Old Wu and Zhou Cangsong followed them into the inner room. Zhou Xuan smiled and pointed to the seats, saying, "Sit down and let's talk."
Old Wu and Zhou Cangsong both sat down, and Fu Ying followed them in and sat down next to Zhou Xuan, also wanting to figure out what Zhou Xuan really meant.
Zhou Xuan unfolded the yellow cloth, placed the porcelain bowl on the table, and then said with a smile, "Old Wu, take another look."
Zhou Cangsong deliberately turned on the main light in the inner room, making it bright and clear, illuminating everything so clearly that even a single hair could be seen.
Old Wu was quite surprised. Zhou Xuan's words undoubtedly meant that his purchase of the bowl was not without purpose, but had a deeper meaning. Otherwise, why would he have carelessly given away 80,000 coins?
Even if Zhou Xuan is rich, 80,000 yuan is nothing, less than a drop in the ocean, but he wouldn't just throw it away like that. He's not a philanthropist. The only explanation is that this item has value, and it's definitely worth more than 80,000 yuan.
Old Wu hesitated for a moment, then pulled back the cloth, took the bowl in his hand, and examined it carefully under the light. However, his conclusion remained the same as before: he hadn't misread it.
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Old Wu, you're not mistaken about that bowl. It's just a Qing Dynasty earthen kiln imitation of an official kiln, it's not worth much. I mean..." He pointed to the piece of earthen yellow cloth.
Old Wu was taken aback. Zhou Xuan had actually bought this thing for 80,000 coins.
When doing business, Lao Wu is always very shrewd and has a sharp eye. When antiques are brought to be sold, the antiques themselves are not valuable, but the boxes or other items that contain them are the real valuable things. Lao Wu has encountered this kind of thing many times, so he always pays close attention to these things.
When the young man opened the bag and took out the yellow cloth bag, Old Wu noticed that the yellow cloth was just ordinary yellow woven cloth from the countryside, nothing strange about it. But Zhou Xuan said there was something wrong with the yellow cloth. What could be the reason?
Old Wu was stunned for a moment, then quickly took the yellow cloth into his hands. The yellow cloth was about a meter wide and only about forty centimeters long. Looking at the fabric, it was indeed ordinary. The weave on the edges was tight. What was so special about such a piece of yellow cloth?
Old Wu stared at it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. It was just an ordinary piece of cloth, nothing special.
Old Wu pondered for a while, then gently placed the cloth on the table and asked, "Xiao Zhou, I'm really bad at judging things. I can't see anything unusual about this cloth. The edges are tightly woven, it's not very thick, and there are no interlayers. So what's strange about it? Don't keep me in suspense, just tell me directly."
Zhou Xuan chuckled, then took a pair of scissors and cut off about two-thirds of the way down the edge of the khaki cloth. After cutting the excess, he handed the cloth back to Old Wu, saying with a smile, "Take another look."
Old Wu was stunned for a moment, then quickly took the cloth and carefully examined the area where Zhou Xuan had cut. Upon closer inspection, he discovered something remarkable. At the point where Zhou Xuan had cut, it was clear from the weave that although the cloth was not thick, it was actually made up of two extremely thin layers of yellow cloth sewn together.
Old Wu immediately separated the two layers of fabric at the joint. The two layers of fabric were obviously glued together, and they were so tightly attached that they looked like a single piece of fabric. You really couldn't tell from the outside by touching and pinching them.
Gently tear the two layers of cloth apart, only three or four parts, and suddenly another piece of yellow cloth appears in the middle. The surfaces of both sides of the cloth are covered with an ultra-thin film to prevent glue from getting on them and causing damage.
When Old Wu saw the yellow cloth peeking out from the middle, his heart tightened. This yellow cloth was no ordinary yellow cloth; it was brocade yellow, which was a forbidden item in ancient times. It was only allowed to be used by officials, that is, the emperor's family. Ordinary people or wealthy people dared not use it because brocade yellow was something only the emperor could wear, and it was called a dragon robe.
