The years when I was reborn as a giant in the antique world

There are more than 30 large and small seals on the booth, and there are several uncarved rough stones beside them.

Seals are also a very important category among antiques, and they are an indispensable type of stationery in ancient times.

The emperor's seal is the 'Xi', which represents the supreme power, and the 'Xi' is usually used to review memorials or convey the will, which is the embodiment of the emperor's own wishes.

Ordinary officials also have official seals and private seals. The official seals are issued by the royal family to distinguish official ranks and titles; private seals are necessary for enjoying calligraphy and painting, visiting relatives and friends, etc.

Others, such as painters, calligraphers, and various literati, also use inscriptions and seals when signing, which is inseparable from daily life.

According to statistics, Qianlong's seals amounted to more than 1800 squares, which is almost unsurpassed.

This is enough to show that seals were very common in ancient times, making the collection of seals a special category. Yun Zhou also saw a special session of "Jinshi Seal Carving Art" during the Jiahe Autumn Auction.

There are many kinds of materials for seals, such as gold, silver, copper, iron, jade, stone, bone, wood, etc. Among them, jade is more precious, and the most common are Qingtian stone, Shoushan stone and Changhua stone.

Fujian Shoushan Tian Huangshi, Zhejiang Tianshi, and Changhua Bloodstone are the most valuable, and are known as the "Three Treasures of Yinshi".

Yun Zhou picked up a seal, which was a square seal. The bottom of the seal was square, about 2 cm in diameter and 5 cm in height.

The lion is the most common auspicious animal in Chinese folk culture. It is the embodiment of wisdom and strength, representing bravery, kingship and protection, and symbolizing status, dignity, auspiciousness and peace.

Engraving it on the seal is a good blessing to the user. ①

The whole body of this seal is fiery red, as bright as chicken blood, without a trace of variegation, and the four characters "Yuewei Thatched Cottage" are engraved on the bottom.

"Yuewei Thatched Cottage" is the former residence of Ji Xiaolan. It is well-known, and everyone must know it.

Yun Zhou took a look and put it down.

The bloodstone depends on the coverage area and color. This seal is entirely red in blood. If it is true, it is the top "Dahongpao" in the bloodstone. With the name of "Yuewei Cottage", it is worth tens of millions. .

But this one, it is dyed at first glance, the color is too uniform, there is no natural layering, the handle is not smooth, and the seal carving on the bottom is very rough, it looks fake at first glance.

Moreover, Ji Yun does not have a bloodstone seal, but some Tian Huangshi seals. After all, Emperor Qianlong loved Tian Huangshi very much, and the seal "Yuewei Thatched Cottage" bestowed on Ji Yun was also Tian Huangshi's seal, which is now in the museum.

There are not many stalls selling seals in the ghost market, and there are many people watching in front of the stalls.

One of the trendy young men with earrings and his companions picked and picked together, and finally asked the stall owner with an orange dragon button badge, "How much is this?"

Stall owner: "You are Tian Huangshi, the private seal of Emperor Qianlong, you want this number."

He made a gesture of ten with two fingers together, "Ten yuan bigger."

The young man obviously didn't understand what it meant: "Sell it for ten yuan? Then I'll take one."

Someone next to him laughed out loud.

The stall owner's face turned dark, and the middle-aged man standing beside him approached to remind him in due time, "Young man, this is jargon. Big ten means one hundred thousand."

"What, one hundred thousand? Damn." The young man and his companions looked at each other, seeing shock in their eyes at the same time, and immediately put down the seal in their hands.

10 yuan can buy a car. They came to the ghost market to find treasures, not to be taken advantage of.

Several people left immediately, and the stall owner didn't care.

Now there are not only collectors who like antiques in the ghost market, but also many young people who come here because of the name. The latter are all visiting the night market. Seeing the excitement is not his goal at all.

The middle-aged man did not leave. There are real and fake things in the ghost market. There are many fakes, but they may not be true.

Just like the 'Qianlong Private Seal' just now, after the young man put it down, he touched it. Although it is not Tianhuangshi, it is made of ordinary Shoushan stone, and it can be worth tens of thousands of yuan.

Yun Zhou didn't leave either, and the two of them chose among more than 30 seals.

The middle-aged man was the first to find a square bloodstone seal, with a simple and elegant shape, without extra carvings and decorations, and the top is somewhat uneven, and the layout concept follows the shape.

The bright red chicken blood inside is distributed in a silky shape, and a fifth of it is lightly wound around the bottom, with distinct texture and warm touch.

This is a normal chicken blood stone. It would be nice to have a trace of chicken blood. Where can you usually find a full red Dahongpao chicken blood stone?

