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

Since shopkeeper Wu came back, Yun Zhou didn't have to stay in the store from morning to night every day, and returned to normal working hours.

The weather in August and September is hot, and the high temperature of 8 degrees is about to burn people. If you stay outside for a long time, you may peel off a layer of skin. The number of people who come to the antique shop suddenly drops a lot, and the store returns to leisure.

Yun Zhou and shopkeeper Wu sorted out the newly collected items in Zhenbao Pavilion, placing the official kiln boutiques in the most conspicuous position, and the others were arranged in order of category.

Modern handicrafts are placed on the Bogu racks on both sides.

It is impossible for every item in an antique shop to be an old object with a long history, and there are also many handicrafts.

There are shops with hundreds of items on display and only a few of them are genuine and the rest are all fakes, which is the norm.

People who want to search for treasures in the antique market to pick up leaks are easily fooled, but they don't think about it, how can there be so many leaks to pick up?

In the final analysis, it is still greed.

As a well-known antique store in S City, Zhenbao Pavilion has an excellent reputation, so naturally it will not guide customers to buy modern art.

But if someone insists on spending 2000 yuan to buy Qianlong official kiln porcelain, there is no way.

Even folk kilns cannot be bought at this price, and only handicrafts can be bought.

Yun Zhou saw that Mr. Du was drinking tea and chatting with some other friends upstairs, so he secretly asked shopkeeper Wu: "Uncle Wu, do you know the seal carving master who carves seals? I want to make two seals, and I will prepare the materials myself."

Shopkeeper Wu glanced upstairs and immediately understood.

It will be two months before Mr. Du's 75th birthday. As Mr. Du's closed disciple, Yun Zhou will definitely go, and he will also send congratulatory gifts.

He pondered: "I know there are several shops, and the best carver is 'Mu's Seal', which is the second shop in the front two streets behind from here.

It is a decades-old store, the store is not big, but the more sophisticated customers basically go there for customization.

The best carver in the whole store is Mr. Mu Jingmu, but now the craftsmanship has been passed on to his son Mu Hao and two other disciples.

The old man is getting old, and he has rarely made a move in recent years, unless it is a rare and good material. "

Yun Zhou's eyes slightly curved: "Thank you, Shopkeeper Wu, I'll be there on the weekend."

Thinking of his Tianhuang Dongshi, he believed that the old man Mu would definitely agree.

Shopkeeper Wu took a look at the young man and saw that the other party looked confident, he couldn't help asking: "What is the material of your seal——"

Could it be that famous products such as Tianhuangshi and Changhua chicken blood stone are not successful?

This is indeed extremely rare in the market, 99% are fakes.

Yun Zhou smiled lightly and did not hide anything: "It's Tianhuang Dongshi."

"what--"

Seeing the shocked face of the other party, the young man whispered: "Uncle Wu, you must not tell Grandpa Du, I want to give him a surprise."

"...Oh, yes, yes." Shopkeeper Wu agreed in a daze, his mind still immersed in the shock of Tianhuang Dongshi.

As the "King of Printing Stones", Tian Huangshi is already a very rare material, and it has rarely been produced in recent years.

Tianhuang steatite is the top grade of Tianhuang stone, extremely rare, and its preciousness is measured in grams, and a single gram costs 10,000+ or ​​even 20!

I really don't know where this young man got such good material.

As a birthday gift, this gift is very precious.

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, Yun Zhou parked his car in a parking space next to the street and got out of the car.

The summer sun was particularly glaring. The young man was wearing a khaki baseball cap, a T-shirt with a cartoon pattern and cropped jeans, revealing a section of white ankles, making him look more slender and youthful.

Carrying L's cross-span messenger bag on his waist, it contains Tianhuang frozen stones that are a little bigger than half a fist, which looks clean and refreshing.

Walking on the road, everyone around was looking at him, and a few girls even turned their heads frequently, and secretly took a photo with their mobile phones.

very handsome!

Although the baseball cap covered half of his face, judging from the exposed smooth jaw, he was a handsome guy, and he was at the school grass level.

