Imperial Treasure
Chapter 96 - 78: Jade Cicada - Mouth Contains?

Chapter 96: Chapter 78: Jade Cicada - Mouth Contains?

Elder Han felt a shiver in his heart when he heard Sui Yi calmly speaking to the very person who had just tried to kill her.

He thought to himself...

This girl can achieve great things!

Little did he know, although Sui Yi was not particularly ruthless and often took a detached view on many things, she had no sympathy for those who wished to take her life and never liked the idea of showing mercy in hopes that her enemies would reform their ways.

Only by suffering a severe lesson could one learn whom not to provoke.

This was to prevent any future troubles.

This could be considered her showing mercy on account of Qian Fengling’s young age and the fact that they were high-school classmates.

Otherwise...

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Qian Fengling was still taken away by the arriving police, sobbing all the way, but her eyes still held an intense grudge against Sui Yi, which chilled the hearts of many observers.

"Sui Yi, did you have a feud with this crazy girl before?" Elder Tang felt there was something odd about the situation. How could this Qian Family girl have such a deep hatred for Sui Yi?

Sui Yi, watching Qian Fengling’s retreating figure and contemplating, finally spoke softly after a while, "Elder Tang, how do you know she isn’t really mentally ill?"

She had incidentally read books on psychology, knowing that people these days, whether young or old, had some psychological issues to a greater or lesser extent. Some were caused by external circumstances, while others were congenital.

It was said that Qian Fengling’s mother was an extremely irritable person, prone to outbursts of anger and had even wielded a knife in her youth...

Perhaps, her daughter had inherited some of that temperament.

Although it felt inappropriate for Sui Yi to think so, when she caught the Qian Family’s peculiar reactions upon hearing her mention mental illness earlier, she became slightly more certain of her suspicion.

"Your hand is bleeding, let me accompany you to see a doctor," Sui Yi said to Li Jing.

"Me?" Li Jing only then realized that his arm had been cut by a blade, not too severely, but the wound was large enough and his sleeve was soaked with blood.

"No worries, I’ll go by myself, eh, you’re about to lose this," Li Jing pointed at the red string slipping out of Sui Yi’s pocket...

There seemed to be a pendant attached as well, right?

"Eh, Sui Yi, what is this?"

Elder Tang intended to console this brave young man, but his attention was caught by a jade cicada hanging from the red string Sui Yi pulled out.

"I bought it with Sui Yi just now when we were out shopping," Su Ziyi approached and made sure Sui Yi was uninjured before commenting.

"Hmm?"

Something that Sui Yi personally bought? Elder Tang found it odd since Sui Yi usually showed no interest in such trinkets that young girls liked. If she had made a purchase, then...

"Let me see."

Elder Tang took a look, and Sui Yi simply smiled. Meanwhile, Su Ziyi mentioned the shop had a medical kit that could be used to treat Li Jing’s wounds, saving them the trouble of registering at a hospital and waiting to see a doctor.

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Book Fragrance Square might not be as luxurious and refined as the Cloud Dragon Clubhouse, but it possessed a unique, serene charm with constant, melodious sounds of the guzheng, frequented by tea-drinking, book-loving scholars.

Though Nanxun was already a cultural ancient town with most residents descended from scholarly families, entering such a shop still made Li Jing feel somewhat uncomfortable. He kept declining, saying he would rather go to the hospital for treatment.

But Su Ziyi was too enthusiastic and Sui Yi too assertive, so he had no choice but to relent.

In a private cubicle, Su Ziyi skillfully cleaned Li Jing’s wound, applied medication, and stitched it up professionally, astonishing Sui Yi, "You even know how to do this?"

Li Jing was also surprised. He had noticed that all the employees respectably addressed Su Ziyi as Young Proprietor, obviously a young master from a wealthy family. So how did he possess such skills?

Su Ziyi, somewhat embarrassed while bandaging Li Jing, said, "I haven’t read all those books for nothing. There was a time when I was fascinated by Hua Tuo’s medical texts and made an effort to learn. I even went to my mother’s hospital for a special study... It’s just that I don’t have much talent in this area. In the end, I only picked up the basics. I didn’t expect it to come in handy today."

As he spoke, he looked at Li Jing, a flicker in his eye, "Big Brother Li, you were truly brave just now. It’s fortunate you acted to save Sui Yi."

Li Jing gazed at the elegant and graceful young man, with Sui Yi by his side, both young and extraordinary in their demeanor.

They belonged to the same world.

Feeling a slight bitterness in his heart, he said dryly, "It was just a coincidence... Thank you, Young Master Su."

Too polite and restrained,

Sui Ziyi gave Li Jing a slight glance and said nothing, but Sui Yi sighed softly to himself.

"Hey, Sui Yi!"

Elder Tang rushed in, followed by quite a few people who seemed to all be businessmen associated with Elder Han, and yes, Zhang Guangbiao was there too.

"Has Elder Tang’s jade rough produced some jade?" Sui Yi asked with a light smile; otherwise, why would Elder Tang be so happy?

"Pah, don’t talk about that damned rock—it couldn’t even yield chicken poop."

