Chapter 35: Appraiser
“Uncle Zhao, where are we going?”
Following behind Zhao Zhengshan, Su Xiaofan had originally thought they would find a restaurant near the antique market to grab something to eat, but unexpectedly, Zhao Zhengshan directly hailed a taxi.
“We’re having a competition, so we need an appraiser.”
Zhao Zhengshan smiled and said, “I’ll take you to eat first, then after we finish, we’ll find an expert to see which of the items we picked up is better. Oh, right, don’t say anything while we’re eating, otherwise there won’t be any surprise.”
“Uncle Zhao, is that really necessary? I only spent a little over a thousand yuan in total, and you’re making it so ceremonial.”
Su Xiaofan looked speechlessly at the excited Zhao Zhengshan. He had restored that Song Dynasty Ding kiln brush washer and the Ming Dynasty brush holder, yet Zhao Zhengshan seemed even more excited than he was.
“We’re going to Liulichang, huh.” After the taxi stopped, Su Xiaofan immediately saw the Liulichang sign outside the car window.
“The official experts are all at the New Palace Museum, while the private experts are all here at Liulichang.”
Zhao Zhengshan laughed and said, “Our Jingxin Hall in Luochuan has a branch here. I heard Uncle Jing seems to be in Yanjing these days. We’ll have him be our appraiser when the time comes.”
“Have Uncle Jing be the appraiser? I think we should forget it.”
Zhao Zhengshan called Jing Shizhen Uncle Jing, and Su Xiaofan did too, but he had no time to worry about how their seniority was supposed to work out, because these past few days he had been avoiding Jing Shizhen because of that Yin Sha Stone.
“Whether we’ll run into him or not is hard to say. Come on, let’s eat first.”
Zhao Zhengshan brought Su Xiaofan to a small restaurant. The storefront was not large and there was no sign hanging outside, but business inside was quite good, with the small space basically filled with customers.
“Boss, two portions of fried liver, one portion of baodu, a bowl of lu zhu, and, oh right, four more dalian huoshao……”
Zhao Zhengshan looked like a regular here. After waiting a while, he found an empty table and sat down with Su Xiaofan. Without even looking at the menu, he directly called out several dishes.
The food came quickly. After asking Su Xiaofan whether he drank alcohol and learning that he did not, the two immediately started eating.
Su Xiaofan had not eaten breakfast and was already starving. He alone ate four dalian huoshao, and seeing this, Zhao Zhengshan ordered six more, ate two himself, and the remaining four were also polished off by Su Xiaofan.
Su Xiaofan ate rather fiercely this meal. Sitting there, he felt as though he could barely get up. He patted his belly and said, “Uncle Zhao, now this is living.”
In Su Xiaofan’s eyes, Zhao Zhengshan was very different from the rich people he had imagined. He was modest and his lifestyle was not extravagant. If Su Xiaofan had not known that he was Zhao Hengjian’s son, he would definitely have thought he was just an ordinary doctor.
“It’s good to be young. When I was young, I could eat as much as you in one meal too!”
Zhao Zhengshan looked at Su Xiaofan enviously. “Now I can’t eat that much anymore. I even have to control my diet at night. Seeing you young people makes me feel old.”
“Come on, Uncle Zhao, let’s go take a look at Jingxin Hall.”
Su Xiaofan stood up and hurried to scan the code and pay the bill. He had also come to terms with it: sooner or later he would have to run into Jing Shizhen, and there was no escaping this blade whether he stuck his head out or pulled it back.
Unlike the storefront in Luochuan, where good wine fears no deep alley, Jingxin Hall’s storefront in Liulichang was very imposing, with carved dragons and painted phoenixes outside, full of antique charm.
After entering, the fragrance of sandalwood immediately filled his nose and the sound of Buddhist chants pleased the ear. A young and beautiful female shop assistant came over to greet them. The first floor covered seventy or eighty square meters, all filled with antique shelves and various antiques.