A small piece cost several million, and it was snatched up by collectors.

The engraving of 'Anchi' on the bottom of this square chapter shows that it was made by Master Chen Julai.

Chen Julai is a seal master in modern times. In his later years, he did not sign the "Anchi Old Man" and he managed to seal no less than [-] cubic meters in his life. He once carved seals for famous calligraphers and painters such as Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan, and Zhang Boju.

However, compared to the previous Qianlong and Ji Xiaolan, the name Chen Julai is not well known by ordinary people, and those who are not very familiar with seals may not have heard of it.

The bloodstone is not full of blood, and the color distribution is natural. The middle-aged man carefully observed the seal with a magnifying glass, and the more he looked at it, the more he felt it was right, so he decided that it was a genuine one made by Master Chen Julai.

Middle-aged man: "How much is this?"

The stall owner rolled his eyelids and pointed to the row in the middle, "This row is all 90."

9000 yuan?

A look of joy flashed across the eyes of the middle-aged man, and he suppressed himself, counter-offering: "50."

The stall owner waved his hand, "Just now there was an old man who offered 70 and I didn't sell it. He said to go shopping for a while and then come back, but it's past 7 o'clock now, so I won't wait. If you want it, the minimum is 75."

"The old man offers 70, so I will also offer 70. I can't offer two prices for the same item, right?"

"Listen carefully, I didn't sell it just now."

"He hasn't come back even now, so he can just sell it to me."

……

The middle-aged man dawdled with the stall owner for a few more minutes, and finally spent 7000 yuan happily taking it away.

Master Chen Julai's seal for personal use is still made of bloodstone, so how could it cost hundreds of thousands more? This is a big mistake he picked up.

Yun Zhou shook his head in his heart, he had also seen this seal just now.

At first glance, it does seem real, including the color and material, which are very similar to chicken blood stones, but when you look closely, you can still see the clues from the feeling of chicken blood infection.

Moreover, the calligraphy of the bottom chapter is not correct, it is relatively rigid and lacks the style of everyone.

Seals, mainly look at the material, carving and calligraphy, the combination of the three is the real thing.

The most important thing is that in today's market, the "Three Treasures of Yinshi" are too precious, and 99% of them are fake. It requires excellent eyesight, and you will be fooled if you are not careful.

The young man glanced at the stall owner, his thoughts turned, and he instantly understood the opponent's routine.

First, use fake things like Qianlong's private seal and Yuewei Thatched Cottage to let the other party relax their vigilance. However, there is truth in the fake, and there are real materials such as Shoushan Stone and Furong Stone mixed in it, which makes people have the desire to pick up the leaks.

In the end, they used high imitation materials and the seals of not-so-famous people to confuse the other party, making them believe it was true, thinking that they had picked up a big leak, but in fact it was just a routine.

Naturally, he would not be deceived by this method, but he searched all these seals, but he didn't find anything special.

The little silver dragon still stood tall and straight, with two small bright white dragons sticking out their horns, wrapping the tip of their tail around his wrist to prevent him from leaving.

He believed in Xiao Yinlong's judgment, so——

Yun Zhou moved his eyes to the uncut rough stones next to him, if there were any, they could only be inside.

The stall owner has been watching from the side.

This young man has been picking seals here since just now, and when he heard the asking price of 10 yuan, his eyes did not fluctuate at all. It seems that his family should be quite rich.

The other party's age looked like he had just come of age, but he had outstanding facial features, outstanding temperament, and well-known clothes. The stall owner thought about it and guessed which rich second generation came to hang out in the ghost market.

In any case, such rich young people are his key targets.

There was a gleam in the stall owner's eyes, and his tone softened: "Didn't the little handsome guy fancy it? I have Tianhuangshi, chicken blood stone, and Hetian jade seals here."

Yun Zhou replied, "I want the one that hasn't been carved, and I plan to carve my own chapter."

"There are also here, here, just a few dollars over there."

The stall owner pointed to the few stones covered with stone skins, "My hometown is in province F, and they are all Tianhuang stones dug from the field of Shoushan Village. You can pick and choose."

What he said was half true and half false.

As we all know, there is only one place where Tianhuangshi is produced, and that is Shoushan Village in F Province of Huaguo.

In the village, there is a mountain stream with a length of more than 1000 meters and a width of more than 200 meters, which is the origin of Tianhuangshi, and there is no other origin in the world.

The formation of Tianhuang stone takes hundreds of millions of years, and it is separated from the stone veins into independent blocks, which belongs to the "no vein to find" stone.

Once dug, it is gone, unlike ore veins, which can be regenerated, so the degree of preciousness can be imagined.