"Hey, hey, Elder Tang, I don’t like the way you’re talking. Look at your precious apprentice here, didn’t she manage to produce some jade?"

Zhang Guangbiao was also laughing and shouting. Although there had been a small incident just now, fortunately, the wealth explosion of Sui Yi and Lin Yun had directly driven the enthusiasm of others to buy, and now those jade roughs had almost all been sold. He believed that this fiery atmosphere would definitely make his advertisement reach the Classical Chinese Conference!

He was much wiser than those colleagues who came late.

Ha!

He really was too clever!

But having said that, he still looked at the jade cicada in Elder Tang’s hands with a roll of his eyes and said, "Are you telling me this thing is real?"

Now it was Elder Han and the others’ turn to laugh at Zhang Guangbiao.

"Even though you are an expert in jade rough, when it comes to appraising soft jade, you’re not our match," Elder Han said, laughing. He picked up the jade cicada from Elder Tang’s hand, carefully rubbed it with the lines of his palm, and said, "This is soft jade, which is different from the hard jade like jadeite. Soft jade is more about cultural essence and inheritance, especially used by the ancient royal and noble families for funeral purposes. Don’t be fooled by the small size of this little thing, it may not be as sparkling as jadeite, but it’s many years older..."

Speaking of its age, Elder Han carefully inspected it for a while before raising his eyes to look at Sui Yi with a slight probing look in his eyes.

"Sui Girl, we all know that you’re walking down this path, and we’re all acquaintances here, so don’t play dumb with us. Stop beating around the bush with excuses like casual buying, just tell us, how old is this thing?" Elder Han’s words were heartfelt, and it really seemed to be the case. Sui Yi had no intention to hide anything; rather, she wanted to slowly establish her foundation through these people,

So it wouldn’t seem too abrupt in the future.

"I saw this jade cicada in the afternoon when I was strolling through the antiques with Ziyi. When I saw it, there was still a bit of soil paste on the surface. It felt cool and smooth to the touch. I don’t understand much about jade artifacts, but touching it gave me a different sensation compared to other jade cicada ornaments. When I looked closely at the carving, each cut was made with wrist strength, the depth and flow lines were smooth and natural, unlike those made by machines with no character or rhythm. And this carving style doesn’t resemble what we use today, but rather the flat-blade technique used by ancient sculptors..."

"For such an ordinary craft article, theoretically there shouldn’t be the use of manual flat-blade technique. Since it was used, there must be something unusual about it."

So, I bought it, no, I should say I grabbed it.

Twenty yuan.

Sui Yi didn’t say the latter part, but the people around were already gasping in awe.

However, Sui Yi looked at Elder Han and added, "As for how old it is, I can’t really tell. I’d like to ask for Elder Han’s guidance."

The older generation does not necessarily like to boast about their age, but instead, they want to pass on what they know. Like Elder Han who usually responds enthusiastically to inquiries from others, and therefore, he now smiled and said, "Most of us here are in the industry, but there are also some youngsters who might not understand, I hope you won’t mind an old man’s long-winded explanations..."

Book Fragrance Square was already not short of people, and now seeing some local tycoons from Nanxun, especially those who are into antiquities, some scholars and businesspeople with a touch of elegance started gathering around. Upon hearing Elder Han’s words, they were eager to show their support, saying Elder Han was being too modest...

Elder Han didn’t put on airs and quickly started talking about Sui Yi’s jade cicada.

"There are many types of jade cicadas, which have been around since the Neolithic Age and later continued from the Shang Dynasty to the Warring States Period. They were often found in tombs from those periods, mostly as decorative pendants. Later, jade cicadas were used as mouth jade during burials, first seen in archaeological excavations like the early Western Zhou tomb in Central Henan Luoyang. If you go to Luoyang, you can still see them in museums..."

Someone who didn’t understand asked, "What is mouth jade?"

"Mouth jade? It’s something that’s placed in a person’s mouth," Elder Han explained tactfully without directly saying it was for the deceased, but it still made many people’s faces change slightly.

Damn, was this thing used by a dead person?

Isn’t that tainted with the aura of death?

But to people like Elder Tang, this wasn’t a big deal. Most ancient artifacts nowadays come from excavated ancient tombs; they’re all things from the dead. If you fear that, how can you even be in this line of business?

Elder Han laughed heartily and continued, "After that, the culture of jade cicadas was not widely prevalent until the Han Dynasty when it became a common custom and continued until the Wei, Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties period. During the Song Dynasty, the custom of imitating ancient artifacts prevailed, and many cicadas were made as ornaments."

Yu Quan narrowed his eyes and commented, "Three years ago, I saw a similar jade cicada at an auction house in the Provincial City. It was from the Song Era, a burial article of a high-ranking official, priced at 1.5 million, and it was labeled as an ornament, not a mouth piece. Elder Han, do you know from which dynasty Sui Yi’s jade cicada is unearthed?"

He didn’t think Sui Yi’s jade cicada, with its craftsmanship, looked like it came from the Song Dynasty.

Yu Quan’s interjection made the others realize the item belonged to the girl sitting quietly to the side. My god, was this girl going to strike it rich!

If it was from the Song Dynasty, wouldn’t that be worth over a million? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)