Chapter 82
Yang Ye took a deep breath, slammed the business card on the desk, and pointed at the name of the institution and the appraisal teacher on it.
"There's definitely something wrong with this Jinshizhai," she said in a tight voice, looking at the two of them with a serious expression. "The contents of the report just now don't match the bottle itself at all. A bottle that's a replica of the craftsmanship is still being priced at 30,000. It's simply outrageous."
"I just saw something strange about Grandpa Zhang's bottle," Xiao Xiao frowned, but there was a hint of hesitation in her tone. "The seal on it and the entire report look exactly the same as the one we got from Teacher Shao last time."
"It would be strange if they were the same," Yang Ye's voice rose. She tapped the business card twice with her fingers. "This fell out of Grandma Chen's pocket when she came to my place the other day. I gave Grandma Chen the flower bowl. I know its origin and the materials used. It was originally a set. I gave the remaining pieces to Liu Guoxing. He told me that the appraisal result was that it was produced by an official kiln in the late Qing Dynasty, but this agency said it was an ordinary folk kiln and the estimated value was only 100,000. I originally thought they had made a mistake and the price was wrong, but now it seems that this is not a matter of appraisal at all."
Zhou Yiheng picked up the business card on the table, his fingers gently rubbing the cheap, gold-stamped font. He looked over it many times, a little confused. "Could it be that the appraiser's skills are flawed? He's not well-trained, so he made a mistake?"
"No matter how poor their level is, they will only mistake things from folk kilns for official kilns, rather than forcing authentic official kiln products to be folk kilns." Yang Ye took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and tried to make her explanation understandable to them. She glanced at Zhou Yiheng and Xiao Xiao, and slowed down her speech. "Let me give you the simplest analogy. If you see someone carrying a luxury bag on the street, and you happen to not understand luxury goods, or have only seen it in pictures or videos. Then, when this thing imitates the original in terms of style and materials, will you think it is the real thing? But on the other hand, if you can often come into contact with and see these luxury bags, and you also understand the materials and specific styles of luxury goods, even if you are just a novice enthusiast, you will not watch a real luxury product being called a fake on a street stall."
"The same is true for antiques. In order to sell for a good price, folk kiln items are made to imitate the shapes and painting techniques of official kilns as much as possible. In the past, there were some skilled masters who could really make fakes look real. So the most common mistake made by appraisers who have just entered the industry is to mistake a folk kiln item with exquisite craftsmanship for an official kiln item. However, if you want to force a genuine official kiln item to be a folk kiln item, it is almost impossible, because the most important thing here is that you must first know that it is a genuine official kiln item."
Yang Ye paused, then said word by word, "This appraiser not only saw it, but he also saw it very clearly. He knew that Grandma Chen's things were genuine official kiln pieces, but he insisted on telling them that they were folk kilns. This can no longer be explained by a mistake in his skills."
Xiao Xiao seemed to have thought of something, her pupils suddenly contracted, and she looked at Yang Ye in shock, "I remember you told me that the price difference between official kilns and folk kilns can be ten times. Doesn't that mean that Grandma Chen's thing is worth millions?"
"One million?" Zhou Yiheng was also shocked by the number.
As she spoke, Yang Ye's phone rang. It was the message she had just asked someone to look up about Jinshizhai. She immediately picked up the phone, her eyes quickly scanning the message. Her brows furrowed ever tighter, the uncertainty in her eyes slowly giving way to certainty, and her expression suddenly changed. Sure enough, this was exactly what she had suspected.
She turned her phone screen to Zhou Yiheng and Xiao Xiao, her voice dry with suppressed anger and shock, "This organization's registered place is not in China at all, and they can't even find their specialized appraisal qualifications."
Xiao Xiao leaned closer to the screen and carefully read the message sent by the other party, "So those appraisal reports are all fake?"
"Nine out of ten," Yang Ye said in a low voice, feeling helpless and angry after his guess was confirmed. "Grandma Chen's sons are anxious to get the appraisal and share the money, so they will definitely look for an agency that can produce a report the fastest. As for Grandpa Zhang, he probably wants to sell the bottle at a good price, so he is intimidated by the name of this professional agency."
"What are they after? It's not just the appraisal fee, is it?" Xiao Xiao couldn't help but ask. But as soon as she said it, before she could think about it carefully, she started to murmur again, "No, if everyone is like Grandpa Zhang, who gets the appraisal report and then finds a place to sell it, won't the truth be revealed as soon as the buyer gets his hands on it?"
"I don't know either." Yang Ye's voice was so hoarse that even the last syllable seemed to be trembling.
