Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Wine of Grapes and the Night-Glowing Cup

  "Xiao Li, come here!"

  Wu Xiaoli's mother suddenly beckoned to her, Wu Xiaoli turned back to glance at Li Yang before slowly walking over to her mother's side. The two of them were whispering something in low voices, but no one else could hear what they were saying.

  "Shen Hao, bring out the birthday gift you've prepared!"

  Sitting to one side, a woman in her forties who looked very elegant suddenly said something. Shen Hao glanced at Li Yang and then took another look at Wu Xiaoli before turning around and taking out a box from a bag.

  Li Yang was somewhat taken aback, and the fire in his heart slowly rose up. Just now when Shen Hao looked at him, his eyes had a clear provocative gaze, very thick and intense.

  Li Yang was baffled, he and Shen Hao met for the first time today, but Shen Hao showed great hostility towards him from the start. However, Li Yang also understood that Shen Hao's hostility was all brought about by Wu Xiaoli. Thinking of Wu Xiaoli's ambiguous behavior earlier, Li Yang couldn't help but smile wryly, a femme fatale indeed.

  Shen Hao held the box and, after another provocative glance at Li Yang, slowly walked to Liu Xue Song's front. Although Shen Hao was facing Liu Xue Song, he first bowed his head in respect to He Lao. The people around did not say anything about Shen Hao's behavior.

  However, Li Yang did notice that Liu Xuesong's eyes flashed with displeasure, but it was fleeting, and if Li Yang hadn't been paying attention to them, he probably wouldn't have noticed.

  "There was a literary giant in the Tang Dynasty named Wang Han, also known as Zi Yu. Wang Zi Yu left behind the ancient masterpiece 'Liangzhou Ci', which was later praised by Ming Dynasty master Wang Shizhen as the crowning work of Tang Dynasty's seven-character quatrains!"

  Shen Hao held the box, but didn't open it. Instead, he slowly started reciting a Tang poem: "Grape wine and moonlight cup, wanting to drink, pipa horse urges on, drunk sleeping on the battlefield, don't laugh at me, how many people have returned from ancient battles?"

  "Shen Hao, what does this Tang poem mean? Is it related to the thing in your hand?"

  Wu Xiaoli couldn't hide her curiosity, and she couldn't help but ask a question. Shen Hao's face immediately showed a proud smile, and he nodded slowly, saying: "That's right, the gift in my hand was not easily obtained from Shaanxi, it is the night light cup mentioned in this poem, Tang Dynasty night light cup!"

  Shen Hao opened the box while speaking, inside the box were two white jade wine cups that were slightly smaller than ordinary high-footed cups. At a glance, they looked elegant and refined, giving off an air of nobility and simplicity, evoking a sense of refreshing rustic charm.

  "Grandpa Liu, this is a bottle of fine grape wine and a night light cup that Sun Hao has specially found for you. Wishing you a long and healthy life, may your life be evergreen, may your vitality flow forever, happy birthday, and may your spring be eternal!"

  Li Yang's eyebrows suddenly twitched, Shen Hao was indeed a cultured person, and he could make so much fuss about giving a gift. If Li Yang had done it himself, he definitely wouldn't have been able to do it.

  Shen Hao slowly picked up a night light cup, this white jade made night light cup surface smooth and delicate, fine texture, is a good quality goods in white jade.

  Li Yang's eyes suddenly widened, and his gaze fell on the night light cup he had picked up, where there were a few bright red bloodstains, which directly affected the overall appearance of the cup.

  In the past few days, Li Yang had studied a lot of ancient jade materials and was no longer unfamiliar with these things. However, seeing this red mark on the cup made him very surprised. From the naked eye, this cup was absolutely a top-grade white jade cup.

  Li Yang quietly activated his special ability, and immediately everything in the cup was exposed to Li Yang's mind. Looking at the night-glowing cup with only a thin layer of pale yellow light on its surface, Li Yang couldn't help but chuckle softly.

  Li Yang's laughter was not loud, but in this silent room, it was still very noticeable. Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Li Yang, and Shen Hao's face showed a hint of anger, which turned into a smile after a glance.

  "Mr. Li, what are you smiling at? Don't tell me you have a different opinion about this pair of night-light cups?"

  Several elderly people also looked at Li Yang with great interest, especially He Lao, who always felt that his eyes had a different kind of sparkle.

  Li Yang immediately shook his head and said, "No, I didn't mean that. I'm just a bit curious, please forgive me, Mr. Shen?"

  Shen Hao brought a pair of counterfeit goods as a birthday gift. Whether it was Old Liu or Old He, they were both experts in this area and probably had already seen through it. This time, Shen Hao would definitely lose face.

  Through special ability, Li Yang has already seen through the night-glowing cup, which is actually a modern high-imitation product. The jade is not real white jade, but rather ordinary Hetian white jade that has undergone chemical reactions to make it fake. This kind of night-glowing cup can be said to have very low value, and as a handicraft, you can buy a pair for just 100 yuan.

  "Oh, what's Mr. Li curious about? Maybe I can give Mr. Li an explanation!"

