Seeing that I had been silent, Director Qi was a little embarrassed. "Often, country gossip, you don't have to pay too much attention to it, don't you still have believers in this kind of thing, and don't believe it? However, the things in my box may have something to do with what you investigated. ”

Lao Qi's words made me cheer up, and I took the wooden box that had always made me curious from his hand, and slowly opened it.

The wooden box itself is an old object, although it is not made of fine wood, but the carving is very exquisite. The front is a pattern of the four immortals of harmony, the characters are vivid, the density is appropriate, and the surrounding is decorated with entwined branches and lotus patterns, which is complicated and vulgar, and there is a literati elegance.

When I opened the lid of the box, there was supposed to be a brocade lining inside, but it is estimated that it has been a long time and I don't know what to do. In the center of the box is a black stone the size of a fist.

At first glance, it seems to be an ordinary coal block, but under the illumination of the sunset, the stone reflects a faint blue-purple light spot, and the surface also looks very dense, with a little inky jade-like warm texture, and the feel is much heavier than the coal block.

"Is it coal?" I blurted out.

Lao Qi picked up the stone from the wooden box, slowly raised it above his head, and shone it up in the soft reddish light from the west.

"Often, we have a saying here about a thousand carts of coal and a piece of fine stone, which is the rarity of this coal essence stone. In ancient times, people believed that coal essence stone was formed by absorbing the aura of the surrounding coal, so there would be no second piece of coal essence stone within 100 meters around. This is, of course, a story made up by a jeweler, and according to the current version, the difference between coal and ordinary coal is the difference in the ancient tree species that formed coal, and coal stone is a rare form of ancient tree rich in resin. But it is true that the Chengjialing mine has not dug up coal essence for many years. ”

"Curator Qi, is this coal essence stone in your hand from the current mine or an old object from the Ming and Qing dynasties?" The small section next to him seemed to be intoxicated by the erratic reflection of the coal essence stone, and couldn't help but ask.

"Officer Duan, the first half of your words are wrong. This is actually not coal fine stone, but coal fine jade. The so-called 10,000-year-old coal essence, 10,000-year-old jet. Coal jade is much rarer than coal stone, and the hardness is much greater. If you look closely at the sun, you will see its magic. "Lao Qi moved the stone in the direction of me and Xiao Duan.

The western sun shone down the edge of the coal jade, and my eyes were less than ten centimeters away from it. At that moment, I seemed to have some strange hallucination, the sunlight no longer seemed to be direct, but like flowing water, after shining on the backlit surface of the coal jade, it slowly flowed along the moist edge, and this faint light eventually wrapped the whole stone.

At this time, the original inky black stone seemed to have light seeping into it. That's right, it's like ink on the rice paper, slowly spreading out, slowly seeping down. The difference is only that the rice paper is more and more black, while the coal stone slowly becomes transparent. I seem to be able to see the lines and spots on the inside of the coal essence stone, perhaps because of the crystals and mineral impurities in it, and there are also some fine sand-like particles reflecting the faint light, flickering and flickering, and the light is strange.

In this way, observing the coal essence jade in the sun, although the sunlight is not dazzling, but in just one minute, it still makes the eyes very tired, and soon, there are many small spots in front of the eyes, the focus is not accurate, and the muscles under the eyes also begin to ache. I was about to take a break when I noticed that a point of light in front of the coal stone seemed to be moving slowly, slowly sinking from the middle of the coal stone like a stone falling into grease. I thought it was a hallucination, but when I rubbed my eyes and looked again, the point of light was gone.

Is it the legendary jade bag of water? That is, the water urchin that jade collectors dream of? In my impression, there are water urchins in crystals, agate, and Hetian jade, which are all one in a million probability, such as the water urchs the size of coal essence jade in front of me, which are all national treasures after being carved. But there are water urchins in the coal essence jade, which is really unheard of.

There have always been two theories about the formation of water urch, one is that at the beginning of the formation of ore, it is wrapped with liquid, and under great pressure, it is formed at one time. Another theory is that there were some tiny holes on the surface of the original ore, and the stone sank into the underground river, and the water seeped into the ore along the holes, and then under high temperature and pressure, the holes outside the ore were squeezed and disappeared, and the water remained inside the ore.

But these two statements about the formation of water galls are unreasonable for coal essence jade. The formation of crystals and jade is related to volcanic eruptions and crustal extrusion, and has its suddenness. But the formation of coal, including coal jade, is sedimentation, very slowly superimposed layer by layer, and it is mainly rotting trees, and there are no geological conditions for the formation of water galls. I suspect it was my eyes that deceived me.

"Old Qi, is this a piece of coal essence jade with a water urchin?" I asked, taking the stone and shaking it in my ear, but there was no expected sound of water flowing, is it really my delusion?

