Chapter 158 Luck has arrived, and there's no stopping it.
The woman added fresh tea, and steam rose up.
With a "click," the beam of light from the flashlight disappeared.
Lin Sicheng put away the magnifying glass and tapped his finger lightly on the table: "Lower it a little!"
Have you made up your mind?
The man was overjoyed, but his tone was firm: "Three hundred and eighty thousand, not a penny less!"
Before he could finish speaking, the old woman glared at him and said, "That's quite a lot. The two items we have at home only sold for 130,000!"
“Sister-in-law, those two items were given to my brother as a bonus because nobody recognized them and they couldn’t be sold! But this one is different: it’s a mirror from the Tang Dynasty…”
The man paused for a moment: "Besides, my brother also owns 30% of this mirror!"
Upon hearing that her family was also entitled to a share, the old woman fell silent.
Lin Sicheng remained silent, seemingly hesitant. His mind, however, was racing: those two items wouldn't sell…who wouldn't sell them?
Both brothers shared a piece of the mirror. But the older brother is already in jail, so who decided on this division?
The crucial point is that the sister-in-law knew nothing about it, but the brother-in-law didn't hide anything from her at all, nor did he try to renege on his debt.
Thirty percent of over 300,000 is at least around 100,000. In 2007, when the average income was less than 10,000, it would take at least ten years of hard work for a strong laborer... Is this guy's income really that high?
Lin Sicheng had a vague premonition: it seemed he had already gotten close...
Seeing that Lin Sicheng didn't say anything, the old lady thought the business was going to fall through, and she got a little anxious and kicked her brother-in-law.
The man scratched his head, looking very reluctant: "Thirty thousand less, that's the lowest I can go!"
Thirty thousand is quite a lot.
Lin Sicheng nodded, took out a card, and handed it to the plainclothes man: "Brother Zhang, take this man to transfer the money."
Then, he pushed the mirror and said, "Hold the mirror safe. Once the money arrives, give him the item!"
The man breathed a sigh of relief: After five or six years, it's finally sold.
The old woman beamed with joy: Another 100,000 yuan had come in.
She wanted to go with him, and the man didn't refuse: "We'll split this money sooner or later, so the sooner we give it to you, the sooner we'll settle things."
The uncle and aunt followed the plainclothes male officer to the bank.
Even with a VIP card, a transfer of hundreds of thousands of yuan would have to be withdrawn from a major bank. It took a while, almost an hour, to get back.
Lin Sicheng took the mirror and put it in his bag. He then took out four stacks of money, broke one stack in half, and pushed the rest forward.
"Thank you, ma'am!"
Suddenly, the old woman's eyes disappeared from her smile: "You said you'd give me 10%, so you'll give me 10%?"
Her husband was sentenced to nine years, and they only received about 300,000 yuan...
The old woman thanked her profusely, saying, "Young man, I'll make you authentic Xi'an-style hand-pulled noodles with minced meat sauce, they're incredibly delicious!"
Lin Sicheng shook his head: "Thank you, Auntie, but I'm not really used to the food!"
"Oh, you're from out of town? Didn't you recognize me?"
“We’re from Shaoxing!” Lin Sicheng replied in Shaoxing dialect, then switched to Guanzhong dialect, “We studied at Northwest University for four years!”
The two sisters-in-law had never been to Zhejiang, so how would they know how to speak Shaoxing dialect?
However, you can clearly hear that Lin Sicheng's Guanzhong dialect has a slight accent.
The two plainclothes officers standing nearby were so shocked they felt like they were being scratched by a cat.
One of them is from Jiangsu, and the other is from Zhejiang. How could they not tell whether Lin Sicheng's Zhejiang accent was authentic or not?
The key is the following sentence. How did Lin Sicheng, a pure Xijing native, manage to make the Guanzhong dialect sound "somewhat like", "somewhat awkward", and "clearly mixed with the Jiangzhe flavor"?
The two plainclothes officers looked on suspiciously, and Lin Sicheng got up to take his leave.
The family saw them off.
