Chapter 4 It Was A Real Bargain

Wang Ke came to the stall and picked up a blue and white porcelain plate. Judging from the texture, this plate should be from the late Ming Dynasty. This plate was very beautiful and magnificent with sixteen medallion landscape designs. Eight big medallion landscape designs depicted bamboo and floral patterns and eight small medallion landscape designs depicted jade necklace patterns. The overall sense of hierarchy was clear and in the center of the plate was the pattern of mandarin ducks in a lotus pond. This blue and white porcelain plate looked good at first sight. But on closer inspection, Wang Ke noticed something wrong. The brushwork of mandarin ducks with lotus pond pattern in the center of the plate was immature and the composition was a little distorted. The overall color appeared to be gray and the luster of the glaze was dim. It was a fake. Wang Ke sighed lightly and put down the plate. The stall owner had been watching Wang Ke. He thought Wang Ke was a layman. But when he saw Wang Ke's face as he put the plate down, he knew he was wrong. Were young people really something these days? The stall owner was a little confused. Wang Ke checked several antiques, but they were all fakes. He knew that genuine antiques are hard to find on Antique Street. If there was a genuine one, it would have been bought by some other experts. It was not as easy as it seemed. "Which one do you like, dude? Don't worry. My store has a good reputation and reasonable prices." After seeing Wang Ke check several antiques but still not satisfied, the stall owner asked him. Wang Ke put down the porcelain bowl he just picked up and asked helplessly, "Do you have anything really good?" The good things meant genuine antiques. Wang Ke, who had been in Antique Street for half a year, wouldn't be stupid to say this word directly. If you mentioned this word, you would give the boss a bad reputation. It was very offensive. "Good things?" The stall owner was shocked at first and then said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be an expert, dude. Fine, I'll show you the good things!" While the stall owner was picking up things, Wang Ke ran his eyes over the antiques again. He had just checked them out, but now that he was free, he could brush up on the knowledge of antiques. Anyway, these were all fakes. Halfway through, Wang Ke felt a sharp pain in his eyes again. The pain was worse and lasted longer than usual this time. The sharp pain made Wang Ke roar inwardly and his whole body trembled slightly. Why was it hurting so much? The after-effects should be over soon. Why did it last so long this time? What Wang Ke worried about now was not his eyes but whether he would be hurt to death! He was in so much pain that it had been more than he could handle. He couldn't sit around without doing anything like this! Wang Ke clenched his teeth and forbore the pain to gather the spirit energy in his body around his eyes slowly. He did it only to relieve the pain. The pain would be relieved with improved blood circulation, so the pain must be caused by a blockage in the blood. Spirit energy had the effect of dredging meridians and activating collaterals, which could ease the pain. He had no time to consider the consequences of gathering the spirit energy, he had to give it a shot. With the spirit energy gathering in his eyes, just when he felt a severe pain coming, the pain in his eyes abated a lot. What was going on? It surprised Wang Ke, and then he was pleased. Could spirit energy really relieve pain in the eyes? As he thought of this, he gathered more spirit energy around his eyes immediately. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the pain did abate. Haha! He didn't have to worry about the d*mn pain anymore. Wang Ke had just been through hell and now he felt like he was in heaven. How could he not be excited? Emm? Wang Ke raised his head and looked at a bronze toad in surprise. The bronze toad had only three legs, and the Big Dipper was engraved on its back. It held two strings of copper coins in its mouth and Tai Chi on its head. Its feet were on the ingot and the copper coin with the words "Money and Treasures Will Be Plentiful". It was a very common bronze toad symbolizing wealth, but Wang Ke saw a wisp of white smog on its back, and the smog around was gathering towards it. What was going on? Where did this smog come from? What was this smog? Wang Ke looked at it in shock. He felt that the white smog was not the same as the spirit energy in his body. The spirit energy had a powerful impact, while the white smog was very soft, and you couldn't even feel that. If you didn't look carefully, it was easy to mistake it for smoke from burning incense. Wang Ke was so confused that he couldn't help looking at the other place of the stall. Among the several antiques in front of him, only a jade Pi Xiu was covered with white smog. If all the antiques were covered with smog, he might wonder if there was something wrong with his eyes. But now there were only two! What was going on? At this time, the stall owner straightened up and took out a Golden Arowana, and asked Wang Ke with a mysterious smile. "How about this one?" Wang Ke was now so focused on the white smog that he didn't see the stall owner's triumphant expression at all. He just nodded perfunctorily. Seeing that Wang Ke was not very interested, the stall owner smiled mysteriously again and said, "Don't look down upon it, dude. It's a magic weapon! So brilliant!" Magic weapon? Wang Ke became interested suddenly. He had only heard of magic weapons but never seen them. There were three kinds of magic weapons. The first one was formed by absorbing natural energy in a perfect location. The second was the one that the geomancers wear around or spend a long time to make. The third one was blessed by eminent monks. Any one of them could change the Fengshui of a place, making a person or a