"I'm sorry, I have a habit of sleepwalking. I'm really sorry everyone, I don't know why I ended up sleeping here..."
With a flushed face, Nakagawa stood up, bowed to everyone, and then came up with a very compelling reason for himself. Although Nakagawa had lived for over forty years and rarely turned over in his sleep, this explanation seemed to be the only reasonable one.
"Uh, Mr. Nakagawa, let's not talk about your blasphemy against Buddha, but could you explain to me what this thing is?"
Zhuang Rui didn't dwell on Zhongchuan's indecent behavior earlier, but instead waved a 16photocopy in his hand.
Chapter 1117 Something in the Belly (Part 2)
Peng Fei had originally planned to use some tricks on Nakagawa last night, such as knocking him unconscious and then searching his bag.
Peng Fei hadn't expected that after he crawled into Zhongchuan's tent, he would find the guy sleeping like a log, not even reacting when he stepped on him. So, after finding the photocopy of the treasure map hand-drawn by Wang Daoshi, Peng Fei had a wicked idea. He dragged Zhongchuan out of the tent, blanket and all, and dumped him next to the Buddha statue.
However, Peng Fei did not expect that Nakagawa would be so talented. Early in the morning, he started interacting with the Buddha statue in the center of the hall, not only touching it but also making sounds that could often be heard in Japanese adult videos.
This woke up everyone sleeping in the main hall. Everyone present was an adult and was no stranger to matters between men and women. They had heard of male-male, female-female, or even bestiality, but this was the first time they had ever seen someone so lewdly embracing a Buddha statue.
However, after witnessing such a classic scene, everyone understood that with such citizens, it was no wonder that the adult film industry in that country was so developed.
Seeing Nakagawa's disheveled appearance, Zhuang Rui suppressed a smile, raised the photocopy in his hand, and said, "Mr. Nakagawa, you just dropped something. I'd like to know, is this a drawing of the Mahavira Hall?"
Nakagawa's mind was still a little foggy, and having just opened his eyes, he hadn't clearly seen the object in Zhuang Rui's hand. After hearing Yan Xiaowei's translation, he rubbed his eyes and asked, "Painting? What painting?"
"That...that was mine, how...how did it end up in your hands?"
When Nakagawa finally saw what Zhuang Rui was holding, his expression changed drastically. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his erection, he stepped forward and snatched the photocopy from Zhuang Rui's hand.
Peng Fei stepped aside to block Zhuang Rui, casually shoving Nakagawa until he stumbled, and said in Japanese, "Get out of the way, you haven't answered Zhuang-ge's question yet..."
Despite not being a top student in school, Peng Fei has an exceptional talent for languages. He speaks various Chinese dialects and languages from four or five foreign countries fluently, including Japanese.
"Those are mine! This is robbery..."
At this moment, Nakagawa had completely lost his composure, staring at Zhuang Rui with bloodshot eyes. He knew that once Zhuang Rui and the others discovered the treasure map, he would never have another chance to obtain the precious scriptures inside the Buddha statue.
"Nakagawa, I found this on the ground. Don't be so ungrateful. I didn't steal it. If you want it... here you go..."
Peng Fei's words left Nakagawa a little confused. "Could it be that he really got carried away in the middle of the night and took this thing out?"
However, since the treasure map had already been exposed, whether or not Nakagawa retrieved it was no longer important.
Although Nakagawa didn't bring the copy of the diary with text on it this time, just to be on the safe side, this treasure map alone is enough to tell a lot.
Analysis of the lines on the treasure map suggests that it was drawn on coarse paper with burnt charcoal. The image is extremely simple: a Buddhist temple with the words "Mahavira Hall" written on it. In the center of the temple, there are three Buddha statues.
These are not the most important things. What is important is that next to the Buddha statue, there are four Chinese characters that read: "The Sutra is in the Buddha." From the perspective of painting technique, this painting is really rough, and the brushwork is also clumsy. It looks a bit like a child's scribbles. If Zhuang Rui had seen this painting before seeing this Mahavira Hall in the desert, he really wouldn't have paid any attention to it.
However, being inside the main hall depicted in the painting, and recalling Nakagawa's actions in protecting the Buddha statues the previous night, even those with an IQ below 60 could guess the meaning behind the painting.
“Mr. Nakagawa, I think… you don’t need to hide anything anymore, right? I just want to know, where did you get this map from…”
Zhuang Rui waved his hand to stop Peng Fei from speaking. Now that Zhongchuan's trump card had been revealed, Zhuang Rui was too lazy to say anything more. If he didn't still have questions that Zhongchuan needed to answer, Zhuang Rui would have started breaking the Buddha statue long ago.
Seeing that he could no longer hide the truth, Nakagawa rolled his eyes and then came up with an explanation, "This was passed down from my ancestors. I think... it's very likely that my ancestors hid something inside this Buddha statue in their early years. I came here to find my ancestors' relics..."
This old bastard has no shame anyway. As the saying goes, shamelessness makes one invincible. Nakagawa simply claimed that the objects inside the Buddha statue belonged to his family.
