Rebirth 93: Break off the engagement at the beginning and marry Bai Fumei

Chen Yang was stunned for a moment, his eyes widening like saucers, his mouth agape enough to fit an egg, looking like a clay Buddha statue in a temple that had suddenly been blessed. He looked at Uncle Yan, who had a serious expression, and then at Qin Haofeng, Zhu Zi, and Lao Shan, who were making faces at each other. He felt as if he had fallen into a rice jar; happiness had come too suddenly, and it felt a little unreal.

"Uncle Yan, what did you say?" Chen Yang was taken aback by Uncle Yan's words, his teacup hovering in mid-air. He asked in confusion, "Ye Hui sent you here to ask me to see the items he recently acquired?"

He put down his teacup, his brows furrowing slightly. Ye Hui's ambiguous smile flashed through his mind, and a sense of vigilance rose in his heart. "Hey, Lao Yan, your young master isn't trying to test me again, is he?"

"Mr. Chen, you're really joking!" Uncle Yan looked at Chen Yang with a wry smile. This kid has such a vivid imagination!

"Mr. Chen, it's really not what you think this time. It was indeed the young master who sent me here, and there is indeed an urgent matter that requires your help."

Despite Uncle Yan's efforts to explain, his words did not dispel Chen Yang and the others' doubts. Their faces still clearly showed their disbelief.

Qin Haofeng was the first to lose his temper. He put down his teacup and said with some dissatisfaction, "Uncle Yan, it's not that we don't want to help, it's just that our family is very busy right now! Besides, none of us are as perceptive as my brother. Right now, we have to wait for my brother to come back before we can make any decisions about the shop. Please go back and tell Young Master Ye that my brother is not here, and if there's anything, he should come to our shop in person."

“Exactly, exactly,” Zhu Zi chimed in, arms crossed, leaning back with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “If my brother goes, what if he gets there and finds a bunch of bosses waiting to laugh at him?”

Lao Shan sat to the side, looked at Uncle Yan, then at Chen Yang, and said in a low voice, "Boss Chen, they're capable of anything."

Upon hearing Lao Shan's words, Uncle Yan's previously kind face immediately darkened. He glared at Lao Shan, his lips twitched involuntarily, and he let out a cold snort, saying sternly, "We'll do anything, but we'll never betray our master for personal gain!"

"Hey, old man, who are you talking about?" Upon hearing this, Zhu Zi flew into a rage. He stood up abruptly, pointed at Uncle Yan's nose, and shouted, "I think you're not here to see my brother, but rather to cause trouble!"

"That's right, he didn't show any respect for anyone from the moment he came in. Anyone who didn't know better would think your young master Ye was some kind of royalty! He's so precious, he should just do it himself!" Qin Haofeng chimed in, his tone full of disdain.

Seeing that the two sides were about to start arguing, Chen Yang quickly gestured for them to quiet down. He first calmed down the agitated Zhu Zi and Qin Haofeng, then looked up at Lao Yan, picked up the phone on the table, and asked, "What's Young Master Ye's number?"

Chen Yang dialed Ye Hui's number, and the two exchanged a few words briefly. After hanging up, Chen Yang frowned slightly, as if he had encountered some troublesome matter. He looked up, gestured for Lao Yan to come with him, and then said to Zhu Zi and Lao Shan, "You two stay at home, I'll be back in a bit. Young Master Ye has some good stuff."

Chen Yang followed Uncle Yan towards the back room, still wondering what Ye Hui was up to. Upon entering the back room, Chen Yang's eyes lit up. The space was twice the size of the shop's main hall, with antique shelves filled with all sorts of antiques and calligraphy. A faint sandalwood scent permeated the air, making one feel refreshed and relaxed.

A huge rosewood tea table stood in the center of the room, its chairs and tables made of fine huanghuali wood, radiating a warm luster. Seeing all these treasures, Chen Yang couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, Young Master Ye is truly generous! A room full of rosewood furniture, wow!"