shop rich or unlucky. The first and third were rare. After all, magic weapons are hard to form naturally and eminent monks wouldn't consecrate magic weapons casually. What was more, there were not that many eminent monks. So these two kinds of magic weapons were barely noticed and hardly believed to exist. Wang Ke didn't believe it either. The second kind of magic weapon was more. Countless talents and geomancers appeared during the five thousand years of Chinese history, and much of what they made and wore close to their bodies had been preserved. But the number of such magic weapons was only relatively large. Wang Ke took the Golden Arowana and observed it carefully for a while. He didn't find anything unusual, so he asked the stall owner doubtfully, "How do you know it's a magic weapon?" "How could I not know? Heh. I've asked the abbot of Puzhao Temple to consecrate it. Of course, it's a magic weapon." The stall owner answered with a smile. Consecrated? Had it been consecrated? It didn't seem to make a difference. Wang Ke was even more confused. He looked for a while, but he still couldn't find anything unusual. Then he put the Arowana down and looked at the bronze toad. He was shocked and asked the stall owner, "What is this? Why did you put it in a special place?" "About that..." The stall owner answered triumphantly. "My stall is not big, but this is the top-one. This bronze toad is a real magic weapon! It cost me an arm and a leg to get it back. I'm counting on it to make my living!" "Is this a magic weapon, too?" Wang Ke was surprised when he heard this, and he thought of the smog on the bronze toad immediately. Was this something unique to the real magic weapon? If so, then that jade Pi Xiu should also be a magic weapon? He got excited at the thought of it. Could he really tell what the real magic weapon was? Just then Wang Ke felt dizzy suddenly and his body went limp automatically. It was lucky that he caught himself in time, or he would have fallen to the ground. Wang Ke checked his body quickly and found that there was very little spirit energy left in his body. What was going on? Why was so much spirit energy consumed? "Are you alright?" The stall owner saw the young man in front of him suddenly fainted and asked him at once. The stall owner didn't want him to faint in front of his stall, because it was too unlucky! Wang Ke waved his hand to show that he was fine. He looked up at the bronze toad and suddenly saw that the white smog was gone. The same thing happened to the jade Pi Xiu. Was it... Wang Ke thought of a possibility suddenly that made him extremely excited. Did he have special powers? Focusing spirit energy on his eyes allowed him to see the real magic weapon, but it would take a lot of spirit energy. There was no other explanation. A blessing in disguise! His eyes had the special power to see the real magic weapons, making it easy for him to find magic weapons in Antique Street! Wang Ke was very excited at the thought of this. But he was still not sure. What if it was not? It would all be in vain for him. So he decided to buy the jade Pi Xiu. He had given up on the bronze toad because the stall owner wouldn't sell it. The stall owner was relieved when he saw that Wang Ke was fine. At this moment, someone else came to the stall and the stall owner left Wang Ke behind to greet other guests. It gave Wang Ke time to check the jade Pi Xiu carefully. Wang Ke took the jade pendant without hesitation. As soon as he touched the jade pendant, a cool feeling came over him, which made him so delighted just like in spring breeze. Wang Ke was so surprised. He had seen many antiques for half a year, but it was the first time he had felt like this. He lowered his head and looked carefully at the jade Pi Xiu in his hand. The Pi Xiu was carved in the middle of the jade pendant. The carving technology was not good and it looked very rough. The texture of the jade pendant was not good. It was not transparent and looked very shabby, and it felt like it had been reworked. An expert could tell that the jade pendant was fake at a glance. But when he turned the jade pendant over and saw the back, he was stunned. This drawing process dated from the Ming Dynasty!? Wang Ke's pupils were constricting rapidly and his breathing became rapid. He didn't believe what he was seeing. Did he really find the treasure!? The drawing process was a method of carving or cutting in the jade making by using soft thread as a tool in ancient times. The production of jade required a long time of repeated polishing, coupled with a long time, which would make the jade drawing place have a thick coating and the surface would be frosted. But the imitation jade did not have these two phenomena. This was the way to judge the age of the drawing process of jade. The drawing part of this jade Pi Xiu not only had a thick coating but also had a frosted surface. The most important thing was that it accorded with the characteristics of the drawing process of the Ming Dynasty: uninhibited, the direction and angle of the drawing process were varied. Narrow crevices were polished with an emery wheel and there were half-moon-shaped polishing marks in the hollow-out part. What a stroke of luck! Even if it was not a magic weapon, it must be a real antique! Wang Ke became excited immediately. After careful observation, he understood why no one had a fancy for this jade. Because the person who counterfeited this jade also thought it was fake, so he added a new coating. At first, the jade pendant looked like a real antique, but it would look even more fake as time went by. Otherwise, he would never have seen the jade pendant! But why did such a good jade pendant give him this feeling? Was it really a magic weapon? Wang Ke was more confused, but at the same time, he was more certain that he had superpowers. "How much is this jade pendant, sir?" Wang Ke held the jade Pi Xiu and asked the stall owner.