Chapter 30 Chapter 1 The Strange Book of the Western Han Dynasty

The ten-day trip to the Tianshan Mountains is finally over. When I got home, I haven’t recovered yet, and I am still immersed in the memory of that time.Chen Jing has already flown back to Africa. I don't know if there will be a chance to meet again in the future.Although she has a bad temper, she looks as good-looking as my mother when she smiles, so I think of Chen Jing from time to time.Xinhong has probably already slept by now. We have been extremely tired in the Tianshan Temple for more than ten days. I hope he can have a good sleep and restore his original spirit.When I came back, I went to weigh myself. I thought I would lose more than a dozen catties, but it turned out that he gained three catties. The current scales are probably parallel imports. One catty of pork can weigh three catties. .

I didn't tell Xinhong and Chen Jing about seeing Paul's big dog and the driver, and I don't know why I didn't tell them.That driver was too mysterious. The scene of him waving and laughing at me from the car window is still clearly reflected in my mind. I always feel that things may not be that simple. Tomorrow morning, Xinhong said that he would go to the old director Zha with me, and wanted to know why Uncle Zou went to Shanxi three years ago, hoping to find out.Before I knew it, I fell asleep.In the dream, there are still some things that I have dreamed about for more than ten years. My parents come and go, and I can't catch up with them.Perhaps one day, like Xinhong, I must find out the reason for the disappearance of my parents.It's just that I don't have that kind of courage now, not because of cowardice, but because I'm afraid that the final result will be that they are no longer in this world, and it's hard for me to accept it now.If I don't look for them, at least they are still in my memory, still living in every corner of the world.Someday I'll look for it, but definitely not now.

The next morning, Xinhong got up early. When I walked out of the room, Xinhong was sitting on the sofa looking at Uncle Zou's work notes during his lifetime.I walked over and asked, "Xinhong, is there any useful information on it?" "Look for yourself, I don't know how to tell you." After Xinhong finished speaking, he handed me the notebook. I had read my uncle's notebook before, but at that time I only wanted to find the record of Bogda Peak in Tianshan Mountain, so I didn't pay much attention to the record of going to Shanxi three years ago.Now that we know that Uncle Zou died near a certain village in Shanxi three years ago, of course we have to take a closer look at this record.I turned the notebook to the last record, which read: "Near Xishui Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, autumn. Now I have come to this place and finally found this place. I am going to have a look at that place tonight, if If I'm lucky, maybe I can find that thing. Just casually knowing whether the information I have is accurate?"

"Why did I write so little, I couldn't find any other useful information from it." I said dejectedly. "That's right. I read these few sentences many times and didn't understand." Xinhong looked more depressed than me. "But we know at least that Uncle went to Shanxi three years ago. It's better than not knowing anything, right?" Seeing Xinhong's dejected look, I tried to pick up the good things to say. "You're right. Dad went to Shanxi to find something. This reminded me of what happened in the temple. I always feel that I can't calm down. My dad won't be looking for something like Donghuang Bell, right? ?” Xinhong said with a half-smile.

"Let's ask the old curator Zha. They sent people to study, and there will definitely be relevant records in the library. Let's go to Uncle's library and ask about it." "By the way, we have to go quickly. We will leave here the day after tomorrow and return to our unit to report, and the half-month vacation is about to expire." Xinhong said. After we washed up, we hurriedly enjoyed a breakfast that we hadn't enjoyed for ten days before going out.On the way, Xinhong told me that his father's house should stay there, don't leave it for now, it may be useful in the future.I thought about it and thought it was right.If we can't continue working in the museum over there, we can still come back here.Although the museum there is much bigger than here, the people on this street are very kind to us, and I like this feeling.

