General of the Heavens

Chapter 63 Sudden Death [Seeking Recommendations]

Generally speaking, antiques can be divided into three categories: genuine, fake, and partially genuine. The difference between genuine and fake is self-evident to any normal person.

However, what is truly elusive is the third type, which is half genuine and half fake. This type of antique requires the most discerning eye and experience.

If you make a mistake, you could lose everything.

In the 1970s and 80s, there were many such semi-genuine antiques. Skilled craftsmen could restore and piece together a damaged antique and use a series of methods to create a complete piece. The profits from this would increase many times over, making people envious.

Similarly, the Yao Bian Tian Mu tea bowl in front of Ning Chen can also be considered a half-real and half-fake item, but this tea bowl is more special.

It was faked.

There is a big difference between counterfeiting and antiquing. The latter is to make new goods look old, while the former is divided into two aspects: passing off fakes as genuine and passing off genuine goods as fake!

Antique-looking items are always fake, but counterfeiting is not always the case. It goes without saying that fakes are used to deceive people, but counterfeiting is a clever way of packaging genuine products as fakes.

This is usually done to protect antiques, and such antiques are often priceless. Ning Chen was lucky; he encountered such a "fake"!

Ning Chen activated his Golden Eyes, which shone with golden light. The circulation of spiritual energy allowed Ning Chen's gaze to easily penetrate the surface of the teacup.

This deep and beautiful teacup was so stunning that Ning Chen immediately thought it was a fake.

However, the spiritual energy within this bowl could not be faked, so when Ning Chen used his X-ray vision ability, he saw the true appearance of the bowl!

This bowl has two layers, with the outer layer being fake and the inner layer being genuine. The outer layer is a thin chemical coating applied using modern technology, while the inner layer is the real Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl!

"Good heavens, such amazing forgery techniques! It's hard to believe unless you see it with your own eyes. The slightest mistake could ruin a priceless treasure!"

Ning Chen felt lingering fear just thinking about it. The true value of this teacup was even higher than that of Yuan blue and white porcelain or Tang tri-color pottery.

It is said that there were originally two of these magical Yohen Tenmoku tea bowls, which immediately became treasures sought after by royalty and nobility after they were brought to Japan.

One of the tea bowls was acquired by Oda Nobunaga, but unfortunately, due to the frequent battles and conflicts at the time, this treasure was destroyed in the Honnoji Incident.

The other teacup belonged to Tokugawa Ieyasu and was revered as a secret treasure. The third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, later bestowed it upon his wet nurse, Kasuga no Tsubone.

During the Meiji era, the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl changed hands several times before ending up in the hands of Mitsubishi president Koyata Iwasaki. However, he believed that this bowl was a masterpiece and that he was not worthy of using it and could only admire it.

So even though Iwasaki Koyata owned this tea bowl, he never used it to drink tea in his entire life, which earned him the utmost respect from the Japanese.

Now, Ning Chen has actually come across this teacup. Even though Ning Chen is worth billions, he is still a little excited. This kind of excitement about finding a bargain is intoxicating.

After the assessment was completed, Ning Chen narrowed his eyes.

"thirty."

The bald man was clearly stunned. "What? Thirty? Young man, you're quite handsome, but why is your heart a bit black?"

"Me, greedy? Do you know how much this bowl would be worth if it were real? You probably wouldn't even bother with my little shop then, would you? Fine, I won't rip you off, but don't tell me it's genuine. I haven't had a single customer in half a month, so I'm just hoping for good luck today. Name your price?"

Ning Chen used a tactic of feigning weakness before praising, a common practice in the antique trade, since prices are always negotiated.

Mediterranean thought for a moment, then held out a hand, "Fifty thousand?" His tone was probably a little embarrassing.

Fifty thousand is a small sum for Ning Chen now, but if he gives it away so easily, the Mediterranean man will definitely have some suspicions.

"Five thousand!"

"Thirty thousand!"

"four thousand!"

Mediterranean: "..."

Mediterranean's head was throbbing. Who was this guy? Although he knew it was a craft item, the price of such a craft tea bowl would not be less than five thousand.

Good grief, they even gave four thousand?

Mediterranean knew that Ning Chen was not easily fooled. After much arguing, and considering that other shops didn't like to accept such flashy but impractical items, who would bother drinking tea from a teacup costing four or five thousand yuan? And most truly wealthy people don't use such handicrafts.

So Mediterranean eventually sold the Yao Bian Tenmoku tea bowl to Ning Chen for 4,500 yuan. Ning Chen was even a little dazed after paying the money.

"That's over a billion in profits?"

Ning Chen shook his head and kindly saw off the Mediterranean, or rather, the God of Wealth. However, to restore this bowl to its original form, the fake outer layer still needed to be removed.

However, this step requires an extremely high level of technical skill, which Ning Chen cannot do on his own; he needs to ask an expert for help.

After storing the Yohen Tenmoku tea bowl in his system space, Ning Chen stood in the Three-Body Stance for half a day before finally falling asleep that night.

Ning Chen thought no one would come the next day.

However, the next day, not only did someone come, but it also brought Ning Chen unimaginable trouble, as two policemen came to his door.

Last night, the Mediterranean man who sold Ning Chawan suddenly died in a high-end hotel. The police are here to investigate the clues.

"What? Dead?"

Qin Ming stared intently at Ning Chen, certain that any lie the latter would not escape his notice, but Ning Chen's reaction was flawless.

There was only surprise at the sudden death of one person.

As for any panic, there was none at all. Qin Ming didn't beat around the bush and asked directly, "What was Li Baotian doing in your shop yesterday?"

"That Mediterranean guy, oh no, I mean Li Baotian, he just came to my shop to check things out. What happened? Did he do something wrong, or offend someone?"

Ning Chen secretly resented that Li Baotian died at the worst possible time, and he also vaguely worried that Li Baotian's death was related to the Yao Bian Tianmu tea bowl from yesterday.

So Ning Chen decided to be nine parts truth and one part falsehood, hoping to get away with it, but Qin Ming's words shattered Ning Chen's hopes.

"Just looking? He probably sold something, buddy. Don't try to pull any tricks. This is an extremely serious murder case! You have an obligation to cooperate!"

Qin Ming spoke with conviction and made it sound plausible, but Ning Chen was not easily intimidated, and his attempts to intimidate him were ineffective.

"Officer, just tell me what you want to ask. I have a bad memory, so don't delay your important business."

Ning Chen could spout nonsense without batting an eye. He had a photographic memory; if he didn't have a good memory, then everyone in the world would be an idiot.

Qin Ming, with a stern face, had no liking for Ning Chen. "We found out that Li Baotian sold a teacup in your shop, and we suspect it's stolen goods. So please hand it over so we can take it away, and then come with us to the station to make a statement."

Ning Chen: "..." Damn it, you say this is stolen goods, so it is? You just take away billions of dollars worth of stuff like that? Ning Chen felt like a million grass horses were galloping through his mind.

"Do you have any evidence? What makes you say it's stolen goods? I've already told you everything I know. I don't have time to go to the police station with you. Please do as you wish."

"I'm afraid it's not up to you..."

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(End of this chapter)