Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 347 The Tomb Raider Bear
Lin Sicheng tilted his head back, recalling the golden hair on his clothes.

There were also snake scales, snake blood, and those super fat pet rats kept in the shop that didn't look like pets at all.

Even setting all that aside, the idea of ​​someone who deals in antiques opening a pet shop is quite bizarre.

But what if this shop is related to tomb raiding or cultural relics?

Strong people don't keep useless people around. Every move Wang Chun makes is a strategic move. This pet shop is practically the logistics hub for the tomb raiding team.

Is there something more to Qi Hao's jade shop?
You'll know once you take a look.

As dusk approached, a glimmer of light finally appeared in the gloomy sky, and the west turned into a molten gold.

The golden leaves swirl in the autumn wind, and the smooth tree trunk gleams with a crab-shell green hue.

As the streetlights came on, the shops in the market gradually closed.

Two men stood at the market entrance, smoking around a trash can. They looked unremarkable, like shop assistants who had just finished get off work in a mall.

Upon seeing Lin Sicheng, one of them made a barely perceptible gesture with his fingers.

Su Ye translates: "Teacher Lin, room 312 on the third floor!"

Lin Sicheng nodded and went inside.

The mall is large and simply laid out: the first floor is a boutique area, and the second and third floors are general merchandise areas. In addition to selling finished products, it also sells jade materials and raw stones.

In addition, there are two basement levels below, which are used as storage rooms.

I only found out after I got there that what's located in the jade market isn't necessarily a jade shop; it could also be a processing room.

Take Qi Hao's room, for example.

The shop is in a remote location, situated in a corner on the third floor of the mall, but it is quite large, nearly a hundred square meters.

Special forces have already conducted a thorough inspection, blocked surveillance cameras, and set up control posts around the perimeter.

Lin Sicheng looked around: shaping tools, carving knives, all kinds of gourd blanks, and various kinds of accessory materials.

This includes various materials and agents for creating antique-looking outer shells: oils, beeswax, liquid nitrogen, oxalic acid, and even Aspergillus flavus culture dishes specifically designed to mimic mold spots.

There's also a refrigerator filled with all kinds of milk.

After taking a closer look, Lin Sicheng was taken aback and wanted to give a thumbs up: Qi Hao is definitely a master in the field of antique gourd ware.

Seeing his strange expression, the two special agents craned their necks to take a look: "Teacher Lin, what is this?"

Human milk!

What the hell?
Regarding human breast milk: In the old society, every autumn, crickets would be kept close to their bodies in gourds, otherwise the insects would freeze to death. Over time, sweat and body odor would seep into the gourd. Therefore, one of the methods commonly used today to identify heirloom gourds is to take samples and measure the protein content…

And what's in sweat is also in milk, such as various enzymes and proteins. Using human milk to mimic skin texture and patina is not only fast, but also safer…”

Su Ye looked at him strangely: "No... this is breast milk, it can't be that it can't even distinguish between men and women?"

Liu Guojun scoffed, "What do you think the maids and servants in wealthy families in ancient times did?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: Although he guessed, he guessed extremely accurately.

In ancient times, crickets actually fed human milk.

In a flash, Lin Sicheng flipped through the documents again; they were mostly materials and tools for making gourd artifacts.

The materials used are also extremely exquisite: genuine Benchang gourd (from Xushui, Hebei), sandalwood official mold, natural walrus horn, blood amber, and even rhinoceros horn.

It can be said that Qi Hao uses the same materials as the genuine article. Moreover, it is almost entirely handmade, avoiding machines whenever possible, and certainly not using any modern chemical materials.

The craftsmanship is truly superb; although it's a replica, it's even more exquisite than the real thing.

I took a quick look and these are basically all the items. They all seem normal, and I don't notice anything unusual.
But I don't know if it's just my imagination, but something just doesn't feel right.

Lin Sicheng took two steps back. After looking it over several times, he narrowed his eyes: "Found it, it's the blood amber for making the heart-sealing potion."

The so-called "blinded heart" refers to the hollowed-out part on the top of the cricket gourd lid.

In ancient times, this was something the poor couldn't afford, so the ingredients used were as expensive as possible. There were only five or six commonly used ingredients: amber, agate, jade, ivory, and horn.

Among them, amber is the best, and among amber, blood amber is the finest.

The reason is simple: this thing has the lowest density, and the lower the density, the faster the sound travels, the higher the resonant frequency, and the louder the cricket's sound.

However, blood amber is not produced domestically and can only be imported. In the past, it was mainly imported from Myanmar, as several jadeite mines in Kachin State produce this stuff.

