Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 1 Xijing City

Xijing, autumn.

The light was pure white and the projection was a bit distorted, so I could only see the bold title: Ceramic Restoration Practice of the Cultural Heritage Department (I).

Long tables were lined up, covered with porcelain pieces. Students sat around them and carefully pieced them together. The smell of paint mixed with glue penetrated their nostrils.

Lin Sicheng stared at the projection and looked at the date in the lower right corner: 2007-8-24, Friday.

He was stunned for a long time and rubbed his numb face vigorously: This is the ceramic restoration laboratory, the first semester of senior year?

How did you come back?
At the invitation of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, I attended a seminar on cultural heritage preservation and had a few drinks at the dinner. Feeling a little unwell, I went back to my room and took a nap.

When I opened my eyes, I was here.

I don’t know whether the proposal I submitted has been approved?
Now that I'm back, how can I care about what happens eighteen years later?

Just as I was laughing, a figure stood in front of me.

She was very pretty and young, wearing a loudspeaker and had a guide badge hanging on her chest.

She glanced at the untouched porcelain pieces, her expression cold and indifferent: "No?"

Lin Sicheng did not answer.

The twenty-year-old me certainly wouldn’t be able to do it, but the reborn me shouldn’t be too good at it.

One of China's youngest archaeologists, he is a leading figure in the fields of cultural relic identification, conservation, and restoration, with over 100 patents registered for inventions. He has received numerous awards from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and serves as a consultant to several national research institutions.

Such questions are like child's play to him.

The key is that I feel my memory is incredibly strong: the knowledge I have learned, the papers I have read, the technology I have researched, and the patents I have pondered are like they are engraved in my mind, and they will emerge at the slightest thought.

What is this, a benefit for time travelers?

Just as I was secretly ecstatic, a slender finger handed me a roll call sheet, "Sign first. If you don't understand anything, come and ask me after class!"

Lin Sicheng took the pen and finished it in one go.

……

The sky was clear and the wind started to blow, blowing through the eaves, causing the iron horses to sway constantly.

Gravel, carrying blades of grass, crashed against the gray stone wall, and the roadside locust trees, hung with last year's dried pods, made a crackling sound.

Lin Sicheng walked towards the school gate slowly, holding his textbook. The pebbles on the stone path cushioned his shoes, and he felt them particularly clearly.

Gu Ming leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets, looking rather lazy. When he saw Lin Sicheng, he bared his teeth.

What the hell are you laughing at?
When he was only 27, his photo was already on the wall. Then his wife ran away with someone else, leaving him with the child he had raised for over a decade.

Damn...

Gu Ming felt that Lin Sicheng's eyes were not right, so he lowered his head and looked him up and down: "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing!"

"So you think I'm like throwing a knife?"

Gu Ming muttered, glancing at Lin Sicheng's face, "You don't have classes this afternoon, right? How about... going home?"

Come back home?

Lin Sicheng was stunned, and distant memories emerged in his mind.

At that time, I was crazy and thought that my grandfather was a professor at Northwestern University, and my father graduated from Northwestern University, so he wanted me to go to Northwestern University?
Besides, he was about to go to college, but he hadn't even left Xijing City and was unwilling to go no matter what.

But can I still control myself?

So during my four years in college, my relationship with my family was not very good and I often didn't go home.

My family was worried about me, so they would send Gu Ming to check on me from time to time. In addition to giving me living expenses, he would also give me some advice.

Now that I think about it, it’s quite stupid: Wouldn’t it be nice to be a second-generation rich kid?
As a result, after going around in circles for a long time, I finally ended up on this path and wasted several years.

After two lifetimes, it's impossible to be so naive. Money can be earned slowly, and there's no rush to achieve success. At least you should be content and live in harmony.

He sighed: "Where's Grandpa?"

"I'm working on my stall at Xiaodongmen. Even after retirement, I can't stay idle!"

"Where are my parents?"

"Of course it's work..." Before he finished speaking, Gu Ming was stunned: Huh, has he changed his personality?

In the past, not to mention asking, he would just snort when it was brought up.

"Really going home?"

"What's the real reason for me to go back to my own home?" Lin Sicheng stretched out his hand, "Where's my money?"

Gu Ming thought quickly: "Uncle Lin didn't give it to you, he told you to go home and get it!" "Bullshit!"

