Chapter 3

After resting for a while, Liu Yiyang continued with his work.

This time, he calmed down very quickly. Since the events of yesterday were beyond his control, he decided not to think about them anymore and focused on doing his current work.

The bronze flower vase was soon well-maintained, and Liu Yiyang picked up the second item that needed maintenance.

This was a Qing Dynasty bookend. The material of the bookend was not of the best quality, but the craftsmanship was excellent. Liu Yiyang, who had worked in the antique shop for a long time, knew the prices of these treasures quite well. Such a bookend would cost at least a few thousand yuan.

A few thousand yuan, of course, could not compare to the millions of high-value items, but it was the best-selling item in the store.

After all, truly wealthy people were still a minority. Most people who loved collecting and antiques preferred items of lower value that were well-preserved.

The bookend was not large, so it was much easier to clean.

Just as he had cleaned half of it, Liu Yiyang's hand trembled again. However, this time he did not speak, but just stared blankly at it.

A faint mist also appeared on the bookend, but unlike the bronze flower vase, it was red and much lighter than the purple mist from before.

The red mist slowly rose and eventually formed a straight line, entering the center of Liu Yiyang's forehead.

This time, Liu Yiyang did not panic. He saw the entire process clearly, especially when the red mist directly entered his Yintang point, the gentle warmth made him very comfortable, like basking in the warm spring sunlight, making him lazy and unwilling to move.

Very quickly, in just a minute, the red mist disappeared. Like the bronze flower vase, a visible but intangible red halo began to surround the bookend.

After sitting in silence for a while, Liu Yiyang picked up his tools again and continued working.

After the bookend was cleaned, the next item was an ancient jade ornament, made of high-quality Hetian white jade.

Seeing this fine ornament, Liu Yiyang's eyes showed a hint of surprise. This was an ancient jade ornament, made of top-quality jade, and was quite valuable.

The store mainly dealt in porcelain, but also had jade, bronze, and various other items. Liu Yiyang was not the only conservator in the store; there was another older and more experienced teacher.

It was this teacher who had taught him everything, giving him his current job.

Generally, all expensive items were personally maintained by the teacher, while Liu Yiyang only handled the maintenance of less valuable antiques, mostly items worth a few thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, and some small items worth only a few hundred yuan, which were mainly used to boost sales.

Liu Yiyang was not particularly knowledgeable about antiques, but he could tell at a glance that the value of this ancient jade was definitely over 100,000 yuan. Such items would not normally be given to him for maintenance.

Liu Yiyang thought about standing up, but after hesitating, he sat back down.

The person who gave him the item was Lin Feng, who would never make such a mistake. Since this item was here, it must be his task. For him, maintaining such a valuable item was also a form of training.

With renewed energy, Liu Yiyang picked up the specialized jade maintenance tools and began to maintain the ancient jade.

Maintaining jade was not complicated, but it required careful attention, especially for ornaments, where no crevice could be missed, and no impurities left behind.

Liu Yiyang had maintained many ancient jades before, but this was the first time he was maintaining one of such high value.

Soon, Liu Yiyang was completely focused on the ancient jade.

Just as he started working, his body trembled slightly, and his pupils contracted unnaturally.

A mist also appeared on the ancient jade, this time red, but more than the mist from the bookend, and it directly entered his forehead.

"Hmm!"

Feeling the warmth, Liu Yiyang couldn't help but let out a soft hum. The warmth was so comfortable, a feeling that words could not describe.

Fortunately, his voice was low, and Lin Feng, who was on duty outside the warehouse, did not hear it, or he would have come in to check on him.

It took a full three minutes for the red mist to completely disappear, leaving Liu Yiyang with a jade ornament surrounded by a red halo.

As soon as the red mist disappeared, Liu Yiyang sat up straight.

At that moment, as the red mist disappeared, he suddenly 'saw' a vast, dark space, in which a large, ancient bronze mirror was floating.

This 'seeing' was not with his eyes, but as if it appeared directly in his mind.

The scene lasted only a moment, disappearing in the blink of an eye, but in that instant, he clearly felt a signal.

The signal was: more spiritual energy is needed.

Spiritual energy, the large bronze mirror?

Even if Liu Yiyang was slow, he now understood that everything that had happened today, including the mist from the antiques, was related to the bronze mirror that had entered his body yesterday.

