Chapter 11: The Wrap-up

After hearing my complaints, Wang Bato shook his head and said, "Yunfeng, this time it was your recklessness. In our line of work, we need to be extra careful, always fearing that someone might catch onto our little weaknesses."

I apologized, saying, "Sorry, Bato, I'll be more cautious next time."

Wang Bato took a sip of tea, blew on it gently, and then frowned. "But you're still my man, Yunfeng. What? You want to get back at them?"

I didn't hesitate and instinctively blurted out, "Yes, Bato. I feel like I've been wronged."

Wang Bato took another sip of tea, covered his cup, and said, "Yesterday, we just set up our base. Right now, we need to keep a low profile. My personal advice to you is to endure for now. Once we finish this job and leave Shunde, I'll have a word with a contact. She's got connections in the underworld."

I immediately nodded in agreement.

In our rented hotel room's small warehouse, there were still a few bags of white and green clay. However, Wang Bato didn't have me continue spreading the soil. Instead, he gave me a different task in the afternoon. He had me follow Brother Sun to help with the batch of bronze artifacts from yesterday.

As we reached the warehouse, I suddenly smelled a strong cumin spice. Looking closely, I saw someone had set up a charcoal grill at the entrance. They were grilling meat, heavily seasoned.

Brother Sun was in charge of turning items into cash, but of course, before that, work had to be done.

"Brother Sun, I'm Yunfeng. Bato asked me to help," I knocked on the warehouse door.

Brother Sun opened it. At the time, he was wearing a white protective suit, leather gloves, and plastic goggles.

Inside the warehouse, there were a few bronze artifacts on the floor. Next to them was a large white leather bucket, which contained a half-full, translucent liquid with a pungent smell.

He tossed a set of protective gear to me and said, "Yunfeng, put this on."

Though confused, I put on the gear.

"Big Brother, what are you doing?" I asked as I watched him toss a red-stained mercury-rusted bronze cup into the bucket.

When the rusty bronze artifact hit the liquid, it started bubbling, and the pungent smell grew stronger. It was reminiscent of urea.

Brother Sun pointed to the submerged cup and said, "Yunfeng, in our industry, this process is called 'killing green.' The chemical formula for this liquid was specially prepared by a master that Bato hired."

"Killing green? What does that mean, Big Brother?"

Brother Sun smiled and explained, "'Killing green' means removing the black skin. The mercury rust in this liquid is deep and widespread, easily covering inscriptions and markings. If that happens, we'd lose a lot."

He continued, "In the southern regions, they call this 'killing rust,' but up north, we call it 'killing green.' Yunfeng, remember this: for Western Zhou and Warring States bronze artifacts, square ding are worth five times more than round ones. Pieces with inscriptions are ten times more valuable than those without. For inscriptions with more than five characters, each additional character could be worth an extra thirty thousand."

Brother Sun analyzed, "This tomb is from the early to middle Western Zhou period. Judging by the capstone design and the number of bronzes buried in the ear chamber, the tomb's owner was likely a small regional lord in the southern area."

I finally understood. There was a lot more to this process than I initially realized. Now I also understood the barbecue outside—it was intentionally set up to mask the strong smell of the 'killing green' process.

The gloves were to protect from the corrosive nature of the liquid. If it accidentally splashed into the eyes, it would be far worse than copper-nickel alloys—it could blind a person!

After soaking the artifacts for over twenty minutes, we used stiff-bristled brushes to scrub off the rust. We couldn't scrub too hard, nor could we remove all the mercury rust. As long as we were sure an artifact didn't have an inscription, we could stop.

I brushed several pieces of bronze, carefully inspecting each one, but I didn't find any inscriptions. This made me feel a little downhearted.

Seeing this, Brother Sun, while scrubbing a piece of bronze, smiled and said, "Yunfeng, don't be discouraged. These things are all about fate. If it's meant to happen, it will. If it's not, there's no way to force it."

At that moment, as I was brushing a small bronze tripod, I noticed what looked like faint golden brush strokes.

"Hey, what's this?" I lifted the bronze tripod and scrubbed a little harder.

"Big Brother! Big Brother, look! I found some characters! This bronze tripod has an inscription! The strokes are complicated—almost like hieroglyphs!" I excitedly shouted.

Brother Sun took the tripod, looked at it for a moment, and frowned.

"This… this inscription isn't bird seal script, nor is it oracle bone script. This is an ancient form of gold script—sixfold seal script… How could this be? How could it appear on a Western Zhou artifact?" Brother Sun was puzzled.

Ancient gold script is older than oracle bone script, possibly even older than the Shang Dynasty. Brother Sun, who had seen much, immediately recognized it as the rare sixfold seal script from ancient gold inscriptions.

After the initial confusion, Brother Sun grew excited and said, "Yunfeng, keep brushing the rest. This sixfold seal script is incredibly rare. There are only a few people who can translate these characters. I must hurry and find someone to help us decipher this inscription."

Brother Sun carefully placed the artifact with the inscription into a wooden box and rushed out with it.

By the time we finished cleaning, I hadn't found any more artifacts with inscriptions, except for that one.

We worked during the day, but at night, we still had to carry out the main task. When everyone was asleep, we would go down into the tomb. However, that evening, Brother Sun didn't return until past midnight. He was out of breath, carrying a wooden box. I knew it contained the bronze tripod with the inscription.

Without a word, Brother Sun rushed to the table, grabbed the teapot, and gulped down half the tea.

Wiping his mouth, Brother Sun turned to Wang Bato and said, "Bato, I used my connections with the Archaeology Institute. They translated the sixfold seal inscriptions."

"Oh? What do they say?" Wang Bato asked.

Brother Sun opened the wooden box, touched the tripod inside, and coldly said, "The inscription reads: 'Jiehou Dazi.'"