My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 625 - 400: Secret Anecdotes and Unofficial Histories_2

Chapter 625: Chapter 400: Secret Anecdotes and Unofficial Histories_2

It is said that when he was young, he even followed the Guandong Army across the sea to Huaxia Land, and during that turbulent era of war and chaos, he pillaged a vast amount of Buddhist relics to take back to his country.

Later on, he became a regular at major antique auctions around the world, sparing no expense to buy and collect from various places.

In his view, Iwazaki Hanzo’s obsession had reached a feverish extent.

Today, the Huaxia artifacts treasured in the Iwazaki family’s underground vault could even fill a small museum.

Those legitimate descendants who wanted to vie for the family inheritance knew of the Family Head’s hobby and often plotted little schemes in this regard, trying to please the old man.

However, although he fervently collected these relics, the Iwazaki family’s Family Head was a typical collector who favored the new and tired of the old.

Those hard-earned precious antiques, just researched for a few days, were thrown into the basement to gather dust, and it might take years before he even looked at them again.

Instead, he never tired of similar ancient relics from around the world, as if he had a bizarre collecting habit, wanting to own all the antiques.

But this time, things seemed a bit different...

He still remembered that day when he went to please the old man with an auction catalogue he had painstakingly obtained.

When he saw the Buddha head in the auction list, the shock and excitement on Iwazaki Hanzo’s face was palpable.

He didn’t even care about shattering his beloved teacup and decided on the spot that he would buy the Buddha head at any cost.

If not for his advanced age and the inability to withstand the rough seas on a cruise ship, he would have wanted to personally go to the "Carnival" to attend that auction...

He had never seen the usually imposing old man lose composure like this.

With subsequent unforeseen complications, the Buddha head was seized by the police of Country Hua, and the old man became even more frantic, even using his political connections to deploy special agents to snatch the relics...

The more the old man did this, the more it indicated the extraordinary place this Buddha head held in his heart.

If he could successfully bring back the Buddha head this time, he would definitely make the old man "extremely delighted," securing a significant place in the old man’s heart!

That is why he volunteered for this mission, taking the initiative to approach the old man and come to Country Hua.

But seeing so much, owning countless relics, why did the old man value this particular Buddha head so much?

To say he was not curious would be a lie.

Perhaps, only after bringing the Buddha head back to Fusang, could he learn from the old man about the true value of this Buddha head...

"Let’s go!"

The back figures of the two gradually faded from the exhibition hall.

However, what they didn’t notice was that a hemispherical camera in the corner of the exhibition hall seemed to move slightly.

The dark glass cover flickered red...

...

After Iwazaki Yuhei and company left, there stood an old and a young on the opposite side from where they had been.

The elder, sporting reading glasses and white hair and beard, looked like a scholar, now holding a magnifying glass to his eye, closely inspecting the details of the Buddha head while incessantly admiring it.

"Mingtang Buddha head, it’s rare to see a jade Buddha head preserved so well through a thousand years.

This craftsmanship and patterns... they really seem like works from the Wuzhou period, of immense archaeological value!"

Looking at the life-like jade Buddha head, the young scholar by his side adjusted his glasses and was also scrutinizing it closely.

At first glance, it appeared as a yellow-white colored, simple-modeled white jade Buddha head.

The Buddha was intricately and delicately carved, with slightly closed eyes, its style differing from ordinary Buddha statues.

Yet upon closer inspection, the appearance and expressions had subtle differences from regular Buddha heads.

Ordinary Buddha statues are full and benevolent, but this statue featured a three-dimensional face with a curled smile at the corners of the mouth, reminiscent of Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile.

At first, it gave a sense of tranquil harmony, but the longer one looked, the more off it seemed.

When you think it’s an illusion and look again, it returns to being tranquil and harmonious... it was somewhat discordant.

"Advisor, I’ve seen many Buddha statues from the Tang Dynasty, but why haven’t I ever seen one modeled like this, so... so..."

The young scholar momentarily struggled to find words to describe this Buddha head.

"So handsome, right?" chuckled the elder.

"Yes! That’s exactly it, this Buddha is sculpted so attractively, it’s like he’s flirting with female believers!

Were Tang Dynasty monks really this cheeky?"

The elder glared at the young scholar then burst into suppressed laughter himself.

"Well, you might actually be onto something this time!

I speculate that this Buddha might actually have had some relationship with female believers..."

"What?" This time it was the young scholar’s turn to be flabbergasted.

"No way, could it be that those Tang Dynasty monks were trying to attract followers by being so flashy?"

"Cough! That’s not it." The elder cleared his throat, pointing at the statue.

"You know, this Buddha head was originally placed in the Mingtang, and do you know the story behind this Mingtang?"

"That won’t stump me! Cough!" The young scholar cleared his throat.

"The Mingtang Buddha Head, also known as the Wu Zetian Mingtang Jade Buddha Head.

The Mingtang, also called Wanxiang Palace, was a hall built near the Qianyuan Hall in Luoyang during the period of Wu Zetian, used for governing, rituals, receptions, feasts, and scholarly debates.

This building was a famous structure in the history of the Tang Dynasty and a rare example of large, tall wooden architecture in the ancient architectural history of Huaxia.