Chapter Forty-Four Astonishment

  Chu Chen sighed and said, "To be honest, I don't quite understand. With such exceptional craftsmanship, why would he spend so much effort on this? He could have made a decent living with a proper job, and the money wouldn't be any slower in coming."

  Liu Lao sighed as well: "Alas, I don't know what this person is thinking. With such craftsmanship, it's used for nefarious purposes. Our antique world is being ruined by many selfish and self-serving people like this."

  Everyone who heard what Old Liu said felt uncomfortable in their hearts. This phenomenon is indeed not uncommon. In recent years, the counterfeiting of antiques has been rampant, and many people only know about profit, while virtue has become a thing of the past.

  "Alright, let's just focus on doing our best from now on. Thinking too much won't change anything. Baobao, don't be sad either. Getting cheated is a common thing in this line of business. I've been cheated before too. What's scary isn't getting cheated, but rather not learning from the experience and making the same mistake again."

  Liu Lao saw Li Beibei's crying face and comforted her. Then he smiled at Wu Shu and said:

  "Zi Ping, how is it? Didn't Little Chu just say something good? You're completely overthinking, young people should be allowed to express themselves freely, we need to trust them. As older people, all we need to do is take care of the key moments for them."

  "Heh heh, Old Liu, your words are right. I've always treated Chu Chen like my own child, and sometimes it's hard to avoid being overly concerned. Now that I think about it, this old man should also retreat to the second line. From now on, let him worry about his own affairs." After finishing speaking, a sentimental expression appeared on Wu Shu's face.

  Chu Chen heard this and hastily said: "Uncle Wu, you mustn't say that, there are still many places where I need to learn from you."

  Liu Lao waved his hand, interrupting him: "Alright, Xiao Chu, young people being overly modest is just arrogance. In our line of work, just teaching won't lead to great achievements; the key is to practice and understand for oneself. Your previous performance was quite impressive, especially since it wasn't in your main area of expertise, which makes it even more remarkable."

  Chu Chen felt a bit embarrassed after being spoken to by Liu Lao like this.

  But Li Beibei saw this and felt very uncomfortable in her heart. Why did I buy the wrong thing, but you got praised by Grandpa Liu? It's really hateful!

  Suddenly, she saw the brocade box brought by Chu Chen and thought, hey, let's see what good things you can bring over. If the thing is not good, just wait and see how I scold you.

  So she casually said: "Oh, little Chu brother, what's in the box you brought? Is it some precious antique? Let's take a look!"

  Chu Chen heard her say that, and he also knew what she was getting at. He wasn't very concerned about this point, but the way she called him "little Chu brother" sounded strange to him no matter how he listened to it, giving him a chill all over his body.

  Liu Lao saw this and jokingly said: "Xiao Chu, what good thing have you brought this time? I hope it's not like Bei Bei's, which is endless."

  Li Pei Pei heard what Liu Lao said and pouted: "Grandpa Liu, don't be so mean to people."

  Everyone was amused by her appearance and burst out laughing, making the atmosphere much more relaxed than before.

  Chu Chen put the brocade box on the wooden table, opened it while smiling and said: "This is still something I got from stepping on a landmine yesterday, brought over today, please everyone take a look."

  Li Pei Pei heard this and hastily said in an indignant tone: "Hey, I'm telling you, how can you be so rude? You bring over something that's been blown up by a landmine and have the nerve to call it 'appreciation', do you still want to save face?"

  "Peipei!"

  Liu Qinxu saw Li Beibei hadn't even looked at the things, yet she was scolding Chu Chen like this. She frowned and said: "Do you think if it were ordinary items, would Xiao Chu bring them over for my dad to see? Does Xiao Chu seem so superficial?"

  Liu Lao said with a smile, "Bei Bei, you need to change your temper, always being so rough and careless. Be careful that no one will want to marry you in the future. Whether something is good or not can be seen at first glance. Let's take a look at what little Chu has brought."

  As soon as the words fell, everyone's eyes turned to the brocade box. Liu Lao was shocked at first, and then his face was filled with excitement. Wu Shu's eyes were wide open, disbelieving what he saw was real. Liu Qinshu, who had been influenced by her family since childhood, also understood what was in the brocade box, and her face was full of surprise.

  At this time, Li Beibei knew that the thing in the brocade box was not ordinary, and whispered: "What luck does this person have? How can he step on a landmine and still get a treasure?"

  At this time, Liu Lao reacted and excitedly said to Chu Xun: "Xiao Chu, can you let me try?"

  "Liu Lao, you said it yourself. The reason I brought this over today is to have you appraise it. Honestly, how could there be any reason not to let you take a look?"

  Upon hearing Chu Chen's response, Liu carefully took out a pair of gloves and gingerly picked up the Ding kiln large plate, meticulously examining it.

  Ding Kiln is one of the five famous kilns in China's Song Dynasty, it rose after the white porcelain of Xing Kiln in the Tang Dynasty and is a large ceramic system known for producing white porcelain. Its characteristics are fine clay, thin and shiny body, pure white glaze with tears, white glass glaze with a slight powder quality, so it is called powder Ding or white Ding.

