Chapter 27

Wu Di closed the door, thought for a moment, then went back to get the car keys. Perhaps seeing this thing would save him a lot of explanations.

As usual, it was the morning meeting. After the meeting, Manager Zhao hurriedly left with Sister Leng. They had a bid at 9:30, and it was said that they had a good chance of winning. Wu Di informed everyone in the business department that he would treat them to lunch. They all speculated about his intentions, and he said mysteriously:

"Hehe, I made a small fortune, let's all have a good meal."

Leaving the company, Wu Di headed straight for Panjiayuan. It was just 9 o'clock when he parked his car. He went to Mingtangzhai, where Wen Yajiu had just finished breakfast and was reading the morning newspaper. Seeing him come in, he was quite surprised and asked:

"Not going to work? Why are you here again? By the way, I forgot to ask you last time, is there any metal inside that brick inkstone?"

Wu Di gave a thumbs up and said:

"That's right, I evenly coated the walls of the holes with molten lead. I estimate the weight of the lead should be the same as the weight of what he dug out. Oh, I took some photos, but I forgot to show them last time because it was too chaotic."

The photos were taken with an antique-level straight-screen mobile phone, and the quality wasn't great. Wen Yajiu looked at them for a moment, shook his head, and sighed:

"The ingenuity of the ancients, sigh. I found that wastrel, but he doesn't even know where his old man got that brick inkstone from, or when he collected it. He can't even give a rough time. This is actually the tragedy of many collectors. They go to great lengths to collect a bunch of treasures, and it's fine if there's someone to carry on, but if there's no one in the next generation who likes it, these things mostly end up being auctioned off."

Wu Di didn't know how to respond and awkwardly smiled. Wen Yajiu laughed and said:

"I'm old, and I have a lot of reflections. By the way, what brings you here today?"

"I'm planning to quit and learn some appraisal knowledge. Brother Wen, you'll be my master from now on."

"That won't do. You know someone like Old Chang, why don't you ask him?"

Wu Di smiled bitterly, not knowing what to say. Wen Yajiu waved his hand and said:

"I can teach you what you want to learn, but no more talk about being my disciple."

Seeing his firm attitude, Wu Di could only nod. Wen Yajiu looked at him with a smile, making Wu Di feel very uncomfortable. He quickly checked his clothes and asked:

"Brother Wen, is something wrong?"

"What's wrong? Of course, there's something wrong. Since you're learning appraisal from me, even though I'm not your master, shouldn't you change the way you address me?"

"Oh, Brother Wen, no, Uncle Wen, can I call you Uncle Wen from now on?"

"I'm almost sixty, so being called Uncle is just right. Ah, it feels good. I was careless on the train and let you call me Brother Wen for so long. Now, the generation is finally right."

Wu Di smiled bitterly and said:

"Uncle Wen, if you had an issue, you should have said it earlier. Calling you 'Old Brother' made me feel old too."

"Stop talking nonsense. What do you want to learn? Porcelain? Jade? Or miscellaneous items?"

"Jade mainly refers to ancient jade, so I'll start with porcelain."

Wen Yajiu stood up, took a few books from the bookshelf behind him, and handed them to Wu Di:

"Start with these. Come back for an exam in a month. If you fail, don't mention collecting again!"

Wu Di took the books and saw that they were "Appraisal of Ming and Qing Porcelain" by Geng Baochang, "A History of Chinese Ceramics" by Ye Zhemin, "Chinese Ceramics" by Feng Xianming, and "Yinliuzhai Shuo Ci" by Xu Zhiheng from the Republic of China era. Four thick books, and he couldn't help but groan. Wen Yajiu smiled but was not lenient:

"Want to learn but don't want to suffer? No such thing. I won't keep you today, go home and study hard."

Wu Di smiled bitterly and left, heading towards Stone City.

On Monday, there weren't many people in Stone City. Because of the glass-type jadeite, all the staff knew Wu Di and greeted him warmly. Wu Di returned their greetings and quickly went to the back yard. He was afraid that if Mr. Qian came down to accompany him, his secret would be more easily exposed.

Wu Di thought for half the night and did repeated experiments with double-sided tape. He found that although the cover of the book was paper, it seemed to be waxed or coated, making it easy to peel off the tape. He used a little double-sided tape to fix the pages and then, after leaving Wen Yajiu's store, stuck the book to the palm of his left hand.

Wu Di loosely held his left hand and entered the back yard. There weren't many people there, only Xiao Liu followed in. Wu Di waved him away:

"Go do your work first, I'll call you when I'm done."

Xiao Liu agreed and left. Wu Di quickly went to the pile of small stones on the ground, picking up one, two, three... ten in total, and placed them in order. Just as he straightened up, he heard Mr. Qian's voice:

"Oh, little brother, don't rush, take your time. Do you know that after you left yesterday, the stones here were almost all taken? These are all from the warehouse."

