crossing yin and yang

Chapter 29 Ghost City

The so-called "ghost market" first appeared in the old Beijing city. It is a kind of antique trading market that opens from midnight to early morning. It usually buys and sells some obscure items, such as the treasures sold by the ruined princes, and the curios stolen from the palace by the eunuch. , or the burial utensils obtained by tomb robbers.Sellers set up stalls in the open air in the wilderness. Buyers and sellers would gesticulate and compare prices in their sleeves if they wanted to, without even saying a word. The whole market was silent and dark, so it was called a ghost market.In this kind of market, there are a lot of rare genuine goods, but there are absolutely no shortage of fake goods. Anyone who scours for goods has to pick them up by themselves with a lantern.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was another cultural catastrophe, and more and more antiques were scattered among the people. This kind of ghost market naturally became popular, such as Beijing's Panjiayuan and Tianjin's Dangdao. It is limited to curios, but has been extended to all cultural and daily necessities.Later, the cultural relics circle was consciously hyped, and ghost market cultures appeared in various places. Buyers delusional to pick up big leaks, while sellers took advantage of this mentality to cheat. However, stories of picking up leaks are still spread every year. , It also makes the ghost city culture enduring.

As an emerging city of culture and entertainment, this city also has ghost markets, but the opening time is not at midnight, but at 6 o'clock in the morning on Saturdays, and it has an elegant name called "Antique Morning Market".The location is on Xizhao Road in the old city, not far from Fanglin Road, and it can be regarded as a product born on the cultural street.No, early in the morning, the street was full of stalls, and every household opened their shops. Calligraphy and painting, porcelain, old furniture, four treasures of the study, gold and jade vessels, bamboo carvings, strange stones, rare books, and many more The swindler dressed up as an honest and honest countryman, and there was a "thousand-year-old Polygonum multiflorum" or a bronze ware covered in dirt, waiting for the victim to come to his door.

In such a market, of course Wei Yang had to keep a close eye on the person around him, and let Zhang Xiuqi walk in the middle of the relatively spacious road. He whispered, "Brother Qi, you have to be careful in this kind of place, don't Go to the stalls with porcelain, some unscrupulous stall owners will still play Pingci, especially the opposite faces or tourists, we don't need to join in the fun. The coin sellers are in the corner of the east side of the road, there are real ones and fake ones , when the time comes, you pick your own, don’t open your mouth about the price, just leave it to me.”

Zhang Xiuqi just nodded, walking steadily, his gaze was still on Wei Yang, it seemed that the stalls on both sides of the road were selling radishes and cabbages, it was of no value to turn his head away.Wei Yang couldn't help but smile, maybe for this little celestial master, antiques are really like this, the shape and material have no meaning to him at all, only the magical "luck" is worthy of attention, but in such a genuine In the ghost market where there are so few fakes and so many fakes, it may not be easy to attract his attention.

Since they didn't mean to look at the stalls one by one, the two of them naturally quickened their pace, and in a short while they reached the east end of the street, where there were several coin stalls occupying both sides of the road, but the things were almost the same, Wei Yang It makes me laugh when I see it, this is also the most basic method of the quack. A store is divided into two stalls for sale. If the price is too high for the goods that I fancy, or the seller is angry, the buyer is likely to choose a nearby one, even if the price is different. Few will buy it at once, but they don't know that it is a business, which just caters to the customers' compensatory psychology of "picking" and "making prices". Let alone antiques, many fruit sellers in the vegetable market will do this. .

Now that he knew the door-welcoming pestle, he naturally didn't need to choose a stall. Wei Yang directly chose a stall with a lot of goods and squatted down. He saw more than a dozen large coins in good condition packed in the most eye-catching plastic card bags. In the middle of the booth, next to them are some utensils and ornaments strung with red strings, like various variants of five emperors' coins, and behind them are a large pile of tattered ancient coins, piled up like waste products into a hill. The opened sacks are crooked, and I don't know how many are still in stock.

Seeing a business coming, the boss squatting in front of the booth greeted: "Are you two here to find money? I have the most goods here, and they are all collected from the countryside. They are available in any year, and everything is genuine... ..."

This is unbelievable at all, Wei Yang raised the corners of his lips: "Okay, boss, my house used to be molded bronze, and most of the things on your stall are from Fangkou, right? Today I'm just here with my friends, I don't plan to take any rare goods, you can give me a real price, and we can pick some loose money by ourselves."

