Blue and white porcelain is legendary in the world of antique collecting, often fetching astronomical prices in the tens or even hundreds of millions at auction, driving collectors into a frenzy. In '05, a blue and white porcelain jar sold for a staggering 230 million yuan, setting a world record for Chinese art auction sales—a record that stood for a full five years until it was broken in '10 by a painting and calligraphy piece from the Northern Song Dynasty.

However, Wang Zhuo’s knowledge of blue and white porcelain was limited to knowing it was extremely valuable, and that there was a nice-sounding pop song also called Qing Hua Ci. Li Shangdong pulled down the overhead light, allowing Guan Shichen and Qiu Nanyang to examine the wine cup closely.

Each held a magnifying glass, circling the piece with intense concentration. While examining it, Qiu Nanyang asked, "Boss Li, where did this come from?" Li Shangdong spoke slowly, "A friend in collecting ran into some trouble and needed to liquidate some assets to raise cash.

This piece was one of his treasures. He picked it up over a decade ago in an old village in Henan and kept it displayed at home.

He wouldn't be selling it if he weren't short on funds." Collectors place the highest value on provenance and origin; a good history can significantly appreciate an object’s worth, whereas an unclear background severely limits its potential for appreciation. This blue and white wine cup, at the asking price of 500,000, corresponded to its relatively ordinary provenance; otherwise, it would have been priced much higher.

"It seems to be a treasure," Qiu Nanyang declared after a long inspection. "The Chenghua blue and white is thin-bodied, delicate to the touch, and highly vitrified, with thick glaze—this cup fits the characteristics perfectly.

What's truly rare is its near-perfect preservation; there's only one minor chip in an inconspicuous spot, and no other damage. While the blue color is slightly paler than that of the imperial ware, the depiction of the pomegranate here is so vivid that its artistic standard is hardly inferior to the official kiln pieces." Wang Zhuo was beginning to grasp some of the nuances of antique collecting: no matter how much you want to haggle, you must be truthful when evaluating someone else's item.

You can't just dismiss it as worthless; otherwise, the seller will kick you out the door, refusing to deal with you at any price. Antiques are like a collector's children; devaluing someone’s treasured item is an obvious slap in the face.

Of course, finding a bargain at a street stall or tricking a novice operates under entirely different rules. Listening to Qiu Nanyang’s assessment, Guan Shichen nodded repeatedly.

"A fine piece. Truly fine." Li Shangdong smiled slightly and asked, "Well, Old Qiu, what do you think of my cup?" "It’s an old piece," Qiu Nanyang confirmed with a decisive nod, then shifted his tone: "But the price is too high." "Let’s not discuss the price yet," Li Shangdong waved off, smiling.

"Take another look. Oh, I have a few other things." Saying this, Li Shangdong took out a stack of papers and several photographs from the wooden box.

Qiu Nanyang took them and thought that Li Shangdong really was meticulous. The papers contained signatures from several esteemed masters highly accomplished in appraising blue and white porcelain, and the photos showed these same experts posing with the wine cup.

Li Shangdong maintained his calm, smiling expression: "Well, these things certainly have some value, don't they?" Qiu Nanyang nodded. With these documents, the provenance of the blue and white wine cup was significantly bolstered.

Moreover, given the reputation of Shangdong Lou, there was no possibility of them substituting a fake for the genuine article. The authenticity of this piece now seemed irrefutable.

This realization reduced the room for negotiation, though it simultaneously increased the potential for future appreciation—a trade-off, perhaps. "Mr.

Guan, what do you think?" Qiu Nanyang’s task was mostly complete; now, Guan Shichen had to make the final decision. Guan Shichen pondered for a moment.

The cup’s price exceeded his budget, but since the elderly gentleman whose birthday they were celebrating enjoyed fine drinkware, a blue and white wine cup was a perfect, highly fitting gift. Spending an extra hundred or two hundred thousand for it seemed worthwhile.

For a wealthy man like Guan Shichen, with assets in the tens of millions, that sum was neither trivial nor ruinous, but since the money was being spent where it mattered most, why hesitate? Having made up his mind, Guan Shichen calmly set down his magnifying glass and looked up at Li Shangdong.

"Boss Li, I intend to buy this piece. Give me your rock-bottom price." Li Shangdong thought for a moment.

"450,000. Since you are Old Qiu’s friend, I’ll knock off ten thousand.

440,000. No lower." Guan Shichen sat steadily and chuckled.

"Boss Li, I am buying this for an elder's birthday celebration. Does the figure 440,000 sound right?" The number forty-four, sì shí sì, sounded distressingly close to sǐ sǐ sǐ (die die die).

Presenting such a gift for a longevity celebration was almost as bad as showing up empty-handed. Li Shangdong blinked, instantly apologizing repeatedly.

"Oh, oh, my apologies, Boss Guan, I was wrong, completely my mistake. How about I reduce it by another ten thousand?" "It’s still a bit steep," Guan Shichen said calmly, looking directly at Li Shangdong.

