I got up early the next day. There was a serious traffic jam in Beijing. If I didn't get there early, I would definitely be late. Generally, the auctions organized by Qinhan Hall are closed half an hour before the auction, leaving the bidders to know the quality of the auction objects.
Although I am going through the back door, Master Sima must have left a number plate for him. However, regarding the "Three Eyes" symbol found in the Qinling Underground Palace, I still want to go and find out more about it from Master Sima in advance. It is best to ask the client. It's just that the rules of Qinhan Hall are very strict, so it's probably difficult to find out.
Before I came here, I asked Lao He about Qin Han Tang. He only said that the generations of bosses behind it had mysterious origins and kept a low profile. Not many people knew their origins. They moved to Shanghai before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Back then, there was an exceptional junior who was a bit deviant. He and the second master were not even strangers, and they formed a brotherhood. Now he has retreated to the back and became the boss. Only then can he arrange for me to come in. After that, he asked me not to inquire in the future. The bottom of Qinhan Hall.
When I parked the car and looked at my watch, it was already past nine-thirty, so I hurriedly ran upstairs. The guy outside the door knew me. When he saw me panting, he ran over to me, hit me on the chest, and said with a smile: "Listen He said your kid got rich recently." He said and led me backstage.
The door in front is closed after the gong is beaten, and even the acquaintances in the hall cannot be opened until the gong is finished. This is the rule of the Qinhan Hall.
There were a lot of rules when I started this "walking hall", but Qinhan Hall's business is still booming. Some auction venues are open to the public for free. The tickets for Qinhan Hall have never been lower than 5 digits. There are some "treasure" venues, and even more Only those with an invitation can enter.
However, these rules also guarantee that in other auction houses, phenomena such as leaking bidder information, deliberately joining forces to lower prices, and malicious bidding collusion, which are already unspoken rules in the industry, will never happen here. This is the confidence and clarity of a century-old store. reputation.
I smiled and said, "What's the point of making a fortune? I'm just going to make a living somewhere else. When you take a break, ask Zhou Ming and the others and let's go have a drink."
"It's done." He looked around, put a number plate into my hand without leaving any trace, and said: "This is the note that Xiao Sima left for you. Brother, please pay attention today. There are many people here, so there is no movement. Small."
I nodded, and he opened the door to the backstage. I nodded to him, opened the curtain and got in.
This is the backstage door, reserved for the staff of Qinhan Hall to enter and exit. It doesn't break the rules if I come in here.
I looked at the ticket and was a little surprised. I didn't expect it to be a private seat ticket on the second floor. I remembered what Liuzi said just now. It seemed that there would be something good in the auction today. At the same time, I also wondered in my heart, could it be that Master Sima wanted to Are you showing me a lot?
Follow the stairs on both sides to the second floor. I have only been to this auction house once before. It is said that it was an old house that was renovated. It is antique, covers a large area, and is rectangular in shape. It has three floors. The hall below has permanent seats, which are also called scattered seats.
The second floor is a private room, separated one by one. The door curtain is a picture scroll, which can be opened or rolled. Each room is different, with green mountains, green water, strange rocks, pines and cypresses.
There are only nine cubicles on the next three floors, called regular rooms. As the name suggests, they have been booked out by people. Even when there is no auction, no one is allowed to disturb you on the third floor. Being able to go to the third floor is a sign of your status and status. I looked up and saw that I had never been to the Qinhan Hall in the past few years.
Lanterns are hung on the three floors. There are small lanterns on the pillars on the first two floors, which are always lit. There are eight large lanterns on the big roof. They are hung in the south and not in the north. They are usually not lit. When they are lit, it usually means that the auction has begun. , also called palm lamp.
As soon as I walked up to the terrace on the second floor, I met a middle-aged man wearing a black rusty silver-edged gown walking down. He also saw me and said with a warm smile: "I'm back."
"Uncle An, Master Sima asked me to come and open his eyes." I greeted politely.
He patted my head and said, "It's been a while since I last saw you. I've grown taller and stronger. Come up quickly. Little Sima was talking about you just now."
"Okay, I'll go up to Uncle An first, and we'll talk about it after you're done."
No one knew what this man's real name was. When I walked into the hall, everyone called him Uncle An. Even though he looked like a scholar, he was a master of selling antiques.
Auctioneer is actually a very difficult profession, and not just anyone can do it.
First of all, he must be able to control the atmosphere of the entire venue. Most people have a herd mentality. Many people are waiting and watching during the auction. Only when the atmosphere is good will more people be willing to take action.
Secondly, a good auctioneer must have eyes and ears in all directions. During the bidding period, everyone is bidding, and the auctioneer must at least ensure that he can accurately call out everyone's bid. Uncle An is not only that, he also has a photographic memory and an amazing memory. Not only can he accurately quote prices, but he can also accurately call out the name of the buyer corresponding to each number plate.
Before bidding on items, the buyer will provide a reserve price. If the price is not reached, the auction will be rejected. Uncle An is the best at grasping people's hearts, especially some customers. He knows everything about the items he has photographed in the past and what he likes. Every time At the critical moment, he said that if the price was not inflated, he would basically not see any unsold items in his hands.
