When I saw the red cloth bag not far away, I quickly grabbed it into my hands and stuffed the ancient mirror back together with the green smoke.
"Lin Kun, how about it? You...you can tell me, what era is it?"
Xu Duobao saw that my expression was wrong, and his words became stuttered. However, his face still had an expectant expression. He was obviously still concerned about the value and origin of this ancient mirror.
"This is a glass eight-treasure soul-soothing mirror from the Han Dynasty. It is indeed a priceless treasure!"
"Haha! Is it really a treasure?" Xu Duobao has been messing around with antiques for a long time. As soon as my words came out of my mouth, he burst out laughing.
Before the laughter ended, Xu Duobao handed over a big red envelope.
"Lin Kun, you have helped me a lot. I should have thanked you deeply, but my mother was ill and hospitalized last month and spent a lot of money. If you don't think it's too little, just take these two thousand yuan first.
.”
I glanced at the red envelope sent by Xu Duobao, looked at his face again, and shook my head speechlessly.
When Xu Duobao saw me shaking my head, he immediately became anxious and said anxiously: "Brother, I don't mean to take advantage of you! Just wait, when I get rid of this object, I will definitely give you a big red envelope. I know you two
Thousand yuan is a bit short, but brother is short of money right now."
"Old Xu! You misunderstood me." I sighed.
To be honest, this is Xu Duobao. If it were anyone else, I would just accept his two thousand yuan, pat my ass and leave.
But we are still friends after all. What’s more, he is now in a foreign land and we are both eunuchs. Now that he has brought such a thing back, if I don’t help him, this windfall will soon turn into
Misfortunes are coming.
"Misunderstanding? Tell me! What do you want?" Xu Duobao asked with a confused look on his face.
"Lao Xu, how about I buy you some news with two thousand yuan?"
"News?" Xu Duobao was stunned for a moment, then he patted his chest and said cheerfully, "Okay! As long as I don't ask about your sister-in-law's birthday, I will tell you everything else, and you don't need to take any money."
"Can you tell me where this mirror came from?"
"Where did the mirror come from?" Xu Duobao couldn't help scratching his head after hearing what I said.
Xu Duobao's reaction was as expected. In this industry, it is a bad rule to rashly ask others about the origin of things.
"Hi! Let me tell you." Xu Duobao hesitated for a while and finally said this. It was obvious that he made this decision after some ideological struggle, "Actually, there is nothing to hide.
It's rags from a country grocery store."
"Country grocery store? Rags?"
Even though this eight-treasure glass soul-soothing mirror is for the dead, it is a genuine antique after all, and it is also a rare treasure.
In this way, I am not talking about its value, but its use. Although soul-suppressing mirrors have been unearthed in ancient tombs in the past dynasties, they are either rusty or incomplete. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taoism further developed.
Lost, this kind of utensils have only a decorative role and no longer have practical significance.
"Yes! I bought it from the grocery store in Fuquan Village, Shengli Township for 300 yuan."
"Three hundred?" I asked with my eyes widened.
"Yeah! If I give him this money, that guy will be so happy."
Xu Duobao obviously didn't realize that he had bought a big trouble and went home. He still said smugly, "He thought this thing was a modern old thing and not worth much money! If he hadn't recognized the mirror surface,
I'm afraid you'll give me a piece of colored glaze for nothing."
"Old Xu, you are so lucky!" I sighed and nodded, but I kept the place names mentioned by Xu Duobao in my heart.
Unexpectedly, Xu Duobao leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "Lin Kun, can you find a Han tomb by following the place name?"
"Brother, do you think I'm a tomb robber?" I shook my head and replied with a smile, "Besides,
There is no dirt at all on this mirror, nor does it look like a newly unearthed object. What do you think I can find when I go to Fuquan Village?"
"That's true! This mirror was something I collected three months ago."
Xu Duobao spoke very casually, but I became a little nervous after listening to it, "Three months? Then why did you take it out now?"
"You can't blame me! When I took the mirror back, I wanted to find you. But the publishing house just happened to organize us to go out to collect photos, and we were away for a month. When I came back, my mother fell ill and was hospitalized again, so
The matter has only been postponed until today."
After hearing what he said, I learned that Xu Duobao has been running an antique shop and writing online novels in recent years. It is said that his books are still very popular.
After listening to Xu Duobao's story, my mood became heavier than before. I had met Xu Duobao's mother, who was a kind old man who treated me like a nephew and was very caring.
"Brother, what's wrong? You seem to be hiding something in your heart today, which makes my brother feel uneasy all the time!" Xu Duobao noticed something was wrong with me.
Now that Xu Duobao has asked this question, I no longer want to hide it, "Old Xu, do you know what this mirror is used for?"
"This? How do I know? However, its name is quite scary. It must be a mysterious magic weapon used by Taoist priests." Xu Duobao has been looking for antiques for more than a day or two. He passed the name of the Eight Treasures Glazed Soul Suppressing Mirror.
, and you can also roughly know its use.
However, according to modern people's concepts, these are all things made up by the ancients and are simply not credible.
"Okay then! Let me tell you about the origin and purpose of this eight-treasure soul-soothing mirror." With that said, I pointed to the red cloth pocket on the table, "Old Xu, have you looked behind the ancient mirror?
Is there an inscription on it?”
"I saw it, but I didn't understand it," Xu Duobao replied cheerfully.
"That's an account of the Rebellion of the Seven Kings." As soon as I spoke, Xu Duobao agreed, "I know this. In the early Han Dynasty, kings with the same surname were enfeoffed in various places. During the reign of Emperor Jing, their territories were reduced due to Chao Cuo.
