Chapter 114 Our Future
“Wait!”
Seeing that everyone was about to take action with cutting tools, Ma Liang, who had already shown a look of despair, stood up to stop them again.
"What? We will pay what we deserve. What reason do you have now?" Wang Zhaoping looked at the other party.
"No, I mean, let me do it. The things inside are too precious. If you cut a small hole, you and I are both sinners." He showed a wry smile.
Everyone's eyes immediately lit up when they heard this.
Is this an admission that there is something inside, and it is not just an ordinary thing?
Wang Zhaoping thought for a while and finally nodded.
In this situation, if the cultural relics are damaged, Ma Liang's crime will only be greater, and he should not be so crazy.
Everyone worked together to knock down the white marble elephant.
"Zi~Zi~"
With some harsh cutting sounds, it took about twenty minutes before Ma Liang carefully removed a stone slab from the elephant's belly, revealing a hole.
There is indeed a cave in the belly of this elephant!
“Five years ago, I ordered this pair of white marble elephants, then cut a small opening and hollowed out the elephant’s belly.
I thought it was so secretive and foolproof, but I didn’t expect that the flaw turned out to be just Because I put it in the wrong place... maybe this is God's will..."
Ma Liang smiled bitterly and took off his gloves, then carefully took out a square, rather heavy stone box from the elephant's belly.
Everyone stared at the stone box without blinking.
It can be collected in such a secret way, how precious must the things inside be?
Only Wang Zhaoping and Lao Lin looked at each other and saw a trace of doubt in each other's eyes.
Five years ago?
Isn't this the right time?
The information given above is correct that the batch of stolen goods was just unearthed?
Not to mention the doubts of the two people, when the stone box was opened, a bronze-colored casting was revealed in the center of the bright yellow cushion.
The fine scales are lifelike, the snake's mouth is slightly open, and the snake's letter is slightly spat out. It looks like a bronze statue of a snake head.
"Hiss~" Others still couldn't understand, but after the expert who was invited over looked at it for a moment, he suddenly took a breath of cold air.
"This...is this an animal head?!"
"Animal head? Are you talking about the twelve zodiac animal heads in the Old Summer Palace?" Wang Zhaoping's eyes widened.
“Not bad!” The expert’s lips trembled a little.
Everyone looked stunned.
Although they are not from the antique world, they have naturally heard of the twelve animal heads, a national treasure that is famous at home and abroad.
You’ve never heard of the Twelve Animal Heads, but have you seen the Twelve Zodiac signs played by Chenglong?
I didn’t expect to catch such a big fish today at this humble cultural relic dealer’s house.
The expert continued excitedly.
“These twelve zodiac animal heads were designed by Lang Shining for Qianlong and placed on the fountain faucet outside Haiyan Hall of Yuanmingyuan. It has a history of about 300 years ago.
Eight Kingdoms After the Allied Forces invaded China, the twelve beast heads were lost overseas, and they returned one after another after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
So far, 8 of the twelve zodiac animal heads have returned, and 4 are missing, namely snake, chicken, dog, and sheep heads.
If this one is authentic...then I am really witnessing history today. "
Seeing that the expert had picked up a magnifying glass and began to identify with an obsessed face, Wang Zhaoping looked at Ma Liang, who was already a little hopeless.
"Can you explain it to me? ? "
"Alas! "Ma Liang sighed.
He knew that the day the snake head appeared was the day the Ma family lost it.
He simply stopped struggling and explained the origin of the snake head.
It turns out that this snake head was collected by his grandfather from a foreign military officer by chance in the late Qing Dynasty, and has since been passed down as a family heirloom.
Even during the "Pocking Fourth Uncle" period, many things were confiscated, but these things were well hidden by the Ma family.
Later on, his father's generation sold off a lot of their family property because of their gambling. However, there was no antique market in the country at that time, so this animal head was spared.
In recent years, several twelve animal heads lost overseas have been auctioned for sky-high prices in Hong Kong and Europe.
The most recent time was in 2007, when a bronze statue of a horse's head was acquired by a Macau gambling king in Hong Kong for a sky-high price of more than 69 million Hong Kong dollars, and he announced that he would donate it to the country, which caused a sensation.
Ma Liang realized its value and regarded it as a treasure and hid it in the belly of the elephant.
In fact, the craftsmanship of these twelve animal heads belongs to the red copper statues from the Qianlong period. Although it is rare to combine Eastern and Western techniques, it is not very rare. The real value is only a few hundred thousand.
Many people think that they are just "faucets" designed by foreigners.
