Do you know what it was like when you were born?

Everybody would say, of course I know, my mom told me, I was born in the hospital delivery room, or someone would say I was born in their own home.

And I can't answer that.

Because I don't have a mother.

To be precise, I don't have a mother in my memory. I only remember Aunt Zhu and Mother Shen. They were the closest people I had in the orphanage. Although they hurt me very much. I'm grateful to her, too, but I know they're not my mom, and they haven't hidden anything from me. When I asked about this, Aunt Zhu would gesture with her hand and tell me that I was rescued by Shen's mother from the side of the road. I asked Shen's mother about the situation at that time. Shen's mother said that at that time, I was wrapped in a thick cotton cloth, and two lines of tear stains washed the yellow dust on my face away from two rivers, and a few ants ran around my face.

She saw a bamboo tube in my arms with a yellowed cloth rolled inside.

I guess it's a token left to me by my parents who abandoned me. This kind of thing can be imagined with your eyes closed: many couples will abandon their children if they are unable or unwilling to take on the responsibility of feeding after giving birth, and basically leave a piece of paper on the child, writing the date and date of the child's birth. It's just that the irresponsible parents left me not a birth schedule, but a shabby cloth.

Although this cloth is very inconspicuous, it is only a kindness from my hateful parents, but it is very important for an outcast like me, because this is the root of an outcast, and only with roots can an outcast not be full of illusion in his life. will be full of confidence.

Aunt Zhu is a mute girl, needless to say. She couldn't speak properly, she could only babble. But she should know this truth very well in her heart. Not to mention Shen's mother, she is the director of the orphanage, and there are hundreds of drawers that fill an entire room, and each drawer treasures the identity of an orphan. Normally, of course, my identity should be hidden in it.

When I saw my peculiar ID card, as far as I can remember, it was already after I graduated from college.

Curious, I took it from my mother's hand and found that it was not a piece of paper, but a piece of cloth that had been worn out and somewhat torn. Probably due to the age of its production. As a result, the cloth is very thin and brittle, and it may be torn if you are not careful. Mother Shen looked at my extremely expectant expression, as if she was very serious, and said as if she was joking: "Keep it, this is the only thing you can find your identity again." ”

Aunt Zhu squinted beside her and looked at the portrait of a woman vaguely painted on the canvas - the woman looked handsome, smiling and complaining, but she was holding her hair in a high bun and inserting a crested hairpin, not like a modern person. She pointed to my backpack. Let me put it in my bag and keep it safe.

I really don't see the significance of this painting, but I carefully put it in my backpack - I'm going to wander with my roots.

Shen's mother said: "Go out and find a job, you can't stay in the orphanage forever." Men have to be promising. ”

This is how I got this strange painting at the time.

I think. Everyone is curious about their origins. As you can imagine: this painting was once held in the hands of my parents and looked at their faces. I watched it in front of my eyes countless times, and even looked for it inch by inch with a magnifying glass. I hope to discover the hidden secrets from inside, and I have also used the water shadow method and the fire shadow method mentioned in martial arts. Gently rub water on it with absorbent paper and dry it with an alcohol lamp. But not a word appeared on the cloth.

What kind of material is used for this painting, touch it with your hands, polyester? Cotton cloth? Burlap? Animal skins? It's not like it, but it feels like a mulberry silk. The woman in this painting is dressed in plain clothes, with a jade belt around her waist, a goose egg face, a straight and straight nose, long and dense eyelashes, and the corners of her mouth are lightly pursed. That always reminds people of the little dragon girl played by Liu Yifei, who is left behind and independent, jade and clear, full of pity, and next to her is a tall stone stele, the inscription on the stele has been worn off, leaving only a vague "stop" word.

I often stared at the woman in the painting.

Who is this woman?

Why would she stand in front of such a stone monument?

What does the word "stop" mean on the stele?

Does it mean that life ends here?

Why did my birth parents put it on me?

Is this my mother? But why did she wear her hair in a high bun, like an ancient?

Faced with this strange painting, my heart was filled with countless question marks.

I also thought that maybe my mother was a modern person, but she was just dressed up like an ancient. Aren't there often people in the photo studio dressed up as ancient talents and beauties to take artistic photos? And this is not unusual.