After closing a deal worth hundreds of thousands, the man's stone-like face finally showed some expression.
They were quite hospitable; the uncle and aunt escorted them all the way to the alley entrance.
After glancing at the Land Cruiser at the village entrance and then at the "Zhejiang D" license plate, the man had an idea: "Boss, could I have your phone number?"
Lin Sicheng nodded: "Of course!"
They're going all out with this performance; there's no doubt it's from Shaoxing.
After a few quick movements, the three of them got into the car.
As the off-road vehicle turned around and entered the highway, the man looked thoughtful.
Looking around and seeing that no one was around, the old woman couldn't stop complaining: "You're so cunning. You spent more than 500,000 yuan in two separate transactions. Can you believe this is a policeman? What kind of policeman would go to a mass grave in the middle of the night to look for a grave?"
"He's so generous, giving away over 30,000 yuan in referral fees so easily? And he drives such a nice car, how rich must his boss be?"
"Second brother, this is a golden opportunity that has fallen from the sky..."
The old woman kept rambling on and on, while the man remained silent.
A little over a month ago, he certainly wouldn't have doubted it.
But recently, a lot of strangers have suddenly come to the village, one after another.
Upon entering the village, they bombarded everyone with questions, from tombs to cultural relics. But despite asking so many questions, they bought very few items. What else could they be but police?
"That's because the imperial tomb was robbed!" The old woman curled her lip and pointed up the mountain. "Those people are everywhere, running around like monkeys every day. Can't you see them?"
The old woman scoffed again, "Besides, if that kid were really a policeman, he would have arrested you and me long ago!"
The man, annoyed by the noise, said: "Sister-in-law, I didn't say he was a policeman!"
"Then what are you afraid of?"
The man thought for a moment: "He had only been searching for the grave for two days when a large group of people gathered on the hill. Then, Lei Zi entered the village..."
The old woman was taken aback: That child... was a gravedigger?
The younger brother-in-law was worried that: maybe it had already been dug up, which was why there were so many people on the hill, and then so many police came.
He was even more afraid that the kid would attract the police...
"Definitely not, he only searched for a short while, he came down as soon as he went up the mountain!" The old woman shook her head. "Besides, if he really dug it up, why would he dare to come here when there are so many police cars parked at the entrance of the cemetery?"
That's true.
Otherwise, the man wouldn't have left his phone number.
"Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll go back and ask the guy who put the cards (the one in the gang who was responsible for guarding and gathering information) first."
The old woman nodded: "If you sell anything, don't forget my commission!"
The man sighed...
...
The building's shadow gradually lengthened, and the cool breeze carried the spicy aroma of chili oil.
The porcelain bowl, as big as a human head, was overflowing with noodles from the effort of pulling them. Diced meat and daylily buds were mixed in, and amber-colored oil splattered onto the rim of the bowl.
Lin Sicheng was taken aback: "When did the pulled noodles in Xijing start offering this much?"
Zhang Feng didn't say anything, but handed over a pair of chopsticks and propped his chin up to the side.
Lin Sicheng turned his head. The plaque of "Provincial Party Committee Offices Residential Area" was bathed in sunlight, and the guards stood ramrod straight.
I told you so.
He turned around and broke the chopsticks apart.
After finishing their meal quickly, the three of them left the restaurant.
The Provincial Museum is just across the street. I had arranged it with Yao Hansong in advance, and the laboratory was already ready.
As soon as he entered, Yao Hansong started complaining again: "You're like a blacksmith selling pancakes, completely neglecting your duties. Why are you messing around with the police instead of doing experiments and researching processes?"
Lin Sicheng laughed: "The sooner we find the tomb, the fewer times it will be robbed, and the less damage we'll suffer..."
Yao Hansong stared wide-eyed: "Are all the thousands or tens of thousands of police officers in Xi'an just sitting around doing nothing?"
Lin Sicheng didn't speak, he just smiled.
The two plainclothes officers exchanged a glance and then curled their lip: This old man has a sharp tongue.
Seeing that Yao Hansong was still eager to say more, Lin Sicheng quickly took out two bronze mirrors.
