After three rounds of drinks, I was fine, but Wang Yang was a bit tipsy. "When the wine is poured, one is not drunk, but self-intoxicated," he said, and told me a lot about the antique circles in Guangling.
He got more and more animated, and eventually brought up Sister Ying.
"Xiang Fei, can I ask you something?"
I took a sip of wine from my cup and said, "Go ahead."
"When you were following An Ying, did she ever mention what she was looking for?"
I glanced at him without a trace of emotion. This wasn't the first time he had brought this up.
He had mentioned before that Sister Ying's purpose in Guangling seemed to be to find something.
I couldn't figure out why he was so interested in Sister Ying's affairs.
"Are you investigating Sister Ying?" I asked, looking at him.
Wang Yang's expression was a bit unnatural. He smiled and said, "It's nothing, I'm just curious. I just think this An Ying is not simple..."
As he spoke, he changed the subject. "By the way, did Wu Tingxiu tell you what she wants you to do for her?"
I shrugged. "I asked, but she didn't say. She's been very secretive, and I don't know what she's really up to."
"But I have to thank you for this matter," Wang Yang said with a smile.
I looked at him helplessly. "Are you always this stubborn?"
He smiled, picked up his wine glass, and drained it in one gulp.
"I heard your hometown is Yanjing?" I asked.
Wang Yang looked at me and smiled. "What else have you heard?"
I recounted all the rumors Hong Yunpeng had told me about him.
After listening, Wang Yang burst into laughter. "What else have you heard?"
I shook my head. "Nothing more."
"If I were the illegitimate son of a prominent family, do you think Liu Hun would dare to mess with me?"
"That's hard to say. As the saying goes, a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake." I replied.
Wang Yang smiled helplessly and didn't say anything more.
I asked a few more questions, but he basically didn't answer them directly.
In the end, I gave up. No matter who Wang Yang was, he hadn't done anything to me so far.
Since I had decided to be friends with him, why bother thinking so much?
The next morning, we first went to Hong Yunpeng's house.
Uncle Hong seemed much better, but he still seemed unable to accept the fact that Sister Ying had run away.
It made sense. He and the An family were old acquaintances, and he had been devoted to Sister Ying, only for things to turn out this way...
After lunch, we went to Hongyuan and tidied up the shop.
The grand opening was originally scheduled for yesterday, but now it had to be postponed, and a new date had to be chosen.
I cared a lot about this shop, as it was, after all, my foothold in Guangling.
"In my opinion, there's no need for an opening ceremony," Hong Yunpeng said. "As long as the door is open, customers will naturally come."
I smiled. "That's true, but I thought it would be nice to have some excitement, didn't I?"
"Excitement?" Hong Yunpeng said as he brewed tea. "Are you planning to hold a grand offering of the Five Sects?"
"That's not necessary." I thought for a moment. "How about we go buy some firecrackers later and set them off at the door, and get a few flower baskets?"
"That's fine. I'll go buy some later," Hong Yunpeng said.
Wang Yang said, "No need for such trouble. I'll make a phone call and have them delivered."
While we were chatting, a man in a military green jacket and cloth shoes walked in.
He was carrying something wrapped in newspaper and looked hurried.
As soon as he entered, he asked to see the boss.
I gave Hong Yunpeng a look. He stepped forward and said, "I am the boss. Fellow villager, what can I do for you?"
The man looked around, glanced at me and Wang Yang, and whispered, "I heard you buy antiques here?"
Hearing this, my eyes lit up. I didn't expect business to come knocking so soon.
Hong Yunpeng seemed to have the same thought and quickly said, "Yes, we buy anything."
The man hesitated, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Do you buy chicken-patterned porcelain cups?"
Hearing this, the three of us couldn't help but exchange glances.
Chicken-patterned porcelain cups were the hottest items in the antique market. A Chenghua period chicken-patterned porcelain cup could easily fetch tens of millions, with people fighting to buy it.
Precisely because chicken-patterned porcelain cups were so popular, there were many fakes in the antique market.
Moreover, some of the aging techniques used for fakes were incredibly hard to guard against, and many treasure appraisers had stumbled on chicken-patterned porcelain cups.
If it were any other day, I would have immediately told Hong Yunpeng to send the guest away.
However, this was the first customer for our shop, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look, as we had nothing else to do.
I walked over and smiled. "Fellow villager, please take out your item so we can take a look."
The man carefully unwrapped the newspaper he was holding and took out a white chicken-patterned porcelain cup, less than the size of his palm.
The cup was painted with three chickens: a rooster, a hen, and a chick.
This was the standard for chicken-patterned porcelain cups. This painting symbolized the joy of family.
It is said that Emperor Chenghua lacked fatherly affection in his childhood and liked doucai glaze in adulthood because doucai had a vibrant scene, a delicate body, and exquisite shapes.
Chenghua porcelain was mainly blue and white and doucai, and the chicken-patterned porcelain cup was the culmination of Chenghua porcelain.
Not only did modern people like chicken-patterned porcelain cups, but Emperor Yongzheng also particularly liked them.
He even had a large number of chicken-patterned porcelain cups counterfeited, and all of them were marked with Chenghua marks.
This also caused a headache for many treasure appraisers today, making it difficult to distinguish which ones were genuine Chenghua period chicken-patterned porcelain cups.
As for the chicken-patterned porcelain cup in front of me, I couldn't tell if it was genuine or fake at a glance.
I intended to take it over to examine it closely, but the man refused and held it tightly.
I was amused and said, "Fellow villager, if you don't let me see it, how will I know if it's real or fake?"
He stared at me and said, "You can look, but only if I hold it. You look."
"Alright, you hold it and I'll look," I said helplessly.
The man held up the chicken-patterned porcelain cup and handed it to me. I examined it carefully, and the condition was impeccable.
There is a four-line rhyme for identifying porcelain: Have the standard form in mind, compare the body, glaze, and painting, it's better to believe it's fake than to mistake it for real, and distinguish the era and kiln.
This means you need to know what the porcelain originally looked like, and also look at the painting on the body and glaze, and identify the kiln mark.
These may sound simple, but without extensive experience, it is difficult to achieve.
When I was young, without physical references, I relied entirely on my father to draw them for me.
Fortunately, his drawing skills were good, and he could capture the characteristics of everything with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy.
Just as I was carefully examining the chicken-patterned porcelain cup in front of me, the man suddenly snatched the cup back.
"You've been looking for a long time, should that be enough?"
I found it a bit funny. Who sells things like this?