There were a few pens stuck in the celadon pottery jar, along with scissors and other odds and ends, all in a mess.

"Dad, take this jar back for me to use as a flower holder. I'll buy you a new pen holder later." Ye Qingqing picked up the ceramic jar, feeling its rough texture and noticing a few tiny cracks around the rim, probably from a chip.

"Take it and use it. You don't need to buy a pen holder; I have plenty."

Ye Mingcheng went to the third floor, casually flipped through the dustpan, and pulled out an elegant bamboo tube. He poured out the contents of the ceramic jar and put them all into the bamboo tube.

"Why use a ceramic jar as a pen holder when you have a bamboo tube? Aren't you afraid of breaking it?" Ye Qingqing said reproachfully.

"If it's broken, just throw it away. It didn't cost any money. I bought this bamboo tube for fifty yuan." Ye Mingcheng held the bamboo tube and examined it. If Ye Qingqing hadn't taken the pottery jar to use, he wouldn't have been willing to take the bamboo tube out to use!

Ye Qingqing snatched the bamboo tube and carved a picture of green bamboo. She couldn't tell if it was carved by a famous artist, but she felt that it was probably not. Moreover, the bamboo was just ordinary moso bamboo. You could easily cut down a tree on the mountain and make dozens of bamboo tubes.

"You spent fifty yuan on this broken bamboo tube? Fifty yuan could buy several large bamboo poles. Dad, I know where Wuchen's wasteful habit comes from. He learned it all from you. He learns good things from good people and bad things from bad people. You haven't set a good example for Wuchen!" Ye Qingqing scolded.

No wonder the upstairs is piled with junk. Her dad is too easy to fool. He can swindle fifty yuan from her with just a broken bamboo tube. I bet all the junk upstairs was swindled back like that.

"How can bamboo compare to this bamboo tube? This is a work of art. Bamboo is just bamboo. If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense," Ye Mingcheng corrected.

"Who said this broken bamboo tube is a work of art? Who made it? The rough craftsmanship makes it look like a piece of junk produced on a machine assembly line. Artwork? Humph, don't you dare insult art."

Ye Qingqing emptied the contents of the bamboo tube, weighed it in her hands a few times, and found it to be light and flimsy, with a poor feel to it. The painting on it looked increasingly crude and shoddy, so the fifty yuan was a complete waste.

“There are paintings on it too. I think they’re quite well done, with a classical style. They must have been used by some young master in ancient times,” Ye Mingcheng argued vehemently, genuinely believing it to be a work of art.

Ye Qingqing was speechless, and her expression was quite ancient. Her father had gone mad with qi, and was even more dangerous than Wuchen.

"Let me take a look."

The scholarly-looking old gentleman came over. He had already finished hanging up the IV drip. He took the bamboo tube from Ye Qingqing's hand and immediately got a general idea of ​​what it was. After examining it from all angles, the old gentleman shook his head. "It's definitely not an antique. It's a modern product, made in the last few years. It's not worth fifty yuan. You can find better ones for three yuan each at the night market."

"Impossible! How do you know it was made in the last few years? I see the Kangxi reign title on the bottom!" Ye Mingcheng turned the bamboo tube upside down, and indeed the Kangxi reign title was engraved on the bottom. He decided to buy it because he saw this.

Ye Qingqing scoffed, "Just because it's engraved with Kangxi's name doesn't mean it's from the Kangxi era. Don't you know that's just a bait-and-switch tactic? How else would we lure a fool like you?"

The old gentleman laughed and pointed to the reign title, saying, "This calligraphy is completely illogical, and the reign title is also wrong. Kangxi only reigned for sixty-one years, how could there be a seventy-second year of Kangxi's reign? Doctor Ye, your daughter is right, this is just a case of false advertising, deceiving those newcomers who don't know any better."