Some antiques were even placed under glass covers. In short, upon entering Liulichang, it was as if one had entered some museum. Everywhere he looked was filled with antique charm, displaying a profound historical and cultural heritage.
“Is Uncle Jing here?” Zhao Zhengshan said as soon as he entered. “If Uncle Jing isn’t here, the head manager Liu will do too. Help us take a look.”
The receptionist at the door could tell they were regular customers and quickly ushered the two into the inner hall. Unlike the antique-style decoration outside, the inner hall had several luxurious sofas, giving it a somewhat modern feel.
“Uncle Jing really knows how to do business.”
Su Xiaofan looked around, deeply impressed. He knew that although those wooden tables and chairs looked stylish, they were far less comfortable to sit on than sofas. The loose, soft feel of a sofa could also make people feel more relaxed mentally.
“You little rascal, Su Xiaofan, I called you for several days and you didn’t answer, did you?”
Su Xiaofan had just sat down and had not even had time to take a sip of tea when he heard Jing Shizhen’s vigorous voice coming over.
“How could that be, Uncle Jing? My phone was out of credit a few days ago, and I didn’t know. I only topped it up yesterday.”
Su Xiaofan, whose butt had not even settled firmly into the seat, sprang to his feet and stood there honestly. He still respected Uncle Jing very much.
For nothing else, Uncle Jing had passed up the opportunity to make six hundred thousand yuan from Zhao Hengjian and sold that Occupying Wind Bell to him instead. To Su Xiaofan, that was an enormous favor.
“Zhengshan, how did you two end up together? Sit, sit down and talk.”
Jing Shizhen greeted Zhao Zhengshan, then turned his gaze toward Su Xiaofan and said irritably, “You threw away something worth several million just like that. Are you really that timid? What was wrong with keeping it for a day?”
“Uncle Jing, mainly because Brother Gang kept telling me to throw it away, so I felt it wouldn’t be very auspicious to take it home.”
Su Xiaofan felt that Zheng Dagang had a much broader back to carry the blame, so he had to pin it on him. With his own skinny arms and legs, he could not withstand Uncle Jing’s scolding.
“Foolish, both of you are foolish!”
Jing Shizhen sighed and said, “If you can’t determine what something is, find someone to examine it. You tried to be clever, and now several million are gone. You know what it feels like to take a loss now, right?”
“I know, Uncle Jing. Next time I have an item I can’t determine, I’ll definitely call you.” Su Xiaofan honestly accepted the criticism.
“Uncle Jing, what happened to Little Su? What did he throw away?”
Zhao Zhengshan was somewhat curious. He knew that Su Xiaoxiao had to apply for a tuition waiver even to attend university, so Su Xiaofan’s family circumstances did not seem very good. It was unlikely that he would throw away something worth several million, right?
“This kid threw away a Yin Stone. Zhengshan, do you know what a Yin Stone is?” Jing Shizhen glanced at Zhao Zhengshan and did not hide it from him.
“A Yin Stone? I’ve seen one before, but isn’t that thing somewhat sinister?” Zhao Zhengshan was stunned when he heard this.
“You’ve seen one?” Jing Shizhen turned his head. “Where did you see it? Who had that Yin Stone?”
“I saw one more than ten years ago. It belonged to the abbot of Jingang Temple. I really don’t know whose hands it’s in now……” Zhao Zhengshan explained.
That had happened when Zhao Zhengshan was working as a doctor in the emergency room. One night, 120 brought in a monk who had suffered a sudden illness. They failed to save him, and the monk passed away the next day.
While sorting through the monk’s belongings, Zhao Zhengshan saw that Yin Stone. At the time, he did not know what it was. He only felt a chill rise from the depths of his heart when he held it, sensing that it was somewhat sinister.
Later, the great monk’s disciple came to the hospital, and only then did Zhao Zhengshan learn that the deceased monk had been the abbot of Jingang Temple. Out of curiosity, when returning the monk’s belongings, he asked what that stone was.
