Antiques with golden eyes

After chatting with the stall owner for a few more words, and waiting for the stall owner to return to the recliner and continue reading martial arts novels, Shen Yu took out a pair of gloves from his backpack and began to look through the pile of ancient books.

Even though Shen Yu was close to ignoring the various smells produced by paper and silk antiques, after squatting down and getting closer, he was still frowning at the musty smell emanating from the pile of ancient books.

The smell is really too strong.

Although the clean antiques in antique shops are indeed pleasing to the eye, many people don't know that they are placed there after countless cleaning and maintenance.

In fact, many ancient books on antique stalls are not as clean as the old newspapers and books in the recycling bin.

The reason is very simple. Generally speaking, the ancient books that can be obtained by shoveling the land are handed down from the ancestors of the sellers. If they are purchased from real collectors, they cannot be bought at a low price even if the hawkers who shovel the land tell lies.< /p>

Later people are selling ancient books for money. It is conceivable that these bastard sellers do not pay attention to ancient books at all, let alone careful protection and careful care.

Therefore, many ancient books collected from land shoveling are mostly moldy and black, with peeling pages and missing pages.

Some of them even contain rat droppings and dried "specimens" of various insects. The smell when looking through them is simply suffocating.

If it just smells bad, that's it.

Because the sellers don't cherish them, many ancient books are often piled up in the kitchen or utility room like tatters. The smoky grease all year round makes them sticky to the touch. After reading a few books, it is impossible to wash them off without using hand sanitizer.< /p>

Some ancient books have been bitten by insects and rats and have lost their appearance. Some ancient books from the Ming Dynasty or the early Qing Dynasty have become brittle and flocculated due to time, just like the skin of pastry pancakes. It’s broken into pieces, and it’s easy to become allergic if you don’t wear a mask or gloves.

As for minor problems such as breaks, missing corners, damage, and open wires, they are not a big deal.

Gu Qingqing really couldn't stand the musty smell of this pile of ancient books. She wanted to take a handkerchief from her bag to cover her nose. After rummaging for a few times, she suddenly remembered that Shen Yu didn't return it to her after wiping her sweat, so she had to step back and cover it with her hands. Mouth and nose.

Seeing this, Shen Yu smiled warmly, pointed to the toy stall not far in front and said, "The smell here is not good. Qingqing, go over there and take a look. If you like it, take it first. I'll go over and pay for it later." Money."

Gu Qingqing rolled her eyes at Shen Yu: "You have just started a business, so you should save some money. Do you still want to be richer than me?"

Shen Yu immediately expressed his surrender: "Miss Gu, of course, is richer than me. Well, I will listen to you. You pick first. I will also pick a few walnuts later, and then you pay together."

Gu Qingqing suddenly seemed to have thought of something: "But when you said you picked a few things to play with, you reminded me that before I came to Chuzhou, many of my best friends asked me to bring them gifts. Now I think it would be good to choose a few bracelets for them. ."

"You finally came to Chuzhou, and you just gave your best friend a few bracelets? Are you not sincere enough?" Shen Yu whispered with an exaggerated expression.

"Huh, I'm saving all my money for you now. I picked this bag from my best friend and she didn't want to have it. It would be nice to have a bracelet as a gift for them."

Gu Qingqing gave a sweet smile and walked towards the nearest toy stall.

Shen Yu turned around and continued to select ancient books. In order to avoid breaking if touched, Shen Yu was careful when turning over these ancient books.

It was also an occupational disease caused by collecting. Shen Yu felt that the messy arrangement of ancient books was a kind of disrespect for antiques. While looking for the ancient book that gave off the precious light, he sorted the ancient books according to the collection of classics and history, class books, travel notes, county annals, and government annals. , music records, Mongolian studies, poetry, miscellaneous notes, etc. are classified one by one.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yu had dozens of stacks of ancient books in front of him.

The middle-aged stall owner who was reading martial arts novels was also happy when someone classified his ancient books for free, and even gave Shen Yu a bottle of iced Coke, and told Shen Yu not to worry, read slowly, and pick slowly.

But at this time, Shen Yu's heart was far less peaceful than on the surface. "It's strange, after reading nearly two hundred ancient books, why hasn't Baoguang appeared yet?"

Shen Yu felt very uneasy now. When he was sorting ancient books just now, he came across several privately-engraved books worth thousands and was not in the mood to single them out.

Because he found that after using the special ability of his eyes three times, he could no longer use it.

Now his eyes are swollen and painful, tears are streaming down his face, and he even feels like he is losing energy and blood and is unsteady on his feet.

Thanks to his many years of practicing martial arts with his grandfather, his body is still relatively strong and he can hold on without falling backwards.

Afraid of eye problems and fear of fainting suddenly, Shen Yu did not dare to use his special abilities, so he could only try to use his appraisal experience to find the ancient Ming Dynasty book.

There is no way to enter Baoshan and return empty-handed. Shen Yu gritted his teeth and continued searching!

After another five or six minutes, when Shen Yu had given up all hope, a ball of light cyan light suddenly appeared three inches above an ancient book at his feet.

The volume of this light cyan light is smaller than that of the silver mandarin duck flask just now, but it is much larger than Shen Yu's carved mother-of-pearl-sized treasure.

If he had to use an object to describe it, Shen Yu felt that the precious light emitted by this ancient book was about the same size as the pearls on the necklace.

Baoguang appeared again by himself, which surprised and delighted Shen Yu.

What surprised him was Baoguang's coming and going.

The good news is that there may be a better way to control Baoguang.

"It seems that we still have to slowly study the rules of the appearance of Baoguang, but we can't rush this matter. We should buy this ancient book first."

