noveltune Chapter 40: Dragon's Roar
Chapter 40: Dragon's Roar
On the evening of the third day, Cheng Xiaojin called Glasses King back from a public phone booth at the north gate of Panjiayuan.
"Teacher Wang, I've considered the conditions you mentioned."
"What's your decision?"
"Tomorrow at three o'clock, I'll show you something. It's not the one that was sold to Boss Lin in Houhai, it's something else."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.
"What is it?"
"You'll know when you get here; I'll send you the address via text message."
"Aren't you afraid I'll bring people?"
"If you knew how to bring people, you wouldn't have asked me to eat noodles alone. I believe you."
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Xiaojin immediately sent a message to Tieguai Li: Tomorrow at 3 pm, at Master Ma's courtyard house, wait in the backyard and don't show your face.
Tieguai Li replied with a single word: "Okay."
At 2:30 pm on the fourth day, Master Ma opened the hidden compartment of the rosewood bookcase, took out the genuine Zhenhai Iron wrapped in oil paper, and placed it in the center of the desk.
The oil paper wasn't opened.
Cheng Xiaojin stood to the side, looking at the lump of iron he had bought from an old farmer in Hebei for eight hundred yuan, his throat tightening.
"Mr. Ma, are you really sure?"
"I've made up my mind."
"What if he gets other ideas after reading it?"
"If he had other intentions, he wouldn't have come alone today."
Master Ma sat back in his rattan chair, placing the enamel teacup on the armrest, the lid still intact.
"Remember, don't say a word from beginning to end. Let him see and judge for himself. Just stand by."
Cheng Xiaojin responded and went out into the courtyard for some fresh air. He glanced around and saw an old well under the locust tree, covered by a stone slab lid and surrounded by moss. There was nothing particularly special about it.
Two minutes to three, the gate was knocked on three times.
Cheng Xiaojin went to open the door, and Glasses King stood in the doorway, wearing a gray jacket and carrying a canvas tool bag.
He glanced around the courtyard and saw Master Ma in the rattan chair.
"Mr. Ma."
Master Ma nodded but did not get up.
"Come in."
King Glasses took off his shoes and lined them up at the door before entering the main room, his gaze falling directly on the package of oil paper on the rosewood desk.
"Is this what you wanted to show me?"
"Um."
Cheng Xiaojin stepped aside and made way for him.
King of Glasses didn't rush to make a move.
He first placed the canvas tool bag on the chair and opened it, then took out white cotton gloves, a magnifying glass, a small brown glass bottle containing dilute hydrochloric acid, a pack of cotton swabs, and a stack of lens cleaning cloths.
They were all neatly arranged in one corner of the table.
Then he put on white cotton gloves and glanced at Cheng Xiaojin.
"Did I open it?"
"Open it."
The oil paper was peeled off layer by layer.
When the iron lump was exposed, the light from the west window slanted in and shone on the iron surface, making the dark brown rust turn a dull red.
The King of Glasses' hand hovered half an inch above the iron face, without falling down.
He stared at the iron face for five seconds before gently placing his finger on it.
The fingertip moved extremely slowly across the iron surface, taking nearly ten seconds to travel from the left edge to the right edge, pausing twice in between.
"The rust layers are different."
He spoke, and there was something in his voice that Cheng Xiaojin couldn't quite put her finger on.
"The surface rust layer is only a fraction of a millimeter thick, while underneath it is all naturally oxidized primary rust, layer upon layer, having undergone at least three complete oxidation cycles."
"How long is three times?" Cheng Xiaojin couldn't help but ask.
"Each time is at least 150 to 200 years."
King of Glasses put his head-mounted magnifying glasses on his forehead, flipped down the lenses, and brought his face less than three centimeters away from the iron face.
"Look here, the rust layer cross-section has a weak layered structure. The first layer is the darkest, almost black, the second layer is brownish-red, and the third layer is the dark brown you see now. These are three color levels and three oxidation cycles. The color difference is not artificially created, but rather accumulated over time."
He straightened up and flipped the magnifying glass up.
"Acid test".