This meant that the bronze mirror was still inside his body.

The signal about spiritual energy, Liu Yiyang did not know what it was, but he understood that it must be related to the mist, perhaps the mist was the spiritual energy the bronze mirror needed.

He now understood that the mist appeared because of the bronze mirror inside his body, and only he, who possessed the bronze mirror, could see it.

Understanding this, Liu Yiyang let out a long sigh of relief. At least now he had an explanation for the strange events of today and knew what was happening.

The mist entering his body was explained, but the nature of the bronze mirror was still unclear. Fortunately, it did not seem to be harmful to him, so he did not need to worry. As for the future, Liu Yiyang did not think about it much.

Moreover, the bronze mirror only told him that it needed more spiritual energy, but did not say how to obtain it or how much was needed.

Looking down at the jade ornament in his hand, Liu Yiyang suddenly remembered some books he had read.

After working in the antique shop, to improve his skills, Liu Yiyang had bought and read many books about antiques.

He remembered one book that said: the older the antique, the greater its spiritual energy. In fact, all true antiques contain spiritual energy, and by focusing, one can feel this energy. Items without spiritual energy are definitely fakes.

He did not know if the spiritual energy mentioned by the master was the same as the spiritual energy the bronze mirror needed, or if it was the mist that had entered his forehead.

But regardless, he had to try to find out.

After finishing the maintenance of the jade ornament, Liu Yiyang immediately picked up another item, this time a piece of porcelain from a Qing Dynasty folk kiln.

Qing Dynasty folk kiln porcelain was currently very popular in the market. Most people could not afford or dared to buy official kiln porcelain, only a few wealthy individuals would spend large sums on such items. However, such customers were few, and the store mainly dealt in these less valuable but highly appreciated folk kiln porcelains, which had low value but high sales and good profit.

Among the items Liu Yiyang had to maintain today, there were several such porcelains.

Strictly speaking, maintaining porcelain was not complicated, but it required great care. The methods varied depending on the shape of the porcelain.

Liu Yiyang used a damp cloth with specially adjusted water temperature to gently wipe the porcelain. Maintaining porcelain was not as simple as using any water.

With his focused attention, the porcelain soon emitted red mist, similar to the mist from the bookend, which disappeared after about a minute.

At this point, Liu Yiyang was no longer surprised, but rather enjoyed the comfort of the mist entering his body.

The first piece of porcelain was quickly maintained, and Liu Yiyang moved on to the second. The red mist appeared again during the maintenance, and with his experience, he was no longer at all anxious.

Time passed quickly, and over two hours flew by.

After maintaining all the items, Liu Yiyang stretched comfortably, feeling extremely satisfied.

Today was the fastest time he had ever experienced, especially when the mist entered his body, the comfort made him not want to stop.

Moreover, after today's work, he did not feel the usual fatigue, but was unusually energetic and could continue working.

Maintaining antiques was not an easy job; it required concentration and focus, which was very mentally draining. This was why he only worked for two hours a day, and the store would not let him work for too long unless there were special circumstances.

Besides feeling more energetic, Liu Yiyang had another discovery: he understood how the mist was generated. As long as he focused his attention on an item, the mist would appear.

However, this was not always the case. He now believed what the book said: the older the antique, the greater its spiritual energy. He had maintained several modern stone carvings, all from the past few decades, and no matter how focused he was, no mist appeared.

He even tried with some of his tools, but they also showed no reaction.

Furthermore, there was a broken screen in the small room. The screen was an old item, already damaged, and later, during a move, it was completely dismantled.

The screen was a single panel, not well-made, and even if it were intact, it would not be very valuable. After it was completely dismantled, there was no point in repairing it, so it was left in the warehouse.

Later, Lin Feng felt the screen was taking up too much space in the warehouse, so he moved it to Liu Yiyang's workroom. If it were not a genuine old item, Lin Feng might have thrown it away.

This dismantled screen became Liu Yiyang's test subject. The red mist it emitted was very satisfying, and the amount of mist was more than the porcelain and almost as much as the ancient jade.

After tidying up all his tools, Liu Yiyang stood up, carefully checked the items he had maintained today, and finally left the small room.

His job was only to maintain the items; he could not take any of them out of the room. Lin Feng would collect the maintained items, categorize them, and return them to the warehouse.