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

Chapter 65 Moving
What is lacquer?
The glue and lacquer used to repair blue and white porcelain and cloisonné porcelain came from the miscellaneous work of the Imperial Household Department's Workshop. Among these miscellaneous work, the craftsmen who specialized in repairing various objects were called brazers.

After Puyi abdicated, all the brazing craftsmen were dismissed. Some became folk craftsmen in Beijing and Tianjin, while others returned to their hometowns, either taking in apprentices to pass on their skills or setting up their own businesses.

Among them are many famous and renowned masters: for example, Zhang the bronze artist, Li the colored porcelain artist, Liu the calligraphy and painting artist...

It was not until the 1950s that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage established a cultural relics restoration department and recruited these people or their descendants and apprentices to carry out special restoration and protection of key cultural relics in cultural and museum institutions across the country.

These include the Forbidden City, the National Museum, the Terracotta Army...

Afterwards, Xi’an University took the lead in cooperating with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Shaanxi Museum to create a cultural relics protection and restoration course in 1985, and officially established the cultural relics protection major in 1989.

Because of their different focuses, Peking University was a little later, cooperating with the Palace Museum in 1993 to establish the cultural heritage protection major, and it was not until 98 that the major was officially established.

The key point is that the traditional cultural relic preservation and restoration techniques studied and taught at these two universities largely came from these folk artisans. Therefore, Lin Sicheng's claim that Wang Qizhi was taught by "Ancient Bronze Master Zhang" and his grandfather by "Colored Porcelain Master Li" is not far-fetched.

But the old lady refused to admit it.

Then why did she insist on recognizing Lin Sicheng?

Because of the lacquer on his nails.

At the beginning of the Republic of China, the tradition of this school of craftsmanship, which specialized in repairing Ming Dynasty official kiln porcelain, was completely cut off. It was not until 2020, during the renovation of the former site of the Palace Museum's Workshop, that relevant craft documents were unearthed from underground.

Afterwards, the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, and the Cultural Heritage Administration successively conducted research. The following year, in 2021, the relevant process flow was included in the textbooks of major universities.

But nowadays, it is a truly lost skill...Neither the Palace Museum nor the National Museum of China has it.

Just imagine how excited the old lady must have been when she saw the lacquer on Lin Sicheng's nails:
If you can mix paint, you can definitely mix glaze. If you can mix glaze, you can definitely re-fire. If you can re-fire, you can restore the two cups in the box to their original state... Who wouldn't be excited?
This completes the logical loop: Hence, upon meeting, the old lady asks him if he wants the jade on his walking stick. And then, she becomes so friendly, like a long-lost grandmother meeting her grandson.

So, giving her an inkstone worth three million yuan was nothing. In the past, do you believe that the brazer would have asked her for half of it?
But this was not what Lin Sicheng was aiming for, he just wanted to give it a try.

This is a Chicken-Glazed Cup. If it can be repaired, do you believe that its name will be included in textbooks in the future?
After thinking for a long time, Lin Sicheng exhaled and pushed the box back: "Old man, I have never mended it before. I have to practice when I get back!"

Of course I haven’t made up for it, let alone making up for it. Who dares to say that they have seen it?

The old lady showed her gums and laughed again: "Yes, let's practice first, just use this box of broken porcelain... If it's not enough, we can find more..."

Lin Sicheng was stunned: No wonder there is a Hongzhi Doucai bottle and a Jiaohuang glaze bottle?

Hongzhi Doucai porcelain originated from Chenghua Doucai and is relatively more complex in terms of craftsmanship, while Jiaohuang glaze originated from Doucai porcelain and requires more stringent glazing and temperature control.

If you can repair these two items and then repair the Chicken-Glazed Cup, it will be basically a sure thing.

Lin Sicheng thought about it and nodded.

At this point, Lin Sicheng no longer had any interest in looking at anything. And what could possibly compare to the Chicken Cup?

He stood up to say goodbye, and Zhao Xiuneng called his two sons to help him carry the box of porcelain pieces into the car.