Before he finished speaking, Lin Sicheng moved as fast as lightning, reached into Gu Ming's trouser pocket, and took out a few red bills.

Gu Ming became anxious: Why would this bastard go home if he has money?

He stretched out his hand to grab it: "Is this my money?"

Lin Sicheng sneered: "Salary is paid on the 1st, what the hell do you have for money?"

Since he started his internship after the Lunar New Year, Uncle Gu has stopped paying attention to him. Gu Ming is very generous and spends almost all his salary every month.

Let alone six hundred, if he could take out sixty from his pocket right now, Lin Sicheng would dare to call him dad.

"I picked it up!"

Gu Ming refused to give in, so Lin Sicheng reached out and slapped him away. "Stop it! Go to Xiaodongmen to find Grandpa first, and then go home!"

While Lin Sicheng was still dazed, he had walked quite a distance. Gu Ming followed him eagerly, rolling his eyes. "Tonight, buy some groceries and have us make pickled pork and braised pork elbow. Have a couple of drinks!"

"Do you want to eat it?"

"Eat!" Gu Ming swallowed his saliva, "And let me stew some three treasures. The sheep penis should be thicker and the more flirty, the better!"

When Lin Sicheng heard that the more sexy the better, his stomach started to turn uneasy.

……

Two hours later, the two got off the bus.

An alley is located under the city wall, with a canopy above the head. The stone road is straight and flat, and the moisture mixed with the smell of mold drifts into the nostrils.

Long tables were lined with cracked porcelain cups, a faint gleam of bronze, and a half-open sandalwood box, revealing a jade sceptre broken in two. Enamel vases were coated in years of dust, and an old man with a slicked-back white beard dozed off in a recliner.

Continue walking forward, and when you get out of the alley, you will see a clear view.

Beneath the sunny wall, there are densely packed small stalls selling porcelain, copper, lacquer, tin, ancient coins and jade, wood carvings and furniture, calligraphy and paintings, and ancient books. It is a dazzling array of goods.

Xijing, the ancient capital of 13 dynasties, has more ancient tombs beneath its walls than Beijing, Jinling, and Luoyang combined, so it's naturally rich in history. It's also a popular tourist destination with many genuine artifacts.

Of course, there are more fakes.

The two men went east and arrived at the city wall, but found nothing.

After asking the stall owner next to me, I learned that shortly after arriving in the morning, my grandfather received a phone call and it seemed that he was helping someone to get an appraisal.

Gu Ming sighed: "Go home?"

"There's no one back there, let's go around first!"

"It's best not to go there. Didn't you hear what our master said: This lousy place is full of fakes!"

Lin Sicheng was immediately amused: "Aren't there people who don't sell fake goods, like me? Maybe I can pick up something good."

"What are you picking up?" Gu Ming squinted his eyes and said, "You picked up a coward!"

Lin Sicheng's grandfather is amazing: he has been teaching archaeology for most of his life and collecting antiques for most of his life, but he still makes mistakes sometimes, let alone Lin Sicheng?

Lin Sicheng just smiled.

Without exaggerating, his current level of expertise would put him at the forefront of both domestic appreciation and cultural heritage preservation circles. Furthermore, he possesses a memory and knowledge that surpasses nearly twenty years.

There's no one at home anyway, so it's a good time to practice.

Lin Sicheng turned slowly.

The stalls are not big, with some having about a hundred or eighty items and some having thirty or fifty. Lin Sicheng can make a rough judgment with just a glance.

There are indeed more fakes than real ones, about nine to one. If you occasionally come across a genuine one, the price is ridiculously high.

But this business has been like this since ancient times. To put it bluntly: panning for gold in shit.

Walking and reading, Lin Sicheng stopped in front of a newsstand.

Gu Ming took a quick look: they were all newspapers and magazines, all written in simplified Chinese, and they were all party newspapers.

There are People's Daily, Shaanxi Daily, Reform, and Seeking Truth. You can tell at a glance which government agency they came from.

"What's so interesting about a pile of waste paper?"

Lin Sicheng casually replied: "What if I find a bargain?"

Gu Ming curled his lips and said, "If anything leaks out of this pile of rubbish, I'll eat shit!"

The stall owner was unhappy: "Hey, you coward, what are you talking about?"

(End of this chapter)