Chapter Eleven: Humiliation of One's Own Accord

  Chu Chen continued: "Let's take a look at the color of this Qinghua vase, it's clear and transparent enough, but is it a bit dull in terms of its brightness? And looking at the glaze, does it seem natural or slightly stiff? The texture of the glaze also feels somewhat smooth, with very little of that uneven feeling."

  "We were just talking about bubbles, the real Su Ma Li Qing, under a magnifying glass, the distribution of its bubbles is mostly irregular in size and spacing, star-shaped, but the bubbles on this blue-and-white vase don't seem to be that shape?"

  At this time, Qian Changxing sneered on the side: "I admit that what you said makes some sense, but these differences with the genuine product are really too small. Maybe there was a problem when it was fired in the early days? How can this prove that this Qinghua vase is not authentic? I think you're just being arbitrary! Hey, young people are indeed young people."

  He shook his head and made a dramatic gesture of clutching his wrist in despair.

  Chu Chen saw this, didn't pay attention to him either, smiled and said: "Mr. Qian, you're already so old, how come you still don't know how to respect others? Can I finish what I'm saying? Right, the previous few points were indeed ambiguous, but now look at this place, shouldn't there be any more doubts?"

  After finishing, Chu Chen held the Qinghua vase with his mouth facing down and tilted it at a certain angle, then let everyone use a magnifying glass to look at a place on the inner neck wall. After everyone looked, they were shocked and felt unbelievable, because that place was engraved with two extremely small words "Fire Mud".

  Chu Chen used his special ability to determine that the Qinghua vase was a high imitation of the Republic of China period, and suddenly thought of Zhang Huo Ni. Then he found the mark in a very hidden place on the inner wall of the neck of the Qinghua vase according to Zhang Huo Ni's habit.

  Qian Changxing's face turned red and white as he saw the note, and he roared in anger: "You've known about this mark all along, why didn't you speak up earlier?"

  "Mr. Qian, it seems like you're the one who said you'd speak your mind and not hold back earlier, but now you're complaining about me? And didn't you keep interrupting me just a moment ago?"

  "You!"

  "That's enough!" Zhao Qirui shouted angrily.

  Qian Changxing saw Zhao Qirui get angry, thought of his position, and immediately shut up, but the eyes he looked at Chu Chen were full of resentment.

  Zhao Qirui turned his head and smiled at Chu Chen, saying: "You're really impressive, I didn't expect that Brother Chu, being so young, would have such good eyesight and be able to hold your own already."

  Chu Chen awkwardly waved his hand: "Director Zhao is really overpraising me, I just happened to have caught a glimpse of Zhang Huo's moves before, otherwise how could I compare with all the seniors here?"

  "Hey, I said so, it was just a flash in the pan!" Qian Changxing said disdainfully on the side.

  Everyone was suddenly speechless, and they didn't expect Qian Changxing to be so shameless. He had reached this point and still said such things, with a look of being unable to bear losing. Even Zhao Qirui didn't want to talk about him anymore.

  At this time, Zhu Dafu stroked the Qinghua vase and said to Li Dage: "Li Lao, can you give me this Qinghua vase?"

  Mr. Li was taken aback at first, and then shook his head and said, "No way, no way, this blue-and-white porcelain vase is mine, and I won't sell it to anyone under any circumstances. Even if I die in the future, I'll take this blue-and-white porcelain vase with me."

  Everyone who heard this was stunned. If the Qinghua vase is genuine, it's a treasure, but how can a fake be so valuable to the old man?

  Mr. Li saw the puzzled look on everyone's face and began to tell the story of this Qinghua vase with a sad expression.

  When Mr. Li first saw this Qinghua vase more than 20 years ago, he was immediately amazed and vowed to get it. He later made great efforts and paid a high price to finally persuade the collector to sell it to him.

  Mr. Li convinced his friend, but not his wife. The blue and white porcelain vase was expensive, and buying it would deplete their entire savings. His wife was unwilling, after all, they still had elderly and children to support. However, Mr. Li insisted on buying the vase secretly.

  That's about it, at most just a quarrel between husband and wife, or the lady making a fuss and returning to her parents' home. Unfortunately, heaven has unpredictable winds and clouds, one month later, Mr. Li's wife contracted a serious illness, requiring a large sum of money for treatment, but how could Mr. Li's family possibly have that much money at this time?

  At that time, Old Man Li was not like now, with countless treasures at home, but just a small stir. In the end, he had to prepare to sell the Qinghua vase for money, but the original collector had already moved away. Now thinking about it, it is very likely that the person knew that the Qinghua vase was a fake and set him up.

  Later, Mr. Li had to go through many twists and turns before finding a buyer, but the master invited by that person also saw the problem mentioned by Chuqin earlier, which raised doubts, so this Qinghua vase could not be sold. Mr. Li was at his wit's end and could only think of selling the house, but it was already too late.

