Chapter 71 Eighteen Sons
When Lin Yuan was explaining to everyone, Li Qiushui and Huo Qingtong fell behind. They saw something they liked and thought it was a treasure.
The stall sells bracelets. The stall owner is a middle-aged Chinese woman with thin lips, which gives people a mean and mean look.
Li Qiushui picked up a bracelet and put it on his wrist. It was a little too big.
This bracelet is composed of eighteen beads. The beads are yellow and slightly transparent. There is a gourd-shaped thing at the end of the bracelet.
If I remember correctly, this thing often appears in costume movies and TV dramas, called Shibazi.
"Qingtong, how about me?" Li Qiushui stretched out his wrist wearing a bracelet.
Huo Qingtong glanced at it: "It's okay. Do you like yellow?"
"It doesn't matter what color it is, these beads are pretty good!" Li Qiushui turned his wrist.
After saying that, Li Qiushui raised his head and looked at the stall owner: "Sister, how do you sell this?"
The curly-haired aunt opened her palm: "Five hundred dollars, your string is made of beeswax, let me tell you..."
She started the mode of selling melons as Huang Po, and talked about the string of things in such a colorful way that those who didn't know it thought they were some kind of innate spiritual treasure!
Li Qiushui had heard of beeswax, but didn’t know the specific market price. I guess you couldn’t buy authentic beeswax for $500, right?
"Sell it for 50?" As a Chinese, Li Qiushui's bargaining gene has not changed. Moreover, following Lin Yuan in the past two days, I also learned a little bit subtly.
Bargain the price by one digit first.
"Pay!" the aunt said cheerfully.
Li Qiushui: "..."
She realized that she was being too kind in bargaining.
Li Qiushui had no choice but to take out 50 US dollars and hand it over.
Huo Qingtong chose a bracelet made of cat's eye stone and put it on his hand. He found that it was also too large. In fact, none of the bracelets on the stall fit well, which puzzled Huo Qingtong.
"Sister, how about this 30?"
The aunt smiled: "It's also 50, the lowest price."
"Her pair is made of beeswax, but mine is not. How much does it cost?" Huo Qingtong did not miss the 20 US dollars, but he still haggled habitually.
Sometimes, what women care about when bargaining is the sense of accomplishment of cutting off one or two cents, rather than the real shortfall of three to five yuan.
"Your cat's eye stone is even more amazing, do you know that? But to be honest, these cat's eye stones are all flawed, otherwise how could you buy them for $50?" The aunt seemed to be very candid in her words.
"If you don't believe it, you can check it yourself." Auntie added.
Huo Qingtong was speechless.
Check what?
Cat's eye stone is precious, she knows this without looking up. The key is, is this really a cat's eye stone?
“It’s $10 cheaper!”
The aunt shook her head: "I'll give you a discount of up to 5 dollars."
After some competition, the bracelet was sold for US$45.
The two women looked up and saw that Lin Yuan and the others had gone far away, so they hurriedly caught up to avoid missing the "one hundred million".
"Brother Lin, how about my bracelet?" After catching up with Lin Yuan, Li Qiu Shui shook the bracelet on his wrist.
Lin Yuan had long noticed that Li Qiushui and Huo Qingtong were lagging behind.
He looked at what the two people bought and said, "This is Shibazi."
"Eighteen sons?"
Except for Lin Yuan and the old uncle, everyone else listened to it for the first time. The old uncle explained: "This is a small bracelet that was very popular in aristocratic circles outside the official system of the Qing Dynasty, called Shibazi. Generally speaking, eighteen Bodhi seeds are selected and strung together.
Later, Bodhisattva was no longer restricted, and other things were also acceptable. ”
When Huo Qingtong heard this, he quickly counted it: "I only have 16."
Lin Yuan told her that "Eighteen Sons" got its name from the fact that the main beads are often 18. Shibazi evolved from Buddhist beads and is a type of Buddhist beads. Generally, eighteen small round beads are used, with two exquisite Buddha heads, a Buddha head tower and falling feet in the middle, so they are also called eighteen beads.
The 18 beads represent the eighteen realms of Buddhism, namely the "six roots", the "six dusts", and the "six colors".
However, it doesn’t have to be 18 beads.
"Eighteen is not a fixed number, just like Tang Sancai, which is not necessarily three colors." Lin Yuan said.
Qiao Yufan was puzzled: "Why is it so big? How do you wear it? Who has such big hands?"
Especially for women to wear.
"This kind of bracelet is not meant to be worn. It can be held in the hand, wrapped around the wrist, or hung on the buttons of casual clothes. It is a relatively flexible type of jewelry."
As far as Lin Yuan knew, in the Qing Dynasty, the Shibazi bracelet and Chaozhu were both accessories in Qing Dynasty costumes. However, Chaozhu were included in the etiquette system, while the Shibazi could be worn without being restricted by hierarchy and were more free and casual.
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
And this thing was particularly popular in the Qing palace, especially among the concubines.
Everyone knows that the Qing palace worshiped Buddhism, and coupled with the boring life in the harem, chanting sutras and chanting Buddha became a hobby for the concubines to pass the time.
In addition, in the harem, mothers are valued based on their children, so the concubines are particularly eager to give birth to a prince, so they call the beads on their hands "zi", which means more children and more blessings.
After hearing what Lin Yuan said, Huo Qingtong and Li Qiushui remembered that in the TV series, this thing seemed to really be used to hang on clothes.
"The aunt said that this is made of beeswax." Li Qiushui told Lin Yuan.
Beeswax?
Of course Lin Yuan knew about beeswax.
Before he could say anything, the old uncle raised the flag: "If this is beeswax, I will eat it."
have to! Another cheating person to eat and drink.
"This is amber, not beeswax. Beeswax is opaque." Lin Yuan told her.
“Is the transparent one more expensive?”
In everyone's mind, transparent ones look better, just like jade and other gems. The higher the transparency, the rarer and more valuable it is. It is almost a law.
"Generally speaking, amber is not as expensive as beeswax.
In fact, beeswax is also a type of amber. Beeswax is rarer and its color is closer to the bright yellow that we Chinese like. Therefore, beeswax is usually more valuable than amber. ”
Amber is now produced in large quantities, similar to agate and crystal, and is not very valuable.
As we all know, amber is a transparent biological fossil, which is the resin fossil of plants such as Coniferaceae, Acaciaceae, and Araucariaceae. The resin drips and is buried underground for tens of millions of years. It is petrified under the action of pressure and heat. Therefore, it is also called "rosin fossil".
In ancient China, amber was believed to be the spirit of a tiger that turned into stone after death. Another said it was the "tiger's tears". These legends all contain the speculation and pursuit of amber by the ancient Chinese. People believed that amber has good luck. It has the functions of avoiding evil and calming the mind.
"Not worth it?" Li Qiushui was a little disappointed.
Lin Yuan nodded: "Yeah! It's not worth anything. How much did you pay for it?"
"$50."
"That's okay! You can't lose anything."
Really, it’s only $50, so what if it’s fake?
The tuition is not expensive, and I don’t feel bad paying it.
(End of chapter)