DLWAV CH114

Ao Ruize discovered the characters “Xiao Fang” (Imitation by Xiao) inside the spout of that broken teapot.

The so-called “Xiao Fang” meant that this teapot was a forgery made by someone using the codename “Xiao”.

Some counterfeiters liked to leave marks in the fake antiques they created. Firstly, it was to avoid being unable to recognize their own forgeries if they encountered them again in the future. Secondly, it was, of course, to spread their name. After all, if even those renowned collectors couldn’t distinguish their imitations and ultimately had to rely on the mark they left behind to tell true from fake, what better way to spread their name could there be?

Naturally, the main reason Ao Ruize was able to identify it as an imitation was because it still possessed a rather inconspicuous flaw.

As far as he knew, because the official kilns during the Yongzheng period highly esteemed using only texturing dots (皴點, cundian) when depicting branches and stems, painters couldn’t use too much force when painting. This resulted in the brushwork of the porcelain paintings from this period being delicate, weak, and somewhat insipid.

But it was only delicate and weak in brush force.

After all, back then, if a painter didn’t have exquisite skills, it was impossible for them to even enter an official kiln to work. Their pieces would have absolutely no chance of entering the fire kilns to be fired, and naturally, they couldn’t possibly have been passed down.

However, on this teapot imitating a Yongzheng official kiln piece, one could hardly see a trace of brush force on the branch and stem sections—

Therefore, it could never be the work of those highly skilled painters; it could only be a fake.

“It seems I’m just about ready to graduate my apprenticeship when it comes to appraising porcelain.”

Ao Ruize was actually feeling a little proud.

Sun Jianhong: “…”

So, could you really not take a look at the people who just narrowly escaped death first?

With a thud, Sun Jianhong collapsed onto the ground.

Although from start to finish, the entire incident hadn’t even lasted a minute, Sun Jianhong had thoroughly experienced that heart-pounding terror and despair of being on the brink of death.

So at this moment, his heart was entirely filled with the rejoicing of surviving a disaster.

To the point where the rims of his eyes had turned red.

It took a good while before he finally managed to force down the heart that had leaped into his throat.

Only then did he react.

Wait a minute—

Wasn’t Ao Ruize just an ordinary person who hadn’t been able to find a job since graduating from university?

Yet he had actually used just a single move to kill the Qian family ancestor—an entity that the Special Affairs Bureau had lost troops and generals over, expending untold effort and hardships without managing to kill.

In this day and age, could an ordinary person with the negative buff of being unemployed at home produce such an effect?

Sun Jianhong fell silent.

Silently mourning the thought he previously had of actually wanting to look out for Ao Ruize.

The others also fell silent.

Silently mourning the fact that they had previously judged him to be just an ordinary person based solely on his age and background, and the condescending, superior attitudes they had displayed in front of him.

But clearly, none of this mattered anymore.

What mattered was that Ao Ruize was a top-tier expert.

And he had saved their lives.

Thinking of this, Sun Jianhong and the others immediately scrambled up from the ground and crowded around.

“Brother Zhang, if you hadn’t taken action in time, I’m afraid all of us would have had to leave our lives here today.”

“From this day forward, you are my, Sun Jianhong’s, blood brother.”

Ao Ruize merely smiled and said, “It was just a small effort, Mr. Sun, you don’t need to take it to heart.”

“I should be the one thanking Mr. Sun for your kindness in letting me broaden my horizons.”

Right at this moment, a fierce knocking suddenly came from outside the courtyard gate. The other people who were originally sleeping also hastily threw on their clothes and ran out.

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

They had clearly all been woken up by the massive crash of the small pickup truck smashing into the ground just now.

Sun Jianhong immediately wanted to tell them what had just happened.

But before the words could leave his mouth, he suddenly thought of something else.

Which was: given how powerful Ao Ruize was, the fact that he had never heard his name before meant that he most likely just wanted to be a hermit hiding in the city, and didn’t want too many people knowing of his existence.

Thinking of this, Sun Jianhong changed his tune: “Oh, it’s nothing major. It’s just that Old Li hasn’t driven in a long time, so he wanted to try his hand at it just now, and accidentally flipped the car.”

Everyone present: “…”

Okay, but you call that small pickup truck—where the entire front end is buried into the earth and the cabin is crushed until only half of it remains—just accidentally flipping the car?

Moreover, Old Li is standing right next to you right now, and he doesn’t look the slightest bit like someone who just got into a car crash.

Sun Jianhong, realizing his slip: “…”

But fortunately, everyone present was an adult and already fully understood the unspoken rules of society.

So in the end, the entire incident was officially classified as Old Li accidentally flipping the car while test driving it.

There was only one point, which was that all the antiques inside the small pickup truck had also been smashed to pieces.

Thinking of this, Ao Ruize immediately turned to look at Sun Jianhong: “My apologies, Mr. Sun, I forgot there were antiques loaded in the small pickup truck…”

One had to know, those antiques were worth at least six or seven million.

