Chapter 0438 – The Hinterland (I)

“Brother Li, can you show me this tooth carving first?”

Zhuang Rui didn’t know Li Yunshan’s mind, nor did he know that Li Yunshan was afraid of the dead old man scolding him for selling his son’s field without any heartache, Zhuang Rui just simply liked this piece of work which was described as a large ivory carving of a Buddha statue, and wanted to hold it in his hand and play with it for a while.

“Yes, of course, you’d better come over and look at it! This thing is not a light weight ……”

This object is not small, tooth carving works and more fragile fragile, Li Yunshan greeted Zhuang Rui to his stall inside to see, the heart is still pondering, this thing in the end should be sold, if sold, should be sold how much money is appropriate?

Zhuang Rui after hearing also did not polite, directly a step across the stall, walked to the box next to the ivory carvings and box almost the height of the carvings to hold out, placed on the ground.

In this way, the whole piece of ivory carving ornaments, it is completely presented in front of Zhuang Rui, this angry vajra vajra ivory carving works on the vajra character, a foot to support the ground. One foot slightly raised, the face of the modeling is extremely exaggerated, open mouth, nostrils to the sky, eyes staring angrily ahead, the right hand holding a vajra mortar and pestle, the chest bare strong muscles, the body in front of the sash fluttering, extremely rich in beauty.

Zhuang Rui once read some books about ancient Buddha carving illustrations, this tooth carving ornaments, should be typical of the Sui and Tang dynasties of Buddhist statues, that adheres to the traditional Chinese carving exaggerated style. And in line with the modern aesthetic of the human body health and beauty.

Just don’t know this should be their own country’s things, how to fall to Burma, said before only China bullied Burma’s share, Burma is not the strength to China to burn and loot.

Carefully observe the nuances, Zhuang Rui can see that the carver of this work, the power is extremely deep, knife in place by no means dragging the mud, clean and smooth lines details clear and natural, the most special is that the work of the whole body knife scars, and can not be polished off the carving traces of the ivory qualities, fully embodied.

This kind of face to face, the original color to see people’s treatment, on the one hand, increased the strength of the work of the temperament and infectious, on the one hand, also shows the author of their carving skills of full confidence.

Zhuang Rui did not use aura appraisal can be asserted, this ivory Buddha carving, is definitely an old object with years, the earliest should be the Qing Dynasty, because not to mention the modern ivory scarcity, is the Republic of China period, there is such a craftsman, that are rare, can be called a master-level craftsmen.

Zhuang Rui turned his back to Yang Hao and others, and released his aura to the ivory carving, as expected, as soon as the aura penetrated into the surface of the ivory carving, Zhuang Rui realized that it contained a rich purple aura, “Ming Dynasty! At least it’s an object from the Ming Dynasty” Zhuang Rui’s heart was overjoyed, and he wanted to include it in his bag even more.

“Huh? How come there are cracks?!”

Zhuang Rui didn’t put his aura deeper, under the side arm of the tooth carving, he found a crack about five centimeters in size and extending inwards, it seemed to have been mended at one time, as if a small round door had been opened there. Then the door was closed again.

“Shit, what is this thing?”

Zhuang Rui’s line of sight, following that small door and continuing to look inside, was violently stunned, because the chest area of this Buddha statue was actually hollowed out inside, and in that very small space, there were two wax pills.

“Damn, what the hell is this thing?!”

This thing naturally couldn’t resist the penetration of Zhuang Rui’s aura, the aura instantly wrapped the wax pills, and Zhuang Rui found that inside the wax pills were two small paper balls that were rubbed together, which made Zhuang Rui dumbfounded, even though he was powerful, he didn’t have a way to distinguish, what exactly was written inside that paper ball.

At this time, Zhuang Rui heart, that can be like a cat scratches the general, its itchy incomparable, people are curious, this Buddha carving inside the thing, obviously is the descendant of the painstakingly hidden inside, and this mystery, certainly in the two wax pills inside, which is close to the eyes of the secret, but can not be uncovered, so that the heart of the Zhuang Rui that is called a difficult ah!

“Mr. Zhuang, sell can be sold, but this thing is in my home put a lot of years, with our domestic words is an antique, right? This price, but can not be calculated according to the price of these artifacts ah!”

Li Yunshan tangled next to it for a while, but still decided to sell it, after all, this contraption in the home, and can not be eaten as food, and he grew up living in an environment where he was surrounded by Chinese, and not like those Burmese, believe in Buddhism, so it does not feel that there is something wrong with selling this statue of Buddha.

Such a large and delicate tooth carving, if placed in the Burmese home, it is absolutely like a treasure generally enshrined, day and night worship, but in Li Yunshan’s home, but in the bed under the decades, the old man was bored, and occasionally take out the “thinking of the past” with.

“Well, Brother Li, there is no problem with this. I’ll take a closer look, this tooth carving seems to have traces of repair ……”

Zhuang Rui’s mind at this time, are placed on the tooth carving ornaments above, in accordance with the habit of buying objects to bargain, casually answered a sentence, but the words have just exported, he regretted, if the stall owner to see what clues, then they can be a big loss.

