Chapter 61: The Jade Cicada Emerges from Its Shell

  The water in the bowl was like a bowl of fresh blood, turning bright red, and this color was similar to blood, but not as thick as blood, still clear and transparent.

  "This... how is this possible? Is it really like what Chu Ge said before, that this jade cicada was soaked in fresh blood?" Wen Yuting exclaimed, and by the end of her words, she was even more frightened to the point of turning pale.

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "How is this possible? In fact, the concept of blood jade has not been settled until now. Think about it, when a person dies, their blood coagulates, how can it possibly penetrate into jade? It's just like in our daily lives, even if we kill a chicken, the blood drips onto the ground and soon turns purple or black."

  "Jade must be softened underground for a long time before it can form, which takes at least hundreds of years. By then, the blood would have transformed into who-knows-what substance, so how could it still seep into the jade and produce such bright red speckles?"

  At the end of Qing dynasty, Liu Datong said: "The method of making fake ancient jade is to use a kind of grass that looks like madder, which is produced in the deep mountains of Xining. The sap of this grass can dye jade, and after adding a small amount of brain sand, it is roasted with bamboo branches, and the red light comes out. This method is called 'old Ti oil', but now it is rarely seen. The new method of making Ti oil uses ebony powder to make it black, and red wood powder to make it red. Nowadays, most jade workers use this method to make fake jades."

  "So now some people think that the blood jade in the transmission jade is likely to be related to 'Rainbow Grass'. As for whether it's true or not, we can't figure it out, so don't be so afraid, Xiaowen."

  After listening to Chu Chen's explanation, Wen Yuting felt a little relieved in her heart, but the strange phenomenon in front of her was still very curious, so she asked: "Then what is going on?"

  "Xiao Chen, is this really the legendary Jade of Rebirth?" Zhou Wenping asked excitedly.

  Chu Chen smiled and said: "Right, Brother Zhou said, this is the answer you want, Xiao Wen."

  Tianhuang jade can be said to be the king of jade, it is rare in the world, and many people have no chance to see it in their lifetime.

  What is meant by "birth" is that it was originally a piece of fine sheep fat white jade, which had been buried in the earth for several hundred years and had absorbed corpse blood and corpse gas. After being unearthed, it was played with by people, and after a long period of time, human energy was absorbed, but then it was buried again and unearthed again, repeating this process several times before finally forming "birth".

  "Chu Ge, you said it wasn't made of human blood, so why does this jade pendant have the same saying."

  Chu Chen saw Wen Yuting's frightened appearance and said, "Xiao Wen, this is just a saying among people. As for the truth about the Jade Birth, no one really knows what it is. Besides, smell this water, does it have any bloody smell?"

  Li Guodong suddenly said, "Ah, I remember now. There's a book that mentions when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and Empress Dowager Cixi fled to the west, she carried a small piece of ancient jade with her. Later, she gave it to Minister Wang Wenshao, who accompanied her on the journey. It's said that this jade was also a 'detached fetus jade'. Xiaowen, think about it - if Empress Dowager Cixi wasn't afraid of detached fetus jade, what do you have to be afraid of?"

  "Really?"

  Wen Yuting saw Chu Chen and others nodding in agreement, then she really went to smell the water in the basin, indeed there was no taste, only then did she put her mind at ease.

  "Brother Chu, how long does this jade need to be soaked?" asked Chuyulan.

  "It will probably take about two or three hours."

  "Ah! It's been so long!" Chu Yulan exclaimed in surprise.

  Chu Chen chuckled and said, "You want to know that this is an ancient jade. Only after the impurities on it are completely softened can we continue to process it. Otherwise, if we force it, the jade will be damaged. Since there's some time now, I'll tell you all how to handle an unearthed ancient jade."

  "When you get an ancient jade that has just been unearthed, some people may use 84 disinfectant to clean it, but this is not allowed. We know that 84 is corrosive and will corrode the ancient jade after use. If you must use it for disinfection, the concentration should be below 10%."

  "Normally, we just need to soak it in warm water at room temperature, wait for the surface impurities to soften, then brush it clean with a toothbrush, and put it in hot water of about 50-60 degrees for soaking. Soak until the hot water cools down naturally, this step is best done in an airtight thermos. Wait until the hot water has cooled completely before proceeding."

  "The effect of using hot water is to make the jade's fine pores fully relaxed and expel internal dirt. In this way, in cold seasons, once every three months, and in summer, once every two months, a total of three times, it can be considered complete."

  Chu Yulan heard this and asked: "Brother Chu, can we now start the Jade Disk?"

  "Right, as long as it's been washed once, you can start playing with it."

  Chu Yulan asked again: "Brother Chu, do you know how to play with jade?"

  Chu Chen smiled and said, "I'm not omnipotent, after all. As for the aspect of appreciating jade, I really don't understand it too well. After all, I've never appreciated ancient jade before. Xiao Lan, you're asking this because you want to appreciate that jade bowl, right? If so, I suggest giving up on it. Not to mention that the Hetian jade is relatively thin and light, but also considering the volume of the jade bowl itself, it's not convenient to appreciate."

