61

Over a thousand years later, Zhou Di, who had just graduated from the archaeology department in an university, joined an archaeological team. He was introduced by his senior, Zhang Tianming and this was his first participating in a formal archaeological project. It wasn't an imperial tomb or a prehistoric relic, just a small burial chamber discovered by local farmer while building house. The farmer promptly informed the Cultural Relics Bureau in Yucheng City. Today was the time to open the burial chamber and Zhou Di was a bit excited. He followed Zhang Tianming, bouncing and hopping. Watching this lively junior, Zhang Tianming shook his head and said:

"You're so happy." 

Zhou Di replied with a soft local accent:

"Of course I am happy. It is my first time witnessing the opening of a burial chamber."

"It isn't a big burial chamber."

As the burial chamber was opened, it indeed wasn't large, with an antechamber and the main tomb. However, the construction was solid and it didn't have been looted. Inside the antechamber, numerous burial goods were discovered, most made of jade and ceramics. The archaeologists carefully took out each piece, and when Zhang Tianming wiped the bottom of a ceramic vessel, revealing a somewhat unclear inscription, he was astonished. He quickly informed the team leader, his father:

"Dad, come here and take a look at this. You have to carefully examine these burial goods. It seems to be something from the royal family." 

Upon hearing this, the team leader, Zhang Zhen, was shock and said:

"What?Are you sure that there are the royal burials in such small tomb?"

Zhang Tianming said:

"Take a look."

Zhang Zhen examined a ceramic bottle and exclaimed:

"My Goodness, we've stumbled upon the treasures."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Di used a small brush to gently sweep the jade pendant in his hand. Surprisingly, there was a tiny "Royal" character, the symbol of royal items from Yuhong Dynasty. Unbelievably, in this small burial chamber, there were royal items from Yuhong dynasty, dating back over a thousand years. Though not numerous, around twenty items, after careful examination, each one turned out to be a royal item, not common burial goods.

Now, they began clearing the main tomb. Everyone expected more royal items should been found here. Around the coffin, there were some burial goods, but not many, seemingly just small trinkets. Among them, there was the most valuable item, a golden horse with a gem embedded in its forehead. What made these burial goods even more peculiar was that they were not from Yuhong Dynasty. The origin of these items remained to be investigated. At the corner in the main tomb there was a skeleton which was like some animal. The last was the coffin, which was first placed in stone coffin. 

The archaeological team transported the coffin back to the Cultural Relics Bureau. In a specially room, Zhou Di, along with several other team members, donned protective suits and began opening the layers of the coffin. The outer layer was tightly wrapped with wooden boards, clearly showing signs of smoke exposure. The second layer was also wrapped in wood with smoke traces. The third layer was covered in a layer of gold and the last layer was an ordinary coffin. The space between every two layers was stuffed the special herbs and materials for anti-corrosion and anti-moisture, emitting a medicinal scent. Finally when they opened the coffin, they were astonished. Inside was not a single mummy but two dry corpses. The upper mummy tightly embraced the one beneath it. And on top of the upper mummy there was a gold plate. After a bit of cleaning, the inscription carved on the gold plate became clear: 

Please don't separate us. I want to hold my baby in my arms Nie Huanzhang 

Everyone stared at the gold plate and then looked back the two mummies, rendered speechless. They could still discern that both mummies were male. Zhou Di was particularly fixated on the name on the gold plate: Nie Huanzhang. In a hushed tone, he said:

"I think I've seen this name in my family's genealogy."

Everyone turned to look at him, displaying disbelief. A person whose surname was Nie in Yuhong Dynasty in a Zhou family genealogy seemed improbable. Nevertheless, Zhang Zhen decided to take Zhang Tianming and Zhou Di to the Zhou family to check the genealogy.

The clan leader said hesitantly:

"Our family's genealogy? Well, our family genealogy isn't shown to the outsiders. Only family members can read it."

