"Old man, your money is gone. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

The old man in a tunic and liberation shoes was walking and walking, and suddenly felt someone tap him on the shoulder, and turned his head to see that it was the young man he had met at the antique stall just now.

Seeing the stack of banknotes handed over by Qin Fan, the old man was stunned for a moment, touched his pocket, and only then did he find that the money in his pocket was gone.

"Young man, thank you for helping me get it back." The old man took the banknote and thanked Qin Fan. There are many people in the antique market, and he also lost a few times here a while ago, but the amount is not large, only a few hundred yuan.

Today, because he wanted to buy the horn knife, he brought so much money out, but he didn't expect to be targeted by thieves. If Qin Fan hadn't made a move, his money would have gone into the pockets of these thieves.

"There are dragons and snakes mixed here, everyone has them, old man, you have to be careful, and your wealth will not be exposed."

Qin Fan reminded him, and just as he and Meng Xiaowei were about to leave, they seemed to suddenly remember something, and patted their heads and said to the old man with a surprised face, "I remember, you are the dean of Tang Huaiyuan of the School of Archaeology, Culture and Museums of Yan University?" ”

"Young man, you are also a student of the Academy of Cultural Museums? No, I don't think I've seen you. ”

Tang Huaiyuan squinted his eyes and looked at Qin Fan carefully, although he was old, he had a good memory, as long as he had seen someone before, he would definitely have an impression.

"Dean Tang, you haven't seen me. I am a freshman who has just been admitted to Yan University this year, and I have seen your photos in school. It's just that I haven't seen you in person, so I won't recognize you for a while. ”

Qin Fan didn't expect it to be such a coincidence, and met Dean Tang Huaiyuan in the Liuli Factory.

Dean Tang is not only the dean of the College of Culture and Museums but also a professor of archaeology, and has great influence and connections in the academic community, and has a great reputation.

It's just that people who haven't met Professor Tang Huaiyuan wouldn't have thought that Professor Tang was so simple in life.

"Professor Tang, why don't we go to a nearby restaurant and sit down for a bite to eat, and I want to ask you to tell me about this horn knife." Now that he met Professor Tang, Qin Fan naturally would not let go of the opportunity to ask him for advice.

Tang Huaiyuan hesitated for a while, and his eyes lit up when he saw the horn knife in Qin Fan's hand. The purpose of his visit to Liulichang Antique Street this time was this horn knife, but it turned out that Qin Fan bought it first.

"Okay then."

Under Meng Xiaowei's introduction, Qin Fan and Professor Tang Huaiyuan came to a small teahouse with a relatively quiet environment, found a private room to sit down, and ordered a few signature snacks and snacks.

"Professor Tang, this horn knife looks a little old, but I'm a little unsure of the specific age, so why don't you come and explain it to me."

Taking advantage of the fact that the dishes had not yet come up, Qin Fan handed the horn knife he had just bought to Tang Huaiyuan, and said humbly.

Tang Huaiyuan seemed to be very satisfied with Qin Fan's humble attitude of asking for advice, took out a magnifying glass, carefully observed and studied the totem on the scabbard, and explained to Qin Fan, "This horn knife is very old, judging from the cracks on it and the aging degree of the horn, the date should be around 150 BC, that is, the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that we are familiar with. ”

"And in my opinion, this horn knife is not a Han thing, but from the Western Regions at that time."

Qin Fan listened carefully to Tang Huaiyuan's explanation, since the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions geographically refers to the Yumen Pass, the west of the sunshine, the green ridge is the east of today's Panier Plateau, the east and south of Lake Balkhash, and the vast area of the new province.

"I also went back to check the information to confirm that this horn knife came from the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty. Not only that, this horn knife is very delicately polished, and it should have been inlaid with gems and jade on the handle and scabbard, which belonged to luxury goods in ancient times, and should have been worn by the nobles of the Western Regions. ”

"It's just a pity that the gems and jade inlaid on it have been torn off, and only the handle and scabbard remain."

Tang Huaiyuan shook his head with some regret, if the gems and jade inlaid on the horn knife were still there, it would definitely be extremely collectible, but now there is only the handle and scabbard left.

As he spoke, Tang Huaiyuan returned the horn knife to Qin Fan.

Because Tang Huaiyuan has been studying the topic of archaeological excavations in the Western Regions recently, he will be interested in this horn knife, and he wants to buy it back to study it and understand the customs and customs of the Western Regions at that time.

But coincidentally, this horn knife ended up in Qin Fan's hands.

Qin Fan stared at the horn knife in his hand, neither Tang Huaiyuan nor Meng Xiaowei noticed a flash of lightning in his eyes.

"Professor Tang, I don't think this horn knife is that simple." Qin Fan gently rubbed his palm on the handle of the horn knife for a while, as if he had discovered something, and suddenly raised his head and said mysteriously.

"Xiaofan, what did you find?"

