Fu Wan almost facepalmed at these words.
The old expert was far from satisfied, thinking that the wooden boxes on the seabed were inexhaustible!
"Old comrade, they're all here. There's only one sunken ship left down there."
When the old expert heard Fu Wan say that, he could only sigh and shake his head.
He was just saying it casually, but he naturally knew that things on the seabed weren't so easy to find.
"Old Sun, these things need to be transported back to the capital. We need to take them back and carefully investigate their origins!"
After a moment's thought, Sun Shaoping said, "I'll report back when I get back."
He wasn't part of the same system as these experts, so naturally he couldn't easily agree to their departure or retention.
"Comrade Xiao Fu, the salvage mission was a success today. How about we go to the camp for lunch?"
Fearing that Fu Wan would refuse, Sun Shaoping immediately added, "Zhao Gang and the other veterans will also go. We won't make any special arrangements; we'll eat the same food as the soldiers."
When he came out this morning, he specifically asked the canteen to slaughter a pig, just to celebrate the completion of today's salvage mission.
Since things had been said to this extent, Fu Wan couldn't refuse.
"Okay, then I'll trouble you, boss."
Seeing that Fu Wan agreed, Sun Shaoping asked his subordinate to go to the cockpit and instructed the soldiers to steer the ship toward the camp dock.
Although the experts were eager to take everything out of the wooden box and study it right now, they knew that now was not the time.
So they put the wooden box back on, but the older expert, Mr. Xiao, felt something was off after closing the box, so he went over and smelled it again.
"This taste is a bit off!"
He muttered to himself, even crouching down and pressing his entire body against the wooden box.
"Old Fang, come and smell this sandalwood. Is this the scent of sandalwood?"
Upon hearing this, Fang Liqiu quickly squatted down and, imitating him, leaned in to smell him.
After a moment, he said somewhat embarrassedly, "I caught a bit of a cold recently, and my nose is stuffy, so I can't smell anything."
Before Old Xiao could even get angry, he hurriedly called to Fu Wan and the others beside him, "Come and smell this wooden box, doesn't it have a peculiar smell?"
A unique flavor?
Fu Wan took two steps closer. Her sense of smell was keen, and before she could even squat down, a rich fragrance wafted over.
"It smells like sandalwood."
She carefully examined the boxes that were emitting a smell and found that they were indeed different from the ones she had encountered before.
Not only was its color a deep red with a hint of purple, but the patterns on it were also almost invisible. Moreover, the entire wooden box was translucent and glossy, as if it had never been submerged in water.
"Yes, yes, that's it, it's sandalwood."
Old Xiao was so excited that his white beard almost stood on end, and his eyes crinkled into a flower shape from his exaggerated laughter.
He is a big name in the antique and collectible world of Longhai City. Born into a family of antique and collectible enthusiasts, he is most familiar with these things, both in terms of their smell and appearance.
"Old boss, is this sandalwood very valuable?"
Fu Wan was a little curious, because even when Old Xiao had just seen those gold bars and bricks, he wasn't this excited.
Perhaps because these things had the opportunity to reappear thanks to Fu Wan, Old Xiao treated Fu Wan with great kindness and gentleness.
"This sandalwood must be very valuable. Young man, have you ever heard of pear wood?"
Fu Wan nodded in confusion. She had naturally heard of pear wood; in the past, high-ranking officials and nobles used pear wood to make chests.
I've heard that pear wood won't warp or crack, and it has a refreshing fragrance. It's also resistant to insects and can stay in its original state for over a hundred years if placed in the home.
"Pear wood pales in comparison to sandalwood!"
"This sandalwood is the king of all woods, the most precious of all!"
Old Xiao gently touched the sandalwood box in his hand, his tenderness making it seem as if he could break it with the slightest force.
They were still some distance from the camp dock. Sun Shao-ping went to the cabin because he had other things to do, while Old Xiao guarded the sandalwood boxes and began to tell Fu Wan about the rare history of sandalwood.
In recent years, China's precious timber has been mainly divided into three categories: yellow, purple, and red.
The term "first yellow" refers to huanghuali wood, "second purple" to zitan wood, and "third red" to dahongsuanzhi wood.
However, by the mid-Qing Dynasty, Dalbergia cochinchinensis had not yet been discovered, and the precious woods at that time were classified into the four ancient woods.
These are sandalwood, rosewood, chicken wing wood, and ironwood.
Among them, sandalwood is the most precious and is ranked first among the four famous woods.
Upon hearing this, Fu Wan's gaze towards the wooden boxes changed.
Could the ancients have been wrong about their appreciation of wood? This thing is considered the foremost of the four ancient woods, so you can imagine how precious it is.
Unfortunately, because of the seawater interference while she was underwater, she couldn't smell anything different about the boxes.
What frustrated Fu Wan even more was that, before, whether it was gold bricks or gold bars, she would dismantle the wood and take the gold. Now, hearing what Old Xiao said, she was racking her brains to recall if there was anything different about the wood she had discarded.
However, she clearly remembered that the boxes of gold she saw alone at the bottom of the sea were indeed different in style from the boxes in front of her now.
Thinking of this, Old Xiao seemed to feel that he had only just begun to talk about the origins of sandalwood, so he continued to recount the story of sandalwood in great detail.
Rosewood, also known as sandalwood, is a subtropical evergreen tree. This tree can typically grow to a height of five or six zhang (approximately 10-13 meters). Its leaves resemble butterflies, hence the rosewood family (Fabaceae). Rosewood is very durable, and its color initially appears as a subtle yet luxurious crimson, turning a deep purple over time.
Even sandalwood has almost no visible growth rings. The grain of this wood is extremely fine, appearing as twisted silk like cow hair, making it the most premium and famous wood among all rosewoods.
Because this wood is beautiful and sturdy, and has a faint fragrance that comes and goes, many high-ranking officials and nobles in the Qing Dynasty and even before that period liked to use sandalwood to make furniture.
Furthermore, furniture made of rosewood doesn't even need paint after waxing and polishing; its surface naturally exhibits a satin-like sheen. This is why people love this wood. However, because rosewood is rare and takes a thousand years to mature, many people use other woods that resemble rosewood to pass it off as genuine. In reality, only small-leaf rosewood truly deserves to be called rosewood.
Moreover, because sandalwood is dense and hard, and the wood itself is very heavy, it will sink to the bottom when placed in water.
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