Chapter 39: The Value of the Ancient Tomb
Li Cheng recovered very well, left the ICU on the second day, was able to get out of bed and walk around on the third day, and by the fourth day, except for some weakness, he was basically back to normal.
At the school, excavation of the ancient tomb began when Li Cheng was able to get out of bed. The value of the ancient tomb far exceeded everyone's imagination, not only shocking the province but also sending many experts from the National Cultural Heritage Administration and the Palace Museum. Wu Xiaoli would run to the hospital every day to tell Li's family about the progress of the school's ancient tomb.
"Li Yang, you don't know, the people at the Palace Museum were stunned when they saw that Qianlong blue and white porcelain vase with lotus pattern and ear-shaped handle. The white-bearded expert from the Palace Museum kept saying it was impossible, as if he had seen a ghost!"
In the advanced ward, Wu Xiaoli sat on the edge of the bed, kicking her legs excitedly and telling Li's family, Wu Xiaoli's grandfather Liu Xuesong also arrived in Mingyang, these days she was justified to stay here.
"Why say it's impossible?"
Fang Shuqin sat next to Wu Xiaoli and couldn't help but ask, these days, the Li family and Wu Xiaoli had become very familiar with each other. Wu Xiaoli had even gone through a difficult time with Li Yang in Qingdao, which made the Li family feel deeply sympathetic towards this little girl. Plus, she was a girl, so everyone treated her better than they did Li Yang.
"Because there is only one of these Ru Ware Vases in the Palace Museum, and it has always been a solitary piece in collections, even being written into the 'Compendium of Solitary Treasures', now suddenly another identical brother appears, they certainly cannot accept it!"
Wu Xiaoli smiled slightly, and she was also shocked in the past few days. Every time a piece of porcelain was brought up, it would cause an exclamation, especially the twelve pieces of imperial porcelain treasures, which made everyone on the scene go crazy.
"Li Yang, do you know how many fine ceramic pieces were excavated from that small ancient tomb?"
Wu Xiaoli suddenly turned her head and asked Li Yang, who was peeling an apple skin, and he was taken aback for a moment.
"At least a few dozen!" Li Yang had seen the Qinghua porcelain inside, but didn't know exactly how many.
"There are sixty-nine pieces in total, each one is a national treasure. Li Yang, do you know how much money those Qinghua porcelain would sell for if they were all auctioned off?"
Wu Xiaoli's face was filled with a sense of pride, this time she had opened her eyes to a whole new world, when had she ever been so close to so many fine antique porcelain pieces, and even got to hold them in her hands and examine them nonstop. Thanks to her grandfather, as an outsider not belonging to the cultural relics bureau, she was specially invited to participate in this excavation.
"Should be at least a few million, right?" Li Yang's mother was listening intently and couldn't help but interject.
"Mom, Xiaoli said each piece is a national treasure. I think it's worth at least tens of millions."
Fang Shuqin hastily followed with a sentence, and after finishing, she also looked at Wu Xiaoli, who smiled but didn't speak, her eyes fixed on Li Yang.
"I think it's worth tens of millions, or maybe even a hundred million? After all, it's from the later period of Qianlong!" Li Yang said slowly. His understanding of antiques wasn't that extensive, he only had a vague concept - the older something was, the more valuable it became. The Qianlong era was only over two hundred years ago, so such an antique shouldn't be too expensive.
"Haha, you're all wrong! Conservatively estimated, the value of that batch of porcelain is between 600 million to 700 million. If it's auctioned off, it'll fetch at least over a billion. Among them, there's one piece with a Qianlong-era 'Chenghua' mark, which has only been recorded in ancient texts. The expert's estimate for this single piece alone exceeds 100 million!"
Wu Xiaoli burst out laughing and said, "Li Yang and the people from the Li family were all stunned by this number. Especially Li Yang, who had initially thought of occupying this ancient tomb alone. But it was just a thought, now Li Yang is still a little scared, if he really occupied this ancient tomb, how would he deal with the things inside? With one careless move, he would be discovered by the country, and tens of billions of dollars worth of cultural relics would be enough to get him shot."
"Is it really worth this much?"
Li Yang's mother swallowed hard, Li Junshan's performance was not much better than hers, and Li Cheng and Fang Shuqin were even more shocked.
These ceramics were dug up on the land of their school, if they were in other places, it would be just a news to listen and laugh. But on their own land, it gave them a sense of ownership, especially Li Cheng. If not for Li Cheng's protection, those workers would have continued digging, and the ancient tomb below might have been dug up as well. Then these ceramics worth a city wouldn't have fallen into the hands of these experts.
"That's right, it's worth that much. My grandfather has already proposed that Li Cheng's behavior of protecting cultural relics this time must be commended!"
Wu Xiaoli nodded heavily, of course, Wu Xiaoli's maternal grandfather had made a special point of this and it was largely thanks to Wu Xiaoli.
She certainly wouldn't take the initiative to reveal the inside story.
"Whether or not to commend is unimportant, Xiaoli, do you know when our school can reopen?"
Li Cheng lay in bed and asked a question that the Li family was most concerned about. Those awards are all empty, and the key is to let the school start work as soon as possible. Don't look at it now, only the wall has been built, but hundreds of millions have already been invested, and many building materials have been ordered, which will be delivered after the New Year.
Wu Xiaoli's smile immediately disappeared, and she lowered her head in contemplation. The Li family members exchanged worried glances with each other.
"Brother, let's not rush this matter, national affairs come first!"
Li Yang hastily said a sentence, he meant that the investment of those school funds was nothing in his eyes, as long as his family members were happy, and didn't want anything to happen because of this little money.
"Li Cheng, for the time being, you may not be able to use that place in a short period of time. The ancient tomb has not only high cultural value but also very important archaeological value. The archaeological team is stationed there studying it carefully and will probably not end their work until they find out the true origin of this ancient tomb!"
Pausing for a moment, Wu Xiaoli continued: "Moreover, CCTV will soon do a special report on this ancient tomb. I heard them discussing it over the past few days and they plan to take advantage of this opportunity to develop it into a small cultural relic protection area, so..."
Wu Xiaoli didn't continue speaking, but the Li family understood that their school would not be returned to them in a short period of time, which meant that all their previous investments had been wasted.
"Ah, I know, it's okay, it's okay!"
Over a million, Li Cheng had a feeling of being pricked by a needle, but in front of his family members, he couldn't show any unusual expression. This time's loss, Li Cheng has already taken it as his own responsibility.
…………………………
Suddenly received many friends' birthday wishes on QQ, only to find that the birthday has arrived unknowingly, Xiaoyu is one year older again, oh!
Wishing a happy birthday, seeking recommendations, seeking collections, and seeking rewards. Thank you to book friend 100529091614071 for another 1888 starting coin reward, this may be Xiaoyu's first birthday gift, thank you!!!
(By the way, Xiaoyu is older now and won't be celebrating her birthday, so don't worry about it affecting my writing. I'll make up for yesterday's missing chapter today.)
