Chapter 22 - Solving The Puzzle

No!

Li Juan looked at the route map which is getting soaked in chamomile tea.

No she cannot afford to lose it.

She blew carefully to the linen cloth to stop the spreading the ink any further.

Due to the tea stain, the whole pictogram is now encircled and few openings appeared in the circle.

The map became more confusing.

What the hell is this? Li Juan's eyes got welled up.

The map was more than a thousand years old and her single mistake ruined it.

How is she going to face Professor?

She has ruined their ten years worth hard work and efforts.

A single drop of tear dropped down from her eyes and fell on the newly appeared circle. She didn't want to ruin the map anymore.

Li Juan wiped the tear with her fingertip and kept the map aside.

To her surprise the spot where the tear fell immediately turned into a green colour.

What kind of sorcery is this? Li Juan looked at the green spot on the circle.

At first, it was just a white coloured cloth in which the pictogram was drawn in black ink. But when tea spilt over, the cloth became wet and the ink started to spread and created new designs.

Does that mean that the map itself contains some hidden secrets which appear when it comes into contact with liquid?

Li Juan's fingertip was still wet, she wiped the white part near the circle, and it immediately turned green.

"Oh my God, it is drawn with hydro chromic ink!" Li Juan's eyes widened in surprise.

When the cloth is dry, we only see the opaque white colour in the cloth, but when it comes in contact with water, it white paint becomes transparent and the real colours beneath become visible to eyes.

It was like a colour changing umbrella which changes colours when it gets wet.

Li Juan took the route map and ran towards the bathroom and sprinkled some water from the tap. Upon getting in contact with the water the whole circle turned into brown and the immediate space near the circle became green in colour.

Li Juan patiently poured water into the map drop by drop and observed how the colour is changing.

It was like magic, with every drop of water the colours appeared on the white cloth.

On the pictogram, the space between the two horizontal lines became black and the top portion of the vertical line and the upper horizontal line got converted into a triangle and a red coloured star appeared on top of it.

A single pictogram was drawn on the linen cloth, but upon contact with water, it has turned into a rough sketch of a route map.

Li Juan carefully examined the route map.

The whole picture appears to be a building which is surrounded by a three-tier security gate.

The circle which appears to be the first gate was brown.

The second gate appeared green and

The third gate was coloured black.

The slanting strokes were coloured blue.

After these three gates, a triangle can be seen on the top and a red star has arisen over the triangle.

It was a route map drawn by the princess for the man she loved. Li Juan remembered the head monk's words.

If it is true, then the triangle shown on the map will be the palace and the three gates are probably the security gates.

If there are gates, there must be secret ways to cross the gates will also be depicted in the map. Li Juan completely soaked the cloth in the water and waited for the hyrdrochromic ink to get into effect.

After two minutes, as Li Juan expected, some other dotted lines have also appeared in the cloth.

From three sides of the circle- South, South East and South West there were three openings. The dotted lines from the outer circle led to the to diverging strokes in the bottom of the vertical line. From there only a straight dotted line is shown towards the palace.

So there are three ways to get into the palace?

Li Juan rushed back to the room and took several photos of the route map and posted on their group.

Lily of the valley: This is what I got from the monastery.

No one replied to her message.

Li Juan opened her laptop and searched for the satellite images of the Jade land.

Satellite images help us to see the objects present on the earth surface. The whole place has appeared in green colour since it was covered with thick forests. And the Tu mountain range appeared white.

She took the remote sensing data and begins to examine it. Every object absorbs a certain wavelength of light and reflects; the sensors in satellites detect this reflected energy and it stores it into data. The light reflected by every objected will be different so using this difference an authorised person can identify what kind of object is present there.

The heat energy reflected by the forests won't be the same as the heat energy reflected by the mountains. With years of data retrieving and analysis, professor Han and his students found the ruins of the lost city using remote sensing.

Li Juan started comparing their data with the route map.

The place where they found the ruins of an old city was surrounded by the Tu mountain ranges.

From the east and west sides of the mountain range, two rivers are originated and it converges at the centre of the city and flows towards the south side of the mountain range.

both the rivers act as the main source of water in the city and it often floods the entire place.

The ruins of buildings were mainly found on the north side.

Li Juan carefully examined the path river flow, it was similar to those slanting strokes seen in the route map.

If the rivers are depicted as the slanting strokes in the pictogram, then the three differently coloured regions in the map will not be security gates.

They are something else.

Usually in 2D maps mountains are represented in brown colours, so the first circle symbolises mountains? Li Juan doubted for a moment.

Water bodies are coloured in blue and settlements are coloured in black. So the whole green portion in the map and satellite image stands for forests?

Li Juan's eyes got widened in surprise.

The entire Jade land and it is topography was similar to a simple pictogram.

The route map was so simple and easy to decipher.

Li Juan felt like laughing,

If she would not have spilt the tea into the route map, she would burn her brain to find the clues hidden in the map.

Li Juan immediately documented the findings and sent them over into their group.

The tomb raider: You already deciphered it??????

Lily of the valley: They are just primary conclusions. We need solid proofs. second young master Lee, try to find the evidence from satellite data.

Han solo: Good job, Li Juan. Did you find any books about the lost city?

