As White Granny's words trailed off, White Snow rushed over and shoved me away.
"Du Guangting, shameless wretch, dare you speak to my grandmother like that? Do you think you have a death wish?"
White Snow then turned to Yellow Erhei and continued, "Uncle Huang, why hesitate? Put an end to this ignorant ruffian."
Before the walnut sound ceased, Yellow Erhei had already sprung into action.
At that moment, unexpectedly, Song Haizhu lifted White Granny up directly.
"Ailian, hold on tight."
White Granny, caught off guard, exclaimed, finding herself suddenly airborne.
Stabilizing herself, she hurriedly smoothed out her disheveled silver hair.
Song Haizhu's unconventional move caught everyone by surprise, especially considering White Granny's age.
After a moment, White Snow couldn't help but ask, "Granny, what have you discovered?"
"The images seem to depict a scene of escorting prisoners, but the damage is too severe to make out clearly."
As the flashlight moved, White Granny continued, "There's a pile of blazing flames here, seemingly not from wood burning, but more akin to coal."
I wondered, "Could it be? There was no coal three thousand years ago."
"Quiet," White Snow's tone was unsympathetic as she gave me a glare, then asked again, "Granny, is there anything else?"
"Many people were burnt alive in the fire, writhing in agony. The scene is quite eerie."
"Wait!"
White Granny's tone became urgent as she suddenly fell silent, as if she had discovered something.
"What's wrong, Granny?"
All eyes were on White Granny, awaiting an answer.
White Granny spoke slowly, uttering four words: "The Sitting Stone Holds the Cauldron!"
So that was it, the real treasure was hidden beneath the Sitting Stone.
Immediately, several people began to push the Sitting Stone, but it was easier said than done.
Shouting slogans, feeling like our guts were being torn out, one by one we were exhausted like dogs. The Sitting Stone, weighing several tons, didn't budge an inch.
"At times, you must use unconventional methods."
As I spoke these words, memories of Chen's three brothers and Old Man Ding flooded my mind, as if it had all happened yesterday.
"What do you mean, bro?" Nose Cannon looked puzzled.
Liu Yuanbao, being in the know, understood immediately and sprang into action.
Although the project wasn't large, the difficulty was considerable. After digging for half a meter, black chunks appeared underground, identified as coal.
An hour later, a covert tunnel had been dug into the side of the Sitting Stone.
Switching to shovels, we searched bit by bit. After about twenty minutes, Liu Yuanbao paused, turned to look at everyone, and nodded.
"Granny, it's time for the dish to be served!" White Snow's excitement overflowed.
White Granny calmly replied, "Snow, keep your composure."
Liu Yuanbao slowed his breathing and carefully removed the surrounding soil.
Five minutes later.
Liu Yuanbao said, "The color of melon rind."
Ten minutes later.
He said, "There's an inscription!"
Half an hour later.
Liu Yuanbao's voice trembled.
"The entire half revealed is covered in inscriptions, estimated to be several hundred characters!"
White Granny let out a sigh of relief.
White Snow, however, was extremely nervous, constantly reminding Liu Yuanbao to be careful. If he accidentally made a mark, it would be like a tractor crashing into a Rolls-Royce, unbearable for anyone.
Liu Yuanbao was drenched in sweat, and his hands were trembling.
Not to mention him, just watching from the side made me feel breathless. Something like this could be admired for a lifetime, boasting its magnificence.
Yellow Erhei spoke up, "Step aside, let me handle this."
Another half an hour passed, and Yellow Erhei carefully lifted the bronze cauldron out, placing it on the Sitting Stone.
After clearing away some loose soil on top, we examined it closely.
A round cauldron with three legs and a lid, standing about a foot tall with a diameter of approximately twenty centimeters.
The entire vessel was covered in verdigris, its patterns still clear and beautiful despite more than three thousand years, maintaining its solemnity.
After observing for a while, White Granny furrowed her brow.
"This isn't from the Western Zhou period but the Shang Dynasty," she remarked.
Yellow Erhei, puzzled, touched the bronze cauldron. "Bronze artifacts from the Shang and Zhou periods are usually cast using the piece-mold method, with obvious mold lines. It's hard to distinguish specific dynasties, often collectively referred to as the Shang-Zhou period. How can Granny differentiate so precisely?"
White Granny explained, "During the Shang Dynasty, the mold lines were obvious. With the development of bronze casting technology by the Western Zhou period, although there were still mold lines, the overall craftsmanship became much finer. Later, the lost-wax method gradually evolved."
Yellow Erhei nodded in understanding.
Nose Cannon scratched his head. "This is giving me a headache. What does it all mean?"
Shi Jingxia pondered for a moment. "Think of it as something made using a mold. Does that make sense to you?"
"Oh, I see. It's like those things made in the countryside, not much technological prowess involved."
Nose Cannon turned to me. "Bro, this looks impressive. How much do you think it's worth?"
"One word, twenty thousand. Do the math yourself."
He counted with his fingers for a while, then squatted down to draw and calculate, muttering the multiplication table.
After a moment, he suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "Incredible, nearly twenty million! Bro, I'm feeling a bit dizzy."
Shi Jingxia shook her head. "You're dizzy from your sudden burst of intelligence."
White Granny smiled faintly. "The Zhouyuan site is known as the hometown of bronze ware. Half of the discovered bronze artifacts have inscriptions, totaling thirteen thousand characters, comparable to a section of the Shangshu."
After a brief pause, she continued, "The Mao Gong Cauldron, hailed as one of the Four Great Cauldrons of the late Qing Dynasty, was cast in the late Western Zhou period, with five hundred characters of inscriptions. It is now housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. As for the bronze cauldron before us..."
Before White Granny could finish her sentence, Nose Cannon interrupted, "Incredible, this is amazing, the most amazing!"
"Granny, if that's the case, then this bronze cauldron's value is surely more than twenty million."
White Granny nodded slightly, smiling but saying nothing.
White Snow answered her own question, "Once this cauldron hits the market, it will cause a sensation. As for the price, it depends on how much we want for it."
Bronze artifacts with inscriptions are invaluable because the inscriptions can fully reflect their past and present, just like people. Without proper documentation, they remain obscure.
During the Shang and Zhou periods, bronze casting followed this pattern, recording events or naming the vessels after their use or the names of those who cast them.
The famous Simuwu Ding, for example, was cast by King Zu Geng of Shang to honor his mother, Wu.
Similarly, to understand the story behind this bronze cauldron, we can only start with the inscriptions.
Among us, I'm the one who slipped through the cracks of higher education, Shi Jingxia is similar to me, and Nose Cannon is probably like some A-list celebrity, not even able to write his own name, what a joke.
As for the others, I don't know, but they're probably not much better.
After some calculation, only White Granny remained.
Furrowing her brow, she looked for a while and rubbed her temples.
White Snow asked, "Granny, what's written on it?"
White Granny shook her head. "The inscriptions on bronze ware, also known as Jinwen or Zhongdingwen, are difficult to understand, like chewing on hard bones. I can only make out a few characters, but..."
"But what?"
"This bronze cauldron was cast by someone named Lei Gong."
At this, Nose Cannon burst into laughter. "Why not say it's the alchemy furnace of the Supreme Old Lord?"
White Snow glared angrily and raised her hand to hit him, but Nose Cannon dodged and saw that Sun Tiedan had his back to us, so he walked over.
"Iron Egg, what are you sneaking around for?"