Volume 6 Chapter 9 Video tapes

While I was chatting with Uncle San, someone suddenly knocked on the door. A courier then walked in and asked who I was.

Only my family and a few people from Ning knew about my situation here, so I thought it was a sympathy gift from home or some information from abroad, and didn’t pay much attention to it. I only looked at the sender’s name carefully after I signed my name and discovered that the name on the package was Zhang Qiling.

I froze for a moment, and then I felt a chill run down my spine.

During my time here, I had gradually forgotten about what happened in Changbai Mountain. I could say that, except for the fear, all other memories had basically been covered by trivial things.

How could he send me something? Didn’t he go into the huge bronze gate? Could it be that he had already come out? When was it sent? Before or after he entered the giant bronze gate? I immediately looked at the date on the package, and my eyelids jumped again: it was four days ago.

So he really came out! He came out of the giant bronze gate!

My hands began to tremble. The scene of Mu Yungong walking into the giant bronze gate underground flashed through my mind. Looking at the package in my hand, my heart was in a mess. What could it be? Could it be that he brought it out of the bronze gate?

What could it be? A human head, a mummy? A jade seal of a ghost?

I don’t know how many strange thoughts flashed through my mind. After a long time, I suddenly realized that I should open it immediately, and I hurriedly looked for scissors.

Seeing my expression change, Uncle San on the side didn’t know what I had received and curiously came over to take a look. As soon as he saw the three characters Zhang Qiling, he also sucked in a cold breath and showed a look of extreme shock.

The two of us fumbled around for a long time, and finally, Uncle San found a fruit knife and handed it to me, so I was able to cut open the protective box around the package.

Inside the box was a package wrapped in something, and the package was square, with several crosses neatly taped on the outside with plastic tape, making it very difficult to tear. My heart suddenly began to race, and after a pause, I took a deep breath and pulled hard, and the two black objects were pulled out.

I was prepared to see anything terrible, but what I saw was still dumbfounding—they were two old black video tapes.

My mind was in a complete mess, and I had thought of almost everything, but I had never thought that there would be two video tapes inside. Because of the person in the coffin, you can easily associate him with a coffin, but it is really difficult to associate him with video tapes, which are outdated modern equipment.

How could he send me such a thing? What is inside?

My heart sank, and a thought crossed my mind: Could it be what happened after he entered the bronze door?

Damn, if that were true, it would be… But then I thought it couldn’t be, because I didn’t see him carrying a camera when he went in. And I believe that the place behind the bronze door wouldn’t be a good place to film, so he wouldn’t be able to easily carry a camera to film.

What could it be? My heart was like a million ants crawling, and I wanted to play it back immediately.

However, the two tapes were very old-fashioned in appearance and material, and could be said to be quite old. I knew that I would need an old-fashioned projector to play them, and that kind of thing was hard to find nowadays.

Uncle San gestured for me to flip through the tapes, so I threw the packaging aside, took out the two tapes, and first carefully looked at the side of the tapes to see if there was any information marked on them.

I was not unfamiliar with video tapes. Ten years ago, when the streets were still full of video rental shops, watching foreign feature films was almost my only entertainment. At that time, it was a given to watch five tapes a day during the holidays. After being exposed to it for a long time, I naturally had some understanding of the structure of this thing. I knew that generally the tapes I recorded would have something written on the back, otherwise it would be impossible to identify.

However, the traces of the tearing were very fresh, obviously not long ago. It seemed that it was the person who sent the tapes to us who didn’t want us to see the label on this side.

Why was this? The thing was sent to us, but the label on the side was also torn off. What was on it that I couldn’t know?

“What’s going on?” At this time, Uncle San picked up the packaging on the ground, shook it, made sure there was nothing else inside, and asked me, “Big nephew, you’re not being honest. How come you didn’t tell me you were still in contact with him?”

I shook my head to indicate that I definitely hadn’t. Uncle San patted the tape and asked, “How do you explain this?” I said, “You’re asking me, who else can I ask?”

Uncle San looked at me and frowned, saying, “Then this kid is really something. How did he know you were here?”

I was also surprised. After I left Genting, only the people in the group and my family knew my address. He had no information about me, but he was able to send me the package accurately. This is actually quite difficult, and it is impossible to do without someone gathering information for him. It seems that the water behind this taciturn man is really unfathomable.

Uncle San thought for a moment and asked me if the shipping label had written where the package was sent from. I picked up the shipping label and looked at it, shaking my head. It only had the sender and the date, and the rest was blank. Not only was the address of the sender not written, but the place of dispatch was not indicated either. I really don’t know how this courier service does things.

However, the date was four days ago. In this province, the express delivery usually arrives in one day, and the closer ones outside the province only take two days. This express delivery took four days to arrive. The place it was sent from is either far away or quite remote, with inconvenient transportation. I can check the computer system of the express company. If they have online registration, I will know it as soon as I check.

After saying this, Uncle San and I looked at each other and both smiled wryly. This unexpected thing disrupted Uncle San’s narrative. All of a sudden, I didn’t know how to deal with the tapes. Uncle San said, “Big nephew, why don’t we pause for a while? This guy is acting suspiciously. He wouldn’t send something for no reason. These two tapes could be very important. Let’s go find a VCR and see what’s on them.”

I shook my head and said no. Although I was very concerned about the content of the tapes, Uncle San still didn’t have a concrete idea about what I had described. If we paused now, he might change his mind and decide not to talk about it. And the VCR has been discontinued for almost ten years, and now even VCDs have been phased out. It’s hard to find them in the flea market, and these tapes won’t be available for a while.