Shen Yu pretended to be nonchalant and glanced at the cover of the ancient book. The three characters "Decoration Chronicle" faintly appeared.

Speaking of which, Shen Yu accidentally discovered this book just now. It was originally sandwiched between two tattered ancient books. If you didn't pay attention, you would have thought it was a book.

That is to say, Shen Yu suffered from an occupational disease and has been classifying ancient books. If he simply rummaged through it, he would not be able to find this "Decoration Chronicle" with a light cyan color.

I have to say that this is a kind of luck, but this luck has a lot to do with Shen Yu cherishing and respecting antiques. It can also be regarded as a kind of luck that treats him differently.

After flipping through several ancient books with a serious look, Shen Yu gently picked up the "Decoration Chronicle".

This book is bound with bamboo paper and thread. Although it is an engraving, the handwriting can be said to be elegant and graceful.

The condition is also very good, with no missing pages or rat bites, but there are a few traces of moth damage. Fortunately, they are all in the blank space, and the writing is not damaged at all.

In addition, a few pages of paper were slightly stuck together for unknown reasons. Shen Yu took a closer look and saw that the problem was not serious, and he could solve this small problem by himself.

Turning to the first page, there is a preface written by the author, with two white seals on it.

The upper part is "Zhou Jiazhou Seal" and the lower part is "Jiangzuo Zhou Family".

Seeing these two seals, Shen Yu's right hand trembled slightly, but he immediately regained his composure. From the corner of his eye, he saw the stall owner looking at him, and immediately realized that he had been reading this book for too long.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu couldn't help but cursed an old fox.

This guy seems to be reading martial arts novels calmly, but in fact he has been observing his every move.

Putting down the "Decoration Chronicle", Shen Yu picked up another tattered ancient book and read it carefully.

When the stall owner yawned out of boredom and walked to the stall next to him to chat with people, Shen Yu quickly picked up the "Decoration Journal" just now.

The font of this book is clear and the layout is exquisite. As Shen Yu was reading it, he couldn't help but think to himself in his heart: "Since the calligraphy and painting of the previous generations have been handed down to this day, there has never been a painting or calligraphy that was not mutilated and could not be remodeled, just like a disease that has long been cured.

If the doctor is good, he will rise with the hand, but if the doctor is not good, he will die with the medicine. If you don't meet the good work, you would rather keep the old things."

The life of calligraphy and painting is all about peeling off. Silk can still be peeled off. Some paper is easy to peel off. Some paper is thin and thick and difficult to peel off. It requires good workmanship and painstaking skills.

There are defects in ancient paintings, so you might as well use old ink to repair them with a pen.

Ancient silk paintings must be set off with earthy yellow dyed paper, so that the color will be more impressive and the longer it lasts, the better it will be."

"It really is "Decoration Journal" and it's an original copy. Now I've really found a treasure."

Shen Yu was so happy that in his collection of ancient books, the original engravings were the most precious.

An original engraving is a book that was printed for the first time.

Compared with the original engravings, reprinted editions often have typos. However, the original engravings have been accurately calibrated countless times and are basically free of typos. Therefore, they are most sought after by collectors and are also the most valuable among ancient books.

"Decoration Records" was written by Zhou Jiazhou in the Ming Dynasty. This book is the first work in history to systematically describe decoration.

Zhou Jiazhou believes that the mounting of calligraphy and painting is like delaying the treatment of illness. In other words, mounting has the wonderful skill of bringing ancient paintings back to life. It is the hand that mends the sky and the power of regeneration.

This book had a profound influence on later generations of calligraphy and painting decoration. The core concepts of washing, uncovering, repairing and completing calligraphy and painting restoration came from this book.

In addition to these well-known ancient painting restoration techniques, the book also talks about how to examine paintings, lining, small supports, upper rods, upper pasting, lower pasting, mounting, mounting, and dyeing, etc. which are not very common to ordinary people. Familiar ancient painting mounting and restoration techniques.

Zhou Jiazhou, whose courtesy name was Jiangzuo, was a master of Xiangxue. He was born in the 10th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. The year of his death is unknown, but he lived a long life and lived in Jiangning until the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.

"Decoration Chronicles" is a must-read ancient book for those who appraise calligraphy, painting and calligraphy and painting mounting.

Shen Yu had read it countless times before, and he could recite it by heart. However, the one he read was a Qing Dynasty printed book, which is already considered a fine product, and this kind of Ming Dynasty original printed book is simply a treasure among ancient books.

Shen Yu placed "Decoration Chronicles" in five miscellaneous books of good quality and smiled at the stall owner: "Boss, I want these books."

The stall owner glanced at the ancient books selected by Shen Yu and nodded. His lips moved slightly to speak but then held back, looking like he was hesitating to speak.

Shen Yu felt nervous when he saw this, but his tone did not change at all: "Boss, do you have anything to say? Isn't it a temporary price increase?"

The stall owner waved his hand: "How can I do such a stupid thing as temporarily increasing the price to destroy the signboard? I just want to give you some advice because you are sorting ancient books for me.

"As for ancient books, the most important thing is an ancient character. It is not valuable only if it is in good condition. Although the few books you have chosen are in good condition, they are not necessarily worth collecting."

Shen Yu smiled: "Thank you, I still like these books."

"Okay, pretend I didn't say anything." The stall owner shrugged.

An ancient book costs 80 yuan, and six books are 480 yuan. He handed the stall owner 500 yuan without asking for change. Shen Yu turned around and walked towards Gu Qingqing's literary stall.

When Shen Yu firmly put the six thread-bound ancient books into his backpack, he let out a heavy breath.

"This original engraving of "Decoration Journal" is now mine."