, and launched a collective rebellion. At that time, the world was in chaos, and people were starving and dying all over the land."
"Among the seven kings, do you also know about Chu King Liu Wu?"
"King Chu Liu Wu?" Xu Duobao shook his head helplessly after hearing this.
I'm not surprised at all by Xu Duobao's performance. After all, what I'm about to say has never been mentioned in official history books.
According to records, King Liu Wu of Chu was defeated and captured. According to the practice at the time, the rebellious princes would only be demoted to commoners and would not be harmed. However, Liu Wu had a stubborn character. On the way back to Beijing when he was escorted,
He stabbed his wrist with a green dragon hairpin and committed suicide. It didn't matter that he couldn't think of committing suicide, but his suicide aroused the anger of his die-hard fans. Everyone gritted their teeth and wanted to avenge him, and they hated Emperor Jing even more. Among them.
There was a general named Yun who followed Liu Wu through life and death. When he heard the news of Liu Wu's death, he was so indignant that he also died. It is said that when he died, his blood dried up and his entire body was drawn into a mummy.
Later, when he was buried, the corpse of the man named Yun suddenly transformed into a corpse, biting all the palace attendants who were preparing for his burial on the spot, and escaped from the cemetery in the chaos.
For this matter, Emperor Jing sent a large number of soldiers and horses to hunt down the transformed zombie, but in exchange, news of people being bitten to death by zombies continued to spread from various places.
It was not until later that an alchemist brought back his body.
He told Emperor Jing that he needed to be buried with living people and animals, and gave Emperor Jing an eight-treasure glass soul-suppressing mirror, so that the zombies could be buried peacefully.
After Xu Duobao listened to my story, his whole behavior changed.
His face was pale and he leaned on the sofa. When he spoke again, his voice became hoarse, but his tongue seemed to be curled, "What do you say... have to do with me?"
?”
"The eight-treasure glazed soul-suppressing mirror is in front of you now." I replied.
"Brother, we two brothers have been together for many years.
Our friendship, please don’t lie to me, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand this kind of trouble.” Xu Duobao looked at the eight-treasure glazed mirror and couldn’t speak clearly.
It's no wonder. I thought I picked up a priceless treasure for nothing, but in the end it was all in vain. Not many people can bear this blow. Xu Duobao's current performance is pretty good.
"This is recorded in the inscription on the mirror, and what happened in your home also proves this. It is clearly caused by resentment. Lao Xu, you have been in the antique business for a long time, I believe you also understand."
"Yes! My dog ​​died. Fortunately, your sister-in-law went back to live at her parents' house while I was away. After I came back, there were many abnormalities in the house, and my mother came over to help me look at the house for a few days.
...She, could her illness also be caused by..."
Having said this, Xu Duobao swallowed hard, and large beads of sweat emerged from his forehead.
"Lin Kun, tell me! Is there any way to crack it?" Xu Duobao held my hand tightly and said nervously.
"The solution..." I replied in a ponderous manner, but failed to say what was behind it. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell Xu Duobao what to do, but that I had never encountered anything similar before, so I had to
Be more careful.
"How about I throw it away?" Xu Duobao suddenly asked.
"Throw it away? I'm afraid not?" I shook my head thoughtfully and looked at Xu Duobao, "Old Xu, this is a priceless thing, are you really willing to part with it?"
"Of course I can't bear to part with it, but we can't leave it here to harm others, right?"
Xu Duobao suddenly slapped his thigh: "Oh! I'm such a fool. The guy selling the stuff must have known about it. I thought I got a bargain! He must have known that it was a scourge, so he sold it at a low price."
I don't deny that this is indeed possible. In the antique shop, there is a saying of placing blame. When people receive strange or unlucky things, they can pass on the curse originally imposed on themselves to others through buying and selling.
.
"Old Xu, what are you going to do?"
"I, I want to sell it. But...but I really don't want to harm anyone." Xu Duobao replied with a pale face.
Although I don't want to interfere too much in other people's affairs, I can't ignore Xu Duobao's affairs. After pondering for a moment, I whispered, "Old Xu, do you trust me?"
"Trust! A hundred trusts." Xu Duobao nodded hurriedly, "Lin Kun, help me! As long as you can help me, I will give it... I will give you whatever you want!
"
I could hear that Xu Duobao originally wanted to give me the Eight Treasures Glazed Soul Suppressing Mirror. But when the words came to his lips, he thought it was hurting others, so he swallowed it back.
I thought about it and pushed back the money Xu Duobao had just put on the coffee table: "Lao Xu, let's do this! Let's write a note and I will buy this mirror from you."
"Buy?" Xu Duobao asked with wide eyes.
"Well! There are rules for disaster relief. It's not easy to give this thing away. You have to buy and sell it to eliminate disasters."
"Lin Kun, you mean..."
"Stop talking!" Before Xu Duobao could finish speaking, I interrupted him, "The secrets of heaven must not be leaked! There are some things that you and I only need to know, but if heaven and earth also know about them, then it won't be the same."
It works.”
"Okay! I understand, I understand."
According to my request, Xu Duobao wrote the sales documents, and we both signed and stamped them with our respective seals in a decent manner. After doing all this, this glazed eight-treasure soul-suppressing mirror was officially
The owner was changed.
In order to make Xu Duobao feel at ease, I did not ask for the ancient mirror to be taken away. After all, the matter in his family had not been resolved yet, so I took the things away. No matter how good the relationship was, it could not be justified.
On the way back, I was still thinking about Xu Duobao's mirror.
Chapter completed!