Volume One, Chapter 14: The Bronze Square Zun

After a long pause, Fu Yanshan said, “I am not good at managing the household. These antiques and curios we’ve collected were all cataloged by your Second Aunt. If you want to know when these antiques entered the estate, only she knows for sure. But…” He sighed, “Bringing up these old matters is like stabbing a knife into her heart.”

Ming Shu thought for a moment and spoke truthfully, “Judging by Second Aunt’s appearance, her fate should have been very good. She was supposed to have five children in this lifetime. But due to an accident, her fate was damaged. If it’s not resolved, she won’t be able to keep any of her five children.”

Fu Yanshan was shocked.

Ming Shu continued, “Second Uncle, I know it’s painful to open old wounds, but for the sake of Second Miss, Dashan, and Xiaoshu, these wounds must be faced.”

Fu Yanshan was silent for a long time, then nodded slowly. “Alright, I will speak with your Second Aunt.”

Only Fu Zhixun, Ming Shu, and Muxi remained in the room.

Fu Zhixun asked, “Yesterday, you went to Yunxia to ask about the second branch of the family?”

“Yes.”

“Then why not ask Zhao Bo?”

Ming Shu was taken aback. Would Zhao Bo even tell her?

She replied, “Yunxia has been at the Hou residence a long time; she knows these matters best.”

Fu Zhixun smiled slightly, as if seeing through her, “Zhao Bo would tell you about the family affairs.”

Fine. Ming Shu acknowledged with a hum and continued to examine the aged antiques carefully.

Fu Zhixun stared at her for a while before slowly shifting his gaze, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips.

Tsk, she remembers quite well when told not to trouble him.

Fu Yanshan soon arrived with Mrs. Cheng.

Mrs. Cheng looked extremely pale and, upon seeing Ming Shu, pointed at a pile of antiques. “It’s those filthy things here that caused me to lose two children and will continue to harm Xiang’er, Dashan, and Xiaoshu.”

Ming Shu nodded.

Suddenly, Mrs. Cheng turned sharply and stared fixedly at Fu Yanshan.

Lowering his head, Fu Yanshan suddenly slapped himself hard across the face. “As long as the corpse energy is destroyed, I will immediately throw all these things away and never touch antiques again! Madam, I have wronged you!”

Tears welled in Mrs. Cheng’s eyes. She lifted her head, forcibly holding back her tears, and handed a notebook to Ming Shu. “I recorded every item the master collected here. Check it.”

Ming Shu took it and then heard Mrs. Cheng ask, “As long as you find the source of the corpse energy and destroy it, Xiang’er, Dashan, and Xiaoshu will be safe, right?”

Ming Shu replied solemnly, “Yes.”

“Good. If you have any questions, you can ask me.” Mrs. Cheng sat down in the armchair, clenching her fists tightly, her expression full of grief.

---

Ming Shu quickly flipped through the notebook and found records from twenty-five years ago.

The records were divided into two parts.

The first part listed a few antiques collected before Mrs. Cheng entered the estate, likely recorded from Fu Yanshan’s memories—only the objects and some notes.

The second part, after Mrs. Cheng joined the household, was very detailed, including dates, origins, objects, and explanations.

Ming Shu’s attention focused on three antiques:

First, a silk painting from five or six hundred years ago.

Second, a stone Buddha statue from seven or eight hundred years ago.

Third, a bronze square zun (ritual vessel) with roughly a thousand years of history.

The notebook only recorded where these items were acquired, but based on Ming Shu’s experience, all were definitely excavated from underground.

She had the three pieces gathered in one place, put on gloves, and carefully opened the silk painting first.

The painting depicted the sunrise at Fusang, with a dragon traversing the sky, symbolizing “guiding the soul to ascend to heaven.”

She cleared her mind and tried to merge her soul with the painting.

An invisible energy surged into her limbs and bones, cleansing the filth in her blood vessels and organs one by one.

Ming Shu’s heart lifted—this was likely a talisman of an immortal cultivator.

She concentrated fully, letting the pure energy remaining in the painting wash her body and condense her vital energy.

Until all the pure energy was absorbed.

When she opened her eyes, her entire body radiated a lazy comfort.

“The silk painting is fine.”

Ming Shu then examined the Buddha statue but only sensed a heavy sandalwood incense scent.

It seemed the statue had been worshipped by its owner in life and taken underground upon death. But since the owner was an ordinary person, the Buddha was ordinary too—no pure energy, no corpse energy, no filth.

She approached the last item, the bronze square zun, and touched its animal-face pattern. Just as she cleared her mind to meditate, a wave of filthy energy rolled in.

Her soul walked through the murky energy. The world around was dark and endless—a deathly silence that nearly suffocated her.

It was as if something was watching her; Ming Shu felt a prickling chill down her spine.

She forced herself to lift her head but saw only a deep black hole that seemed capable of devouring souls…

Ming Shu opened her eyes, pressing firmly on her forehead to steady her soul, gasping heavily.

---

Everyone in the room changed their expressions.

Muxi hurried to help Ming Shu sit down.

Mrs. Cheng called for someone to bring ginseng soup.

“The corpse energy is in the bronze zun?” Fu Zhixun asked after Ming Shu’s breathing steadied.

Ming Shu frowned. “I can’t sense corpse energy, but this bronze zun… is very strange.”

She then asked Fu Yanshan, “Second Uncle, the notebook only says the zun came from ‘Pin Gu Xuan.’ Do you remember how it was acquired?”

Fu Yanshan nodded repeatedly. “I remember. ‘Pin Gu Xuan’ is one of the top antique trading places in the capital. If you get an antique and want to exchange it for money, you would leave it there for sale.”

“‘Pin Gu Xuan’ has expert appraisers and helps promote items, so everyone trusts its name.”

“The only downside is that ‘Pin Gu Xuan’ takes a high commission—twenty percent from both buyer and seller.”

“So many sellers would wait near ‘Pin Gu Xuan’ to sell their antiques directly. If both sides agree on a price, they avoid the commission fees and are both happy.”

“This bronze zun, I bought cheaply from an old farmer on the street next to ‘Pin Gu Xuan.’”

“According to ‘Pin Gu Xuan’ prices, this zun should have cost over a thousand taels of silver, but I only gave the old farmer two hundred taels, and he left happily.”

“Two hundred taels! Two hundred taels cost me two children’s lives! Fu Yanshan, you really made a good deal!” Mrs. Cheng’s eyes reddened with anger.

Fu Yanshan shrank his neck, too ashamed to speak further.

Ming Shu sighed lightly.

It seemed Second Uncle knew only part of the story.

“Pin Gu Xuan” charged such high commissions not only for appraisals but also for feng shui services.

Antiques carry the aura of their past owners, locations, and events—some, like the silk painting, emit pure energy that aids cultivation; others, like the bronze zun, harbor strange and eerie energy.

Any reputable antique shop would hire skilled feng shui masters to cleanse these energies to protect buyers and maintain their reputation.

Ordinary people don’t know this. After all, if people knew antiques carried filth and corpse energy, who would dare buy them?

Ming Shu knew this because her master was the feng shui expert employed by the antique shop.

She said nothing. Mrs. Cheng’s anger clearly wasn’t directed at Fu Yanshan. She stared at Ming Shu. “Now that you’ve found the source of the corpse energy, what are you waiting for? Not planning to pick a lucky day? Hurry up and clear it!”