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

Wang An felt that this tortoise-shaped tally might be from the Tang Dynasty, because in his memory, Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty used tortoise-shaped tallies to command her military generals.

However, Wang An wasn't sure either, mainly because he hadn't even graduated from junior high school and was completely clueless about these things.

Huang Zhong nodded, looking bewildered, and continued to reach his hand into the jar.

This time, Huang Zhong took out a large bronze seal.

The seal is about 3 centimeters long, wide and high. It is carved with a Bai Ze, which is exquisitely carved, as if Bai Ze is about to step down from the seal at any time.

The entire seal is well preserved, with only a small amount of grease adhering to the grooves and corners.

Even now, the price of this bronze "Bai Ze" seal is definitely no less than that of the "Xie Zhi" seal that Wang An obtained from Wei Cheng, and may even be much higher.

As is well known, before the Sui and Tang dynasties, large seals made of jade, bronze, silver, or gold were more popular. However, after the Yuan and Ming dynasties, stone seals became the mainstream, such as those made of Qingtian stone and Shoushan stone.

Wang An took the Bai Ze seal from Huang Zhong and said with a big smile:

"This thing works! This thing is pretty good, hehehe."

Upon hearing this, Huang Zhong immediately asked:

"Brother, how much is this thing worth?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said:

"If this thing is fixed up, it'll be worth about the price of a Jialing 70 motorcycle."

Huang Zhong exclaimed in surprise:
"My goodness, this little copper lump can be traded for a motorcycle? It's incredibly valuable!"

In Huang Zhong's mind, the Jialing 70 motorcycle was an extremely expensive item. He loved the motorcycle that Wang An "lent" him to the core, and after each ride, he would push it into the shed and wipe it clean.

That's not wrong of him. After all, 3 yuan was a huge sum of money back then. Even for a regular employee, it would take six or seven years to save up that amount without eating or drinking.

Now Huang Zhong learned that the price of a single copper seal was comparable to that of a motorcycle, how could Huang Zhong not be shocked?

After Huang Zhong finished speaking, Wang An nodded and said:
"Hmm, this thing might be from the Han Dynasty, and it's worth about the same as a motorcycle."

Looking at the exquisite Bai Ze carving on the bronze seal, Wang An couldn't help but feel great admiration for the ancient craftsmen.

Wang An could also carve, but he believed that his carving skills were simply not on the same level as the craftsman who carved the Bai Ze seal, and there was no comparison at all.

The main problem is that it doesn't have the same charm as other people's carvings.

Huang Zhong continued to scoop things out of the jar, and unexpectedly pulled out two small yellow croakers and a small bag of silver dollars.

However, it is quite obvious that this jar of things was the last to be hidden, because the contents inside were very mixed and not stored in any particular category.

After putting the contents they had taken out back into the jar, Wang An and Huang Zhong continued digging.

However, even after the two of them had dug up the entire slope at the bottom of the pit, no more "clanging" sounds were heard.

Wang An felt that Song Ping might have only hidden these three jars of things, which he and Huang Zhongquan had already dug out.

The main point is that Song Ping, as an ordinary peddler, is already quite impressive for being able to collect so many good things.

Although antiques from this time are not as valuable as they would be in later generations, money was indeed very valuable back then.

For example, a silver ingot. At that time, a silver ingot was only worth thirty or forty yuan. But you should know that thirty or forty yuan was already a month's salary for a regular employee.

The reason Wang An thought the silver ingots were worthless was simply because he was now too wealthy; a few dozen or a few hundred dollars could no longer affect his emotions.

Looking at the half of the pit that hadn't been dug down the slope, Wang An turned to Huang Zhong and said, "I think there's probably nothing left in this half of the pit. Let's stop digging and go home."

The two started digging from the top of the slope at the bottom of the pit. After the third jar was dug out, they had been digging for more than an hour without finding anything.

Huang Zhong, already panting heavily from exhaustion, said upon hearing this:
"Yeah, I think there are only these three jars left, so there's probably nothing else."

Wang An looked at the jar containing tiger bones and tiger penis, and said with a happy expression:

"Then let's do it this way, load these things onto the sleds and get out of here."

Because of the tiger penis and tiger bone, Wang An was in a very good mood. Even if he continued digging, he might find other things, but he didn't care anymore.

As I said before, "Given Song Ping's abilities, it's already quite an achievement that he was able to hide so many things."

As they were talking, Wang An and Huang Zhong gathered their tools together. They first carried the three jars onto the sled, and then Huang Zhong ran back into the pit and carried all the tools, including the pickaxe, out of the mass grave.

Just as Wang An was about to leave with his sled, he glanced at his watch and realized it was almost 2 p.m., so he asked Huang Zhong:

"How about we make a fire, roast some buns here, have a quick meal, and then go back?"

Huang Zhong replied:

"If you're hungry, brother, I'll go chop some firewood right now."

Wang An countered with a question:
"You've been busy all morning, it's almost two o'clock, aren't you hungry?"

Huang Zhong laughed and said:

"I had rice cakes and mutton offal soup for breakfast, which is really filling, but I'm not hungry at all, hehehehe."

Wang An rolled his eyes at Huang Zhong and said:

"Alright then, let's eat when we get home. If we delay any longer, it will be dark by the time we get home."

Wang An handed Huang Zhong a cigarette, and the two lit them up before walking back together.

On the way, Wang An suddenly asked Huang Zhong:
"This trip wasn't a complete waste, so how much stuff should I give you?"

In Wang An's view, although Huang Zhong was just his subordinate who helped him with the work, he should still give Huang Zhong a share of the spoils since they went into the mountains together.

Wang An was unsure about how much to allocate.

After Wang An finished speaking, Huang Zhong immediately said:
"Hey, why would you share with me? I don't need these things. Besides, I'm just following you, big brother. You can provide me with food and lodging, right? What would it look like if I shared more stuff with you?"

Wang An thought for a moment, mainly calculating the value of the items he had obtained. Excluding the silver ingots, Bai Ze seal, tortoise talisman, small yellow croaker, and silver coins, the tiger bones and tiger penis alone were worth around 2.

Therefore, Wang An said:

"Those silver bowls and official seals are useless to you anyway. And don't even talk about lending the motorcycle anymore, it's completely yours from now on. And those two gold bars are yours too. What do you say?"

When Wang An bought the motorcycle and said he would lend it to Huang Zhong, Huang Zhong knew that Wang An was ostensibly lending him the motorcycle, but in reality, it was a gift to him.

However, upon hearing Wang An's words, Huang Zhong was still pleasantly surprised and said:
"Gold bars are useless to me, I can't sell them anyway. Just give me the motorcycle, hehehe."

Wang An patted Huang Zhong on the shoulder, wanting to tell him that his family had so much gold that he genuinely didn't care about these two small gold bars.

However, before he could finish speaking, Wang An said:

"If you can't sell them, just leave them with your mother. They can be passed down as family heirlooms, isn't that good? At the current gold price, those two gold bars weigh four ounces, which is worth five or six thousand yuan. Do you really think those things are worthless?" (End of Chapter)