A deep mechanical rumble shook the subterranean amphitheater as four thick hydraulic pistons rose through the center of the stage. They lifted a velvet-draped marble platform out of the lower vault.
As the overhead spotlights converged on the platform, a warm, ancient aura of pine resin, mountain stone, and historical reverence washed across the hall. It completely swept away the foul stench of the shattered counterfeit cauldron.
Resting on four individual white jade pedestals were four life-sized bronze animal heads: the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, and the Rabbit.
Every strand of bronze fur and every whisker had been cast with breathtaking, lifelike mastery centuries ago. Even more extraordinary, a golden strand of pure Huaxia ancestral Dragon-Vein Qi pulsed deep inside the ancient high-tin bronze of each head!
Up in the Royal Box, eighty-two-year-old Master Wen [Goodness: 95 / 100] stood up so fast his velvet armchair tipped backward.
The old carpenter gripped the brass balcony rail with both hands. Tears welled in his clear eyes and rolled down the deep grooves of his weathered cheeks.
“It’s really them... the Four Looted Summer Palace Zodiac Spirit-Heads!” Master Wen choked out, his voice trembling with eighty years of heartache and longing. “When the imperial gardens burned, four of the twelve water-clock heads vanished into private European dark-world collections. My father and I searched every moldy warehouse along the Thames for forty years just hoping to verify they hadn’t been melted down!”
