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

Xu Xing followed Zhao Yongchang through the winding corridors. The bluestone path under their feet had been polished smooth by the years, and the Taihu stones on both sides were arranged in a pleasing manner, with a few banana trees swaying gently in the evening breeze.

"XCMG, look over there."

Zhao Yongchang pointed to a hexagonal pavilion in front of him, his tone filled with undisguised pride, "That pavilion was built by three master craftsmen from the Xiangshan School whom I specially invited from Suzhou. It took them more than half a year to build, and the mortise and tenon structure was constructed without using a single nail."

Xu Xing followed his finger and saw that the pavilion had upturned eaves and overlapping brackets, which looked particularly ancient and elegant in the twilight.

"You probably can't find another garden like Mr. Zhao's in the entire city of Chang'an."

Xu Xing exclaimed in sincere admiration.

"Haha, XCMG, you flatter me!"

Zhao Yongchang, beaming with joy, patted Xu Xing on the shoulder. "Come on, come on, the food is ready. Let's eat and chat!"

The two walked through the garden and came to a two-story building.

A plaque hangs in front of the building, bearing the three large characters "Cangzhen Pavilion," written in a vigorous and powerful style, clearly the work of a renowned calligrapher.

"This is my private chef's meal when I entertain friends."

As Zhao Yongchang pushed open the door, a delicious aroma of food wafted out.

In the living room, a middle-aged woman wearing a dark green cheongsam was sitting on the sofa drinking tea.

She looked to be in her early fifties, well-maintained with fair skin and a gentle demeanor; she clearly came from a well-to-do family.

"Xiuying, this is Xu Xing, the engineer I mentioned to you."

Zhao Yongchang introduced, "Xu Gong, this is my wife, Zhou Xiuying."

Zhou Xiuying stood up, smiled and nodded at Xu Xing: "Engineer Xu, I've long admired your name."

Xu Xing smiled modestly: "Mrs. Zhao, you've troubled me."

"XCMG, you're too kind. Please have a seat, don't stand and talk."

Zhou Xiuying invited Xu Xing to sit down and then instructed the nanny to serve the dishes.

The dishes were served quickly; they were all exquisite home-style dishes.

Steamed shad, crab meat lion's head meatballs, braised pork belly, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a bowl of slow-cooked soup.

Zhao Yongchang personally poured Xu Xing a glass of wine and said with a smile, "Engineer Xu, let's not talk about formalities today, let's just have a good drink!"

Xu Xing raised his glass and clinked it against Zhao Yongchang's: "Mr. Zhao, you're too kind."

The meal went very well.

After the meal, Zhao Yongchang wiped his mouth and stood up: "Engineer Xu, come on, I'll show you my treasure trove!"

Xu Xing's eyes lit up, and he stood up.

The two walked through the back door of the small building and along a bluestone path for about two minutes until they arrived at an inconspicuous bungalow.

The bungalow has an ordinary appearance, with gray cement walls and ordinary aluminum alloy doors and windows, making it look like an ordinary storage room.

But Xu Xing noticed that the seemingly ordinary security door was equipped with an iris recognition device.

Zhao Yongchang leaned over and had the machine scan his eyes.

With a soft "beep", the door lock popped open.

Zhao Yongchang pushed open the door and stepped aside: "Mr. Xu, please."

Xu walked in, and the scene before him made him slightly taken aback.

The house looks ordinary from the outside, but the inside is a hidden gem.

The entire space is about 200 square meters with a ceiling height of nearly four meters. The constant temperature and humidity system hums to maintain the indoor environment in the most suitable condition for the preservation of cultural relics.

All four walls are custom-made glass display cases, with motion-sensor lights inside that automatically turn on as people approach.

The display cases contain a wide variety of artifacts: bronzes, gold and silver wares, jade, porcelain, calligraphy and paintings...

A dazzling array of goods, everything imaginable.

"Mr. Zhao's treasure trove is more professional than the storerooms of many museums."

As Xu Xing activated his X-ray vision to examine the area, he sincerely exclaimed in admiration.

"Haha, it took a lot of thought."

