Wei Ge had calmed down by now, and with a bitter face, he said to Zhuang Rui.
In truth, Zhuang Rui knew in his heart that although he had spotted the first porcelain shard with his eyesight, he had used spiritual energy to find three or four of the remaining shards. These shards were covered in dirt, and one of them even looked like a clod of mud. If it weren't for the spiritual energy he could sense inside, he would have had to clean all the shards himself. Of course, the stall owner would never give Zhuang Rui such an opportunity.
“Eldest brother, Uncle Yang doesn’t know anything about the Western and Eastern Han dynasties anyway, so take this thing back to him. The old man will definitely be happy, and maybe he’ll even give you back that 800 yuan. Come on, youngest brother, look at what I bought…”
Seeing Wei Ge's dejected look, the fourth brother comforted him. The brothers all knew about Yang's father's reputation for collecting antiques. However, his words made the eldest brother so angry that he almost jumped up. Yang's father always said that he could accept his mistakes and pay the price, but he couldn't stand Yang Wei spending money recklessly. If he found out about this, he would definitely teach Wei Ge a lesson for a few days.
"Fourth Brother, you bought a jade disc? How much did you pay for it?"
Zhuang Rui took the item handed to him by the fourth brother and casually asked a question.
"It's not expensive, only two thousand yuan. I just liked it myself. I can't tell if it's real or fake, but it felt good, so I bought it. Little brother, take a look, is this real?"
The fourth brother was more carefree than Yang Wei, but he was also afraid of losing face by buying a fake item, so he declared that he didn't care whether the item was real or fake. However, you could still tell from the slightly nervous look on the fourth brother's face that he cared a lot about the first antique he had ever bought.
Zhuang Rui looked at his fourth brother's expression and found it somewhat amusing. While looking at the jade disc in his hand, he said, "Fourth brother, in the world of antiques, apart from ancient jade pieces, jade generally doesn't have a concept of authenticity; it's only about quality. The one you bought is a jade disc, which was originally used as a sacrificial and ritual object in ancient times. It often appeared in important national sacrificial ceremonies, such as sacrifices to heaven, gods, mountains, seas, stars, and rivers."
Later, some people of high status also used jade discs as gifts to each other. Subsequently, many people used these discs as ornaments to wear and play with, as well as as symbols of different statuses. Wearing jade discs as ornaments was popular from the Warring States period to the Han Dynasty.
Hehe, there's another explanation, Fourth Brother, please don't mind, but these jade discs were often used to ward off evil spirits and prevent the body from decaying. They were burial objects for ancient emperors and ministers. Numerous jade discs have been unearthed from large Han Dynasty tombs that have been excavated. They were generally placed on the chest and back of the deceased, sometimes between the coffin and sometimes even embedded in the surface of the coffin for decoration…”
"Wait, wait... Little brother, you're saying this thing of mine was taken from a dead person? Boss, give me a few sips of your water, damn it, that's disgusting!"
Before Zhuang Rui could finish speaking, Lao Si interrupted him. Although Lao Si was much braver than Wei Ge, when he heard that the object he had been playing with for so long was actually taken from a dead person, he felt like he had swallowed a fly. He was extremely uncomfortable, and the undigested food in his stomach kept churning up. He quickly grabbed the mineral water from Wei Ge's hand and drank several mouthfuls.
"Tch, is it really that big of a deal, Fourth Brother? These tombs are full of ancient jade, priceless treasures. People are practically fighting over them. But seriously, I never said your piece was ancient jade. Hmm? Fourth Brother, you're in luck..."
Zhuang Rui played with the jade disc in his hands, rubbing it back and forth. He hadn't expected his fourth brother to find anything good at the street stall, so he hadn't paid much attention. But upon closer inspection, he realized it was quite nice; it was actually a two-tone jade. Of course, many antique jade pieces were faked due to color variations, and Zhuang Rui didn't handle jade artifacts very well. Without using his spiritual energy, he really couldn't tell whether it was an antique jade or not.
In ancient times, jade was used as a symbol of honor and was used in court visits. There were six types of jade, which were later known as the "Six Auspicious Jades". Ancient books recorded that: the king held the Zhen Gui, the duke held the Huan Gui, the marquis held the Xin Gui, the earl held the Gong Gui, the viscount held the Gu Bi, and the baron held the Pu Bi. The different forms of jade objects were used to indicate the difference in rank.
