Rebirth: My Home Has Become a Gathering Place for Young Women with a "Crazy" Spirit

Beside the shards stood the ten girls. Their expressions changed instantly when they saw Qin Lang enter.

Su Yue was the first to rush over, grabbing Qin Lang's arm and whispering, "Brother, you're finally here! Let me tell you, this boss is really fierce; he was just yelling at us!"

Qin Lang patted her hand, signaling her not to panic, and then looked at Xu Han. Xu Han simply nodded slightly at him, without any sign of panic on her face.

Qin Lang nodded to Xu Han, then turned to look at the shop owner.

The shop owner, a middle-aged man, had already walked behind the counter. He took something out of a drawer, slammed it on the counter, and said in an undeniably forceful tone, "You were called here to pay compensation? Here, this is the invoice for that bottle. Take a look for yourself."

Qin Lang walked over, picked up the "invoice" and looked at it. It read "Qing Dynasty Qianlong Blue and White Porcelain Plum Vase with Lotus Scroll Design" and the price was marked below the name: 29999 yuan.

The invoice was issued to an auction house, dated six months ago, and bore the auction house's official seal, making it appear quite legitimate.

"Qianlong's?" Qin Lang raised an eyebrow and said casually.

The shop owner pushed up his glasses and said in a tone that said, "If you don't know, don't talk nonsense," that "this is a folk kiln piece from the mid-Qing Dynasty. Although it's not from an official kiln, it's in good condition, with a lustrous glaze and pure blue color. It's worth at least this much on the secondary market. I kept it in the shop as one of its prized possessions, and this girl just broke it as soon as she came in."

Qin Lang didn't respond to him, but turned to look at the group of girls, finally fixing his gaze on Xu Han, "Did you really knock it over?"

Xu Han took a few steps forward, stood in front of Qin Lang, and said coldly, "I was the one who knocked the thing over..."

She paused, her tone growing even colder, "But, I only touched that bottle after someone bumped into me."

"Brother Lang, I saw it too! Sister Han was pushed before she bumped into the bottle!" Sun Xiaomeng suddenly popped her head out from behind, her voice loud and indignant. "Brother Lang, Sister Han didn't bump into it on purpose! Someone pushed her from behind! I'm telling you, there's something wrong with this store!"

Qin Lang's gaze sharpened: "Did someone push Xu Han, which is why he bumped into the bottle?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sun Xiaomeng nodded vigorously. "When we first came in, there was another person in the store, a man in black, looking at things. When Sister Han turned around, that man suddenly walked past her from behind and bumped into her with his shoulder, which is how she touched the bottle! Then that man went out and left! He never came back!"

Zhao Lin also stepped forward and added, "I was right next to Sister Han at the time. I saw it. The force with which that man bumped into her was clearly intentional."

Qin Lang's gaze swept over the girls' faces before finally settling on the middle-aged man: "Boss, you heard what they said. This wasn't a simple accident; someone did it on purpose. The responsibility doesn't lie with us."

The shop owner's expression shifted, but he quickly regained his composure. He sneered and said, "Intentional? You think it's intentional just because you say so? Where's the person who hit him? Where is he? Go find him! No witnesses, no evidence, and you're telling me this was intentional? Are you playing games with me?"

"That person has already run away, where are we supposed to find him!" Sun Xiaomeng said angrily to the shop owner, her voice filled with anxiety.

Qin Lang raised his hand to stop Sun Xiaomeng from continuing.

He didn't rush to argue with the middle-aged man, but instead squatted down and carefully examined the shards on the ground. He pieced together several large pieces, roughly restoring the shape of the plum vase.

I discovered that this bottle is indeed a typical plum vase shape, with a small mouth, short neck, full shoulders, and tapering belly. It looks quite regular, and the glaze has a bluish-white sheen under the light.

The blue and white pattern on the fragment is a lotus scroll pattern. The painting is not exquisite, but it is not rough either. It is somewhere between a mass-produced product and a hand-painted item.

He then turned the fragment over to examine the cross-section.

He didn't know much about porcelain, but in his previous life he had learned a few basic identification methods from a friend who dealt in antiques. Genuine porcelain should have a fine and even cross-section, a dense body, and the glaze and body should blend together naturally, as if they had grown together.

He used these methods to conduct a simple examination of the fragments in front of him. The cross-section of the bottle fragments looked somewhat rough, with obvious granular texture. The boundary between the glaze and the body was also very distinct, as if two layers were forcibly glued together, and some tiny bubbles and impurities could be seen in the middle.

Most importantly, the color of the cross-section is incorrect.

Normally, porcelain that has aged for hundreds of years should have a slightly yellowish cross-section, as the glaze and body oxidize over time, resulting in a warmer and more lustrous color. However, the cross-section of this piece is snow-white, indicating that it was just made. There isn't a single trace of age on it.

Qin Lang already knew in his heart that this was a fake.

He stood up, dusted off his hands, looked at the shop owner, smiled, and said, "Boss, is this new?"

The shop owner's expression changed. "What do you mean?"

"Heh... what do you mean..." Qin Lang chuckled coldly, then held up the largest fragment under the light so everyone could see it. "Look at this cross-section, it's snow-white, without a trace of age. Genuine Qianlong porcelain, even from folk kilns, has a much finer body, and the cross-section should be off-white or light gray. Because of hundreds of years of oxidation, the iron in the body slowly leach out, darkening the color. Yours is as white as new, and you're saying it's from the Qianlong period?"

The shop owner's lips twitched, and he said to Qin Lang with a stiff neck, "If you don't understand porcelain, don't talk nonsense. The porcelain body of southern kilns is naturally whiter, which is a characteristic of Dehua kilns. Dehua white porcelain, yes, Dehua white porcelain, do you understand? If you don't understand, you can search it on Baidu. Don't embarrass yourself here."

"Dehua white porcelain?" Qin Lang's smile deepened. "The body of Dehua white porcelain is indeed whiter, but the glaze is a warm white with an oily feel, like jade. This one, although I haven't touched it before, just looking at these fragments, I know the glaze is a cool white, the texture is dry, and it uses modern chemical glaze. You're telling me this chemically glazed thing is from the Qianlong era?"

The girls next to him had stars in their eyes as they listened to Qin Lang rattle off a string of technical terms.

Su Yue was the first to clap her hands: "Wow! Brother Lang, you're amazing! You even know this?"

Sun Xiaomeng, her face full of admiration, excitedly tugged at Zhao Lin's sleeve, "Did you hear that! Brother Lang's explanation sounds so convincing! This boss is definitely a fraud!"

The others nodded in agreement, looking at Qin Lang with admiration.

Upon hearing Qin Lang's words, the shop owner tapped his hand twice on the counter, his eyes darting around for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. "Stop with the nonsense! You've broken the goods, the invoice is here, you don't have to pay for it..."

As he spoke, the shop owner turned to look at the ten young women, his eyes gleaming with greed, "Then let them compensate us with something else..."