NFBE Chapter 2028 Shocking! The crown jewel: A Song Dynasty edition of the *Book of Rites*
Chapter 2028 Shocking! The crown jewel: A Song Dynasty edition of the *Book of Rites*
Li Xiangnan carefully placed the Song family's sandalwood box back on the accounting table, and everyone's eyes were now fixed on the remaining two brocade boxes, like spotlights.
The deep blue brocade box belonging to the Jiang family, and the rustic wooden box belonging to the Yu family!
At this moment, the air seemed to freeze, with only suppressed breathing and heartbeats rising and falling.
At the entrance of this huge courtyard house, a large group of people, inexplicably fell into complete silence.
Zhang Jingyang glanced at Li Xiangnan, and upon receiving his signal, took a deep breath, turned to Jiang Huaiyuan, and respectfully asked, "Elder Jiang, what's next..."
Jiang Huaiyuan smiled slightly and made a "please" gesture, the meaning of which was self-evident.
Zhang Jingyang composed himself, rolled up his sleeves, but with a gentler touch than before, and picked up the Jiang family's brocade box.
The deep blue brocade felt silky and slightly cool to the touch, and was embroidered with simple and elegant orchid patterns in silver thread.
Zhang Jingyang had traveled all over the country and was very knowledgeable. He could tell at a glance that the packaging alone was of a high standard, and ordinary families could not afford such fine fabric.
He held the brocade in both hands, already feeling the pressure of gazes from all directions, a feeling of being pricked by needles. He gritted his teeth and gently untied the brocade, revealing a slightly smaller yellow pearwood box inside.
This box is different from the Song family's. When opened, it has no carvings at all; the whole thing is plain, relying solely on the wood's natural grain and warm patina to reveal its extraordinary age.
Zhang Jingyang dared not be negligent. After glancing at the box briefly, he carefully opened the lid, revealing another layer of bright red velvet.
At this point, his heart began to pound wildly.
To be honest, as Li Xiangnan's best friend, he was genuinely nervous for his good brother!
The gift from the Song family was already beyond imagination; he couldn't fathom what kind of gift the Jiang family would give Xiao Li.
He slowly lifted the velvet, forcing himself to calm down, but he still froze instantly!
What the hell!
He almost cried out!
His breathing suddenly became rapid, his eyes widened, and his hand holding the velvet trembled slightly. He couldn't speak for a long time.
Tao Zhengtie, Wang Defa, Song Ziming and others standing by the accounting table noticed that his expression was not quite right, so they all craned their necks to look. They saw that a set of thread-bound ancient books was neatly stacked inside the box.
Huh? What's this thing?
Everyone couldn't help but take a few more glances.
The pages had a rustic, deep yellow hue, and the spine's binding was worn in several places, but overall, it was remarkably well-preserved, exuding a serene aura that had been refined over the years.
"Brother Zhang, this is...this is..." Tao Zhengtie asked instinctively.
Zhang Jingyang really wanted to answer, but he found himself speechless after opening his mouth.
It wasn't that he didn't recognize the thing; it was precisely because he vaguely guessed what it was that he was gripped by immense shock.
"Huh...huh..."
In his entire life, apart from the time he was nearly bitten to death by a venomous snake in Lijia Village, his heart had never pounded so fiercely before!
It almost jumped into my throat.
He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, and then carefully used his fingertips.
He didn't even dare to touch the pages directly, for fear of damaging any of the contents.
Then, gently turn the top cover open!
On the title page, two ancient and powerful characters in regular script come into view: "The Book of Rites".
At the very bottom of the page, a dark red bookplate was clearly visible. Zhang Jingyang struggled to decipher it before recognizing it as a unique, ancient seal script passed down through the Jiang family for many years.
Those four characters are: Jiang Family Collection Pavilion!
"Oh my God……"
At this moment, Zhang Jingyang couldn't help but shout out, his voice trembling with excitement. He abruptly raised his head to look at Jiang Huaiyuan, then at Song Cijiu, his eyes filled with disbelief and a desire for confirmation.
"What is it?"
Seeing Zhang Ge's expression, Wang Defa was truly dumbfounded. Inside the box in front of him were just a few ancient books, nothing special at all!
It's just a few books, is it really worth making such a fuss about?
Or am I, Old Wang, just ignorant and have never heard of this precious thing?
"Shh, this book might be priceless!" Song Ziming, who was standing to the side, stared thoughtfully at Jiang Huaiyuan's face, and reminded Defa, thinking about what the Jiang family did.
"What do you mean?" Wang Defa didn't quite understand. Today he had witnessed the Jiang family's influence. Even the Yu and Song families respected them. He had also heard Xiao Song say that the Jiang family was a family of scholars, but he really didn't know the specifics.
In particular, Song Ziming's statement that any book was priceless left him completely baffled.
He's a rough man and doesn't really understand the intricacies of this matter.
Seeing that Jiang Huaiyuan was about to explain, Song Ziming quickly whispered, "The things in this box are very likely to be unique copies. Unique copies mean that there is only one set in the world. If someone wants to see or check them, they have to borrow or buy them from you! This thing is truly priceless!"
"A unique copy like this, the only one of its kind in the whole world?" Although Wang Defa didn't understand the value of ancient books, his eyes lit up immediately after hearing this analogy. He rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining. "Holy crap, Little Li is going to be rich! No, no, getting rich is secondary. This is a symbol of status! From now on, whoever wants to read this book will have to consider Little Li's, no, Little Xitang's, mood!"
Seeing Wang Defa's excitement, Song Ziming quickly pulled him back. Seeing Jiang Huaiyuan's serious expression, he whispered to his brother, "Don't rush. I think there's more to this ancient book than meets the eye. Maybe it's not just a unique copy!"
Wang Defa: "???"
And indeed, things turned out exactly as Song Ziming had predicted.
Seeing that Zhang Jingyang, the accountant, was too excited to speak, Song Cijiu followed closely to the accounting table. After just one glance, his expression turned serious, and his composure was replaced by a solemn and solemn look.
Seeing his second uncle react the same way, Song Ziming's mouth instantly opened into an "O".
Wang Defa scratched his head, a look of sudden realization on his face. "Sure enough, Xiao Song, even your second uncle has that expression. This ancient book is definitely not simple! My god, I'm really curious, what is this thing?"
At this moment, Li Xiangnan also became somewhat curious.
He took two steps forward, stopped in front of the accounting table, and peered intently into the brocade box, wanting to know what Song Cijiu was so nervous about.
At this moment, Song Cijiu had already bent down to carefully examine the paper, ink, printing plate, and layout of the book pages. He also looked at the book collector's seal, as well as the binding thread and the smell of the paper and ink. He looked at it for a full twenty or thirty seconds before slowly getting up.
The entire room fell silent, everyone holding their breath as they awaited Song Cijiu's judgment.
Song Cijiu turned to look at Jiang Huaiyuan, bowed deeply, and spoke with undisguised respect in his voice.
"Elder Jiang, this gift of yours is truly too precious! If I am not mistaken, this should be the prized possession of your esteemed library—the complete set of the Song Dynasty edition of the Book of Rites, right?"
boom!
The word exploded like a thunderclap in the crowd, causing a roar and a complete uproar...