How could Sun Jianhong dare to fuss over that? “Brother Zhang, it’s not us being arrogant, but if you pull out any single one of our lives, let alone six or seven million, even multiplying it by five or ten wouldn’t be enough.”

“Besides, many of those antiques can still be restored.”

So their losses weren’t actually that significant.

Ao Ruize didn’t dwell on the matter any further.

And so, early the next morning, Boss Li of the Gathering Treasures Pavilion—who had slept like a log all night and had absolutely no idea how many things had happened outside—opened his door, only to see Sun Jianhong walking over with a basin of water, saying, “You’re awake, I’ve already drawn your face-washing water for you.”

He hurriedly went up to meet him: “Mr. Sun…” How could I trouble you with this?

Who knew that before he could finish his sentence, the next second, Sun Jianhong walked right past him and carried the wash water over to Ao Ruize.

Boss Li: “…”

When it came time to collect antiques, the moment the others encountered an antique they weren’t sure about, they brought it straight to Ao Ruize and asked him to help appraise it.

If Ao Ruize said the antique was genuine, they would buy it without the slightest hesitation.

If Ao Ruize said he couldn’t be sure about the antique, they would immediately reject it.

This even included Professor Zheng—one had to remember, yesterday, when Ao Ruize merely mentioned that the teapot might be fake, Professor Zheng hadn’t given him a good look afterward.

Boss Li was completely bewildered.

…

By the time they finished looking through all the antiques and left Lihe Village, the sun had already set.

As if thinking of something, Sun Jianhong immediately said, “It’s at least a six-hour drive from here to Qian City. By the time we arrive, it’ll definitely be the middle of the night. Why don’t you guys stay at my place for a night, and I’ll send you home tomorrow?”

Ao Ruize and the others naturally had no objections: “Alright.”

Lihe Village was indeed much closer to Sun Jianhong’s villa, taking less than two and a half hours by car.

When Ao Ruize and the group arrived, it was only just past nine-thirty.

Seeing Sun Jianhong return, the servants in the villa immediately came out to greet him.

Handing his coat over, Sun Jianhong instructed, “Go prepare six guest rooms, and get some late-night snacks ready.”

Looking up, he only then noticed someone sitting on the living room sofa.

It was a young man around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the top button undone, faintly revealing fair collarbones underneath. The buttons on the cuffs were also unfastened, and the rolled-up sleeves hung loosely around his equally fair arms. Resting on his legs as he sat cross-legged on the sofa was a laptop.

The other party was clearly working.

Then looking at his face—

The milk dumpling’s voice predictably rang out first: “These beautiful eyes, this high-bridged nose, these delicate lips… I’ve decided, this is my new wife.”

But this time, before Ao Ruize could even react, the milk dumpling’s ears had already perked up.

It practically blurted out: “Ao Ruize, we agreed! You won’t mess around with flowers and weeds anymore, so you’re not allowed to make a move on my wife!”

Don’t ask; if you ask, it’s all lessons learned in blood.

Ao Ruize: “…”

Before Ao Ruize could speak, Sun Jianhong’s voice chimed in: “Xiuji, you’re home.”

The young man, who was Sun Jianhong’s son, Sun Xiuji, immediately set down the laptop in his hands: “Dad.”

As he spoke, he looked toward Professor Zheng and the others beside Sun Jianhong, especially a certain tall, straight-backed figure standing among the crowd who was impossible not to notice.

Sun Jianhong said, “Come, let me introduce you.”

“This is Professor Zheng from Hai City University.”

“This is Boss Li from the Gathering Treasures Pavilion. When you were little, he took you out to play quite often.”

“And this is—”

But when it came time to introduce Ao Ruize, he suddenly paused.

Because he didn’t know if he should have Sun Xiuji call him Brother Zhang or Uncle Zhang.

After all, in terms of age, Sun Xiuji was actually a year older than Ao Ruize.

But if he had Sun Xiuji and Ao Ruize interact as peers, wouldn’t he be taking advantage of Ao Ruize?

Thinking of this, Sun Jianhong made his decision: “This is Mr. Zhang Ruize, your dad’s lifesaver. You can just call him Uncle Zhang.”

Ao Ruize: “…”

Milk dumpling: “…”

The milk dumpling reacted immediately: “Calling him uncle is great!”

This way, Ao Ruize should feel even more embarrassed about making a move on Sun Xiuji.

Half of the milk dumpling’s worries vanished.

“Hehe.”

Hearing this, Sun Xiuji glanced at Ao Ruize again and gave him a slight nod: “Uncle Zhang.”

But as he spoke, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly thought of something. It was about a TV drama that a friend’s company was currently prepping.

In it, there was an uncle who set his sights on his own nephew. When seduction failed, he resorted to coercion and bribery… Of course, in the end, he went to eat prison food, and his nephew—the male lead of the drama—ended up living a happy and fulfilling life with the female lead.

Then he snapped out of it.

He didn’t understand how he could possibly make an association with something like that.

Though to be fair, they were both uncles, but this uncle’s casting was far more handsome than the one in the TV drama.

Sun Xiuji thought to himself.

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