  Ding kiln is the representative of Song Dynasty porcelain, deeply admired by society and later generations. Liu Qi of Yuan Dynasty once wrote a poem in "Gui Qian Zhi" praising it as "Dingzhou flower porcelain vase, color white all over the world". At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Cao Zhao also praised it in his "Ge Gu Yao Lun": "The ancient Ding kiln utensils have fine texture, white and moist, which is precious."

  Chu Chen's this piece of fixed kiln printed flower large plate, shape is simple and elegant. The embryo quality is fine and thin, presenting a texture similar to ivory, subtle and calm. This plate has an open mouth, flat bottom, curved wall, ring foot, and the mouth edge exposes the embryo without glaze where copper mouth is inlaid.

  The body is covered with a white glaze, the glaze color is white with a hint of yellow. The outer wall clearly shows the spinning marks left by the throwing process and the "tear marks" left by the glaze application. Zhang Yingwen of the Ming dynasty said in "Qing Mi Cang": "Dingyao has two types: Guangsu and Tuchuang, with white as the standard. White bone with glaze like tear marks is better."

  So from Zhang Yingwen's words, it can be seen that this Dingyao large plate is a fine work among the Song Dynasty Dingyao.

  Next, looking again, the inner wall of the plate is printed with three lines of cord pattern, and the lower part is decorated with twisted branch lotus peony pattern. In the center of the plate, a bright circle pattern is printed, and the inside is decorated with double fish wave pattern. The two fish seem to jump out of the sea and sky, their bodies stretched out, making people feel happy at first sight.

  The inner wall moldings are decorated with peony flowers, the lines are smooth and comfortable, like spring breeze blowing willows, poetic and full of charm. The embossed patterns are outlined within, greatly enhancing the three-dimensional effect of the decoration.

  It can be said that the body, glaze, shape and decoration of this Dingyao printed large plate are all exquisite, simple and elegant, luxurious and subtle, and it can be confirmed that it is a representative work of Song Dynasty Dingyao.

  What's even more precious is that after nearly a thousand years, this piece has been preserved extremely well, with almost no defects at all, which is rare. This also increases its artistic appreciation value and collection value.

  Liu Lao was admiring, and the crowd was a bit idle. However, Wu Shu suddenly thought of something and said to Chu Chen in an ill-tempered tone: "You stinky kid, since you got such a treasure yesterday, why didn't you bring it over for me to admire? I've really spoiled you."

  "Uncle Wu, I really didn't do it on purpose. Yesterday, I got drunk with Zhou Ge and the others, so I couldn't make it to your place. Think about it, I haven't even bought a safe yet. If I wasn't drunk, how could I have dared to leave such valuable things at home overnight?"

  "Wu Shu thought for a moment, then scolded him: 'You, next time don't drink so much wine, drinking causes trouble. If you're not careful and lose something, you'll have no place to cry.'"

  Chu Chen nodded repeatedly in agreement, while Li Pei secretly felt a thrill of pleasure at seeing him being scolded by Uncle Wu, thinking to herself, "Serves you right for being so arrogant!"

  After a long while, Liu Lao put down the magnifying glass in his hand and carefully placed the Ding kiln large plate into the brocade box. Seeing this, Wu Shu couldn't wait to carefully appreciate it again.

  Liu Laochang let out a breath and said, "It's indeed the real deal, and not only is it genuine, but it's also a fine piece. All of its characteristics match what it should have from that era, and they can be verified one by one with what the ancients said."

  "What's even more remarkable is that this thing is in pristine condition, you can say it's flawless, and I have no idea how it was preserved from a thousand years ago. To sum it up, this is a rare treasure that's not often seen. Little Chu, now I'm curious about how you got your hands on it."

  There's nothing to hide about this, so Chu Chen simply told the story of what happened yesterday. After finishing, he even laughed and said: "This thing, I still can't believe it now."

  Everyone who heard Chu Chen's experience yesterday was stunned, thinking that the "buried landmine" was quite pitiful, and it was indeed entering a treasure mountain but returning empty-handed.

  Liu Lao smiled and said, "I think it's still people's fixed thinking that's playing tricks. Whether it's the person who was cheated or the cheater himself, they all thought this thing was too real, too good, and too perfect, so none of them believed that this thing was a genuine article, which is why Xiao Chu got it for cheap."

  At this time, Wu Shu had also finished watching and smiled: "I think it's like the old saying of the ancients, treasures are possessed by virtuous people. Since 'buried thunder' is not virtuous, he has good fortune to obtain it, but no good fortune to enjoy it, so it can be said that it is passed."

  Everyone listened and indeed it was possible, they all burst out laughing.

  Liu Lao smiled and said, "Actually, I think it's you, Xiao Chu, who has a good attitude towards things. You're serious about dealing with them. If it were one of you others, when encountering such a 'landmine', aside from being deceived, would you really take the time to carefully observe its characteristics?"

  Wu Shu and others thought for a moment, and unanimously shook their heads.