The sun was scorching hot, and many people were wearing parasols. Even so, sweat continued to flow from their necks, and even their makeup was worn.

Yun Zhou touched the icy and cool little silver dragon on his wrist, its scales gleamed with silver light under the sunlight, very beautiful.The jade pendant on the neck also exudes a sense of coldness, dispelling the heat.

He soon came to the door of the 'Mu's Seal' shop.

Looking in from the door, the store is not big, only about 30 square meters, the decoration is simple and plain, and there is a touch of sandalwood floating in the copper aromatherapy burner, which can be smelled as soon as you enter, which makes you feel refreshed.

Hundreds of seals, large and small, are placed on the counter on three sides of the ring.

Wooden, copper, silver, gold, jade and other materials are stored in the counters on both sides, including lion button seals, square seals, round seals, and seals carved with various patterns of landscapes, figures, auspicious animals, etc. It opened Yun Zhou's horizons.

The counter in the middle is the seals made of Tianhuangshi, chicken blood stone and Qingtian stone "three treasures of seal stone".

Yunzhou saw that in the center was a chicken oil yellow Tianhuangshi seal, oval in shape, with a bottom size of about 2.1 cm, a height of 5 cm, a weight of 58.22 grams, and a price tag of 720 million (excluding processing fees).

This seal should be the treasure of this store.

Mu Hao, the son of Mr. Mu, put down the carving tool in his hand and glanced at Yunzhou, and stayed on his young face for a few seconds: "What type of seal do you want?"

With the popularization of computer engraving technology, fewer and fewer people make manual seals. Few people come here, and they are basically passed on by word of mouth from old customers.

Today's young people are not so particular, and they don't need a good seal to prove their identity. He doesn't think the young man in his early 20s will spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars to get a seal.

Mu Hao frowned slightly looking at the half-carved 'Three Friends of Suihan' in his hand. If this young man hadn't come to interrupt his train of thought, this seal would be finished soon.

Yun Zhou noticed his impatience and didn't care. He smiled and said, "I brought my own materials, and I need to order two seals."

"Oh?" Mu Hao raised his head, his eyes became more interesting, "What material is it?"

It seems that the other party came prepared.

Of course, it is also possible that it is a fake chicken blood stone and Tian Huangshi, which they have seen too much.

The young man took out half a fist-sized jade from the messenger bag and placed it on the counter.

As a seal carving master who made seals all day long, Mu Hao knew it was Crow Pitian almost at a glance, and brought it over without stopping.

"!! This, this is—"

When he saw the transparent texture like solidified honey exposed from the black skin, the man's eyes almost popped out, touching the delicate and moist texture, even his fingertips trembled.

Tianhuang frozen stone!This must be Tianhuang steatite!

Mu Hao was extremely sure, and the excitement in his heart was beyond words.

Although he has never come into contact with this kind of top-quality material in the past ten years of printing, he can tell by looking and touching that it must be the real product of Tianhuang steatite.

Even the top-quality chicken oil yellow, which is the treasure of the town store, is slightly inferior to it in terms of texture!

After the great excitement, he couldn't help but feel startled by the size of this Tianhuang frozen stone.

Generally speaking, for the best printing materials such as Qingtian and chicken blood stone, about one tael (50g) is considered a good material, and more than two taels is considered a good material.

However, Tianhuang non-mineral veins are mostly monoliths, and the rare materials are small, so they are more precious. At present, Tianhuang is considered to be a good material if it is more than 30 grams in the market.

But the piece in his hand, huh—

Mu Hao kept taking deep breaths, trying his best to restrain the feeling of surging heart. Judging from his years of printing experience, this piece of Tianhuang jelly stone has at least five taels, which is more than eight times that of a mature stone!

Not only has he never seen such a large Tianhuang frozen stone, but even his father has never seen it, it is rare in the world.

"Hey, how do you plan to customize?"

Mu Hao cleared his throat and suppressed his hoarse voice due to excitement, "According to its size, it can make at least seven or eight square seals, and you only need to take a part of the two square seals."