However, if these two tapes don’t exist now, it’s impossible. I’ll say let’s continue talking about our business, and ask your colleague to find out where there is a flea market in the city, and then go and take a look. If there is such a machine, buy it. If not, I’ll think of a way to do it online tonight.

Uncle San also thought it made sense, and said, “That’s fine. We’ll talk about this guy anyway.” He waved his hand and told the waiter to do as he said.

The waiter had been listening to Uncle San’s story with great interest, and now that he had been sent away, he was a bit reluctant, but when Uncle San glared at him, he lost his temper.

After the waiter left, Uncle San patted his face and said, “Let’s talk quickly. Where was I?”

I repeated what I had just heard to him, and Uncle San nodded: “Yes, the key is the content of the silk book. The foreigner has a deep connection with the silk book of the Warring States period. This matter is quite complicated, and I have to tell you from the beginning. You’ve been in business for a long time, so how much do you know about the silk book of the Warring States period?

I thought about it for a moment. I am familiar with my line of work. Although I don’t like the rubbing business very much, the profit is too thin and the people I come into contact with are a bit eccentric, but after so many years, my understanding of this line of work is still quite profound.

The Warring States silk book is not considered the main type of rubbing. As the name suggests, the Warring States silk book is the silk book of the Warring States period. However, in fact, the scope of this Warring States period is relatively narrow. During formal transactions, things from the Spring and Autumn period are also considered to be in the Warring States period. There are very few original copies of the Warring States silk books on the market, and they are very precious. Because of the different burial sites, they are divided into Chu silk books, Wei silk books, etc. The content of these silk books is also different. The most precious of these silk books is the Lu silk book. There are only a handful of Lu silk books that are recognized as such today, and I know of ten of them.

Lu silk books are not a single type, and are divided into several sub-categories according to the font and size of the rubbing. The most precious of these is a type of Lu yellow silk, and the reason for this is simple: the text on it is unintelligible to others.

The grammar of the text recorded on this silk is very strange. You can understand the meaning of individual words, but you can’t read it. We know that the eight great Chinese books, the “Cang Jie Shu,” “Xia Yu Shu,” “Hong Yan Tian Shu,” “Ye Lang Tian Shu,” “Ba Shu Zi Hu,” “Kua Tu Wen,” “Dong Ba Wen Shu,” and “Xun Sheng Bei,” are all unique and impossible to decipher. However, the characters on the Lu silk are like a code. The foreign archaeological community calls this Lu silk “China’s magic book” because when read in sequence, it sounds like the incantation of a Daoist deity.

However, this code was cracked in 1974, and it was later called the “Warring States Book Map,” an ancient code for converting text and images. I heard this term from my third uncle and looked it up myself. This was a major discovery, but another event that happened in 1974 was so famous that this archaeological event did not cause a sensation.

Nowadays, in the general trade of rubbings of the Warring States silk books, this kind of Lu silk is very popular and many people are looking for it. I heard some time ago that according to archaeological research, there may be as many as 120 volumes of this kind of Lu silk, but I don’t know where this estimate came from. However, I know that the ones that are actually in circulation are only four or five, and these are all things that real professionals look at. To find rare Lu bamboo books, you need to go to the rubbing shop to sweep the store, because we purchase rubbings in large quantities and do not sort them. There are all kinds of origins, and they are generally piled up there. If you are interested, you may be able to find a niche. Moreover, such people generally do not publicize their discoveries, but study them themselves. Therefore, business in this market is still relatively easy to do.

The one my grandfather stole from the tomb was Lu Huangbo, but because of the old foundation, we didn’t dare to show it off. My grandfather was very famous in the world, and there were many people who asked about this matter. It can be considered a treasure in my store.

Now we also know that this kind of Lu Huangbo should be the miscellaneous notes of Tie Mian Sheng during the Warring States Period. This guy is the same as Leonardo da Vinci, using his own invented writing to write miscellaneous notes, which is very mystical. After leaving the Lu Palace, I also studied this thing. It is said that in human history, anyone who used secret writing to record things was forced to do so because they had discovered something that subverted the world view of the time and were afraid of being obliterated by mainstream forces (such as the Catholic Church during the time of Leonardo da Vinci).

That’s all I know about the silk book. I told my uncle about this, and he nodded and said, “You’re right. It’s true that if you squat in the toilet for a long time, you won’t be able to poop, but you can still hum.” He took out his old bag from under the bed and took out a crumpled photo from it. I took it and found that it was a copy of the Silk Manuscript of the Warring States Period taken in the museum window. Judging from the arrangement of the characters, it should be the original copy that was stolen by my grandfather and then taken away by the Americans.

“This is something that should have belonged to our family,” said Uncle San. “When I went to the United States three years ago, I took a picture of it at the New York Museum. The whole thing started because of this thing. It’s really fate. Four generations of our family have been involved in this matter, as if cursed. This is also the reason why I don’t want you to get involved. I hope this matter will stop with me.

Four generations, yes, I suddenly felt a bit sad and asked, “What is written on it?”

Uncle San smiled and said, “I just said that you would never guess if I didn’t tell you. In fact, there is nothing written on the silk. The translation of the silk is not text, but a mysterious picture.”

“Picture?” I frowned and thought of the silk from the Seven Star Lu Palace. “Could it be a map of an ancient tomb?”

Uncle San shook his head and said, “It’s not a map. It’s much more complicated than a map. It’s hard to explain this in a few words. Before I went to Xisha, the foreigner told me all about it. I’ll tell you again, and you’ll understand after listening.