, and the whole wine wall suddenly turned, revealing the "Prohibition Monument" from the Jiajing period. The inscription on the monument recorded a case of private brewing, and the surname of the main culprit was actually connected to the family tree of the current prefect.
Just as the torrential rain was violently washing the surface of the stele, Tang Li suddenly widened his eyes, pointed his finger directly at a crack on the stele, and exclaimed loudly: "Look! This pattern actually looks like a giant dragon!" His voice was particularly clear and abrupt amid the sound of rain and thunder.
Qin Feng, who was standing by, heard this and quickly took out a fire fold from his pocket and lit it. With the weak light of the fire fold, Qin Feng carefully approached the crack that Tang Xiao called "dragon", and then gently roasted it with the flame. As the temperature gradually increased, an amazing scene occurred - a pattern hidden in the dragon scales slowly appeared, and a closer look revealed that it was a complex river map of Xinshi Ancient Town!
At the same time, Su Chen slowly walked forward, stretched out his right hand and gently touched the deep "Cheng" mark on the tablet. His movements were so gentle as if he was afraid of awakening the ancient soul sleeping there. However, at this moment, a night owl perched on the eaves was frightened and suddenly flapped its wings and flew high. In its sharp claws, it tightly grasped a silk handkerchief stained with blood. And this silk handkerchief was like a kite that had lost control, swaying in the wind and rain, and finally flew towards the turbulent mouth of Qiantang River...