The sports car drove into the suburbs, kicking up a trail of dust.
Inside the car, an ambiguous atmosphere lingered between the two.
Xu Yao's heart was pounding like a rabbit's, and her cheeks were still flushed.
Both of them tacitly chose to ignore the uproar about her online.
When we arrived at the film set, everyone was busy.
It was already past 2 p.m., well past lunchtime.
The air was filled with the unique aroma of food cooked in a large pot, indicating that Lin Chuan and his group had already taken care of their lunch themselves, without waiting for Zhou Yang, their "personal chef."
"Zhou Yang, Xu Yao, you've finally arrived!"
Lin Chuan, wearing a straw hat, was directing several people to move props.
Seeing Zhou Yang and the others approach, he quickly came to greet them, his voice still loud and clear.
"Since we couldn't wait for you guys, we just had a big meal together. I was thinking you guys might not be coming today!"
Zhou Yang said, "I was delayed due to some special reasons and forgot to ask you for leave. I'm sorry."
Lin Chuan smiled and was very easy to talk to: "We saw the trending topics, and the fifth one is about the two of you... We knew you had something going on just by looking at the trending topics, so there's no need to apologize."
Zhou Yang and Xu Yao are quite famous now, isn't it normal for them to have some troubles?
Moreover, if they were truly insiders, Lin Chuan had heard far too many stories of celebrities who were unpunctual and arrogant.
What's the big deal about Zhou Yang and his group wasting this little bit of time?
Lin Chuan took out today's set schedule: "By the way, have you all memorized your lines? You have two more scenes to go on, so go find a shady spot over there and go over your lines again!"
"Go memorize it right now!"
Xu Yao stuck out her tongue a little embarrassedly, after all, it was her own mess that had delayed the time.
Zhou Yang, on the other hand, looked completely calm and collected. He pulled Xu Yao to a large locust tree and began reciting his lines.
While casually reciting the few simple lines of dialogue, Zhou Yang observed the busy figures of the props team with great interest.
Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to something on the props cart.
It was a wooden pen holder, extremely simple in design, one could even say it was "plain," without any elaborate carvings.
However, it is precisely this extreme simplicity that brings out the natural texture of the wood and its rustic form that has been weathered by time!
Its deep color, warm and jade-like luster, and the faint "ghost faces" visible between the wood grain all speak of its extraordinary nature.
This thing... is kind of interesting!
Zhou Yang's heart stirred. With the blessing of "Mastery of Treasure Appraisal", even from several meters away, he had a strong intuition.
He put down his lines and strolled over.
Among that pile of miscellaneous "props" that looked either plastic or cheap wood imitations, this pen holder stood out like a crane among chickens.
Zhou Yang casually picked up the pen holder. It felt slightly heavy and had a delicate texture, with a faint scent of sandalwood.
He turned it over and carefully examined the bottom, his pupils contracting slightly, almost imperceptibly.
“Hey bro,” Zhou Yang looked up at a props teacher who was tidying up props and was around fifty years old, wearing reading glasses.
Where did you find this pen holder?
The props teacher adjusted his glasses and gave a casual reply.
"Oh, you mean this? I went to the flea market a couple of days ago to buy some odds and ends for the film crew. It looked quite quaint, so I just picked it up. It was only a few dollars, cheap."
He clearly didn't take this thing seriously; after all, it's a film crew, and most props are replicas, so they try to save money wherever possible.
At this moment, Lin Chuan also came over.
He had just finished arranging the camera positions for the next scene when he noticed Zhou Yang staring intently at a broken pen holder, which piqued his curiosity.
"What's wrong, Zhou Yang? Is there something wrong with this pen holder?"
Zhou Yang's lips curled into a smile as he weighed the pen holder in his hand and turned his gaze to the props teacher.
"Dude, your luck is incredible! You didn't step in dog poop on your way out, but you stepped right in a gold ingot!"
The prop master was taken aback by what he said: "Huh? Mr. Zhou... what do you mean by that?"
Lin Chuan's interest was piqued even more: "Zhou Yang, stop keeping me in suspense and tell me quickly, what's going on with this pen holder?"
Zhou Yang handed the pen holder to Lin Chuan, pointing to the seemingly naturally formed textures on the outer wall of the pen holder.
"Director Lin, look closely at these patterns. They flow like clouds and water, like smoke and mist, and there are even patterns that look like ghost faces."
"Look at this patina, it's thick and smooth. You absolutely couldn't get this effect without at least a hundred or eighty years of aging."
He paused, then pointed to an extremely faint, almost indistinguishable mark on the bottom of the pen holder.
"The most crucial part is here, do you see it? Although it's blurry, you can still vaguely make out the four small characters 'Wen Shi Zi Chang'."
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a huanghuali brush holder used by Wen Zhenheng, a famous scholar, calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Huanghuali? From the Ming Dynasty?"
Lin Chuan's hand trembled, and he almost dropped his phone. The props teacher next to him almost popped his eyes out.
Zhou Yang nodded firmly, his eyes gleaming.
"That's right! Wen Zhenheng, courtesy name Zichang, was a writer and garden artist in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties."
"His 'Treatise on Superfluous Things' is a classic work on the elegant playthings of Ming Dynasty literati. Could the things he used himself be ordinary?"
"The material of this rosewood is Hainan rosewood, and look at the ghost face pattern on it, this is the best of the best!"
"With its simple yet elegant craftsmanship, excellent preservation, and the endorsement of a celebrity... wow."
He held up five fingers and gestured.
"This thing, if you take it to an auction house, it'll fetch at least this price!"
"Five million is an understatement. If it finds a knowledgeable collector who also likes it, the price could jump even higher!"
"Five...five million?!"
Props master Zhang felt a sudden dizziness, his legs went weak, and his voice changed.
"Boss Zhou, you...you're not kidding, are you? This...this is just a broken wooden tube!"
When he bought it, the shop owner threw it at him like it was trash, saying it was something nobody wanted in his hometown cupboard.
He bought it for eighteen yuan.
At that moment, Master Zhang's heart was in turmoil, filled with a mix of emotions.
A surprise? There must be, after all, it was something he found and traded.
But more than anything, I felt conflicted and anxious.
My goodness! At least five million! He only spent eighteen yuan when he bought it!
This pen holder was a nice purchase, but it was bought with the production crew's money.
So, whose money is this?
Will Director Lin not give me a single penny?
He became increasingly panicked as he thought about it, and his face turned pale.
Lin Chuan also gasped, and the way he looked at Zhou Yang changed.
Good heavens, this lousy film crew actually managed to buy an antique?!
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