As soon as Chu Chen walked into the shop, he saw Uncle Wu behind the counter, tapping away at the keyboard one key at a time with two fingers and very clumsily "operating" an old computer. Beside it lay a basic computer operation manual.
The computer had been bought by Uncle Wu four months earlier. He had spent two thousand yuan and asked a friend to find him a secondhand one. He had heard that its central processor was some kind of 586. In any case, it was an ancient machine.
After getting the computer, Uncle Wu had excitedly called Chu Chen over to show it off. Although Chu Chen had found it rather novel, he had no interest in the thing. In his words, there were plenty of better places to spend the money—who would spend two thousand yuan on this old junk?
"Uncle Wu, are you tinkering with your television again?"
Hearing this, Uncle Wu replied while watching the screen, "How many times have I told you, kid? This is called a monitor, not a television. You should learn to use computers too. Our line of work needs to keep up with the times."
Chu Chen walked behind Uncle Wu and said, "Hehe, I'm not interested in this stuff. Besides, don't we still have books for studying? Reading is much more comfortable than staring at this monitor."
Uncle Wu glanced back at Chu Chen with an expression that seemed to say he was beyond teaching. Pointing at a news item on the screen, he said, "Can books do everything computers can? Look, do books have market news like this? Can you communicate with other people through a book?"
Chu Chen lowered his head to look. It was an auction notice about a White Jade Three-Boy Washer from the mid-Qing Dynasty that had sold for 990,000 yuan at an auction in the capital. The detailed photographs and information on the page were indeed immediately clear.
"Huh! You can look up this kind of news on the computer too?"
"Of course. Otherwise, why would I have spent two thousand yuan on this computer? There's even a place called a forum, where collectors can communicate with one another. The place where I picked up my latest goods was introduced by another collector."
Chu Chen looked surprised. "Something like that exists? But you don't know the person on the other end. What if you run into a scammer?"
Uncle Wu put on a wise and mighty expression. "Who do you think your Uncle Wu is? With my discerning eyes, do you think it's that easy to scam me?"
Chu Chen was rendered speechless and nodded repeatedly. Uncle Wu really seemed like the old woman from the proverb now.
Uncle Wu continued, "Xiao Chen, I'm telling you, you really should learn to use computers. If it's inconvenient for you to install broadband at home, come here to use mine. Look at me—ever since I got this computer, I've learned all sorts of things. Just thinking about it makes me feel that buying it was such a brilliant decision."
Chu Chen gave him a mischievous grin. "Uncle Wu, don't brag. Wasn't it Xiao Ke who told you to buy it? Aunt Wu even said that when you bought the computer, the pain on your face was like you had lost a Ru ware piece."
Uncle Wu slapped Chu Chen on the back of the head. "You little brat, all you know how to do is expose my embarrassing moments. I've wasted my affection on you." He burst out laughing himself as soon as he finished speaking.
He then said with a grin, "Xiao Chen, Xiao Ke will be able to graduate early and return home next year. Should I try to bring you two together? My Xiao Ke is beautiful and gentle. She'll definitely become a good wife and mother in the future."
Chu Chen shuddered all over. Thinking of Wu Ke's tomboyish personality, he could admit that she was beautiful, but she was nowhere near gentle. He had been tormented by her more than once. He waved his hands repeatedly and said,
"Uncle Wu, let's talk about that later. I'm only twenty-one. I still have plenty of time."
Uncle Wu chuckled and said no more. He knew young people were thin-skinned and would become annoyed if he said too much, so he changed the subject. "Suit yourself. It's your young people's business anyway. But if you miss this opportunity, it won't come again. By the way, did you bring your Tang Sancai? Hurry up and let me see it."
Chu Chen happily took the Tang Sancai pottery fragment, wrapped in newspaper, out of his bag and placed it on the table.
Seeing this, Uncle Wu shot up from his chair with a "whoosh." He stared at the pile of pottery fragments in pain and said,
"Ah! How did it get broken?"
Seeing that Chu Chen was still smiling, he grew irritated and pointed at him. "How can you still smile? Tell me, what happened? That was a full 420,000 yuan!"
Chu Chen told him the whole story, then pointed out the place in question and said, "It's already turned out this way. Smiling is better than crying. Let's just call it tuition."
Uncle Wu picked up the pottery fragment bearing the words "Huo Ni," sat down, and examined it carefully through a magnifying glass again and again. He let out a sigh and said,
"Xiao Chen, although Zhang Huo Ni's counterfeits are difficult to identify, when all is said and done, you were simply too greedy. Look again at the body material. It's still slightly different from the genuine pieces I've seen. Of course, that's just hindsight on my part. If we didn't know it was a counterfeit, this difference alone wouldn't have been enough to confirm it."
"You must remember this from now on: refusing the advice of elders leads to trouble. This is especially true in our line of work. The older someone is, the more experience they tend to have. Still, your mindset is better than mine. If it were me, I'd probably want to die."
