At this time, the screen on the phone changed again.
This time it was pointed at the office door at a 45° downward angle, and the viewing angle seemed to be a surveillance probe in the corner of the ceiling.
At this time, Li Haitao was sending two people out of his office with a bitter expression.
The original surveillance picture was blurry, and I don’t know what method Ling used. After refreshing it, it instantly became high-definition 4K.
Meng Lang was also able to see clearly the true face of Iwasaki...
"Zero, check this person out."
The next moment, a small red frame locked onto the face of the young man who was smiling and saying goodbye to Li Haitao.
[Beep! Facial recognition completed, big data search in progress...search completed!]
[Iwasaki Yuhei, male, 26 years old, from Fuso Kyoto...]
…
"Young master, he is just a curator, do we need to tell him so much?
This person looks like a weakling at first glance, and the other party has leverage in our hands, so we can directly threaten and induce him without fear of him not submitting!"
After walking out of the museum office area, the man in a suit who looked like a bodyguard asked in confusion.
"Hmph! Idiot, it seems you haven't realized the seriousness of the matter!"
Iwasaki stared at the man and snorted, his eyes a little cold.
"Hey! I'm ignorant!" The man in the suit paused quickly.
"The other party just said that the police have consciously strengthened the security of the Buddha's head, but did not mention any other cultural relics. What does this mean?
It means that they probably already know that your target last time was the Buddha's head!
Fortunately, your two captured men still kept their oaths, but they didn’t know that our true target had been exposed long ago!”
"Ah? This..."
“Now that we have alerted the enemy, if we want to continue taking action, we have to find a reasonable reason.
Otherwise, if we have tried so hard to get it over and over again, even a fool would know the value of this Buddha head!
I have seen many officials like Li Haitao. They are all sophisticated and suspicious by nature. If you disturb his heart, how can he obediently obey our orders?
At this time, hiding one's identity is no longer helpful, but it is easier to reveal one's identity.
As long as that guy finds out about the energy of my Iwasaki family, he won't dare to play any tricks on us!
There is a saying in the art of war: before you think about victory, think about defeat first; before you think about gains, think about losses first!
If this Li Haitao is unreliable and the matter is revealed, interested people will only think that our Iwasaki family wants to trace its origins and is so obsessed with this Buddha head, and will not think in other directions."
"Search Disney!" The man in the suit said with admiration.
"No wonder the master specially asked Master Yuhei to accompany him this time. The master is far-sighted and his subordinates admire him!"
A smile appeared at the corner of Iwasaki Yuhei's mouth, but he quickly stopped it.
"How are you preparing the substitutes we asked you to prepare?"
"It's almost done. In two days, the finished product should be ready." The man in the suit said respectfully.
“How far can it be achieved in terms of craftsmanship?”
"This... time is short. Even though our domestic master craftsmen are invited to come and observe the imitation, ordinary people will never be able to tell the difference.
But if you meet some experts who are proficient in this, there is still a chance of being discovered."
Iwasaki Yuhei didn't take it seriously.
"It doesn't matter, as long as we can hide it for a while, the dust will naturally settle when we return to China.
Not to mention that Director Li would take the initiative to cover up for us. Even if they found something wrong afterwards, according to their bureaucratic style, they would never make it public and would suffer the consequences of being silent.
There is a saying in China that when a fake becomes true, the truth is also false, that’s the truth, haha!”
As the direct heir most favored by the head of the Iwasaki family, Iwasaki Yuhei is deeply scheming and has his own unique qualities.
His grasp of human nature is no less than that of the old foxes in his clan.
"But...if something happens in the future, will Li Haitao betray us?"
"Ha! Then wait until it's done so that he can't speak..." A cold light flashed in Iwasaki Yuhei's eyes.
"Hi! I got it!"
The two communicated in Fuso, but did not leave the museum immediately. Instead, like ordinary tourists, they joined the flow of people who came to visit and went straight to an exhibition hall on the third floor...
Palace lanterns, costumes, murals... Anyone with a little knowledge of history can tell that this is a themed exhibition hall from the Tang Dynasty.
"Is this the Buddha's head..."
Iwasaki Yuhei looked at the Buddha's head that seemed to have a jade-colored luster inside the bulletproof glass cover in front of him under the spotlight, and there was some inexplicable color in his eyes.
"Master, what is so amazing about this Buddha's head that makes it worthy for the family master to ask us to get it at all costs as soon as he hears about it?"
The man in a suit on the side asked curiously.
Iwasaki Yuhei glanced at the man in the suit, making him tremble and lower his head quickly.
"I'm sorry, Master, I'm too talkative!"
"It doesn't matter, grandpa has spent his whole life studying Chinese culture. In the eyes of ordinary people like us, this Buddha head is just a clay statue.
But in his eyes, it is priceless."
Iwasaki Yuhei said calmly.
In fact, he was not curious at all.
Iwasaki Hanzo, the current head of the Iwasaki family.