As soon as we walked out of the street, a man who looked like a peddler stopped us.This person is actually setting up street stalls on the street!However, I also understand that life for these people is not easy, and I turn a blind eye when encountering such a thing.However, what this person told us to do is to buy and sell by force. I am not so easy to deceive. This person underestimates me too much. Let's hear what he can say. "Boss, you guys should buy this book, it's a top-quality product!" the man said in a low voice, as if afraid of being overheard. When I heard him call us boss, the vanity in my heart was revived immediately.I also pretended to be arrogant, and replied: "What to buy, don't dangle a few broken books in front of us, we have drunk ink!"

"Boss, I know that you have drunk ink before selling it to you," the sly-eyed man approached me and said in a low voice, "This is not an ordinary book. Look, this is a book from the Western Han Dynasty, and it is an antique. !" When I heard him say that, my heart was also excited.We must know that from the archaeological discoveries so far, the invention of papermaking was not later than the early Western Han Dynasty.The earliest unearthed ancient paper of the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in the ancient beacon pavilion in Lop Nur, Xinjiang in 1933, and it was not later than 49 BC. The ancient paper unearthed in Baqiao, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province in May 1958 was scientifically analyzed and identified as hemp paper of the Western Han Dynasty, dating no later than 118 BC. In 1973, two pieces of hemp paper dated no later than 52 BC were found at Shuijin Pass in Juyanjian, Gansu Province.Later, ancient papers written about the Western Han Dynasty were discovered one after another.However, there are few historical documents about the papermaking technology of the Han Dynasty, so it is difficult to understand its complete and detailed technological process.Although later generations have speculated, it can only be used as a reference.I have studied history for so long, and I have rarely seen a book made of paper in the Western Han Dynasty!

However, I remembered that liars are rampant these days. There is no such thing as a trick. I am afraid that his trick is almost out of date.So, without even looking at it, I said mockingly to him: "Don't bother me, if it's really an antique, you can still come here to sell it! Books from the Western Han Dynasty? I haven't seen books before that time!" "I'm sorry for what you said. Didn't I find a buyer? I heard that you work in a museum and can identify goods, so you came here!" The man looked wronged. . At this time, Xinhong pulled me a bit, urging me to go to the museum quickly, don't waste any more time, or the museum will be off work.I looked at my watch, and the time passed really quickly. After a while, I found out that the curator was really going to get off work.So, I impatiently said to the peddler who was still pestering us: "Okay, okay! We don't know the goods, you can find someone else. We don't have the spare money to buy any Western Han books, you keep your own. Use it!"

Xinhong and I finally got rid of the peddler, but he said a lot of things behind our backs in an unknown dialect, most likely scolding us.These days, strange things happen every day, but the strange thing of picking up 100 million dollars on the side of the road has never happened. When we arrived at the museum, the old curator Zha was still in the museum, so the visit was not in vain.Otherwise, we have to wait until we have a vacation to come. The workload of the museum is scary.We explained the purpose of our visit to the old curator Zha, of course we concealed some things. We just told him that we wanted to know what research Uncle Zou went to Shanxi three years ago, and whether there were any cultural relics unearthed there.The old curator Zha was getting old, and it took him a long time to understand what we meant.Director Zha took us to the archives room and looked through Uncle Zou’s work and business trip records three years ago, but there was no one that said he went to Shanxi. Instead, it was between September and October. Called in sick for a month.It happened to be autumn at that time, wasn't it the time when Uncle Zou went to Shuidong Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi?Uncle turned out to have gone to Shanxi secretly.He is an archaeologist. If he wants to study some cultural relics or historical sites, is it necessary to go so secretly?

"Then old curator, do you know the place of Shuidong Village, Jincheng City, Shanxi?" Xinhong didn't seem to give up, he still wanted to ask some useful information from old curator Zha. "I seem to have some impressions of that place." Mr. Zha seemed to be struggling to remember. "Just tell us if you have any impressions." I became excited when I thought that I could find some useful information. "I have an impression of that place because history has no impression of that place!" Director Zha said slowly. "What do you keep talking about, what do you remember, what is that place like?" I asked impatiently.This old man always likes to say things that we don't understand, and almost all educated people like to say such things.Doesn't it make them more learned to talk like this?