"Really?"

"Ha, all thanks to the glass-type jadeite you found."

"I thought these stones looked a bit different today."

Mr. Qian lowered his voice:

"Five hundred yuan each, no negotiation. When they heard that the glass-type jadeite came from this pile, they all stuffed dozens into their pockets. I brought another truckload yesterday, and now there's only this much left."

"Then aren't you losing a lot by selling them to me for a hundred each?"

"Ha, asking for money? That would be a slap in the face. I'm telling you, you can take as many as you want, and if I charge you, I'm not a man!"

Wu Di followed Mr. Qian to a stone table in the yard to have tea. Passing a large stone, he touched it and found it to be relatively smooth:

"Brother Qian, I don't seem to have seen this stone before."

"Brother, take a look first."

Wu Di carefully examined the large stone. It was about a meter long and over fifty centimeters wide and high, a standard large piece of rough material. Using the methods Wen Yajiu taught him, he first looked for moss, cracks, and pine flowers, then for python bands. He circled the stone, squatting until his legs were numb, but found nothing!

Wu Di looked at Mr. Qian with confusion, and Mr. Qian smiled bitterly:

"Don't be confused. Everyone who has seen it has the same expression. The bottom side is even worse; I opened three windows, and they were all just stone. This is solid old pit material, and it has been here for seven or eight years. I used to display it, but my old friends mocked me for being too stingy, so I threw it in the warehouse. I saw it when I was loading the truck yesterday and brought it out, but no one wanted it. I don't even remember how I got this big stone."

Wu Di smiled and stopped looking at the stone, instead chatting and drinking tea with Mr. Qian.

Wu Di had a reason to visit Mr. Qian. Although his book could identify jadeite in rough material, it didn't show the quantity, and he didn't know the value of the jadeite. This could lead to some awkward situations, like the book indicating jadeite, Wu Di buying it, and then finding out that the jadeite wasn't worth the price. If it was due to the size, it would be one thing, but if it was because he didn't know the value of different types of jadeite, Wu Di would be very frustrated. He couldn't complain to anyone, could he? Would he use a megaphone to tell others, "I know what kind of jadeite is inside, but I don't know how much it's worth, so I lost money, and now everyone is laughing at me?"

In the front hall of Mr. Qian's shop, there were various finished jadeite products, and people often bid on rough material in the yard. Mr. Qian must have the most up-to-date and accurate information on jadeite prices. It would be a waste not to take the opportunity to learn.

On Monday, there weren't many people, and Mr. Qian had nothing to do, so he had an in-depth discussion with Wu Di about the prices of various jadeite. During the conversation, he even took out various finished jadeite products to explain the price differences between finished products and rough material, the differences in carving techniques between the northern and southern schools, and various methods of faking jadeite. Wu Di felt as if a new world had opened up before him, and he listened with rapt attention.

Mr. Qian chatted for a while, and the inner courtyard needed attention, so he went to the bathroom. Wu Di took the opportunity to take out a magnifying glass and scanned the book's prompt. The method was indeed effective. The first ten stones had rough material but no jadeite. The eleventh stone was more complex, containing bean, glutinous, and ice-type jadeite, but the color was average, mainly with floating flowers. The twelfth stone contained a piece of high-ice, high-quality spinach green jadeite.

Wu Di put the book away and started to think. The eleventh stone should be the large stone that no one wanted. He didn't expect it to be a treasure, with three types of jadeite in one piece of rough material, which must be quite large. But what about the twelfth stone? Could he have miscounted? No, the ten small stones were still neatly arranged.

Mr. Qian finished his business and hurried over. Wu Di subconsciously hid his left hand under the table, touching the stone pedestal under his buttocks. He suddenly realized that the pedestal was also rough material.

Mr. Qian invited Wu Di to lunch, and Wu Di remembered that he was supposed to treat his department to lunch. Looking at his watch, it was already past eleven, and he secretly groaned. He quickly called and made an appointment, explaining the reason to Mr. Qian. Mr. Qian, listening to the call, knew he had something to do and didn't insist on keeping him, just welcoming him to visit often.

Wu Di stood up, hesitated for a moment, and decided to act first. If someone came and moved the large stone during lunch, he would regret it. He pointed to the large stone that no one wanted and asked:

"Brother Qian, how much for this stone?"

"What, brother wants to buy it? If you buy it... I'll give you 200,000 yuan. Ha, it's definitely old pit material, but the risk is high."

Wu Di quickly paid by card and told Mr. Qian to wait for him to come back and open the stone after the meal. As for the high-ice stone pedestal, he hadn't decided how to handle it yet, so he left it for now.

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