Zhuang Rui refused Song Jun without hesitation. He now regretted selling the manuscript and Tang Bohu's "Li Duanduan Picture" to Song Jun. Zhuang Rui now realized how difficult it was to find those items again. The antique markets in China were full of fakes.
"You little rascal, fine, but you absolutely have to find that jade you promised me..."
"When did I agree to that? You're being unreasonable..."
Zhuang Rui was somewhat helpless. This Song soldier was over forty years old, and his child was probably in high school. He was practically a princeling, and when he started acting like a rogue, even Zhuang Rui couldn't handle him.
"Alright, if I happen to run into one, I'll definitely save it for you, okay?"
Zhuang Rui spoke kindly as he saw the two out of the room. He had no time to argue with Song Jun; the mysterious wax pellet in the ivory carving was making him quite eager to explore it.
"Boss, this spot doesn't look like it was touched, otherwise it wouldn't be so neatly shaped, right?"
Seeing Zhuang Rui intently examining the area under the armpits of the ivory carving, Peng Fei also leaned over to take a look. He had a sharp eye, and although the repair marks were very faint, Peng Fei could still tell that the shape didn't seem to have been caused by a bump or knock.
"Hmm? You noticed it too? This doesn't look like a crack caused by a fall; it looks more like it was dug out, like a small door deliberately made. In ancient times, people often liked to hide treasures inside the bellies of Buddha statues. Do you think there might be something inside here too?"
Zhuang Rui glanced at Peng Fei and deliberately tried to guide him with words. Zhuang Rui did not want to hide the contents from Peng Fei, so he needed a suitable reason.
Chapter 440 A World Within (Part 2)
"Brother Zhuang, you're joking, right..."
Peng Fei was skeptical. Why would someone hide a treasure inside a Buddha statue? "A joke? I'm telling the truth..."
Zhuang Rui's claim that ancient people often hid treasures inside the bellies of Buddha statues is not unfounded; there are historical anecdotes to support this.
During the Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced to China from India. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, Buddhism reached its peak of development. The level of Buddhist studies in China surpassed that of India, and China replaced India as the center of Buddhism in the world. At that time, Buddhists had a very high status. Almost all temples owned large amounts of land and were exempt from taxes.
During that period, although there were many eminent monks like Xuanzang and Jianzhen, there were far more corrupt elements within Buddhism. Cases of bullying men and women, and seizing homes and farmland were countless. However, because the emperor was a devout Buddhist, local officials mostly turned a blind eye and did nothing about it.
After amassing a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, those monks, in order to hide it, used the guise of casting Buddha statues to produce and cast many large bronze Buddha statues. They appeared to be solid Buddha statues, but in fact, they concealed a secret: the Buddha statues' bellies were all hollow, hiding the enormous wealth that the monks had plundered inside.
Ironically, the three most famous anti-Buddhist movements in Chinese history occurred precisely during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang. Especially during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, almost all temples in the country were destroyed, and millions of monks and nuns were forced to return to secular life, which almost led to the extinction of Buddhism in China.
The official explanation for this is that it stems from the inherent political characteristic of Chinese society, where "divine authority is absolutely subordinate to royal authority." The emperor felt that his authority was being challenged by that ethereal divine authority, so he sought to suppress Buddhism.
However, later researchers believe that the root cause of the persecution of Buddhism was economic. During the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, Di Renjie once submitted a memorial stating: "The temples and monasteries are rich in resources, and the profits are extorted. The number of water mills and estates is also considerable. Escaped laborers and criminals gather at Buddhist temples, and there are tens of thousands of nameless monks. The capital has already seized several thousand. Even if no one cultivates the land, they still suffer from the abuses. There are many who live off the land and also rob people of their wealth..."
The passage above means that temples are wealthy, own fertile land, and that becoming a monk allows one to escape legal punishment. There are tens of thousands of monks without official status throughout the country who do not farm and live a life of ease, being waited on hand and foot.
When the country was wealthy, it didn't matter if these monks were a little rich. But when even the emperor had to tighten his belt, it was a sin for the monks to still be so wealthy. So, during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, the third anti-Buddhist movement in Chinese history was launched.