"I don't know how to tell you, you come with me. I'll show you the county chronicles of Jincheng City, Shanxi. These were brought back by your father before!" said the old director Zha in a hoarse voice.He took us to a room dedicated to storing ancient books, and then pulled out a few yellowed books from a bookshelf.I took a look at the cover, and it was nothing more than the county annals of some places in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province in the past dynasties.Xinhong opened it excitedly, but he was justified in his excitement.County chronicles generally record all the events of a certain place in the past dynasties, and it is much more convenient to find out the events after having them.However, Xinhong flipped through a few books, but said disappointedly: "Why is there no book that mentions Xishui Village?" "You understand what I mean, I have an impression of this place because history has no impression of it!" Old curator Zha said with a smile, really like an old urchin. I picked up a copy of "Zezhou Fuzhi", flipped through it casually, and guessed: "Why is this happening? Could it be that Xishui Village was not called Xishui Village before?" "No. Xinhong's father has studied this place before, and I remember it very clearly. That village has always been called this name. Xinhong's father once called Jincheng City to inquire. The history of that village is older than that of several surrounding villages The history of Xishui Village is still long, and according to the people there, the name of the village has never been changed. Later, Xiao Zou asked the people there, and they also had no records of Xishui Village in the past. I don’t know whether it was intentional or unintentional. The county annals of all dynasties have omitted this place, but the records of the surrounding villages are very detailed." The old curator Zha said unhurriedly. "How could this be?" I looked at these county chronicles very puzzled. "I don't know either. I'm off work now. I'm going back first. You can go back to get off work in your unit." The old curator patted me on the shoulder and walked away. I heard him whispering: "Xiao Lu, how are you doing there..." I vaguely heard the whisper of the old curator Zha, and I was shocked!Before I went to Tianshan, I had already heard Mr. Cha talking to himself about "Xiao Lu". It seems that he should be Xinhou's mother, Lu Lihai. It's just that Xinhong doesn't have much memory of his mother, but Mr. Cha Looks like he knows a lot about his mother.He seemed to be hesitating whether he should tell Xinhong something, but he still couldn't decide to pay attention.I thought that things might be complicated, and the old curator Zha himself would tell us when the time came, so I decided not to tell Xinhong about it. We rushed all the way to the museum nervously, but came back disappointed all the way.The peddler at the entrance of the street is still there.I pestered us to buy that old book of his again.I was annoyed, so I grabbed the book in his hand.When I picked up the book, I couldn't help being surprised by that feeling.Most of the paper in the Western Han Dynasty was made of hemp, so it definitely feels different from the paper of all dynasties.This feeling really wants to feel the feeling of numbness.I opened it and looked at it. The paper quality of this book is very worn out. I held it very carefully, as if it would break if I touched it. The paper of this book is probably made of hemp.Although paper did appear in the Western Han Dynasty, I have never heard of a book, and this is the first time I have seen it.The book is thick, also because the paper is so thick and rough. I have also done some research on the characters of previous dynasties. Although there has been a debate about whether there is official script in the Western Han Dynasty, since the unearthed in 1973 in the Han Tomb No. The statement is self-defeating.The silk scripts unearthed there were written in the late Qin Dynasty and the early Western Han Dynasty. First-hand information on Western Han calligraphy.In the history of the evolution of Chinese characters, a topic that has been debated by the predecessors is: Is there any official script in the Western Han Dynasty?The fonts on the Mawangdui silk script in Changsha are unique. They are different from Xiaozhuan and not a mature official script, which reflects the character characteristics of the official transition stage from seal script to official script. And the text on the book in my hand is exactly the same as the text on the silk script unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 3!Is this really a book from the Western Han Dynasty?However, the content in this book seems to be of little value. It is all about useless things, and it is some messy history. To put it bluntly, it is an unofficial history.Suddenly, I turned to a page in the book, and there were three words printed on it: Xishui Village!