Yu Feibai commented with certainty, "It's only priced at three thousand yuan because it's in your shop, boss. On an outdoor stall, you could pick this up for three hundred."

In truth, the jade fish wasn't as poor as Yu Feibai made it out to be. At least the scales on the fish had been carved, though the tooling lines were shallow, barely perceptible. However, just as the shop owner had exaggerated the jade fish's merits, a buyer wanting to haggle down the price certainly had to devalue the item to worthlessness.

"Well, hearing you, little brother, I can tell you're an expert too." The shop owner forced a wry smile and sighed, "But I paid ten thousand yuan to acquire this. If you're serious, I can let it go to you at cost price."

Wang Guan and Yu Feibai didn't believe a word of that. The owner didn't seem like a fool; why would he pay such a high price for a jade fish of such mediocre quality?

"Boss, we’ve come this far. You're asking ten thousand, and I'm not trying to belittle you, but you’re asking an outrageous price," Wang Guan said, clearly displeased. "Three thousand is the final offer. If not, we'll try another place."

It was clear Wang Guan wasn't joking. The shop owner immediately gritted his teeth and conceded, "Fine. I find you likable, young man. Even if I take a loss, I'll let you have this, friend."

"Then wrap it up."

Wang Guan couldn't care less about the owner's polite facade and waved his hand directly, "You take cards here, right?"

"Of course," the owner nodded, retrieving a small box and carefully placing the jade fish inside. Only after Wang Guan swiped his card and paid did the owner listlessly see them out.

After walking out a few dozen paces, Yu Feibai immediately reached out, "Wang Guan, let me see the jade fish."

"What's up?" Wang Guan felt a bit strange but handed the fish over.

"I couldn't examine it closely in the shop. Now that I have it, I definitely need a proper appraisal," Yu Feibai stated, taking the fish and eagerly examining it back and forth.

Wang Guan froze, then suddenly understood, feeling both exasperated and amused. "You don't actually think I struck a bargain again, do you?"

"Don't you think so?"

Yu Feibai replied as a matter of course, "If it wasn't a find, why would you bother buying it?"

"Can't I just buy it for simple appreciation?" Wang Guan laughed.

"Pfft, who'd believe that." Yu Feibai snorted disdainfully and continued to scrutinize the jade fish, deep in thought. "Don't let this jade fish fool you with its plain look. I once heard Elder Qian mention that due to frequent wars in ancient times, many collectors devised clever illusions to conceal their treasures."

Wang Guan's heart stirred, and he quickly asked, "What kind of illusions?"

"Things like 'jade hidden in stone,' 'a leaf blocking the view,' 'seeing flowers in the fog,' 'moon reflections in the water,' 'the elusive track of the mirage dragon'—all sorts of mysterious and unpredictable methods that make discerning the genuine from the fake incredibly difficult," Yu Feibai said seriously. "Wang Guan, don't dismiss this. Do you know why so many counterfeits today can pass as authentic? It's because the forgers have reversed these very techniques."

"The ancient illusions were about skillfully concealing real treasures so they looked like fakes, deterring any interest," Yu Feibai murmured. "But now, some people use these methods to make fakes look exactly like the real thing, deceiving people, even causing experts to misjudge."

"That effective?" Wang Guan exclaimed, startled, though inwardly he already believed it about eighty or ninety percent.

"Elder Qian once told me that the true techniques of antique forgery are absolutely confidential and never publicly disclosed. Any forgery methods circulating in society are either untrue or outdated," Yu Feibai shook his head. "But many people don't grasp this; they think they can identify forgery techniques just by searching online. They fail to realize that the core techniques of forgery are how these people earn their living—why would they ever leak them carelessly?"

"Of course, this excludes those crude, obviously fake items you see everywhere."

Finally, Yu Feibai smiled, "Perhaps those who have mastered the legendary illusions look down on those mass-producing shoddy goods, considering them entirely lacking in skill and unworthy of serious attention."

Wang Guan nodded, asking curiously, "So, have you ever encountered something disguised as fake but actually real?"

"Precisely because I haven't seen one that’s the case, I'm all the more curious," Yu Feibai sighed. "Elder Qian saw one instance long ago. These items hidden as fakes are inherently rare, and the concealment method is so sophisticated that ordinary people can't discern them, treating them like common objects. Therefore, relative to truly genuine items, treasures hidden by these illusions are more susceptible to destruction."

Wang Guan deeply agreed. In turbulent times, even coveted treasures that were seized would be cherished and protected. But objects that appeared ordinary lacked that reverence and were often easily ruined amidst the chaos of war.

Simultaneously, Wang Guan mused, "You haven't seen the 'real disguised as fake' items, but you must be familiar with the 'fake disguised as real' ones, like that white jade mountain piece earlier?"

"Haha, you noticed that too?" Yu Feibai laughed.

"Not quite. I haven't gotten my hands on it yet to see any anomalies," Wang Guan chuckled. "But I can tell from your expression that there might be an issue with that piece."

"It’s not that there's an issue; it’s that it isn't genuine," Yu Feibai said with a smile. "Listen carefully: it's not real. It's not a common imitation, nor is it fake jade."

"Why do you say that?" Wang Guan didn't quite grasp the distinction.

"An imitation [, yànpǐn] uses other jade materials—like Hetian sourced from Qinghai, Russia, or Korea—and employs techniques to pass them off as true Hetian nephrite. Although technically, Qinghai, Russian, or Korean materials are all broadly termed Hetian jade, in the eyes of collectors like us, those are all imitations."

Yu Feibai, with a hint of disdain, cursed the unscrupulous merchants for a moment before continuing, "As for fake jade [, jiǎyù], that's even easier to understand: they simply dye stones to look like real jade, which is far more detestable."

"Then what about that white jade mountain piece earlier?" Wang Guan asked curiously. "If it's not an imitation and not fake jade, does that mean it's real?"

"It is real, in a way, but not completely real," Yu Feibai explained with a smile. "When I lightly pressed it just now, I found the texture of the jade mountain was hard, but compared to genuine Hetian jade, there was still a slight gap in its structural integrity."

"Didn't I tell you? I’ve been playing with jade for many years; I can discern this kind of difference."

Yu Feibai looked rather smug, smiling faintly, "As soon as I touched it, I knew. That white jade mountain must have been formed by taking powder from real Hetian jade material, re-synthesizing it chemically into a whole piece, and then carving it."

....................... Thanks to book friends Pang Liang and jiffffeiwuy for their tips. I've opened a thread in the review section specifically for collecting material ideas. If you have any good thoughts, list them out, and I will consider adopting them. Finally, please continue to add this to your collection and vote for recommendation tickets. Your support is much appreciated. C