At about nine o"clock in the evening, the birthday banquet was over.
Su Zhenyue and Ye Qin are staying for a while. Su Jing and his cla.s.smates left for dinner at a nearby barbecue shop. Although they said they were going to kill Su Jing orally, the main purpose of the dinner was to talk with their cla.s.smates. After all, it was not easy to get together. Several people had been playing until about twelve o"clock in the evening before they broke up and went back to their homes.
The next day, He Jingdong came to Su Jing"s house and made an on-the-spot investigation. Although the location was at the seaside, the seaside was a reef and the land under the house was strong enough to be built. Finally, He Jingdong gave a price of 10 million yuan, including all kinds of layout and decoration required by Su Jing, as well as the luxurious decoration of the villa on the fourth floor, at least at the beginning. Ten million yuan is enough to afford that luxury.
Now the only remaining problem is that buildings that high cannot be built in the ruler area. Su Jing called w.a.n.g Zhuo and asked him about it. First, w.a.n.g Family has great influence and w.a.n.g Zhuo is good at doing things. Second, w.a.n.g Zhuo has sent people to inspect the surrounding environment and obtained permission from the government to start developing this tourism industry. He now has a great say in whatever construction happened in this area.
"What are you doing building such a tall building?" w.a.n.g Zhuo was surprised to hear Su Jing"s words.
"Making it to live," Su Jing said.
"…" w.a.n.g Zhuo could not help but be stunned for a while. Not long ago, Su Jing was just a good cook in the countryside. In a twinkling of an eye, he became so high minded. It seemed that he didn"t completely understand Su Jing.
"Don"t worry, I"ll help you with all the formalities." w.a.n.g Zhuo smiled, apparently, it was a trivial matter for him.
"Thank you so much." Su Jing said happily.
"You don"t need to be polite to me. "I"m asking you for help too. I have an old friend. He"s losing more and more of his appet.i.te in the past six months because he"s getting older, do you think you can cook him a few meals?"
"It"s a trivial matter. I"ll send it in person sometime, but I"m not sure if it will work." Su Jing promised, but he dared not promise that it would work. After all, the physical function of the elderly man is declining, which is different from that of children and young people.
"Well, if he can"t even eat what you cook, it"s only because his time limit is approaching and he"s hopeless." w.a.n.g Zhuo laughed.
"…" Su Jing was speechless for a while. Did this old friend hurt him in the past?
After hanging up the phone, Su Jing consulted with He Jingdong for a while and confirmed some details. He Jingdong seemed to be inspired and left with his papers. He Jingdong designed and introduced a familiar construction team. Next, Su Jingdong hardly needed to worry about it. However, although the "stacking" process can be done in one month, the preliminary work is still time-consuming, but it is not urgent.
"10 million, I still don"t have enough, I have to earn more." Su Jing intends to send the root to the Myriad Treasures Auction House, but he only has 2.66 million on hand, and the root will not sell for 8 million.
"Let"s look at this picture." Su Jing took out the landscape painting he bought from Shen Hong, and after buying it, Su Jing knew that from the perspective of professionals, the painting could not be faked any better. From the standpoint of axle pole, paper, and ink, it revealed that it was a modern copy, and the level of copy could be said to be perfect. In fact, "Devas Bring the Son Painting", Wu Daozi"s masterpiece, is not the real remains, but a copy of Li Gonglin of the Song Dynasty. However, the copies are also graded, and the copy on Su Jing"s hand can not undoubtedly enter the stream.
"Now let"s unlock it." Su Jing releases his spiritual force, drills into the edge gap, and slowly open the surface along the gap. If this is to be done by hand, it will take a lot of skill. Otherwise, it"s easy to tear the painting inside, but it"s very simple to separate it with spiritual force. Tearing open a corner, it revealed the yellowing paper inside, as well as the corner of ink painting, is a few bamboos and a few lines of words.
Su Jing continued to peel it off and in a short time, the surface was completely torn open. The whole painting was exposed, with only a few bamboos and two erected stones. It was quite simple, although Su Jing doesn"t know much about paintings, he feels that this painting is elegant and much better than before.