The fourth brother bought what appears to be a cattail-shaped jade disc, not very large, only about six or seven centimeters in diameter. It has a hole about the thickness of a little finger in the center, and the surface is engraved with cattail-shaped patterns. Cattails symbolize lush vegetation and prosperity. Originally carved from green jade, the disc now displays three colors: besides retaining some of the original green jade color, the surrounding jade is yellowish, and there's a patch of ochre brown.
Based on the stains on the jade disc, Zhuang Rui determined that if these two colors were not added later, the jade disc must be an ancient piece of jade that was unearthed from a tomb.
"Youngest brother, don't speak so casually. What's the quality of this jade? What era is it from?"
The fourth brother said with dissatisfaction.
"I can't be sure about the age, but it should be Han jade, and it's two-colored jade. Not bad, Fourth Brother, you got a good deal for 2,000 yuan."
Zhuang Rui had already examined the jade disc with his eyes. It did indeed contain spiritual energy, and its color was purple. However, there wasn't much of it. Zhuang Rui guessed that it might be because the jade disc wasn't made of very good material and few people handled it.
Upon hearing this, the fourth brother beamed with joy. He was now experiencing the thrill of finding a bargain at this street stall. Only Wei Ge was in a bad mood. He snatched the jade disc from Zhuang Rui's hand, looked at it in the rising sunlight for a while, and then pouted, saying, "Youngest brother, are you trying to comfort the fourth brother? The color on this jade is so ugly, like soy sauce has been dripped on it. It's all grime and grime. And this piece of junk is worth a fortune?"
"Boss, you're just being a sour grapes. Didn't you hear what the youngest said? This is Han jade, much better than your Han dynasty white porcelain..."
The fourth brother and Wei Ge used to bicker all the time, and this sentence hit the eldest brother's weak spot. Just as the eldest brother was about to retort, he looked at the porcelain pot in his hand and shut his mouth in a huff.
"Brother Wei, what you're saying is so unprofessional, haha. But you are an unprofessional person to begin with. This is the patina, this is the charm of ancient jade."
Zhuang Rui explained with a smile.
"What is 'secretion'? Secretions? This jade can secrete things on its own?"
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Wei Ge immediately shoved the jade disc in his hand into Zhuang Rui's hands, as if there was something unclean on the jade disc.
"Ugh, talking to you guys is so tiring!"
Zhuang Rui gave a dramatic sigh, though he actually thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being a teacher.
However, seeing that his boss already looked unfriendly and was starting to rub his hands together, Zhuang Rui quickly explained: "This thing called 'qin' seems to be very profound, but in reality, it's just the 'rust' on jade. Like copper and iron, it can also rust. However, the rust on jade is not produced by the jade itself, but is caused by external erosion."
In the world of collecting ancient jade, jade that was never buried but has been passed down through generations is called "Shi Gu" (称世古), meaning jade that was not a burial item. It is commonly known as "Zi Lai Jiu" (自来旧). Jade that was buried with the deceased as a burial item and was later unearthed, or buried for other reasons and later reappeared, can all be called "Tu Gu" (土古). This type of jade also has a common name: "Chu Tu Yu" (出土玉). In fact, most of the ancient jade that has been passed down through generations is unearthed jade.
And almost without exception, unearthed jade will have a patina, which is what I just told you about as jade rust..."
"Wait a minute, youngest brother, according to what you said, isn't this piece of jade unearthed from the ground? Then what are the colors on it...?"
The fourth brother couldn't continue speaking. He wasn't wrong. The stains on the unearthed jade were indeed caused by the soil, but most of them were stains from the burial objects that had been attached to the jade.
Chapter 170 Grave Robbery and Making a Fortune
“You’re right, Fourth Brother. Where an ancient jade is unearthed and under what conditions it is unearthed will determine the type of patina it will have, just like a birthmark on a person’s body.”
Almost all unearthed jade artifacts bear traces of patina, which is quite important for jade artifacts. It serves as a crucial basis for studying the age of jade artifacts and the jade culture, arts and crafts, carving art, and funerary culture of the same period.
In the soil, especially in tombs, jade artifacts come into contact with very complex environments. The variety of soil or the abundance of burial goods gives the jade artifacts different patina colors.
The yellowish-brown color is mostly from the soil or the incense from the burial pillows; the bluish-green color is mainly due to the staining of clothing; the black color is from the mercury erosion that sealed the coffin; and the white color is from the absorption of silica in the tomb. Hehe, Fourth Brother, there's a lot of knowledge involved here, and I don't really understand it either.
