I immediately grabbed it and, upon closer inspection, found that the beautiful cover contained only two pages. The first page was a welcome letter, and the second page had a large photo attached. The photo was quite large and featured a seal with a square base, intricately carved with very deep blue hues and lacking any gloss. It looked somewhat familiar.

Below the photo were a few handwritten lines of numbers, indicating the dimensions of the object in the photo. At the very bottom, there was a small line of text: “Ghost Button Dragon Fish Jade Seal, from Baiyanping, Wenxian, Hunan.”

The carvings on the seal were extremely complex, with several prominent designs. I noticed a few fierce-looking demons that stood out, while the other parts featured scales and shapes that resembled either a fish or a dragon; it was hard to discern anything unusual from the photo at first glance.

I inhaled sharply; judging by the dimensions, this object was quite sizable and didn’t resemble the seals typically used by ordinary people. The style of the “button” suggested it was from the Warring States period, a time when private seals were made. I had seen three of these on the market before, all with beast buttons, but I had never encountered a ghost button seal.

Although private seals from the Warring States era are very rare, they are not considered top-tier artifacts, with prices generally under one hundred thousand. Small seals measuring one to two centimeters can be obtained, but this square seal is four centimeters in size, likely indicating it was an official seal. I was particularly intrigued by its name: Dragon Fish Jade Seal.

This name must have been given by the seller, and the mention of the word “dragon” is crucial. Any seal featuring a dragon represents two entirely different concepts; whether it is a noble seal or an official imperial seal, it is among the few that have existed in history. Even a small state’s jade seal is a priceless treasure in today’s world.

In our country, all unearthed cultural relics automatically belong to the state and are prohibited from being bought or sold, although they can be collected. Furthermore, if a collector damages a relic, they can be sentenced to prison. In other words, in China, antiques from before the Qing Dynasty are like ticking time bombs—if no one knows about them, it’s fine, but if someone does, then it’s trouble.

This object was definitely dug up from a tomb, so it’s not just about auctioning; first and foremost, it is stolen property. Now, with it being semi-publicly auctioned here, we are all breaking the law. If the value of this object is very high, the legal issues could be extremely serious. To give an exaggerated example, if we were to turn back twenty years in time, in a scenario like this, if you were to shoot an AK47 at the second floor, you might be hailed as a hero for ridding society of evil.

I had done some rather outrageous things before, but this time it was in Beijing, right under the emperor’s feet. Generally, when people commit small misdeeds, they keep them hidden; to create such a huge mess is something else entirely. Was the owner of this restaurant raised on bear bile? Suddenly, I thought of Old Lady Huo’s background and realized, oh no, she might have already called the police. If the authorities arrive, I would have to run away, and she would be justified in not telling me anything.

But then I reconsidered; it didn’t make sense. She had initially not let me sit in this position because it seemed that people in this position would receive special treatment.

In short, it seems that this is the only auction item today, so all these people must have come prepared, determined to win it. Thinking of this, I glanced at the man in the pink shirt not far away. His seat was a Western-style sofa, and he was no longer playing with his phone; instead, he lounged arrogantly on the sofa, arms crossed, boredly staring at the ceiling.

I closed the booklet and handed it to the Silent Oil Bottle, who had been faithfully playing the role of the stoic sidekick. Perhaps the Fatty had given him a crash course before coming here, but in contrast to me and Fatty, he seemed out of place. He didn’t even look at the booklet; he just set it aside.

Fatty’s face turned pale, and he whispered to me, “You recognize it, right? Looks like we came to the right place.”

Although this jade seal was indeed impressive, I wasn’t particularly fond of such things, so I wasn’t as excited as Fatty. I whispered back, “Don’t distract me, damn it. I have a bad feeling about this; you need to keep an eye on things. If it goes south, we need to think of a way to retreat.”

Fatty was taken aback. “How can you still be thinking about this? Can’t you see what this is?” He immediately took the booklet back and opened it in front of me again. “Take a good look. Where have we seen something like this before?”

“Seen it?” Although I also felt a bit of familiarity, I hadn’t pursued it further due to the old lady’s strange attitude. But with Fatty’s prompt, I looked again.

Just recalling it brought that feeling back. I seemed to have seen something similar to this jade seal before, and upon reflection, it wasn’t just once.

I thought about the goods from before and the artifacts I had seen in pictures, but none of them matched. However, the more I recalled, the stronger the sense of panic grew, as if this memory touched a part of my heart that I was unwilling to face.

As the memory returned, cold sweat broke out uncontrollably. I remembered that moment, at the foot of Changbai Mountain, deep within the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace. The person holding it was standing right behind me, walking into that huge bronze gate through the thick fog.

“No way,” I thought. “What’s going on here? How did this thing end up here?”

I didn’t know the purpose of that object, but the Silent Oil Bottle had it back then, and the impression it left on me was very profound. To be honest, the fog was thick at that time, and quite some time has passed since then, so I wasn’t sure if the jade seal in the photo was exactly the same as the one he had. However, even if they were different, there must be a connection between these two “seals.”