"Let"s check if it is a famous painting." Su Jing checked the information on the Internet according to the words on the painting and the red seal. After a while, he actually found something and showed surprise. "Is this Bamboo and Stone Painting by Zheng Banqiao"s?"
Zheng Banqiao"s was a famous painter and calligrapher in the early Qing Dynasty. He was also one of the eight famous eccentric painters in Yangzhou. He is praised by later generations as a versatile painter of "poems, books, and paintings". His painting achievements were very high. He was especially good at bamboo and stone painting, with thick branches and leaves, thin and solitary height, superhuman style. The orchid he painted highlights the wild atmosphere in the mountains with elegant brush strokes and charming fragrance.
Interestingly, Zheng Banqiao"s was different from the general literati. For thousands of years, most Chinese literati were ashamed to talk about money and thought that it was a vulgarity to sell their work for money. However, Zheng Banqiao"s has a unique view of elegance and vulgarity and thought that it is not shameful to exchange paintings for money.
At the age of 30, Zheng Banqiao"s had difficulty in making a living. So he went to Yangzhou to sell paintings for a living. When he was a professional painter for 10 years, he later became a county magistrate and thought that he cannot enter the official career. Although he earned little by selling his painting but he made enough to live comfortably. In his letter to his younger brother Zhèng Mò, he wrote: "Fast-fitting my inkstone, take my draft with you, sell Yangzhou paintings, and grow old with Li". Sure enough, after his resignation, he worked as a professional painter for 20 years until his death.
As a professional painter, Zheng Banqiao"s have many survived paintings, according to statistics, there are about 7000 pieces. However, among them, the authenticity is mixed, and there are many fake goods and some people say that "the real paintings are less than one-tenth of that number".
"I don"t know if it"s genuine or fake. If it"s genuine, it will be worth a lot." Su Jing looked at the Bamboo and Stone Painting in front of him and felt a little excited. It was just a picture that he bought for a thousand yuan. If it is Zheng Banqiao"s work, it would be normal to sell it for millions of yuan, which would mean making millions by turning around. It would be easier than picking up money from the ground.
"I will take it to the Myriad Treasures Auction House for appraisal later." After all, Su Jing did not know how to do it and could not identify it. He thought that it had been unraveled anyway. Even if it was put in front of Shen Hong, he would not recognize it as the landscape painting he sold.
At this time, Su Jing heard a cry, the killer whale is calling.
Su Jing put away the Bamboo and Stone Painting and came to the beach. He saw the killer whale carrying a large piece of white stone-like stuff, which seemed to be for him. Every time killer whale came over, he would bring gifts, but most of them were of little value. After all, it did not know what if anything was of any value.
"Little Hu, what did you bring this time?" Su Jing walked up and took the big white thing from the mouth of a killer whale. Then he shows his doubts. The gifts that were given by the killer whale in the past, though not very valuable, are all better looking, such as sh.e.l.ls, coral and so on. But what is this white thing?
Su Jing turned it over and looked at the white thing. It looked like a "stone" with an ugly appearance and it was a mixture of white and gray. The surface was densely covered with "bee eyes". It was as big as four bricks, but very light, about two or three jin, like a pumice stone. The surface is wet, and there is a strange smell emitting from it.
Su Jing stared at it for a long time. The more he looked, the brighter his eyes became. He looked incredulous. How could this white thing look like Ambergris? Ambergris, as its name implies, should be fragrant, but it is after drying, wet and smelly.
Ambergris is no doubt a treasure, not only can it serve as a valuable Chinese medicine, but it also can be used as a fixative and it is a precious material sought after by perfume manufacturers, its price is more expensive than gold. It is also known as "floating gold" because of its high price and because it can be found floating on the sea.
In ancient times, Ambergris was thought to be the saliva of a dragon in the sea, which dripped into the sea and solidified over time. With the progress of the times, the mystery of nature has been uncovered. People think that Ambergris"s saliva is not scientific, so they have all kinds of conjectures: some say that it was formed by volcanic eruption on the seafloor; some say that bird dung on the island drifted into the water after a long period of weathering; some say that Ambergris was formed after a long period of weathering. It"s beeswax, which is produced by a long float in the sea; and it"s a special fungus.