It's not that she didn't have an answer; she could even guess why they were doing this. But she didn't dare think about it. A deeper fear, accompanied by a chill that spread through her bones, spread throughout her body. It was as if all the blood in her body had frozen. Yang Ye stood there, stunned, her head buzzing and a sharp ringing in her ears. Her vision went black, and after a brief blankness and a moment of trance, she felt a dizzying sway and her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
She put her hands on the desk.
"Boss, are you okay?" Zhou Yiheng asked.
She raised her empty, fearful eyes, focused her gaze, and tried to look at the two of them. "Xiao Xiao, Liu Guoxing doesn't have classes tomorrow afternoon. Tell him what happened today. Zhou Yiheng, come with me to see Grandma Chen later."
"Okay," the two responded.
After picking some seasonal fresh fruits at the market, she and Zhou Yiheng carried them to Grandma Chen's house.
The courtyard door was ajar. Zhou Yiheng stood at the door and called inside, "Grandma Chen, is Grandma Chen home?"
"Who is it?" Grandma Chen asked in a loud voice from the yard.
When the two entered, they saw her squatting in the small vegetable patch in the yard, with fresh seedlings densely packed in front of her. Granny Chen turned around, saw that it was them, and immediately put down the shovel she was using to loosen the soil. She wiped her muddy hands on her apron and greeted them warmly, "Boss Yang, we're here. Come on, go sit inside. It's hot outside."
Yang Ye took the fruit and said, "I just happened to be passing by here, so I came in to take a look. I brought you some fruit."
"You said you were coming, so why are you bringing anything?" Granny Chen scolded with a smile. She swiftly took the bags from the two of them and placed them next to the entrance. She then pointed to the plastic bags on the ground next to them and said, "These dishes were sent by Ah Cheng early this morning. He asked me to try them."
As soon as she sat down in the house, Grandma Chen went to the kitchen to pour water.
"Grandma, please stop worrying. We'll just sit for a while and then leave," Yang Ye stopped her.
"How can that be? It's a rare occasion for you to come to my place, you must have a cup of tea before leaving." Grandma Chen insisted on going to the kitchen to make tea.
Zhou Yiheng also smiled and persuaded, "Grandma, there's really no need, we just came to see you."
After the two of them talked and coaxed her, Grandma Chen was finally dragged to sit down.
Yang Ye said: "I see that you are in much better spirits than before."
Grandma Chen's smile deepened, and her tone was filled with joy. "Yes, Ming came over a few days ago and brought me a box of milk, saying that drinking it would replenish calcium. Cheng also brought me some food early this morning. Both children told me not to worry too much and to just rest at home."
Yang Ye smiled and nodded, "If they care about you, then you will be able to live a more comfortable life in the future."
"Yeah," Granny Chen sighed, rubbing her blurry eyes. "When you get old, you just want to live a comfortable life. Boss Yang, if you hadn't told me last time, I probably wouldn't know what to do."
"That's what they deserve. You've worked hard all your life, and it's time for you to enjoy your life."
Grandma Chen nodded repeatedly, the smile lines at the corners of her eyes almost squeezed together, "As long as the two of them don't quarrel and live their lives well, then I will feel at ease."
Yang Ye looked at Zhou Yiheng, but her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the newly added glass display cabinet in the corner of the living room. Curious, she casually asked, "Grandma, when did you buy this cabinet? I didn't see it when I came last time."
Granny Chen followed her line of sight and when she saw the cabinet, her smile widened, her tone revealing her happiness. "This was bought for me by Ming and Cheng last month. They said it's moisture-proof. The old and broken things in my house are already quite old, and they'll get worse if they get wet. So they bought me this..."
Zhou Yiheng walked over to the cabinet, took a closer look, and when his hand touched the wooden edge of the cabinet, he knocked twice. "The material used in this cabinet is quite solid, and it must have cost a lot. Why is there a piece of red cloth inside? Grandma Chen, what are you going to put in it?"
"Just put the bowl from last time," said Grandma Chen. "Didn't Cheng and Ming say they weren't going to sell the bowl anymore? I just wanted to find a place to put it. They just bought this cabinet, so I thought it would be a perfect place to put it."
"Where is the bowl?" Zhou Yiheng asked.
"It's on the top floor," Granny Chen pointed. "I was going to take it down after I packed it up, but unfortunately my ladder broke and the stool at home was too low to reach it, so I had to leave it there first and wait for them to come back and get it down for me. But every time they come back, they say a few words and I forget about it again, and it's been left there until now."
"Let me get it for you," Zhou Yiheng went to move the chair.
Grandma Chen stood up and said, "I'm so sorry."
Yang Ye said: "It's okay, he's tall, just let him take it."
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