Grandmother's Bronze Mirror
A late-Qing/early-Republic bronze mirror that Lan Yingchen's grandmother designated for him before she passed. The pattern on its back is identical to the split ring he saw in midair—yet appears in no bronze-mirror catalogue.
Before Lan Yingchen's grandmother passed, she designated a bronze mirror to be left to him. A round mirror in the late-Qing, early-Republic style, its bronze body polished bright, its surface scratched.
What is truly off is the back of the mirror. The pattern on it is identical to that split ring he saw in midair—the same gap, likewise falling between three and four o'clock. Yet this pattern appears in no catalogue of bronze mirrors, whether Qing imperial workshop or folk-made.
Grandmother never explained the mirror's provenance. On her deathbed she left only one more line, which kept surfacing in Lan Yingchen's mind:
Do not be afraid. But do not speak of it, either.
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