Zhou Di said:

"Grandpa Dexiang, I can read it. I'm Xiandi and my grandpa is Zhou Dewang."

Upon looking at Zhou Di, Zhou Dexiang burst into laughter, saying:

"Oh, it is you. As a child, you used to follow your grandpa to my place and read our family genealogy. At that time, you couldn't even recognize all the characters. Now that you've grown up, don't you have read it enough yet?"

"Yes, I'm currently working in an archaeology team. We have just excavated a tomb. I saw a name in our family genealogy."

"Oh, it is our family's tomb. What's the giving name?"

"It's not Zhou and it is Nie, Nie Huanzhang."

Zhou Dexiang chuckled and said:

"What a nonsense! How could there be someone with the surname Nie in our Zhou family genealogy, unless it was a daughter-in-law and son-in-law in our family."

"I don't know so I just want to come and confirm it."

"Okay, there are quite a few. Take your time, just be careful and don't damage it because they are our treasure."

The clan leader opened three large boxes, each containing small boxes representing different generations. Following the timeline of Yuhong Dynasty, the team estimated the probable generation of the Zhou family, starting from the third generation. Wearing gloves, they read every generation of the Zhou family carefully. Zhang Zhen asked Zhou Dexiang: 

"Sir, do you often update your family genealogy?"

Zhou Dexiang replied:

"Yes, whenever we find something old or damaged, we rewrite it. So we regularly inspect it."

Zhou Di said:

"I found it."

All of them gathered around a small booklet, which listed:

Zhou Huai'an

Wife: Wang Concubine: Zhu

Children:

Eldest son: Chuqin wife: Xie 

son: Huidun Huihou huijian daughter: Huilan

Second son: Chuqi wife: Liu 

son: Huihuang Huidong daughter: Huizheng Huiqin

Youngest son: Chuyu Nie Huanzhang 

Elder daughter: Zheng husband: Yu Weiwei

Youngest daughter: Xiang husband: Jiang Wanhao 

Seeing the name "Nie Huanzhang", all of them couldn't help but feel delighted. Although Nie Huanzhang was listed alongside Zhou Chuyu, there was no further explanation. Zhang Zhen couldn't help but ask:

"Sir, do you know why this Nie Huanzhang is in your family's genealogy? And why is this name associated with Chuyu Zhou but no explanation about his position in your family?"

"Sorry, I really don't know. It is long long time ago."

Zhou Di whispered:

"Maybe they're gays."

Zhou Dexiang exclaimed angrily:

"Nonsense! Our family has always been righteous and innocent. How could there be anything like homosexuality? You've learned some nonsense outside."

Zhang Zhen, however, took out some photos of the tomb and handed them to the clan leader, saying:

"Look, this is the tomb we excavated. The inscription on the gold plate matches the name in your family genealogy. It indicates that one mummy is Nie Huanzhang. I suspect the other mummy is Zhou Chuyu. Your ancestors acknowledged their relationship, hence Nie Huanzhang's name in your family genealogy."

All the archaeological findings were now available, indicating that the burial items in the main tomb came from ancient Huichun. The animal bones were identified as a horse. The two mummies showed different causes of death, with the upper one poisoned but not fatally and the lower one fatally poisoned on the spot. Their ages at death were around twenty for the upper one and slightly younger for the lower one, likely not reaching twenty.

Zhou Di looked at the ancient figures drawn on the paper, reconstructed from the mummies discovered. These figures were beautiful and handsome, one in scholar attire and the other in a somewhat warrior-like outfit. Both adorned a fish-shaped jade pendant on their chests, revealed during the mummy examination. Zhou Di muttered to himself:

"What kind of story happened to you? How younger were you when you died!"

A gasp arose from the exhibition hall as people observed the transparent glass vacuum-sealed case, where Nie Huanzhang tightly embraced Zhou Chuyu. For over a millennium, they had never been apart and would never be separated again.