(The third uncle's next narrative is very cumbersome.) It involves a lot of things in old Changsha. But these things are very interesting for me. Because I've loved old things that smell a little dirty since I was a kid. It has a sense of history. It doesn't hurt to listen to it. ）

The name of the missionary in the mouth of the third uncle at that time. It's called Cox Hendry. The Chinese name is Jude Kao. Worked in a church school in Changsha. He was one of the Americans who came to China during the Kuomintang period with the eastward expansion of Cháo. But this man has not been pure since he was a child. The foreign monk has no interest in becoming. But he is very interested in Chinese culture. Maybe it's in the economic concept of Americans. Cultural relics are also only one of the commodities. Can zìyóu buy and sell. Nature can also be exported. So in the third year of China. He occasionally does some covert antiquities smuggling. He was nineteen years old.

Jude Cow's smuggling business has always been very careful. The business is not doing much. At that time, there were two kinds of smugglers. One is the camp of flowing water. The amount of walk is large. But the bid was low. Playing is a one-time deal. The stakes are high. And Jude Kao is a "bargain for iron". That is, the bid is high. Stuff is less. But it's safe. Come one stroke at a time. That's how he does business. Very appetizing for grandpa. So Grandpa had a good relationship with him at that time.

But Jude Kao is not a worthy friend. From the bottom of my heart. He didn't see his grandfather as a friend. He didn't even think of his grandfather as an equal to him. My grandfather found out afterwards. In private. He called my grandfather a bed bug.

Changsha was liberated in 1949. The Kuomintang was completely defeated. This was followed by 1952. The church began to withdraw from China. Many Americans stranded in China are beginning to return home. He also received a telegram from the church. Let him return when it is safe to do so.

He realized that his business in China was coming to an end. So I started to make relevant preparations. transferred their own property. Before leaving. He had another sinister thought. He and his comrades began to buy Ming utensils on a large scale. With the psychology of Chinese trusting old relationships. A large number of cultural relics were swept away with extremely cheap deposits. Among them is my grandfather's Warring States Silk Book.

At that time, my grandfather refused to sell this share of what his fathers had exchanged for their lives. It was Jude who lied that the money would be used to open a charity church. Grandpa felt that this was a virtue. I barely made a move (of course, this is what my grandfather said himself.) I don't know if it's true. I don't think it's possible for someone like him to have this kind of goodness

After all these goods are on board. Jude knew that some of these people were not easy to mess with. In order to avoid leaving future troubles. On the ship, he took a telegram and sent it to the Jǐng Bei Office at that time. All the traces of my grandfather and about a dozen other Tufuzi were leaked to the temporary garrison of the Changsha People's Liberation Army at that time.

This was the very famous "Warring States Silk Book Case" at that time. This is not just a case of smuggling of antiquities. Because of Jude Kao's relationship with the Kuomintang generals before the liberation. It involved espionage, treason, and many other factors that were unique to that era and could not be figured out. It's getting very complicated. Almost alarmed zhōngyāng. That day, Jude Cow returned with a full load. And the Tufuzi who accumulated wealth for him. Shot by gun. Jail for jail. Wailing.

Although it is also guilty. But such a death. It's just a little bit too tragic. Later, during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, the smuggling of cultural relics in China almost disappeared. It is also related to the death of this group of people at that time.

At that time, my grandfather was clever. It doesn't look right. Fled into the mountains overnight. Hiding in an ancient tomb. Slept with the dead body for two weeks. escaped the limelight. Later, he fled to Hangzhou. This incident hit my grandfather hard. So much so that the Warring States Silk Book later became a taboo for him. When he was alive. We have been told not to talk nonsense about this. That's why our family has been keeping it secretive

After Jude Cow returned to the United States. The artifacts were auctioned. made a fortune. The Warring States Silk Book was sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at a high price. It became the most expensive artifact at auction at that time. And Jude Cow also became a millionaire and an upstart in high society. His story in China was written as a biography. Widely circulated.

Jude Cow after being rich. Gradually shift your interest to socializing. Around 1957. He was invited to serve as an advisor to the Far Eastern Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Consultant for the research of the Warring States Silk Book. The director of the museum at that time was none other than the notorious Pu Allen. Both are China experts. They are all home to hire bandits in China to dig up cultural relics. Soon became friends. Jude Cow also sponsored a sum of money to the museum as a fund. It is used to acquire Chinese cultural relics from the private sector.