I looked back at Uncle An, who was taking his time. I knew I still had a lot to learn. When I first walked in the Qinhan Hall, I just thought these people were awesome. But now when I look back, I see that they are all well-trained in human nature.
I sighed, continued upstairs, pressed the number plate, and found Master Sima's private room.
When I came in, he was sitting there eating the exquisite snacks and snacks on the table. He saw me come in and greeted me to sit over. Seeing that he kept talking and probably hadn't eaten breakfast, I asked: "Young master, why are you attending so early?" The auction is not your character."
He cheered, clapped his hands, took a sip of tea, and said helplessly: "Who wants to get up? Didn't I take a look at today's auction list last night? I really didn't know what to look at, and I was shocked. There's something good in this show today, I have to come over and feast my eyes on it."
I was a little surprised in my heart. Considering the antiques that Xiao Sima had worked for, if he could catch his eye and say, "I can feast my eyes on them," they are definitely great treasures.
He put down the tea cup, took out his mobile phone and handed it to me, saying, "By the way, look at it, I took the photo yesterday."
In the photo, there was a glass booth. There was some kind of item placed in the booth. It was covered with light golden floral brocade. It looked quite big in shape. I looked up at Little Sima, and he motioned for me to slide down.
I slid to the next one, and the brocade was lifted aside, revealing the collection inside.
It was an ancient bronze helmet. The photo was taken diagonally from above. You can clearly see that there is a vertical hole in the upper part of the forehead. The position is very clever. It just forms a three-eye pattern with our eyes. The same thing is seen in the Qinling Underground Palace.
The helmet has a protruding nose and open-carved fangs, which looks a bit sinister. It is also extremely ancient. The patterns on it are of a style I have never seen before. From the picture, it seems that there should have been some copper decorations on both sides of the helmet, which may be similar to "horns". Things, but now they are gone, only broken marks remain.
Xiao Sima came over and enlarged a certain part of the helmet in the picture for me to see, "Look, what is it?"
I looked carefully. I didn't look carefully at the densely packed area just now. Now I looked over and found that the pattern on that piece was repeated in several places. I moved a few more places to take a closer look. I couldn't help but feel something. This phenomenon is common in antiques. It means that these pattern data are some kind of graphic symbols or graphic characters. If they are used repeatedly, they must be telling a story.
But I didn't recognize these words, so I tried to ask: "Little Master, are these words?"
"Yeah." He snorted back at me, gesturing for me to continue. I scratched my head and chuckled, "You also know that I became a monk halfway, and even when I was in the Qinhan Hall, I followed Liuzi and the others to fool around. You can test me. , How can I have the skills you have? I have to learn a little bit from you, so I can become a master when I go out."
I saw little Sima's lips raised slightly, and I quickly gave him some more tea. I leaned over and said, "Little master, I can tell it's a southern character when I drop it. Talk, talk."
He took a sip of tea, tapped my forehead, and said: "You, finally you haven't given back everything the old masters taught you. This is really a southern script called ancient Yi script."
I repeated: "Ancient Yi script?"
"Yes, have you seen these symbols? They have two meanings. One is gods and the other is soul. It's hard to say which one it is. It has to be interpreted based on the other words. By the way, you look for this '三' What does the eye do? It looks like, how should I put it, a totem of some ethnic minority who believe in the power of the eye."
Of course I couldn't tell the truth. I thought about it and said that I found it for a client. I don't know what the other party does specifically. Then he quickly changed the topic and asked him what kind of cultural language Ancient Yi was.
Little Sima leaned back, looked down at his watch, and when he saw that there was still some time before the auction, he told me about the history of ancient Yi script.
Ancient Yi script is also called ancient Shu script. It is not a known language and is temporarily defined as a "symbol". The archaeological community calls it "Ba Shu seal" and it belongs to the mysterious ancient Shu cultural system.
When I heard about Bashu, my heart skipped a beat, and I immediately thought of the mysterious Bashu race. It seems that the "three eyes" in the Qinling Underground Palace are indeed some kind of symbol for them.
At the same time, I also became confused. Ancient Shu culture has been circulated in the public, and some experts have also published many series of journals on this topic. However, the ancient Shu country is like a huge mystery, with a long history, remote geographical location, and other reasons. His authenticity has always been controversial, especially because the ancient Shu kingdom's heavenly script has never been confirmed. The industry has always used this as its goal, trying to knock on the door of the mysterious ancient dynasty.
Not only domestically, but also internationally, some foreigners only recognize the recorded 3,500-year history of Chinese civilization because there is no written communication and record.
Let alone talking about it, Teacher Zhuo, who helped me search for the ghost tribes, was deeply affected. Because no text was authenticated, his research was never confirmed, and he was depressed until the few pictures I gave him. Take photos with mysterious totems.
I took a long breath, and it seemed that the source of all this was the once glorious, ancient, and mysterious ancient Shu Dynasty.
(Volume 4: The Strange Things in Qingshan is over)