  Shen Hao continued to ask, with a tendency to break the pot and get to the bottom of it. Shen Hao's attitude of being a yes-man but not letting go also annoyed Li Yang. Originally, Li Yang didn't plan to expose him now, but since Shen Hao was asking for it himself, Li Yang wouldn't be polite anymore.

  "It's nothing, just curious about the red dots on the rim of this cup. Such a beautiful and pure night-glowing cup, having these red dots is quite an eyesore!" Li Yang asked with a hint of smile on his face.

  Shen Hao's eyes flashed with disdain, and his face became even more complacent. He said to Li Yang: "Mr. Li is curious about this? It seems that Mr. Li doesn't understand the things inside antiques. These red spots seem like flaws, but they are not. On the contrary, these red spots increase the value of this pair of nightlight cups. Without these red spots, many people would not dare to take this pair of nightlight cups seriously, but with these red spots, its value can immediately be multiplied several times!"

  Li Yang stared blankly at Shen Hao, with a hint of weirdness in his eyes. This Shen Hao took others for fools, unaware that he himself was the biggest fool.

  Seeing Li Yang's stunned expression, Shen Hao became even more pleased and enthusiastically explained to Li Yang: "These red dots are actually 'blood droplets', this night-glowing cup is from underground, strictly speaking it counts as a burial object, but after many years of being played with, now it's a genuine antique!"

  Shen Hao feared that this had been a burial object, which would make Liu Lao feel uneasy, so he hastily explained that many antiques were actually excavated from tombs, especially ancient jade, and that the Palace Museum had many such artifacts. Real collectors wouldn't mind these things.

  Seeing Liu Lao's expressionless face, Shen Hao continued: "The secretion is a major characteristic of unearthed ancient jade, and blood secretion is the rarest among them. Anything with blood secretion is something that was buried with the owner, and it's always the most valuable thing. So these red spots not only don't affect the value of this white jade cup, but also prove its noble identity!"

  Li Yang's eyes suddenly flashed with interest and he said: "Mr. Shen, what is blood seepage? And how is it formed?"

  When Li Yang asked, Shen Hao flashed a look of disdain again.

  Shen Hao picked up the night-glowing cup and pointed to the mouth of the cup, saying to Li Yang: "The actual jade is made from the rust of underground water, soil and other things. The blood jade refers to the jade in the tomb mixed with human blood, over time, these bloods are infused into the jade, this is the blood jade. The formation of blood jade has very difficult conditions, even if I tell you, you won't understand!"

  Li Yang nodded and pointed to the mouth of the night-glowing cup, saying: "If it's a blood seepage that only appears when mixed with human blood in the tomb, why does it appear at the mouth of the cup? Is this big cup placed under the body of the person in the tomb?"

  Shen Hao was taken aback for a moment, and Li Yang's question really made him speechless, while he had never thought about this problem before.

  It was Liu Lao, He Lao and Zhao Lao who looked at each other and nodded slightly.

  "I found it strange, according to Mr. Shen's explanation, the bloodstain must be placed close to the person in the grave for it to appear, and since this cup's bloodstain is on the rim, it must have been in contact with the person's body at that position. But if we say this cup was placed under the body, not to mention whether it would be crushed or not, something so big would definitely be uncomfortable for the person, who would use such an uncomfortable thing under their ancestor's body? Would the ancestor not sleep well and come to haunt us in a dream?"

  Everyone chuckled, Li Yang's question was strange but practical. The burial objects were placed by later generations, of course, to give their ancestors a comfortable resting environment.

  Li Yang didn't look at Shen Hao's ugly face and continued to say: "If you put it on your body, don't mention whether it can be injected with blood or not. Just putting the mouth of the cup down is wrong, let alone being injected with blood like that. It won't just inject a little bit into the mouth of the cup, will it, Mr. Shen?"

  "This, I'm also not very clear!"

  Shen Hao's face looked very unsightly, Li Yang's question he really couldn't answer, not understanding it here and he didn't dare pretend to understand, Shen Hao knew that there were several experts in front of him.

  Li Yang smiled and said, "Mr. Shen has a point that is indeed correct, this blood jade is extremely rare and difficult to come by. Generally speaking, the placement of jade objects is crucial, many are pressed under the tomb occupant's body, such as jade pendants, jade earrings, or held in the mouth like jade cicadas, or inserted into the anus like jade plugs. Some are even worn on the hands like jade rings. But Mr. Shen, this pair of yours, how can I put it, something so large appearing with blood jade is truly extremely rare, it's simply a national treasure of the highest level!"

  Li Yang finished speaking, Wu Xiaoli smiled first, Liu Lao and others did not speak, but a smile appeared on their faces. Li Yang's words were already very straightforward, just short of directly saying that this was fake goods.

  Shen Hao's face turned pale, and he understood the meaning of Li Yang's words, but he didn't know how to refute them. Moreover, Shen Hao had a bad premonition in his heart, and it was possible that this expensive thing might be problematic after all. The fact that Old Liu and others did not oppose Li Yang's words was the best proof.

  At the same time, Shen Hao became even more annoyed with Li Yang. The words that came out of Li Yang's mouth were absolutely not something a person who didn't understand could say. Shen Hao slowly realized he had fallen into Li Yang's trap and was led in step by step, now it was too late to get out.