Small hole?

  Mr. Qiao immediately shifted his attention to the small hole in the middle of the C-shaped object upon hearing this.

  "This small hole was not drilled through at once, but was formed by two opposing penetrations. Looking carefully inside, you can see that the small hole is larger on the outside and smaller on the inside, with a honeycomb-like pattern inside." Gu Ming paused for a moment before continuing: "The Hongshan culture was an agricultural culture created by a tribal group active in the area north of the Yan Mountains and the upper reaches of the Daling River and Xiliao River around 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. It is named after the Hongshan site in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where it was first discovered. At that time, tools were backward, and people who made jade and other objects generally used animal bones as tools for bilateral penetration. Mr. Qiao, you also saw that the center of this bilateral penetration hole is not aligned, with a so-called 'step' trace, and the small hole presents an outer large inner small honeycomb-like pattern, which is one of the typical characteristics of Hongshan culture jade."

  "That's right." Mr. Qiao listened carefully to Gu Bei's words, and after Gu Bei finished speaking, he continued: "The small hole will become like this because the drilling tool is worn out while being used, and the surrounding area of the small hole can see coarse spiral lines. This is absolutely impossible for modern craftsmen to drill with animal bones, and a small knife should be used instead. Although it can also be drilled on both sides, the spiral lines left behind are relatively more delicate, which is not a characteristic of the Hongshan culture."

  "Are you judging this as a Red Hill culture thing just based on a small hole?" Qin Sheng asked again.

  Gu Mei turned her head and glanced at Qin Sheng, patiently explaining: "Just based on this point, I wouldn't dare to make such a judgment. If Professor Wang found out about it, he would scold me to death!"

  "That's indeed Old Wang's style." Mr. Qiao chuckled and turned to Gu Mian: "Go on, what else did you find?"

  Gu Mian withdrew her gaze, organized her language a bit and continued: "Because the outside of this thing may have another layer of shell, it's hard to see what's underneath, so I can only vaguely say something general. To determine whether this is indeed a red hill culture jade artifact, apart from the small hole just mentioned, we also need to look at its craftsmanship."

  Mr. Qiao nodded and motioned for Gu Mian to continue speaking, while Qin Sheng also gazed at Gu Mian, waiting quietly for what came next.

  "The craftsmanship of the Hongshan period, in general, has the characteristics of being vivid and concrete, mysterious and abstract, rough and bold, and natural and simple. At that time, the processing tools were primitive, and many places were made by scraping and grinding with stone chips, also known as scraping and grinding work. After it was formed, it would be finely polished with a jade sand tool, so there should be longitudinal scrape marks on the surface. And there are horizontal polishing marks. If there is only a single horizontal polishing mark on the surface of an object, it should be the mark left by modern tools, not the characteristic of the Hongshan period." Gu Xiang said carefully.

  "So you mean that this thing has both horizontal grinding and vertical scraping, right? But how can you be sure those marks weren't made by the Red Mountain period's polishing tools?" Qin Sheng asked, not quite understanding.

  "This is a good question." Mr. Qiao smiled slightly and spoke on behalf of Gu Yin: "As Gu Yin just mentioned, the tools available during the Hongshan period were very limited, and the anvil was extremely rare. In fact, it didn't exist in the early stages, only appearing later in the Hongshan period. That's why experts consider this a characteristic for identifying Hongshan cultural jade artifacts."

  "Uh-huh." Gu Ming nodded, then continued: "Actually, to determine whether it's a genuine Red Mountain cultural jade artifact or not, there are several other points to consider. One is to look at the patina, and another is to examine natural marks. The patina can be easily faked, and there are many methods for doing so, making it very difficult to distinguish from real ones. When examining it, one must pay special attention to its depth and regularity. After all, a fake is still a fake, no matter how well-made it may seem. Unfortunately, this thing has a layer of shell covering its surface, which prevents me from taking a closer look."

  "It's clear that Old Wang didn't teach you in vain. Your foundation is still very solid." Mr. Qiao said with a smile, looking at Gu Mian.

  Gu Mei's face slightly flushed, if Qin Sheng wasn't here being a half-wit, she wouldn't have explained so much. She believed Mr. Qiao knew more than her for sure, and it was good that she didn't mean to show off, or else she would be making a fool of herself in front of the master.

  "Professor Wang has been so good to me, if I don't even have a solid foundation, I would really be too ashamed to show my face, and I wouldn't dare continue staying here." Gu Mian slightly moved her body.

  "No need to be modest, if it's well done, then it's well done. There are many places where you're not particularly clear, but you think this is the essence of Hongshan culture's jade, aren't you judging based on your intuition?" Mr. Qiao asked, looking at Gu Mian.

  Mr. Qiao looked at Gu Meng with a surprised expression, nodded and replied: "As Mr. Qiao said, I actually relied on my intuition to judge it. Yesterday, I wanted to find a way to clean the shell on top of it, but unfortunately, I didn't have the right tools in my hand, nor did I dare to take action rashly, so I could only wipe it with a white cloth. After wiping it, I felt that it had become much clearer."

