Chapter 13: An Acquaintance of San Maozi?

“Ah?”

A woman’s surprised voice echoed through the livestream.

The viewers were equally baffled.

Most of them knew little about antiques; in fact, ninety-nine percent of the audience were just here for entertainment.

In their minds, antiques were generally ancient household items or tools with some specific purpose.

Whatever they were, there was always a clear function!

But this rubbing of the Dragon Bone Heavenly Book was obviously beyond their knowledge.

“Dragon Bone Heavenly Book rubbing? Just the name sounds incredible!”

“Whoa, is this a big deal right at the start of the stream?”

“Dragon Bone Heavenly Book, that’s awesome!”

“Look at Brother Xuan’s expression; this must be a remarkable treasure. I wonder how much it’s worth?”

“Dragon Bone Heavenly Book rubbing?”

Dean Liang looked at Director Yang in astonishment. “This Zhang Xuan’s livestream is truly amazing.”

“He even has something like this.”

Director Yang was also surprised. “It must be fake, right?”

Dean Liang smiled. “Not ‘must be,’ it definitely is fake!”

“That’s a legendary item; how could it possibly exist in reality?”

“Zhang Xuan talks about it so seriously, it makes someone in cultural relics like me feel uneasy.”

Director Yang chuckled, “Maybe it’s just for the show.”

“Dean, don’t be so serious.”

“Let’s hear what he says.”

“Brother Xuan,”

“What exactly is this Dragon Bone Heavenly Book you mentioned?”

“I don’t really understand.”

There was a hint of anticipation in the woman’s voice.

Zhang Xuan waved his hand. “It’s normal not to know.”

“This thing is beyond rare — you could say it’s ancient and extraordinarily scarce!”

“I guess most of the brothers in the livestream don’t know either.”

“Let me explain.”

He took a sip of water and then spoke seriously, “The Dragon Bone Heavenly Book rubbing actually consists of three parts!”

“Dragon bone, heavenly book, and rubbing.”

“Everyone understands rubbing — it’s something copied by rubbing ink onto paper.”

“As for dragon bone, it’s not literally the bone of a dragon, but refers to the three longitudinal ridges on a tortoise shell!”

“See those square-shaped indentations?”

“That’s the rubbing image of the dragon bone!”

The woman was surprised. “You’re saying this rubbing is from a tortoise shell?”

“Brother Xuan, forgive me for my ignorance — I thought it was truly related to a dragon!”

Zhang Xuan waved his hand and stared into the camera with a serious expression. “No worries!”

“These two aren’t the key point!”

“The key is the heavenly book!”

“The heavenly book wasn’t written by humans, but by heaven itself!”

The woman touched the symbols on the rubbing, her voice tinged with disbelief. “Is it really that powerful?”

The chat exploded with reactions.

“Heavenly written???”

“Here we go again, haha!”

“This is better than movies — now the heavenly book has appeared!”

“Amazing, could there really be a heavenly book?”

“.”

Clearly, no one believed it.

Which was understandable — modern people with nine years of compulsory education rarely believe in such things.

But Zhang Xuan was confident; music played in the background as his voice rose a few decibels. “A yellow river floats a dragon horse, bearing the river diagram to Fuxi, thus came yin and yang, the four symbols, and the eight trigrams!”

“In the era of Yu the Great, a divine tortoise surfaced in the Luo River, bearing the Luo book to Yu!”

“Yu the Great used the Luo book to successfully control the floods and divided the world into nine provinces!”

“That’s the origin of the River Diagram and Luo Book!”

“Legends cannot be verified.”

“But yin and yang, the four symbols, the eight trigrams, and even the nine provinces of the world have been passed down to this day and still influence life!”

“Tell me, who dares say the heavenly book does not exist?”

The chat was stunned!

“Huh???”

“Is this possible??”

“Wow, I think I’m almost convinced!!!”

“You can’t prove it doesn’t exist, nor can you prove it does — so it must exist, unbeatable logic!”

“Playing this big, aren’t you afraid to scare us? The River Diagram and Luo Book are both here, unbeatable!”

The woman seemed excited by Zhang Xuan’s words and picked up the gilded iron token, examining it repeatedly. “So, is this the River Diagram or the Luo Book?”

“Should I hand it over to the state?”

Zhang Xuan suddenly grinned. “Heh heh!”

“No need to give it to the state, just keep it yourself.”

“What I just said was to throw out a bait.”

Woman: “.”

“Bait?”

She tossed the gilded iron token onto the table. “So this is fake too.”

“You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Annoying, all for nothing!”

The chat was full of disdainful emojis.

Zhang Xuan was a bit speechless. “Sister, be careful!”

“The gilding on it is delicate; if the patina gets damaged, it’ll lose the value of several buns.”

Woman: “Oh.”

Zhang Xuan sighed. “I meant bait in comparison. Compared to the Luo Book and River Diagram, this is a brick, but compared to antiques, it’s a gold brick!”

“From my perspective, this dragon bone rubbing is genuine, but the symbols on it are not heavenly script, but human script.”

Woman: “Oh, I thought it was some kind of treasure.”

“It’s just a gilded rubbing.”

“Brother Xuan, can you estimate its value?”

“If it’s suitable, I could pass it on to you.”

Zhang Xuan was momentarily stunned. “.”

“This thing is really hard to price.”

“Although it’s gilded craftsmanship, we don’t know who made it or its purpose. Also, this is probably one of a kind, so there’s no reference price.”

“So, it’s truly difficult to pass on.”

The woman smiled. “If even you don’t want it, it probably isn’t valuable.”

“The old man’s eyes aren’t great either; this time he’s probably taking a loss.”

“I’ll just throw it in the trash later!”

Zhang Xuan sighed. “No, no, no!”

“How about this.”

“Today’s stream just started, and it’s still early.”

“If you have tools nearby, rub the symbols off and show me.”

“If the content matches, even if I don’t take it, I can estimate its value!”

“Just don’t throw it away!”

Just as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man’s voice suddenly appeared from the other side. “Why are you bringing that thing out again?”

“Put it away quickly — just looking at it is annoying.”

The woman replied, “I like to,” then turned to Zhang Xuan. “I have a rubbing machine here; it’ll be done in a minute.”

Soon, the sound of machinery tinkering was heard.

Zhang Xuan was slightly surprised. “That professional?”

“Alright!”

“I’ll wait for you!”

After he spoke, the man began talking again. “Hey, isn’t this the handsome guy who connected with San Mazi yesterday?”

“How did you link up with him?”

Zhang Xuan frowned. “San Mazi?”

Then he was surprised. “You mean Third Master?”

The man seemed to be fiddling with something, and his voice was a bit distant. With the sound of a lighter flicking, he said, “Outsiders call him Third Master; those who know him well call him San Maji.”

“I watched yesterday’s livestream too.”

“San Mazi has a proud temperament. I’ve never seen him bow to anyone.”

“Handsome guy, you’re impressive!”

Zhang Xuan tilted his head, looking astonished. “Wow, that’s a lot of information!”

“You can meet acquaintances here?”

The viewers in the livestream were also amazed, not expecting there to be more to the story.