Ji Xia and Chen Jing were startled. Had they disturbed their neighbors by digging something?
Ji Xia made a quiet gesture, indicating to Chen Jing to stop, and went out to take a look.
When they returned to the yard, all the neighbors had already turned off their lights.
After they entered the kitchen, they only lit an oil lamp and closed the doors and windows. It's unknown whether anyone else noticed.
As I left the kitchen and looked around, I saw a tall figure standing outside the yard, with one head peeking out from over the wall.
In the darkness, the shadowy figure's eyes shone with an eerie brightness. He lowered his voice and beckoned to her, saying, "It's me. Your second sister-in-law and I have brought you the things."
It was Ji Xiangjun and Sun Xiaoyu who went up the mountain where the treasure was hidden overnight and brought back a small box of things.
Hearing Ji Xiangjun's voice, Ji Xia breathed a sigh of relief and quickly opened the door to invite the two in.
Back in the living room, after turning on the lights, Chen Jing also came out of the kitchen.
Ji Xiangjun carried a slightly smaller box and placed it on the table, saying, "This isn't very convenient during the day. Please check it and pack it away as soon as possible. We're heading back now. If you have any problems, contact us tomorrow."
Ji Xia responded and saw the two out with a smile.
Looking back at the ground, the two left shallow footprints where they had walked, and the soil on them seemed to be a bit redder than usual.
"Where did my second brother and sister-in-law dig it up overnight?"
Chen Jing shook his head, grabbed a broom, and swept away the trace from the living room to the yard before returning home relieved.
"How many boxes of things did the Sun family leave behind? They've already sent out three small boxes."
"That belongs to Second Sister-in-law. It will belong to Second Brother's child in the future. Let's not think about it. If we want money, we can earn it ourselves."
Ji Xia lowered her voice and bent down to check the contents of the box.
The box was mostly filled with jewelry, jade bracelets, gold bracelets, and a pile of small ornaments such as jade pendants and jade gourds. With a gentle touch, they jingled and tinkled, producing a clear and melodious sound.
Besides gold jewelry, there are agate, white jade, and green jade, but the most common type is jadeite, mostly in green.
Roughly estimated, there are about 80 or 90 pieces. They feel warm to the touch and seem to be of decent quality.
However, even with these, there are only four hundred items, which averages out to more than two hundred yuan per item. Ji Xia curled her lips indifferently.
In the corner of the box was a small, dark wooden box, with auspicious cloud patterns carved around its edges. The carving was exquisite, antique, and carried a faint sandalwood scent. Just by looking at the wooden box, one could tell that it was quite valuable.
Ji Xia carefully took out the box and glanced at Chen Jing subconsciously: "This thing looks very precious, but I wonder what it is."
They didn't seem to care about the pile of gold and jade jewelry, and there was even an antique-looking box in the corner, with no one knowing what treasures were inside.
"You'll see when you see it."
As Chen Jing spoke, he carefully opened the bronze buckle with animal patterns on the side of the box, revealing the dark red, soft velvet inside.
Inside the box carved from small-leaf sandalwood, there was a soft velvet lining, and in the center was a Guanyin statue of Guanyin with a vase, less than a foot long, warm to the touch, and translucent and lustrous.
Ji Xia stared in astonishment at the jade Guanyin statue. The jade Guanyin had lowered her brows, a smile on her lips, held a vase and willow branch in one hand, and made a lotus finger gesture with the other. Her Taoist robes fluttered in the wind, and she was solemn, dignified, and compassionate.
She stared intently at the jade Guanyin statue, gently stroking the patterns on its robes and ornaments; even the two willow branches on the vase seemed lifelike.
Ji Xia looked up in surprise: "Do you think this might be made of the legendary mutton-fat jade?"
Chen Jing nodded: "That's possible. Look at the color and translucency of this jade; it's clearly much better than the others."
Not only is the jade translucent and lustrous, but the carving is also excellent. Even the Guanyin's expression, movements, clothing, and hair are all handled with great detail. It is clear at a glance that this is no ordinary piece.
This is definitely a priceless treasure; in later generations, it would be worth at least several million.
Upon seeing this jade Guanyin statue, Ji Xia's slight dissatisfaction and resentment vanished.
Even without those dozens of pieces of jewelry, just having this jade Guanyin statue would have calmed her down.
"I wonder how much this is worth. My second brother and sister-in-law are really willing to spend so much."
As Ji Xia spoke, she carefully put the jade Guanyin back, put the box back in, and returned it to the trunk.
Chen Jing curled his lips: "Without this box, they wouldn't dare to settle my accounts, would they? These things look valuable, but if you sell them now, you won't even get 100,000 yuan back."
Gold has a price, but jade is priceless. In times of peace, this pricelessness is often referred to as an invaluable treasure.
But in the 1960s and 70s, they couldn't fetch a good price.
Several years ago, Chen Jing had encountered a situation where a few pounds of fine grains could be exchanged for a jade bracelet in order to make ends meet.
In the last two years, prices of old items have shown signs of rising, but even the best ones are only a couple hundred yuan.
Knowing that Ji Xia liked this, he managed to get his hands on a few, the best of which was only 100 yuan.
Without this Guanyin statue, which costs an average of over two hundred yuan per piece, he wouldn't agree to it.
"However, I think it's best not to put these boxes in one place, lest someone take them all at once."
Ji Xia agreed. They had exchanged three boxes of items, worth at least 200,000 yuan. If someone were to take everything, she would probably be devastated.
That night, the two dug four holes in the yard and inside the house in the dark, wrapped three boxes and a wooden box in oil paper, and carefully buried them inside the house.
It was almost dawn when Ji Xia took a shower and changed her clothes. She lay on the bed, admiring the red jade bracelet on her wrist.
Chen Jing returned to her side looking exhausted, and couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her: "Aren't you going to sleep? Aren't you tired?"
"I'm so excited! I can't sleep."
Anyone would have trouble sleeping if they saw several boxes of such treasures in their home, right?
After all, she's not even twenty yet, the best years of her life. How can she calmly lie down and fall asleep after something like this?
Chen Jing chuckled and glanced at the jade bracelet on her wrist: "I should have picked out a few more earlier, so I could wear them whenever I have time."
"That's enough, we've already picked out quite a few."
These boxes will probably stay buried here for a long time. I'll probably only dig them up and take them to Beijing when I have a car.
So, before burying it, she picked out a lot of ornaments and put them in a small wooden box.
The bracelets include white jade and red jadeite bracelets, a red gold twisted bracelet, a translucent mutton fat jade Buddha pendant, a sapphire-set brooch, a pair of exquisitely crafted sapphire-set earrings, several rings in both plain silver and gold, several bracelets made of coral and agate beads, a pearl necklace, and four small gold bricks.
She felt safe enough to take out a few because she knew that no one would be strictly checking these luxury items anymore.
In another ten or eight years, she will spend some money to buy some diamond jewelry, and her life will be complete.
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