Chapter 938: The Xiezhi Imperial Seal

This imperial seal was not the milky-white kind people often heard about, but a vivid emerald green.

In other words, this thing wasn't made of jade, but of jadeite.

As is well known, throughout the thousands of years of Chinese civilization, seals made of Hetian jade and Lantian jade were the mainstream for the imperial family, though jadeite seals were also used by many dynasties.

After observing it closely, Wang An discovered that he didn't fucking recognize the animal carved on this seal.

It looked like a dragon, but it definitely wasn't a dragon, because dragons are long, whereas this had four thick legs and a lion's tail.

It also looked a bit like a Qilin, but it definitely wasn't a Qilin, because a Qilin has a pair of horns on its head, while this one only had a single horn.

If you ignored the single horn, the head looked a bit like a goat's, but everyone knows goats also have a pair of horns.

Thus, Wang An pointed at the animal on the seal and asked Mu Xueqing

"Wife, you've read so many of the books in your house, do you know what the hell this thing is?"

At this moment, Mu Xueqing was clearly also pondering what it was. Hearing Wang An's question, she shook her head and frowned slightly, saying

"I don't know. It looks like a Pixiu, but it probably isn't. The books say a Pixiu has wings and holds a pearl in its mouth."

While Wang An and Mu Xueqing were wondering what animal this was, Wang Dazhu and his wife, who had overheard their conversation, leaned in. Liu Guilan looked at the seal with a face full of curiosity and asked

"Is this the imperial seal? Is this the kind of thing the old emperors used?"

Hearing this, Wang An shook his head and said

"Yep, it is an imperial seal, but this one probably wasn't used by an emperor. If it were an emperor's seal, there should be a dragon on top."

Wang Dazhu looked at the seal and then said with a face full of certainty

"Isn't this just Diting? Before I worked at the forestry station, the station once invited a storyteller to recount *Journey to the West*. That storyteller said Diting looked exactly like this."

Hearing this, Wang An and Mu Xueqing instinctively looked back at the animal. Then, the two of them looked at each other and shook their heads.

Clearly, neither Wang An nor Mu Xueqing agreed with Wang Dazhu's claim.

Seeing that Wang An and the others remained silent and were shaking their heads together, Wang Dazhu said somewhat anxiously

"Really, it's guaranteed to be Diting. One horn, a head like a tiger and a dog, dog ears, and a lion's tail."

Seeing that Wang An and Mu Xueqing still didn't speak, Wang Dazhu raised his voice

"The storyteller said it! Diting is the 'Nine-Unlikes'—looks like a dragon but isn't, looks like a tiger but isn't, looks like a lion but isn't, looks like a Qilin but isn't, looks like a dog but isn't. Why don't you believe me? Could the storyteller be wrong?"

Immediately following this, Wang Dazhu recited a small segment of the storytelling from the "True and False Monkey King" arc of *Journey to the West*.

It had to be admitted that Wang Dazhu's memory was truly excellent; he could still remember a story he heard many years ago with absolute clarity.

Just as Wang Dazhu was educating the family on the mythical beast "Diting," Wang An suddenly remembered that back in his previous life, when he did carvings in the "fence" [prison], he had once carved this very thing.

He recalled that someone beside him had asked an older cellmate what animal they were carving.

Thus, Wang An blurted out

"I know now. This thing is a Xiezhi. This seal was used by the ancient Ministry of Justice, or perhaps the Court of Judicial Review or the Censorate."

It is said that the mythical beast Xiezhi can distinguish right from wrong and recognize good from evil and loyalty from treachery; it is the embodiment of justice in ancient law enforcement.

Wang An suspected that the reason Wei Cheng had given him the nickname "Pixiu" was because he had obtained this "Xiezhi Seal."

However, what Wei Cheng didn't know was that the "Pixiu" and the "Xiezhi" were two completely different mythical beasts.

A "Pixiu" might protect him, but a "Xiezhi" specializes in hunting down the wickedly evil. Given Wei Cheng's actions, a "Xiezhi" would absolutely clash with him fatally.

Therefore, the reason he had been shot to death by his own subordinates—if explained from a metaphysical perspective—was because he had placed a "Xiezhi" right in front of himself.

Simply put, this "Xiezhi Seal" had essentially cursed Wei Cheng to death.

Of course, this was just a theory Wang An had imagined; it certainly couldn't be proven.

In reality, for people who didn't understand these things, the "Pixiu," the "Xiezhi," and the "Diting" mentioned by Wang Dazhu all looked more or less the same.

Especially with statues, there was no standard; one person's carving differed from another's, or the same object carved by different people would look different. This resulted in the surviving statues in the world being an eclectic and bizarre variety.

So, not being able to identify it was completely normal.

As soon as they heard Wang An say that this was just something used by officials rather than ancient emperors or princes, Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan immediately lost much of their interest in the seal.

Wang Dazhu said in a tone full of disappointment

"It's just a Xiezhi? Then how much is this seal worth?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said

"The jadeite is decent. If this seal is genuine, it should be worth eight hundred or a thousand yuan."

At this time, due to certain previous reasons, the antique industry was in a state of severe depression, and imperial seals were considered remnants of feudalism, so this thing really wasn't worth much right now.

Hearing Wang An's words, Liu Guilan looked at the pile of "Big Unity" [10-yuan notes] on the coffee table, then looked at the seal in Wang An's hand. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she said nothing. Instead, she turned to call everyone

"Alright, hurry up and tidy up for dinner, otherwise it'll be the middle of the night."

In truth, this seal was only currently not worth much. If compared to the standard of a seal Wang An had seen in his previous life, this one would be worth at least 3 million yuan.

However, that was a price that would only be reached ten years later.

At Liu Guilan's call, the whole family started working together—which mostly consisted of finding bags to pack the money on the coffee table.

According to the rules Liu Guilan had set, she kept only 10,000 yuan, and the remaining 90,000 yuan were handed over to Mu Xueqing for safekeeping.

As for the coupons and vouchers, they were placed in Wang Dazhu's room, mainly because Mu Xueqing, with her large belly, couldn't go out and had no use for them.

After dinner, Wang An carried the money bag in his left hand and led Mu Xueqing with his right, returning to their room.

After a simple wash, Wang An and Mu Xueqing lay together on the kang.

Just as Wang An was clutching Mu Xueqing's snow-white skin and about to fall asleep, Mu Xueqing suddenly said to him

"Xiao An, can I discuss something with you?"

*** *Thank you "Great Empire Emperor" for the reward, thank you, thank you!* *Wishing Big Brother more money in his pockets and more smiles on his face every day.*

(End of Chapter)