I can make some discernments from this jade disc. The yellow areas are likely due to soil staining, but the ochre-brown is probably from iron rust. It's quite possible that iron objects were placed next to this burial jade disc, resulting in this color.
Zhuang Rui's words confirmed Lao Si's idea: the stain on the jade disc was most likely caused by the clothing or something on the body of a dead person.
"Fourth Brother, there are many different interpretations of the color of the patina. For example, a single color is called 'unified and pure.' Your piece has two colors, so it's called 'Heavenly Black and Earthly Yellow.' Three colors are called 'Oath of the Peach Garden' or 'Three Scholars Passing the Imperial Examination.' Four colors are called 'Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness.' Five colors are called 'Five Blessings and Longevity.'"
"Eldest brother, fourth brother's luck is much better than yours. Although this jade disc is made of ordinary material, just carved from green jade, with these two colors of patina, it can sell for at least twenty or thirty thousand yuan. It's a pity that both sides of this jade disc have a dragon pattern. If one side of this jade disc had a dragon pattern, it would be worth at least one hundred thousand yuan."
Zhuang Rui often spoke of the color secretion representing good wishes, but for the fourth brother, his first thought was about the reason for the color secretion on the jade disc, completely forgetting that jade itself was believed to ward off evil.
The fourth brother is from Guangdong, which can be said to be the province or city in the country that is most devout in worshipping ghosts and gods, especially in the Chaoshan and Hong Kong areas. Every household there has a shrine to worship gods, ancestors, or Guan Yu. The local earth god and the god of wealth are also everywhere at the door. The fourth brother was exposed to this from a young age. Even though he did not believe in it, he still kept his distance from the objects taken from the dead.
"Pah! You dead thing, I wouldn't even take it if it were given to me."
Viagra's words left Zhuang Rui speechless. Leaving aside ancient jade, among all the antiques that have survived to this day, probably seven or eight out of ten were dug out of tombs. If Viagra's statement were true, then no one would collect antiques anymore.
The antiques stolen from tombs are mostly rare treasures, as you can imagine. Those emperors and ministers, who held high positions in life, all hoped to continue enjoying wealth and glory in the afterlife. They buried their most beloved or most expensive items with them, which also demonstrated the honor they enjoyed both in life and in death.
The industry of tomb raiding has continued throughout history in search of the rich burial goods in those tombs. Driven by huge profits, countless tomb raiders have taken risks to excavate ancient tombs. Even today, there are still some tomb raiding families in places like Henan and Shaanxi, which are all documented.
In rural areas of Henan and Shaanxi, there is a common saying: "Digging up graves and robbing tombs will make you rich," which shows how attractive these tombs are to people.
Among the most well-known tomb raiding cases in modern times, the most notable is that of Sun Dianying, a bandit who later joined the National Revolutionary Army and became a notorious thief who stole the country. When Sun Dianying was stationed in Hebei, he excavated the entire Eastern Qing Tombs, completely looting the Yuling Tomb of Emperor Qianlong and the Dingdong Tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi. Not only that, before leaving, he smashed the coffins, destroyed the corpses and bones, and collected the burial treasures of the Qing Dynasty's most extravagant rulers.
It's pitiful that Emperor Qianlong, who called himself the "Perfect Old Man" while he was alive, ended up with a mutilated body after his death because of these material possessions. Empress Dowager Cixi suffered an even worse fate, as her body was stripped naked and left on the ground.
However, Sun Dianying's actions were not very discreet, and soon the remnants of the Qing dynasty learned of them. At that time, all members of the Qing imperial family, led by Puyi, jointly accused Sun Dianying of robbing their ancestral tombs and reported it to Chiang Kai-shek. In order to quell their resentment, Chiang Kai-shek declared that he would thoroughly investigate the case.
After realizing the gravity of the situation, Sun Dianying, in order to protect himself, gave the most expensive and priceless Nine Dragon Sword he had looted from the tomb to Chiang Kai-shek. At the same time, he gave the enormous luminous pearl stolen from Empress Dowager Cixi's tomb to Soong Mei-ling. Soong Tse-ven also received the gold and jade watermelon from Cixi's tomb. In addition, government officials such as Kong Xiangxi, He Yingqin, and Yan Xishan received many valuable antiques, calligraphy and paintings. Thus, this sensational case was left unresolved.
Just imagine, even Soong Mei-ling could play with the luminous pearl that Cixi had taken out of her mouth, so what did Zhuang Rui have to be afraid of? Besides, Zhuang Rui didn't have any good feelings towards these people from ancient times. On the contrary, he had a great liking for those tomb raiders.