"Boss Li, I bet you’d sell it to me for 400,000." "This…" Li Shangdong hesitated for a long time before finally nodding. "That’s better," Guan Shichen chuckled with satisfaction.

"Boss Li, let’s become friends; I’ll be back." Li Shangdong repeatedly agreed and shook hands firmly with Guan Shichen. The deal was settled.

Under Guan Shichen's signal, Lu Weimin went to the car to fetch the money. Li Shangdong instructed an assistant to bring a fresh pot of fine tea, and they drank and conversed jovially with Guan Shichen and Qiu Nanyang.

Wang Zhuo secretly gasped. A 400,000 yuan wine cup had just been sold?

Seeing that Guan Shichen and the others were now chatting about curious anecdotes from the collecting world, and the cup sat on the table, Wang Zhuo walked over, intending to examine it closely. Coincidentally, Guan Yingying also approached.

They exchanged a knowing smile, each picking up a magnifying glass to observe the object under the light. Guan Yingying held the magnifying glass in one hand and the stack of appraisal papers Li Shangdong had provided in the other, occasionally cross-referencing the physical object with the details listed.

It seemed she wasn't checking for authenticity but rather for general knowledge enhancement. Wang Zhuo, however, was simply scrutinizing it, trying to figure out how a mere wine cup could be worth 400,000 yuan—that price could buy two of the apartments he currently lived in.

Noticing Wang Zhuo’s strange expression, Guan Yingying couldn't help but laugh and ask, "Wang Zhuo, what do you think?" Wang Zhuo grinned, offering just one word: "Expensive." "It is quite expensive," Guan Yingying agreed with a smile. "But it’s worth the price.

Blue and white porcelain is a treasure of our national culture. 'Cin' means porcelain, and blue and white porcelain represents the pinnacle of porcelain work.

It’s what introduced the world to China; it’s a symbol of our nation." Wang Zhuo nodded noncommittally, thinking that using fragile, easily broken porcelain as a national symbol might not be the wisest choice. Regardless, Wang Zhuo still felt the 400,000 price tag was dreamlike.

He couldn't resist activating his X-ray vision and looking through the cup. Upon doing so, Wang Zhuo let out an astonished "Yi!" because he noticed that the material of the cup body and the base were clearly different, with an extremely fine seam where they joined.

Wang Zhuo frowned in confusion. Was pottery not cast in one piece during manufacturing, but rather with the body and base made separately and then joined?

"What is it?" Guan Yingying asked. Wang Zhuo considered his wording and asked, "Sister Guan, have you ever seen the movie Ghost?" "I have," Guan Yingying replied.

"Are you thinking of that scene where the two protagonists are shaping pottery? Yes, the process for porcelain is similar." Wang Zhuo chuckled.

"I thought the base had been added on later." "Haha," Qiu Nanyang interjected upon hearing Wang Zhuo’s comment. "Wang Zhuo, porcelain handles are sometimes added later, but never the foot-ring.

Doing that would ruin the firing." Wang Zhuo nodded thoughtfully. After Qiu Nanyang’s explanation, he was certain there was something fishy about this wine cup.

He discreetly glanced at Li Shangdong, observing that the short middle-aged man was smiling and chatting naturally, showing no sign of stress. Wang Zhuo wondered if Li Shangdong was also unaware of the deception.

That was plausible. Qiu Nanyang was the expert invited by Guan Shichen, yet even he hadn't spotted the flaw.

In the trade, this is called "getting burned"—being fooled by a fake. If Qiu Nanyang could be tricked, Li Shangdong certainly could, and perhaps even the named experts could have been fooled.

There was, of course, another possibility: that Qiu Nanyang and Li Shangdong were in cahoots, colluding to cheat Guan Shichen. However, Wang Zhuo felt this was unlikely because, coincidentally, the three men were currently discussing an anecdote about an accomplice working with a seller to swindle a wealthy merchant.

Wang Zhuo doubted Qiu Nanyang and Li Shangdong possessed the extreme composure required to cheat someone while simultaneously advising the victim on how to spot the trick. With this thought, Wang Zhuo felt a sudden urge to expose the matter.

For caution, he carefully flipped the wine cup over and examined the base closely with his magnifying glass. Indeed, no matter how meticulously he looked, he could find no telltale signs.

The join between the body and the base was seamless. Only by using his enhanced vision could the truth be revealed.

Wang Zhuo understood immediately: the body of the cup must be a modern forgery, while the inscribed base was likely genuine. Since faking the base is the most difficult part, the perpetrator likely used this method to fool everyone.

Just then, his cousin, Lu Weimin, arrived carrying an unassuming leather briefcase. An assistant from Shangdong Lou brought out two currency counters, preparing for the on-the-spot cash transaction.

As Lu Weimin’s briefcase was about to be handed to the Shangdong Lou assistant, Wang Zhuo suddenly called out loudly, "Brother Min, wait a moment!" The room fell silent. Everyone stared at Wang Zhuo in surprise, wondering what he was about to do.