The old lady asked him to take the inkstone away, but Lin Sicheng refused: it would not be too late to take it back after the cup was repaired.

The family of five personally sent him to the door. Before getting in the car, Lin Sicheng hesitated to speak, and the old lady smiled and said, "Son, I understand!"

Just understand.

Lin Sicheng got in the car and waved to the old lady again.

As the SUV turned out of the village and drove away, the old lady smiled silently, her gums bared. Zhao Xiuneng stood behind her, his eyes filled with suspicion. "Mom, this is such a coincidence... Could this group of people be setting up a minefield?"

It's no wonder he was suspicious: I've spent decades searching, trying every possible way, and still can't find him. Suddenly, one day, he just fell from the sky?
Not only is he young, but he also knows everything. It seems like there is nothing he doesn't know: appraisal, incision (jargon), stealing, restoration... Let alone at twenty, he hasn't learned so much at sixty?

The key is that his eyes are too sharp: the chicken oil bowl he saw first was fine, but for the six items that were brought up later, the little kid only touched each one once.

He'd been stripping hair for forty years, selling things that looked genuine for tens of thousands, if not thousands. It wasn't like people hadn't seen through him before, but when had he ever been so easily seen through at a glance?
Therefore, the more Zhao Xiuneng thought about it, the more he felt that this group of people had deliberately planned this and set a trap.

The old lady shook her head and said, "Who knew we had cups?"

Zhao Xiuneng choked and was speechless: Forget about the Chicken-Glazed Cup, the only people who knew that there was a Chengni Inkstone and a Shangfang Jade Cup at home were him and his mother. Even his wife and son didn't know.

Since you don’t know, what’s the point of setting up the game?
After thinking for a long time, Zhao Xiu Neng gritted his teeth and said, "This is too weird!"

The old lady smiled and said: It’s because it’s too weird, so it doesn’t look like it.

The person who orchestrated the scheme couldn't be that young: he was twenty years old. At this age, most city kids are still in school.

Moreover, the person who set up the game would not be so surprised:
The first time, I saw her face and hands. The second time, I saw the jade on the crutch. The third time, I saw the six things that the boss had patched up. The fourth time, I saw the chicken...

The old lady had lived to be eighty years old and had seen more people than things. She was sure she was not mistaken as to whether the doll was genuinely surprised or just pretending.

Furthermore, the schemer would have certainly laid a bait: both parties knew that the inkstone was the down payment. If you don't even dare to ask for a down payment, how can you convince me that you really have this skill?

If you don’t even put in the bait, what if the fish gets off the hook?
But these are secondary. The most important thing is the paint on the nails and the blue smell on the doll.

How many times did you click, five or six?
Just based on this, I dare to take a gamble...

The old lady turned around, and the tiles were tapped with her cane, making a crisp "tapping" sound. Zhao Xiuneng followed closely, carefully protecting her behind him.

"Did you save that kid's phone number?"

"It's saved!"

"It's good that it's saved. Tell your wife and your kids to pack up and move!"

What, moving?

Zhao Xiuneng was stunned: "Huh?"

"What's that?" the old lady clapped her cane. "What a stupid day!"

After being scolded by my mother, Zhao Xiuneng finally reacted. Before leaving, the kid seemed to be hesitant to speak. What did my mother mean by "I don't understand"?
As the old saying goes, wealth should not be exposed. Now that it has been exposed, are you not waiting for thieves to come to your door if you don’t move out?

Furthermore, the reason why we moved back to our old house from Beijing two years ago was because of the mountain not far away: the people who led the excavation of Zhougong Temple included experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as well as professors from the National Museum and Peking University.

So I've been hoping to find someone capable enough to repair these two cups. At the very least, I'd be happy if I could get some information about the successor to the Ming Dynasty official kiln porcelain repairman.

But after living there for two years, he didn’t ask anything, and suddenly, one fell from the sky?
Sometimes, you have to believe in luck...

Zhao Xiuneng quickly nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you: move!"

(End of this chapter)