You say these emperors and generals are all dead, yet they still insist on leaving these treasures underground. Although many precious artifacts and antiques have been preserved because of their tombs, antiques such as calligraphy and paintings have almost all rotted in the tombs of these emperors and generals.
"Youngest brother, you can keep this. If someone wants it, sell it. If no one wants it, keep it for yourself. Consider it a gift from your fourth brother. No, it's unlucky to give a dead person's object as a gift, so just consider it... just consider it..."
The fourth brother thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a name for it. However, he dared not keep the jade for fun. His good mood of finding a bargain was completely ruined by Zhuang Rui's words.
"Well, you two are lucky you were born in the new China and grew up under the red flag, yet you still believe in this stuff. Fourth Brother, are you really giving it to me?"
Zhuang Rui weighed the jade disc in his hand. He didn't have that kind of psychological burden. Zhuang Rui guessed that the spiritual energy in these antiques might be left over from being handled too much. He didn't care whether it had been handled by dead people. Besides, he was handling this thing now, and after he died in a few decades, this object would still be passed down.
"Here you go, really, let's go back, may you have good fortune..."
The fourth brother kept shaking his hands, as if touching the jade disc would taint him with the bad luck of the dead. He was even more anxious than Viagra at this moment, probably because he wanted to go back to the hotel to wash his hands and burn incense.
"No, Fourth Brother, it's not easy to find a ghost market like this. We don't even know if there will be one tomorrow. Let's go back later. You can take me to see the stalls that sell jade discs."
It was already past 7 a.m., and the number of pedestrians on Jade Street was gradually increasing. Some shops were already preparing to open, while most of the stall owners in the Ghost Market had packed up and left. Zhuang Rui wanted to try his luck and go to Lao Si's jade stall to take a look.
These unearthed artifacts could very well have been sold by tomb raiders. Of course, they usually have regular customers. For example, most of the antiques in the grassland black market auction that Zhuang Rui attended last time were acquired from tomb raiders from various places.
However, some tomb raiders operate independently, their main profession being traveling from place to place as "street vendors," with tomb raiding as a side job. These people often keep some of the valuable items behind. Then they take out the remaining miscellaneous small items that are difficult to estimate and sell them, mixing genuine and fake antiques together. Whether they can find treasures depends on their individual skills.
"I'm not going. You go by yourself, Wei-ge. Let's go back first."
The fourth brother pulled Yang Wei towards the hotel. Zhuang Rui saw that there were not many stalls left on the jade street, so he took Bai Shi and followed the two-person show back to the hotel. However, Zhuang Rui had already made up his mind to come back early tomorrow to browse around. There were many more good things in this ghost market than in those antique markets.
Back at the hotel, the buck-toothed waiter who was on night duty was no longer there. Zhuang Rui and the other two breathed a sigh of relief. Faced with such an extreme case, they probably wouldn't even be able to eat breakfast. However, Wei Ge and Lao Si were clearly not in the mood for breakfast either. They went back to their room to wash their hands as if their butts were on fire.
Zhuang Rui didn't mind. He ate breakfast at the restaurant and packed a portion for Wei Ge, Zhou Rui, and the others to take up with him.
Zhuang Rui was staying in a single room. After delivering breakfast to the others, he took a cold shower. The weather in Guangdong in June was already quite hot, and even a little activity would leave him covered in sweat.
Although he hadn't slept all night, Zhuang Rui was still quite excited. He lay in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep, so he got up and took the dozen or so broken pieces of porcelain to the bathroom. He carefully cleaned the dirt off the porcelain pieces with a toothbrush. As the saying goes, old goods are not afraid of being new (clean), and new goods are not afraid of being dirty (aged). The glaze of this Ru kiln porcelain was very even. After Zhuang Rui cleaned it, each piece of porcelain emitted a faint, sky-blue glow.
Zhuang Rui placed the porcelain shards on the snow-white bed and began to piece them together. Although he was only roughly piecing together the broken surfaces, Zhuang Rui was still overjoyed. These sixteen broken porcelain pieces would just make up a Ru kiln brush washer.
A brush washer is a stationery item used to hold water for washing brushes. It is widely favored for its ingenious shape, variety, elegance, and exquisite craftsmanship. Among them, brush washers produced by Ru kiln are called Ru kiln washers. However, few of them have survived to this day. According to some statistics, there are no more than fifty intact Ru kiln washers in the world today. If Uncle De can restore this Ru kiln washer, it will definitely fetch a high price.
