On the way home, Zhang Tie's heart pounded with excitement and nerves. His right hand stayed clenched tight in his pocket, as if afraid the thing might escape. In that fleeting glimpse when he picked it up, he had seen that in the middle of one half of the Fool's Gold, which had been smashed in two, there was a neatly shaped object a little smaller than an egg. It seemed to have beautiful patterns on it, too. If someone hadn't smashed the Fool's Gold against the ground and cracked it open, no one could ever have discovered that it contained something. The thing clearly wasn't naturally formed. And how many years had it taken for the Fool's Gold to form? Zhang Tie reckoned it had to be hundreds of millions. There was an object inside Fool's Gold from hundreds of millions of years ago...
Hundreds of millions of years ago...
An object that hadn't formed naturally...
Those beautiful patterns...
When these few clues came together in Zhang Tie's mind, he felt his heart abruptly stop for a beat.
At first, Zhang Tie managed to keep a normal pace on the way home. But as he drew closer and closer, he could no longer suppress his excitement, and his pace quickened until he was running. Even as he ran, he kept one hand in his pocket, gripping the piece of Fool's Gold tightly for fear it might fall out. Maybe it was the nerves, but Zhang Tie felt that the piece of Fool's Gold in his hand was getting hotter and hotter.
When he got home, his mother was steaming fermented rice in the kitchen. Hearing Zhang Tie's hurried footsteps, she didn't turn around, only called out, "I saved you some food. It's still hot, so take your time eating!"
"Mom, I already ate out!"
After saying that, Zhang Tie didn't even eat. He charged straight upstairs in one breath. His older brother wasn't home today, so the house was much quieter. He lowered the attic ladder and climbed up to his little nook, stowed the ladder, secured the hatch with its latch, lit the lamp, and lowered the curtains and the double-layered wooden shutters that kept out the cold. Only when he was alone in the cramped space, with no chance of anyone seeing him, did Zhang Tie drop onto the bed and pant heavily.
Still breathing hard, Zhang Tie eagerly pulled the half-piece of Fool's Gold out of his pocket and held it under the lamplight for a closer look. The moment he did, he couldn't tear his eyes away...
The thing encased in the Fool's Gold looked like a slightly undersized, oval Crystal Egg. Its surface was engraved with intricate, beautiful patterns and designs that seemed to form an archway. Inside the egg, he could just make out a tiny sapling, so exquisite it didn't seem man-made.
Two-thirds of the Crystal Egg had already been exposed, while the remaining third was stuck to the rest of the Fool's Gold. Zhang Tie gave it a try, and with a little force, he pulled the Crystal Egg out of the cracked Fool's Gold, revealing it in full. There was no yolk inside the Crystal Egg. The "yolk" was a tiny sapling, while the "white" swirled with something like liquid mercury. On closer inspection, the "mercury" seemed to be a mist of seven-colored light, dazzlingly beautiful. The light swirled around the sapling, filled with an indescribable mystery. It had been a faint glimmer from this seven-colored mist under the lamplight that caught Zhang Tie's eye.
The spear training at noon had raised a few blisters on Zhang Tie's hands. Probably because he had been in such a hurry on the way back and had gripped the Fool's Gold so tightly, its sharp edges had scraped open several of the blistered spots. As a result, a little of Zhang Tie's blood had gotten onto both the Fool's Gold and the Crystal Egg. The blood made the Crystal Egg look a little unsightly. When Zhang Tie tried to wipe the bloodstain off with his sleeve, he noticed something strange: the small patch of dark red blood on the egg didn't come off. Instead, it seemed to be absorbed, slowly seeping inward from the Crystal Egg's surface. What was more, as the faint layer of blood sank into the crystal, its area grew smaller while its volume increased. Slowly, it began to gather at the top of the Crystal Egg into a single drop of blood. When the drop had formed, the Crystal Egg began to glow...
"Ah..." His hand suddenly burned, and Zhang Tie cried out, instinctively letting go of the Crystal Egg. Then Zhang Tie stared in dumbfounded shock. Released from his hand, the Crystal Egg hovered upright in midair in front of the oil lamp, perfectly steady, giving off a faint glow. Zhang Tie's eyes widened in terror and panic. He had no idea what was happening. Then, before his horrified gaze, the tiny drop of blood gathered at the top of the Crystal Egg finally took shape. Like a grain of sand in an hourglass, it fell toward the tiny sapling in the middle of the "yolk"...