  Chu Yulan thought for a moment and indeed it was so, then somewhat embarrassedly said: "This point, I really hadn't thought of."

  Next, taking advantage of the remaining time, everyone chatted about various jade-related issues together, especially Chu Chen who talked about jade identification while sharing some interesting stories related to it, making everyone listen with great interest.

  Because it's summer, the weather is relatively hot, so this tortoise has been soaked for two hours and can be washed. Then Chu Chen picked up a toothbrush and carefully brushed it lightly, as the mud on the tortoise was gradually brushed clean, a dark red gem-like tortoise gradually appeared before everyone's eyes.

  "It's really too beautiful."

  When they saw Yu Jian's true face, Li Guodong and others all stared with wide eyes, their faces full of surprise.

  After Yu Xian was cleaned, Chu Chen used a pure cotton towel to gently wipe it once, then took out a magnifying glass and carefully observed it again. About ten minutes later, he put down the magnifying glass, let out a gentle breath, and handed Yu Xian over to others for appreciation.

  After everyone had a look, Chu Chen thought for a moment and said: "This jade cicada should be a carefully crafted piece from the Western Han Dynasty over 2,000 years ago. The material used is probably top-grade white jade, and it was unearthed during the Five Dynasties period, having been played with for nearly a hundred years."

  "In the Song Dynasty, it was buried again. By the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing Dynasties, it was unearthed and played with for a period of time before being buried again for over a hundred years. It wasn't until later that it was once again unearthed. This can be seen from the glaze and different marks left by the jade carvers."

  "What a hassle! It's always being unearthed, then played with, and then buried again. Does this thing have a predestined relationship with the earth?" Li Guodong muttered to himself after hearing this.

  Chu Chen joked: "Who made this a cicada? Think about it, the larvae of a cicada have to stay underground for many years before they can see the sun again. And if they didn't come out and go back in like that, we wouldn't have such exquisite jade today. Come on, let's take a look at what happens when we put it in water now."

  At this point, Chu Chen directly asked for 50-60 degree hot water, which was just right to complete the cleaning steps from earlier.

  When the jade cicada was put back into the water, everyone's eyes were still filled with shock, and the two girls' eyes also had a hint of confusion.

  When the jade cicada entered the water, the color of the water also changed to a bright red. The difference was that due to the reflection of the red water, the bottom of the basin, this dark red jade cicada, became even more vibrant in its redness. Under the warm rays of the sun, it seemed as if the entire jade cicada was emitting a faint red glow, and it was so beautiful that it couldn't be compared to anything else.

  "This scene makes Chu Yulan unable to help but ask: 'Chu Ge, I wonder...'"

  The words had just been spoken when Chu Chen interrupted: "Xiao Lan, I'm really sorry. This jade cicada, no matter what, I definitely won't pass it on to anyone else. I will always treasure it well."

  Chu Yulan saw the firm expression on his face and knew that nothing could move him, unless... But as soon as this thought occurred to her, she immediately dismissed it. Maybe someday, but for now, she hadn't considered it clearly.

  Zhou Wenping looked at the jade cicada and exclaimed, "This jade cicada should be a one-of-a-kind treasure, from its appearance, it's much better than the legendary Cixi's piece, I don't know why Ma An didn't clean it up thoroughly back then."

  Chu Chen smiled and said: "I think it's very likely that he saw the excavation was blood-red jade, which is a bit unlucky!"

  This was indeed guessed by him, Ma An originally thought that this jade cicada was unearthed and was blood red in color, so he considered it very unlucky, and put it in a corner, completely unaware that it was actually the legendary fetal jade.

  At night, Chu Chen took out the jade cicada and watched it repeatedly for a long time before putting it away with satisfaction. This jade cicada was truly too precious, so precious that after Chu Chen obtained it, his ability progress bar directly filled up one-tenth, which was equivalent to 10 million worth of value.

  However, mentioning this, Chu Chen had some reservations, because judging by the value of the heterochromatic ability, the value of this jade cicada was even higher. In other words, no matter how high the value of related things was, it could at most only fill up one-tenth of the progress. Fortunately, he wasn't in a hurry, and after arriving in Dian Nan, relying on gambling stones, the speed of accumulation should be very fast.

  And then there's this jade cicada, if Chu Chen treasures it too much and solemnly collects it without playing with it, it would be a waste of a good thing, getting a treasure is like getting grass. Getting an antique jade must be played with, and must be played with more, in order to bring out its unique qualities, and this process is what was previously mentioned as "playing with jade".

  Although Chu Chen also knew that the Pan Yu was divided into three types, one for urgent Pan, two for slow Pan, and three for intentional Pan. However, he didn't know much about how to specifically pan it since he had no practical experience. Moreover, he needed to find a suitable method for this particular Jade Cicada, which made him even more unclear. He planned to go back and immediately seek guidance from Wu Shu and Liu Lao.