Yesterday, the Qingzhou City Museum added some of the artifacts discovered on Sword-Washing Mountain to its collection, causing a nationwide sensation. Countless tourists came because of its newfound fame, and museum tickets became hot commodities.
Without Yu Huiyin's far-reaching connections, there was no way Su Yi could have walked in whenever he wanted at a time like this.
Before entering, Yu Huiyin had also told Qin Lin that they would look around separately.
Qin Lin had readily agreed, but he followed right behind them.
Yu Huiyin could hardly drive him away.
After entering the museum, Su Yi looked here and there without saying a word along the way. He stopped for a while before practically every artifact, seemingly pondering something.
As his companion, Yu Huiyin simply stood beside him and introduced the origins of the artifacts.
"This dragon-encircled blue-and-white cup is Jun porcelain from the Song dynasty. Have you heard of Jun porcelain?" Looking at the cup in its display case, Yu Huiyin explained to Su Yi, "Jun porcelain originated in the Tang dynasty and flourished in the Song. It has a history of more than thirteen hundred years. Starting with Emperor Huizong of Song, successive emperors designated it a treasure reserved for imperial use. Only the imperial family was allowed to own it; private collectors were forbidden from keeping it. And this dragon-encircled blue-and-white cup is the only one left in the world. It fully deserves to be called a national treasure."
"Hmm?" Su Yi said mildly. "It's only a slightly prettier cup, that's all. Besides, it isn't the only one in the world."
"Are you joking? Only a slightly prettier cup? What do you think this is?"
Standing behind them, Qin Lin finally could not resist sneering. "This dragon-encircled blue-and-white cup is absolutely the last one in the world. If a second peerless treasure like this had appeared, it would have caused a nationwide sensation long ago."
Su Yi merely turned and gave him a bland look without saying anything, but his gaze was like someone looking at an idiot.
It was only Song dynasty Jun porcelain. To others, it might be precious, even unparalleled in the world, but to Su Yi, it really was just a slightly prettier cup.
Qin Lin clenched his fists in anger. He wanted to rush up and teach this country bumpkin Su Yi a harsh lesson right then, but for the sake of maintaining his composure, he ultimately let it go.
Yu Huiyin did not know what to say either. She could only take it to mean that Su Yi had come from the mountains and had seen little of the world. He probably did not understand the cup's value.
"Speaking of cups, I used to have a completely transparent one. That was a fairly nice cup." Su Yi remembered a crystal cup he had used more than two thousand years ago, the kind that was transparent all over. He preferred things that looked simple.
A transparent cup?
Yu Huiyin could not help smacking her lips. Sure enough, Su Yi's taste probably went no further than transparent drinking glasses.
Yet she was also puzzled. Could someone who could recite classical poetry offhand, someone her grandfather valued so highly, really be an ignorant village boy?
Qin Lin sneered from the side. "Drinking glasses are certainly nice. They suit your temperament."
Su Yi glanced at him and said, "If I remember correctly, that cup should have been crystal. Glassware has only been around for the past few hundred years, hasn't it?" After saying that, he actually took out his phone and looked it up.
"Crystal?" Qin Lin could not help laughing. "You mean your cup was an antique crystal cup? Don't tell me it was that Warring States crystal cup unearthed in Hangzhou?"
Su Yi searched on his phone for the Warring States crystal cup unearthed in Hangzhou. After seeing the picture, he merely smiled and said, "It probably was."
"Huiyin, is this guy mentally ill?" Qin Lin finally could not hold back.
Yu Huiyin gave Qin Lin a cold look and ignored him. Instead, she said to Su Yi, "Those up ahead are the artifacts discovered in that mysterious tomb on Sword-Washing Mountain a couple of days ago. Let's go take a look."
Of course Yu Huiyin did not believe what Su Yi said. He was clearly boasting. She did not want to bother with Qin Lin either, but Qin Lin kept refusing to let it go.
Su Yi was her guest, after all. Qin Lin's constant targeting of him was truly tiresome.
Noticing that Yu Huiyin's expression had darkened, Qin Lin did not dare say anything more, but his gaze toward Su Yi grew even more venomous.
If not for this brat, how would he have made such an ugly spectacle of himself in front of Yu Huiyin?
"On Sword-Washing Mountain..." Su Yi walked forward, looking at the artifacts on display, and could not help sighing. These were all things he had once collected.
He had several dozen tombs like the one on Sword-Washing Mountain. After who knew how many seas had turned to mulberry fields and unpredictable changes had come and gone, even he no longer remembered where some of those tombs were.
"I heard Elder Tang say this stone stele should date back to the Tang-Yu period? But no one recognizes the writing in those first few passages! Who knows what was carved there? And the material this stele is made from definitely isn't anything from Earth."
"Could there really be an extraterrestrial civilization?"
"No, no, no. Look, besides that writing unlike anything we've ever seen or heard of, this stele also has oracle bone script, small seal script, and even modern traditional characters."
Two elderly men wearing reading glasses stood before a stone stele, studying it closely.
Su Yi walked over and stared at the stele, somewhat lost in thought.
This stele could be considered something he had always kept with him. Every time he went into slumber, he would carve recent interesting events onto it.
The Tang-Yu period? Su Yi smiled with his lips pressed together. It seemed those so-called experts still had not understood this stele.
"Old Song, tell me, doesn't this look like a diary?"
"Very much so. And apart from those first few passages, the events recorded on it seem to span the entire history of Huaxia."
"I never imagined that an immature child could actually unite all under heaven."
"I met a child named Xiang Yu. He seemed fairly promising, so I taught him a spear technique for ordinary people. It should be enough for him to protect himself."
"What comes next is: the realm lasted barely two generations before the Qin dynasty was gone. How ridiculous."
The two old men translated some of the writing on the stele, while staff members beside them accompanied them and took notes.
Never mind the two men doing the translating-even the staff beside them were utterly dumbfounded.
The writing seemed more like someone had written down interesting events from his own life. The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
"In the end, I could not bear to watch the world ravaged by war. I only intended to warn Japan, but I never expected to strike too hard anyway. From now on, I must never act rashly."
"These... these are traditional characters? They should have been carved in modern times, shouldn't they?"
The two old men nearly collapsed on the spot from heart attacks. They had roughly translated some of the characters on the stele, and then a terrifying thought surfaced in their minds.
Could there be someone who had lived from the Tang-Yu period, or even an earlier age, all the way to the present?
Was there really someone who never aged or died?