"Alright, stop talking nonsense. When did the things left behind by Taoist Wang become something passed down from your ancestors?"
Zhuang Rui was amused by Zhongchuan's words. He had seen shameless people before, but he had never seen anyone as despicable and shameless as Zhongchuan.
Over the past one or two hundred years, Japan has continuously plundered various resources from abroad, like a mythical creature that only takes in and never gives out. I've never heard of them transporting their own country's goods to other countries for "safekeeping".
Dr. Ren had once conducted scientific expeditions in Dunhuang with Professor Meng. He had consulted many of the notes and articles left behind by Wang Daoshi. Therefore, as soon as he saw the four characters on this photocopy this morning, he knew that it was written by Wang Daoshi and had absolutely nothing to do with Zhongchuan.
"These things were left to me by my ancestors anyway, this is nothing but robbery..."
At this point, Nakagawa simply resorted to shamelessness.
"I said that your Japanese Imperial Palace and Mount Fuji were left to us by my ancestors, can you return them to us?"
Zhuang Rui scoffed at Zhongchuan's words, "Alright, I won't waste my breath on you. Please go out and rest for a while. We need to conduct a scientific investigation of this ancient temple. All irrelevant personnel should leave the temple..."
In the morning, Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren discussed this photocopy. They were in agreement that the original of this photocopy must have come from the Dunhuang documents that were lost in Japan. Therefore, whether Nakagawa was willing to tell the truth was not so important.
"You can't do this! I protest! I protest..."
Upon hearing the translated words, Nakagawa became excited again, but Peng Fei then picked him up around the waist, carried him under his armpits, and carried him out of the main hall, throwing him directly under the temple gate, leaving Nakagawa bruised, swollen, and dizzy.
Seeing Peng Fei standing at the temple gate, Nakagawa dared not force his way in. He sat down on the stone steps with a livid face.
Because the gases emitted during human respiration can damage some ancient scrolls, it's best to have as few people as possible when handling related artifacts. Therefore, not only was Nakagawa "invited" out of the temple, but after a while, Mengzi, Erdan, and others also came out one after another. ...
"Zhuang Rui, what exactly does 'the scriptures are in the Buddha' mean? All the scriptures in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves have been cataloged. Could there be more inside this Buddha statue?"
After everyone else had left, Dr. Ren frowned as he held the "treasure map".
Wang Daoshi once mentioned in his notes that there are more than 50,000 scrolls of scriptures in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. According to this statement, the phrase "the scriptures are in the Buddha" is worth reconsidering.
Zhuang Rui laughed upon hearing this and said, "Senior brother, what's there to be so conflicted about? Let's just break open a Buddha statue and see..."
Although Zhuang Rui wasn't entirely sure if the scriptures inside the Buddha statue were Dunhuang documents, he was willing to stake his life on it to guarantee that the objects inside were over a thousand years old. Even if they weren't Dunhuang documents, they were still extremely important written materials.
"That's true. We'll understand once we open it and take a look. Zhuang Rui, which Buddha statue should we break first?"
Dr. Ren couldn't figure it out no matter what he did, so he simply stopped thinking about it, grabbed an entrenching tool, and started circling around the three Buddha statues.
"How about this one in the middle, senior brother? Should I take it?"
Zhuang Rui saw it clearly: although the Buddha statue was made of clay, there was a layer of blue bricks underneath, and dismantling it would be a physically demanding task.
"No need, I'll go first, you can switch when you get tired..."
Dr. Ren shook his head, moved to the back of the central Buddha statue, found a spot behind the Buddha's buttocks where some mud had fallen off, and picked up a shovel to dig it up.
"Damn, senior brother, you really know how to pick a place. You actually let Buddha have his anus violated. Aren't you afraid of Buddha's wrath?"
When Zhuang Rui saw Dr. Ren's actions, he couldn't help but chuckle. If Buddhist disciples or lay Buddhists saw this, they would definitely fight their senior brother to the death.
"Tch, he's dug up all the real Buddha relics, and he's living a very comfortable life now, isn't he?"
Dr. Ren curled his lip upon hearing this. He was referring to the fact that in the 1980s, the Shaanxi local government decided to rebuild Famen Temple, but unexpectedly discovered a shocking secret.
During the reconstruction of the Famen Temple Pagoda, the construction workers accidentally discovered an underground palace. After 1113 years of silence, 2499 national treasures of the Tang Dynasty, including the finger bone relic of the Buddha, were brought back to the world. The rare treasures unearthed from the underground palace have extremely important value in the study of Chinese social and political history, cultural history, scientific and technological history, the history of Sino-foreign exchanges, and art history. Professor Meng presided over the later stages of this archaeological work.
"Bang!"
After the shovel removed the clay from the Buddha statue, it struck the blue bricks, producing a crisp sound that made Dr. Ren stop.
"Thump...thump thump..."
Dr. Ren tapped on the blue brick a few times and heard a hollow echo coming from inside. He exclaimed with delight, "It's hollow inside. Maybe there really are scriptures inside..."
"How novel! I already knew that, buddy..."