Upon hearing Chen Yang's praise, Ye Hui smiled and stood up from his chair, gesturing for Chen Yang to sit down. "Come on! Mr. Chen, you flatter me. Compared to you, my work is just a small fry."

"Don't embarrass me." Chen Yang sat down with a smile, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, and offered one to Ye Hui. "So, what exactly is this thing? You're not trying to trick me into giving it to you so I can embarrass myself, are you?"

Ye Hui took the cigarette but didn't light it. Instead, he fiddled with the lighter and said meaningfully, "Do you think I'm that bored? Besides, I was in the wrong last time, and you made a scene here once too. Aren't we even now?"

"Yes!" Chen Yang smiled and nodded as Uncle Yan brought him a cup of tea. "You can come to my place to cause trouble even if you have nothing to do, so why can't you invite me over to pick a fight with me?"

Ye Hui waved his hand, signaling Uncle Yan to leave first. Only he and Chen Yang remained in the room. He then put away his joking expression and said seriously, "The main reason I asked you to come here today is to show you this item!"

As he spoke, Ye Hui took out an exquisite brocade box from the drawer, gently placed it on the table, and then slowly opened it, gesturing for him to enter.

Chen Yang curiously peered over and saw a porcelain vase lying quietly in the brocade box. It was covered in a lemon-yellow glaze, decorated with a nine-peach motif—a beautifully crafted and vibrantly colored design. Chen Yang immediately recognized it and was secretly astonished. "Holy crap! How did this thing end up here?"

"A lemon-yellow vase with nine peaches in a design?" Chen Yang couldn't help but reach out and pick up the vase, examining it closely. He was very familiar with this vase; in 2022, it had been auctioned off at China Trade Center for over 20 million yuan. The key point wasn't the price, but rather that it was a unique piece.

The simultaneous appearance of lemon yellow and famille rose on a Yongzheng artifact raised much debate at the time, with opinions differing on whether it was a unique, surviving piece or a modern forgery.

Ye Hui's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his mouth was agape, wide enough to fit a large pear. He looked like a clay Buddha statue in a temple that had suddenly been blessed. His mind was in turmoil, and he muttered to himself: "This guy, is he some kind of antique that has come to life? How come he's seen all sorts of rare and unusual things?"

The more Ye Hui thought about it, the more outrageous it seemed. His gaze towards Chen Yang became strange, as if he were looking at some rare animal. He cleared his throat and asked with a forced smile, "Mr. Chen, your eye for these things is truly remarkable. How come you've seen this kind of object before?"

Chen Yang didn't hide anything. He nodded slightly, not looking up at Ye Hui, but looking down at the bottle in his hand. He slowly said, "I've seen a pair of Qing Dynasty Yongzheng famille rose overglaze enamel plates with eight peaches and five bats, symbolizing longevity and good fortune. Aren't these kinds of items specially made for the Yongzheng Emperor's birthday celebration?"

"Holy crap!" Ye Hui was taken aback. This guy had actually seen similar items before. If that was the case, Chen Yang had quite a few good stuff in his possession!

"Boss Chen," Ye Hui chuckled, thinking of this, "I'm afraid it's not just that you've seen it, but that it's actually in your hands, isn't it?"

Chen Yang looked up at Ye Hui and slightly curled the corners of his mouth. "Young Master Ye, you're overthinking it. I've only seen it; the item isn't in my possession. But if I want to see it, I can do so anytime."

"Oh?" Ye Hui looked at Chen Yang curiously. "Which boss is so generous as to allow Boss Chen to look at this kind of item anytime, anywhere?"

"Song Qingyun, our Boss Song!" Chen Yang rolled his eyes at him, then a wicked smile appeared on his lips. "Young Master Ye should know about my relationship with Boss Song. After all, he always goes to my shop to look at that Xuande incense burner by Wu Bangzuo. It's just a matter of reciprocity!"

Damn it! Ye Hui rolled his eyes after hearing this. This kid, does he feel uncomfortable if he doesn't say something sarcastic to me?

"Cough cough cough!" Ye Hui covered his mouth with his hand and coughed a few times to ease the embarrassment. "Look at the bottle, look at the bottle. I invited Boss Chen over here so that he could take a look!"