Lu Weimin reacted the fastest, slightly tightening his grip to keep the briefcase secure in his hands. Wang Zhuo’s mind raced, devising a way to handle this delicate situation.

In an instant, he settled on a plan. "Mr.

Guan, Uncle Qiu, I suspect there might be an issue with the base of the cup. Could you look again?" Guan Shichen and Qiu Nanyang both quickly stood up, looking at Wang Zhuo with suspicion, and walked to the table in silence, each picking up their magnifying glass to re-examine the piece.

Li Shangdong’s expression tightened noticeably. If this sale went through, he would profit by 100,000 yuan; he couldn't afford any mishaps.

After studying it for a long time, neither man could spot anything amiss. Wang Zhuo pointed vaguely toward an area, saying, "See that?

There’s a very fine white line there." In reality, using the naked eye and a magnifying glass revealed no flaws, but if he didn't say something, how could he explain his supernatural X-ray vision? Guan Shichen and Qiu Nanyang frowned, looked again, but still saw nothing.

Guan Yingying offered a small flashlight, but even the beam revealed nothing. "Wang Zhuo?" Guan Yingying asked, looking at him for an explanation.

Judging that the moment was right, Wang Zhuo spoke. "Sister Guan, I suspect the body of this cup and the base were not made as one piece, but joined later." "How is that possible?" Li Shangdong burst out laughing, exasperated.

"Young man, at least six famous experts have examined this blue and white piece, and Old Xue even inscribed it! Are you calling it a stall find?" In the antique world, forgery methods are endless, and one common trick is adhering fragments of genuine articles to modern fakes and selling them as originals.

However, this technique easily betrays itself, so it is usually reserved for fakes sold on street stalls to trick bargain hunters. "Boss Li, I’m not saying your blue and white is a stall find; I just suspect it’s not very old." Wang Zhuo observed Li Shangdong’s reaction and felt he wasn't acting; it seemed Li Shangdong himself had been swindled.

"Not very old" was a new term Wang Zhuo had learned that day, meaning it lacked the proper age—essentially, a subtle way of pointing out it was a reproduction, not an antique. "Not very old?" Li Shangdong shook his head with a wry smile, glancing at Wang Zhuo, deciding not to waste words on this impetuous youth.

"Boss Guan, what do you make of this…" Li Shangdong sought Guan Shichen’s opinion. Guan Shichen frowned slightly, remaining silent in thought.

Guan Yingying whispered from the side, "Dad, maybe we should visit a few more shops?" Even though the cup's authenticity hadn't been definitively proven, the sudden complication made the Guan father and daughter uneasy, and Guan Shichen was leaning toward further consideration. Seeing Guan Shichen contemplate leaving, Li Shangdong grew anxious.

He couldn't physically stop them, nor could he preemptively lower the price. He could only cast a pleading look toward Qiu Nanyang.

Qiu Nanyang gave a slight shrug, signaling helplessness. Since Wang Zhuo had asserted the base was faulty, Qiu Nanyang couldn't insist otherwise.

If he spoke too much, Guan Shichen might suspect him of colluding with Li Shangdong, which would be disastrous for him. Watching the almost-secured deal slip away, Li Shangdong finally couldn't contain his frustration and blamed Wang Zhuo.

"Young man, what kind of thing is this? You’ve ruined a perfectly good transaction." Qiu Nanyang also showed a look of complaint, but being less familiar with Wang Zhuo, he kept his words to himself.

Wang Zhuo ignored them. He felt his conscience was clear; his goal was simply to derail this transaction.

However, catching the look of reproach from his cousin Lu Weimin, Wang Zhuo remembered that his conscience being clear was not the end of it; this incident affected Guan Shichen's view of Lu Weimin. It seemed he absolutely had to expose the true nature of this wine cup.

"Boss Li," Wang Zhuo addressed Li Shangdong, "if I can prove this cup is fake, do you accept 'ten times the penalty for fraud'?" Li Shangdong was again provoked into a laugh, and his words lost all pretense of courtesy. "Little friend, that rule doesn't exist in the antique business.

Don't speak nonsense if you don't understand; if you damage our shop's reputation, you can't afford the compensation." Wang Zhuo shook his head. "Boss Li, I truly apologize, but you damaged your own reputation, not me." With that, he suddenly reached out, snatched the porcelain cup from the table, clasped the rim with both hands, and offered a slight smile to the dumbfounded Guan Yingying.

Crack! With a sharp sound, the civilian kiln blue and white wine cup from the Ming Dynasty Chenghua period was snapped in half by Wang Zhuo.

A collective gasp filled the four seats. Wang Zhuo stared at the two halves in his hands and smiled silently.

The break was clearly fresh, but the rounded base was only connected to one side of the cup; it had not split into two halves. The evidence spoke louder than words.

This was exactly the kind of "stall find" Li Shangdong had spoken of!