Lily of the valley: I've found some details about the Jade land from the books at the monastery. I have attached the scan versions into our cloud storage.

Han solo: if you have time, then look in the libraries in the Xi city too. at least we will be able to find the local history of Tu mountains.

Lilly of the valley: My return flight is tomorrow evening, I am free in the morning, so I will go and visit the libraries.

Han solo: Okay! We will meet after the New Year.

Tomb Raider: Everything depends upon second young master Lee

Second young master Lee: I will do it!

Li Juan ended the chat and went back to pack her things.

Evening 7 pm, Hillside mansion

When Li Juan saw Tang Wei Sheng's car entering into the compound, she ran downstairs and opened the door and waited for him in the entrance.

Tang Wei Sheng parked his car in the garage and walked towards the main entrance.

"Welcome home." Li Juan greeted him happily and took the files in his hand.

Tang Wei Sheng couldn't believe his eyes. He stood there amazed by Li Juan's actions.

"You are not entering?" Li Juan asked him.

"Yeah," Tang Wei Sheng replied and entered into the living room.

"You must be tired, let me make a cup of coffee for you."

"Ah no, if you drink coffee now, you won't be able to fall asleep."

"How about Chamomile tea?" Li Juan asked him.

"As you wish," Tang Wei Sheng replied with a smile.

Li Juan went to the kitchen humming a song and came back with the tea and snacks.

She poured the tea like a professional and served to Tang Wei Sheng.

"Here you go, Wei Sheng Ge,"

Tang Wei Sheng looked at her adoringly.

Li Juan was behaving like a housewife and he couldn't help but feel happy.

"What happened sweetheart? You are in a good mood today." Tang Wei Sheng asked her.

"Nothing." Li Juan replied with a smile.

"No, I don't believe you. There is something and you are hiding it from me." Tang Wei Sheng said in a sulky voice. "There is nothing."

"Are you sure, Juan?" Tang Wei Sheng asked her again.

"Yes. You drink this and take a shower." Li Juan demanded.

"I smell something fishy." Tang Wei Sheng chuckled.

"I told you there is nothing." Li Juan was avoiding his eyes.

"Okay, I believe you. Sweetheart, I don't see Mrs Zhao here, where is she?" Tang Wei Sheng asked with a cunning smile.

"She went to visit her family," Li Juan replied casually.

"That means we are all alone in the mansion." Tang Wei Sheng leaned towards her. "So what we are going to do today?" He touched her cheeks and asked.

"Nothing, we are just going to eat dinner and sleep." Li Juan said in a serious tone.

"That's it? We are not doing anything else?" Tang Wei Sheng pouted.

"No." Li Juan directly told him and moved away from him.

"How come you don't have any feelings for me?" He asked Li Juan.

"I have feelings for you and care for you, so now drink this and take a shower." Li Juan immediately shut him out. "I will wait for you."

"Why don't you come with me?" Tang Wei Sheng asked her jokingly.

Aye, this man! Li Juan's face turned red. "I didn't know that you are a pervert."

"Pervert? Did you call me a pervert?" Tang Wei Sheng got flustered.

"I just asked you to accompany me to my room. What did you think?" Tang Wei Sheng acted as if he is wronged by Li Juan.

"Don't tell me that you thought that I am inviting you to bathe together. Did you?" Tang Wei Sheng asked with a devilish grin.

"To be honest, It was true." Li Juan did think like that.

"Oh Wei Sheng Ge," she threw a cushion at him and stood up from the sofa. Tang Wei Sheng held her hand and pulled her into his lap.

"I was just joking." He placed a gentle kiss on her chin.

"I don't want you to sit alone. So please stay in my room until I finish the shower."

"Okay?" Tang Wei Sheng requested her.

"Okay," Li Juan agreed with him.

Both of them went together to his room. While Tang Wei Sheng was taking a shower, Li Juan stood in the balcony looking at the stars.

Probably this will be the last day she will see a clear night sky like this.

When Tang Wei Sheng came back after a shower, He hugged her from behind.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing Wei Sheng Ge," she turned and faced him. He looked Extremely handsome and dashing. Water drops dripped from his wet hair.

"Your hair is still wet let me dry it." She took a towel from his hands and dried his hair.

"Are you hungry? Can we have dinner now?" Li Juan asked him.

"Yeah, sure."

Both of them went downstairs and set the table. It was like a feast with three main dishes and desserts and all of them were Tang Wei Sheng's favourites.

"I told Mrs Zhao that we are going for dinner tonight. But still, she made all these?" Tang Wei Sheng exclaimed.

"She left in the afternoon." Li Juan told him.

"Did you make all these?" Tang Wei Sheng looked at her with a surprise.

Li Juan nodded in agreement.

"Ahh, sweetheart, you are just amazing." Tang Wei Sheng praised her.

"Wei Sheng Ge, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me." Tang Wei Sheng was sure that, Li Juan had something important to share with him.

"I have deciphered the code."

Wow, that is great news! I knew that you can decipher it. Tang Wei Sheng was genuinely happy for her, within these three days he clearly understood that the importance Jade land in Li Juan's life.

It was not just a job for her.

It was something which made her happy.

It was something which made her stay alive.

And she deserves to be happy!