50: What exactly is Chapter 50 planning?

By the banks of the Qinhuai River.

The night breeze along the Qinhuai River carried a hint of coolness, dispersing the daytime heat, yet it couldn't block the bursts of aroma wafting from the street food stalls—a scent so domineering it burrowed straight into one's nose.

Hu Tian and Zhou Waner strolled leisurely along the riverbank, each holding a skewer of bright red tanghulu. Stopping and starting as they went, they looked like two carefree children, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The two arrived at a small duck blood fans soup stall and found a seat near the edge, preparing to settle their dinner and late-night snack.

"This duck blood fans soup is absolutely divine! It's so fresh it'll make your eyebrows fall off!"

Zhou Waner held a steaming bowl of soup, slurping up the vermicelli without any regard for her image. She was huffing from the heat, but her eyes narrowed into crescent moons. "Nanjing truly deserves its reputation as a culinary capital. A random roadside stall can make you want to cry from how good it is; it's simply 'a taste that should only exist in the heavens'!"

Hu Tian took a bite of a warm roasted duck meat pancake—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and bursting with meat juices. He said indistinctly, "What bowl is that for you? I saw you eat quite a bit of plum blossom cake just now too."

"Second bowl! This counts as proper dinner!"

Zhou Waner unashamedly held up two fingers and said righteously, "And I'm going to have another serving of osmanthus cake for dessert. You can't stop me, hmph!"

Hu Tian chuckled and shook his head, saying nothing more. He looked at her with doting eyes and naturally pulled out a tissue to hand to her, scanning the gradually bustling streets on both sides as they walked.

After walking a few more steps, the atmosphere of the street quietly changed. The clamor of neon lights gradually receded, replaced by rows of antique signs, rosewood carved lintels, and gray-brick paved ground. Various antique vendors were scattered about, and under the dim yellow lights, there was a sense of historical weight, as if they had stepped back into the past.

"We're here!"

Zhou Waner's eyes instantly lit up. She didn't even care about eating the osmanthus cake in her hand anymore, looking like an explorer who had discovered a new continent. "Wow, this street is so long! It must be several hundred meters?! The treasures here must be too many to count!"

Hu Tian looked up. The long Antique Street wound through the night, with stalls and shops lined up on both sides, a dazzling array of ancient ceramics, calligraphy scrolls, copper coins, jade, wood carvings, and stone sculptures...

All sorts of treasures were laid out, and even the air was filled with an old and charming scent—the smell of time settling down.

As they stood at the street entrance, Hu Tian paused his steps slightly.

At that moment, his consciousness quietly sank inward. In his mind, the Treasure Hunting Radar System activated silently, like a precision radar scanner.

An invisible scanning wave rippled forward like water, noiselessly enveloping the small stretch of street ahead. Within a range of over a hundred meters, all the stalls and shops instantly transformed into an ocean of information on the radar layer, with dense halos and points of light emerging one after another.

Hu Tian's gaze narrowed slightly.

In just these hundred or so meters, the radar had already exploded with activity. It was practically "gold everywhere"!

The most common were the scattered white halos, densely packed and appearing almost every few steps on various stalls. These represented old items with some age but ordinary value—common second-hand goods circulated among the people. Most were just so-called "standard goods."

Amidst the white halos, about a dozen blue light points were scattered, their glow significantly stronger than the white, like stars occasionally jumping out in the night sky. Hu Tian glanced at these coordinates; they roughly corresponded to several larger stalls. Some were porcelain, some were bronzeware. To know exactly what they were, he would need to get closer for a better look.

However, what brought a slight joy to Hu Tian's heart were those three green halos.

Green meant high-quality, superior ancient artifacts with considerable value. These were the true "undiscovered gems"!

The three green light points were quite dispersed. One was at a stall in front of a small antique shop with a "Qingfeng Hall" sign on the left side of the street; one was hidden in an inconspicuous pile at a roadside stall on the right; and the last one was inside a brightly lit antique shop in the middle of the street.

Hu Tian silently noted these three coordinates, the corners of his mouth curling up imperceptibly. He thought to himself, "It seems this trip tonight wasn't in vain. Not only can I accompany a beauty on a walk, but I can also 'stock up' along the way. Simply wonderful."

In just these hundred meters, there were already enough opportunities to find hidden gems. It was truly a case of "heaven providing a meal."

"Hey, what are you dazing out for? Are you mesmerized by the treasures here?"

Zhou Waner waved her hand in front of him, looking dissatisfied. "Hurry up! I want to check out that stall over there. That old man is displaying all bronzeware; it looks quite interesting. Maybe I can find a 'family heirloom'!"

Hu Tian snapped back to reality and smiled faintly. "No rush, let's browse slowly. The night is still long, and the good show is yet to come."

"You, you always speak so calmly, like some old immortal,"

Zhou Waner pouted and pulled him into the Antique Street. "But I've noticed that every time you say there's no rush, it's usually a precursor to a big harvest! I'm sticking with you!"

Hu Tian didn't deny it; he just slowly turned his gaze toward the "Qingfeng Hall" on the left side of the street, his eyes deep and determined.