However, since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Tian Huangshi has been favored by the emperor. Because of its six virtues of "fine, clean, moist, greasy, warm, and condensed", it has been honored as the "Emperor of Stone" and "King of Seal Stone". , almost extinct.

Now there are only two acres of land in Shoushan Village that may be produced by Tian Huangshi, which is protected by the state and mining is prohibited.

The local villagers were not willing to give up this overwhelming wealth, and they dug three feet around and continued to develop. Those who accidentally dug Tianhuangshi all became rich overnight.

As the saying goes: Gold is easy to get, Tianhuang is hard to find.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was "one or two fields of yellow gold and three liang of gold", but now it has become "one or two fields of yellow and one hundred liang of gold".

A few years ago, someone dug up a piece of high-quality field yellowstone weighing one catty on the soil slope near the farmland, with an estimated value of hundreds of millions.

But this kind of situation is too rare, and more people have been digging for decades but have returned without success, wasting energy in vain.

The stall owner was not from City F, but he also wanted to make a fortune with Tian Huangshi, so he went to Shoushan Village several times to buy the stones dug up by the villagers, but unfortunately he never received authentic Tian Huang.

There are many kinds of Tianhuangshi, including chicken oil yellow, orange peel red, white field, silver wrapped in gold, gold wrapped in silver, black leather field, hard field, etc. The colors are yellow, white, red, black and other colors, and the prices of each category vary greatly. Large, ranging from hundreds of dollars per gram to hundreds of thousands.

Its characteristic is that it is covered with stone skin, which is a bit similar to the fog layer of jadeite, which is thick and thin.

Some stone skins are very thin, and the color inside can be seen by turning on the light. Some are secondary generation, and there are two layers of skin under the stone skin, so it is difficult to find the internal material.

The stones placed here are naturally impenetrable to light.

Yun Zhou picked up a so-called Tianhuang stone, which was a little bigger than his entire palm and weighed about three or four catties.

How should I put it, it is rare for ordinary Tianhuang stones to exceed one catty. After all, the seals made are basically tens of grams, and the big ones are only more than 100 grams. It is impossible just from the size.

Its surface is black stone skin, also called 'crow skin'.

There is a bit of gray-green in the black. If you remove the stone skin, you will usually get a good yellow field or white field, but this should be a stone.

The other piece is chicken oil yellow skin, which is delicate and moist when touched by hands, with a greasy luster, and radish patterns can be faintly seen, which belongs to the top grade of Tianhuangshi.

However, the boy scratched the surface with his nails and the powder came off when the stall owner couldn't see it. Obviously, the hardness was not enough.

When he touched a black leather field the size of half a fist, he obviously felt that the leather was very delicate. The little silver dragon flicked his tail excitedly and let out a milky cry, indicating that it was this piece.

Its color is black with oily luster, without any variegated color and sand spots on the surface, it does not look like natural formation.

Tianhuangshi is known as "no field without grain", "no field without skin" and "no field without grid".

This piece of Tianhuang stone has a stone skin, and fine grains of radish can be seen faintly, but there is no trace of collision of the stone grid, which is extremely rare in the process of hundreds of millions of years of formation. It is nothing more than that the stall owner does not regard it as Tianhuang stone.

Yun Zhou weighed it, and it weighed about 200 grams, which is considered large.

He took a picture with the flashlight that came with his mobile phone, and sure enough he couldn't see through the inside, but judging by the fineness and smoothness of the stone skin, it was very likely that there might be top-grade chicken oil yellow or orange peel yellow inside.

Even if it is based on [-] grams, there are at least tens of millions, and it must be bought!

The boy restrained the excitement in his heart, and after looking at several stones, he said, "Hello, how much is this one and this one?"

He pointed to two crow hide fields.

The stall owner smiled in his heart, as expected, the young master who doesn't understand anything, where is Tian Huangshi weighing three or four catties now?

"Tian Huangshi is calculated in grams, so I don't want more than these two pieces, this number." He stretched out two fingers, "Twenty more."

20, this is really the lion's mouth, no matter what, let's try it first.

"It's too expensive." The boy shook his head.

The two bargained for a while, and the stall owner probably felt that he wanted to buy it, so he insisted on the price of 15 yuan.

Yun Zhou lowered his eyes and sighed, put down the big fake with regret on his face, and said hesitantly: "Otherwise, I'll just take this small one, two seals are enough."

The stall owner: "...OK, then the minimum price for this one is [-] to [-] yuan, no bargaining."

He originally wanted [-] yuan, but he was afraid that this young master who didn't know much about the world would not buy a piece of it in the end, so he changed his words around and changed it to [-] yuan.