However, what was sandwiched in the fabric could not possibly be a dragon robe, because the size would definitely not be right. This amount of space could not hold a dragon robe, but there was something else that could fit.
That was an "imperial edict".
Imperial edicts were commands or pronouncements issued by the emperor in feudal society of the old era. They were symbols of the emperor's power. The recipients of the edicts, i.e., the officials, were of different ranks. Generally, the edicts for first-rank officials were made with jade as the axis, those for second-rank officials with black rhinoceros horn, those for third-rank officials with gilded axes, and those for fourth and fifth-rank officials with black ox horn. The cloth material of the edicts also varied, being made of fine silk brocade. They were usually embroidered with different patterns, mostly auspicious clouds and cranes. The richer the colors of the edict, the higher the rank of the official being bestowed the title.
Old Wu was already taken aback when he saw the small section of yellow brocade that was showing.
He had seen many imperial edicts from ancient emperors, but most of them were bestowed upon ordinary officials. He rarely saw edicts from high-ranking officials. On this brocade, through the almost transparent film, one could see the clerical script and the rich patterns on the brocade. Even though he could only see this small corner, Old Wu's hands were already trembling.
The richness and layering of the pattern almost proves that this imperial edict is addressed to a high-ranking official. Although Lao Wu has not yet verified its authenticity, the brocade exposed in the middle makes him tremble. This brocade is definitely not fake, and judging from the way it was hidden, the imperial edict is 99% likely to be genuine. Otherwise, why would it be hidden so deeply?
Even a seasoned expert like him couldn't tell. I really don't know how Zhou Xuan knew.
Old Wu had no time to ponder how Zhou Xuan discovered the problem with this thing. Instead, he carefully and cautiously separated the yellow cloth until the brocade in the middle was fully revealed. Even through a thin film, the brilliant yellow color of the brocade was dazzling.
Old Wu then slowly peeled off the film, a process that took nearly half an hour. After half an hour, a complete imperial edict in clerical script lay on the table.
Zhou Xuan recognized most of it. The characters were all in the neat clerical script style. Some were in the same simplified characters as today, and some were in traditional characters. He recognized some of the traditional characters, and some he did not. However, he recognized the beginning characters such as "By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decreed that the officials who are close to the people should be upright and follow good teachings..." and the characters "Ao Bai" in the middle of the back.
But when Zhou Xuan saw the name "Ao Bai," he was surprised. This person was very famous, and he had a particularly deep impression of him, mainly because he had read Jin Yong's novel "The Deer and the Cauldron" when he was young. Ao Bai was a powerful minister who held great influence in the court during the young Kangxi Emperor's reign. Zhou Xuan was not familiar with history and did not know much about it. His main impression of him came from this novel.
But this is a novel, it's fiction. Zhou Xuan understood that, for example, Wei Xiaobao himself was fictional, and most of the historical events in the novel were half true and half false. When Zhou Xuan first investigated, he already knew it was an imperial edict, but he didn't examine the words on it closely. He really didn't expect it to be an imperial edict bestowed by Emperor Kangxi upon Ao Bai.
"Is this an imperial edict for Ao Bai?" Zhou Xuan asked in surprise. When he detected that it was an imperial edict, Zhou Xuan knew that even an edict for a fourth or fifth-rank official would be worth more than 80,000. This price was set by "Chen Yuanlei" himself. Zhou Xuan meant that if Chen Yuanlei had the guts to ask for 8 million, he would give it to him. Unfortunately, Chen Yuanlei didn't have that guts.
Volume 1, Chapter 517: Playing with antiques is all about the thrill.
Chapter 517 The thrill of collecting antiques
Zhou Xuan didn't know much about imperial edicts; aside from using his special abilities to detect their authenticity, he didn't really have much information.
Old Wu became the main character at this moment, taking a magnifying glass and carefully examining the patterns and markings on the imperial edict. The more he looked, the more excited he became.