Zhuang Rui pursed his lips, then stepped forward and, together with Dr. Ren, pried out the bricks one by one. After about ten minutes, a hole about half a meter square was revealed behind the Buddha statue.
Chapter 1118 Scripture Copying Scroll
"What's that smell? It's so weird!"
When the bricks were removed, dust filled the air, and Dr. Ren didn't have time to check if there was anything inside. Now that the hole was open, he sniffed and smelled a strange odor.
"It smells like paper and ink..."
Zhuang Rui also smelled the scent, but unlike Dr. Ren who knew nothing, he already knew that the contents were scriptures, so he could guess more easily.
However, Zhuang Rui was also very shocked at this moment, because whether it was the archaeological excavation he had personally experienced, or the excavation site records he had seen in the data, almost all tombs or underground palaces were accompanied by unpleasant or even toxic gases when they were unearthed. This has become a consensus among archaeologists.
However, when Zhuang Rui pulled out the brick, all that filled his nose was a faint scent of ink and paper. The brick and soil were completely free of the musty smell of decay, which made Zhuang Rui even more eager to find the paper books inside.
"That's right, it's the smell of paper and ink, this...this..."
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's explanation, Dr. Ren also sensed the origin of the smell, and his face showed some surprise and uncertainty. The discovery of paper artifacts in the Northwest region was of great significance.
It is important to know that the Northwest region, especially the area near Dunhuang, is arid and receives little rainfall year-round, which is most conducive to the preservation of cultural relics. Most of the well-preserved calligraphy and paintings by famous people unearthed over the years come from these areas.
Unfortunately, due to geographical limitations, there were far fewer literati, scholars, and poets in this area in ancient times compared to regions like Jiangnan, and there are also relatively fewer cultural relics such as calligraphy and paintings.
If the calligraphy and paintings from the ancient tombs in Jiangnan were buried here, it is estimated that those precious calligraphy and paintings that are only recorded in books but not in physical form could be preserved.
“It’s a scripture or ancient book, let’s be careful. Make the hole a little bigger. Xiao Jia, you guys lay down mats on the ground and put on your gloves…”
After a moment of surprise, Dr. Ren quickly realized what was happening, picked up a flashlight and shone it inside, a look of excitement on his face.
The Buddha statue was seven or eight meters tall, and even the base was three or four square meters in size. Inside, it was practically a small room. Under the bright light of a flashlight, stacks of books wrapped in oil paper and arranged neatly appeared before Dr. Ren and Zhuang Rui.
The hole is big enough for a person to crawl through, but it's still too small. If you try to take something out from inside, you might damage it.
Zhuang Rui and Dr. Ren worked for nearly half an hour to cut a hole more than a meter high behind the Buddha statue. Since it was made of blue bricks, it didn't take much effort.
"Zhuang Rui, I'll go in. You stay outside and catch it. Xiao Jia, you come over here too. When you're taking the book, be careful not to pinch it with your fingers; hold it in your hands..."
Even with just a visual inspection, Dr. Ren could tell that these rare ancient books were at least several hundred years old. Although the Dunhuang region is arid and receives little rain, preventing them from getting damp and decaying, the dryness would make the paper fragile. That's why he repeatedly told the graduate students not to pick up the books with their fingers.
Under Zhuang Rui's flashlight, Dr. Ren crouched down and crawled into the Buddha statue's belly. After Dr. Ren went in, Zhuang Rui placed the lamp at the entrance, and the inside of the Buddha statue was immediately illuminated.
After Dr. Ren went inside, he didn't immediately unwrap the oil paper. Instead, he wiped the oil paper with his hand, looked at his hand under the light, and said, "These items were probably placed here some time after the Buddha statue was built..."
There is a thin layer of dust on the surface of the oil paper. Some people may not understand why there would be dust in such a sealed place.
The principle is actually very simple. There are dust particles in the air, and they are floating in the air. If it is a well-ventilated place, the dust will not stay in one place for too long and will not accumulate.
In a closed space where the air doesn't circulate, dust slowly gathers and accumulates, forming visible dust particles that no longer float in the air but instead cover the surface of objects.
Dr. Ren put on white gloves, reached out to test the weight of the book wrapped in oil paper, and shook his head helplessly. He couldn't lift it, so he could only untangle the oil paper little by little and take it out.
Taking a deep breath, Dr. Ren opened the top layer of oil paper wrapping, revealing a series of circular scrolls, each about thirty centimeters long.
The scroll's shafts are all made of wood, and their color appears somewhat dull. The scroll itself is also of varying shades, with both the beginning and end showing signs of yellowing and blackening, a result of its age.
"Brother Ren, hurry up and open one to see what era this ancient book is from."
Zhuang Rui could see clearly from outside the Buddha statue. In fact, he hadn't slept well all night, constantly guessing the origin of these ancient scrolls. Now that the mystery was about to be solved, Zhuang Rui was very excited.
"Okay, um..."
Dr. Ren opened his mouth and replied, "Okay!"
Then, he immediately closed his mouth and hummed in response, because the damp air he exhaled would affect the scrolls in front of him.