However, it was later discovered that Ambergris was the excrement of sperm whales. Sperm whales were the largest species of toothed whales. The largest size of sperm whales was 23 meters in males and 17 meters in females. They feed on squid and octopus, but they have tough cuticle jaws and tongue teeth in their mouths, which are not easy to digest. When sperm whales devour large, soft whales. After the body of the devoured animal is digested, the jaw and tongue acc.u.mulate in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulating the intestinal tract, the intestinal tract secretes a special wax, which wraps up the residual nucleus of food, and slowly forms Ambergris.
Ambergris discharged into the sea is at first light black, which is worthless. Under the action of seawater, after more than ten years, Ambergris gradually turns brown, grey, light grey, and finally white. White Ambergris has the best quality. It has to be soaked in seawater for more than 100 years to float out all the impurities before it can become the top grade in Ambergris.
"Little Hu, you didn"t really bring me a piece of the best white Ambergris." Su Jing couldn"t believe it. His hands were so cautious as he was afraid of being doing damage to the white ambergris in his hands.
"I found this near a big head monster." Killer whale said.
"Big monster… is it a sperm whale?" Su Jing said. The head of the sperm whale is one-fourth to one-third of its body. It is indeed a big-headed monster. The sperm whale is huge and fierce. It is also a Seamaster. However, compared to the killer whale, it is a little weaker. It is said that there is something that can invade the sperm whale activity area and they are killer whales.
"Let"s ask Shen Hong, although this old fox is sometimes very crafty but his expertise is too strong. He should know Ambergris better." Su Jing called Shen Hong immediately, but there was no answer.
Su Jing thought that Shen Hong might be busy so he took a few photos of the white block, and took a few photos of "Bamboo and Stone Painting". He edited a piece of text and sent it to Shen Hong. He will let him see it first before sending it to the Myriad Treasures Auction House.
Unexpectedly, not long after the photo was sent out, Shen Hong called back, and his voice was full of excitement: "You said that the photo was taken by you, your own Bamboo and Stone Painting and Ambergris?"
"Yeah," Su Jing said.
"Are you at home? I"ll come over to you later." Shen Hong said excitedly, at the same time, he was envious and jealous. How come all the good things came to Su Jing? That"s unfair. What he would never expect was that the Bamboo and Stone Painting was bought from him yesterday for only 1,000 yuan.
"I"ll go to Myriad Treasures Auction House in a day or two at most. You don"t have to come over. First, you have to tell me if this painting is genuine and whether this white thing is Ambergris or not, and if so, how much is it worth?" Su Jing asked.
"How can I tell that just by looking at the picture? But it seems that the Bamboo and Stone Painting is probably the true painting of Zheng Banqiao"s which should be worth more than a million yuans. That white object is also likely to be Ambergris, the best Ambergris of such color, estimated price more than 1,000 yuan a gram, your piece dried about two jin, that is, at least one million yuan. Of course, if you meet a favorite collector, then it"s not based on gram." Shen Hong answered.
Su Jing eyes brighten when he heard this. The Bamboo and Stone Painting really worth a million, Ambergris is also very expensive. Moreover, according to Shen Hong"s character, the price he said is absolutely conservative, that is to say, it may be worth much more than one million, provided that the Bamboo and Stone Painting is authentic and this white substance is Ambergris, because if they are not authentic then tw=hey will be worth nothing.
"I can"t make a precise judgment without seeing the object and testing. When will you come over? Do you have something to do now, or I can come over to your house and help you confirm them." Shen Hong seemed impatient and apparently, he wanted to see the treasure in real form.
"This… All right." For Su Jing, going to Myriad Treasures Auction House is not much different from getting his thing authenticated at home. Home identification may be more rea.s.suring, at least this is his territory.
"When I"m done with my thing, I"ll come. Don"t destroy Ambergris yourself." Shen Hong finished talking and hung up the phone.
