Shao Ling gazed at the "human body" lying on the stone slab—more precisely, the "human body" of General Jin Bi, painstakingly pieced together by himself and Li Xiaochun.
This body felt both real and unreal, especially as he watched it being sculpted bit by bit, from bones to skin, fingers, toes, eyes, and ears; the process was unsettling.
Shao Ling rarely observed "it" closely, while Li Xiaochun, in his eyes, saw the body as a mannequin in a shop window—nothing strange or unnatural.
At that moment, Li Xiaochun was intently observing: "Mr. Shao, now, except for the hair and eyebrows, this person is basically complete."
Although Shao Ling wasn't looking, he knew perfectly well that the "skeleton" and "
flesh" of this body were complete; only the final element remained—the hair. The mysterious, chessboard-like "puzzle box" would present its final question; only by answering correctly could the body's hair be "returned intact."
And now, the world left the two of them with only two hours.
The questions before were of varying difficulty, some simple, some complex; one even took Shao Ling three hours to solve.
A bronze light emanated from the "magic box," a prelude to the question to be posed.
Inside the "magic box" appeared a complete map.
Although Li Xiaochun had been cooperating with Shao Ling, it didn't diminish his enthusiasm for the whole matter.
Li Xiaochun was the first to approach the "magic box" to examine it: "Mr. Shao, this is a map of China!"
While Li Xiaochun's geographical knowledge wasn't great, he certainly recognized a map of his own country.
Upon hearing it was a map, Shao Ling was initially puzzled, unable to understand the connection between human hair and a map.
Shao Ling stepped forward and indeed saw a clear map of China; judging from the outline and some place names, it was a map drawn in recent years.
"Judging from the questions we just had, the timeline of these questions progresses progressively," Shao Ling said, summarizing his thoughts. "We started with the first question on oracle bone script, then went through the Zhou Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, and so on. I never expected the last question to be related to modern times."
Some of the questions were difficult, some easy, but what was most perplexing was the relationship between the question and the answer.
Because there were no examiners present, and the questions weren't expressed in words, not only the answers but also the question setter's thought process had to be deduced.
Like the question before them: a complete map of China, but what could a map possibly have to do with human hair? It was truly baffling.
Li Xiaochun watched carefully, trying not to make a sound so as not to disturb Shao Ling's train of thought.
About half an hour passed, and Shao Ling was still frowning, staring intently at the map, seemingly still without a clue.
Li Xiaochun said softly, "President Shao, is this question like the previous ones? If we click the wrong one, the question disappears and reappears in a more complex way?"
Shao Ling nodded helplessly, "I think so. These questions don't give us any chance to back out."
"President Shao, I think this question is definitely asking us to point out a location, and this location must be related to General Jin Bi, or it's related to hair..." Li Xiaochun guessed with his own thinking. Since Shao Ling couldn't find the answer, Li Xiaochun didn't want to stay silent with him. Maybe he could unintentionally give him some useful advice.
Shao Ling stared intently at the various provinces on the map: "My initial guess is that this place should be in Henan Province."
"Why Henan Province?"
"Because Zhuxian Town is in Henan Province." Shao Ling said unsurprised.
"Oh right, I forgot, Zhuxian Town is in Henan Province," Li Xiaochun scratched his head. "Our Folk Art Museum is also in Henan Province! So it must be Henan Province!"
Shao Ling nervously held up his finger. This was the first time he hadn't been sure of a guess. Although he had made a mistake once in the previous rounds of questions, that was a genuine misjudgment, unlike this time, which was purely guessing.
"Then let's choose Henan Province!" Seeing that Shao Ling was still hesitant, Li Xiaochun simply pointed to the location of Henan Province on the map himself.
Shao Ling didn't expect Li Xiaochun to be so reckless: "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Haven't we already decided it's Henan Province? What are we hesitating for? We don't have much time…" Li Xiaochun didn't feel wronged. He stared intently at the magical changes on the map. Shao Ling
also stared at the map without changing his expression. With another burst of bronze light, the map changed.
This time, it no longer showed a map of the entire country, but rather a map of Henan Province, which Li Xiaochun had just chosen.
Li Xiaochun was barely excited: "President Shao, it seems we guessed right! The answer really is in Henan Province! So, can we just choose Zhuxian Town next?"
Shao Ling hurriedly stopped Li Xiaochun: "No, I think this question is too easy, it's really a bit abnormal."
"Then..."
"We must abandon the Zhuxian Town option and try to move in other directions." Shao Ling was also at a loss for words, but he was very certain that the answer was not Zhuxian Town.
"President Shao, where is the ancestral home of General Jin Bi?" Li Xiaochun tried to use his imagination.
"In..." Shao Ling couldn't remember for a moment, "Anyway, it shouldn't be in Henan."
