Pick up bargains in Chinatown and make 10,000 times the profit at the beginning

Chapter 115 Fasting Card

Seeing the boxes of canned food being carried out, the corners of my uncle's mouth twitched and he said, "Only these Westerners like to eat canned food, but I don't know what's so delicious about it."

He has been in the United States for so many years, but he still hasn't gotten into the habit of stockpiling canned food.

Henry and others felt embarrassed after hearing this.

Because they are the Westerners who love to hoard canned food as my uncle said.

Their mentality of hoarding canned food is the same as that of the Chinese hoarding grain.

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "To put it bluntly, canned food is war rations. It's strange that they can taste good."

As far as he knows, apart from various ancient methods of preserving food, canning in the true modern sense can be traced back to the Napoleonic era in the late 18th century.

In order to solve the problem of long supply lines and food rotting when transported to the front line, Napoleon offered a reward.

A food factory worker who was a chef came up with a solution. He would prepare the food and put it into a wide-mouth bottle. Then he would place the whole bottle in a pot of boiling water, heat it for 30 to 60 minutes, plug it with a cork while it is still hot, and then reinforce it with thread or seal it with wax.

As a result, the food didn't go bad for a long time.

Eventually, with the invention of the tin can, canning in the modern sense was born.

"It's probably the work of another doomsday-anxiety person," Henry said.

He knew some people in his country well, some of whom believed that the end of the world would come. For example, in 2012, some people even made some prophecies, which were very convincing.

"Let's go! There's nothing to see."

Lin Yuan and the others continued to move forward.

A few dozen meters ahead of them, there was a small team of three people and a dog, and the dog was sniffing in front of them.

Wow! The dog is used as a treasure hunting dog?

is that useful?
What's more, at this moment, the dog was barking wildly. The three men immediately worked hard to move the things there, and then a basement entrance was revealed.

Henry and others: “…”

Is it really useful?

But, come to think of it, a dog's sense of smell is more than a thousand times stronger than that of a human.

It is said that humans have evolved and become the masters of this planet. However, from a certain perspective, humans are actually degenerating. Many animals and plants have "special abilities", but humans are weak in everything except their brains.

"Wait!" Suddenly, Lin Yuan shouted after walking in.

The three men and the dog immediately looked at Lin Yuan and his group with vigilance, especially David and Tony, who were muscular, tall and strong, and quite intimidating.

"We found this first." said the oldest middle-aged man among the three.

Lin Yuan nodded: "I know, I just want to ask, are you selling these things? Let's pick a few."

He pointed at the contents of the three men's backpacks.

The backpack was open, so Lin Yuan could see it.

The three of them looked at each other and nodded in tacit understanding: "Okay."

As long as the price is right, it's fine. At the same time, I was relieved, because I thought I was being robbed!

Unexpectedly, they found something they found, which was fine. After all, they had to sell what they found, so it didn't matter who they sold it to. "You pick!" They poured out the things in their backpacks.

Lin Yuan walked over, squatted down, picked up a jade plaque, and handed it to his uncle: "Uncle, this plaque is not bad."

That is a fasting sign, a sign used to warn people during the fasting ceremony in ancient China. In the fifth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, each government office was ordered to make a wooden fasting sign with a message engraved on it: "The country has its own rules, and the gods have their own opinions."

The Qing dynasty followed the Ming system, requiring the emperor to fast before any major or medium-sized sacrifices, and to submit a fasting sign from the Taichang Temple. The fasting sign was made of wood, decorated with yellow paper, and the fasting date was written in Qing Chinese.

Emperor Yongzheng believed that although officials of all ranks, both inside and outside the court had fasting signs in their offices, they might be lazy in their words and deeds, so he decided on the style of the fasting signs and reduced their size. He ordered all officials to wear the fasting signs on their chests and to look at them to each other, in the hope that they would restrain their body and mind, show their sincere respect, and not be negligent in the slightest.

The fasting plaques worn by members of the royal family all came from the Imperial Household Department of the Qing Dynasty. They were made of a variety of materials and were carefully crafted by skilled craftsmen, becoming desirable works of art that they could carry with them.

The materials of fasting plaques include jade, jadeite, amber, gold, fabric, metal enamel, porcelain enamel, wood and so on.

Its shapes vary, including bat-shaped, gourd-shaped, oval, rectangular, and incense bag-shaped, and the size is about 4 to 9 cm. The two sides are decorated with the Manchu and Chinese characters for "fasting" respectively.

The fasting plaque in front of us has the same decoration on both sides. The center is rectangular, with the regular script "fasting" pressed on the ground, and the Manchu "fasting" on one side. The surrounding is all carved, with two Kuilongs and two beads facing each other on the left and right, and a hole under the chin. The carving is simple and smooth, and the decoration is rich in changes.

This kind of thing is obviously used by the royal family and comes from the palace.

Products from the palace must be top quality!
This is beyond doubt.

According to the "valuation" of the treasure hunter, this fasting plaque is worth 70,000 to 80,000 US dollars.

My uncle also knew about the fasting sign because he had seen it in Uncle De and Boss Lei’s shops, so he had an impression of it.

"How much do you want?" asked my uncle.

The three hesitated for a moment and held up three fingers: "Three thousand dollars, okay?"

"It's too high, one thousand dollars, and we're not buying just one or two items. If it's too expensive, we might as well find it ourselves," said my uncle.

When the three heard this, they felt that what the man said made sense.

"OK then!"

A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars.

In fact, this price was slightly beyond their expectations. After picking up the jade pendant, they thought it would be OK if they could sell it for a few hundred dollars.

The reason why I asked for three thousand dollars was because Lin Yuan and his friends took the initiative to buy it. They must like the jade plaque. It's okay to ask for a higher price, right? Of course, I didn't expect them not to bargain.

They simply said, "They're all $1000, take your pick."

Lin Yuan picked up another object, which looked like a pendant hanging around his neck, but the "pendant" was cylindrical.

He knew that this was a leash, which was not originally made of jade or agate. The knotted rope was used as an accessory in production labor. The animal skin was wrapped around the rope and the two ends were tied tightly with thin ropes to serve as a handle. Later, it developed into a more durable jade material and finally became an ornament.

The round straps can be round with the same thickness at the top and bottom, or waisted in the middle, or olive-shaped with the middle thick and both ends thin, or trumpet-shaped or weight-shaped with one end thick and the other thin.

The square bridle is a square column, similar to the cong, but different in size. There is a saying that the cong is an enlarged bridle, or that the bridle is a smaller cong, but from archaeological discoveries, the square bridle and the cong are often unearthed in the same place, so there is no question of similarity between them.

If used as a ceremonial vessel, it must be large and majestic, and is called a cong; if used as an ornament, it must be small and convenient, and is called a lezi.

This round handle is made of agate and looks pretty good. Lin Yuan gave it to Paul.

(End of this chapter)