Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 183 Secret
The head manager nodded, then suddenly coughed violently, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Qian Shoujun quickly stepped forward to pat his back.

After a long while, once his breathing had calmed down, the head shopkeeper shook his head and said self-deprecatingly, "My health has been poor for the past few years. The doctor said that I might not make it through this winter. Originally, I wanted to take this secret to my grave, but now that you have come to find this jade bottle, it is a kind of fate. I don't know if this is the will of heaven."

The head manager instructed Qian Shoujun to fetch the jade bottle, then leaned back in his chair and began to recount the story of the jade bottle: "When this jade bottle was sold to us, I thought it was just an ordinary jade bottle, except that the material was a bit better. But when I picked it up to examine it, guess what I saw?"

"Stop keeping me in suspense, I'm getting impatient!" Mo Yun said, scratching her ear anxiously.

The head shopkeeper laughed and said, "Looking through the jade bottle from the inside out, I can see that there are many characters engraved inside! But I have tried various methods and I have not been able to make a rubbing of these characters. However, I always feel that this jade bottle is unusual and that it holds some secret, so I have not sold it for so many years."

Rong Wanyin exclaimed in shock, "Words are engraved inside the jade bottle! The mouth of this jade bottle is so small, no more than two fingers thick. How could words be engraved inside?"

Yan Mingzhang thought for a moment and explained, "I suppose it's something like micro-carving; you've probably seen paintings inside snuff bottles."

“Oh, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it!” Mo Yun echoed. “But I’ve never seen it write. Is it really that miraculous?”

The jade bottle was finally brought out and presented. Yan Mingzhang carefully picked it up and held it up to the light. Sure enough, he could see some characters engraved inside, but each character was no bigger than a mung bean. Because they were so small, they were completely illegible, and ordinary people probably wouldn't have paid any attention to them.

"How can we see these tiny characters? Should we break the jade bottle?" Mo Yun asked, full of doubt.

“Perhaps we can try rubbing?” Rong Wanyin suggested.

Yan Mingzhang frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "This method of rubbing sounds feasible, but the mouth of this jade bottle is so narrow and the internal space is cramped. How can we properly put the Xuan paper in, and how can we make it fit tightly against those micro-carved characters? Moreover, even if the Xuan paper can be put in, how can we use the rubbing pad to dip in ink and tap it, and then take the paper out intact? It's a bit difficult!"

The head shopkeeper also shook his head slightly, looking troubled: "Young Master Yan is absolutely right. It will be difficult to make this rubbing on the jade bottle. If we are not careful, we may not only fail to make the rubbing, but we may also damage the jade bottle, which would be a loss."

"Everyone, let's have some sugar water first. This isn't a solution that can be come up with in a short time." Qian Shoujun brought over several bowls of lily and lotus seed soup on a tray and advised, "Rest a bit, and maybe we'll figure something out."

Rong Wanyin picked up the copper spoon and said self-deprecatingly, "That's right, if we're full, maybe we'll find a way."

Rong Wanyin scooped a spoonful of lily and lotus seed soup with a clean copper spoon. The soup reflected in her eyes, and a smile slowly appeared in them.

Suddenly, Rong Wanyin patted Yan Mingzhang beside her and smiled broadly: "My lord, I have a plan!"

"Miss Rong, what idea have you come up with?" Changfeng stood up curiously and asked.

“Look at this bronze spoon!” Rong Wanyin held up a long-handled bronze spoon in her hand. “Perhaps we can make a mirror like this bronze spoon, with a longer handle and a flat, polished spoon. If we just put the bronze mirror into the bottle, wouldn’t we be able to see the words inside?” “Will that work?” Mo Yun asked with some doubt.

"Give it a try, perhaps Miss Rong's method will really work!" Yan Mingzhang also stood up, a smile on his face.
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“No, this mirror part is too big…” Yan Mingzhang put down the spoon-shaped bronze mirror in his hand and replaced it with a smaller one. “Hey, this one will do! Although the mirror is a bit small, and you can only see three words at a time, we can take our time!”

"Great!" everyone exclaimed.

“These characters…” Yan Mingzhang held the bronze mirror, examining them bit by bit, growing more and more shocked with each look. “These characters are mirror images!”

"My lord, what is a mirror image?" Mo Yun asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Mirror characters mean that the characters are reversed. You need to look in a mirror to turn the characters upside down in order to read them correctly!" Rong Wanyin explained.

"Wow? The person who carved this is amazing! They actually managed to carve such tiny mirror characters inside a jade bottle!" Mo Yun and Chang Feng were both incredulous and exclaimed in amazement.

Yan Mingzhang, with his exceptional eyesight, peered through the bottle opening with one eye as he read aloud: "The Divine...Book...Year Six...October...Twenty-first, my son was born in a desolate temple, with a bird-shaped birthmark on the back of his neck. Before he was even a hundred days old, war broke out, and to save his life, I tearfully abandoned him. His mother thinks of him day and night, longing only for his return. —Xiao Yunxi"

“Shence…isn’t that a Khitan reign title?…The sixth year of Shence is the first year of Longde in our Great Zhou Dynasty, October 21st…isn’t that…” Changfeng’s face turned deathly pale instantly, and he lowered his voice, “isn’t that the current emperor’s birthday?”

"What does this mean? Xiao Yunxi? I ​​remember that the Khitan empress's surname was Xiao..." Mo Yun recalled.

"Yes, that's right, the Khitan Empress was named Xiao Yunxi!" Yan Mingzhang's tone was calm, but his heart was already in turmoil. Everyone knew all too well what the secret in this bottle meant.

"There were only rumors before, that His Majesty was not the late Emperor's biological son. It was only because his other biological children had died in the war that the Fourth Prince, who didn't even have a decent residence at the time, became Emperor." Mo Yun expressed his doubts, "So there was this secret!"

"Mo Yun, be careful what you say!" Yan Mingzhang glanced at him. "No one is allowed to speak of what's inside this jade bottle. Regardless of whether it's true or false, if it's false, then the person who framed you must have ulterior motives. If it's true..."

Everyone remained silent. Yes, if it were true, then... a Khitan prince had become the emperor of the Great Zhou! This was simply unbelievable!
This is more than just a royal secret; it is a sharp blade capable of tearing apart mountains and rivers. Once the news leaks out, a bloody storm will surely break out in the court, and the Khitan cavalry may be waiting for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break through the passes of the Central Plains.

"Sir, what should we do next?" The group looked at each other, their shock evident, and their voices trembled slightly.

Yan Mingzhang stared at the words on the Xuan paper, his expression shifting between light and dark. After a long while, he took a deep breath, composed himself, and his eyes suddenly became sharp and resolute: "Go to the capital!"