Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Huang Zhong was no stranger to tiger and leopard bones, because the Wang An family had all of these things, and they also made various kinds of bone wine.

Huang Zhong had also heard Wang An, Wang Li, and others mention the preciousness of tiger bones during their conversations.

The only downside is that this thing must not be known to anyone; if someone reports it, you might end up in jail.

As he spoke, Wang An removed the gauze wrapped around the bone, revealing it to the two of them.

This bone is the most precious and valuable tibia among tiger bones.

Looking at the dried tiger bone before him, devoid of any flesh or blood, Wang An chuckled and said:
"Not bad, not bad. That old bastard Song Ping knows how to preserve bones, hahaha. Not bad, not bad, really not bad."

Normally, the best way for people to preserve valuable bones, such as tiger bones, leopard bones, sheep bones, bear bones, and deer bones with high medicinal value, for a long time is to soak them in alcohol.

This way, not only will the bones not deteriorate, but all the precious substances contained within the bones will also be released.

Secondly, it is dried and stored.

The reason it's dried by baking rather than air-drying is because during the air-drying process, if it's not stored properly or if the weather changes, the bone marrow inside can easily spoil and develop a rancid smell.

However, while dried bones can be preserved for a long time, there are also drawbacks, namely, the loss of some of the precious substances and nutrients contained in the bones.

However, if the goal is to sell the bone at a higher price later, or if the bone is not needed in the short term, then one cannot worry about such things.

Hefted the heavy shinbone in his hand, then smiled and wrapped it up again.

After Wang An finished speaking, Huang Zhong pointed to the other cotton cloth bundles that he had already placed on the snow and said:
"Big brother, could this be the bone of the whole big paw?"

Wang An nodded and said:

"Hmm, there are so many bones here. I don't think it's a whole tiger's bones, but it should be just a few pieces."

As he spoke, Wang An squeezed each of the packages, but when he touched one of them, his hand, which was squeezing the package, suddenly stopped.

Wang An could tell that this cotton cloth wrapping was completely different from the hard, stiff wrappings he had squeezed before.

Wang An was overjoyed and immediately thought of a possibility: the package most likely contained tiger penis.

With excited hearts and trembling hands, after Wang An opened all the cotton and plastic wrappings of the package, sure enough, a tiger whip that wasn't too big and had many barbs on it appeared before their eyes.

Wang An squeezed the dried tiger penis and said excitedly:

"That old rascal Song Ping is really good. He did exactly what I wanted, hahaha."

Just two years ago, tiger penis could only sell for four or five thousand yuan, but now the price easily exceeds ten thousand yuan.

There's no way around it; it's just like the old saying, "things are valued for their scarcity."

With the number of Siberian tigers decreasing, the protection policies for them are becoming increasingly stringent. Now, even for the powerful and wealthy, acquiring a tiger penis is extremely difficult, making price increases inevitable.

With just this one tiger whip, Wang An felt that this trip to the mass grave was extremely worthwhile.

After rewrapping the tiger penis, Wang An said to Huang Zhong with a smile:
"Alright, let's put all these bones back and keep digging to see if that old bastard Song Ping has hidden any other good stuff."

Wang Anke remembered that Song Shuanzhu said Song Ping had also tinkered with tortoise-shaped tallies and seals.

However, the seal and the tortoise-shaped tally have yet to appear. Wang An was pleased, and Huang Zhong, as his subordinate, was even more so. Hearing Wang An's instructions, Huang Zhong cheerfully agreed:

"Okay, brother."

Looking at the tiger bones and tiger penis that Huang Zhong had put back into the jar, Wang An never expected that after Song Ping poisoned that old mountain dog, he would also take away the old mountain dog's tiger bones and tiger penis.

Of course, Song Ping's reason for poisoning that old mountain dog was probably for the tiger bones, tiger penis, and tiger skin.

The main reason is that Song Ping, as a traveling peddler, must have been very aware of the value of the things on the tiger, so it's quite normal for him to have evil intentions.

Song Ping could never have imagined that all the good stuff he had worked so hard to obtain, including murder and robbery, would end up going to Wang An. Not only had he wasted all his efforts, but he had also lost his life in the end.

There was nothing we could do. We were all doing our own thing peacefully, but Song Ping insisted on poisoning Wang An's house and even killed two of his dogs. Isn't this a classic example of "you reap what you sow"?

After collecting the tiger bones, the two continued digging, and soon that familiar "clanging" sound rang out again.

This jar is still a small jar, similar in appearance to the first one that was dug up, but much larger.

Without Wang An's instruction, Huang Zhong took the initiative to step forward and pry the small jar out.

After breaking the wax seal, Huang Zhong took out the items inside one by one.

The first item is a small silver bowl, which is very exquisitely crafted and is engraved with phoenixes and auspicious clouds.

The second item is a small bronze incense burner, carved with lotus flowers and leaves, which looks lifelike and is particularly beautiful.

The third item is a bronze mirror, engraved with patterns of several people riding horses and flowers, which looks very artistic.

Immediately afterwards, Huang Zhong took out seven more silver ingots of different sizes and shapes. It was unclear where Song Ping had gotten so many silver ingots from.

However, it is certain that Song Shuanzhu did not lie.

After taking out the silver ingots, Huang Zhong took out a bronze tortoise-shaped talisman from the jar. This talisman was covered with a lot of green patina, which almost completely enveloped the talisman.

Holding the tortoise-shaped talisman the size of his palm, Huang Zhong asked with a face full of curiosity:
"Brother, doesn't this thing look just like a bastard?"

Wang An laughed heartily, took the tortoise-shaped tally, and said:

"Yeah, this thing is indeed a bastard, but it's called a tortoise talisman. Its function is similar to the tiger talisman you see on TV, except that the tiger talisman is in two halves, while this tortoise talisman is a single piece for some reason."

Huang Zhong immediately asked:

"Is this thing valuable?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said:
"It should be worth at least several hundred yuan."

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhong said in great surprise:

"Brother, this little thing is useless, yet it's worth several hundred yuan?"

Wang An looked at Huang Zhong with a faint smile and said:

"This thing is called an antique; it's studied for its historical and cultural value, not its size." (End of Chapter)