The instant the blood fell, Zhang Tie's head rang with a hum. He felt the ground vanish beneath his feet, as if he were falling from a great height. Then he saw the Crystal Egg, glowing with an eerie light, turn into a streak of light and fly toward his head. A sharp pain flared at the spot between his brows, as though something had burrowed from there into his brain. Zhang Tie's vision went black, and he passed out...
That faint lasted so long that Zhang Tie completely lost consciousness...
After an unknown length of time, Zhang Tie slowly came to.
As his awareness returned, the first thing he felt was a chill against his face. Still dazed, Zhang Tie was a little frightened, unsure what was happening to him. A few seconds after his mind began working again, he opened his eyes and realized why his face felt cold: it was pressed flat against the floorboards beneath him.
His eyes shifted as he struggled to get up and sit on the bed. The tiny, bean-sized flame in the room was still burning, though the oil had gone down a little. It looked as if three or four hours had passed. He got up and opened the cold-proof shutter on the window. Outside was pitch-black, and several dogs barked in the distance. That confirmed his guess: it was the middle of the night.
Wait... where was the Crystal Egg...
Zhang Tie was startled. He looked at his hands, then around the room. Apart from the piece of "Fool's Gold" lying on the floor, there wasn't a damn thing in the room. He picked up the Fool's Gold and held it in his hand. The only thing reminding him that everything he had just experienced was real was the smooth, round indentation, still clearly visible on the Fool's Gold.
Could it have... flown away...
Remembering the last thing he'd seen, the Crystal Egg floating in midair, Zhang Tie couldn't help thinking so. But he checked the walls, doors, and windows. They were all intact. He couldn't find even a gap as big as a fly. How could something the size of an egg fly away? If it had, it would've needed a hole to get out.
He took a mirror from the drawer by his bed and looked at himself. Aside from being a little pale, he had no mark between his brows. He sat on the bed in silence for a long while, until his stomach rumbled like thunder. Only then did Zhang Tie remember that he hadn't eaten dinner. At the thought of food, he suddenly realized he was hungrier than he had ever been. He felt as if he could confidently eat an entire cow in one sitting.
He couldn't figure out what had happened to the Crystal Egg, so he'd have to leave it for now. The important thing was to find something to fill his stomach, or he might starve to death and then everything would be for nothing.
Careful not to make too much noise, Zhang Tie tiptoed down the little attic ladder, carrying the oil lamp, and crept into the kitchen like a thief to look for food. Fortunately, the main dish at dinner the night before had been boiled sweet potatoes, which tasted just as good cold. There was still a big plate of them in the kitchen, seven or eight in all. Without giving it much thought, Zhang Tie wolfed them down in a few gulps. Only after finishing them did he realize, somewhat horrified, how outrageous his appetite had become. Those seven or eight sweet potatoes weighed at least a pound. Even when he was hungry, he could usually manage only half that. What was going on with him today? And that wasn't all. After eating so much, he felt as if he'd barely had half a meal. He was thirsty, too, so he gulped down two large ladlefuls of water and polished off three bowls of the fermented rice his family had made. Only then did his stomach feel warm, and his whole body felt indescribably comfortable. It was an experience unlike any he'd ever had.
After washing up quickly by the lamplight, he sneaked back to his little nook, took off his clothes, and lay down on the bed. Zhang Tie tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. At last, he steeled himself. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well practice. He sat on the bed in the proper posture and regulated his breathing for a moment. Just as he was about to close his eyes and visualize the abacus in his mind, as required by Abacus Mental Calculation, he suddenly noticed something extra in his consciousness—or rather, in his mind. When Zhang Tie focused his thoughts and attention on that added thing, it quickly grew clear in his awareness. Once he saw what it was, Zhang Tie nearly burst into tears. The thing in the depths of his consciousness was the same simple yet magnificent archway he had seen on the Crystal Egg's shell. It hung quietly in the depths of his Sea of Consciousness. When Zhang Tie concentrated his awareness on it, it rapidly grew larger and clearer within his Sea of Consciousness...
It seemed... it seemed he could go inside—a vague voice in his heart seemed to be reminding him. Zhang Tie didn't know why he had that thought, but then he really looked at the simple yet magnificent archway and said, "Go in!"
The fifteen-year-old boy had yet to realize that with those words, his life would never be ordinary again.