Chapter 516 God-given Opportunity

Teacher Liu continued:

"My sister is also a miserable person. She married a man, but he died 10 years ago, and she never remarried. She raised two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter is also married.

Her son was very knowledgeable. When he heard that I had a treasure, he came over and said that he knew someone who really understood cultural relics and asked him to take it for appraisal so that I wouldn't suffer a loss if I sold it.

I thought this was a good idea, so I gave him the bowl. A few days later, he came to my house, knelt down as soon as he entered, and said he had accidentally broken the bowl. He offered me compensation.

My head suddenly swelled up, and I thought he was lying, but he took a bag out of the car and brought it in, took out the fragments, spread them on the ground, and put them together to form a bowl piece by piece.

I looked carefully and saw that it was indeed the original tea bowl, even the words "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty" on the bottom were exactly the same. I forgave him then and there.

I consoled him by saying that if Liu Gudong hadn't told me the bowl was valuable, my uncle wouldn't have known its value and would have just kept using it as a tea bowl.

I'm already this old, and I have no descendants. No matter how much money I have, I can't bring it with me when I'm born, and I can't take it with me when I die. If it's broken, it's broken. Don't pay for it."

I had already guessed a little bit, so I said, "Later, you heard from others that your nephew had deceived you. He bought an identical fake antique and then broke it into pieces to trick you."

Teacher Liu said, "Yes, someone said that, so I wanted to do another test to see if I could tell whether he really broke it or was just lying to me."

I asked, "Your bowl is so precious, did you take a picture of it?"

He quickly took out his phone and said, "I'll add you on WeChat and send you photos. I took a lot of photos."

After adding him on WeChat, he sent me the photos.

I was shocked.

Then he asked, "Do you have a photo of the broken bowl?"

He shook his head: "No."

I thought about it for a long time and decided to use a word to judge whether his nephew was telling the truth or lying.

Because, no one is a god. What if the test is wrong? But if I say no, I'll be doing it myself. Take it slow. This is like learning how to be a barber and a bald man comes in and says, "Give me a bald head."

I pondered the words "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty" in my mind for a while, and suddenly an idea struck me. I said, "Teacher Liu, I'll go to your house to look at the fragments, and then I'll tell you the fortune."

"Do you know anything about antiques?"

"I don't understand other things, but I understand this."

Teacher Liu was skeptical.

I drove to Liu's house.

…

Mengjia Village, Beiyue Township.

Teacher Liu’s home.

As soon as he came in, he closed the door, took me to the living room, asked me to sit down, poured me tea and served me fruit.

I said, "Don't be so polite. Take out the things and let me see them first."

Teacher Liu entered the bedroom, brought out a plastic bag, and said as he untied the rope:

"I don't want to lose it. After all, it's a legacy from my ancestors. I told my cousin to put these fragments in my coffin after I die. It's like I'll rest in peace with my ancestors' relics."

He carefully removed the pieces and placed them on the table. I didn't look at the other pieces. He took out the largest piece, which was the bottom of the bowl. He turned it upside down on the table.

When I saw the six big characters "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty", my heart was filled with waves.

This word does not need to be tested.

There are two minor differences between it and the "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty" in the photo. If you don't point them out, most people won't care, and instead think the fake is an absolute treasure, and the forgery is absolutely authentic.

I said, "Teacher Liu, don't use fortune telling. Your nephew is lying to you."

"Ah?" Teacher Liu leaned back in surprise.

I explained to him in detail:

"I know a thing or two about antiques and cultural relics, but I'm not sure about them. I'm absolutely sure about your bowl. My former master also had a bowl like this at home, and he taught me how to identify it.

A few years ago, Mr. Chen from our company and I were on a business trip to Xiamen and saw this kind of bowl in someone else's home. Your bowl is the real one, and the one your nephew broke is a fake.

"How do you tell?"

"The bottom of the bowl is inscribed with 'Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty.' My master's family has a collection of a blue and white bowl from the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty, exactly the same as yours.

Many bowls were made during the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, and most people cannot recognize them. However, there is one type of bowl that is very special, which is the one in your photo.

All bowls made during the Xuande period do not have a horizontal stroke above the "heart" character in the character "德". A small number of bowls do have a horizontal stroke above the "heart" character in the character "德".

The one with the horizontal stroke is a poem by the famous calligrapher Shen Du. Shen Du was Zhu Di's favorite calligrapher. He created the "Taige style" (Taige style). So this bowl is genuine.

Nowadays, counterfeiters rarely see this type of bowl, so they mistake the one with a horizontal line on the "heart" in the character "德" as a fake.

"Oh, I see."

"Right. For example, if you're used to drinking fake Moutai and develop a taste for it, then one day a Moutai employee brings you a bottle of authentic Moutai, and you don't know its identity. After taking a sip, you quickly say, 'Fake!'"

Teacher Liu nodded.

Now, look at the bowl your nephew sent me. The character for "德" (virtue) has a horizontal stroke in the middle. And look at the character for "明" (brightness). When Chen Du wrote it, the sun was slightly lower than the moon, while others wrote it with the sun and moon at the same level.

After listening to my explanation, Teacher Liu compared the bottom of the broken bowl with the bottom of the bowl in the photo and shouted, "This beast!"

I said, "Teacher Liu, don't worry. Take your cousin with you to get it back."

He said, "Mr. Wan, you must help me with this matter to the end. Only you can explain it clearly."

I hesitated for a moment and said, "Distance doesn't separate us. After all, you are relatives, and I am an outsider..."

Teacher Liu said, "At your house, you asked me what I thought of my nephew. Because things were still unclear, I kept some of my thoughts to myself and didn't say them out loud. Actually, he's a jerk. I came to you for a fortune-telling because I doubted him.

Bastard, a complete bastard. He cheated others before, and now he has even cheated his own uncle. Teacher Wan, I must ask you to come forward and testify on this matter."

I was still a little hesitant and said, "Just say what I just said."

Teacher Liu looked at me pitifully.

Seeing that I still refused to express my opinion, he said, "Wait a moment, I'll call my cousin over and you can explain it to him in detail. I'm old and I get incoherent when I get excited."

After saying that, he walked out without caring about anything.

I sat there drinking tea slowly. After about seven or eight minutes, Mr. Liu brought in a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man came forward, shook my hands with both hands and said:

"Thank you so much, Mr. Wan. My uncle just told me everything. Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Mr. Liu."

"Mr. Wan, just call me Fengshou. I was born in autumn, and my parents didn't have much education."

After that, he handed me a cigarette and said through gritted teeth:

"That black-toothed bastard has managed to trick his own uncle. Teacher Wan, teach me how to tell the difference. I'll go knock him over tomorrow."

When I heard the name "Black Tooth Dog," I was startled. I asked, "Is Black Tooth Dog's home far away?"

Mr. Liu said, "Nanli Town, more than 30 kilometers away."

My heart was filled with rage. I said to Teacher Liu, "Oh, you're from Nanli Town. We have a project there. I'm going there soon, so I'll help you discuss it."

Teacher Liu ran over, held my hand and said, "That's great, that's great."

I never thought that the day when I would face the Black Tooth Dog face to face would come earlier.