Part 2 Chapter 1 Mystery
There was a statue in the cabinet that was probably made of plaster, tightly bound with black cloth strips. It looked like a mummy, with only a head exposed. Just by looking at the head, I recognized it at a glance. This thing was made after Yuan Zhen!
What does this mean? The Mummy Returns? I asked Qin Yiheng for confirmation, and he nodded at me: "Yes, this is Yuan Zhen, and he has hands."
I looked down and saw a few fingertips in the gaps between the black cloth strips. I was even more puzzled. We had already seen Yuan Zhen's body, and his hands had been chopped off. We had previously guessed what information Yuan Zhen had hidden in his palms. Now a life-size statue was sent to us. Was it to give us clues?
As I was thinking about it, I wanted to look at the palms of the plaster statue, but Qin Yiheng stopped me, saying that it was useless to look because the plaster statue had been tampered with and both palms had been polished with sandpaper.
I touched it with my hand, and it was true. It felt like frosted glass, and there was definitely no palm prints on it. This was even more strange. If it wasn't here to deliver clues, why did they go to the trouble of getting such a thing?
After discussing it with Qin Yiheng, he also said that it was a bit puzzling, so we could only move the plaster statue out to look at it before analyzing it. We used scissors to cut the black cloth strips on the plaster statue one by one, and worked together to move the plaster statue out.
The black cloth strips were very oily, and I didn't know what they had been soaked in before. It took me a long time to cut them all off, but the plaster statue was very clean, without any stains. I took a look at it and it was quite interesting. The plaster statue was naked and lifelike.
Qin Yiheng carefully looked at it from head to toe but found nothing, so we turned the plaster statue over and looked at the back.
As soon as I turned over, I saw that there was something like a table on the back of the plaster statue. It was not carved later, but should have been there when the plaster statue was made. Qin Yiheng reached out and touched it, but he probably didn't see anything, so he didn't say anything for a long time.
The table is not big, about the size of two palms, and the horizontal and vertical lines are not very straight, and they look crooked. The more I look at it, the more familiar it seems. After thinking about it, I suddenly understand that this is just a chess board! I wanted to remind Qin Yiheng, but before I could open my mouth, I remembered that I had picked up a chess piece at Wan Jinrong's house before, and now a chess board was sent to us. Is there a connection between them?
I quickly told Qin Yiheng the conclusion I had drawn, and he was also a little surprised. We squatted down and started to study. Although I had seen the chess game at that time, I had no idea where it was placed. I gestured with my hands a few times, but neither of us could figure it out.
Finally, we all just sat back on the sofa and smoked. After we finished smoking, we still had no clue. Qin Yiheng said to put it aside for now, and asked me to go to the closet again, pointing at the closet door and said: "Someone has drawn something with ink on the inside of these two doors. I found the ancestral hall according to the drawings on the closet before."
I didn't take a look when I opened the closet just now, but I saw some messy things on the inside of the closet door. The closet was a little far from the light, so I turned sideways to let the light in, and then I could see clearly that it seemed to be a painting.
This painting is not very good, a bit like a child's sketch, the brushstrokes are quite clear, all thick ink is used, but the content is strange, it seems that a group of people are dancing in twos and threes. This painting is too abstract, and it is hard to tell what it is doing. I think it looks like the square dance of old ladies in the square. Apart from that, there is no special feature in the clothing, and it is not clear what era the picture depicts.
The same is true for the other door. From composition to brushwork, the painting is the same, but the content is different. There are no people in the painting. It seems to be a landscape. I guess it is a waterscape like a river. There are a few strokes that clearly outline the direction of the water. Apart from that, there is nothing else.
Seeing this, I couldn't help but turn around and ask Qin Yiheng: "What is this?"
Qin Yiheng's expression was unclear. He said, "If these wardrobes are all converted from coffins, then these paintings are likely to be the paintings on the inside of the original coffins. The paintings I saw in another wardrobe were completely different from these two, but the style of painting was similar. They should have been painted by the same person. It roughly depicts a group of people carrying a spirit tablet to send off the spirit. The only strange thing is that in the painting, except for the one carrying the spirit tablet, the rest of the people are carrying weapons, and I don't know what they are going to do."
"And the most important thing is..." Qin Yiheng paused, "In one corner of the painting, a lot of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches symbols were used to draw something similar to a number series. It looked quite complicated. I took a picture of it with my mobile phone at the time, and later I used a compass to carefully calculate it in the hospital. It turned out to be a relatively detailed orientation map."
I understood what he said, no need to say, the map is the address of the ancestral hall. But I still don't understand. Although I haven't seen those unearthed ancient coffins with my own eyes, at least I have seen some on TV or on the Internet. Paintings inside coffins are relatively rare. Even if there are paintings, they are all dragons and phoenixes, and this is obviously abstract.
I asked Qin Yiheng, but he couldn't tell me exactly. He just said that according to the current situation, it is very likely that these paintings were drawn in a hurry, and the painter had to record some important things, so he had to do this. As for what they were recording, we have no way to verify. The paintings on the inner doors of these wardrobes should have been a whole. If we really want to understand clearly, we probably have to look at all the wardrobes.
After that, Qin Yiheng sat back on the sofa and smoked. I lit up one too. Frankly speaking, there was too much information to digest overnight. Qin Yiheng must have been a little tired from talking, and he didn't open his mouth for a long time. I closed my eyes and summarized it. I always felt like I was in the middle of a big mystery. This feeling is hard to describe. It's a bit like the feeling of wanting to roar but not being able to open your mouth.
The night passed quickly. After I finished smoking this cigarette, I looked at the watch. It was almost five in the morning. It was already light outside. I was nervous before and didn't feel anything. Now I felt a little sleepy. I discussed with Qin Yiheng and planned to go home and have a good sleep. Qin Yiheng also yawned and told me to have a good rest. We should leave as soon as possible.
I didn't do any physical work that night, but I still felt exhausted. When I got home, I fell asleep and woke up in the afternoon. I basically did nothing for the next two days and just stayed at home to sleep. On the third day, Qin Yiheng called me and said he had booked a flight. I packed up and rushed to the airport to meet him.
I probably slept too much these days, my head was always groggy and I didn't feel like talking. Qin Yiheng also looked a little solemn, and we hardly talked along the way. I was a little panicked because no matter which house I went to before, it was all for profit, and there was no sense of mission that I had to go. This time was different, so I always felt unsure, a bit like going to the exam room without reviewing, and I was very nervous.
The place we went to was a first-tier city, and I had never been there before. I had heard about a few houses here earlier, but at that time, I didn't come because the cost-effectiveness was not high.
After getting off the plane and finding a hotel, Qin Yiheng took me to a car rental agency to rent a car, and then bought a navigation system in the electronics city. Then he drove me around the city following the navigation.
After wandering around for a long time, we finally found the right place. Qin Yiheng was right. It was indeed a large real estate project. We consulted at the sales office. The entire property covers a large area and the price is really not cheap. From the planning map, there are villas , and a circle of commercial belts outside. It is a comprehensive large-scale property, but the first phase has not been completed yet. I can only see the general idea from the map. I can't say what it will look like after it is completed.
We listened to the sales lady's chatter for a long time, and then drove around the first phase area that was about to be completed. Qin Yiheng kept frowning, but I couldn't see anything, so I was happy to be idle.
On the way back to the hotel, I asked Qin Yiheng if he had seen anything, because from what the sales lady said, the main area of this property was the newly built one, and only a small part was demolished old houses, so it didn't seem to be a haunted house or anything like that. Also, we asked around and didn't hear about any antiques being dug up when the foundation of the property was being laid.