“Oh, you’re talking about that cracked seal, right? I had it when I saw it as a child, it might have been accidentally touched and cracked by my grandfather in the past, this shouldn’t affect it, right?”

After hearing Zhuang Rui’s words, Li Yunshan couldn’t help but feel a little nervous, since he decided to sell it, he naturally wanted to sell it at a high price! If Zhuang Rui take the cracks, Li Yunshan really do not know how to bargain, after all, he does not know anything about antiques.

“Doesn’t affect, the overall shape of this tooth carving ornament is very good, it’s normal to have a little flaw, I’ll look at it again, Brother Li you first estimate a price, we’ll talk about it later ……” Breathing deeply for a few moments, Zhuang Rui let the mood calm down.

Zhuang Rui will now focus on the repair surface, he found that the repair surface and the materials used inside, should be used in milky white silica gel, after a long time, is also slightly yellowish, if not with the aura to see, purely with the eyes to see, it is really not easy to find. This makes Zhuang Rui more curious, to know, latex this thing, is in the early last century before the prevalence of the use of the Ming and Qing dynasties can not have this material, and this ivory pendant inside the wax pellet, but the ancient Chinese unique way of transmitting a secret letter, as if since the Qing Dynasty period, changed to use the fire lacquer sealing of the secret letter, the two years completely unequal things together, so that Zhuang Rui is also a little puzzled by, what is the secret hidden. What secret is hidden here.

“Buy it and say it!”

Zhuang Rui made a decision in his heart, the paper ball inside that wax pill, he could never recognize the font in it with his own aura alone, in order to figure it out, he could only take out the wax pill, and then first of all, he would have to make this ivory Buddha statue his own.

“Brother Li, I’m not hiding from you, this ivory Buddha carving, should be the old things before the Republic of China, is considered an antique. I like this object, placed in the home is good, you open a price! If it’s suitable, we’ll have a deal ……”

Because Li Yunshan began the attitude, Zhuang Rui is afraid that he is no longer willing to sell, in order to show their sincerity, straight out of this object is an antique, just in the age, Zhuang Rui played a little slippery, he only said that is before the Republic of China, but did not say that this object is something of the Ming Dynasty, of course, the Ming Dynasty, that was before the Republic of China Well, the Ming Dynasty!

“This …… I don’t really understand, little brother if you really want it, give this price!”

Li Yunshan lowered his head and thought for a while before stretching out two fingers.

Seeing Li Yunshan’s gesture, Zhuang Rui spoke out and asked, “Twenty thousand dollars? That’s a bit expensive.”

While talking, while frowning, his appearance is pretending, that is to say that this thing to the domestic test, if you can find out its heritage, shoot a seven or eight million, are very normal, just this business is to bargain, Zhuang Rui naturally want to say the price to low.

Just Zhuang Rui did not find, after he said the price of 20,000 U.S. dollars, Li Yunshan pupils in the eyes, in an instant contraction, which is the normal reaction of the people surprised, Li Yunshan is not smack Zhuang Rui less money, but the price, he was stunned, the meaning of his two fingers, but it is just two thousand U.S. dollars.

To know, ivory carvings in Burma is very unusual, although this pendant of ivory material volume is not small, but in this place in Burma, there are some objects larger than this, the price is only one or two thousand dollars, and the per capita income in Burma is very low, one or two thousand dollars, enough for a family’s expenses for several years.

Li Yunshan set up a stall here to do business, a month down the money earned, but only a few hundred dollars, if according to Zhuang Rui said 20,000 U.S. dollars, that for Li Yunshan, it is also a huge sum of money.

“Little …… little brother, can still be cheaper, to …… Otherwise you see eighteen thousand dollars okay? I things but my grandfather passed down, if the grandfather is still alive, I will not even sell.”

Li Yunshan will be excited ah! Speech are some stuttering, he was afraid that Zhuang Rui did not buy, took the initiative to drop down two thousand dollars, and said that this is his grandfather’s relics.

“Eighteen thousand …… dollars.”

Zhuang Rui recited a sentence in his mouth, and then surveyed around that Buddha statue, nodded his head heavily, and said, “It’s fate to meet Brother Li, eighteen thousand dollars, just eighteen thousand dollars! But Brother Li, can this thing be taken out of the country? If I’m confiscated by the customs again, it’ll be an injustice!”

Zhuang Rui didn’t understand whether Myanmar banned the export of such items, if it was really as he said, buying it and then confiscating it, then it really wasn’t worth it.

“It won’t, it won’t, let’s put it this way! Little brother you wait a moment, I’ll go to help you open an invoice for handicrafts to go ……” Li Yunshan actually didn’t know if this thing was forbidden to export, but he knew that contraptions bought within Myanmar, as long as there was an invoice issued by a state-run store, they could definitely be taken out.

Li Yunshan greeted a familiar stall owner of the stall next to him and asked him to help take care of it, and then ran towards the state-run store at the entrance of the Great Golden Pagoda in a hurry.