roccoschili Chapter 29: Ouroboros
Chapter 29: Ouroboros
The vermilion-lacquered door was still the same vermilion-lacquered door, but the bald man was no longer standing guard at the entrance.
When Cheng Xiaojin arrived at 3:30 pm, Aunt Zhang and Sister Zhou, who runs the pancake stall, had already found seats in the direction of Yinding Bridge. One was sewing shoe soles on a stone bench at the bridgehead, and the other was flipping through newspapers at a roadside stall. They were both familiar faces who had been strolling around that area for twenty years, and no one would give them a second glance.
At the second intersection, Tieguai Li sat by the window in a teahouse, with a hexagonal wrench and a pot of Longjing tea beside him.
Cheng Xiaojin pushed open the vermilion lacquered door. The row of chairs and tea table that were there last time were not there, nor was Fatty Sun's fat face and King of Glasses' thick lenses.
There was only a rosewood long table placed under the grape trellis.
Boss Lin sat in a grand chair, his gray Zhongshan suit buttoned up to the top. In front of him was a pot of Tieguanyin tea and two white porcelain cups, the tea still steaming.
"Boss Cheng, please have a seat."
Cheng Xiaojin sat down on the chair opposite and glanced at the four corners of the yard.
There was no one else.
"Boss Lin, is it just the two of us today?"
"You were quite clear-headed last time, so I feel like I don't need to bring too many people when I talk to you. If there are too many people, it becomes difficult to have a proper conversation."
Boss Lin poured him a cup of tea, his wrist steady, filling it to exactly seven-tenths full.
"I am very satisfied with the Zhenhai Railway. It arrived in Penang within 72 hours, and I was able to open and inspect the goods. There were no problems."
Cheng Xiaojin picked up his teacup, took a sip, and didn't say anything.
Seventy-two hours later, he had indeed flown back; Master Qi's information was correct.
"But I didn't call you here today to talk about the Zhenhai Railway."
Mr. Lin raised his left hand and placed it on the table.
The silver ouroboros ring on my ring finger gleamed with a cold white luster in the afternoon light; the snake bit its own tail, and the scales on the ring were finely engraved.
"You looked at this ring for a long time last time, Mr. Cheng."
Cheng Xiaojin's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't look away; instead, he stared at it for two more seconds.
"I did look at it. The craftsmanship doesn't seem to be made by domestic craftsmen, and the silver isn't like the 925 silver we usually see. It has more of a Southeast Asian antique silver feel to it. My problem in this line of work is that I can't control my eyes when I see something good."
Boss Lin smiled.
"You only watched it because of its good workmanship?"
"Otherwise what?"
Where have you seen this pattern before?
Cheng Xiaojin's brain worked at high speed.
Master Ma taught him to tell three parts truth and keep seven parts to himself.
"My grandfather drew this pattern in his old notebook, and wrote two words next to it: 'connecting tails'."
"I thought it was a pattern from some ancient artifact, but I couldn't match it up in several catalogs. Boss Lin's ring, however, did match up for me, but I really don't know where it came from."
"What's your grandfather's name?"
"Cheng Yannian".
Mr. Lin stopped turning the ring.
The courtyard was quiet. A leaf from the grape trellis was blown down by the wind, swirling and landing on the teapot lid.
Boss Lin looked at Cheng Xiaojin's face with a gaze that was deeper and more intense than during the last transaction, carrying a sense of recognition.
Approximately ten seconds.
"Cheng Yannian".
Boss Lin nodded, his voice slowing down slightly.
"I've heard of this name before. More than 20 years ago, he was a very influential person in the industry."
My grandfather passed away many years ago.
"Did he teach you your skills?"
"He taught me. I didn't go to school much. I grew up hanging out with him in Panjiayuan and learned from him through observation and experience."
Boss Lin picked up his teacup, took a sip, and when he put it down, the bottom of the cup tapped on the rosewood table with a crisp sound.
"Where is your father?"
Cheng Xiaojin was prepared for this question.
"It's gone."
Three words, saying nothing, yet encompassing everything.
Boss Lin didn't press him about why he wasn't there. He was an old hand at the business and could tell the weight behind those three words.
"What a pity."
His fingers began to turn the ring again, slowly, the silver band sliding on his ring finger.
"Mr. Cheng, I've been doing business in Penang for over twenty years. I first heard your grandfather's name from an old man."
"That old man was in the same line of work as your grandfather, also making ironware. He was quite famous in Southeast Asia in the late 1980s. He told me that there was an old man in Beijing surnamed Cheng who had something extraordinary, but he absolutely refused to sell it, no matter how much money anyone offered."
Cheng Xiaojin tapped the inside of the teacup twice with his finger.
He knew what the incredible thing Boss Lin was talking about was.
But his expression only showed slight curiosity.
"What is it?"
"I don't know. The old man didn't explain clearly, only saying it was an old book related to the Yongle era. Mr. Cheng, did your grandfather mention it to you?"