Let's start the first stop there and get a "good start."

The stall in front of Qingfeng Hall wasn't large, but it was arranged quite tastefully. A few small bronze vessels were placed sporadically, alongside several inkstones and a wooden box with a thick patina.

Hu Tian's eyes fell on that wooden box. The green halo from the Treasure Hunting Radar was emanating from right here, and the glow was practically more brilliant than a diamond.

He calmly squatted down and picked up an inkstone next to it, flipping it over for a few looks. His fingertips lightly rubbed the edge of the stone, seemingly just browsing casually, but in reality, he was masking his inner excitement.

The stall keeper was a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing reading glasses. Seeing someone squatting to look, he didn't actively hawk his wares. He just glanced up, then lowered his head to fiddle with a string of Buddhist beads, looking like "Jiang Ziya fishing, waiting for the willing to bite,"

in the manner of an expert.

"Boss, what's in this box? It looks quite aged."

Zhou Waner couldn't help herself first, curiously pointing at the wooden box, her large eyes flashing with a desire for knowledge.

"Not for sale."

The middle-aged man didn't even look up, his tone as flat as if he were saying the weather was nice. "That's for my own collection, the treasure of the shop. It's not for sale. No matter how much you offer, I won't sell it."

Zhou Waner pouted and leaned close to Hu Tian's ear, whispering her dissatisfaction, "If it's not for sale, why display it... Isn't this just 'hanging a sheep's head to sell dog meat'? It's so annoying!"

Hu Tian let out a soft laugh but said nothing. He stood up, his gaze unhurriedly scanning the stall before finally settling on an inconspicuous small bronze incense burner next to the wooden box.

He picked up the small incense burner, checked the bottom, and his mouth twitched slightly. He thought, "Although I missed the big fish, this little shrimp isn't bad either. Consider it a 'bonus'."

The green halo of the Treasure Hunting Radar was coming from inside the wooden box. Since the stall owner wasn't selling, he wouldn't force it. There were two other spots anyway; he didn't need this one. After all, the most important thing in life is to be happy.

Hu Tian spent 500 yuan to purchase the small bronze incense burner.

Hu Tian held the small bronze incense burner in his palm. On the surface, he was just casually playing with it, but in reality, the Treasure Hunting Radar had already popped up a line of information in his mind.

[Item Identification: Small Bronze Incense Burner] [Grade: Common Antique] [Era: Late Qing Dynasty] [Details: A folk imitation, cast in the style of a xuande incense burner. The copper quality is decent, the patina is natural. Not from an official kiln, nor made by a famous master. Market circulation value is approximately in the two thousand to four thousand yuan range.]

[Energy Absorbed: +25 points]

[Ding! Current Total Energy: 1,246,455 points] (Note: Previously, for the imperial seal of the ming dynasty, the system directly rewarded 1,000,000 points.)

Hu Tian's eyelid twitched slightly, and the corner of his mouth pulled back imperceptibly. He thought to himself, "A late Qing folk imitation, only worth a few thousand. Better than nothing; at least I made back the cost with a bit of change left over."

Compared to the mysterious item in that wooden box, this small incense burner was indeed a bit shabby. However, Hu Tian didn't feel it was a pity. Getting a late Qing bronzeware for 500 yuan wasn't a loss no matter how you calculated it. Even if it was just an imitation, in the hands of an ordinary person, it was still a decent desk ornament.

He gripped the incense burner and handed it to Zhou Waner beside him. "Hold this for me."

Zhou Waner took it and turned it over a few times, looking confused. "Just this? It looks all black; is it worth anything? You stared at that wooden box for so long, and you ended up buying this?"

"It's a 500-yuan item, what more do you want?"

Hu Tian replied helplessly and had already started walking. The two headed further down the street.

Zhou Waner jogged a couple of steps to keep up, still clutching the incense burner and muttering, "You're so strange. You were clearly interested in that box, yet you bought an incense burner. What exactly are you planning..."

Hu Tian smiled faintly without answering, his gaze already falling toward the depths of the street, a faint smile flickering on his lips.

The first spot was just an appetizer. The real show hadn't officially begun yet.

The two looked around the stalls once more before leaving and continuing further into the street.

Zhou Waner nibbled on the unfinished osmanthus cake while looking around curiously. "Hey, look at that roadside stall over there. What is all that stuff piled up... it looks like junk."

Hu Tian looked in the direction she was pointing, his eyes sinking slightly.

The second green light point on the radar layer was right there, shining brightly amidst that pile of "junk"...

Meanwhile, in the presidential suite on the forty-second floor of the Jinling International Hotel, a few kilometers away from the Antique Street, the atmosphere was entirely different—so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

In the spacious room, which was brightly lit, Zhao Shanhe sat at the head of a solid wood tea table. He held a thin set of documents, his brow furrowed so tightly it seemed he might crush the paper.

A poem says:

The Qinhuai night intoxicates the traveler's soul, searching for treasure in the ancient street with true delight.

The radar scans to know the real from the fake, and the fish that escaped the net turns into gold.