After receiving the transfer notice from the other party, the money and the goods will be settled, and the stall owner is very happy.

In any case, today's harvest is really not small, with a net profit of more than 3.

He will close the stall as soon as the other party leaves, and the young man will have no way to find him even if he regrets it.

The stall owner really thought too much, so Yun Zhou would not come to him.

After the stone skin was carved out, he was probably the one who was about to vomit blood.

Tian Huangshi, half the size of a fist, was put into the pocket by the boy, and he fondled it cherishingly.

Now that there are too many people, he will try to scrape off a piece of stone skin with a knife after he returns to see what is inside.

He touched the little silver dragon whose scales were rubbing against him coquettishly on his wrist, raised his hand and kissed its tiny horns, his eyes turned into crescent moons, "Thank you."

The little silver dragon immediately curled up and retracted his wrists, even the tip of his tail turned red, and he coiled himself into a pink bracelet, flicking his tail non-stop, very happy.

Emperor Fengdu was dealing with official duties, his ears suddenly turned red, and his body became tense.

Should he tell the boy that there is a ray of his breath on the jade pendant?

As Yun Zhou was walking forward, someone patted his shoulder suddenly. When he turned around, it turned out that it was Hong Hai and Xue Yifan.

Hong Hai held a large figurine in his arms and a lot of comic books in his hands, looking excited.

"Xiao Zhouzhou, this ghost market is really amazing. I finally collected all the cards I didn't collect when I was a child today!"

"Also, look at this—" He handed over the figure in his arms, "This is a limited edition. I asked many people to buy it before but I couldn't get it."

Xue Yifan looked helpless, the two of them basically didn't look at anything along the way, just looked at these toys.

"By the way, I also bought a pair of walnuts."

Hong Hai asked Xue Yifan to help him hold the villain book, and took out two Wenwan walnuts from his pocket, "This is a pair of official hats, look at these patties, how do you like them?"

Yun Zhou took it, and held a walnut with two fingers and observed it in front of his eyes.

This is the first time he has come into contact with Wenwan walnuts, and it feels very novel.

There are many kinds of Wenwan walnuts, such as lion head, son's hat, official hat, and tiger head walnuts are relatively famous varieties, known as the four famous kernels.

Panwan walnuts began in the Han Dynasty, became popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and gradually became the favorite of literati.

There was a saying at that time: literati play with walnuts, warriors turn iron balls, rich people carry gourds, and idlers walk their dogs.Wenwan walnuts ranked first and became popular for a while.

The two walnuts in Yunzhou's hand are relatively tall, with narrow sides and a steep slope from the tip of the walnut. They look like ancient official hats, so they are called official hat walnuts.

The two walnuts are similar in size and texture. It can be seen that they are a carefully selected pair. The appearance is excellent, without cracks, scars, and trachoma. The texture is clear and the size is moderate.

Looking at the sun, the patina on the surface of the walnut is already very thick, covering all the edges and corners, showing a deep red color, like solidified amber, not agate but better than agate, smooth and shiny, very beautiful.

"It looks good, doesn't it?" Hong Hai said triumphantly, "It's for the stall owner's own use. It's been on the market for several years. Try it."

"Ah."

The young man held two walnuts in his hands, and they felt slightly heavy, with a pressing feel and good oiliness, which is the most comfortable way to play.

He dragged it with one hand to prevent it from falling off, and put two walnuts together with his right hand and twirled them.

Two walnuts collide with each other like the sound of gold and jade. When turning around, you can feel the pressure on the acupoints in your palms. There is a little numbness and pain in your hands, but after a long time, you don’t feel uncomfortable, but it’s quite interesting.

It is said that playing with walnuts can massage acupuncture points, thereby dredging the meridians, promoting blood circulation, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, which is a good activity for the elderly.

Yunzhou thought of Mr. Du, who has been busy recently and hasn't been to Zhenbao Pavilion for a while.

Last time he took the time to read all the collections in the opponent's villa. Not only did he benefit a lot, but Xiao Yinlong also absorbed a lot of aura.

When I go again next week, I will bring a pair of walnuts, which is affordable and meaningful, so that Mr. Du doesn't have to think about returning gifts.

Yun Zhou: "Brother Hai, how much did you pay for this pair of walnuts?"

Hong Hai: "The asking price is 2800, and I paid back 1800, the price is not bad.

After all, a pair of walnuts is several times more expensive than a single one, and it took so long to return the offer.If this price is placed in the store, it will at least double. "

In the past few years, the trend of Wenwan walnuts has passed. When it was on fire a few years ago, this pair cost [-] to [-] yuan.

