Chapter 23

Qi Feng used a large vase to knock the knife-wielding thief several meters away, earning gasps of amazement from the surrounding crowd of over a hundred onlookers. In fact, Qi Feng was quite restrained; although the initial momentum was intimidating, he loosened his grip when he actually hit the person. He certainly didn't dare to hit the head or face, as causing a death in front of so many witnesses would be impossible to deny! The vase was aimed directly at the man's thigh. Although the visual effect of the man flying in a circle was quite dramatic, the damage wasn't significant. The man fainted mainly from the dizziness.

It was the few who had been shouting to catch the thief who first regained their senses. They rushed forward, lifted the man, and disarmed him. One of them searched the unconscious thief's pockets and found two wallets. This man was indeed a thief, and these few who caught him might not be the only victims.

"Let's go! Take him to the police station!" They were about to drag the still unconscious thief away.

Qi Feng thought it was the perfect time to "finish the deed and disappear, hiding his name and identity." However, perhaps the awareness of the people in the capital was high, or someone had already called the police, or it was just a coincidence that a community police officer was patrolling by. In any case, just as Qi Feng was about to leave, two police officers arrived at the scene.

The two police officers first turned the suspect's head to take a look. "Oh, it's this guy again! He deserves it!" It seemed this was a habitual offender, already known to the community police.

One of the officers, seeing the suspect still unconscious with no obvious injuries but seemingly quite hurt, frowned. "Who did this?"

The crowd all pointed at Qi Feng. As the most conspicuous party in the incident, Qi Feng was immediately "exposed" by the onlookers.

The officer sized up Qi Feng, somewhat surprised. This seemingly gentle and scholarly young man had quite a heavy hand. "You have good skills, young man, but you hit too hard. If anything happens to him, it will be difficult for us."

Qi Feng quickly waved his hands. "I just hit his leg with a vase. Besides, he had a knife!"

The two officers' faces lit up. "He had a knife? Where is it?"

The man who had disarmed the thief quickly handed over the knife. This guy was quite meticulous, even wrapping it in a cloth to preserve the fingerprints!

Seeing the evidence, and with the crowd's unanimous identification, the police finally felt relieved. "Ha, this guy is a seasoned criminal! He reports to us every few days, and we have to let him go after a few days. This time, he's not getting away!"

Qi Feng let out a long breath. It seemed he was off the hook. Just as he was about to leave, a police officer stopped him. "Hey, don't go yet. You all should come with us to make a statement."

Qi Feng's face fell. "I have something to do. Can I skip it?"

The officer shrugged. "No can do, it's the rule. We have to follow the procedures."

Well, it looks like his day was ruined! As they say, it's best to mind your own business and stay out of trouble. Just as they were about to leave, someone behind them shouted, "Who broke our vase?"

They turned around to see a fat man in casual clothes. Qi Feng slapped his forehead. Right, he had broken someone's vase and just walked away without a word, which wasn't right!

"Cough, sorry, I just grabbed it in the heat of the moment. Is it yours?"

The fat man didn't seem angry. "I know you were trying to help, but you still have to pay for it."

"How much is this vase?"

The shop owner held up three fingers. "Three thousand."

"So expensive?!" Qi Feng was taken aback. He had seen similar-sized vases for a few hundred yuan at the market.

"This is a fine imitation of a Republican-era famille-rose porcelain. Check the market, and you'll see the price. You're lucky! If I had brought out the real Qing dynasty Qianlong vase from the shop, you'd be in real trouble!"

Qi Feng rolled his eyes. He didn't believe anyone would leave a Qing dynasty imperial kiln porcelain outside to be exposed to the elements! But the shop owner didn't seem to be trying to cheat him; if he were, he wouldn't have said it was an imitation! Now that it was broken, there was no way to verify, so the shop owner seemed honest. Qi Feng thought if he had met someone trying to cheat him, he would have given them a lesson, but with someone reasonable, he felt embarrassed to just walk away.

Qi Feng turned to the two police officers for help. "I was helping you catch the thief and protecting people's lives and property! Can the police help me with this?"

The two police officers exchanged glances and coughed awkwardly. "This... it's a civil dispute, and we can't get involved... it's the rule... by the way, we need to take this guy back to the station. Young man, come by to make a statement when you have time..." They quickly left with the still dazed suspect.

The victim and his two friends, who had helped catch the thief, were more loyal. They said the incident was their fault, and they would pay for the vase. However, the money in the wallets they recovered wasn't even half the cost of the vase, a significant loss!

