167: Chapter 167 Oh, did you just buy this from a stall?

[Required materials: natural agate powder, egg white, glutinous rice paste, kintsugi lacquer, gold powder, fine sandpaper, goat-hair brush, etc.]

[Restoration steps: Step 1: Cleaning and decontamination; Step 2: Splicing fragments; Step 3: Filling defects; Step 4: Simulating ancient glazing methods; Step 5: Temperature-controlled firing; Step 6: Fine polishing; Step 7: Antiquing treatment.]

[Restoration success rate: 99%]

[Condition after restoration: Near perfect, intact rim, warm and moist glaze, natural crackles, clearly visible sesame-seed spur marks on the bottom.]

[Market valuation after restoration: 45 million - 54 million RMB]

[Note: The restored Ru Kiln sky-blue glazed lotus petal bowl will become one of the best-preserved Ru Kiln items handed down through generations. If auctioned, it is highly likely to break the transaction record for Ru Kiln items.]

Hu Tian finished reading this information, his hand trembling slightly.

His heart beat violently, as if it were about to burst through his chest.

Two hundred yuan to buy a Ru Kiln bowl worth nearly fifty million!

This luck was simply heaven-defying!

He suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, tried his best to keep his face calm, took out his phone to scan the code and pay the two hundred yuan, then carefully put the bowl into his carry-on cloth bag.

The stall owner received the money and was still there counting it while muttering: "Lost big, lost big... Business is really hard to do these days."

Hu Tian took the bowl and left the stall with Zhou Waner.

After walking some distance, Zhou Waner finally couldn't help but ask: "Brother Tian, why did you buy that broken bowl? Is it really worth only two hundred yuan?"

Hu Tian smiled and said mysteriously: "Guess?"

The stall owner watched their retreating figures, shook his head, lit another cigarette, sat on his small stool puffing away, completely unaware that he had just missed out on immense wealth, muttering: "Young people these days, they really want any kind of junk."

Zhou Waner watched from the side, full of confusion: "Brother Tian, why did you buy this broken bowl?"

"To grow flowers."

Hu Tian said with a smile, "I think this bowl has a rather archaic feeling; it should be nice for planting succulents."

Zhou Waner pursed her lips: "Your aesthetic sense is really strange."

Hu Tian didn't say much, just carefully put the bowl into his backpack. Through the fabric, he could feel that the bowl was heavier than an ordinary porcelain bowl, and the texture felt more delicate and warm.

The two continued to stroll through the market. Zhou Waner stopped in front of a few more stalls, but didn't buy anything.

Hu Tian kept his radar on, but never found another treasure like the bowl from before.

About an hour later, Zhou Waner was a bit tired and suggested finding a place to sit down.

The two walked out of Panjiayuan Antique Market and found a quiet cafe nearby to sit down.

Zhou Waner ordered a latte, and Hu Tian ordered an Americano.

"Brother Tian, why are you so quiet today?"

Zhou Waner rested her chin on her hand and looked at him, her eyes filled with a trace of inquiry, "Aren't you usually quite talkative?"

Hu Tian smiled and took a sip of coffee: "I'm thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?"

"Thinking about that bowl."

Hu Tian said.

Zhou Waner was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth and laughed: "Are you really planning to use that broken bowl to grow flowers?"

Hu Tian didn't answer, just took the bowl out of his backpack and placed it gently on the table.

The glaze color of the bowl appeared somewhat obscure under the warm yellow light of the cafe. The surface was covered with fine and clear crackles, as if it were an old, weather-beaten face, silently telling of a thousand years of vicissitudes.

Zhou Waner leaned in to look, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed: "This bowl does look like it has a sense of age, but the condition is so poor, it shouldn't be anything valuable, otherwise it wouldn't have been used to feed cats."

Hu Tian picked up the bowl, his fingertips gently stroking the rough outer wall, feeling that unique touch.

There was a circle of faint lotus petal patterns on the bowl body, which were blurred and hard to distinguish due to the erosion of time. However, when his gaze fell on the bottom of the bowl, he keenly discovered a mark there that was worn down to the point of being almost invisible.

Just as he was trying to identify it, the glass door of the cafe was pushed open, and a burst of noisy laughter broke the tranquility.

"Oh, Waner? You're here too! What a coincidence!"

A voice with a heavy nasal tone came, shrill and deliberate, like a male duck being strangled.

Zhou Waner looked up, the smile on her face stiffened for a moment, then she reluctantly pulled out a polite arc: "Shen Huairen, you came to Panjiayuan Antique Market too."

Hu Tian looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six leading three or four people walking over.

This person was tall and thin, wearing a well-tailored light gray polo shirt, his hair combed meticulously, with gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, looking like a typical elite intellectual.

Behind him followed a few boys of similar age, each carrying a backpack, with notebooks tucked in their hands, looking like they had just returned from field research.

The man was named Shen Huairen, a graduate student in the Archaeology Department of Yanjing University. In the few days that Zhou Waner had been here for exchange studies with her mentor, he had been buzzing around Zhou Waner like a fly, finding all sorts of excuses to strike up a conversation, things like "Waner, are you interested in this?" or "Waner, let me help you look up some information," which annoyed Zhou Waner to no end.