Zhao Yongchang smiled smugly and led Xu Xing on a tour.

"This is my most prized collection of bronze artifacts."

Zhao Yongchang walked to a row of display cases on the left and pointed to several bronze artifacts on display inside. "This Western Zhou bronze ding with animal mask pattern was purchased in Hong Kong two years ago and cost more than eight million."

This Spring and Autumn Period dragon-patterned pot was acquired from a Japanese collector…

Zhao Yongchang introduced his collection as if it were his own treasure, and he could tell you the specific origin, era, characteristics and market value of each piece.

Xu Xing listened and nodded, occasionally interjecting with a few words of praise.

"Mr. Zhao's bronze artifacts are among the best in the country."

"It's alright, it's still far from being comparable to those truly great collectors."

Zhao Yongchang spoke modestly, but he couldn't hide the smugness on his face.

The two then walked to the other display case.

The items on display here are porcelain, but their quantity and quality are clearly inferior to those of bronzes.

"Porcelain is not my main focus, so I haven't collected many pieces."

Zhao Yongchang explained, "These are all fine pieces from Qing Dynasty folk kilns, and there are also a few from Ming Dynasty Longquan kilns. Mr. Xu, are you an expert? Could you help me take a look?"

Xu Xing glanced at them and found that, as Zhao Yongchang had said, they were all ordinary goods, with the most valuable being no more than one or two million.

"Mr. Zhao's porcelain pieces are all in good condition, especially the Kangxi blue and white porcelain brush pot with figure design. The painting is exquisite and the color is excellent, making it a top-quality piece among folk kilns."

Xu Xing pointed to one of the porcelain pieces and commented.

"XCMG has a good eye!"

Zhao Yongchang gave a thumbs up, "That pen holder was borrowed from an old friend; it cost me over 600,000 yuan."

The two continued walking and arrived at the calligraphy and painting area.

The collection here is not large, only about ten pieces, mostly works from the Qing Dynasty and modern times, without any particularly famous works by masters.

"The world of calligraphy and painting is too complex; I don't usually dare to get involved."

Zhao Yongchang admitted, "These paintings were gifts from friends. I wasn't sure if they were real or fake, so I just hung them up for fun."

Xu Xing glanced at it, his gaze lingering for a moment on one of the landscape paintings.

It was an album of landscape paintings in the style of ancient times by Wang Hui, a painter from the Qing Dynasty. Although the painting was not large, the brushwork was exquisite and the spirit was vivid. It should be an authentic work.

The market value is estimated at around one million.

"Mr. Zhao is too modest. This antique-style landscape painting by Wang Hui, with its skillful brushwork and distinct ink layers, should be an authentic work."

Xu Xing pointed to the painting and said.

"Oh?"

Zhao Yongchang's eyes lit up. "XCMG confirmed?"

"pretty close."

Xu Xing nodded. "Wang Hui's antique-style works are not widely available on the market. Although this piece is not large, it is in excellent condition. If it were to be auctioned, it should fetch 1.5 to 1.6 million."

"That would be great!"

Zhao Yongchang laughed heartily, "I'll have someone reframe it and put it in a prominent place at home."

The two continued walking forward and arrived at the last row of display cases.

This section displays gold and silver artifacts, mostly from the Ming and Qing dynasties, including gold hairpins, silver pots, bronze censers, and tinware, with a wide variety of types and varying quality.

Xu Xing's gaze swept across the display case and suddenly stopped on a piece of goldware.

It was a silver candlestick from the Ming Dynasty, about 30 centimeters tall. The base was lotus-shaped, and the top was a candle holder. The body was engraved with a lotus scroll pattern, and the workmanship was quite exquisite.

However, this candlestick clearly shows signs of repair.

There was a piece of damage about five centimeters long and three centimeters wide on the waist of the candlestick, which was roughly patched up with a piece of silver.

The repair was done in a very rudimentary way, using the simplest adhesive method, and the color was slightly different from the surrounding silver.

However, when Xu Xing's X-ray vision penetrated that layer of silver...

A neatly folded silk fabric was found in the gap between the silver sheet and the candlestick body.