"What is so exciting?" asked an old man next to Shen Hong.
"Look at it." Shen Hong handed over the picture on the phone.
"Bamboo and Stone Painting! Ambergris!" The old man"s eyes suddenly lit up. In fact, the Bamboo and Stone Painting were all right. He had seen several authentic works. He was not so surprised. The key was Ambergris, which looked quite pure. He said, "Let"s quickly go there and identify these things. Some people pretend to understand them and do random tests which will result in their destruction."
"Well, hurry up." Shen Hong nodded.
When Su Jing hung up, instead of waiting for Shen Hong at home, he asked killer whale, "Little Hu, you said you found this thing near a Bighead monster site. Can you see the Bighead monster now when you go to sea?"
"I can see they"re still there." Cried killer whale.
"Let"s go and take me to you." Su Jing put the white piece into his home storage room, changed into a swimsuit, put on his diving goggles, and took a camera that he bought a few days ago to take underwater photographs, and rode out to sea on the killer whale.
First, He wants to see the legendary sperm whale with his own eyes. Second, it"s because of the Ambergris that the killer whale brought back, it"s worth visiting nearby to see if there are any more. It"s not too late to search for them as they would not have drifted very far.
After several dozen meters at sea, Su Jing suddenly realized the safety problem. What if he was attacked by the sperm whales? Little Hu, after all, is too young to be an opponent of the sperm whale. But on second thought, sperm whales seldom hunt on the sea. They like to eat squid, octopus and other mollusks. Moreover, sperm whales can"t swim as fast as a killer whale, so he won"t get too close and he would turn around and run away whenever there is a problem.
Su Jing was bold enough to be taken by a killer whale for a quick swim out to sea.
The killer whale took Su Jing and swam for more than an hour before stopping.
Su Jing didn"t know how far away from the sh.o.r.e they were but he couldn"t see the sh.o.r.e at all. There was a sense of helplessness and insignificance in the vast sea. If he hadn"t been accompanied by the killer whale, he would be having a panic attack right about now.
"Little Hu, is it near here?" Su Jing asked.
"Yes." The Killer whale screamed.
"But there are no sperm whale and no Ambergris here." Su Jing said and commanded the killer whale to continue to swim forward and circled a few kilometers in a circle but he still did not see the traces of sperm whale.
"Oh, that"s…" Su Jing"s eyes suddenly lit up and he directed the killer whale to swim past the location he has seen. Then he saw clearly that there were several large pieces of black thing suspended on the sea, which were undoubtedly sperm whale excrement. Su Jing thought about it and did not collect them. It was evident that they had just been excreted and had little value. Only after soaking for at least ten years could they have some value. Only after soaking for at least several decades could they really be regarded as treasures. But who would wait that long? These black things at least have to immerse in the sea for ten years before they can be collected.
"The Sperm whale must be nearby." Su Jing thought about it and suddenly heard a "beep" sound, the killer whale cried happily. Su Jing also had a bright eye. He knew about sperm whales when he read nature magazines. The "beep" should have come from the sperm whale.
"Little Hu, lets dive down and have a look." Su Jing put on his diving goggles, grabbed the dorsal fin of the killer whale, and then he went into the sea head to head and dived slowly. When Su Jing awakened as a Spirit Reader Master, his physical fitness was improved and natural diving became easier. Su Jing just felt a little uncomfortable until he reached 100 meters depth, so he continued to dive, 110 meters, 120 meters… Until about two hundred meters later, Su Jing finally felt terrible and hurried to let killer whale stop and slow down.
However, he still couldn"t see the sperm whale. The Sperm whale dive into the sea and are used to hunting at depths of up to 800 meters. This depth is far from enough to see a picture of sperm whale hunting for prey.
"Let"s take a deeper look." Su Jing hesitated between giving up and continuing to dive, and finally decided to dive again, but he knew that he would not be able to support himself for a long time and he has to swim back up to the sea to breathe.
At Su Jing"s command, the killer whale continued to dive, two hundred and ten meters, two hundred and twenty meters… Su Jing felt his whole body crushed by the seawater and his lungs were almost choked.