This is indeed the case, but the price has reached this point, except for the fact that foreign countries have been deliberately promoting prices to drive up prices and carrying out disguised secondary plunder.
Also because of the precious historical value of these animal heads.
Chinese people have special feelings towards certain cultural relics lost overseas, especially the cultural relics from the Old Summer Palace.
With their prominent origins and tragic fate, the twelve animal heads have become representatives of the lost cultural relics of the Old Summer Palace, because they contain too much historical humiliation and pain.
In a sense, these twelve animal heads have witnessed the humiliation and rise of the country. This historical value cannot be measured by money.
"After so many years, I am unwilling to donate it and sell it abroad, but I have uneasy conscience. I feel sorry for my ancestors, so I can only guard it with fear all day long.
You found it today. It’s God’s will that I can let go of my heavy heart.”
Ma Liang looked relieved.
"Have a bad conscience? If you have a bad conscience, you are still involved in smuggling. How can you be worthy of your ancestors? You are hiding this snake head. I think you want to wait for it to become more marketable and the price is higher before selling it. Right?" Wang Zhaoping glanced at him.
Ma Liang could only laugh when his mind was exposed.
"It would be a lie to say that I am not excited about such a large amount of money. I originally wanted to pass it on as a family heirloom. If the descendants fail, at least there is a chance to make a comeback.
If one day the descendants can succeed. , then make it public and donate it to the country..."
The provisions on the ownership of cultural relics in the "Cultural Relics Protection Law" can be roughly understood as follows: unearthed cultural relics are owned by the state and handed down cultural relics are owned by individuals.
If what Ma Liang said is true and the snake head was inherited, then it is a cultural relic passed down from generation to generation and legally belongs to the Ma family.
But once exposed, this thing cannot be bought or sold at all. Even if the National Museum comes to purchase it, the price will never be as outrageous as the auction price.
Moreover... Ma Liang is involved in a case now. Will this thing be taken back as stolen property... Haha!
Wang Zhaoping looked at the stone elephant lying on the ground with its abdomen cut open, and shook his head.
"This is really not the right place for you to hide it. As the saying goes, the snake swallows the elephant when the human heart is not enough. If you hide the snake's head in the belly of the elephant, don't you suffer the backlash!"
The case has come to an end. , experts excitedly told everyone that the material, shape, and craftsmanship of this snake head and several existing ones in the museum are very similar, and they can be preliminarily determined to be authentic.
It’s just that more detailed identification requires the use of more professional instruments.
If the news of the birth of a snake head were to spread, it would definitely cause a sensation across the country. Everyone present would be excited but also in a daze.
Such a huge credit was thrown at your head out of thin air?
Wang Zhaoping looked at the snake head and was excited, but also a little helpless.
I found what I was looking for, and it turned out to be a rare treasure.
It’s just... why it’s wrong again!
Obviously, it can be seen from the time Ma Liang hid the things that they hit the passenger car by mistake again this time.
It’s just that the person was wrong last time, and this time it’s the thing...
Although it’s wrong every time, the service attitude of buy one, get one free, and The cultural relic value of the snake head... I definitely made a lot of money!
In this case...even if it is a mistake, you still have to give it a five-star rating, right?
Picked up the phone, "Brother, this time it's really... eh?"
He paused before he could finish his words of thanks, because he found that at some point, the communication chat on his mobile phone had been hung up.
Looking at the length of the chat, it seemed that he was hung up while he was waiting for others to start cutting.
"This..."
A real man never looks back to see what the explosion means?
Or... the other party already knew what was inside, so there was no need to see the finale?
Yes! That must be it!
"Sculptures of not small size", "not light weight", "gold, silver, copper, iron or stone".
What I described to the other party before is indeed very similar to the snake head. I am afraid that the other party misunderstood.
I just don’t know how the other party got the news about a national treasure that has been hidden for nearly a hundred years?
Terrible intelligence capabilities!
Moreover, this Brother Meng has a sense of justice, knows how to trade stocks, understands Feng Shui, and is so low-key...
What a strange person!
......
At this time, our "wonder" Meng Xiaolang is still meditating hard on the book, writing and drawing in his notes, doing analysis and strategy.
The reason why he hung up the communication was because he felt that the call over there was too slow and wasted time.
Right now, he is focused on 2043 and has no intention of caring about a valuable treasure that is about to be released thousands of miles away.
Just know that there is something inside, it doesn’t matter what it is.
Cultural relics?
No matter how precious the cultural relics are, when the end comes, they will be nothing more than a pile of rubble among the ruins...
What you care about is our history, what I care about is our future. ……(End of this chapter)