Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

He Lai was not in a hurry either, as he wanted to see what good things these old tomb robbers had found.

The first person to come over was Old Man Yu. He pulled He Lai to the corner of the wall.

"Old Yu, you can do this. It doesn't look like you really have a dragon robe, does it?"

He Lai joked.

"Haha, it's not groundless! I, an old man, do have a dragon robe!"

Old Man Yu laughed.

"Oh? Open it quickly and let me see. I have never seen a dragon robe before!"

He Lai suddenly became excited.

Although there are still many dragon robes in existence, after all, this is something worn by the emperor, so He Lai still wants one very much.

Old Man Yu opened his last wooden box, and inside was an object wrapped in silk.

Slowly unfolding it, it turned out to be a yellow dragon robe inlaid with fine pearls all over.

"How is it? This dragon robe is nice, right?" Old Man Yu held up the dragon robe with both hands and showed it to He.

He Lai held the flashlight in one hand and touched the dragon robe with the other, feeling very good.

Look closely at the fabric of the dragon robe, you will see gold threads inside the silk!

These should be embroidery and kesi. He Lai has found some antique books in recent years to learn about them. He Lai knows a lot about dragon robes.

Embroidery can be said to be the artistic creation of ancient Chinese women. It is a skill of adding silk threads or other fibers to fabrics according to prescribed patterns or designs. There are dozens of embroidery stitches.

After the Ministry of Internal Affairs finished drawing the pattern of the dragon robe, the embroidery workers began to embroider according to the pattern. There were strict requirements on the proportions and details of the pattern during embroidery. After the entire embroidery was completed, the pattern was extremely delicate and exquisite.

Compared with embroidery, kesi is more complicated to make. This ancient craft has been lost. Kesi is extremely delicate and exquisite during the weaving process. There are very few of them in stock now. There is even a saying at auctions that "an inch of kesi is worth an inch of gold".

In order to achieve meticulous effects, the creation and weaving of kesi silk requires a lot of time, and it is common for it to take several months or even years. It is no exaggeration to say that the creators have poured a lot of effort into it.

Due to the complexity and delicacy of kesi, this craft became a symbol of imperial power during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The dragon robe reflects the level of luxury of the royal family in feudal society. The dragon robe can be said to be the earliest private custom-made one, and it can also be said to be a luxury item in ancient times.

We also have to admire the ancient craftsmen who strived for perfection. It was their spirit of excellence that created one amazing and exquisite work of art after another.

He Lai's dragon robe is inlaid with small pearls all over, which shows that it is a very valuable dragon robe.

He Lai was absorbed in what he was reading, and Old Man Yu said, "It's dark now, and it's hard to see clearly. Take it back and take a look at it slowly."

After saying that, he folded it and put it away.

"Hey, you guy, come on, give me an offer? If the price is right, I'll buy it."

He Lai didn't hesitate and said.

"Okay, I want to sell this dragon robe for one thousand dollars? Is that okay?"

"This price is a bit high! I'm not completely ignorant of this aspect over the years. There are still many dragon robes in existence, but they are not worth this price."

He Lai was also telling the truth. The dragon robe, as the emperor's clothing, was a disposable item, just like many luxury goods today. It was not meant to be worn again after being washed. If the emperor wore it dirty, it would have to be discarded.

The sky-high price of the "disposable dragon robe" shows the level of luxury of the royal family in feudal society. The dragon robe can be said to be the earliest private custom-made one, and it can also be said to be a luxury item in ancient times.

We have to admire the ancient craftsmen who strived for perfection. It was their spirit of excellence that created one amazing piece of art after another.

Since it is a one-time item, there are naturally many dragon robes left in the world.

"Then how much do you say?" Old Man Yu also knew that his dragon robe would not be worth too much money, but with so many pearls and gold threads, it certainly couldn't be too cheap.

"How about this, I'll pay you 400 yuan and get you 10 kilograms of pork, how about that?"

He Lai couldn't press it too low either, after all, there were gold threads on the dragon robe, and there were dozens of grams of gold.

"Five hundred yuan, how about that? Look at this dragon robe again, it must be much better than the others!" Old Man Yu thought for a moment and said.

He Lai took a look at the dragon robe and finally agreed, but the pork would have to wait, so he took out five hundred yuan and gave it to him first.

Old Man Yu put the dragon robe into the wooden box, took the money, counted it again and again, and then left.

Then blind old Yi came over with something.

He was quite simple and just came over with a small wooden box in his hand.

"Blind old man, what are you holding? Could it be the imperial seal?"

He Lai smiled.

"Hey, you guessed it right, it's the Imperial Seal! Take a look for yourself."

After Blind Old Yi finished speaking, he handed over the wooden box.

He Lai took the small wooden box, opened it and took a look, and it turned out to be a jade seal.

He squatted down, took out the jade seal and looked at it carefully.

This jade seal is jade green in color, with a dragon-shaped knob and a square shape. It feels about the size of a palm. The words on the seal are Chinese seal characters on the right and Manchu characters on the left.

I didn't recognize the first two characters of this seal character "He Lai", I only knew that the two characters in the middle should be "Zhi Bao".

The jade seal is a valuable item in later generations. I wonder how much this blind old Yi wants to sell it for.

"Blind old man, how much do you want to sell it for?"

"You decide on the price, I won't bargain, if I think it's too low, I'll just take it!"

Blind Old Yi said.

“Uh…you…” He Lai was suddenly speechless and began to think.

"Hurry up, there are a bunch of people behind me waiting for you to pay for their things!"

Blind Old Yi didn't want to delay too long, so he spoke directly.

He Lai thought about it again. This jade seal would definitely be worth hundreds of millions in the future, so he couldn't give too little.

"How about this, two thousand yuan? What do you think?" He Lai gave a good price.

When Blind Old Yi heard the price, he frowned and said nothing, obviously dissatisfied.

"This is all the money I can give you. I'll get you another 100 kilograms of pork. If it works, that's it! If not, you can take it!"

He Lai had no choice but to continue raising the stakes, otherwise he would probably not be able to get the seal.

"Give me another 200 kilograms of flour!" said Blind Old Yi.

"Okay! But I have to give you your stuff tomorrow. I don't prepare enough today."

He said this and handed the seal back.

"Okay, I trust you, kid. You can take the seal. Just bring the stuff to me tomorrow."

Blind Old Yi waved his hands and had no intention of taking the things back.

"Okay, I'll bring the things over at this time tomorrow."

When He Lai saw that Blind Old Yi had confiscated the seal, he took it away.

Just like that, Blind Old Yi walked away with his hands behind his back, and the next old man continued to walk over with something in his hand.