The way he looks at Yun Zhou has completely changed at this time, he no longer has the impatience he had at the beginning, and is as eager as if he wants to burn the other party.

If he can make a seal, he doesn't need to charge any fees.

If you can leave a small piece of it as the treasure of the store, even a small seal with only a dozen grams is enough!

After all, there is no such material as Tianhuangshi in the market, and Mu's seal will be the only one in the industry.

Of course, all of this can only be proposed after the young man is satisfied with the seal, and there should be no haste.

"Tell me about your general requirements. As for the cost, it's easy to say."

He had a good idea, but Yun Zhou was not moved by the other party's burning eyes, and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry, is Mr. Mu here, I want to invite him to make the seal."

This is Yunzhou's original intention of coming here, the best materials naturally need the best seal carving masters to make.

"...Yes, wait a moment, I'll call dad over."

Mu Hao seemed to be poured down by a basin of cold water, and his heart felt a little bitter. It seemed that his level was far from enough.

Alas, it's useless to rush by yourself, people don't like it at all.

Mr. Mu quickly came over from the back door, and asked his son as he walked, "Are you sure it's Tianhuang Dongshi? Don't fool me."

When he saw the jade on the counter, he glanced at it with his hands, and his expression was a bit unbelievable, but it was really real.

Rao has been printing for four or fifty years, and he has never seen such a large and good quality Tianhuang steatite.

The orange-yellow color exposed under the skin is like solidified honey, and it is as warm and moist as suet white jade when touched by hands. The fine lines of radish on it are clearly visible, no matter in terms of color, texture, texture, etc.

"Young man, how many seals are you going to make?" Mr. Mu asked, stroking the jade stone fondly, never taking his eyes off the jade.

"Two." Yun Zhou thought for a while, "One is a square badge with a size of 2x2 cm and a height of about 5 cm, and the other can be smaller."

"Fang Zhang?" Old Man Mu shook his head, "That's not acceptable. Fang Zhang is too wasteful, I suggest carving along the shape."

Tianhuangshi is not like jadeite. The scraps can be used to grind beads, make small rings, and even be used to inlay brooches; the greatest value of Tianhuangshi is to be used as seal materials, and the leftovers are waste and worthless.

Such a precious jade would cost tens of thousands or even 10,000+ per gram, so we can only work hard on the shape and carving to preserve its material to the maximum.

Tian Huangshi is mostly carved according to the shape. It can be carved into whatever shape it is originally, and even the skin is carved in one piece.

The technique used in carving is called "thin meaning carving method". In the shallow carving of the surface, a few knives outline the clever and graceful charm, and the perfect work is carved with the minimum loss, which has extremely high requirements for the carver.

Mr. Mu took out the paper and explained while drawing, "There is an arc and a bump on the edge, which can be carved into the image of a birthday star holding a birthday peach, or a lion, but the shape is a bit unnatural..."

He hastily drew several styles, but Yun Zhou was not satisfied.

It's not Mr. Mu's problem, but the uneven edge of Tianhuang frozen stone.

Yunzhou prefers simple and elegant styles, and pursues perfection in shape, and doesn't like this kind of practice of carving with shapes.

His aesthetics are also the aesthetics of most people.

Among seals, square seals are the best.

However, the material for the square seal is the most wasteful, and it is very difficult to cut a square seal out of a piece of jade.

Raw jade stones are usually mixed with defects such as variegated colors, cracks, and black spots, and the shapes are even more strange. Generally speaking, if you want to cut a square seal with perfect color, you have to waste at least 3-5 times the jade material, which is extremely extravagant. .

Now that Tian Huangshi is so rare, few people will adopt such a cost-free approach.

Seeing that he persisted, Mr. Mu had no choice but to say: "Then I'll remove all the stone skin and see if I can get materials from other places."

"Okay, sorry to bother you."

Yun Zhou waited for a while, and then heard the gasp of the two people. Such a large piece of Tianhuang frozen stone has no grid or cracks, and almost the whole body can be used for materials!

