HLnovel Chapter 861: Surging
Chapter 861: Surging
Family Glory In the late autumn of the 23rd year of Jingming, the red walls of the imperial city were dyed into an intoxicating crimson purple by the frosted leaves. Lin Yuan stood on the terrace of the Minister of Works' residence, looking at the palaces stretching out in the distance.
His voice was hoarse like that of an old smoker, and the tail end of the voice was swallowed up by the sound of copper bells in the store - wind chimes hanging from somewhere were jingling in the breeze. Lin Yuan smiled and responded, his eyes attracted by the brocade box on the antique shelf in the corner. The lid of the box was half open, revealing half of mutton-fat white jade, and the warm luster flowed under the dim light, as if condensed by a pool of moonlight. He walked over quickly, and in the brocade box lay a palm-sized jade pendant, which was cold to the touch, and the chill ran straight down his spine along his fingertips. The front of the jade pendant was engraved with a dragon and phoenix pattern, the dragon scales and phoenix feathers were lifelike, and the dragon whiskers and phoenix feathers seemed to be fluttering in the wind in the next second; but on the back was engraved a line of strange seal characters, the strokes were tortuous and intertwined, like some kind of mysterious talisman. "This jade pendant looks unfamiliar. Uncle Zhou, can you tell me about it?" Lin Yuan held the jade pendant up to the light. The jade was so transparent that it was almost flawless, except for a very fine crack near the edge, which looked like a cinnabar mole between the eyebrows of a beautiful woman, adding a bit of imperfect beauty. Old Zhou put down the purple clay teapot and walked over slowly. Wearing reading glasses, he leaned close to the jade pendant and examined it carefully. A strange light flashed in his turbid eyes: "Speaking of this object, it has a great origin. It was brought by the old man Li who collects scraps a few days ago. I heard that it was dug out from the cracks in the wall when the old house in the suburbs was demolished. I asked someone to look at it and they said it was from the Ming Dynasty. The words on the back..." Old Zhou changed the subject and shook his head, "Even the experts in the museum can't recognize it all. I guess it's some lost secret text." Lin Yuan's heart moved. As a graduate student in the history department, he has a special obsession with ancient characters. He took out his mobile phone, opened the translation software, and scanned the seal script, but a series of garbled characters popped up on the screen. He did not give up and tried several professional ancient book search apps, but still found nothing. The jade pendant felt colder and colder in his palm, as if an invisible force was pulling him. "Uncle Zhou, I want this jade pendant." Lin Yuan touched the bank card in his pocket, which was the royalties he had saved from three months of part-time work. Old Zhou smacked his lips and smiled meaningfully: "Young people have good vision, so I'll give you a discount of 38,000." After the transaction was completed, Lin Yuan carefully put the jade pendant into his velvet pocket. When he walked out of the store, it was already dark, and the drizzle was like silk, weaving a hazy gauze curtain under the street lights. He took out the jade pendant again for some unknown reason, and with the dim light of the street lamp, he found that the crack seemed to be longer than when he was in the store, like a little snake awakening. After returning to the rental house, Lin Yuan did not bother to change his clothes and put the jade pendant directly on the desk. The warm light from the desk lamp sprinkled on the surface of the jade pendant. The originally bright white gradually began to glow with a faint blue halo, like a jellyfish slowly rising from the deep sea. The light became brighter and brighter, reflecting the entire room into a strange blue. Lin Yuan wanted to retreat, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the spot, unable to move. "What's going on..." Before he finished speaking, the jade pendant suddenly burst into a dazzling strong light, and a strong suction force came from the jade pendant, as if countless invisible hands were pulling his arms, legs, and even his soul. Lin Yuan felt that his internal organs were surging, and a sharp buzzing sounded in his ears. The scene in front of him began to distort. The books on the bookshelf and the posters on the wall were all turned into fragments and flew in the vortex. I don't know how long it took, when consciousness returned, Lin Yuan only felt that his head was hit by a heavy hammer, and his temples were throbbing. The nasal cavity was filled with a strange smell, the smell of sandalwood incense mixed with old silk. He slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing that caught his eye was the exquisite caisson ceiling above his head, with painted cranes spreading their wings and ready to fly among the auspicious clouds, and the lines outlined by gold foil gleaming in the candlelight. "Where is this?" Lin Yuan struggled to sit up, and the carved bed under him made a slight creaking sound. The bed curtains were scarlet soft smoke silk, embroidered with lotus flowers, and the gold thread at the corners was a little worn. The mahogany furniture around was shining with a deep luster, and bronze incense burners and official kiln porcelain were placed on the antique shelves, each of which was very valuable; the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, with the handwriting at the signature flying and dancing, were actually the authentic works of a great calligrapher recorded in history books. He staggered to the bronze mirror, the mirror surface was covered with a thin layer of dust, but it still reflected his face clearly. This face was too familiar, yet terribly strange—the outline was exactly the same as his own, but the skin was tighter, revealing the youthful vigor; the hair was tied into a bun, with a white jade hairpin pinned on it, the style of which was somewhat similar to the jade pendant he brought with him. "Master, are you awake?" A crisp voice came from behind. Lin Yuan turned around abruptly and saw a girl in a light green skirt, with two buns and a silver bell on her wrist, which made a tiny sound as she moved. She held a copper basin in her hand, and the hot water in the basin was rising with white mist. "You got up at 3:30 am today to practice calligraphy. I was scared. I thought you caught a cold." Lin Yuan pretended to be calm, but his throat was dry and tight: "Where is this? What year is it today?" The girl was stunned, and the copper basin in her hand almost slipped. Her almond eyes were wide open: "Master, did you fall asleep? This is the Lin Mansion, the third year of the current emperor's accession to the throne, May 15th of the third year of Jingming." "The third year of Jingming..." Lin Yuan murmured and repeated, his heart beating wildly in his chest. Although he was not proficient in history, he was sure that the "Da Yin Dynasty" had never been recorded in history books. His eyes swept across the bronze mirror on the dressing table, and the face of the boy in the mirror gradually overlapped with the portrait of the ancestor in the family tree in his memory. An absurd and bold idea exploded in his mind, and the chill rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head-could he have traveled through time and become his own ancestor? Seeing his pale face, the girl hurriedly put down the copper basin: "Master, you look so bad, are you really sick? I will go and get a doctor!" She turned to leave, but Lin Yuan grabbed her wrist. The girl screamed, and Lin Yuan realized that he had lost his composure and quickly let go: "No need, I... I just had a nightmare." After the girl left, Lin Yuan slumped in the chair, his legs weak. On the desk, the mutton-fat jade pendant appeared at some point. The blue halo had disappeared, but the cracks ran through the entire jade pendant, like a scar that would never heal. The sound of the night watchman's clapper came from outside the window, "dong-dong-", it was three o'clock in the morning. Lin Yuan looked at the jade pendant. In the flickering candlelight, those strange seal characters seemed to come alive, twisting and circling on the jade surface, telling a secret that transcends time and space.