Zhou Xuan didn't know the true value of this thing. The only person with authority and experience was Old Wu, so he was waiting for him to speak.
After reading it, Old Wu put down the magnifying glass and sighed, "Young Master Zhou, your luck is truly unparalleled. This is an excellent item, but it's incomplete."
Zhou Xuan asked in surprise, "How can it be incomplete? Doesn't this imperial edict have the emperor's seal on the back? It should be complete."
"Hehe, I wasn't talking about the incompleteness of the imperial edict's contents. What I was talking about was..." Old Wu chuckled, pointing to the edge of the edict, "I was talking about this. The imperial edict wasn't just a piece of yellow brocade; it also had a scroll. The best scrolls were made of jade, the next best were made of rhinoceros horn, then the scrolls for third-rank officials were gilded, and the scrolls for fourth and fifth-rank officials and others were made of black ox horn. The scroll on this imperial edict should be the highest-grade jade scroll. When Ao Bai was still alive and before his property was confiscated and he was convicted, he was a high-ranking official, and the emperor's rewards were naturally of the highest level. After Ao Bai was convicted and imprisoned, Kangxi confiscated all of his property and destroyed the imperial edicts. I don't know how this imperial edict survived, but the way it was preserved is truly superb; it has even left me speechless."
As Old Wu spoke, he sighed. The edge of this imperial edict was made of the finest jade. If it were still around, it would be an equally valuable item. Moreover, the fact that the edict could be made intact would make it priceless. However, it was still somewhat regrettable, like a person missing an ear, a finger, or a toe. Although it was still a person, it was always flawed.
"It is indeed a bit of a pity, but as far as the item itself is concerned, I can only say that Xiao Zhou's luck is simply indescribable," Old Wu sighed and then said, "I used to think that way, but now I understand something. Hehe, Xiao Zhou, one or two similar things can be said to be luck, but three or four, or even all the same things, can only mean one thing."
Old Wu just shook his head at Zhou Xuan and said, "That only proves that your insight and experience far surpass those of so-called experts. Take me for example, I really couldn't see the secret of this yellow cloth, but it didn't escape your notice, Zhou. This shows that your experience and insight are beyond my reach."
Zhou Xuan was taken aback, then chuckled awkwardly and tried to cover it up. He had no way to explain himself to Old Wu, so he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb. In any case, Old Wu just thought he was a hidden expert in discernment and never thought of any special abilities.
Fu Ying understood, of course. At this point, she lost much interest. With Zhou Xuan's superpowers, what was there that he wouldn't know?
However, Zhou Xuan's father, Zhou Cangsong, was still unaware of this. But over the past year, he had come to believe that his eldest son must have learned this knowledge from a master, and learned it extremely well. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to have earned such a vast fortune. He felt proud of what Old Wu said, and had no other thoughts.
Old Wu sighed, "Little Zhou, when I used to come here, I thought you were a good person, that's one thing. I also thought you were incredibly lucky to see so many rare and precious treasures, that's another thing. But I never imagined that your knowledge in this area far surpassed mine. I only realize it now, hehe, how embarrassing, hehehe..."
Old Wu chuckled, then stared at Zhou Xuan and said, "You won't look down on this old geezer, will you?"
"No, no... how could I..." Zhou Xuan chuckled, saying directly, "Actually, how could I dare? I wouldn't dare, others would beg for this."
Old Wu actually knew Zhou Xuan's intentions. After joking around for a while, they stopped talking about it. He felt incredibly comfortable with Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan had never restricted him in any way and would never restrict him. He never treated him like a servant or employee, which was why Old Wu was willing to stay. If it were just an invitation, he naturally wouldn't have agreed in the first place. He only agreed because of Wei Haihong. His original intention was to work for a while and see how it went. Firstly, he was giving Wei Haihong face, so if he wasn't happy, he would have a reason to quit. But now, he was completely captivated by Zhou Xuan's personal charm, and other conditions and reasons didn't matter anymore.