  Maybe someone will ask, why didn't Li Dage think of selling the house first? You have to know that at the beginning of reform and opening up, even if his house was big, how much could it be worth? Moreover, even rich people wouldn't buy a house in what was still a rural area at that time.

  In those days, people valued family very much. There was a saying that "a golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as one's own doghouse." No one would think of selling their house to make ends meet if they still had other means.

  Mr. Li couldn't help but shed tears after saying all this, and everyone else was also sighing in sympathy. This is the way it is in the collecting world - when someone becomes too greedy, they are not far from losing their family and home. Mr. Li is relatively lucky, at least his house is still intact.

  After transferring money with the bank and Li Dage, Zhao Qirui was going to say goodbye to everyone because he still had things to do in Shanxi Province.

  Before leaving, Zhao Qirui handed a business card to Chu Chen and said with a smile: "Chu younger brother, keep in touch often in the future."

  Chu Chen took the business card with a somewhat surprised and pleased expression, then hastily pulled out one of his own cards and handed it to Zhao Qirui: "Definitely, definitely, President Zhao, if there's anything I can do in the future, just let me know."

  Zhao Qirui smiled and nodded, then greeted Wu Shu and others again, and walked towards his own car. However, when he reached the car door, he stopped and said to Qian Changxing on one side:

  "Master Qian, I'm really troubling you this time. As for the labor costs, I'll give them to Master Dong. It's just that where I'm going next is a bit inconvenient, so I can only trouble you to go back by yourself. Don't worry, I'll reimburse you for the transportation costs." After finishing speaking, he got into the car and drove away.

  Qian Changxing stood still, a look of incredulity on his face, then glanced at Chu Chen and the others, let out a snort of anger, swung his arm, and hastily walked away.

  Zhao Xueyi had a faint smile on his face, shaking his head and saying: "It seems that Director Zhao has been patient with him to the extreme, unfortunately this time even Old Dong was implicated, Director Zhao used to always address him as Old Dong."

  Everyone fell silent for a moment, and in their hearts, they all felt that Lao Dong was not worth it. It's really like having a single rat dropping that ruins the whole pot of porridge.

  Then, Zhao Xueyi patted Chu Chen's shoulder and said: "Alright, Xiao Chen has entered Director Zhao's eyes, otherwise he wouldn't have given you his business card. In the future, it will definitely be beneficial for you."

  Chu Chen waved his hand repeatedly and directly called it bad luck.

  Zhu Dafu smiled and said, "Without real ability, no matter how much luck you have, it's still the same if you can't see it. Xiaochun, this is also a good start for you. However, I'm going to say something unpleasant - where credit is due, we must accept it, but we can't be proud and complacent. We must remember that the antique business is really deep!"

  Chu Chen felt a chill run down his spine at this moment, earlier he had indeed been somewhat complacent due to everyone's praise, which made him think of the mindset he had when buying Tang Sancai before, Zhu Dafu's words were like a bucket of cold water that poured over him from head to toe, making him instantly sober up.

  Although I now have supernatural powers, which gives me an innate advantage over others, if I don't have enough knowledge, finding valuable antiques will still rely on luck. The use of supernatural powers is limited, after appraising the Qinghua vase earlier, I experimented and found that supernatural powers cannot be stacked, so the number of times per day is only three.

  Chu Chen bowed and said: "Thank you, Uncle Fu, for your teachings."

  Wu Shu and the others were delighted to see this and burst out laughing. Zhu Dafu smiled all over his face and said, "Alright, alright, don't be so serious, as long as you can listen, that's good."

  Zhao Xueyi was familiar with this place, so he took charge of arranging the transportation of furniture, and then everyone drove back to Beijing.

  At 10 o'clock in the evening, after six hours of long-distance trekking, everyone finally returned to Panjiayuan exhausted. However, they didn't eat on the way, and now they are hungry. After putting away today's gains, they found a nearby restaurant.

  In the private room, after ordering food, Zhu Dafu took a sip of tea and said: "I'm exhausted, next time we go to a far place, it's more comfortable to take a plane."

  "No, it's just that I'm getting older and can't compare with the energy of my youth."

  Wu Shu sighed and said, "By the way, Xiao Chuan, is there something wrong with that Buddha statue of yours? I know my old brother has never been married in his life."

  He saw that Zhao Xueyi was a bit confused and explained: "Xiao Chuan is the adopted son of my elder brother."

  The two of them suddenly looked at each other, and then turned their heads to look towards Chu Chen.

  Chu Chen chuckled and said: "I thought Uncle Wu wouldn't ask!"

  "Wu Shu said with a mixture of laughter and tears: 'I'm not as muddle-headed as you think, I just didn't ask before because I didn't want to distract us on the road.'"

  Chu Chen smiled slyly and said: "After all, Uncle Wu is meticulous. That Buddha statue is not simple, it should have a universe inside."

  Everyone listened to Chu Chen and couldn't wait to know what was going on, which was also the reason why Wu Shu didn't ask questions in the car before. Otherwise, during the long journey, they might have had an accident due to anxiety.