From the time he could remember, he knew that his grandfather, the head of the family, was extremely obsessed with Chinese culture, especially Buddhist cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings from the Tang Dynasty.
Or maybe it was due to family origins, but his study was always filled with various ancient Chinese books and scriptures.
It is said that when he was young, he followed the Kwantung Army across the ocean to the land of China. Taking advantage of the turbulent era of war, he looted a large number of Buddhist cultural relics and brought them home.
Later, he became a frequent visitor to major antique auctions around the world, spending a lot of money to buy collections from everywhere.
In his opinion, Iwasaki Hanzo's obsession has reached the point of fanaticism.
Today, the Chinese cultural relics collected in the Iwasaki family’s underground treasure house are enough to fill a small museum.
Those direct descendants who want to compete for the family inheritance know this hobby of the family leader, and they often think carefully about it in order to please the old man.
However, although he enthusiastically collects these cultural relics, the head of the Iwasaki family is a typical eccentric collector who "likes the new and hates the old."
Those precious antiques that were finally retrieved were thrown into the basement to eat dust within a few days, and they may not be taken out for inspection every few years.
On the contrary, he is endlessly interested in similar antiques from all over the world, as if he has a weird collecting habit and wants to collect all the antiques.
But this time, things seem to be a little different...
He still remembered that day when he went to please the old man with the list of auction items that he had worked so hard to obtain.
When he saw the Buddha head in the auction catalog, Hanzo Iwasaki was shocked and excited.
Even if he accidentally broke his favorite tea cup, he didn't care, and immediately decided to buy this Buddha head at any cost.
If he hadn't been too old to withstand the bumps of the cruise ship, he would have even wanted to go to the Carnival in person to attend the auction...
In his memory, he had never seen the usually dignified old man acting so out of character.
Coupled with subsequent unexpected events, the Buddha's head was seized by the Chinese police. The old man was even more anxious, and even used his political connections to dispatch agents to snatch cultural relics...
The more the old man behaves like this, the more it proves the extraordinary status of this Buddha head in his heart.
If I can successfully bring the Buddha head back this time, I will definitely make the old man feel "long-faced with joy" and leave a mark in his heart!
Because of this, he recommended himself, took the initiative to accept this mission from the old man, and came to China.
However, why does the old man, who is well-informed and has countless collections in his collection, value this Buddha head so highly?
To say I'm not curious would be a lie.
Perhaps, only after returning to Fusang with this Buddha head can we find out from the old man the value of this Buddha head...
"let's go!"
The two figures' backs gradually disappeared into the exhibition hall.
However, what they didn't notice was that the dome cameras overhead along the road were rotating "hissingly".
In the dark glass cover, red light flashed...
…
Iwasaki Yuhei and the other two left, but opposite to where they were standing before, there was also an old man and a young man standing.
The old man wearing reading glasses had white beard and hair, and looked like a scholar. At this time, he held a magnifying glass in front of his eyes, carefully observed the details of the Buddha's head in front of him, and couldn't help but admire it.
"The Mingtang Buddha head, it is really rare that the jade Buddha head can be so well preserved after thousands of years.
The craftsmanship and textures... indeed look like works from the Wu Zhou period, and they have great archaeological value!"
Looking at this lifelike jade Buddha head, the young scholar beside him adjusted his glasses and looked at it carefully.
From the appearance, this is a white jade Buddha head with yellow and white color and simple shape.
The Buddha is carefully carved, his eyes are slightly closed, and his shape is different from ordinary Buddha statues.
However, upon closer inspection, the appearance and expression are slightly different from ordinary Buddha heads.
Ordinary Buddha statues are perfect and rich, with a kind face, but this Buddha statue has three-dimensional facial features, and the smile raised at the corner of the mouth seems to be similar to the Mona Lisa's smile.
When you first see it, it gives you a sense of peace and tranquility, but after looking at it for a long time, you suddenly realize that it is not that smell.
After I mistakenly thought it was dazzling, I looked again, and the peace and tranquility returned... Anyway, it was a bit inconsistent.
"Teacher, I have seen a lot of Buddha statues from the Tang Dynasty, but there has never been one with a shape like this one, so... so..."
The young scholar could not find any words to describe the Buddha head in front of him.
"So handsome, right?" The old man chuckled.
"Yes! That's what it means. The Buddha is so handsome, so he is clearly trying to seduce female believers!
Are Tang Dynasty monks so unruly?"
The old man glared at the young scholar, and then he couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't tell me yet, you might actually be right this time!
According to my guess, this Buddha might actually have something to do with female believers..."
"Ah?" This time it was the young scholar's turn to be stunned.
"No, is it possible that the great monks in the Tang Dynasty were so showy in order to preach?"
"Ahem! That's not true." The old man coughed dryly and pointed at the Buddha statue.
"You know, this Buddha head was originally placed in the Mingtang. What is the origin of this Mingtang?"
"This is not a problem for me! Cough!" The young scholar moistened his throat.
