Divine Lucky Star
Chapter 377 - Chapter 377 Chapter 376 The Shops Treasure

Chapter 377: Chapter 376: The Shop’s Treasure Chapter 377: Chapter 376: The Shop’s Treasure At that moment, Wang Hao and Principal Zheng exchanged a glance and started to listen attentively.

In fact, Wang Hao had long known the teapot set was a fake, but the reasons behind his conclusion were quite different from Master Liu’s, hence he was very curious about his remarks.

“What? You’re saying this teapot set is actually a fake?!” Just then, the young apprentice came in, carrying tea, and became anxious upon hearing Master Liu’s declaration of the teapot set being a fake, “This is a set of pots my master recently acquired, made by Ming Dynasty’s Liang Xiaoyu, Master Liang. How could it possibly be fake?”

“Liang Xiaoyu was a Purple Sand Pot artisan and ceramic artist in the Ming Dynasty,” Master Liu held the teapot in his hand and spoke slowly, “He lived during the Ming dynasty between Wanli and Chongzhen emperors. A native of Zhenan in Zhonghang, he could compose poetry and play the zither. He built the Putuo Sanxiu Temple and specially created teapots in Yixing as sacrificial vessels. His sand pots broke free from common molds and he could compose inscriptions for them. Cai Hanqiong mentions in ‘Conversations by the Mou Xuan’ that Liang Xiaoyu’s white clay teapots are as hard as jade and unmatched in their craftsmanship. You see, his pots are praised for not conforming to the vulgar and bearing his own inscriptions. Now, let us take another look at this Purple Sand Pot set. Both in form and detail, they give off a very mediocre impression, which has absolutely nothing to do with the four words ‘unmatched in craftsmanship’. Specifically, the three characters inscribed on the bottom inside the pot are particularly rough, and most importantly, the script is not even the clerical script that he favored most. So it can be confirmed beyond doubt that this pot is a counterfeit, and later crafted using high-end forgery techniques to fake its age. What a pity, if it were someone else, they might easily be deceived, but alas, they’ve encountered me, sigh, it seems your boss has been duped pretty badly this time!” He shook his head and wagged his chin as he spoke, and if he had a beard, he would have looked just like an otherworldly master.

“Indeed worthy of the title Master, such discerning insight, amazing indeed!” Second Uncle exclaimed excitedly, “Fortunately, you’re here; otherwise, we really couldn’t have spotted it!”

“My heavens!” the apprentice cried out, “I thought we had stumbled upon a great find, but who would have thought we’d actually have made an oversight, ah, such a shame, such a shame!”

Wang Hao thought to himself, “Such a shame my ass, if your boss is only this capable, he’s surely done for!”

Of course, today I’m just here to watch the excitement; I’ll just see if I keep quiet!

“What nonsense could be such a pity?” The apprentice was in the midst of his lament when a hasty voice came from the doorway, and then Wang Hao saw a balding man hurriedly running in, who immediately asked, “What’s this pity? What happened?”

“Master,” his apprentice came in with a face like he was at a funeral and said, “Master Liu here says the pot set you acquired yesterday is a fake!”

“Fake? Impossible, impossible,” the balding man said urgently, “How could it be fake? I’ve looked it over hundreds of times, even examined it with a magnifying glass, it can’t be fake, impossible, absolutely impossible!”

He repeated “impossible” quite a few times, and seeing this, Master Liu reiterated his explanation.

“Ah? There’s such a thing?!” Having listened to the explanation, the balding man slapped his thigh hard and said, “Sigh, the hunter who always shoots geese has been pecked in the eye by one! I’ve really made a blunder this time!” He picked up the fake pot set to smash it on the floor but was stopped by Master Liu. Master Liu said, “Though this set is fake, it’s still a pretty decent imitation, and if priced more modestly, it shouldn’t be a problem to sell.”

“No way, how could my shop sell fakes!” Without another word, the balding man smashed the pot onto the floor, and with a crack, it shattered into pieces. The apprentice’s eyelids twitched; he quickly swept away the fragments.

Second Uncle gave a big thumbs up, “Now, that’s what I call integrity! Just for the way you smashed it, I give your shop a hundred points!”

Wang Hao: “…”

Aren’t you afraid he’ll become arrogant?

“It’s only right, only right,” the bald man who had smashed the fake teapot, gasping and panting, finally sat down on the sofa to catch his breath, and then, seeing Wang Hao, a young man, asked in confusion, “This is…”

Second Uncle hurriedly introduced him, “This is a good friend of my nephew; he came along today to see the world!” And then he said to the two men, “This is the shopkeeper of this store, Manager Tong.”