Qi Feng had an idea. "Wait here, don't go. I'll be right back!" He found a secluded door, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and entered. A white light flashed, and he was back at the Qunxia Yuelai Inn.

The waiter saw Qi Feng and greeted him. "Oh, Young Master Feng, you're quite free today. Not in class? Come to visit our shop again?" The waiter was now familiar with Qi Feng and spoke without reserve, knowing that Qi Feng was studying at some... university.

Qi Feng waved his hand. "I'm not here to visit. Do you have any old porcelain I can have? I need it urgently."

The waiter thought this young master was quite mysterious. Ordering 200 pounds of beef for his estate every day (a story Qi Feng made up to explain himself), he must have a lot of people to feed! To run all the way here for a cheap piece of porcelain was truly bizarre! However, the customer is king (or the Jade Emperor), and the waiter didn't ask more, just nodded and ran to the back to search.

After a short wait, the waiter brought a bowl and handed it to Qi Feng for inspection. "This is a new porcelain bowl from our latest shipment. I hope it's suitable."

Qi Feng saw it was a Ge Kiln bowl. He had once commented on the crackle glaze of Ge Kiln porcelain, and the waiter assumed Qi Feng had a particular fondness for it, so he always used Ge Kiln utensils when serving him. "Cough, you're giving me a new one. This will do. Thank you. Do I need to pay?"

The waiter waved his hands. "Young Master Feng, you're joking. It's just a bowl. If I charged you, the boss would scold me."

Qi Feng didn't want to stay long, took the bowl, and left, returning to the present world.

The fat shop owner and the three young men who had helped catch the thief waited only a few minutes before seeing Qi Feng run back. Qi Feng took the bowl from his pocket and threw it to the fat shop owner. "Use this to offset your vase. What do you think?"

The shop owner caught it, thinking this kid must have picked up something from a stall. He glanced at the bowl and laughed. "This broken bowl costs fifteen yuan at the supermarket! Look at the shine; it's still new! You think you can fool me with something that's only a few days old? You can't even make it look old!"

Qi Feng shrugged. "If you don't recognize its value, I can't help it! Take a closer look?"

The fat man, seeing Qi Feng's dismissive attitude, got angry. "When I started in Panjiayuan, you were still in diapers!" He picked up the bowl and pointed at it. "Imitating Ge Kiln is easy to spot! Not only does your bowl lack patina, but the glaze is still shiny! Just look at the crackle pattern... hmm... hmm... huh?!"

The shop owner, pointing at the crackle pattern, was the first to be stunned.

He held out his hand. "Wait, wait, wait. This bowl is strange! Let me take a closer look." He brought the bowl close to his face, almost touching it. He examined one side, then the other, and the foot, turning it over repeatedly.

Qi Feng pretended to be impatient. "Will you exchange it or not? I have other things to do."

The shop owner looked up, excited. "Yes, I'll exchange it! But tell me, where did you get this bowl?"

Qi Feng smiled inwardly. It seemed the shop owner was an expert, recognizing both that the bowl was new and that it was genuine. Such a paradoxical situation was rare!

The shop owner, seeing Qi Feng's silence, continued. "This bowl is definitely new! But the blood-red crackle and the pearl-like bubbles in the glaze are something no one has ever replicated..."

Qi Feng perked up. "So, it's valuable?"

The shop owner stroked his chin, estimating. "New is new, and even if it looks real, it won't fetch a high price. You'd have to make it look old..."

To make it look old to sell it... Hearing this, Qi Feng suddenly found himself in a paradox: If he took a genuine new Ge Kiln bowl, made it look old, and sold it, would that be considered cheating? This was a difficult philosophical question. In the end, making it look old would have flaws, and genuine items would become fake, causing trouble. Better to let it go.

The shop owner examined the bowl again, shaking his head. "Interesting, very interesting. Well, even if I spend three thousand yuan on a fun item, it's not bad!"

The matter was settled. The three young men who had helped catch the thief wanted to give Qi Feng some money to compensate for the bowl, but he politely declined. The bowl was free, and Qi Feng was now making thousands of yuan a day, so a few hundred yuan wasn't worth it.

Qi Feng then remembered his main task and asked casually, "Hey, boss, which shop is Wang Fat's?"

The shop owner, still studying the bowl, was taken aback. "Huh? You're looking for me?"

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