Shen Huairen walked over with big strides, but his eyes first swept over Hu Tian, his gaze lingering for a moment on Hu Tian's ordinary T-shirt and sneakers, the corners of his mouth twitching imperceptibly, a trace of contempt flashing in his eyes.

Then he turned to Zhou Waner, revealing a smile he considered quite charming: "Waner, what brings you to Panjiayuan Antique Market today?"

He paused, his eyes drifting towards Hu Tian again, "Out strolling with a friend?"

Zhou Waner nodded: "Yeah, just looking around."

Only then did Shen Huairen seem to notice Hu Tian, and he reached out his hand very politely: "And this is?"

Hu Tian raised his head unhurriedly, shook his hand, his tone plain but resonant: "Hu Tian, Waner's boyfriend."

Shen Huairen's hand stiffened suddenly, the strength of the handshake subconsciously increasing a little, as if he wanted to crush Hu Tian's hand bones, but Hu Tian's palm was as steady as a rock.

Shen Huairen quickly let go of his hand, the smile on his face maintained somewhat stiffly, and he said with a smile: "Oh, it's Brother Hu, nice to meet you, nice to meet you. Shen Huairen, from the Yanjing University Archaeology Department, currently a PhD student."

He deliberately emphasized the words "PhD student" a little more, trying to regain some face.

Hu Tian just nodded indifferently: "Oh."

Just this one word, simple and crisp, without any flattery or exclamation, as if the title the other party was so proud of was worthless in his eyes.

Shen Huairen's smile could no longer be maintained. He cleared his throat and waved to the few people behind him: "Come, come, everyone sit, research is done for today, let's have a good rest."

Several people brought chairs, pushed a table together nearby to sit down, and ordered drinks.

Shen Huairen did not sit with them, but instead pulled up a chair, leaned closer to Hu Tian and Zhou Waner's table, turned his body halfway, and put on a posture of casual chatting.

"Waner, did you buy any good things at Panjiayuan Antique Market?"

He asked, his tone carrying a kind of casual superiority, "Panjiayuan Antique Market, well, it's a mix of fish and dragons, good things are rare, most are fakes, and laymen are very easy to get cheated."

Just as Zhou Waner wanted to say something, Shen Huairen's gaze had already fallen on the bowl on the table.

He first glanced at it casually, then his eyelids twitched, he brought his head closer, and with a look of scrutiny, began to examine the bowl up and down.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed, his voice a bit exaggerated, attracting the attention of several fellow students at the nearby table.

"Yo, did you just buy this from a stall?"

He looked at Hu Tian askance, a trace of unmasked mockery hanging on the corners of his mouth, "Brother Hu, how much did you buy this for?"

Hu Tian picked up his coffee and took a sip, saying calmly: "Two hundred yuan."

"Two hundred yuan."

Shen Huairen repeated the number, then shook his head, emitting a meaningful chuckle, "Eh, fine, buying some fun for two hundred yuan, it's nothing."

He slightly adjusted his chair, changed his posture, pushed up his glasses, and said in a condescending tone: "But Brother Hu, looking at this thing, you were indeed fooled. Look at this glaze color, it's dull, the crackles are unnatural, the shape isn't quite right either. At a glance, it's a fake from the Republic of China period, and not even a good fake at that. It's probably the kind mass-produced in the late Republic of China; its collection value is basically zero."

While speaking, he reached out to grab the bowl, seemingly wanting to show off his "expertise" from a closer distance.

Hu Tian's eyes suddenly turned cold, his hand pressed quietly on the rim of the bowl. The movement was understated but just enough to block Shen Huairen's claws. The force transmitted from his fingertips made it impossible for Shen Huairen to move even a fraction further.

Shen Huairen was stunned, pulled his hand back somewhat awkwardly, his expression changing slightly.

Hu Tian said calmly: "You know about this?"

"Of course."

Shen Huairen puffed out his chest, regaining some confidence, "My research direction is song dynasty ceramics. I have published several papers in core journals. My mentor in the Yanjing University Archaeology Department thinks highly of me. Last month, I also attended an academic seminar at the Palace Museum. I can tell the general idea of this kind of thing at a glance."

Zhou Waner quietly twitched the corners of her mouth on the side, obviously unimpressed by Shen Huairen's boasting.

Shen Huairen glanced at Zhou Waner and continued to perform vigorously, his tone becoming increasingly assertive: "Look, the real song dynasty Ru Kiln has a very small surviving quantity. The world-recognized genuine pieces do not exceed ninety. Any one of them taken out is a treasure of the Museum. In a place like Panjiayuan Antique Market, you expect to encounter a Song Ru? That's a dream. Occasionally there might be one or two real things, but they would have already been targeted by experts long ago; how would it be our turn for us ordinary people to pick up a bargain."

He paused and sighed with great emotion, "Brother Hu, next time you buy something, bring a knowledgeable friend with you, otherwise it's very easy to get taken advantage of."

This was said as if he were giving kind advice, but in reality, every word emphasized that Hu Tian was a layman who didn't know the ropes, desperately belittling Hu Tian.

Hu Tian cradled the bowl in his palm, looked down at it, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly, revealing a playful smile.

"What you said is quite interesting."

He raised his head, his gaze like a torch, looking calmly at Shen Huairen, "I ask you, you just said the glaze of this bowl is dull and the crackles are unnatural; are these two points the basis for your judgment that it is a fake?"