77: Chapter 77 Acting Cute

Hu Tian put his tools back into the toolbox one by one, his movements the same as always—not fast, but steady. Hearing those words, he didn't look up, only saying, "The vase itself is well-preserved, the chip is clean, it's easy to repair."

After hearing this, Su Huairen didn't say anything more, just glanced at him; there was something in that gaze.

In the time that followed, several more rounds passed in the Museum's appraisal room.

The collection pieces on the table that had not yet been determined were placed before Hu Tian, one after another.

There was a blue and white porcelain cup from the ming dynasty; the controversy lay in the trimming marks on the foot rim. Some said it was genuine, while others said it was a later imitation. There was a piece of Tianhuang soapstone; the pore structure on the cross-section and the "carrot fibers" had caused the several professors to have conflicting opinions. Then there was a gilded bronze Buddha statue; the style of the face and the alloy composition were both in question. It had been discussed back and forth more than once, yet they still couldn't make a final decision.

Hu Tian examined them one by one, unhurried and sparing with his words. He would pick them up to look, then put them down to speak. Everything he said pointed to specific details: what was right, what was wrong, and what the evidence was. He explained it clearly, without any ambiguity.

Regarding the blue and white cup, he turned it over and pointed to a very fine raised line along the inner edge of the foot rim. He explained that the tools used for trimming were different; there was a difference in the knife-handling habits between ming dynasty folk kilns and later imitations. The arc of this line, falling just here, meant it was genuine.

As for the piece of Tianhuang, he borrowed a magnifying glass and examined the cross-section for a while. He said the carrot fibers were genuine, but this piece had signs of later polishing. It should have originally had stone skin, but the skin had been removed, which detracted from its condition. However, the item itself was fine; it was Shoushan Tianhuang, though the price would need to be estimated lower.

For the gilded bronze statue, he weighed it in his hand and then leaned in close to examine the joints. He said this statue was in the Tibetan style, but the casting technique was not the local Tibetan method. It looked more like it had been crafted by artisans from the interior who were following the appearance of Tibetan statues. It dated to the mid-Qing Dynasty; it wasn't from ancient India, but it wasn't a modern imitation either. It had value, but its provenance and history of ownership needed to be clarified.

After listening, some of the professors nodded, while others pondered. The white-haired old professor turned the bronze statue over and over, examining it thoroughly, and finally said one word: "Accurate."

Just like that, throughout the afternoon, the pile of unresolved items on the table was cleared away by Hu Tian, one by one.

When the conclusion for the last collection piece was settled, outside the windows of the appraisal room, the daylight had already turned golden.

That light from the end of the afternoon slanted in, coating the people and objects in the room with a warm hue. It was quiet and a bit languid, as if everything had slowed down.

Su Huairen had his assistant organize and file the items while he stood by the window to say a few concluding remarks. Director Zhang and the professors packed up their things, talking about today's findings. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than when they had arrived.

Hu Tian sat by the workbench, not in a rush to move. The cup of tea beside him had long since gone cold. He picked it up and took a sip; it was bitter, but he drank it all anyway.

Section Chief Li came over, stood beside him, and lowered his voice, saying, "Teacher Hu, you've really worked hard today. Looking at the expressions of those professors, you've completely impressed them."

Hu Tian put down the cup, stood up, and grabbed his jacket, saying, "It's all stuff that needed to be looked at."

Section Chief Li smiled and led him out. The door to the appraisal room closed behind them. The corridor was quieter than inside, and their footsteps echoed on the floor, step by step.

Leaving the building, the air outside carried a chill. The evening breeze suppressed some of the heat that had accumulated during the day. The line of orange-red on the horizon was slowly narrowing, fading into a deep grayish-blue further out. The outline of the city appeared steady at this hour, not as clamorous as it was during the day.

Section Chief Li's car was parked in the courtyard. He opened the door, waited for Hu Tian to get in, then walked around to the driver's seat, sat down, and started the engine. "I'll take you back to the Jinling International," he said. "You should get some good rest. You haven't stopped from morning until night today."

Hu Tian leaned back in the passenger seat, didn't reply, and just gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

The car drove out of the courtyard and turned onto the main road. Streetlights lit up one by one. The lights from shop windows, signs, and the headlights from the opposite lane all merged into the light of the city before nightfall.

Hu Tian looked out the window, his eyelids feeling heavy. This day had started in the morning—the antique market, the appraisal room, the plum vase, the blue and white porcelain, the Tianhuang, the bronze statue—one piece after another. His eyes and brain hadn't really rested. Now, sitting in the car, his back sinking into the seat, that wave of fatigue finally washed over him.

The car drove for about twenty minutes, then turned into the curved driveway in front of the hotel and came to a stop.

Section Chief Li turned back and said, "We're here, Teacher Hu. Get some good rest. If you need anything, feel free to contact me anytime."

Hu Tian gave a grunt of acknowledgment, pushed open the car door, and stepped onto the ground. The lights at the hotel entrance were a warm yellow, illuminating the porch brightly. The doorman had already come over to greet him.

He carried his jacket and walked inside. The revolving door blocked the night wind behind him. The lobby was quiet, the floors were shiny and clean, and there was a faint scent of wood in the air.

Hu Tian walked toward the elevator and pressed the floor button. Waiting for the doors to close, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The area under his eyes was a bit dark, but his expression remained steady.

The elevator ascended. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the cabin, thinking of nothing, just standing there waiting for the door to open.