"Lao Chang, you're right, it's a piece of jade bag of water, but it's not water inside. Curator Qi said, taking out a flashlight from his pocket and handing it to me.

"In the early years, a miner inadvertently chiseled a piece of jade bag water, which was a viscous liquid like oil, but it smelled bad, and I don't know what it was, but as soon as it came into contact with the air, a layer of light blue phosphorus fire-like light appeared on the surface, and it evaporated in more than ten seconds, leaving only a layer of black hard shell. But once the coal essence jade is knocked open, the liquid inside flows out, and the jade immediately loses its luster, which is no different from the coal, I don't know why. ”

As Curator Qi spoke, I turned on the flashlight and shone through the coal essence jade from the bottom. Lao Qi's flashlight is a concentrating lightlight, and its brightness is much brighter than the sunlight just now. I shook the stone from side to side, and this time I finally confirmed that in the center of the stone, there was a hollow one the size of a quail egg, and the liquid in it was very viscous and full of holes, and it was difficult to detect its existence without looking closely.

"Old Qi, is this water urchin old or newly dug up?" I put the coal essence jade back into the wooden box.

"I got it from a miner a year ago, and it was dug in Shaft 17. Hearing Lao Qi's answer, I suddenly had a strange thought. Two years ago, Liao Huansheng once told me that there is a saying about the formation of jade bag water in the literary entertainment industry, since ancient times, people who have hidden jade believe that jade is spiritual, and the spiritual power of jade is no different from living beings, they are all cultivated over the years. The more water in the jade, the deeper the path of the jade, the greater the spiritual power.

Of course, it is the living beings who have evil thoughts, and there are also some spiritual jade who go crazy in the process of cultivation and suffer from the curse of God, at this time the water urchin in the jade begins to become turbid, and when it turns into black water, the chalcedony is completely dead. Could it be that the water urchin in the coal essence jade is the remains of the spirit jade that has failed in cultivation?

Chatting and chatting, the sun had already sunk into the back of the west wing, the cool breeze of the night was blowing, and a voice suddenly sounded in the courtyard outside, "Lao Qi, Lao Qi, where are the comrades from the central government, I picked them up, and the secretary is waiting in the guest house." ”

Curator Qi smiled faintly at me, "Let's go, the entertainment is here, I'll send you out." ”

Walking into the maze again, Director Qi handed me a few rare books in his hand, "Lao Chang, this is the Guangling County Chronicle and a book of persuasion written by the host of Guangling Xijue Temple, which all mention some of the situation of the Chengjialing Mine, you can use it for some reference." If there is a mining accident in the Chengjialing mine, you come down to check, then you must pay more attention, what really happened under the pit, I'm afraid no one knows. ”

I was quite grateful for Director Qi's honesty, and after two thanks, I went to the front yard. When he was about to leave the hospital, he suddenly found that Lao Qi looked worried, and was about to ask, Lao Qi sighed and said thoughtlessly, "Lao Chang, the strange things in the Chengjialing Mine have been around for hundreds of years, no matter how you get it, the mine is still closed, and some people have made great efforts to investigate, but there is no result." You have to check, and if you don't bother with it, I'd like to go down the well with you. ”

Director Qi's self-recommendation was beyond my expectations, although he was very knowledgeable about the history of the Chengjialing Mine, but considering his body and possible accidents underground, he still politely declined him. But I was still very puzzled in my heart, judging from the previous conversation, Director Qi seemed to know what was happening in the mine, and the information he showed us today seemed to be prepared for a long time, and what he just said, I vaguely felt as if he was deliberately hiding something, was it really just curiosity that he wanted to go down the mine? But I didn't have time to think about it, I was already dragged into the car by Director Xue, and went all the way to the county party committee guest house.

The secretary of the Guangling County Party Committee led the team, accompanied by the leaders of a group of functional departments in the county, this kind of banquet really did not arouse my interest, but I had to be patient to drink and talk. Xiao Duan understood that I didn't like this kind of entertainment, and while helping me block the wine, he chatted about some strange cases encountered by the Special Investigation Division, which successfully took away the attention of the owner of the dinner table.

Taking advantage of this rare leisure, I quickly went through the situation I had learned in Lao Qi in the afternoon. The amount of information in Lao Qi's place was too large, far beyond my expectations, but after recombing it in my brain, some hidden clues slowly became clear.

(The Buddha is made in nature, do not seek outside the body.) Self-consciousness is sentient beings, and self-consciousness is Buddha. Compassion is Guanyin, joy is called Shizhi, energy is purity, and straightness is Mita. People and I are Sumeru, greed is seawater, troubles are waves, poison is evil dragons, vanity is ghosts and gods, and dust is fish and turtles. Greed is hell, foolishness is a beast. --"The Altar of the Six Patriarchs")