Wang Hao: “…”

Manager Tong… now where have I heard that title before?

“Hello, hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Wang Hao quickly clasped his hands in greeting.

“Since he’s your son, he’s not an outsider,” Manager Tong nodded and then asked Principal Zheng, “Principal Zheng, your visit today is…”

“I said I was coming to see your shop’s treasure,” Principal Zheng hurriedly said, “Manager Tong, could you show me the set of Purple Sand Pots made by Master Chen Zhengming that your shop treasures so I can feast my eyes?”

Principal Zheng’s words were polite enough, but when Manager Tong heard this, he quickly shook his head and said, “No, no, that really is the treasure of our shop, definitely not for sale, definitely not for sale!”

Principal Zheng asked, “Can’t I even have a look? Manager Tong, to be honest with you, this time I plan to buy an authentic set of Purple Sand Pots as a gift. Right now, in the whole of Zhonghai, I only know that your shop has such a high-end set of Purple Sand Pots. If you don’t sell it to me, I’ll have to wait for the tea enthusiasts’ meeting next month to scour for one, which I’m afraid will be even more troublesome.”

“A gift?” Upon hearing that Principal Zheng wanted to give it as a gift, not only Manager Tong was stunned, but even Second Uncle was curious, “Old Zheng, who is worthy of you giving such a precious gift?”

After all, who is Principal Zheng? He is a chancellor of Zhonghai Drama College, a very prestigious person in the entertainment industry of the Heavenly People’s Republic! Normally, it was others who gave him gifts. Who would have thought that this time he himself would be giving a gift?!

“Alas, speaking of which, it’s not just anyone,” Principal Zheng sighed and then pointed his finger at the ceiling, saying, “Third Elder of the Hong family is celebrating his eightieth birthday next month, and I owe him for his care in the past. The old man has loved drinking tea all his life, and I thought I would make him happy by giving him a nice set of tea ware.”

“Third Elder of the Hong family!” When they heard this name, Second Uncle was dumbfounded! After a while, he finally exclaimed, “Could it be that Hong family?!”

“What other Hong family could there be?” Principal Zheng said with a smile, “So this time, no matter what, I’ve got to see Manager Tong’s treasure of the shop!”

By now, Manager Tong knew there was no use arguing. He nodded and said, “Alas, I can’t escape fate. Please wait a moment, I’ll go and fetch the treasure of our shop so that everyone can have a look.”

They were about to bring out the treasure of the shop!

Upon hearing this, Principal Zheng immediately became excited! Meanwhile, the apprentice also hurriedly got up and said, “Master, I’ll go close the door!”

Wang Hao: “…”

Crap, they even need to close the door just to look at a pot?!

Principal Zheng was indeed excited and said, “Ah, I’ve always heard that we need to close the door to see Manager Tong’s set of pots, which is not a courtesy extended to just anyone. Seeing it today, indeed that’s the case!”

“Brother Hao,” Second Uncle said, winking, “See that? Didn’t I tell you? This is called class!”

“Uh-huh,” Wang Hao nodded, “Today I’ve really seen something!”

About five minutes later, Manager Tong returned, holding a set of Purple Sand Pot tea ware that looked antique. He held it very carefully; the tea set was on a solid wooden tray with a thin sponge underneath and covered with yellow silk. The teapot looked exquisite, with a round mouth, a bulging belly, three legs beneath the belly, a curved spout, and a handle on the ear. The body of the pot was carved with rows of small characters.

“Here it comes, here it comes!” Upon seeing the teapot, Principal Zheng immediately grew excited, standing up and saying with excitement, “This is it, this is it! The masterpiece of Master Chen Zhengming!”

Manager Tong gently placed the set of teapots on the coffee table as if they were precious pearls, proudly saying, “Alright, take a look now. This set of teapots, that was something I came across unintentionally in my early years and is my proudest bargain! A masterpiece of the Ming Dynasty pot-making Master Chen Zhengming, a guaranteed authentic piece!” As he spoke, he took out a certificate from the side and said, “This is the authentication certificate from the Heavenly People’s Republic Antique Association. You can have a look, Principal Zheng.”

“Let me have a look!” Principal Zheng took the certificate, glanced at it twice, and nodded vigorously, “Yes, yes, yes, that’s right!”

Master Liu took out a magnifying glass from his pocket, “Manager Tong, may I take a closer look?”

“No problem,” Manager Tong said with a smile, “Sir, feel free to take a careful look.”

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