Su Jing had to let the killer whale swim back up to the sea to catch his breath.
However, Su Jing didn"t give up, changed his position and let killer whale dive again. He tossed about three times. On the fourth dive, more than 300 meters deep, Su Jing finally saw a sperm whale with a head that was disproportionately large. It looked like a giant tadpole. The whale is racing toward a squid. The squid is actually very big. It is estimated to be six or seven meters long. It"s a huge animal for Su Jing, but it looks very small compared with the large sperm whale.
Su Jing quickly let killer whale catch up and took out his camera to take pictures, feeling a little excited.
Because sperm whales are accustomed to deep-sea predation, the hunting process is difficult to photograph.
On October 15, 2009, a photographer found a female sperm whale and its cubs preying on the sea in the waters near Bonin Island, j.a.pan, and photographed the squid in the mouth of the sperm whale floating above the water. In this photo taken by the photographer, the sperm whale mother"s mouth contains a giant squid about 9 meters long. This photo was posted on National Geographic and became one of the most popular atlases.
However, the photographer only photographed the squid in the mouth of the sperm whale on the sea and did not photograph the whole predation process.
So if Su Jing took a picture of the whole process, it would undoubtedly be of great significance.
"Crack." The Sperm whale emits a sound pulse attack while chasing the squid which almost makes the squid dizzy. Then the whale quickly catches up and bit the giant squid in its mouth, and swallow it. The squid has no resistance at all. Then the sperm whale began to look for other prey and even made sound waves towards Su Jing, who quickly called killer whale to evacuate upstream.
"Ah" Su Jing greedily breathed fresh air as soon as he was on the surface of the water and continue to suck in the air until his breathing was stable. "The whole predation process was photographed. I don"t know what Wu Min reaction would be if I show him these photographs."
Su Jing thought about how Wu Min mentioned last time that Nature Magazine was about to open a column on marine life. If he takes this photo, it should not be difficult to get it in the magazine. But Su Jing only needs to sell photos for money, so he can give Wu Min the right of signature and help him.
Not far away, a sperm whale suddenly floated up and spewed out a column of water. Then, one sperm whale after another came up. They liked to move in groups, often forming small groups of 5-10 heads, sometimes forming large groups of several hundred heads, this group consists of just over twenty sperm whales.
"Back away." Su Jing let the killer whale retreat and shoot photos and videos frantically. This opportunity to see so many sperm whales with one"s own eyes is not always possible. It"s natural to take a souvenir. While watching, Su Jing lamented the magic of the Creator and the value of this trip to the sea.
Su Jing didn"t let killer whale leave until he had seen enough, but instead of going straight home, Su Jing asked killer whale to continue searching nearby to see if any Ambergris could be found.
In fact, Su Jing knows that the probability of finding Ambergris is very low. After all, there are storms and the killer whale took a lot of time in going back and forth. Even if the killer whale found the previous Ambergris and if there were others Ambergris, they would have drifted away to G.o.d knows where.
However, if you do look for it, there"s always a glimmer of hope, isn"t there?
Su Jing directed the killer whale and swam in the direction of the wind and waves. After swimming for more than ten kilometers, he saw a small island far away. What makes Su Jing"s eyes shine is that the island has a sea bay, like a funnel. The seawater is pouring in there. Continue to approach, he can see that the sea bay is under the sand and the sh.o.r.e is also the beach, the coast has a few coconut trees, if not for being a deserted island, it must be a good place to play.
When Su Jing looks at the beach, his pupils suddenly shrink. From a distance, there are a small amount of wood, coconut sh.e.l.ls and other things on the beach. This is not the point. The point is that there are scattered seven or eight "stones". Some are brown and some are gray. They all look like Ambergris.
"So many Ambergris?" Su Jing"s heart beat faster and because the water near the sh.o.r.e was too shallow for the killer whale to swim, Su Jing jumped out of the sea and went up to the sh.o.r.e quickly. In his eyes, the seven or eight stones were just as tempting as the seven or eight swimsuit beauties.