"Did you say it was a hundred years ago?" The person across from him suddenly became excited, his calm tone replaced with a sense of fervor. "Sir, please wait a moment. I will call you back shortly to confirm this matter."
Half an hour later, Liang En's phone rang. After answering the call, he once again heard the voice of the middle-aged man from earlier through the receiver.
"I apologize sincerely. We took some time to verify your information. After checking our family records, we can confirm that a portion of the wealth managed by the family head back then was indeed left in either England or Ireland."
"To be honest, your call has taken us by surprise. We can't believe that someone would be willing to return those fortunes to us."
"Yes, indeed, it's a substantial amount of wealth, but it doesn't belong to me, so I certainly won't keep it for myself." Since he had already decided to return the unearthed gold and jewelry to their rightful owner, Liang En saw no harm in speaking confidently.
"We are extremely grateful!" After hearing Liang En's words, the middle-aged man thanked him. "By the way, may I ask where you are now? We will send someone to the location you specify to retrieve these items."
After a brief exchange of introductions, the other party inquired about Liang En's location. Evidently, they recognized that it would be inappropriate for Liang En to deliver the items at this point.
"Here's the plan: I'm currently near Dublin. If you're coming over, you can notify me a day in advance, and we can meet near Dublin's Connolly train station."
"Alright, no problem. We will notify you a day in advance, Mr. Liang."
Three days later, in the morning, at a cafe near Dublin's Connolly train station, Liang En sat face to face with a middle-aged man with graying hair. On the table sat a small backpack.
Inside the backpack were several gold bars inscribed with characters and two silver boxes filled with jewelry. The middle-aged man took out a magnifying glass and carefully examined the inscriptions on the gold bars.
After a few minutes, a soft and rhythmic knocking sound broke the room's silence. A young man in a black suit entered from outside the door and whispered a few words to the steward named Lubuson.
"Thank you very much for your contribution." After the bodyguard who had been sent outside to count the gold bars reported the count, the steward Lubuson put down the gold bar in his hand and stood up formally to thank him.
On these gold pieces engraved by Jacques de Brienne, there was a piece that detailed the statistics of the gold bars and jewelry. So, the bodyguard was sent to count the number of gold bars.
Evidently, the current count matched.
"By the way, because of your contribution in this matter, we will also provide appropriate compensation. However, we need to confirm the value of these items before determining the exact amount, so it might take a while before we can pay."
Saying this, the steward Lubuson took an envelope out of his pocket, then opened it and removed two sheets of paper from inside, filling them out in the blank spaces.
A minute later, the steward Lubuson handed the completed paper to Liang En. At this point, Liang En realized that the contents of the two sheets of paper were exactly the same, both receipts. The steward had filled in the quantities of all the wealth.
It had to be said that these nobles clearly had much more experience in this area than the average person, as the receipts were meticulously written and also explicitly stated that no corresponding compensation would be given to Liang En.
After signing both receipts, the steward Lubuson left with the gold and jewelry. While it might be challenging to leave with this pile of items, they undoubtedly had their means.
Since the pastries and drinks on the table had already been paid for and considering the fact that Liang En didn't usually frequent cafes of this caliber, he decided to finish his food before leaving.
As he was engrossed in eating a chocolate muffin, his phone suddenly made a soft "ding" sound. Picking up the phone, he found a new email in his inbox.
"I hope it's not another advertisement." Liang En, with a muffin in one hand and his phone in the other, unlocked his phone with his thumb and opened the email.
"The reply from the 'Journal of the British Archaeological Association' has arrived—"
Upon seeing the content of the email, Liang En immediately straightened up and earnestly examined the message.
The email was concise. It indicated that his article would be published in the next issue of the "Journal of the British Archaeological Association." Additionally, it reminded him to expect payment for the contribution.
Clearly, a prestigious journal like the "Journal of the British Archaeological Association" had substantial funding. Thus, they not only didn't require authors to pay for publication but also provided compensation for those who had their papers published.
"This is fantastic!" After carefully reading the email, Liang En snapped his fingers in excitement. For him, this article represented a firm step forward in his academic endeavors.
Because, for the current Liang En, the most important thing was to see how far he could take advantage of his 'golden finger'—a term he used to describe his exceptional ability. To achieve this, having a strong academic standing in history and archaeology, alongside financial resources, was just as essential.
Otherwise, even if Liang En knew about significant historical sites, like the location of Troy, he wouldn't have been able to excavate them using legitimate methods.
Over the next few days, Liang En wrote another paper at home and sent it via email to the "Journal of the British Archaeological Association." For him, this was an opportune time to seize the momentum.
The second paper built upon the foundation of the first, utilizing Coptic and the deductions from the previous paper to propose that ancient Egyptian texts inherently possessed meaningful qualities.
One example he provided was the name of a pharaoh, a native Egyptian ruler. In a photograph, the final two letters of the name had been found in the names of foreign pharaohs, implying that their pronunciation was 'S.'
One of the previously unknown letters represented the sun, pronounced as 'Ra' in Coptic.
The other letter had appeared in fragments containing both Greek and ancient Egyptian inscriptions, indicating it meant 'birthday.' In Coptic, it was pronounced as 'Mes.'
Thus, when the entire word was pronounced, it became 'Rameses,' which referred to the renowned pharaoh Ramses. In a direct translation, it meant 'the birth of the sun god.'
Besides this example, Liang En offered several other indigenous pharaoh names to illustrate that even native Egyptian names were constructed through letter combinations.
Towards the end of the paper, he made a significant point. He suggested that there was a crucial link between Coptic and the ancient Egyptian hieratic script.
Additionally, he noted that the remaining work involved using Coptic as a blueprint for gradual comparison and validation, ultimately deciphering the lost ancient Egyptian script.
Of course, credit was also due to the scholar Champollion in this world.
Although, due to various twists and turns, Champollion didn't fully translate the secrets within ancient Egyptian writings, he painstakingly organized Coptic and compiled a Coptic dictionary, laying a solid foundation for Liang En's current work.
After meticulously proofreading the paper several times, Liang En sent it off. Just as he was beginning to contemplate whether he should take a few days to rest at home or head straight back to London, a phone call changed his plans.