Chapter 82 - Ru Ware
Chapter 82: Ru Ware
“What’s wrong?” Yin Shaoyuan asked.
“Nothing, just give me a second.” Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly and she turned her head to the side, her expression twitching slightly. Even Tang Yanling knew to color the walls of her room a pastel blue, why did he choose such a car?
Gu Xiqiao back at the car again, her lips still pursed. “Let’s recolor it.”
“Ah, so it’s the color that you don’t like!” Yin Shaoyuan chuckled. “Hey, I was the one that chose the model of this car, but Bro Jiang was the one that chose this color. I already picked a white one, but he pointed and this one and said to pick it! So…Do you still want to recolor it?”
This color was picked by Jiang Shuxuan? Gu Xiqiao facepalmed as she thought of the man’s sculpted features and ruthless cold demeanor…What was he thinking?
She knew that Yin Shaoyuan wouldn’t trick her about this, so she had even more of a headache.
“Get out the car, let me try it,” Gu Xiqiao said, gesturing for him to move.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Yin Shaoyuan was quite worried still, and it showed on his expression when he stepped out of the car. “Would you need me to sit in the passenger’s seat?”
Gu Xiqiao accepted the keys from him and got on the driver’s seat. “I’ve driven a tractor before, don’t look down on me.”
Yin Shaoyuan only stood there with his arms crossed, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that she wasn’t doing anything wrong, as unfamiliar as her motions were.
As he looked at the girl that was driving the car, he was somewhat stunned for a bit as he realized why Jiang Shuxuan chose this color for Gu Xiqiao.
The color pink was a really picky color in regards to its user, and if the wrong people used it, it would seem gaudy and ostentatious, but Gu Xiqiao already seemed like a dainty porcelain doll that looked right at home in all the pink, especially her lithe and pretty hands that were contrasted by the black steering wheel. At the moment, her lips were pursed slightly and her brows furrowed in concentration, and it gave her a different appeal than she usually did.
“Bro really does have taste.” Yin Shaoyuan didn’t worry anymore upon seeing Gu Xiqiao getting better and better at driving. “No wonder he chose this color…I wonder if he knew that it would have this sort of effect?”
“Do I drive this car away right now or leave it here?”
Yin Shaoyuan had thought of letting her drive it away right there, but he gave up on the idea quickly. “I think there might be a bunch of useless men tripping over themselves and get into accidents with your car get to know you if you drove onto the road just like this…”
The more he thought about it, the more he thought that it was possible. “Just leave the car here and drive it away whenever you need it. I’ve already told the manager to have the employees remember your face so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Gu Xiqiao nodded in response. She needed some time to accept this car, after all, the color was too…
After the two of them had lunch, they went on their separate ways.
***
The Antique Street of N City was always a hot spot for crowds of all ages alike, whether it was old people that had an eye for antiques or youngsters that wanted to buy treasure that always became the target of scams from the stall owners.
Gu Xiqiao was attracted by the hustle and bustle as soon as she got there.
Before she could step into the street, a system notification rang out.
[Daily Good Deed Mission activated: Treasure Appraisal.]
[Mission completion reward: 20 points!]
As she followed the arrow on the system interface, she saw an old man with white hair seemingly having a hard time deciding on an antique shop, while the owner of the shop seemed to be promoting his wares, “This is a Ru Ware used in the imperial court back in the Song Dynasty. Look at its beautiful emerald hue and the wonderful craftsmanship! As one of the Five Great Kilns, it’s already a great catch to buy it with just a mere ten million!”
Tang Wenbo looked at the green plate in his hands with a perplexed expression on his face. Ten million wasn’t that much for him, but if it were true that it was Ru Ware from the Song Dynasty, this plate would be worth at least fifty million!
But then again, the risk was still quite high…
Should he buy it?
“This plate looks quite delicate.” A young woman’s voice rang out as if it were a clear spring in the hot summer’s day.
Tang Wenbo saw her and his eyes brightened, not looking down on her in the slightest merely based on her age. “Do you have any advice for me, young lady?”
The old man had a head of snow-white hair and a pair of energetic eyes, and he was wearing a white kung fu suit. His demeanor was down to earth and gentle, and it was hard not to like him.
Gu Xiqiao smiled and replied, “Not advice, just my own opinion. Ru Wares were monopolized by the imperial court back in the day, and they didn’t skimp at all on the cost so they used agate in the glaze, giving it a sky blue, egg blue, or pale blue shade. This plate in particular does have the traits of having a thick and round texture, and it has a lightly impressed floral…Or insect-wing like design, too.”
Seeing that she truly knew what she was talking about, Tang Wenbo placed the plate on the table, not caring at all about the unspoken rule of antique lovers not interrupting each other’s appraisals. “Give it a look yourself, little lady.”
Gu Xiqiao took the plate along with a magnifying glass and looked over it carefully, before placing it down on the table again.
“How is it?” Tang Wenbo asked, not knowing what she thought of it.
“Slight traces of copper were used in the firing of the Ru Ware, so you can see slight traces of lavender or red when light is shone upon it, and the body of the Ru Ware has a slightly yellowish-gray tone, or in other words, the color of incense ash. The ones made in Zhanggong Alley of Ruzhou, in particular, have this grayish-white color that is slightly paler than the other kilns, so it’s a deciding factor too in knowing whether or not it was from Northern Song,” Gu Xiqiao spoke slowly.
“I checked on all of it, and these traits are all there!” Tang Wenbo looked at the plate with a hopeful expression.
Gu Xiqiao shook her head. “That’s not all, according to historical archives, the Ru Wares of that period had slight defects due to the overly high temperature of firing, and they only managed to deal with this problem by adding a specific type of plant, and it’s also where its distinctive pattern comes from…The pattern on this plate, however, seems to have been created by adding a chemical instead, which is why the edges of the plate are a grayish-white, and the reason why it doesn’t have any changes in color when exposed to light. Looking closely, the bubbles of the glaze are coarse and much less delicate than a real Ru Ware…”
Hearing this, the owner’s expression froze on his face.
Tang Wenbo took the plate and exposed it to the sunlight, and it was clear that what Gu Xiqiao said was true.
Ru Ware always had the reputation of being as beautiful as the emerald waves of a lake when the sun shines after the rain, and it was reputed for a treasure that money can’t buy, and as such, it was truly precious and exceedingly rare.
“It’s too much wishful thinking for me to think that I could find Ru Ware here.” Tang Wenbo sighed, but he didn’t dwell on it any further and looked back towards Gu Xiqiao. “You have quite the trained eye for someone so young, you’re even better than it than us old bones!”
“It’s only because I have done some research on Ru Ware, in particular, I can’t compare to everyone else.” Gu Xiqiao quickly shook her hand in response to his praise. “I don’t know much about other types of antiques.”
Even though she had seen books on antique appraisal before, but she had never seen the real thing, so she would have missed a lot of details if it weren’t for the system. Appraisal required more than just theory, but actual practice and experience too.
Tang Wenbo laughed brightly, his impression of the humble girl in front of him increasing another notch.
[Mission accomplished! You have been rewarded with 20 points!]
[Ding! The system has detected that Tang Wenbo’s affection towards you is 28, do you want to add him to your friends’ list?]