Chu Chen looked at that slight difference. Since he had never seen a genuine piece, he couldn't spot it himself, so he committed it to memory. As he nodded, he thought, If I hadn't obtained my supernatural ability later, how could I have such a good mindset now?
Uncle Wu then said seriously, "On the one hand, you need to remember this lesson. On the other, don't let one bad experience put you off everything. In our antiques world, you need courage as well as attention to detail, though that must be built on your knowledge. As it happens, one of the pieces I picked up this time is highly representative. I'll test your eye later."
With that, Uncle Wu took a Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl from the storage cabinet on the north side and placed it on the counter. "This is the Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl. Tell me what you think of it."
During the appraisal, Chu Chen's expression was still grave. He picked up the small bowl and began examining it carefully.
There was an unwritten rule in the antiques world: fragile objects such as porcelain could not be handed directly from the seller to the buyer. The seller had to put the item down first, and the buyer would pick it up himself. Otherwise, if it fell and broke during the handover, it would be difficult to determine responsibility.
The same applied during an appraisal. Anyone with some knowledge of antiques would follow this rule. Even though Chu Chen and Uncle Wu were as close as uncle and nephew, they were still careful about it.
Glazed red was a valuable product of the Ming and Qing Official Kiln. Although it had been first fired in the Yuan Dynasty, copper-red glaze was extremely unstable at high temperatures, resulting in a low success rate. It was not until the Yongle and Xuande periods of the Ming Dynasty that properly colored glazed red was successfully fired. Production remained extremely limited. By the mid-Ming Dynasty, the simpler alum-red technique had mostly replaced glazed red, and production even ceased for a time. It was not gradually restored until the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.
The moment the bowl reached his hand, the supernatural ability in Chu Chen's left hand stirred restlessly, proving that the bowl really was an antique. However, he did not absorb that aura immediately. He wanted to appraise it with his own abilities first.
This Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl had a flared rim, deep curved walls, and a ring foot. Its outer wall was decorated in glazed red with three auspicious motifs: a pomegranate, a persimmon, and a peach. They symbolized many sons and grandsons, success in everything, and longevity and good health.
The bowl had a thick patina. The glazed red was pure in tone, with bright and rich coloring. Its foot bore a two-line regular-script mark reading "Made during the Great Qing Kangxi reign," making it appear to be a mark from the Kangxi period itself.
At first glance, this glazed red three-fruit bowl appeared to be a fine official imitation made during the Kangxi period after the Xuande glazed red wares of the Ming Dynasty. Bowls of this type had been fired during both the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods. Those made during the Kangxi period itself were relatively rare. If this truly were a Kangxi imitation of a Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl, it would possess considerable collectible value.
However, Chu Chen continued examining it carefully with a magnifying glass and still noticed several problems. Then he used his supernatural ability to absorb the aura within the bowl, which further confirmed his judgment. He carefully placed the small bowl back on the counter.
Seeing this, Uncle Wu asked, "Well? You've finished looking, right? Then tell me what you think."
Chu Chen nodded and gathered his thoughts before saying, "This is a Qing Kangxi imitation of a Ming Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl. Its body, glaze, pigments, and other details show that it's a rare and excellent piece. However, some details still reveal that it wasn't fired during the Kangxi period itself."
Uncle Wu's eyes lit up. "Oh? Explain it carefully."
Chu Chen chuckled and picked up the three-fruit bowl again. "Uncle Wu, look. First, although the glazed red has reached the proper color, if you examine it carefully, you can still see that it isn't completely pure. There's still a slight blackish cast. If it had been fired during the Kangxi era, it would have been very unlikely to survive in this condition."
"Next, look at the body material. Although it was processed as finely as possible, it still falls short of Kangxi-period standards. The body isn't thick, firm, or fine-grained enough, though it's still much better than the body material of the late Qing Dynasty."
"Now look at the mark. Although it looks very much like an official-kiln piece, if we examine it carefully with a magnifying glass, we can see that the character 'made' isn't as neat as it would be on an official-kiln piece."
"Finally, look at the patina. Although the patina on this bowl is warm and lustrous, it still hasn't reached the thickness seen on Kangxi-period pieces. It's not even as thick as patina from the Qianlong era."
"To sum up, this imitation of a Ming Xuande glazed red three-fruit bowl should be a piece made by a civilian kiln during the late mid-Qing Dynasty. The person who fired it must have been highly skilled. Although it wasn't made during the Kangxi period itself, the bowl is still remarkably exquisite and possesses considerable collectible value."
Chu Chen had been able to reach such a definite conclusion thanks to his supernatural ability. Only after absorbing the aura within the three-fruit bowl did he truly feel confident.
"Good, not bad. You've described all the characteristics of this three-fruit bowl, and your judgment is quite accurate. Xiao Chen, it seems you really have been studying hard." Uncle Wu applauded approvingly.
Hearing Uncle Wu praise him like that, Chu Chen rubbed his head, somewhat embarrassed. "It's all thanks to your teaching, Uncle Wu. But I still haven't learned enough. I'll have to trouble you to guide me more in the future."
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