Dip a cotton swab in a drop of diluted hydrochloric acid and apply it to an inconspicuous spot in the far corner of the iron surface.
A ring of extremely fine and dense bubbles appeared where the acid came into contact with the rust. They were so small that they were almost invisible to the naked eye and could only be seen under a magnifying glass.
The Glasses King stared at the bubble for twenty seconds.
"The bubbles are evenly distributed, the bubbling rate is stable, the iron purity is very high, and the impurity content is extremely low. The standard purity of cast iron from the official furnaces of the Ming Dynasty cannot be achieved by folk kilns."
He wiped the acid clean with a lens cleaning cloth.
Then he lifted the iron lump with both hands and weighed it twice.
"It's about 10% heavier than the one you sold to Boss Lin."
He put the metal lump back on the table, took off his white cotton gloves, and rubbed his fingers together.
Master Ma sat in the rattan chair, holding a teacup, but didn't drink a drop.
Glasses King folded the white cotton gloves and put them back in his tool bag, then looked at the metal lump on the table.
"I passed the first three levels."
He raised his right hand, bent his index finger, and aimed his fingernail at the iron surface.
"Knock".
Cheng Xiaojin's heart was in her throat.
Lightly tap the iron surface with your fingernail.
The moment the sound came out, the air in the entire hall changed.
The sound emanated from deep within the iron body, deep and resonant, with a buzzing vibration that traveled from the tabletop to the soles of the feet. The lingering resonance lasted for nearly two seconds, swirling around the room before slowly dissipating.
Dragon's Roar.
The King of Glasses' hand remained motionless, an inch above the iron face.
The room remained quiet for a long time.
Then he took off his glasses.
Cheng Xiaojin noticed that his fingers were trembling as he wiped the lenses. It wasn't from the cold or fear; his fingertips and pads were trembling slightly.
He wiped his glasses, put them back on, and then tapped the iron surface a second time.
The second dragon's roar was clearer than the first, with a longer aftertaste. As the hum spread along the surface of the rosewood desk, a very fine ripple appeared on the surface of the tea in Master Ma's enamel mug.
King Glasses withdrew his hands and placed them flat on the table.
He stared at Zhenhai Iron for a very long time.
His mouth moved slightly, then closed again, and his Adam's apple bobbed once.
"This thing can't go out."
His voice was hoarse, and he sounded completely different from usual.
"It's been fifteen years, and this is the first time I've heard such a sound."
"It's not the sound of iron, it's the sound from inside the iron."
He looked up at Cheng Xiaojin.
"The one you sold to Boss Lin was fake."
It's not a question.
Cheng Xiaojin remained silent.
"You kept the genuine product in your hand, and exchanged the fake for 800,000. I don't care why you did it, nor do I care how much money you made."
"I only care about one thing: is this thing safe right now?"
"It's safe," Cheng Xiaojin said.
"Won't it leak out?"
"Won't."
King Glasses nodded.
He began tidying up the tools on the table, putting the cotton swabs back into the bag, tightening the cap on the diluted hydrochloric acid bottle, folding the lens cleaning cloth, and putting them into the canvas tool bag one by one, his movements quick but not hurried.
After packing, I zipped up the bag, picked it up, and stood up.
"I'll help you."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.
"But I'm not helping you cover up your lie."
King Glasses slung his tool bag over his shoulder.
"When I go to Penang to inspect the goods, I will tell Mr. Lin that there are doubts about the impact test of this item, and I suggest that it be put on hold and not made a final determination, and that it be retested when the conditions are more suitable."
"I won't say it's true or false, I'll give him a vague conclusion."
"But you owe me a favor, Boss Cheng."
Cheng Xiaojin opened his mouth, but before he could utter the first word, he had already opened it.
A muffled sound came from the well in the yard.
The sound came from the bottom of the well, muffled and deep, making the stone slab cover at the wellhead clang.
All three of them were stunned.
The lid of the enamel mug in Master Ma's hand hit the rim of the mug, splashing half a mug of tea out.
No one moved.
The thud was brief, then the yard fell silent again. The thrush huddled in the corner of its cage, its feathers ruffled, and fell silent.