  "I've long heard that your intuition is quite accurate, and today I've finally witnessed it." Mr. Qiao sighed, putting the things back on the table.

  Gu Xiang's heart leapt with joy: "So this is really a jade artifact from the Hongshan culture?"

  "Although it looks a bit blurry, I think it's mostly genuine, and it should be a jade dragon of the Hongshan culture." Mr. Qiao nodded, with a hint of delight in his eyes.

  "Is this really Jade Dragon?" Gu Ming exclaimed.

  Actually, after checking the materials last night and recalling what Professor Wang taught her in class before, she thought that this large c-shaped object about 6cm long might be a jade dragon, and the protrusion above the small hole was likely to be a dragon fin or horn.

  It was just her own idea, so she didn't say it out loud earlier. But now that Mr. Qiao said it, she couldn't help but feel a little excited.

  "It should be the Jade Dragon, just as you said, its surface is covered with a layer of shell, hiding its original appearance, but roughly it can still see some shapes. The protruding part on top uses the technique of relief carving, the long snout is slightly raised, and when looking closely at the front section, two circular nostrils can be vaguely seen. Its eyes are olive-shaped and bulging, with a long mane from the top of the head to the back of the neck, and the ends are raised. There are sunken diamond-shaped grid patterns on the forehead and lower jaw, which are all characteristics of the Red Mountain Culture Jade Dragon." Mr. Qiao's experience is far more than Gu Cui's, and his explanation is also much more detailed than Gu Cui's.

  Mr. Qiao's eloquent speech made Gu Bei realize her own inadequacies, she could only rely on the special ability of her left hand to identify that this thing was an antique, and based on the reactions she felt after touching it, she could roughly judge that this thing was a valuable antique, but other than that, she didn't quite understand.

  If she only knew that this thing was an antique but didn't know its value, and what it actually was, wouldn't she be the same type of person as Lin Hai, holding a treasure without knowing it's a treasure.

  This realization made her secretly decide that if she could really become Master Xue's apprentice with Qin Sheng's help, she would definitely study wholeheartedly and seriously. Even if she couldn't become Master Xue's apprentice, this time following Mr. Qiao out to investigate, she must seize every minute and second to learn.

  Mr. Qiao is this kind of person, I don't know how many people who are similar to her want to follow him and learn from him, now she has such a rare opportunity, if she doesn't seize it tightly, that would be the biggest foolishness under heaven!

  Having thought it through, Gu Mei's gaze towards Mr. Qiao became increasingly respectful and ardent.

  "I think you should know whether 'China's First Dragon' is or not?" Mr. Qiao looked at Gu Mian and Qin Sheng.

  The two nodded in unison, "China's First Dragon" is also a red hill cultural jade article, about 26 cm long, but it is much larger than the one bought by Gu Ming, Gu Ming's is more compact, only about 6 cm long.

  "Xue Lao had once participated in the appraisal of this dragon, and when it was first discovered, no one paid attention to it. It wasn't until later, when a child played with it on the ground as a toy, that its outer shell fell off, revealing its true appearance. In my estimation, your jade dragon, Xiao Gu, is probably similar to the 'Number One Dragon of China'. With patience and proper handling, I believe its true appearance will be revealed soon." Mr. Qiao couldn't help but chuckle: "If I'm not mistaken, you bought this from Lin Hai's hands, didn't you? Ha! Lin Hai has lost a treasure! By the way, how much did you pay for it?"

  "1,500 yuan." Gu Ming replied honestly.

  "1,500 yuan, once it's in your hands, who knows, it might be worth several hundred times more. Although it doesn't look like much now, this jade dragon is well-preserved, and if nothing unexpected happens, it should be worth at least tens of millions." Mr. Qiao smiled at Gu Cui: "Little Gu, your intuition is good, you're indeed a talented person, I didn't misjudge you."

  "Mr. Qiao, you're overpraising!" Gu Ming heard that the Jade Dragon was worth at least tens of millions, and his heart was also racing with excitement.

  The fun of picking up leaks lies in relying on one's own eyesight and luck to gain huge benefits at a very small cost.

  Although Gu Miao had already found many good treasures, the moment she discovered that what she had picked up was of high value, the immense satisfaction in her heart that could not be expressed in words never faded.

  "This is your good luck, if it were Yang Lin, more than half of it would not have fallen into your hands." Mr. Qiao smiled at Gu Mian, and his mood was very good.

  Hehe, throwing flowers, finally updated before 12 midnight tonight, let's celebrate! Quickly praise the diligent cat~~ Thanks to Mo Xiaoguo, Lanlan, Can Yue MiaoMiao, Xiao Li Le Rong, 110512, MoMo Wu Se Shi, Nan Qi, Lan Cai Die for sending Christmas hats, thanks to Qingqing Zi Yun 160, Wuding Shang De Xue, Feilin Xi Ne, Zi Lei Er Bao Bei for casting pink votes, thank you all for your support, happy~~~~~

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