Mr. Mu's eyes were filled with amazement: "Your Tianhuang frozen stone is enough to be called the best. It is much easier to get the square seal than other jade stones. Let me plan it in detail."

He put on reading glasses, carefully observed the unevenness and angle of the surface, and took a scale to measure each part one by one. Each scale was measured extremely finely, and he had to measure it several times to ensure that there was no error.

For this top material, we must be cautious, wasting a gram is a great loss.

Yun Zhou waited from morning to noon, and asked Mu Hao to take out different seals to look at when he had nothing to do, and had a clear understanding of Mr. Mu's carvings.

Although there are only a few seals carved by Mr. Mu on the counter, you can still find the difference from other seals, and that kind of charm cannot be imitated by others.

"Look, I compared three methods, and the cutting loss is the least.

Draw a line from this side, cut the upper piece obliquely to make a square chapter, and make a slightly flattened small chapter with the lower part, and there is a small piece left on the left edge. "

Old Man Mu couldn't help getting excited, "There are two more semicircular seals that can be carved in this part, what are you going to do with it?"

He actually has a little selfishness.

The waste of the square chapter is inevitable, but the quality of this piece of material is excellent. In addition to the necessary loss, the remaining material can be used to make two small chapters. The only disadvantage is that the shape is not good-looking.

However, Mr. Mu didn't care at all.

Even if it is a seal with the shape, it is also made of Tianhuang steatite, which is a higher grade than the treasure of the shop in his shop!

If you can take it off——

He glanced at the young man's expression, and said in a slightly apprehensive tone, "I don't know if I can sell it to our store? It will definitely be purchased at a price higher than the market price, 22 one gram, and the processing fee can also be waived."

In fact, Yun Zhou didn't need the remaining two seals, so he agreed very simply, "Okay."

This price includes the price of the loss of the chapter, which is already very high.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Mr. Mu and Mu Hao almost cried with joy, "I'll cut it right away."

The cutting this time was only to cut out the approximate shape, so it was done quickly.

A square seal of about 50 grams, a flat seal of about 20 grams, plus two irregular scraps, and small wasted scraps, a total of 92.65 grams.

There were still about two-thirds of the whole piece of Tianhuang steatite left. Yunzhou was quite satisfied, and put the cut material back into the diagonal bag.

Mr. Mu weighed the two pieces of leftovers, a total of 18.40 grams, and immediately turned 405 million over, and put the two pieces of scraps away carefully.

"What kind of patterns do you want to carve for those two chapters?"

Yun Zhou thought for a while: "The picture of a pine and crane is engraved on the square seal, and there is no need to engrave the bottom part of the seal; the flat seal is for personal use, and the simplicity is the main focus. The four words 'Seal of the Lonely Boat' should be engraved on the bottom of the seal, in italics."

The roots of his ears were reddish, and he wrote four words on the paper.

Combining the emperor's name with his own name sounds pretty nice.

After more than a month, Yunzhou got the seals of both parties.

The whole body of Fangzhang is shiny and smooth, and the tenacity and straightness of pine wood and the agility of cranes are shallowly carved on all sides by the thin carving method.

The flat chapter has sharp edges and corners, concise and generous, and the font at the bottom is full and powerful.

He tried it with inkpad, and found that the fonts are clear and the strokes are smooth, which can be called perfect calligraphy.

Before leaving, Mr. Mu also gave Yun Zhou a box of precious 'Longquan inkpad'.

Longquan ink pads were once used by the royal family, and their price was comparable to gold. Emperor Qianlong’s jade seals used this kind of ink pads, and a small box cost 6 yuan.

Good seals match good mud, and the seal made of Tianhuang steatite is suitable for this kind of ink pad.

Yun Zhou thanked him sincerely and waited for the birthday banquet half a month later. He believed that Grandpa Du would be very pleasantly surprised when he received the gift.

The author has something to say: Mr. Mu: Waste, luxury!

Zhou Zhou: Well, it’s not a luxury to pick up something that was missed.