Previously, Lin Sicheng had only glanced at it briefly and assumed it was Burmese jade. But now, upon closer inspection: it was indeed quite red, with hidden golden threads, and the texture was very oily, but the transparency was somewhat lacking.

I picked it up and looked at it under the light: it was clearly Russian material, from the West Sayan Mountains mining area in Siberia.

This is very strange: why use Russian material when there is a better quality and more common Burmese material available in China?
It's not that it's unusable, but it's expensive: firstly, it's buried too deep, and secondly, the conditions are harsh, with less than half a year of thawing, making mining much more difficult than in Myanmar.

The cost of transporting it over mountains and valleys to China is two to three times that of the Burmese material.

There's no reason to go the long way around or neglect the essentials, unless this thing is just a side effect.
The most common mineral found alongside blood amber is coal, followed by jadeite, and then tremolite jade, also known as Hetian jade. Coal is out of the question; those who deal in energy imports and exports wouldn't bother with that stuff.

That leaves only the last few types.

Lin Sicheng pondered for a moment: "Captain Xing, have you found any ledgers or purchase records here?"

The team leader was the special operations squadron leader, who shook his head: "No, half of this floor is filled with these kinds of processing workshops. They're not registered with the industry and commerce bureau and basically don't keep accounts."

"Then check if there are any shops in the market that specialize in selling Russian jade, such as white jade or jadeite... Don't ask the property management or the management company; they definitely won't know. Ask the merchants and their peers, just ask the ones with the best business..."

The team leader paused for a moment and said, "Teacher Lin, the investigation team has checked before: Qi Hao used to run a jade shop in Ruyi City, and even earlier, Qi Song also ran one, but they were all transferred later."

What are you selling?

"We sell all kinds of common jade, including white jade, green jade, jadeite, agate, and amber. We also have this red amber."

So, are these blood amber pieces from previous stock?
It's also possible that Qi Hao bought it from the market at the last minute?

Not impossible.

Russian materials are relatively rare, but it's not that no one does this business.

But if it were Wang Chun, it just doesn't feel right.

This woman comes from a family of professional tomb raiders, and has been raiding for decades. Qi Song, though not for as long, followed her for about ten years and raided alongside her for ten years as well. The leader of the "Hook-Legged Climbing Pole" (skilled at digging pits and wells), and she runs a jade shop?
Thinking back to Qi Hao's pet shop, with its various pet rats, as well as the long fur and snake scales on his clothes, Lin Sicheng felt that he was separated from the truth by only a thin veil.

Unsurprisingly, whether it was Qi Song or Qi Hao, regardless of whether their previous shops sold white jade, agate, amber, or jadeite, they were all made from Russian materials.

He pinched the bridge of his nose: "We still need to investigate, specifically the shops that specialize in Russian jade. It would be best to visit them in person... If we could find the one that Qi Song and Qi Hao used to run and then sold, that would be ideal..."

It feels like the investigation is going further and further astray, and it's all jumping from one topic to another.
The squad leader didn't know what Lin Sicheng was investigating, but he remembered what Yu Zhi and Han Zhi had told him, so he didn't dare to say anything: "Okay!"

The investigation was swift and efficient; Yu Guang made just a few phone calls from the command vehicle and uncovered the clues.

In the entire market, there are only six shops selling Russian jade. Among them, three specialize in Hetian jade, and two specialize in jadeite. Only the remaining shop sells everything: white jade, jadeite, amber, and agate, including this blood amber from a workshop.

It's quite a coincidence that it was the same family that Qi Song opened first, then transferred to Qi Hao, and then Qi Hao transferred it to someone else.

The squadron leader first sent people to control the situation, and Lin Sicheng arrived shortly after.

The shop was on the second floor, more than twice the size of Qi Hao's workshop. It looked like it hadn't been open for business in ages; the floor and shelves were covered in dust.

But two sets of footprints were very clear, as if they had just been there today.

Standing at the door, Lin Sicheng looked at the footprints, then at a Maitreya Buddha statue made of Qilian jade on the shelf.

There was dust on the shelf and on the Buddha statue, so the fingerprints and signs of it being moved were particularly noticeable.

Especially the fingerprints, which are thick and short with very faint fingerprints, clearly indicate that they are the "ghost-bitten hands" of a professional tomb raider.

Lin Sicheng didn't say anything, as he was just here to take a look and didn't know if he had any connection with Qi Song or Qi Hao.

But he was cautious and asked the special agents for shoe covers to try to avoid the footprints on the ground.

Several police officers exchanged glances: So cautious?
Surely this isn't one of the hideouts?

But they remained silent, trying to avoid the footprints, and accompanied Lin Sicheng to look at the jade.

White, green, red, yellow, square, round, long, flat... jade materials that have been stripped of their outer skin and have only undergone rough processing are everywhere.