Probably because of the leisurely affluent life and the love of Chinese culture. After that, Jude Kao cultivated himself. He gradually became obsessed with the study of Chinese culture. He has led several large-scale projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The results have been remarkable. However, it was he who really made his name go down in history. But it was 1974. He unraveled the matter of the ciphertext of the Warring States Silk Book.

At that time, he was researching the silk books of the Warring States period. It has been going on for more than twenty years. At first, he wanted to raise the price of silk books. Later, it was all out of interest.

In the beginning. None of them think. An American like him can decipher the ancient codes of China. However. Jude Cow did it with astonishing perseverance.

It's also a coincidence. He was inspired by an ancient Chinese book of embroidery. The decoding method of the "Warring States Book Map" was discovered. This way of decoding. In fact, it is similar to the method of using text to record the embroidery procedure in the "embroidery spectrum". Mathematically, it's dot matrix diagramming. It's not complicated to say it's complicated. It's all about a coincidence. You name it. You can solve it. You can't think of it. Even if you don't know much about ancient Chinese cryptography, it's useless.

After discovering the way to decode. Jude was overjoyed. The personnel were immediately summoned. A large-scale translation of my grandfather's Warring States silk book was carried out. A month later. The entire ciphertext is solved.

However, to Jude's surprise. appeared on decoded paper at that time. It is not an ancient text that recorded the divination calendar of the Warring States period, as he had expected. It's a quirky, completely meaningless pattern.

What a strange pattern it looks like. It's hard to describe. Later, I looked at the sketches that my third uncle drew for me, and I couldn't figure it out. Describe the words. It can only be said that this pattern is very simple. There are only six curved lines. and an irregular circle. The lines extend from each other. Kind of like the veins of the river on the diagram. Or what is the vine spreading on the stem. But. I don't feel like it's a circle around it. Look at it from a distance. It seems to be an abstract text; Look closer. I don't know what it is.

There is no other information. If you don't say it's from a fragment of an ancient Chinese book. Everyone would think that this is the line scribbled on paper by a child who has just taken a pen.

After a lot of hardships. The translated thing turned out to be such an inexplicable pattern. Jude Kao was surprised. At one point, he thought his translation was wrong. But after repeated verification. He found it impossible. If it's wrong. Then it is impossible to successfully convert the text into this graphic seamlessly. Apparently. Something written down in ciphertext. These are the seven lines.

So what do these seven lines represent? Why did the owner of this silk book hide it in the text?

With so many years of experience in China. His instincts told himself. It can be written in ciphertext on expensive silk. It won't be an ordinary pattern. There must be something special about this line. Maybe it's not trivial.

He took a keen interest in it. Start looking at the materials now. He spent a lot of time. Rummaged through countless libraries. Meantime. With this pattern, I went to the Chinese sinologist in the university at that time for advice. But. The level of that group of people in the United States is limited. Tossed for more than half a year without any results. Even if someone speculates. It's also nondescript. Completely unfounded. It's nonsense when you hear it.

Just when his interest waned. When I feel like there's no hope. A friend from college showed him the way. He told Jude Kaw. This Chinese quirky thing. You should go to the old people in Chinatown and ask. It was the Cold War. In Chinatown. There are quite a few old scholars from Taiwan. Crouching Tiger. Maybe there will be clues.

Jude was right when he heard it. Hold on to the last hope. Really went to Chinatown to ask for advice.

There is a kind of bookstore in Chinatown. It is the party where the old people gather. Jude Kao went specifically to this kind of party. Send the graph to it. It's also a loss for him, but it's a good fate. Sure enough, he met a master.

This tall man is a thin old man. is a celebrity in the dang. That day he was listening to a book in the teahouse. It happened that Jude Coo came to post the picture. I asked for a look. After this look. He was taken aback. Q: Where did Jude get it?

Jude Kao saw that there was a door. I can't help but be overjoyed. Naturally, he has his own set of rhetoric. I told the old man the ins and outs. So he hurriedly asked the old man if he knew anything.

The old man shook his head and said no. But he told Jude Kaw. Although I don't know the origin of this figure. But. He had seen something similar in one place.

Jude Kao listened. My heart also moved. Busy asking what he saw on the side.

The old man said. That was when it was still on the mainland. He was in a Taoist temple in Qimeng Mountain in Shandong. I've seen a Dan furnace. This graphic. It is engraved on this Dan furnace.