Chapter 58 Jade Cicada

  Chu Chen put down the Tang Sancai without moving, and others also went up to watch one by one. From their eyes, it can be seen that they have a deep appreciation for this piece of Tang Sancai.

  Ma An saw this and said with a smile: "How about it, is this thing good enough? This was dug up by Grandpa Hu from the ground at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it must be an old thing."

  Chu Chen heard him say that, and just smiled faintly. In the antique business, you can believe anything, but don't believe stories. If you want to talk about stories in antiques, even he himself can make up many. Seeing Chu Yulan looking eager on one side, he asked her: "How is it, little Lan, do you want to buy?"

  "Yes, it's rare to come across such a perfect Tang Sancai horse, I'd like to buy it as a gift for my dad, is there something wrong with that?" Chu Xiang Yu Lan asked somewhat strangely.

  Zhou Wenping was also stunned after hearing the words, and only then did he remember that Chu Chen had also set his eyes on Tang Sancai before. Could it be that this piece was also a fake? But it didn't look like one?!

  Chu Chen smiled and turned to Ma An, saying: "Mr. Ma, you said that this Tang Sancai was dug up by your grandfather at the end of the Qing dynasty, maybe it's a mistake, in my opinion, this Tang Sancai should be a high imitation made during the Republic of China period."

  Ma An's face changed upon hearing this, and he said in a very bad tone: "How is that possible? Such a beautiful thing can't be fake! Besides, the old professor said it was good stuff back then. You're not trying to cheat me into selling it at a low price, are you? I'm telling you, don't even think about it!"

  Li Guodong heard him say that about his friend, and suddenly he was furious, immediately wanting to go forward and reason with him, but was stopped by Zhou Wenping, who said in a low voice: "Don't be impatient, listen to what Xiao Chuan has to say, he won't do anything without being sure."

  Chu Chen was not affected by Ma An's words, and still smiled at her: "Master Ma, don't worry, I won't say much. Just take a look at this place and you'll understand."

  After finishing, Chu Chen put Tang Sancai on its side and pointed to a place in the horse's mouth. Then he used a magnifying glass for everyone to see. That place, as expected, was similar to what Chu Chen had seen earlier on Tang Sancai, with the two words "fire mud" written on it. Everyone who saw this looked at each other in dismay, their faces filled with incredulity, while Ma An's face was full of confusion.

  After everyone had a look, Chu Chen said: "Master Ma, you are not in the antique business, so you may not know who Hu Ni is. Let me tell you, he was a master of making old ceramics during the Republic of China period. He could imitate all kinds of famous and expensive ceramics. If you don't believe me, ask Brother Zhou. If you still don't believe it, you can also go to the antique market to ask."

  Since Chu Chen said so, Ma An also knew that it should be true, but he still found it hard to accept. With a bitter face, he said: "Xiao Chu, does this mean that the thing is worthless now? I spent 50,000 yuan on it back then, and the person swore that it was genuine. Now isn't it all in vain?"

  As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized it was wrong, but it was too late, and he could only smile awkwardly at everyone. The others were speechless, knowing that you had lied before, but you shouldn't have said it out loud.

  Chu Chen thought for a moment, then remembered his previous discovery and said: "Master Ma, actually I've also been cheated by his high imitation before, but my loss is much more than yours. It's just that the one I had was accidentally broken by me, now I have the chance to meet another one, considering this thing still has some value, I'll give you 200,000 yuan to buy it back, how about it?"

  Ma An heard this and was also delighted, his face flushing as he said: "Since we have a good relationship, Little Chu, can you add some more?"

  Everyone heard him say that, and they had some disdain in their hearts. Chu Chen didn't say much either, pointing to the horse's hindquarters: "Master Ma, if this wasn't repaired, it would definitely be worth more, but since it's damaged, its value has to be discounted."

  "Alright, I'll do as you said, Xiao Chu." Hearing this, Ma An agreed immediately to avoid a long and sleepless night.

  Two things were looked at like this, if it was like this, Chu Chen and others felt that it wasn't very satisfying, after all, they were some low-value items. So Chu Chen spoke up: "Master Ma, are there only these two things in your house? To be honest, if it's just these two, it really isn't worth us rushing over from the capital!"

  Ma An smiled bitterly and said, "Before I was hungry, I also thought these two things were very valuable, but it turned out to be like this. You also know the situation of my family, and it's hard for me to hide them. Now, there are still two pieces of jade in my house. If you're not satisfied with that, then there's nothing I can do."

  After waiting for six or seven minutes, Ma An returned to the hall with a brocade box in his hand.

  Seeing this, Chu Chen asked strangely: "Master Ma, didn't you say there were two things? Why did you only bring one over?"

  Ma An smiled and casually pulled out a jade cicada from his pocket, saying: "There's also this."

  Everyone immediately turned their eyes to his hands, and except for Chu Chen and Zhou Wenping, they were all very disappointed.

