Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 612 The Ultimate Secret of the Lacquer Cloth Sutra

The Jiang family rose to prominence early on because of a treasure. Jiang Zhaoxue, having grown up surrounded by such things, is naturally interested in the story behind the treasure, which is why I shared some of my thoughts with her. As I said before, no one in this world truly knows the whole truth of history. Every viewpoint approaches the truth, and time will prove me right. Perhaps one day in the future, a relic similar to the "Fang La stone carvings" will be unearthed from the waters of Qiandao Lake, possibly recording the truth of what happened back then.

Stone dragon faces stone tiger, gold and silver worth millions; who can decipher this riddle, and buy up all of Chengdu?

Front lacquered cloth, back lacquered cloth, middle lacquered cloth.

Of these two treasure poems, the former has been confirmed in recent years, while the latter remains shrouded in mystery. Chun'an is such a small place, and I've explored almost every corner, yet the Qibu Sutra continues to perplex me. Does this treasure poem conceal a location? Coordinates? Or some other kind of information?

I caught up with her and said, "Don't rush off! How exactly is the Lacquer Cloth Sutra interpreted? I've told you what I know! You should also tell me what you know! That's fair!"

"Back then, your great-grandfather was the village chief of Jiang Village. It must have been with the guidance of Bu Guo Liu that he deciphered the Lacquer Cloth Sutra and found the treasure! Right?"

"You really want to know?" Jiang Zhaoxue turned around and asked me.

I nodded.

“The treasure is gone, and even if there were, it would only be scattered fragments that slipped through the net, just like what you found. Under these circumstances, is the secret of the Lacquer Cloth Sutra still important?”

I thought for a moment and replied, "It's important. This is the purpose of our trip. If we can't unravel the secret of the Lacquer Cloth Sutra, I feel uneasy, as if something is missing."

“You found the treasure first, I’m not envious, and neither am I. That’s how it is in this business. We’re already very satisfied to have found the fish that slipped through the net. I’ll pretend that the persecution your family did to me never happened. Tell me the secret of the Lacquer Cloth Sutra, and we’ll be friends from now on.”

"Friends...?"

Jiang Zhaoxue murmured those two words over and over again. She looked at me and said, "Meet me at that tea restaurant you went to earlier in two hours. I can show you the Lacquer Book there."

"Let me see the Lacquer Cloth Sutra? What do you mean? Is that a real object?"

She didn't answer, put on her sunglasses, and left.

I frowned as I gazed at the woman's curvaceous back.

Suddenly, a strange "waaaaaa" sound came from above the sky, and it was very loud.

I looked up and saw a large flock of black crows.

......

That tea restaurant was the place where Uncle Cha was taken away three months ago when he first arrived in Qiandao Lake. At that time, Uncle Cha left a note under my cup, which means that Jiang Zhaoxue knew everything about me, which made me more wary.

Once we reached a place with good signal, I had just taken out my phone when someone called me first.

On the other end of the phone, Ba Tou kept coughing. I asked him what was wrong, and he said he caught a cold from being caught in the rain.

After I told him I was going to the tea restaurant, he coughed again. He didn't say anything, just told me to come back early.

.....

Two hours later, at the tea restaurant.

Jiang Zhaoxue arrived as promised. In just a short while, she changed into a white dress and wore her signature sunglasses, looking stylish and beautiful. Accompanying her was a very tall and strong middle-aged man, who seemed to be her bodyguard. This man was carrying a wooden box that was about one and a half feet tall and one foot long.

After Jiang Zhaoxue sat down, the man carefully placed the wooden box on the table and then went to stand guard at the door.

At this point, only she and I were left in the tea restaurant; even the waiters had disappeared.

"Xiang Yunfeng, I don't know why I agreed to this. This is a secret that our family has guarded for nearly a hundred years. You helped me get rid of Bu Guo Liu, so consider this my way of thanking you."

"Let me show you. The thing in this box is the Lacquer Cloth Sutra, which is also the unique piece you mentioned. There is only one of its kind in the world."

I took a deep breath and opened the wooden box in front of me.

A smell wafted towards me, similar to the smell of mothballs.

I was stunned.

This is...this is an ancient hat. It is one foot tall and one foot wide. It is shaped like a hat that is tall and straight up in the front, with the top of the head tilting sharply backward, while the back of the head is straight.

There are vertical golden stripes in front, woven with gold thread, and the material that wraps around them is a high-end-looking dark black fabric, which should be "lacquered cloth".

"Do you know what this is?" Jiang Zhaoxue asked.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down and said, "I know, this is a crown."

"Is it He Guan?" she asked again.

I looked up at her and said, "It's from the Northern Song Dynasty, the Tongtian Crown."

She nodded: "Apart from this one, there are no similar items in existence. You have a good eye to recognize its origin even though you have never seen it before."

Looking at this thing, I couldn't calm down.

No wonder... it's lacquered cloth!

So this is what the "lacquered cloth scripture" originally referred to!

