Nick found the imam's story hard to accept. After returning to his lodgings, he began investigating an ancient plant called "Qu."
He had said before that Chinese characters could be understood through analogy. The character for sun represented The Sun, and every character containing that shape was related to The Sun. For example, dawn was formed by adding a horizontal line beneath the character for sun, creating the image of The Sun rising over the horizon.
The character for moon usually represented Moon, but it could also mean flesh, as in chest, belly, intestines, and so on. Plants usually had the grass radical, as in vine, grass, and flower. It was rare for the moon radical to represent grass. Perhaps he simply did not know enough obscure characters.
The Inner Classic of the South, where the Beiqu Kingdom was located, also contained the name of the Huns. That name was familiar in both East and West, yet most people considered the Classic of Mountains and Seas a book of strange tales rather than a geographical work or a document that could serve as evidence for historical research.
However, an Anhui man named Zhu Yun believed that the records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas could be used as reference material, and he himself had been one of the compilers of the Complete Library of the Four Branches.
He, Lu Jianzeng, and Bi Yuan had all formed their own staffs, and all had deep ties to epigraphic studies during Qianlong's reign. Lu Jianzeng and Bi Yuan had simply been less fortunate.
Lu Jianzeng was imprisoned to death because of the Two Huai Salt License Case. Bi Yuan's first half of life had gone smoothly, and he had even died with dignity—only to have his property confiscated after his death.
He