  This piece of jade cicada looks like it has been cleaned up after being unearthed, with many places on its surface covered with mud, as if it had been stained with soil. However, from some ** places, the color of this jade cicada is still an uncommon red color that people do not often see in everyday life.

  This time, Zhou Wenping made the first move and then handed it over to Chu Chen, but judging from his expression, he seemed a bit hesitant.

  After Chu Chen took over, he carefully measured it. The length of this jade cicada is about 6 cm, the overall flatness, the center is slightly thicker and the two sides are gradually thinner. The head and eyes of the jade cicada protrude outward, with wide lines carved on both sides of the front and back to form the head, chest, wings and tail. The tail and double wings are inverted conical in shape, with sharp ends.

  From the carving technique, this jade cicada should be made with the craftsmanship of Han Ba Dao. From the glaze, it should also be a jade cicada from the Han Dynasty. The image of the Han Dynasty's jade cicadas is vivid and realistic, although the knife method is simple, but the expression is rough and powerful, the lines are straight and can be called "every knife has its own edge", hence the saying of Han Ba Dao, which can be seen in this jade cicada.

  From the color, this jade bead should have been stained with blood, and after excavation, it is not clear why no treatment was done, so it looks like this, resulting in an invisible degree of bloodstain. If the bloodstain is very rich, the value can be said to be considerable.

  Although he couldn't see the whole situation, it affected his judgment of value. However, Chu Chen still had an unusual ability to use. It was just that when he used his unusual ability, his heart was shocked and he couldn't think of the result being like this. He hurriedly lowered his head to pretend to observe the jade cicada in his hand, actually hiding the shocked expression on his face.

  After finally calming down, Chu Chen furrowed his brow and thought back to the situation where the anomaly appeared. There should only be one possibility. He carefully examined it with a magnifying glass and indeed found some relevant marks.

  After making up his mind, Chu Chen's top priority was to get the jade cicada into his hands. However, in an instant, he thought that with Ma An's attitude and the quality of the jade cicada, he would definitely not know its true value. So he calmed himself down, feeling a bit reluctant to hand over the jade cicada to someone else, then opened his mouth and said:

  "Master Ma, what do you think of this jade cicada?"

  Ma An didn't think much of the jade cicada, but he definitely wouldn't let it go easily. He smiled and said, "Little Chu, we'll talk about the price later. First, tell me what you think of this thing?"

  Chu Chen smiled faintly: "This jade cicada, from its glaze and workmanship, should be a Han Dynasty piece."

  Ma An heard that it was from the Han Dynasty, and his eyes lit up. Although he wasn't very educated, he knew that the Han Dynasty was thousands of years ago in ancient times. He didn't expect such an ordinary-looking thing to have such a long history, so it should be quite valuable, right?

  Chu Chen looked at his performance and secretly smiled in her heart, wondering what expression she would have when listening to his next introduction.

  In the Han Dynasty, a unique new category of jade appeared, namely, a set of funeral jades. Before that, although there were jades used for funerals, they appeared in series only during the Han Dynasty.

  In the Han Dynasty, people attached great importance to thick burials. They believed that using jade for burial could achieve the purpose of making the corpse immortal. Therefore, after death, they used jade to make so-called "nine orifice utensils" to cover and fill the body's orifices. The jade utensil placed in the mouth of the deceased is called a jade pendant, and the most common one among them is the cicada pendant.

  "This piece of jade cicada is actually a cicada with jade, and the red color on the jade cicada is the color formed after the invasion of corpse blood and corpse gas, also known as blood seepage."

  At this time, Yu Xian was in Wen Yuting's hands. When she heard Chu Chen's introduction, she was so scared that she almost threw Yu Xian out. Then, she quickly put Yu Xian on the table, her face full of disgust.

  Ma An's face also turned very ugly after hearing this, and he hastily asked: "Xiao Chu, won't there be any problems keeping this thing at home?"

  Chu Chen secretly rejoiced and, pretending to think for a moment, replied: "There shouldn't be any problem, I've been in the antique business for many years and haven't heard of this thing being harmful. However, as for specifics, I'm not too clear."

  Ma An heard Chu Chen say that, although he felt a little relieved in his heart, but the more he looked at this jade cicada, the more awkward it became. He smiled and asked Chu Chen: "Little Chu, do you want this thing?"

  Chu Chen naturally couldn't wait to get it into his hands, but in reality, he couldn't be so impatient. He hesitated for a moment before saying: "This thing looks pretty good, I can take it over too. Master Ma, name a price, and if it's reasonable, I'll buy it."

  Ma An was delighted to hear that he could buy it, and the more he looked at this thing, the more he felt unlucky. Perhaps his own son had become like this because of this thing. However, he said with a "pulling out the hair as the wild goose passes" attitude:

  "Little Chu, look at this thing. Since you said it's from the Han Dynasty, it's also several thousand years old. If you want it, 500,000 yuan, how about that?"