Fangkou is also a large "handicraft" distribution center in this city, and there are all kinds of fake products. The boss looked at the two of them, and was a little unsure whether the young man was telling the truth or a lie, but his tone was obviously not so enthusiastic. , chin raised the pile of money on the back: "We are also honest people, those are really local goods, if you want it sincerely, it costs eight yuan a piece, and you can get a discount if you get more."

The market price of coins ranges from two yuan to 2 yuan. The most important thing is the year and craftsmanship, as well as the appearance of the coins themselves.The purity of copper coins is not high, and they are not corrosion-resistant. Unless they are stored in a very good cellar or buried with a tomb, it is difficult to preserve them in good condition.On the contrary, those copper coins with different grades have quite a large reserve, and the market price has not been high, and there is no shortage of counterfeiting. However, some people really don't want to spend the cost of counterfeiting this kind of goods that are collected by the catty.

The stall owner here is obviously also a "purchaser party", and the "native goods" used for funerals are collected. The probability of real things is naturally much higher. It is not impossible to pick up the leaks, but the boss has roughly scanned the money. Well, even if it's a leak, it's just a small leak with a price difference of a hundred yuan, it's not worth bothering at all, and the price is fair.Wei Yang was also knowledgable, so he took Zhang Xiuqi to the back to pick out coins without any counter-offering.

Although it is said to be picking antiques, the piles of old money scraped up are almost like scrapping garbage. Wei Yang only helped to turn over a few times and got his hand covered with copper rust and dust. The inscriptions on this pile of money are not very obvious, and most of them can only be seen Even if the word "Tongbao" came out, I couldn't guess which dynasty it belonged to, but Zhang Xiuqi picked it very quickly, as if he could find what he wanted with just a glance.However, the five baht he chose was very few, most of them were Kaiyuan Tongbao, and occasionally there were a few Hongwu Tongbao and Yongle Tongbao, all of which were Xiaoping coins, not to mention their appearance.

Not long after, a small pile of copper plates appeared beside the two of them. Wei Yang couldn't help picking up a few rusty copper coins and weighed them curiously: "What kind of luck is really in this thing?"

Since he was outside, his voice was naturally a little low, but Zhang Xiuqi still heard it, he paused, picked out three coins from the picked out money, and put them in Wei Yang's hands: "Three talents."

Those are three Tongbao, two Hongwu, and one Yongle. Needless to say, they are of course the emperor titles of the two emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Chengzu.Zhang Xiuqi didn't talk nonsense, and flicked the top coin with his fingertips, only to hear a ding, and the three copper coins rang softly at the same time, like a concerto.Wei Yang was taken aback immediately: "All of this can be done? Sancai Formation?"

Zhang Xiuqi nodded, and then pointed to the coins on the ground: "Three talents, seven evil spirits, and nine declines, to get rid of evil spirits."

Wei Yang suddenly remembered that when he killed Huang Zhou, it seemed that seven copper coins had trapped the monster's figure. It seemed that the so-called Seven Demon Formation was absolutely extraordinary, and the little magic stick's eyes suddenly lit up: "Brother Qi, can you help me with the five emperors' money or something, the kind that blocks evil spirits and prosperous wealth is the best!"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Xiuqi frowned: "Fu Yu, Fu Yu is stronger."

Ah... Wei Yang suddenly lost his temper, yes, he still has the treasures from Longhu Mountain, what is so rare about these things.It's just that this mysterious array of copper coins inevitably makes people curious, and the five emperors' money has been passed on for so long, so it would be cool to bring a real guy.Zhang Xiuqi looked at him seriously, and seemed to sense the depression in the other party's heart. After thinking for a while, he picked up a few coins from the ground and stuffed them into Wei Yang's hands: "Cinnabar, chicken blood, red thread, perforated. Can trap evil spirits. "

Dye the red rope with cinnabar and chicken blood, and then put it through the copper coin hole, which can trap evil spirits.In just a split second, Wei Yang translated the meaning of the little celestial master's words.This kind of copper coin array is just trapping, not killing or weakening, but in contrast, what Zhang Xiuqi handed him was an ordinary copper coin that he picked up casually.It seems that there is a real thing about the money belt, and this trick is a real kung fu that can be used. Wei Yang was stunned for a moment, and laughed: "Is there really a simple version? Thank you Brother Qi!"

