Inherit For Three Thousand Years

How could a selfish person like Yasuda Yoshiaki donate such a precious national treasure to Huaguo? It is only known from the fact that he hid the sheep's head and emerald watermelon tightly without leaking any news. There is no intention of donating at all.

If Xiao Yao hadn't been forced to do so, let alone donate to others, he wouldn't even show this precious national treasure to others.

Under the leadership of Yoshiaki Yasuda, everyone quickly entered the small treasure room where the Yasuda family collected precious antiques.

This small treasure room is about 30 square meters, and there are about 50 or 60 pieces of Eastern and Western antique artworks on the shelf in the room.

Because Yasuda Yoshiaki has been explaining his collection of sheep heads and emerald watermelons on the road, after entering the treasure room, Xiao Yao's first goal is these two national treasures.

He took a few steps forward, and came to the antique shelf where the sheep's head was placed, asked for a pair of white gloves to put on, and began to appreciate it carefully.

Xiao Yao has donated chicken heads and snake heads to the museum. With his identification knowledge and unique spiritual identification ability, it is easy to distinguish the authenticity of this sheep head.

There is no doubt that this sheep head collected by the Yasuda family is indeed genuine!

"Mr. Xiao likes to collect so much, so he must be a master of antique cultural relics appraisal. Do you think this sheep head I collected is not a fake? I don't know much about antique appraisal. This sheep head has not yet been appraised by a special person. Now I suddenly feel a little nervous, I really can't guarantee that this sheep head is genuine."

What Yasuda Yoshiaki said was not a lie, he was really a little nervous at this moment.

In the past, their family didn't pay much attention to this sheep's head, so naturally they didn't seek an expert to appraise it. Later, he learned that this sheep head was a national treasure, and he was worried that the news would be leaked, so Yasuda Yoshiaki never asked anyone to do an appraisal.

In case this sheep head is identified as a fake by Xiao Yao, if he thinks that he is engaging in tricks to confuse the real one again, then he will be finished.

"It is indeed a genuine product. Since this is the national treasure of our country, then I will not be polite. I will definitely keep this one."

Hearing what Xiao Yao said, Yasuda Yoshiaki finally breathed a sigh of relief, and said quickly: "You don't need to be polite, didn't we all agree, as long as the things you like are given priority to you."

After a pause, Yasuda Yoshiaki asked politely: "I don't know if Mr. Xiao likes the antique artworks of our Hijima? Of the collections collected by our Yasuda family, 20% are our Hijima antiques, national treasure level There are also a few of them. If Mr. Xiao doesn't like it very much, I wonder if you can keep these few national treasures of our Ridao for me?"

"Can,

Unless I personally like it, I can keep it for you. "Xiao Yao agreed happily.

As for the antique artworks of Ridao, Xiao Yao rarely likes them in particular. He is a high-sighted and picky person. In the eyes of Yasuda Yoshiaki, the national treasure of Hijima, which is extremely precious, he really may not be interested in it.

Although Xiao Yao can disregard Yasuda Yoshiaki's feelings and sweep away all the Yasuda family's collections, it's okay to make some concessions on the small issues that he doesn't care about personally and which Yasuda Yoshiaki attaches great importance to.

Because Xiao Yao actually presented the snake heads and chicken heads among the twelve zodiac animal heads in Yuanmingyuan, and he has a deep understanding of the twelve zodiac animal heads. Although it is the first time to see this sheep head, but because of the The artistic achievement is not considered high, so he just appraised the authenticity, and after the appraisal, he didn't spend too long on the appreciation.

He continued to come to the antique stand where the emerald watermelon was placed, his eyes showed admiration, and he carefully appreciated it.

The emerald watermelon is so famous, if it is indeed one of the two emerald watermelons cherished by Empress Dowager Cixi in the Old Summer Palace, it will be a national treasure comparable to the emerald cabbage in the National History Museum in Taiwan.

When people talk about Pei Cui, they always mention jade watermelon, saying that the skin of jade, the flesh of jade, the black seeds, etc., are all considered to be naturally occurring. There is also this record in books, for example, Li Boyuan's "Nanting Notes": "Zhongxiang broke Nanjing. In Tianwangfu... he got a jadeite watermelon, which was bigger than Castanopsis, with a crack. The black spot was like a seed, and the red quality was like flesh. Bright and clear, almost unique. Those who know it said: "This is also the object of the Yuanming Garden."

If this record is true, it means that one of the two emerald watermelons was presented by Zeng Guofan.

Liu Yusheng wrote "Miscellaneous Memories of the Shizaitang: The Robbery of the Qing Mausoleum": "I drank at the home of a certain army commander in my hometown in Hankou, Xi Cidan and Sun Dianying excavated the tomb of the Qing Dynasty... At that time, the coffin lid was lifted, and the coffin was full of rays of light. , each of the soldiers held a large torch, and the light was seized by it, and everyone was amazed... Xiaguang all came out of the jewels hidden in the coffin, but first took out the four big watermelons placed in the four corners of the coffin, all of which were green jade skins. Ziwu class, cut in the middle, the melon seeds are black, and the sun rays are released from the cut..."

There is also "Antique Guide" quoting "Notes of Ai Yuexuan": "The treasures of Empress Dowager Cixi's burial include:...a piece of emerald watermelon on the left and right sides of her feet, green skin, red flesh, white seeds, and black silk, estimated at 500 Ten thousand taels. Four emerald melons, with two white skins, yellow seeds, pink flesh, two green skins, white seeds, and yellow flesh, estimated at six million taels...”

