"Have you found it? I told you before, there is nothing here that you are looking for."
Zhang Jinzong was filled with righteous indignation, his face flushed purple, he stood with his hands on his hips next to a stone mortar, and argued confidently.
"Although your National Security Bureau has great power, you can't search whenever you want! Where's the search warrant? I'm going to complain to President Lu!"
Old Fan and Xiao Lu didn't say anything, but both looked sideways at Jiang Mingxin.
A few beads of sweat appeared on Jiang Mingxin's forehead.
She was sure the things were here. Could it be that Zhang Jinzong buried them under the floor tiles?
But the floor tiles here are all very old and fit together tightly, and they don’t look like they were pried up and then laid back again.
Suddenly, her gaze moved to the stone mortar behind Zhang Jinzong.
"This stone mortar shouldn't be an object here, right?"
After Jiang Mingxin finished speaking, he looked at Lao Fan with burning eyes.
Old Fan immediately understood, rolled up his sleeves, walked over, spread his legs, took a firm horse stance, placed his hands on both sides of the stone mortar, and then exerted force with a deep voice.
"rise!"
He actually picked up the heavy stone mortar and moved it two inches to the side.
The edge of a small wellhead instantly came into everyone's sight.
"It's here!" Jiang Mingxin pointed at the wellhead and walked over excitedly.
Zhang Jinzong was horrified and turned to run, but Xiaolu grabbed his wrist.
"Why are you leaving? Don't you want to see what's in here?"
Jiang Mingxin didn't need to tell him what to do next. The clever old Fan found a rope, tied a flashlight to it, and lowered it down to investigate the situation.
Soon, something was found in the bucket in the well.
"Bring up the bucket!"
The painted pottery figurines of the Northern Wei Dynasty were all wrapped in oil paper and neatly stacked inside.
In order to make identification easier, Zhang Jinzong even thoughtfully numbered them and wrote their names.
Everyone was shocked when they saw the handwriting.
"Jin Zong, why? You've worked at the institute for so many years. Have your leaders ever treated you unfairly? Why would you do something like this?"
The uncle beat his chest and stamped his feet, unable to believe that the traitor was right under his nose.
"How can you be worthy of your deceased master?"
Seeing that the evidence was conclusive and he could no longer argue, Zhang Jinzong twitched the corners of his mouth with an indifferent expression.
"How much can a researcher earn? After more than ten years of toiling away day in and day out, I still earn less than a tomb robber. I'm also a human being with emotions. My wife ran away with someone else because I had no money, and my son wants to study abroad, but he calls me a loser because I can't afford it..."
"If the cultural relics are shipped abroad, they might be better preserved, and I can make a lot of money at the same time. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"
Hearing this, the researchers nearby all had complicated expressions.
"A gentleman loves money but earns it in a proper way. You're using your position to sell national cultural relics just to make money. Do you think that's justified?"
"Did you steal the confidential documents too? You... traitor!"
The uncle was so angry that his body swayed violently and he almost fainted.
Jiang Mingxin hurriedly supported him and said, "Mr. Gu, please take care of yourself. This kind of person is not worth your anger."
"You know me?" Old Gu was very surprised and looked her over carefully. "You are really pretty, little girl. How do you know this mortar doesn't belong here?"
Mr. Gu has always been eager to recruit talents. If Jiang Mingxin had not reminded him, he would not have noticed the stone mortar just now.
Jiang Mingxin helped him to the side of the stone mortar and squatted down.
He pointed at its stone wall.
"There are words on it. Although I don't recognize the characters, since there are words engraved on it, it must not be a mortar, but a cultural relic that has been mistaken for a mortar."
Gu Lao's eyes widened instantly, and he reached behind him: "Quick, bring me my reading glasses and magnifying glass!"
Soon, a researcher helped him get these two things.
"ah!"
"This is……"
"Big seal!"
"Stone Drum Inscriptions!"
"Hurry up, come and see!"
Mr. Gu uttered a series of exclamations, and the other researchers all rushed forward and surrounded the stone mortar.
After layers of identification, they finally determined that this stone mortar was not a stone mortar, but the stone drum they had been searching for for many years.
Hearing this, Zhang Jinzong was completely dumbfounded.
He bought this stone mortar from Panjiayuan just to cover up the well.
It cost me a hundred yuan at that time, and Xiao Qiu and I worked very hard to move here.
His specialty was Ming and Qing calligraphy and painting, and he had no research on the Stone Drum Inscriptions. Therefore, he was holding a precious treasure without knowing it, and let the pearl be covered in dust for so long.
But it’s a good thing that he doesn’t know. If he knew, he would probably secretly ship it abroad again.
Mr. Gu excitedly grabbed Jiang Mingxin's hand and refused to let go for a long time.
"Girl, you're such a lucky star! This Stone Drum Inscription is a stone inscription from the Qin State in the late Zhou Dynasty. According to historical records, there should have been ten stone pillars. Because they are shaped like drums, they are called Stone Drum Inscriptions."
"When Emperor Qianlong acquired them, he kept them in the palace as treasures, but one of them was lost for unknown reasons."
"And now, the last stone drum has been found! This is it, this stone mortar!"
Jiang Mingxin opened his mouth in shock.
She had no knowledge of the Stone Drum Inscriptions. She just discovered the words on the stone mortar with her keen eyesight and felt that something was wrong.
Because this thing is made of stone, even the Sky Eye is not sure of its value. When searching, a blue box representing unknown is displayed instead of a red box.
I didn't expect that I would hit the jackpot and pick up a treasure!
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