Sure enough, after just one glance, Yao Hansong's eyes widened: a Tang Dynasty gold and silver inlaid phoenix pattern mirror, not only so big, but also square?
The key element is the phoenix pattern on this silver ornament; its user must have been a second-rank county princess (daughter of a prince). It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an imperial gift.
But suddenly, Lin Sicheng brought back a...?
Yao Hansong held it in his arms, examining it from all angles: "Where did this come from?"
Lin Sicheng sighed: "I just bought it from an antique dealer!"
How much did it cost?
"Not much, three hundred and fifty thousand!"
Only 350,000? Even ten times that amount would be worth it…
Yao Hansong, clearly delighted, asked, "Then why are you sighing?"
Lin Sicheng paused for a moment: "Last week, the border authorities intercepted a 'Seal of the Marquis of Fuping,' made of gold!"
Yao Hansong was stunned: Even without a posthumous title, he must have been a marquis... That was Zhang Anshi's gold seal of a marquis?
Moreover, there was no precedent for its discovery, making it the first of its kind in the world. But it almost fell into the hands of tomb raiders and ended up abroad.
Compared to this, what is this bronze mirror? It's almost insignificant...
Subconsciously, the old man recalled Lin Sicheng's half-joking remark during his earlier rambling: "The sooner we find the grave, the fewer times it will be robbed, and the less loss we'll suffer..."
Is your own awareness not even as high as this kid's?
Yao Hansong sighed and patted Lin Sicheng's arm.
The test only involved analyzing the composition of the rust, and it was very quick. The results were available in just half an hour.
After glancing at it, Lin Sicheng felt a sudden sense of relief.
Sure enough, I was absolutely right: the rust on both bronze mirrors had the exact same composition.
Yao Hansong glanced at it as well: "Was it buried too heavily?"
Lin Sicheng nodded.
In Xijing, it's not uncommon to find tombs from two different dynasties stacked together. Sometimes, even triple-layered tombs can be unearthed: one layer from the Han dynasty, one from the Tang dynasty, and another from the Song, Yuan, or Ming and Qing dynasties.
Yao Hansong stared at the two mirrors: "Can you determine the approximate area where the artifact was unearthed?"
Lin Sicheng nodded: "Yes!"
The gold and silver flat-sharp technique originated during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but was banned by Emperor Suzong after the An Lushan Rebellion.
It took about sixty years to build, and during that time, the number of Li clan women who were qualified to be granted the title of county princess and could be buried in Chang'an was only about ten: Cui, Lu, Zheng, Wang, Wei, Pei, Liu, Xue, Yang, and Du.
Furthermore, considering that it overlaps with Zhang Anshi's tomb and must be located in Fengqiyuan, we can basically narrow it down to two places: Weidu in the south of the city, which is five feet from the sky!
Therefore, based on these two bronze mirrors alone, Lin Sicheng dared to remove the "suspected" from his previous statement that "Zhang Anshi's tomb is suspected to be in Fengqiyuan".
As long as he could find out which county princesses the Wei and Du families had married during the reigns of Emperor Wu and Emperor Xuanzong, Lin Sicheng dared to limit the burial site to within one kilometer.
At that point, there's no need to even find a grave; all that's needed is for construction to stop, and the police to set up a perimeter...
Just as he was secretly thinking about it, "thump thump thump thump," the leather shoes stepped on the floor tiles like a gust of wind, fast and urgent.
Just as he turned his head, his figure flashed, and Chen Peng stood at the door of the laboratory.
Lin Sicheng was not surprised at all.
It's estimated that Chen Peng arrived around the time Zhang Feng (a male plainclothes officer) reported to him during dinner that he was coming to the Provincial Museum for testing.
I sat in my car downstairs waiting for news, and as soon as I heard some good news, I rushed over.
His eyes gleamed slightly, and his expression revealed a hint of excitement.
After greeting Yao Hansong, he took the report, glanced at it briefly, and grinned.
Chen Peng knew Lin Sicheng was useful, but he never imagined he would still be this useful.
