Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

However, Zhang Meifang stopped him in a hurry and said coquettishly, "Hey, you still have a fire burning here, don't worry. I can go back to the house and get it myself. Anyway, I don't know whether it is an antique or not, so I'll bring it here for you to take a look at."

After saying that, she twisted her slender and soft waist, stepped lightly out of the kitchen and walked towards her room.

Not long after, Zhang Meifang walked in carefully holding a wooden box that looked a bit old. With a hint of expectation and mystery on her face, she gently placed the wooden box on the table.

"Come, take a quick look at what's inside and see if they can be considered antiques. This is a treasure passed down to me by my master." Zhang Meifang said as she gently handed the wooden box to Xu Damao.

Xu Damao took the wooden box, looked it up and down, then nodded affirmatively and said, "Sister Meifang, I'm not bragging, just looking at this box itself is a real old item! Look at the material, it should be made of Wuling pine. Even if this box is sold alone, it is estimated to be worth ten yuan."

Hearing this, Zhang Meifang's eyes lit up and she asked in surprise, "Really? I didn't expect this broken box could be sold for money?"

Xu Damao smiled and replied, "That's not a big deal! But now I want to know what rare things are in this box." After saying that, he couldn't wait to reach out and open the lid of the box and look inside.

"Wow! This is actually... This is actually a complete set of female role headdresses! And it looks to be well preserved."

Xu Damao couldn't help but exclaim in surprise; his eyes were deeply attracted by the exquisite headdress in front of him.

The inside of the box was covered with a piece of black satin fabric, on which was placed the extremely gorgeous female role headdress. Xu Damao couldn't help but reach out and pick up one of the phoenix-shaped ornaments, examining it carefully.

After a long while, he murmured to himself, "This phoenix looks really lifelike, but it's a pity that it's not made of pure gold. I guess it's made of silver gilt with kingfisher feathers. But even so, it's still exquisite and beautiful!"

As soon as Xu Damao picked it up, he immediately felt the heaviness of the object in his hand. He secretly guessed in his heart that based on his years of experience, this thing should not be made of pure gold.

However, when his eyes fell on the emerald green color on the headdress, he was instantly as if he was cast under a spell and was completely unable to look away.

This shade of emerald green is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. Xu Damao knows that the production process of such exquisite jewelry must be extremely tedious and complicated.

As far as he knew, first of all, an experienced old silversmith had to come forward and use his superb skills to carefully forge the silver into the shape of a phoenix.

In this process, the wire-pinching and wire-stacking techniques are indispensable and key steps.

After a lot of hard work, the next step is to gild the finished phoenix. This step not only requires extremely high precision, but also tests the craftsman's ability to control the temperature and time.

Only by completing the gilding process just right can the entire phoenix headdress exude a charming luster.

But this is far from the end, the finishing touch is the kingfisher technique. The most colorful and eye-catching feathers are cut from the heads of kingfishers that are neither too old nor too young and in their prime.

Moreover, this process must be done with great care, as the precious feathers may be damaged if not handled with care. Afterwards, these feathers are carefully glued onto the phoenix piece by piece, and only then is a beautiful kingfisher-inlaid phoenix headdress completed.

Just such a small phoenix headdress actually requires feathers from the heads of more than a dozen kingfishers, which shows how luxurious it is and how difficult it is to make.

Xu Damao knew very well that the reason why kingfisher feathers never fade and reflect colorful light under the sunlight is because of their unique material properties.

It is for this reason that the ancient craft of kingfisher feather inlay can be traced back to the distant Han Dynasty in China and has been passed down for thousands of years.

Recalling his past life memories, Xu Damao couldn't help but sigh. At that time, due to overhunting and other reasons, the kingfisher had become an endangered species and was listed as a national second-class protected animal. Any form of buying and selling was strictly prohibited.

Besides, there was a well-known and famous TV series in the previous life - "The Legend of Zhen Huan".

In this drama, the impressive Concubine Hua wears an exquisite phoenix and jade crown on her head!

You know, this phoenix crown is made of extremely precious kingfisher feathers. Its value is simply amazing, as high as more than 80 million!

In order to have the phoenix crown appear in the camera, the crew went to great lengths to rent it from the Palace Museum.

And guess how much the rent is? Hey, it's only a million!

Xu Damao still clearly remembers an interview program he once watched with Sun Li.

According to Sun Li, when filming that scene, no matter who it was, as soon as they saw Concubine Hua wearing a phoenix crown appear on the set, they would be trembling with fear and treading on thin ice, and would not dare to get close to her at all!

What’s even more interesting is that once the actress who plays Concubine Hua puts on this priceless phoenix crown, she walks extremely cautiously, almost as slow as a snail.

Why is this happening? Of course, he was afraid that he would accidentally drop the treasure worth more than 80 million yuan on his head!

Having said that, in the past, most of the so-called kingfisher feather jewelry that could be sold publicly on the market were actually made of dyed goose feathers, duck feathers, peacock feathers and other materials.

Although these imitations are so realistic in appearance, they are still fake after all!

The reason for adopting this alternative is out of helplessness. After all, it is to better protect those rare animals that are on the verge of extinction!

Thinking of this, Xu Damao sorted out his chaotic thoughts, then turned around and asked Zhang Meifang beside him with a puzzled look on his face: "Sister Meifang, this thing shouldn't be your master's, right?"

"Yes, these are treasures passed down by my master's master. Speaking of my master, he is such a miserable man with a tragic fate, alas..."

Zhang Meifang sighed softly, a trace of sadness and helplessness in her eyes, and then she fell silent, as if her thoughts were pulled back to the difficult years in the past.