Old Harden, can you handle having your vision-shifting abilities on all the time?

The next morning.

Outside the ICU ward of Chang'an First People's Hospital, the corridor lights were stark and glaring.

Gu Bai's wife, Li Sufeng, sat on a plastic chair, her hands tightly clutching a wad of tissues. Her eyes were red and swollen, and the tear stains on her face, which had dried, were covered with new tears again.

The doctor just came out once and said that Gu Bei's condition has stabilized for the time being, but he is not out of danger yet.

It's fortunate that he survived the acute myocardial infarction combined with minor brain hemorrhage. Whether he can wake up again depends on his willpower and physical condition.

Li Sufeng couldn't understand how her husband, who was not in particularly good health but had never had a history of heart disease, could suddenly have a myocardial infarction.

What she didn't know was that after receiving Zhao Mingyuan's call, Gu Bai was so angry that he coughed up blood and collapsed onto the hospital bed.

The emergency room doctors almost managed to save the person.

At this moment, Xu Xing, the instigator of all this, was completely unaware of it.

He was sitting in the studio of the Chengxinzhai Restoration Center, with a broken bronze jue (a type of ancient Chinese wine vessel) in front of him.

This bronze jue was sent over by Wang Benquan a couple of days ago. It is said to be a cultural relic that was unearthed in a certain place in the Northwest and was dispersed. It was acquired by a private collector and sent to Chengxinzhai in the hope that it can be restored to a level that can be exhibited.

The bronze jue is about 20 centimeters tall. The spout is intact, but one of the two pillars is missing. There is a crack about 5 centimeters long on the belly and a defect of about 2 square centimeters on the bottom. The rust on the surface is unevenly distributed, and there are signs of harmful rust corrosion in some areas.

Xu Xing held a magnifying glass and carefully examined every detail of the bronze jue.

He has been studying bronze restoration for over a week, from theory to practice, from materials to techniques. He has consulted all available information and watched all available instructional videos.

However, there is still a chasm between theory and practice.

His X-ray vision allows him to clearly see the internal structure of the bronze vessel, the hidden cracks and the distribution of rust, and even accurately determine the depth of harmful rust penetration.

But seeing is not the same as being able to do it. Just like someone can see the bullseye 100 meters away, it doesn't mean he can hit it.

"Brother, you've been watching for almost an hour now, are you going to fix it or not?"

Zhang Ming walked in with a cup of coffee, peeked at the bronze jue (a type of ancient Chinese wine vessel) on the worktable, and spoke with a hint of curiosity.

"It's hard to say."

Xu Xing put down the magnifying glass, leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "The restoration of bronzes is completely different from that of porcelain. The core of porcelain is the body and the glaze, while the focus of restoration is on splicing and repainting."

However, bronze ware involves alloy composition, corrosion mechanisms, and inscription preservation; every step requires utmost caution.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"First, we need to conduct a disease analysis to determine the depth of rust penetration, and then develop a repair plan."

Xu Xing stood up, walked to the shelf next to him, and picked up a bottle of reagent. "I bought some professional testing solution. Let's see if we can pinpoint the area with rust."

Zhang Ming nodded as if he understood, but didn't ask any more questions.

For the next two days, Xu Xing focused most of his energy on the bronze jue (a type of ancient Chinese wine vessel).

Using X-ray vision combined with chemical testing, he determined the distribution range and penetration depth of the harmful rust, and then carefully removed the harmful rust layer from the surface with a miniature grinder.

Next, a special bronze adhesive was prepared to bond and reinforce the five-centimeter-long crack.

Finally, mineral pigments were used to create a color that matched the original, and the missing parts at the bottom were repaired.

The whole process took two days, and although the final result was quite good, Xu Xing himself was not satisfied.

His technique is not yet skilled enough; there are still some slight color differences at the joint between the replacement part and the original, which need to be corrected with more refined polishing and aging.

Moreover, the entire restoration process takes too long; for an S-level bronze restoration project, this efficiency is completely unacceptable.

"We still need to practice."

Xu Xing looked at the restored bronze jue on the workbench and muttered to himself.

But he wasn't in a hurry.

Bronze restoration is a craft that requires long-term accumulation of experience. For a novice like him to be able to independently complete the restoration of a moderately damaged bronze jue within two weeks is already considered a rapid improvement.

During this time, he also repaired two Grade A porcelain pieces.

One piece is a blue and white porcelain brush pot with landscape and figure design from the Qing Dynasty. There is a chip on the bottom caused by a bump, which is relatively easy to repair.

Another piece is a famille rose vase with a lady figure design from the Republican era. There is a long crack at the mouth of the vase, which needs to be glued and repainted.

These two pieces of porcelain were already second nature to him, and he finished them in less than two days, earning a performance bonus of several hundred thousand yuan.

A week passed peacefully like that.

That morning, Xu Xing arrived at the studio as usual, turned on his computer, and prepared to continue studying materials on bronze restoration.

A local news notification popped up on the browser's homepage, with the headline: "The first Chang'an Jadeite Auction opens tomorrow, with over a thousand rough stones on display in the ancient city."

Xu Xing's gaze lingered on the screen for a few seconds before he clicked on the news article.

The news report was very detailed, introducing the scale of the auction and the exhibitors.

The organizer is a large group in Yunnan Province that has been deeply involved in the jade industry for more than 20 years. They hold multiple jade auctions every year in Tengchong, Pingzhou and other places, but this is their first time in Chang'an.

The public auction will be held for three days in the east exhibition hall of Chang'an International Convention and Exhibition Center. More than 1,000 rough stones will be on display, covering fully rough stones, semi-rough stones, and clear stones, with a total value estimated to exceed 500 million yuan.

After reading the news, Xu Xing's lips curled up slightly.

He was just worried about not having much income lately when this public auction came knocking on his door.

The next morning, Xu Xing quickly packed up and drove his Maybach straight to the Chang'an International Convention and Exhibition Center.

A large crowd had already gathered at the entrance of the east exhibition hall.

There were jewelry merchants in suits, jade enthusiasts with backpacks, and media reporters carrying cameras.

Security checks were set up at the entrance of the exhibition hall, where several security personnel in black uniforms were checking the identities of those entering the venue one by one.

After parking his car, Xu Xing walked to the entrance and showed the electronic invitation he had received yesterday after registering as a member online and paying the deposit.

After the security personnel verified that everything was correct, they respectfully gestured for him to come in: "Mr. Xu, welcome to this jade auction. Please come in."

Xu Xing nodded and stepped into the exhibition hall.

The exhibition hall is very large, covering over a thousand square meters, and is divided into several areas.

The area was divided into a full rough stone area, a semi-rough stone area, an open stone area, and a high-quality stone area. Each area was filled with rough stones of all sizes. Some were piled on the ground and some were placed on display stands. Next to each stone was a label indicating its number, weight, and starting price.

There were already quite a few people browsing in the exhibition hall.

Some were carefully examining the rough stones with powerful flashlights, while others were gathered together whispering and discussing something, creating a lively atmosphere.

Xu Xing had just entered the gambling information area and hadn't even had a chance to look around properly when a voice came from the side.

"XCMG! You've arrived too!"

Xu Xing looked in the direction of the sound and saw a middle-aged man in a white shirt walking quickly over with a smile on his face.

"I am the person in charge of this public auction, and my surname is Chen."

"Hello, Mr. Chen."

Xu Xing extended his hand and shook hands with Chen Guodong.

"XCMG, it's truly an honor to have you participate in our public auction!"