Chapter 226

is used to thread a string."I yelled one and gave it my all, this thing shrunk a lot, it should be doable in one go.""Sun Lao San took the lead in pulling on the rope, and we three followed closely be...We didn't bring any buckets, so we still relied on Uncle Hulus help. He helped us weave two grass frames with twigs. They were woven very well; all we needed to do was lay a layer of cloth at the bottom of the frames, and they wouldn't leak soil anymore.

Several of us men took turns going down the well to shovel dirt, while the others above pulled the ropes. We didn't keep track of who worked for how long, just switched off when we got tired.

It's the turn of Douzi to go down the well. This kid muttered in the well, "Sorry, sorry everyone, this is a mass grave well, the feng shui is bad. I'll send you up in batches, give you a wash, sun yourself, and tidy yourselves up."

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I told the bean sprouts to shut up and get to work quickly.

The soil brought up from the well had mostly been screened, and there were piles of bones growing larger. We decided to dig a pit and bury them all together before we left.

It's always better than staying in a dark and hopeless well.

"Whoa, what is this" Douzi exclaimed suddenly, excitedly. "Come quick, I found a treasure!"

A sprout found a round stamp the size of a child's fist. After washing it with water again and again, he could see Xia script at the bottom of the stamp.

"The little bean sprout excitedly asked, 'What does it say on the stamp Is it a big official's seal, is it valuable, how much is it worth'

"

“

What the Xi Xia script on the seal means, no one can answer, not even Douyazai.

Because no one present knew Xi Xia script.

There are over 6,000 characters in the Xi Xia script, with many strokes making them particularly difficult to recognize. Some characters have over a hundred strokes. Before the late Qing Dynasty, Xi Xia script was a dead language. I think that even the old researchers at the Yinchuan Museum wouldn't know several of them.

>More than 6,000 characters, being able to recognize over a hundred is considered impressive.

This seal was later sold for over 30,000 yuan. Looking back now, I feel like I lost out big time. If I had it today, I wouldn't sell it for a million.

Cleaning this dry well would take less than a day, but at night, we camped without tents or sleeping bags and suffered. The temperature difference between day and night in Alxa is too great; during the day it's scorching, and at night it's freezing.

Besides, be careful of the ground as well. Watch out for any unseen crawling venomous creatures.

After three days of cleaning, finally the big shipment was ready.

Qin Xingping brought up a basket of earth from the well. This basket of earth could be seen without turning it over, and inside was a bronze gilt Buddha statue.

The gilt is quite worn, this is a statue of a Buddhist protective deity, about twenty centimeters in length. It has a pair of small wings on its back. The face of the Buddha statue resembles that of an angry King Kong, with bulging eyes and lips flipped up. There's also something special about it - although its facial features appear masculine, the statue's graceful posture and slender figure reveal it to be a female protector deity from the Tibetan secret traditions.

At the time, none of us knew this female guardian deity. Since we didn't know her, anything unfamiliar is precious, meaning it was valuable.

How much does it cost

... 600,000 ......

For those interested, you can check out the 2002 Christie's Autumn Auction of Fine Buddhist Statues. At that time, this statue was labeled as a 12th-century Akobhya wrathful protector statue with a starting price of 12. The final hammer price plus commission exceeded 60. The Buddha statue market only started to surge after 2008. Good items, prices doubled every year. Before 2008, especially from 2000 to 2005, was a winter for Buddhist art collectibles. Even mediocre Yongxuan official statues were...

Later, I asked my friends, and they told me that the 空行母 (Kongyü-mō) is indeed a protector deity from Tibet. The Sanskrit translation of 空行母 is Tārā, meaning "the woman who walks in the air," representing wisdom, power, openness, and compassion. Legend has it that if there is a suffering woman in the mortal world, she can chant thirteen times the mantra of Kongyü-mō under a mulberry tree, and at that time, Kongyü-mō will descend from the crown of the mulberry tree, leading the suffering believers to rebirth in Sukhavati. polite exchanges, Li Zheng gave me and Hongjie each a flashlight for illumination, and then the four of us parted ways here.They two are going back to find their companion Lao Xu, and Red Sister and...