"If the Henan option is correct, then it seems that the correct answer has nothing to do with General Jin Bi himself?" Li Xiaochun tried to broaden his thinking, but couldn't think of anything for the moment.
Because the two of them were thinking, the surroundings seemed even more silent.
A gust of wind blew by, and the ancient trees in the cemetery made strange noises. Several foxes couldn't stand the silence and let out a few long cries.
"Beep—" Even the clock chimed in, as if gloating as it reminded the two: Time is running out, only one hour left! If you can't come up with the right answer, you'll be stuck here forever.
Li Xiaochun let out a long breath, knowing that it was crucial not to rush things in situations like this. Rushing would throw him off balance, rendering all his previous efforts futile and leading to total defeat.
Shao Ling finally spoke, "I think there's probably only one direction left."
"What direction?" Li Xiaochun asked hastily.
"Just like the pictograph for 'bone' we saw before, which directly alludes to the human skeleton," Shao Ling's eyes scanned every place name on the map. "This place must be related to human hair, but I really don't understand why human hair would be related to a place? What kind of relationship could they have?"
"Hair, Henan," Li Xiaochun mumbled for a while, finally mustering the courage to say to Shao Ling, "I think I might know the answer."
"Tell me." Although Shao Ling didn't have high hopes for Li Xiaochun's knowledge, the young man was still somewhat reliable and shouldn't be spouting nonsense.
"Mr. Shao, do you know Xuchang?" Li Xiaochun asked.
"I know it's a prefecture-level city in Henan," Shao Ling tried hard to recall everything he knew about Xuchang. "So, Xuchang is a place with a very long history; the Xia Dynasty once established its capital here."
"Ah? Xuchang is that important?" Li Xiaochun was quite surprised to hear this.
"Yes, the Xia Dynasty once established its capital at Yangdi, which is today's Yuzhou in Xuchang."
"Yuzhou? My goodness, I lived there for two years!" Li Xiaochun couldn't believe that Xuchang had such a long history. Shao Ling
nodded solemnly: "That's right. Xuchang was formerly known as 'Xu,' which originated from the time of Emperor Yao. There was a wise man named Xu You who farmed this place and washed his ears on the banks of the Ying River, hence the name."
Li Xiaochun only half understood what Shao Ling was saying.
But Shao Ling quickly added: "Although your idea is good, and Xuchang has a long history, I feel that this place seems..."
"Mr. Shao doesn't know much about Xuchang now, does he?" Li Xiaochun suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"My aunt married into a family in Xuchang. When I came out to work, I went to stay with her and stayed there for several years."
"Oh."
"Mr. Shao, do you know where First Lady Obama's wig was bought?" Li Xiaochun suddenly asked excitedly.
"..." Shao Ling was stunned by what Li Xiaochun said, and didn't even realize who Obama was.
"It's Xuchang! The First Lady's wig came from Xuchang!" Li Xiaochun said this with a face full of pride, "Xuchang is the hair capital of the whole country and even the world! There are people from Xuchang in every county and even every township in our country, can you believe it?" "
W-why?" Shao Ling felt that his worldview had been refreshed.
"Because people from Xuchang collect hair there? Mr. Shao, I don't know where you're from, but where you live, there should be people shouting with a loudspeaker every now and then: collecting hair! Collecting hair!" Li Xiaochun looked at Shao Ling, "Am I right?"
"Yes, I've heard people collecting hair."
"Those are all people from Xuchang."
Shao Ling's worldview was completely refreshed.
"However, now that the living standards of Chinese people have improved, many people get their hair permed and dyed, so the quality of the hair has deteriorated," Li Xiaochun continued. "Now, people from Xuchang go to India and Southeast Asia to buy hair."
Shao Ling's worldview was once again refreshed.
"Even the wig industry in Japan and South Korea sourced raw materials from Xuchang. Later, Xuchang changed from supplying raw materials to processing them itself, and from then on, Xuchang wigs went global." Li Xiaochun continued.
Shao Ling's eyes brightened, unable to believe that he had been guided to the answer by this young, not-so-educated worker.
"So, if we're talking about human hair and a place in China that has the closest relationship, it must be Xuchang!" Shao Ling's voice was somewhat excited.
"Not just in China, even if you put a map of the whole world here, no other city's wig industry can compare to Xuchang's." Li Xiaochun said with certainty.
"Okay, give me a taste." Shao Ling's eyes were fixed on the location of Xuchang on the map of Henan Province.
"Really? Mr. Shao, you really trust me?" Li Xiaochun said excitedly, "I can't even find Xuchang..."
"It's right here, see it?"
"I see it, I see it!" Li Xiaochun pressed his index finger on the name Xuchang.
In an instant, golden light shone brightly, and the two of them looked at the location where Jin Bi's "human body" was kept, only to find in astonishment that Jin Bi was gone. What remained on the large stone slab was a fragment of a New Year's woodblock print.