Zhuang Rui carefully wrapped the porcelain shards in a towel and decided that after attending the jade exhibition, he would immediately return to Zhonghai to have Uncle De repair the Ru kiln porcelain.
As for the Han Dynasty jade disc that Lao Si had found, Zhuang Rui didn't pay much attention to it and casually placed it on the coffee table in the room. Although the jade disc was quite valuable, it only had two colors and the jade quality wasn't very good. He had no interest in "playing" with it himself and would rather sell it when he had the chance.
Chapter 171 Old Friends
After sleeping all morning, Zhuang Rui realized that he and Wei Ge had indeed arrived a bit early. Song Jun wouldn't be able to reach Guangzhou until tomorrow morning, and the third brother, who was far away in Henan, and the second brother, whose home was in Beijing, wouldn't arrive until the day after tomorrow. After getting up and having lunch, Yang Wei and the others were a bit bored.
"Fourth brother, Guangdong is your territory, take us two brothers out for some fun. It's so boring here, I wish I hadn't come so early."
A group of people sat on the sofa in the hotel lobby, watching the guests coming and going with great boredom. Most of these people were here to attend the Pingzhou Jade Gambling Conference. Although it was still three days before the official opening, many people had come in advance to make preparations.
"Aren't all these beauties enough for you to see? Look at that fat guy, doesn't he look like he's ten months pregnant? Tsk tsk. The girl with him is really pretty. What a pair of adulterers..."
The fourth brother wasn't bored at all. His eyes, hidden behind his glasses, were gleaming as he sized up the female companions brought by the passing guests.
"Tch, you've been in Guangdong too long, haven't you? You actually like these kinds of girls? Hey, I have to say, this chick is actually pretty, it's just that fat guy is a bit of a disappointment. Damn it, all the good flowers are wasted on cow dung..."
To be honest, although the Chaoshan region of Guangdong does produce beautiful women, most Guangdong women represent diligence and endurance, and have little to do with beauty. Wei Ge first made a sarcastic remark to Lao Si, but his eyes were fixed on the adulterous couple he had just mentioned, and he couldn't help but be attracted to them as well.
Actually, Wei Ge and Lao Si are never short of women. Wei Ge is considered a small tycoon in Zhonghai. There are plenty of beautiful women in his parents' company who want to have a relationship with him beyond friendship. As for Lao Si, you can tell what he's using his Ferrari just by looking at it. In TV dramas, it's just a prop for those showy guys to pick up girls.
These two were clearly having a lot of trouble today. They sat there commenting on the women passing by. Zhuang Rui wasn't very interested in their conversation and instead chatted with Zhou Rui about their last trip to the bathhouse.
"Hey guys, can't you tone it down a bit? If you're looking at a woman, fine, but don't point fingers at her. You're just asking for trouble."
Seeing that Yang Wei and the other two were making a bit too much of a fuss, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but say something. He originally wanted to go to the jade street with Zhou Rui, but Lao Si and Wei Ge had been a little upset that morning and refused to go anymore. They wouldn't go themselves and even tried to drag Zhuang Rui along.
"What are you afraid of? We brothers are all together. We're not afraid of fighting. You've been around for years, how come you're getting more and more timid?"
Wei Ge was very dissatisfied with Zhuang Rui's attitude. His reunion with Lao Si reminded him of many interesting things that happened in college. In addition, he knew some of Zhou Rui's abilities, so he was much bolder than usual, which Zhuang Rui knew. The eldest brother's way of dealing with people in Zhonghai had always been "winning people over with virtue".
"Come on, boss, you guys chat. I'm going to take a stroll around the jade market and bring you back some nice items. Brother Zhou, you don't need to go. Just keep an eye on the white lion for me. There are too many people during the day, so it's inconvenient to take it with me."
As Zhuang Rui spoke, he stood up. The white lion lay on the ground, making a whimpering sound, but did not get up to follow Zhuang Rui.
"Hey, don't go. What's the point of seeing that stuff? Let's go to Guangzhou sometime. I'll show you guys some nightlife. Hey? Why is that fat guy staring at us? Is he looking for trouble?"
The fourth brother grabbed Zhuang Rui, preventing him from acting alone. However, he noticed that the fat man with the pretty girl, after completing the check-in procedures, did not leave but stood at the service desk, constantly glancing at them.