After taking a few glances, Lin Sicheng was at least 90% certain that these were all Russian materials.

It's not surprising that some people sell Russian jade. White jade can imitate Hetian jade, and Russian jadeite can imitate Burmese jadeite, and the quality is several times higher than that of Guatemalan jadeite.

But it's quite puzzling that even amber and agate are from Russia: the former is from Myanmar, where the quality is the best and the price is lower. The latter is produced domestically, with XJ (Xuanjiang) having the best quality, being easy to mine, having huge reserves, and priced only one-third or one-quarter of Russian amber.

The strangest thing is the boxes and boxes of serpentine stones on the ground. This stuff has another name in China: Qilian jade. It's everywhere in the Gobi Desert of Qinghai and Gansu; you can pick it up anywhere.

Only someone with a brain injury would import this from Russia.

But here are more than a dozen boxes, also made in Russia.

Fearing he might have made a mistake, Lin Sicheng examined it carefully: the color was yellowish, rather than the dark green texture characteristic of Qilian jade.

The texture is relatively coarse, appearing in wisps and irregular patterns, unlike the snowflake-like or thread-like patterns of Qilian jade.

It's definitely Russian pyrite with serpentine inclusions containing asbestos fibers. Poor appearance is only one aspect; this stuff has extremely high radiation levels and is carcinogenic…

Lin Sicheng picked out two of the larger pieces, turned them over, and paused for a moment: Haha, the jade heart is concave.
You don't even need to touch it; you can tell with your eyes that it was opened by human hands.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Sicheng continued picking out pieces. Suddenly, he paused: in one of the grooves, there were a few animal hairs stuck to it.

It's yellowish-gold in color, about ten centimeters long, and exactly the same as the one I saw in the pet store.

Several policemen also noticed something was wrong, but they weren't looking at the animal hair; they were looking at the groove in the middle of the jade.

It was clearly carved out by man; it's very wide and has a large curve. If pieced together, it could even form a cylindrical stone barrel.

They can even be pieced together to be as tall as a person.

A group of police officers looked at each other in bewilderment: Why would they cut a hole in the middle of a perfectly good piece of jade?
Unless, what else is going to be inside?
Suddenly, someone had a flash of inspiration and remembered the drug cases cracked in Yunnan's border region over the years: jade, agate, spinel, water pebbles, and petrified wood.

Which piece of jade from Myanmar hasn't been used to store drugs?

They finally understood why Lin Sicheng was so fixated on Qi Hao when the case was clearly about investigating cultural relics and Wang Chun.

Then, on a whim, he decided to investigate Russian jade artifacts.
Look at these on the ground: such a big piece of jade, what can't be put inside it?

Paintings, calligraphy, porcelain, gold and silver wares, even bronzeware... compared to these, how much money can drugs make?

Lin Sicheng clapped his hands and stood up: "Captain Xing, could you please ask Captain Yu if one of Wang Chun's two bosses is involved in export trade to Russia?"

The squadron leader's eyelids twitched uncontrollably: he knew without even asking the detachment leader.

When we were analyzing the case in a previous meeting, everyone thought that the gang's main channel for selling stolen goods was international auctions, and that they would only sell to Europe and the United States.

There was indeed import/export business related to Russia, but the transaction volume was small, at most making him a small-time middleman. Moreover, he sold all sorts of miscellaneous things, leading the investigation team to believe that these were merely a cover for their identities.

Even now, the teams responsible for this area are still keeping an eye on the auction houses, and they only investigate the auction houses.

But that's not right...

The squadron leader suddenly realized: "Teacher Lin, these jade pieces were imported from Russia..."

"Yes, but once it's carved, or even assembled, it can be exported to Russia. This is called deep processing export. Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to be Russian jade carvings exported to Russia; it can also be Chinese jade... As for these..."

Lin Sicheng paused for a moment, then said, "They must have brought other things from Russia back to China!"

The company commander was taken aback: "What is it?"

Lin Sicheng bent down and picked up the golden hair from the jade groove: "Captain Xing, if I said it was a bear, would you believe me?"

"Bear paws, bear meat?"

How much money can you make from smuggling this?

“No, they’re alive, just cubs!” Lin Sicheng shook his head. “We’ll bring them back, raise them, train them, and then use them as bears for digging tunnels and robbing tombs…”

A group of police officers were all stunned: Using bears to rob tombs? They'd never even heard of that!
Lin Sicheng sighed inwardly: See? He knew it; no one would believe him if he said it.

But he is now at least 90% certain that Qi Hao is specifically there to raise bears for Wang Chun.

Wherever the bear is, that's where the stolen artifacts are.

(End of this chapter)