Although he got two beatings from his master and was scolded by Wang Qizhi who called him "father" and "mother," it was all worth it.
And I'm even more grateful.
When Chen Peng was considering whether to arrest the old woman, Lin Sicheng advised him: "Try not to arrest her yet, it won't be of any use."
Because her husband is just a street vendor selling stolen goods, he doesn't even know who dug the things up or where they came from, so what's the point of arresting that old woman?
Let's keep it for now; we might need it in the end...
Looking back now, I guess Lin Sicheng had already anticipated that the police wouldn't be able to catch the person and the cultural relics bureau wouldn't be able to find the tomb.
That's why a loophole was left...
Suddenly, the idea of getting Lin Sicheng into the Municipal Public Security Bureau grew even stronger...
Chen Peng sighed, folded the report, and then punched Lin Sicheng on the shoulder: "Are we going to look for it or not?"
“Find it!” Lin Sicheng nodded. “But Director Chen, if we can’t find it, you might get criticized.”
Chen Peng scoffed: "I've already been beaten for this dilapidated tomb, let alone a scolding?"
He also understood what Lin Sicheng meant: a national-level high-tech development zone could not possibly halt construction on the entire 20-plus square kilometer aerospace city just because of a tomb.
However, if it is only one or two square kilometers, and the provincial departments, such as the Public Security Bureau or the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, take action, there will basically be no problem in stopping the operation.
Of course, at the very least, we need to determine which square kilometer it is.
As soon as he was certain, Chen Peng immediately submitted an application report. Once approved, work would cease, police would be deployed, and the area would be completely surrounded. Forget about "foreign institutions," even if they were from outer space, they'd want to fly out of here.
Even if something goes wrong and nothing is found, at most you'll just get a scolding...
Chen Peng patted Lin Sicheng on the shoulder: "Let's go!"
"Okay, let's go!" Lin Sicheng replied, then thought for a moment, "Director Chen, why don't you ask Director He?"
Hmm, this kid's got some skills?
Applying through two units simultaneously will definitely be faster than applying through one unit. And even if they end up getting scolded, wouldn't it be better for him and He Zhigang to share the blame than for him to suffer alone?
Chen Peng's eyes lit up, and he took out his phone and left the lab.
After saying goodbye to Yao Hansong, Lin Sicheng also left the laboratory.
After going downstairs and arriving at the parking lot, Chen Peng had just finished making a phone call.
Just as he walked over, about to say something, Lin Sicheng's phone buzzed.
Lin Sicheng glanced at it and his eyes lit up: it wasn't the previous one, but the one set in Shaoxing.
He held up his finger, made a "shh" sound, and then answered the call.
Sure enough?
"Boss, we met around noon...you bought a bronze mirror from me..."
The man said succinctly, "I have one more thing here, would you like to take a look?"
Lin Sicheng remained calm: "What is it?"
"A bunch of silver flowers from the Tang Dynasty!"
Silver flowers... Where would such a thing exist in the Tang Dynasty?
Lin Sicheng asked suspiciously, "Give me a general description of its characteristics!"
"It was bound with silver rings at the bottom, and topped with flowers, eight separate branches... The flowers and branches were connected by spring-like silver wires."
Silver ring, spring, eight silver flowers...
Lin Sicheng's heart skipped a beat: What kind of silver flower is this?
This is the floral crown worn by noblewomen of the Tang Dynasty, also known as the flower hairpin crown. According to rank: twelve trees for the Empress Dowager and Empress, nine trees for first-rank noblewomen, and eight trees for second-rank noblewomen.
What is a second-rank noblewoman? The Ninth Concubine, the Lady of the Duke, the County Princess…
Crucially, the bronze mirror in the bag also belonged to the county magistrate.
Is it possible that we don't even need to check the information anymore?
"Sure, where can we go to see it?"
"Come pick me up first, then I'll take you there..."
"good!"
Two beeps later, the call ended. Then, with a sharp "smack," Lin Sicheng slapped the phone into his palm.
When luck comes, there's no stopping it...
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