Seeing that Wei Yang was refreshed, Zhang Xiuqi also seemed a little happy. He bent down and rummaged through the pile of money for a long time, collected 49 copper coins, and handed the money to Wei Yang.

"Is that enough?" Wei Yang counted, without hesitation, scanned another eleven, added an integer, and brought it directly to the boss.

"Hey, you two have really good eyes..." The boss opened his mouth and was about to boast.

Wei Yang waved his hand directly, "We just took it home for fun, and didn't pick the quality at all. Boss, please give me a price, sixty pieces."

With one sentence, the boss's business experience was blocked again. He secretly lucked out, and said through gritted teeth, "400 yuan, I'll give it to you if you want it."

"It's not much cheaper..." Wei Yang glanced at the booth, "Will you spare me a coffin nail?"

On the far right side of the stall, there is indeed a coffin nail, about five inches long, but the skin on the nail has been corroded, and the two pointed ends are like broken iron bars. Be taken care of by the boss.However, after hearing what Wei Yang said, the boss became vigilant. Isn't this a typical trick of picking up leaks?He opened his mouth and retorted: "I spent a lot of money to collect this..."

"Oh, forget it, why don't you give me a few more copper coins?" Wei Yang interrupted him nonchalantly, as if he didn't have much interest in the coffin nails.

boss:"……"

Is this Nima picking up the loopholes or really wanting to add a head? !After struggling for a long time, he gritted his teeth and finally said, "If you want this coffin nail, please add another 200 yuan."

"The nails are almost rusted, do you think I'm stupid?" Wei Yang snorted disdainfully, "Don't talk nonsense, quickly add a few copper coins, I'll take 400 yuan."

The boss had a heartache, gritted his teeth and waved his hand: "Forget it, you can add another 50 yuan, and take away the coffin nails together! No matter how you say it, it's a real guy, it's not a loss!"

This coffin nail was actually used by the shipper to weigh the scale. It was mixed with copper coins and stuffed in. It was a money-losing product. It couldn't be sold and was reluctant to throw it away. It made him feel bad for a long time. Today came the one he wanted. Stupid, how could he be willing to smash it in his hands, it doesn't look like a leak anyway.

Wei Yang hesitated for a moment this time, and finally pointed to Qiandui: "Then you add a few more..."

Without further ado, the boss grabbed five copper coins from the money pile and slapped them in Wei Yang's hands: "Is it all right now?"

Those few thin copper plates were of the worst quality. Wei Yang handed over 450 yuan with some reluctance, and asked the boss to wrap up the copper coins and iron nails, and led Zhang Xiaotian to the next stall.

Seeing that they were far away, Wei Yang came close to Zhang Xiuqi's ear and said, "Brother Qi, I think you just took a look at this coffin nail, isn't it also a useful thing?"

Zhang Xiuqi nodded: "The nail is too rusty."

"Is that still useful?"

"Yes, not much."

"Hey, it's good that it's useful, at least not at a loss." Wei Yangzhi put away the coffin nails complacently, but he knew too well the difference between the "useful" standard of a little celestial master and the real usefulness.And I heard from the old magic stick that Mr. Zeng used five-inch nails to poke zombies. You can guess that Mr. Zeng used this kind of coffin nails. This thing also has the effect of suppressing evil spirits and removing evil spirits in Feng Shui , it is estimated that it is still enough to be used as an ordinary object.

It only cost a few hundred yuan to buy a bunch of magical artifacts, and it was a rewarding return. Wei Yang was carrying a small bag and whistling, and was about to take the little celestial master home. Unexpectedly, when he passed by the alley, Zhang Xiuqi suddenly stopped. , frowned, and looked towards a stall not far away.

Wei Yang turned his head and looked over there, he could vaguely see a small stall, and couldn't help wondering: "What's on that stall?"

"Zen luck."

Following the words, Zhang Xiuqi had already started to walk towards the stall, but Wei Yang quickly grabbed him: "Brother Qi, the sellers are very smart now, and it's not easy to pick up leaks. You can go there later." Touch and look at the treasure, but you must not open your mouth, and you must not keep your eyes on it, let me buy it for you, please?"

Zhang Xiuqi didn't seem to understand the meaning of his words, but he nodded seriously: "Okay."

With a sigh of relief, Wei Yang knew that this was convincing people, and he also knew very well that ninety-nine out of ten things that can make the little celestial master care so much are good products, and this time he was lucky!After adjusting his facial expression, he chuckled: "Let's pick up the leak."