The great monk’s disciple told Zhao Zhengshan that it was a Yin Stone, formed from gathered Yin energy. The Yin Sha energy within it needed to be neutralized through Buddhist teachings. Ordinary people could not touch it, otherwise, in mild cases they would suffer a serious illness, and in severe cases they could lose their lives.
“The disciple you mentioned should be Master Huizheng. He’s an old friend of mine too.”
Jing Shizhen nodded when he heard this. Now that he knew the origin of the Yin Stone Zhao Zhengshan had seen, he did not ask any further.
“You two, what are you here for today?” Jing Shizhen looked at Su Xiaofan and the other man.
“Uncle Jing……”
“Uncle Jing, Uncle Zhao and I……”
Su Xiaofan and Zhao Zhengshan spoke at the same time, then both fell silent at the same time. Both called him Uncle Jing, while Su Xiaofan also called Zhao Zhengshan Uncle Zhao, which was rather awkward.
“Each of you can use your own form of address. What’s there to fuss over?” Jing Shizhen pointed at Zhao Zhengshan and said, “Zhengshan, you tell me. What did you come running to Jingxin Hall for?”
“Uncle Jing, it’s like this.” Zhao Zhengshan smiled and said, “This morning Little Su and I went browsing around the antique street. Each of us picked up an item, and we wanted to come over and ask you to take a look……”
“You collect antiques differently from everyone else.”
Jing Shizhen clearly knew Zhao Zhengshan well. He said, “I can appraise things for you ten times, and can you buy the right thing twice? I’ve told you, if you want to buy antiques, come to me. You just won’t come, making it seem as though I’m taking advantage of you.”
“Uncle Jing, I just like that thrill after treasure hunting and finding a bargain. Buying from you doesn’t give me that feeling.”
Zhao Zhengshan smiled and shook his head. After he met Jing Shizhen back then, he introduced him to his father. Later, Zhao Hengjian and Jing Shizhen became very familiar with each other. Apart from asking him to appraise antiques, Zhao Zhengshan rarely set foot inside Jingxin Hall.
“All right, bring the things over and let me have a look.”
Jing Shizhen extended his hand toward Zhao Zhengshan and said, “Same old rule. If the item is genuine, I won’t charge you. If it’s fake, go to the counter yourself and pay the appraisal fee.”
“Uncle Zhao, how much is the appraisal fee?”
Su Xiaofan asked quietly. He did not understand Jing Shizhen’s rules at all. Normally, if an item was appraised as genuine, the person having it appraised would willingly pay. But if you bought a fake and then had to pay an appraisal fee, wasn’t that like cutting another knife into someone’s wound?
“If it’s appraised as a fake, it’s ten thousand per appraisal.”
Zhao Zhengshan did not really care about the fee. He handed the bag containing the item to Uncle Jing and said with a smile, “Uncle Jing is trying to teach me a lesson. It’s called remembering the pain after getting beaten.”
“I haven’t seen you remember the pain.”
Uncle Jing took the bag Zhao Zhengshan handed over. He did not rush to open it, but instead put on a pair of gloves before taking out the item inside.
“A figure root carving?”
Looking at the item in his hand, Jing Shizhen did not rush to make a judgment. Instead, he took a magnifying glass and carefully examined, bit by bit, the root carving, which was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight centimeters tall and dark red all over.
It was a root carving in the shape of Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma had one hand held before his chest, his eyes slightly closed, his forehead protruding high, and large earrings hanging from both ears. Most distinctive of all were his curled sideburns, like steel wires, winding around his face, each strand clearly visible, making the carving look extremely lifelike.
“Zhengshan, tell me your assessment.”
After looking at it for only three to five minutes, Jing Shizhen put down the magnifying glass in his hand and returned the Bodhidharma root carving to the table.
(End of chapter)
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