There are many legends about these two emerald watermelons. Some say that the emerald watermelons are naturally produced in the Kunlun Mountains. Some say that Empress Dowager Cixi accidentally obtained them from tourmalines purchased in large quantities in the United States. It's just Zeng Guofan's seizure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

There are too many relevant legends, and the records are too messy, so far it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false.

But it is true that Cixi loved these two emerald watermelons so much that they were buried in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty after her death and were buried under her head.

There is also a mysterious legend about this pair of emerald watermelons.

One year, the emerald watermelon in the Duobao Pavilion of Le Shoutang suddenly disappeared mysteriously. Cixi was furious and severely tortured the young eunuchs in charge of guarding, but there was no result. Cixi was almost desperate to find these two emerald watermelons.

Later, a Wang Laodao in the city attracted the attention of the government.

Because his clothes are covered with patches, he is obviously out of pocket, but he always takes a bag of copper coins and ingots to help the poor, which is too abnormal.

The officials tried to catch him many times, but they were always one step too late, and no one was caught.

Soon, someone accidentally picked up the pair of emerald watermelons from the cesspit while digging out the dung, and returned them to the government.

Although the pair of emerald watermelons were recovered, the mysterious thief never caught them.

Later, when a mason in Jingming Garden went to repair Yufeng Pagoda, he found an old Taoist in rags sleeping in the pagoda. However, it was still a step too late. By the time the officers and soldiers came to apprehend him, the old man had already disappeared.

But I saw a few poems just inscribed with blood on the wall of the tower: I will take the red gold ingot, and I will take the emerald watermelon. If you ask where we live? Spring and autumn are spent on Yufeng Pagoda.

The inscription is "Wang Laodao".

The Empress Dowager Cixi hated Wang Laodao so much that she ordered the arrest across the country, but no trace of Wang Laodao was found again. This matter is over.

Of course, legends are legends after all. Later, the warlord Sun Dianying blew up the treasures stolen from the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty. After the emerald watermelons were stolen and dug out, their whereabouts were unknown, and there has been no news from them since.

Now seeing this emerald watermelon, Xiao Yao has no way of judging whether the emerald watermelon in front of him is one of the two emerald watermelons loved by Cixi in Yuanmingyuan, but even if it is not, the emerald watermelon in front of him is definitely The national treasure.

The emerald watermelon in front of me is larger than Castanopsis chinensis. It is made of emerald and has an oval shape. A slit is cut on one side of the melon pedicle. The red flesh and black melon seeds are lifelike. If you can identify it, you will definitely think that what is placed in front of you is a big watermelon with a small cut.

This emerald watermelon is precious because of the word "realistic". It was originally made of ordinary jadeite material, but after the craftsman's skillful carving, the finished product is exquisitely crafted. It is cleverly used, and this is what makes this masterpiece.

The material for carving this emerald watermelon, that is, the small piece of red jadeite with the small opening, is of good quality, reaching the level of high ice. But under the inspection of Xiao Yao's spiritual sense, there is only this small piece of red jadeite in the entire emerald watermelon. If the opening is opened a little bit wider, it will not be perfect.

I don't know if the craftsman who carved it was a coincidence, or if he really had the ability to accurately judge the position of this small piece of red jadeite. In short, the result was perfect.

The emerald watermelon in front of me is so realistic, the overall materials are naturally not much better, otherwise, the materials are precious, but realistic is difficult to achieve.

There is a kind of emerald material called "melon rind green", which is translucent or opaque, and the green appears cyan. The material used to carve this emerald watermelon is so common.

But there is something extraordinary in the ordinary. First of all, the size of this piece of material is just right for carving a watermelon.

If you want to carve an emerald watermelon, you can't just imagine it out of thin air, you must have the right materials, otherwise, no matter how skilled you are, it is impossible to carve an exquisite emerald watermelon.

It is not easy to find a large piece of jadeite suitable for carving watermelons. It needs to have skin and rules. What is even more rare is that there must be red flesh and sunspots after the opening. Block materials, maybe a little bit possible, but it is almost impossible to be so realistic.

From this, Xiao Yao can almost conclude that if this emerald watermelon is indeed the one in the Old Summer Palace, then the other emerald watermelon is definitely very different from this one, and may not even be made of emerald.

If there is evidence to prove that the emerald watermelon in front of me is indeed the one in the Old Summer Palace, then the value of this emerald watermelon will be really incalculable, at least not lower than the emerald cabbage in the Taiwan Museum.

Such a realistic emerald watermelon, even if it is a new product that has just been carved, is also a priceless treasure, and the minimum value must be tens of millions of dollars.

Yasuda Yoshiaki saw Xiao Yaozai appreciating it carefully for a quarter of an hour, and knew that Xiao Yao must like this emerald watermelon very much, so he said: "The transaction list between my father and the British nobleman is still there. For the donation, our Yasuda family will also issue a detailed list and description to prove the authenticity of this emerald watermelon, with these, it should be more convincing."

"If you are interested, then prepare the details according to your wishes." If you want to prove that the emerald watermelon in front of you is indeed the one in the Old Summer Palace, you really need these materials, of course Xiao Yao will not refuse.

After appreciating the sheep head and emerald watermelon specially introduced by Yasuda Yoshiaki, Xiao Yao began to appreciate all the treasures in the treasure room in order.

This small treasure room contains the most precious antique figures collected by the Yasuda family over the past century, each of which can be called a national treasure.

Of course, these national treasures do not belong to the same country. There are antiques and cultural relics from various countries in the East and West. Among them, there are about 10 pieces of national treasure-level antique relics from Japan, and about 20 pieces of national treasure-level artworks from the West. The antique relics from our country are the most, about 30 pieces, accounting for almost all the collections in this treasure room. half of.