The room door clicked shut. Hu Tian draped his jacket over the back of a chair, sat on the edge of the bed, and without taking off his shoes, just sat there in silence for a while.

The curtains weren't drawn, so the city's night view was spread out behind that floor-to-ceiling window. The traffic below was a thin strip of light, the tall buildings in the distance had scattered lit windows, and further out, it was just black.

He thought about Zhao Shanhe.

Given the kind of person Zhao Shanhe was, not having received a reply from Scarface, he likely wouldn't just let it go.

But waiting and waiting, the man never appeared. Not in the hotel lobby, not in the hallway, not when he was going upstairs—not a shadow of him.

Hu Tian looked down at the back of his hands. The knuckles still had a slight, dry heat, left over from long periods of handling the collection pieces. He rubbed them, stood up, and walked to the window.

If he hadn't shown up, it was either because he had conceded, or someone else had made other arrangements for him.

Conceding didn't seem like Zhao Shanhe's style.

Then it must be the latter.

What Director Zhang had said in the appraisal room today—that director looked easygoing and left three points of room in his speech, but there was calculation in his eyes; he wasn't the type to let go easily.

Zhao Shanhe had been able to scramble and survive in this circle for so many years not just by relying on his eye for antiques, but more so on his connections. Once Director Zhang had spoken up and had his subordinates pass the word to the police station, no matter how much of a temper Zhao Shanhe had, he would first have to go back and clean up his own mess before planning anything else.

So, tonight was quiet.

Hu Tian pushed this matter to the back of his mind. It wasn't that he was dismissing it, but thinking about it now was useless. He would take it one step at a time; whatever was meant to come would come.

He turned and went to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed his face with cold water. The water was cold, and it instantly forced away some of that fatigue. He lifted his head, facing himself in the mirror; water droplets dripped from his chin and landed with a plop onto the white porcelain countertop.

Hu Tian dried his face with a towel, hung it back on the hook, and returned to the room. Only then did he kick off his shoes, sit cross-legged on the head of the bed, lean against the headboard, and reach out to grab the phone on the nightstand.

The screen lit up, and a caller ID popped up.

Zhou Waner.

He answered and put the phone to his ear. Before he could speak, a voice already came from the other end, "Hey, Hu Tian, did you forget what I told you?"

The voice was clear and bright, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

Hu Tian leaned against the headboard, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, "Which matter?"

"Which matter?"

The other side paused, her tone suddenly rising, "You're coming to Jinling University to pick me up tomorrow. It was agreed, we'd go back to Binhai together. Did you forget?"

Hu Tian finally remembered. Before he left, Zhou Waner had indeed mentioned that the finishing work for her current fieldwork research was at Jinling University, and that once she was done, she would head back, asking him to pick her up on his way.

His mind had been full of other things for those few days, so this matter had been put aside.

"I didn't forget."

"If you didn't forget, then what were you talking about just now?"

Hu Tian didn't respond to that, only saying, "What time?"

The other side was silent for a moment, as if judging whether he was telling the truth, before finally speaking, "Ten in the morning. Send me a message when you arrive. I'll be in the library building. Go left after entering the school gate; if you can't find it, just call me."

"Got it."

"Are you done with your work today? You sound a bit tired."

Hu Tian leaned his spine against the headboard and said, "Pretty much."

"Does 'pretty much' mean you're done or not done?"

"I'm done."

The other side gave a grunt of acknowledgement, then continued, "That's good. You really, you're running around all day long, and your eating and sleeping habits are all irregular. When I asked you last time, you didn't have your lunch until three in the afternoon. Do you call that lunch?"

Hu Tian didn't speak, listening to her talk.

"And that place you went to last time, the signal was bad. I called three times in a row, and no one answered. Do you know how worried I was then? I thought something had happened."

"I was in the mountains; the signal might have been poor."

"So just because you're in the mountains, you can choose not to answer the phone?"

"It's not that I chose not to answer; it's that I couldn't."

The other side huffed, "Fine, I'll remember that. Next time you're busy with something, I won't call. I'll just wait until you come out."

Hu Tian smiled and said in a low voice, "What kind of talk is that?"

"I'm telling the truth."

Zhou Waner's tone already carried a hint of a smile, "Forget it, let's not talk about that. How did the appraisal at the Museum go today?"

"It went smoothly."

"What does 'smoothly' mean? Say a few more words. Did you come across any good items today?"

Hu Tian then picked a few things from the day in the appraisal room to talk about—the plum vase, the blue and white porcelain, the bronze tripod, and so on. Zhou Waner studied archaeology and had been immersed in that field for many years alongside her grandfather, so she wasn't an outsider when hearing these things. She would interject or ask a question from time to time, and the two of them went back and forth, chatting away without realizing it.

When it came to the quality of that Tianhuang piece, Zhou Waner said, "I've seen a few pieces of Tianhuang. The real old-mine stuff has a color that seems to permeate from the inside out, not just float on the surface. When you handled it, did you get that feeling?"

"Yes, the carrot fibers were clear, and it even had some hidden skin on the bottom. It's old material."

"Then it's genuine,"

Zhou Waner said, "Those people have been appraising for so many years, yet they still have to rely on you to hold the fort. Hu Tian, you're a person who sometimes really leaves me speechless. How do you know a little bit about everything?"

"It's not that I know everything; it's just… just that I know a little bit about everything."