The Wei River at the foot of the Qinling Mountains is steaming with heat in the late July afternoon. Liu Jie stood at the edge of the excavation site, sweat dripping down his forehead into the soil. He looked at the newly cleared rammed earth foundation in front of him, trying to restore the legendary palace two thousand years ago in his mind.
"Xiao Liu, come here and take a look at this!" The voice of the instructor, Professor Zhang, came from Tanfang not far away.
Liu Jie carefully walked around the sign marked "Qin Dynasty Strata" and squatted next to Professor Zhang. The old man held a palm-sized black fragment in his hand, which glowed darkly in the sunlight.
"Is this... Meteorite?" Liu Jie took the fragment and it sank slightly. The surface was densely covered with corroded honeycomb textures.
"This is the seventh piece unearthed in Beidou Village." Professor Zhang pushed up his glasses. "The villagers said this is the place where 'Beidou fell into the river'. Our ancestors said that seven star stones fell from the sky during the Qin Dynasty. The First Emperor ordered people to find them and cast them into the treasure of the Epang Palace."