Tang Huaiyuan and Meng Xiaowei looked at Qin Fan with curious expressions, waiting for him to give the answer.

Although this horn knife is from the Han Dynasty, it is not well preserved, and the gems and jade inlaid on it have been lost, so the value is not high. Tang Huaiyuan was curious about what secret Qin Fan had discovered.

Qin Fan didn't sell it either, he pointed the position of the handle of the knife to Tang Huaiyuan, and said with a serious face, "Professor Tang, you see, this handle looks like a whole piece of horn has been polished, but the position at the top is broken, but it has been reglued. ”

Hearing Qin Fan say this, Tang Huaiyuan carefully observed for a long time and found that it was really the same as what Qin Fan said.

There is a plausible crack at the top of the horn handle, but it is too old to detect this detail without careful discernment.

"Xiao Fan, what do you want to explain, what secrets are hidden in this horn knife? Don't sell it. Tang Huaiyuan scratched his heart with a hundred claws, and couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked.

"Hehe, Professor Tang, you don't have to worry, you look carefully. Then came the time to witness the miracle. ”

Qin Fan smiled mysteriously, then grasped the handle of the knife with one hand and twisted it hard.

only heard a "snap", and in Tang Huaiyuan's surprised gaze, the handle of the horn knife was broken into two at once.

In fact, the horn handle is simply broken, just glued together by special means, and it is extremely difficult to unscrew. If another person comes over and twists it, I am afraid that I will not be able to unscrew the handle of the horn knife even if the palm of the hand is broken.

"Hey, there's something in there."

Meng Xiaowei stretched out her head curiously, but she didn't expect that the handle of the horn knife was empty, and it seemed that there was something hidden.

Qin Fan cautiously put his fingers into the gap between the handles of the horns and pulled out a silk silk silk from it.

"Why is there a silk scarf hidden in here?" Meng Xiaowei's face was full of curiosity and felt incredible.

Qin Fan unfolded this silk silk and explained to Meng Xiaowei with a smile, "This is not an ordinary silk scarf, before the invention of papermaking, ancient words and some information were recorded on oracle bones, bamboo slips, silk silk and animal skins. ”

Because this silk silk is well preserved, the words and patterns on it are very clear. It's just that the text on the silk is not Chinese, but an ancient script that Qin Fan didn't know.

Qin Fan did not have a deep study of ancient writing, and could only see that this should be a very ancient script. In addition to these words, this silk silk silk is also painted with many incomprehensible patterns and symbols.

"Professor Tang, do you know the meaning of these words?"

Tang Huaiyuan took out a magnifying glass and carefully studied the mysterious words on the silk silk, and only raised his head halfway, his eyes flashing with excitement and excitement.

"On this silk silk is a very old script, Brahmi. The earliest documentation of this ancient script dates back to the 3rd century BC, and it is generally believed in scholars that Brahmi is derived from Aramaic. ”

"Now this Brahmi script is almost lost, and there are only a handful of experts in the country who can decipher it. I don't understand the meaning of these words. ”

Despite this, Tang Huaiyuan did not show disappointment, and continued, "But I have an old friend who should be able to decipher these ancient words. ”

"Professor Tang, what do the patterns and symbols on this silk silk mean?" Qin Fan couldn't understand the meaning of these patterns and symbols after looking at them for a long time, so he asked Tang Huai for advice.

Tang Huaiyuan pondered for a while before he slowly spoke, "According to my inference, this silk silk is likely to be an ancient map, as for more information, we can only know it when we can decipher the words on it." ”

"Ancient maps? Is this a treasure map? ”

Hearing Tang Huaiyuan's conjecture, Meng Xiaowei's eyes flashed with little stars, and she said excitedly.

"Hehe, it's not impossible."

Tang Huaiyuan smiled, his face suddenly showed a tangled look, and he said to Qin Fan with some embarrassment, "Xiao Fan, old man, I have a reluctant request, can you let me take this silk back to study it." Don't worry, when I come up with the results, I will definitely send you back in good condition. ”

"Professor Tang doesn't have to be polite, I naturally believe in your character."

Qin Fan didn't hesitate to hand over this silk to Tang Huaiyuan, firstly, he believed that Tang Huaiyuan's character and reputation would not hack his things, and secondly, Qin Fan couldn't understand the words and patterns on this map at all, and his eyes were black. It's useless to hide it, it's better to leave it to a professional to decipher.

"My old friend has been in Yanjing recently, so I'm going to call him and ask him to decipher the Brahmi script on this map." Tang Huaiyuan was an anxious person, and immediately after getting this mysterious map, he called the expert in tone and words, and made an appointment to ask him to interpret it.

Qin Fan was also very curious about the content on this silk silk, but he knew that if he wanted to decipher the information on it, it could not be done overnight, and patience and meticulousness were necessary qualities.

It's just that this mysterious map is really a treasure map as Meng Xiaowei said?