At that time, countless treasures were cleared from the temple, and when the gold and bronze Buddha statues were melted down, it was discovered that a large amount of gold and silver jewelry was hidden inside the Buddha statues. In Mr. Cha Liangyong's book "Liancheng Jue" in Hong Kong, the so-called treasure was hidden inside the Buddha statues.
"Brother Zhuang, are you telling the truth? But there probably isn't any treasure hidden inside this Buddha statue..."
Peng Fei listened with great interest to Zhuang Rui's story, but when he gestured to the repaired area, he didn't believe there was anything hidden inside.
"Who knows if it's there or not? We'll only know if we take out the piece of ivory that was used to fill it in..."
Zhuang Rui continued following Peng Fei's words, but it was not easy to remove the contents of the Buddha sculpture without damaging it, because the silicone used for the repair had completely fused with the ivory, making it very difficult to pry it out.
Seeing Zhuang Rui's worried expression, Peng Fei couldn't help but laugh and said, "Brother Zhuang, do you really want to take out this repaired ivory?"
"Of course, think about it, who would bother to cut a hole in a perfectly good Buddha sculpture? Maybe there's something valuable inside. It's not a loss for us to pry it out and take a look. I'll have someone repair it; the workmanship will definitely be better than this..."
Zhuang Rui was telling the truth. Repairing this thing with silicone would indeed be a waste of this ivory Buddha statue. There are many modern materials that can restore it so that people can't tell it has ever been repaired.
"Brother Zhuang, wait for me a moment, I'll be right back..."
Peng Fei gestured to the area to be repaired, said something to Zhuang Rui, and then left the room.
"This kid..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head, looking at the thing with some distress. Before, when the thing wasn't his, he wasn't in a particular hurry, but now that the thing was in front of him, he couldn't take the contents out. It felt to Zhuang Rui like Qin Xuanbing had taken off her clothes, but his thing was impotent, and he was completely helpless.
"Boss, I'm back..."
About twenty minutes later, while Zhuang Rui was still frowning, Peng Fei walked into the room. Zhuang Rui saw that he was holding an alcohol stove in his right hand. His eyes lit up immediately.
"Peng Fei, are you trying to heat the needle until it's red-hot and melt away the silicone filling? But we don't even know how deep the ivory has been removed..."
Zhuang Rui initially thought it was a good idea, but upon further reflection, he realized that the ivory piece used for filling was six or seven centimeters long, making it impossible for a regular needle to penetrate, while a very long needle would be too thick. Since it couldn't be inserted, this method was unacceptable.
"Is this long enough?"
Peng Fei raised his left hand, and Zhuang Rui then noticed that Peng Fei was holding an extremely thin steel wire, about twenty or thirty centimeters long, between two fingers on his left hand. Zhuang Rui flicked the wire and found that it was very tough. He was overjoyed, as all the problems were now solved.
Zhuang Rui got up and walked to the door, flipped the sign outside to "Do Not Disturb," then went back inside, gave Peng Fei a thumbs-up, and said, "Good lad, if there's any treasure inside, you're in..."
Zhuang Rui took out a lighter from his pocket and lit the alcohol stove, while Peng Fei placed one end of the thin steel wire on the flame to heat it. Since the wire itself conducts heat, within just over ten seconds, a section of the wire was still glowing red.
Zhuang Rui glanced at the wire in Peng Fei's hand and reminded him, "It's probably not long enough. Heat it a little more until it's red-hot..."
Peng Fei began to move the steel wire in his hand across the flames. Before long, the tip of the wire, about three to five centimeters long, was red-hot.
"Give me……"
Zhuang Rui placed the ivory carving horizontally on the ground, took the steel wire from Peng Fei, and inserted it into the silicone gap at the repair site. The red-hot steel wire melted the silicone inside as easily as cutting tofu with a knife, requiring no force at all.
A foul smell of burning rubber filled the air, and a wisp of smoke rose from where Zhuang Rui had started. He slid the wire along the gap to one side, finding it quite rough. When it seemed to be losing heat, Zhuang Rui quickly pulled the wire out; it was now covered with a layer of gelatinous substance.