Once, while watching a show "Treasure Appreciation", I suddenly wondered, could this be an antique cultural relic left to me by my parents? I took it to the identification experts at the Institute of Archaeology.

After taking a closer look with a magnifying glass, the expert turned to me and asked me where did this come from?

My parents passed it on to me. I say.

Experts say that we charge 1,000 yuan for appraising cultural relics here.

I took out the money I had and only scraped together 900 yuan.

He said, forget it, even if it helps you. He took the 900 pieces and put them in a drawer, and went on to say that, as far as the information currently available, the material used in this painting must have been hand-woven by the ancients, and it is difficult to say its history, because there is no discernible pattern on it.

Estimated to be from which dynasty?

I'm afraid it's even earlier than the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Is there a way to determine the exact age of it?

The expert said, if you can rest assured, put it here with me, and I will go to the laboratory to analyze its chemical composition.

A week later, the expert excitedly told me on the phone that the painting was dated 3,000 years ago, in the mid-to-late Shang Dynasty.

How much is it worth, I asked? This is a key issue that I care about.

This is a national treasure that cannot be measured. He said that a piece of cloth from the Shang Dynasty has been preserved intact to this day, and a near-perfect portrait of an ancient beauty is still preserved, which will shock the whole world.

I was in ecstasy, and hurried to the archaeological institute to retrieve the painting.

The shrivelled washboard expert handed me a cigarette with an inexplicable smile on his lips and asked me if I would like to find an auction house to sell it.

A Qin brick and Han tile can be sold for 20 million, and a porcelain vase can be sold for 50 million...... When I watched the TV show "Treasure Appreciation", I was completely shocked, and I dreamed that there was an antique that could make a windfall, and I didn't have to go to the unit every day to be the leader's bird.

I tentatively asked, if I find an auction house, how much can I expect to sell?

The expert lifted the frame on the bridge of his nose and said, "If the buyer has the strength to pay for a unique product like this, it is possible to pay any price."

I asked tentatively, is 50 million possible? ――The price shouldn't be high, didn't he tell it was a national treasure?

The expert gave me a blank look and stuck out two fingers.

Million? Million? Or two hundred thousand?

Those two fingers of his heart made my heart go crazy. However, even 200,000 is enough for me to be jaw-dropping. I've never seen even 10,000 dollars in my life. After graduating from college, I worked for two years, and I had more than 7,000 yuan on my bank card.

The expert squinted at me and said, 20 million? Fools sell for this price. If you lose 200 million, you don't even want to make a move.

My little heart is pounding, why is it worth so much? - I was completely stupid, completely beyond my imagination. My parents, who ruthlessly abandoned me, left me a gold mine.

Man is a strange animal, crazy about money when he has no money, and even does things like robbing banks. And when you really have wealth, on the contrary, your heart becomes very calm, as if you were born with so much money.

In the past, I was looking forward to an old painting, hoping that it would be worth a lot of money. But when I knew it was really worth a lot of money, I became unusually calm.

Now I carefully put this priceless treasure into the original bamboo tube, and then carefully put it in the backpack, zip it up, and lock it with a lock. --Fortunately, it was only in an ordinary bamboo tube, so it was not discovered by others. I have to give a thumbs up to the wisdom of those who abandoned me.

The expert looked at my dusty vamp, as if he had seen through my loneliness and poverty, and then looked me in the eye and said, I can be your agent, lad. His face showed the confidence and arrogance of an expert.

Which auction house to look for, Christie's in Hong Kong? I say. I've seen news online about this company auctioning off its sky-high art collection. I stood up to say goodbye to him.

He was a little surprised, you know Christie's?

I've walked to the door.

He saw that I wasn't moved, stood up and said, I can still find Sotheby's, Christie. I later found out on Baidu that both companies have a history of more than 100 years and are world-class companies.

I said, thank you, I'm going to think about it again.

I'm out the door. He stood up a little embarrassed, chased to the door and said, "Young man, where do you live?"

I rambled on a place name. I've been wary since I was a kid and didn't want others to know that I lived in an orphanage, and now I have even more reason to be vigilant.

I'm going to let this ancient portrait follow me like a shadow all the time, but I want to keep anyone unaware, just as each of us has some secrets that no one knows.

Damn, I didn't know at the time that the painting was actually a hoax full of traps. (To be continued......)