The boy nodded, "Then I'll buy a pair too."

So the three of them went back to the walnut stall. Yun Zhou picked out a pair of the most beautiful baby's breath and asked for 3700. Hong Hai directly cut it down to 2500.

This made the stall owner smile wryly, these young people are really ruthless in bargaining, and many veterans would not cut it like this.

It's not easy to do business now, alas, that's all, as long as you don't lose money.

It's past 8 o'clock now, and some stalls are starting to close down, while others are trying to make a deal at the last moment. Coupled with the shouts of selling breakfast, it is full of a strong atmosphere of life.

After shopping for three or four hours in a row, the three of them had an empty stomach. Yunzhou sent Xu Ze a message to wait for him at the previous breakfast booth.

Within 10 minutes, a stern-faced young man came, holding a Duan inkstone and two fans in his hand.

"Let me see what kind of treasures you found. Huh, it's so hot." Hong Ze said vaguely as he stuffed the steamed buns into his mouth.

"We'll talk about it after you've finished eating." Xu Ze frowned as he watched him inhale continuously, and handed the things in his hand to Yun Zhou.

The young man took one of the fans and opened it. The fan was very ordinary, with a tiger painted on it, it was nothing special.

Since it is not a fan, it is a fan bone.

He closed the fan, only to find that there was a beautiful sketch of plum bamboo orchid engraved on the fan bone.

If the fan is unfolded, it is really not easy to see, and it is bamboo carving without any color.

One side of the fan bone is painted with plum blossoms and three plum blossoms in bloom, and the other side is carved with a clump of orchid grass, with two green bamboo branches obliquely protruding from the top of the orchid grass, which is quite vivid.

Judging from the vigorous engraving, it should be done by everyone, and he didn't recall it for a while.

Xu Ze: "It was carved by Xu Subai, a famous modern bamboo carver, and the painting was made by Jiang Hanting."

After Hong Hai finished eating the steamed buns, he admired the fan: "As expected of you, you discovered all of this.

The fan bones jointly produced by two famous artists cost at least 50 million yuan each.How much did you spend on these two fans? "

Xu Ze raised his eyebrows when he heard the words: "100 yuan."

Hong Hai's jaw almost dropped when he heard that, "Damn, awesome, it's been doubled ten thousand times, it's amazing!"

"Keep down." Xue Yifan tugged on his sleeve to remind, "There are still a lot of people around."

Sure enough, all the eyes around were focused on a few people, and there was a deep sense of envy in their eyes.

In the ghost market, who doesn't want to pick up leaks, but there are too few who can really pick up leaks, not to mention such a big leak, it's not easy for a few young people!

"Xiao Zhouzhou, how is your harvest today?" Hong Hai asked in a low voice.

The young man touched Tian Huangshi in his pocket, his eyebrows slightly curved: "We'll talk about it later when we go back to the hotel."

As soon as Hong Hai heard it, he got into the Audi car immediately after eating.

When the car was moving, he heard a slight shaking sound from behind, and he turned his head and was startled, "Zhouzhou, are you moving this time? What kind of treasures are there in the back——"

Let me go, there are more than a dozen big boxes, almost filling the trunk.This is simply a big sweep, it is estimated that half of the street has been swept away!

"Those are broken pieces of porcelain, used to restore porcelain, I'm learning."

"Awesome, Zhou Zhou, I have only seen such determination and perseverance in you alone, you will definitely become a restoration master!" Hong Hai half-jokingly said: "When I ask you to restore porcelain, I will give you a discount ah."

"no problem."

A few people came to the hotel talking and laughing, Hong Hai couldn't wait as soon as he got to Yun Zhou's room, and urged, "What a treasure, what a treasure, take it out and have a look."

Yunzhou took out Tian Huangshi, which had been in his pocket all the time, and several people surrounded him curiously.

It has a pitch-black outer skin and is so small that it is hard to tell what it is.

Xu Ze: "It's Tian Huangshi, the stone skin is a bit thick."

Yun Zhou smiled and said, "That's right."

Hong Hai and Xue Yifan's faces were full of surprise: "Tian Huangshi, I've only seen a finished seal, do you want to scratch it off?"

The boy let out a 'hmm' and came over with a small knife. The hardness of Tian Huangshi is only 2.5, which is very suitable for carving, and can be cut with a knife.

He carefully cut a slit, and sure enough there was still below, but the color had turned yellow.

After the two layers of skin below were cut open and peeled off, a texture like solidified honey appeared before the eyes, as clear and lubricated as jelly.

Even Xu Ze couldn't help being stunned, this is actually the top-grade Tianhuang steatite among Tianhuang stones!