"Keep burning..."
Zhuang Rui handed the wire to Peng Fei, then stood up and opened the hotel room window, ignoring the fact that the air conditioning was still on and the smell of burning rubber was unbearable.
The steel wire conducts heat quickly, but it also dissipates heat extremely quickly. Basically, once it's heated to red-hot, it can only melt a layer of silicone that's two or three centimeters wide. It took Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei more than two hours to completely melt the silicone that was fused with the ivory.
"Aunt Fang? Lunch? I'm so sorry, Aunt Fang, I have something urgent to attend to and can't leave right now. Would you mind coming over later?"
Just as he finished working on the silicone on the ivory carving, Fang Yi called. However, Zhuang Rui couldn't care less about his mother-in-law's thoughts at the moment. He was already excited about getting the two wax pellets in his hands soon.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui say that something urgent had happened, Fang Yi hung up the phone without saying anything. She turned around and immediately used her woman's imagination to say to her husband, "This child, could he be doing something bad behind Xuanbing's back?"
If Zhuang Rui knew what Fang Yi was thinking at this moment, he would definitely feel more wronged than Dou E. Therefore, it is best not to refuse a woman's invitation, whether she is a young woman or a menopausal woman.
"Everyone has their troubles sometimes. Xiao Zhuang isn't that kind of kid, don't overthink it..."
Qin Haoran gave his wife a disapproving look. If Zhuang Rui heard this, it would cause a conflict.
Zhuang Rui was no longer concerned about what his mother-in-law was thinking, because Peng Fei was using his small, wolf-tooth-like knife to pry open the piece of ivory that had been stuffed in as filler.
The blade of the knife was extremely thin, allowing it to penetrate to a depth of about one centimeter. As Peng Fei flicked his wrist, the ivory tusk gradually protruded upwards. Finally, with a clear "snap" sound, the small ivory tusk was removed, revealing a circular hole about three or four centimeters square under the armpit of the ivory carving.
"Brother Zhuang, there's nothing in here?"
Naturally, he couldn't put his hand in. Peng Fei picked up the ivory carving upside down and shook the small hole downwards, but nothing came out.
Zhuang Rui didn't answer. Instead, he took the charred steel wire, went to the bathroom to wash it, dried it, and twisted one end into a hook shape. Then he said to Peng Fei, "Raise it a little higher, with the opening facing down. I'll use this to try and pry it out..."
Zhuang Rui naturally knew whether there was anything inside, and he also knew that the reason why Peng Fei hadn't poured out the wax pill was because some of the silicone had dripped onto the wax pill when it was being dissolved. Although it didn't melt the wax pill, it stuck to the inside of the abdominal wall.
Chapter 441 Treasure Map
The silicone needs time to cool down. After Zhuang Rui stirred the thin steel wire around the hole, two round wax pellets, each about the size of an eyeball, rolled out.
"There really is something there?"
Peng Fei had been staring at the spot with his head tilted to the side. When he saw Zhuang Ruizhen rummaging around inside and pull something out, he was so surprised that he almost threw the ivory Buddha statue he was holding away.
"Brother Zhuang, what is this?"
Peng Fei carefully placed the ivory carving on the ground, then moved closer to Zhuang Rui, examining the two wax pellets that Zhuang Rui had slipped into his left palm with a puzzled expression.
These wax balls weren't made very well. The white wax skin was covered with cracks, making it look like they were made by melting down an ordinary household candle, kneading it into a ball, and then letting it air dry. You could vaguely see the paper balls inside through the cracks.
"I don't know what it is either, we'll find out once we open it..."
The answer was right in his hands. Zhuang Rui was a little excited. He took a deep breath and pinched a wax pellet between his right thumb and forefinger. With a little force, the wax pellet broke open, and the white, dry wax fell to the ground. What remained in Zhuang Rui's hand was a rolled-up piece of paper that had been folded several times and was a little yellowish.
