Speaking of Empress Dowager Cixi's Night Pearl, the most famous one was the one she took in her mouth behind her, and it is said that the Night Pearl was taken out of the Dingdong Tomb by Sun Dianying and given to Song Meiling and was inlaid on the upper of the shoe.
In fact, Empress Dowager Cixi has more than one night pearl, even the famous jade cabbage, in fact, there are several trees that are not alone, it is said that the crown of Empress Dowager Cixi was inlaid with nine night pearls, each of which is worth a fortune.
In 1964, when a family surnamed Wu, who worked in a chemical factory in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, was cleaning at home, the children in the family took a greasy old pillow that had turned black in the storeroom to wash it, and when the pillowcase was removed, a red cloth bag was pulled out of the pillow.
Curious, the family opened the red cloth bag and found that it was four round and huge orbs, which could emit a faint green shimmer in the dark, exactly the same as the legendary night pearl.
The whole family was of course very happy to find such a treasure in the pile of miscellaneous items in the storeroom, but it was also quite flustered, knowing that these four beads were treasures, but also did not know what kind of treasure it was, and the farmers at that time were indeed simple, and directly handed over the four jewels.
After the identification of experts, these four jewels turned out to be the jewels on the crown of the royal phoenix of the Qing Dynasty.
It is said that after the family handed over the orb, they gave a reward of 100,000 yuan, and the result was also rejected, and the reason for the family's refusal to reward was quite humiliating: "The night pearl is not their ancestral treasure, this is also the bystanders, and it is a stranger who does not know." ”
So, why did the jewel on the crown of Empress Dowager Cixi appear in the farmer's home? According to Li Yingfa's "Literature and History Of Fun" record, in 1900 AD Gengzi's change, the Eight-Nation Alliance army came to the city, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered not to resist, but Hai wanted to make peace with the foreigners, because the grand eunuch Li Lianying was not around at the time, Empress Dowager Cixi plucked the four night pearls on her phoenix crown and sent a palace girl with the royal surname to send to the foreigners.
Empress Dowager Cixi did everything to tell her to be careful, otherwise she would have her head, and as a result, after the palace lady with the surname of Wang left the palace, she got rid of her entourage and fled all the way back to her hometown of Xi'an with the Pearl of the Night.
According to the description of the Wu family who found the treasure beads, more than thirty years ago, the elders of the family took in a beggar who was living on the street, felt pitiful, and took it back to his home for resettlement, and then when the old beggar was dying, he gave the Wu family an old pillow, but no one cared, and no one thought that there was a treasure in the pillow.
Of course, these stories are just stories circulating in the anecdotes, the so-called four night pearls found in the farmer's home, as well as the magical origin of the night pearls, there is no actual basis, and even these four night pearls, there is no physical existence. However, Empress Dowager Cixi did have a night pearl in existence, that is, the night pearl that was inlaid on the upper of Song Meiling's shoe.
According to the records of the "Notes on Ai Yuexuan", the architecture in the Cixi Ding Dongling Tomb is luxurious, more than all the emperors' mausoleums before the Qing Dynasty, the burial jewelry in the coffin is extremely precious, the bottom of the coffin has three layers of gold wire bedding and a layer of pearls, up to a foot thick, cixi's head phoenix crown is full of pearls, the largest one is like a chicken egg, and all kinds of rare treasures are inexhaustible.
When Ding Dongling was stolen by Sun Dianying, all kinds of treasures were filled with more than twenty cars, according to Sun Dianying, Cixi had a night pearl in her mouth, which was two pieces apart, one when closed, transparent and lightless when separated, and green cold light when closed.
As for what exactly the night pearl in the mouth of Empress Dowager Cixi is made, there is still no conclusion, both said to be fluorite, but also said to be diamond, and the changes of time, it is difficult to have an answer, and according to Jiang Buli, the Cixi Night Pearl weighs four or two dollars and seven cents, that is, more than 133 grams, worth 10.8 million taels, which is really worth a lot.
Because of the infestation of the great powers, the Qing court in the late Qing Dynasty had long been unable to make ends meet, but even in this case, Empress Dowager Cixi still only cared about pleasure, celebrating her birthday, repairing the garden, and exceeding the regulations to build an extremely luxurious mausoleum, her eyelids did not blink, and the night pearl that was originally used to protect her body could not even keep the peace behind her.