One of the uses of lacquered cloth in the Song Dynasty was to make lacquered crowns!

If she hadn't shown it to me, I would never have imagined this in my entire life!

This is not something an ordinary person would wear; it is the highest-ranking Tongtian Crown! In that era, only one person was qualified to wear it! Together with the matching clothes and boots, it was collectively known as the Tongtian Crown and Robe.

I wanted to touch it, but I resisted.

Because this thing is so precious, I'm already grateful if they'll let me take a look. My hands are sweaty, and that would corrode the surface.

I pointed to the lacquered crown and said, "These gold threads used to be called the Twenty-Four Peaks. It was a fixed style at the time. Counting from left to right, the seventh, twelfth, and seventeenth threads were sewn on after your restoration. I think the secret to the location of the treasure is hidden in these three gold threads, right?"

Jiang Zhaoxue looked surprised: "You can tell that? Back then, my great-grandfather found a master textile craftsman who melted down gold leaves from the Northern Song Dynasty to make gold thread. It was a one-to-one replica, and the material was exactly the same as the original. How did you figure it out?"

Do you know what my nickname is?

"My nickname is Divine Eye Peak, because I can see through things."

"You can see through things??"

"Yes, I can also see that the clothes you're wearing underneath are lavender purple."

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but remained silent with a dark expression.

"Alright, just kidding. The old is the old, and the new is the new. No matter how well the new is made, it can never become the old, because it lacks that essence."

"Aura?? I don't understand. The craftsmanship and materials are exactly the same, so where does the aura come from?" she said.

I thought for a moment and then explained seriously: “There are three levels of appraisal. The first is seeing, the second is hearing, and the third is looking. What you look for is the spirit, which is the charm that time leaves on things and no one can imitate.”

She nodded: "The secret lies in these gold lines. You need a magnifying glass to see them. Originally, there was a small character on each of the three gold lines. Arranging the small characters will reveal the location of the treasure."

"There are small characters on the gold thread? How were they written there?"

She shook her head: "It wasn't written, it was engraved."

"Even carving won't work, will it? The lines are too thin; there's nowhere to cut."

She calmly said, "Don't doubt the abilities of the ancients. What we modern people can't do, people back then could."

I rubbed my face vigorously and suddenly realized what was going on.

It turned out to be the case.

Front lacquered cloth, back lacquered cloth, middle lacquered cloth.

Seven steps ahead, seven steps behind, and seven steps in between.

Both of these sayings, which have been circulating among the people of Chun'an for hundreds of years, are correct and should be combined to solve the problem.

There are twenty-four vertical gold lines on the lacquered crown.

The first seven is the seventh golden line, and the last seven is twenty-four minus seven, which is the seventeenth golden line.

The middle seven is the middle of twenty-four, which is the twelfth golden line.

At that time, the lacquered crown was not called a hat, nor was it called a crown in informal settings; it was called a headscarf.

A passage from the Water Margin suddenly came to mind.

"Fang La fled into the deep mountains and wilderness. After passing through the forest, he took off his yellow robe, veil, and court boots, put on straw sandals, and crossed the mountains. In order to save his life, he crossed five mountains overnight and came to a mountain hollow. Fang La saw a thatched hut and was feeling very hungry, so he wanted to beg for some food."

Yellow robe, veil, court boots.

Is this a historical coincidence?

I don't think so.

The golden armor we retrieved from Zukengyuan was made of soft leather with gold plating and wasn't very heavy; it should be considered a "yellow robe".

The veil is the "lacquered crown" in front of us.

As for the "court boots," they correspond perfectly to the black boots that the village still worships and venerates to this day. (That village is now Shanguo Village in Jinchuan Township, Shexian County, southern Anhui Province. Those who live nearby can go and explore, to see the golden knife and black boots that the villagers have guarded for hundreds of years. Perhaps they hold some kind of treasure information. Of course, Huang Mao told me that the people in the village are somewhat gloomy and xenophobic, and going there rashly might risk being beaten to death.)

I carefully closed the box and pushed it in front of Jiang Zhaoxue.

“Miss Jiang, or I should call you Master, thank you for showing me this. It has resolved many of my long-standing questions.”

"No need to thank me. You helped me get rid of that person, so it's only right. Don't you want some more money? After all, you risked your life doing this for money."

I stood up and said, "The leader said I am from the Northern School, not the Beggars' Sect. I, Xiang Yunfeng, earn money by my own abilities when I travel the world. I don't ask for money, let alone ask a woman for money."

"You're talking about women with that tone?"

"That's not what I meant. Let me finish what I have to say."

"I don't ask for it, but if you insist on giving it to me, I can accept it. It's called being too kind to refuse such a kind offer."

She suddenly laughed.

"Then I'll give you a hundred million, how about it?"

My heart was pounding, and my legs almost gave way.

I quickly steadied myself on the table, took a deep breath, nodded, and said, "Thank you."

She laughed again and said, "I'm not talking about now, I'm giving it to you a month from now, if you live to see that day."