Zhuang Rui didn't rush to open the crumpled paper. Instead, he crushed the other wax ball, took out a pair of white gloves from his suitcase, put them on, and then pulled out a magnifying glass. Zhuang Rui had a feeling that these two crumpled papers seemed to hide a huge secret.
After preparing everything, Zhuang Rui carefully unfolded a crumpled piece of paper under Peng Fei's curious gaze. The paper didn't seem to be of very good quality; it was quite fragile due to its age and could easily tear if not handled carefully.
Although it appeared small when folded into a ball, when Zhuang Rui unfolded it on the table, it was the size of a magazine page. Without needing a magnifying glass, Zhuang Rui recognized it as a map, depicting mountains, terrain, railways, and highways. The drawings were very detailed, except… some annotations were in Japanese.
Although Zhuang Rui did not understand Japanese, Japanese itself evolved from Chinese characters. Apart from some characters that had been modified in a nonsensical way, Zhuang Rui could recognize the rest of the characters. The marked characters seemed to be place names in Myanmar.
After looking at it for a while, Peng Fei said, "Brother Zhuang, this is a blueprint..."
"Say something constructive, of course I know it's a blueprint..."
Zhuang Rui was both amused and exasperated by Peng Fei's words. The blueprints were drawn in such detail that anyone could understand them.
"No, I mean this is a military blueprint, drawn by the Japanese, dating back to the 1940s..."
Peng Fei felt a little embarrassed by Zhuang Rui's words and quickly added that although he was still somewhat out of place in the lives of ordinary people, he was confident that he would not be wrong when it came to military matters.
"Let's ignore that for now and see what the other one is..."
Zhuang Rui spread the map out on one side of the table. Then he unfolded another crumpled piece of paper, but this time Zhuang Rui was a little stumped. This piece of paper was smaller, and looked like it had been torn from a diary. It was covered with dense Japanese writing, and the handwriting was very messy.
Zhuang Rui could understand the simple Japanese, but he was completely baffled by the handwriting on this diary. Apart from the dates and commonly used characters, he couldn't figure out what the first sentence meant, even after trying to guess.
"Brother Zhuang, let me take a look..."
The handwriting on this paper was relatively clear, and since the front was facing Zhuang Rui, Peng Fei, who was standing next to him, couldn't see it very well.
Humans are arguably the most curious creatures on Earth. Although Peng Fei had received rigorous training in the military, he still showed a hint of excitement and was full of curiosity about the contents of the paper.
"You understand Japanese?"
Zhuang Rui asked casually, but he was thinking that if he couldn't recognize it, he would buy a dictionary and translate it after returning to China. In short, this thing should not be known to anyone other than himself and Peng Fei.
"I understand some things; I have no problem with listening, speaking, and writing..."
Peng Fei nodded. Basic Japanese conversation and writing were essential courses for him in the army, not just Japanese. He wasn't fluent in English, Arabic, or even local languages like Thai and Burmese, but he could definitely hold a conversation.
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Rui looked at Peng Fei and after a while said, "This thing may contain a piece of history that has been buried for a long time. I don't want anyone other than you and me to know about it. Can you do that?"
To be honest, if the person in front of Zhuang Rui right now were Zhou Rui, Zhuang Rui would hand over the paper covered in Japanese without hesitation. However, he hadn't known Peng Fei for long enough to establish that kind of understanding and trust.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the slightly excited look on Peng Fei's face disappeared, replaced by a solemn expression. He said very seriously, "Brother Zhuang, don't worry, I guarantee in Ya Ya's name that I won't utter a single word about this piece of paper..."
After his sister went to Zhuang Rui's house and regained her smile and happiness, Peng Fei secretly resolved to protect everything he had now, because Peng Fei knew how important family was to a child's healthy growth, something that money couldn't simply buy.
Zhuang Rui nodded, moved the piece of paper in front of him to a different position, and placed it in front of Peng Fei.
Peng Fei lowered his head and began to examine the paper carefully. As his gaze moved, his expression gradually became serious, and an incredulous look appeared in his eyes. Clearly, the contents of the paper had greatly shocked him.