"My grandfather left behind a lot of notes, mostly his own appraisal records. There are a few that I still haven't finished reading because the print is too small and strains my eyes. As for any old books, I've never actually found them."
Cheng Xiaojin's lie went very smoothly.
The surviving scroll is locked in a secret compartment in Master Ma's house. Even if Boss Lin sends people to search his rented house from top to bottom, they still won't be able to find it.
Boss Lin looked at him for a few seconds but didn't ask any further questions.
The wind in the yard blew another leaf down.
"Boss Cheng, I invited you here today not only to catch up, but also to discuss something more important."
Boss Lin stood up.
He walked to a row of low cabinets behind the armchair against the wall, and took out a palm-sized brocade box from the rightmost cabinet door. It was covered in dark blue satin and had a copper clasp.
The brocade box was placed on the rosewood table and pushed in front of Cheng Xiaojin.
"This is something I brought for you to see. I'm not selling it to you, but asking you to appraise it."
Cheng Xiaojin glanced at Boss Lin and reached out to open the copper clasp on the brocade box.
The lid was lifted, revealing a layer of yellow silk inside.
A copper plate lay on the silk.
It is about half the size of a palm, with an irregular shape, the edges of which have been worn smooth by time, and the surface is covered with a thin layer of verdigris.
Beneath the patina lies a complex pattern, with densely interwoven lines.
The lines vary in thickness and follow a regular but asymmetrical pattern, making it impossible to discern the complete design.
Cheng Xiaojin felt the temperature the moment his fingertips touched the copper sheet.
It's cold.
It wasn't the slight coolness that metal should have at room temperature; it was a coldness that emanated from the inside out, like a clump of unyielding chill locked inside the core of a copper sheet.
He recognized the origin of the pattern.
On page 87 of the fragment, the tiny illustration next to the ironware seal depicts this very pattern.
The attached image has three words written next to it.
The diagram is shown.
Cheng Xiaojin's fingers paused on the edge of the copper sheet for a second, then he naturally flipped it over and looked at the back.
The back is smooth, without any texture, only a thicker layer of patina.
He put the copper piece back into the brocade box.
"Boss Lin, this thing is indeed made using traditional methods, hand-engraved, not stamped. The bronze is bluish, and it must be at least three or four hundred years old. But I can't say for sure what its specific function is, the patterns are too complicated, I've never seen this kind of style before."
He paused for a moment.
"I need to go back and think about it."
Master Ma taught me.
Mr. Lin showed no surprise, as if he had expected him to say that.
"No rush, take your time looking at it. I got this from an old friend twenty years ago. That old friend said it was the key to the Eight-Armed Nezha City Formation."
The City of Eight-Armed Nezha.
Cheng Xiaojin controlled her facial expressions very well; only her eyebrows twitched slightly.
"Eight-Armed Nezha City? What does that mean?"
"You haven't heard of it?"
"Never heard of it. I'm just a street vendor, and the most famous name I've ever heard of is Panjiayuan Ghost Market."
Boss Lin smiled, but it wasn't a loud, restrained laugh.
"Boss Cheng, you're too modest. Okay, let's talk about this another day. If you have any thoughts on this bronze piece, feel free to call me anytime."
Cheng Xiaojin stood up and nodded.
"Boss Lin, the tea is good. I'll treat you to some another day. The high-quality tea from Huguosi Street, braised with high-quality tea leaves, is just as good as Tieguanyin."
"I will definitely do you the honor of coming."
Cheng Xiaojin turned and walked out.
As he pushed open the vermilion-lacquered door and stepped out, his hands were clenched into fists in his pockets.
The diagram is shown.
The drawings on the tattered scroll are very clear.
That was one of the nine key elements of the Eight-Armed Nezha City Formation.
During the Yongle era, when the black-robed prime minister Yao Guangxiao was building Beijing, he placed nine array diagrams at nine different nodes on the earth's veins.
Only when all nine pieces are combined can the formation be considered complete.
A diagram has now been found in the hands of a Malaysian smuggler.
Cheng Xiaojin walked out of the alley, took out his phone, and sent four words to Master Ma.
Eight-armed Nezha.
Master Ma's reply consisted of only two words.
Come home.
Cheng Xiaojin put his phone away and turned to walk towards the Drum Tower.
He hadn't walked ten steps when his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the wall across the alley.
There's a person standing there.
Wearing a linen shirt, with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slightly leaning against the wall, he looked relaxed, as if he was waiting for someone or just passing by for a rest.
The distance was more than 20 meters, and the light in the alley was so dim that only the general outline could be seen.
I can't see the face clearly.
But the collar of that shirt stood out starkly white against the dim background, clean and without a single wrinkle.
Cheng Xiaojin turned his face back to the front and quickened his pace to merge into the crowd on Gulou Street.
He didn't turn around.
That gaze followed him all the way from the alley entrance to the main street.
The gaze didn't leave until he was swallowed up by the crowd.