"Mingtang Buddha Head, also known as Wu Zetian Mingtang Jade Buddha Head.
This Mingtang, also known as the Wanxiang Palace, was built during the Wu Zetian period near the Qianyuan Hall, the main palace in Luoyang. It was used for administration, sacrifices, congratulations, banquets, lectures and debates.
This building is a famous building in the history of the Tang Dynasty and a rare single tall wooden structure building in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.
However, seven years after the Mingtang was built, it was destroyed by fire. Later, Wu Zetian spent a lot of manpower and material resources to rebuild it. Just this reconstruction alone was said to be a daily labor of 10,000 people.
Later, a paradise was built to the north of Mingtang. It is said that the giant Buddha in front of the hall is so big that ten people can stand on just the little finger, which shows how majestic this building and the giant Buddha are.
Unfortunately, this building was completely destroyed by the Anshi Rebellion, and few antiquities have been handed down.
And this so-called Buddha head handed down from generation to generation in Mingtang should only be enshrined on a relatively small Buddha statue inside the hall."
"Well! You did a good job in your homework!" The old man nodded with some satisfaction.
"Since you know that Mingtang was built by Wu Zetian, do you know some secrets and unofficial history about Wu Zetian's construction of Mingtang?"
"Secret unofficial history?" The young scholar's eyes lit up.
"Teacher, it turns out you also like to watch this?
Do you like the 1994 version of "Wu Zetian", the 1999 version of "Daming Palace Ci", or the 04 version of "Song without Words"?
In fact, what I prefer is the 12th edition of "The Secret History of Princess Taiping"..."
tutor:"……"
Whose archeology company relies on TV series to unearth historical data?
Doesn't this guy like to read these newly reported archeology? Why did I blindly accept such an apprentice?
It’s so difficult to bring up those born in the 1990s now…
I couldn't help but rub my eyebrows.
"Ahem! That's right. Since you have read these, you should know some rumors about Wu Zetian.
In the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian advocated Buddhism. It can be said that Buddhism began to flourish in the Central Plains only from the Tang Dynasty.
Wu Zetian also caused an uproar because of her worship of "Buddha's bones", and even went so far as to waste money and people on building a Mingtang.
There is such a record in "Zizhi Tongjian·Tang Ji·The First Year of Long Live Tianchi".
After the Mingtang was completed, the Empress Dowager ordered the monk Huaiyi to make a large statue with a small finger, which could accommodate dozens of people, and build a heaven in the north of the Mingtang for storage.
How's it going? Did you think of anything?"
"After the Mingtang is completed, the Queen Mother orders the monks to be righteous..."
The young scholar looked at the Buddha's head and recited this passage in his mind. After a moment, his eyes suddenly widened.
"F*ck! No, teacher, you want to say that the appearance of this Buddha is based on the appearance of Xue Huaiyi?"
The old man smiled.
"This is just a guess on my part. After all, the civil servants of the Tang Dynasty at that time had the pen and tried their best to smear Wu Zetian.
Therefore, many historical materials about Wu Zetian are not credible.
But regardless of whether Xue Huaiyi is Wu Zetian's male favorite or not, given his status and contribution in the construction of Mingtang, it is not impossible for Wu Zetian to get him a Buddha statue..."
The young scholar was stunned.
This... such a fucking statue of Buddha was made to commemorate the face, and it was placed in the hall and looked at every day...
What hobby is this...
…
"Xue Huaiyi? It's a bit interesting..."
Meng Lang was originally spying on Iwasaki Yuhei, but he accidentally heard the conversation between the two from the surveillance camera, and for a moment he became fascinated.
After all, it is human nature to like to hear gossip.
Coupled with the repeated stalking of the Iwasaki family, Meng Lang touched his chin and felt that the Buddha-headed melon seemed to be getting bigger and bigger...
Xue Huaiyi, a native of Huxian County, Jingzhao County, was a lucky minister in the Wu and Zhou Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty.
According to unavailable historical records, he was tall and tall, and had a talented appearance. He was recommended by Princess Qianjin (the daughter of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty) and became Wu Zetian's first face-to-face.
After that, Xue Huaiyi became a monk and stayed with Wu Zetian as a monk for a long time.
Later, he was canonized as Liang Guogong for his meritorious service in supervising the construction of Baima Temple and Mingtang.
He served as the commander-in-chief of the march for many times, led the army to repel the Turkic attacks, and was awarded the title of General Zuo Weiwei.
In the first year of Tianshou, he was inspected as the Right Guard General, given the title of General of the Auxiliary State, and was conferred the title of Duke of E State.
However, his favor declined day by day, his temperament was arrogant, and the palace was set on fire, which eventually aroused Wu Zetian's resentment.
In the second year of Yanzai (695), he was convicted and sentenced to death, and his body was returned to Baima Temple for incineration...
If there is a founder of soft rice, then Xue Huaiyi, the only empress in Chinese history, is definitely an unsurpassable ceiling in the soft rice industry!