"No need to look anymore, Young Master Ye, you're overthinking it!" Chen Yang put the bottle back in the box and said directly to Ye Hui.

A fake? Did you even look closely? You only glanced at it a few times, and you're already convinced it's a fake? You're clearly fooling yourself.

"Mr. Chen, take a good look!" Ye Hui glared at Chen Yang. "Let me tell you, this is all about your eyesight!"

After hearing Ye Hui's words, Chen Yang got up and started searching around. Ye Hui looked at Chen Yang searching around and impatiently shouted, "Hey, what are you looking for?"

"Let me check. Did you install any eavesdropping devices? Are you planning to secretly record me and then go around ruining my reputation?" Chen Yang said with a smile as he searched.

"Get lost!" Ye Hui said impatiently, stomping his foot on the ground. "My brother Chen, this is my own place. Do you think I would install such a thing? Eavesdropping device? You really have a wild imagination!"

Chen Yang returned to his seat with a grin, looking at the bottle and then at Ye Hui. He hadn't told Ye Hui earlier whether it was genuine or fake. How to put it... if this one is real, then where did the one from 2022 come from? This thing is a unique piece; not a single one has been found in all these years. You just stumbled upon the real thing?

Auction Preview

Conversely, if the one in front of us is real, then it's not unreasonable for later generations to discover that the one in front of us is a fake, since many people at the time suspected that the Qing Yongzheng imperial famille rose lemon-yellow ground nine peach pattern moon vase that was auctioned off was a fabrication!

There wasn't much information about that lot of auction items. At the time, it was only advertised as having come from the collection of Annie Lee Allen, a collector in Boston, USA, who acquired it from China in 1886. Her husband, Louis Chauvenet, was a famous historical figure in Boston, but no relevant evidence was provided.

Logically, this doesn't make sense. 1886 was the twelfth year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign. That is to say, a foreign lady traveled thousands of miles to China in the twelfth year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign, spent money to buy a piece of porcelain that was stored in the imperial palace, then traveled thousands of miles back to the United States to collect it, and then her family kept it for more than 100 years before her descendants sent it to a second-tier auction house in our country for auction. This sounds very fake.

A round covered box with a famille rose design of peaches and longevity symbols from the Yongzheng period of the Qing dynasty.

The reason why this lemon-yellow ground vase with nine peaches in openwork design was considered to be from the period was because Sotheby's auction house had sold a Yongzheng famille rose olive-shaped vase with eight peaches and longevity design for more than 40 million Hong Kong dollars at a Hong Kong auction in 2002. After Ms. Zhang bought the olive-shaped vase, she donated it to the Shanghai Museum, where it has been kept ever since.

Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng Period, Famille Rose Olive-Shaped Vase with Bat and Peach Design and Longevity Symbol

Later, in 2013, Soapy auctioned a Qing Dynasty Yongzheng period famille rose round covered box with a peach offering for longevity design for 35.12 million yuan. Based on these two pieces, Soapy determined that this lemon-yellow ground openwork nine peach pattern moon vase was an official kiln piece from the Yongzheng period.

Interestingly, both olive-shaped vases and round-lidded boxes have clear records in the Qing court archives, but this Qing Yongzheng lemon-yellow ground vase with nine peaches in openwork design does not! So when it was auctioned off for more than 2000 million yuan, people in the industry had many different opinions.

It's only 1995 now, those two items haven't even appeared yet, there's no comparison!

"Mr. Chen, if you're saying it's a fake, you should at least give some explanation, right?" Ye Hui asked Chen Yang with a frown, pulling Chen Yang back to reality.

"I never said it was a fake! I'm suspicious of its origin!" Chen Yang took a puff of his cigarette and turned to Ye Hui. Ye Hui glanced down at the cigarette in Chen Yang's hand. From the moment he entered the room and lit it until now, he hadn't even finished the cigarette, yet he had already made a judgment about the bottle. That's damn fast!

“Young Master Ye, as you and I both know,” Chen Yang said to Ye Hui with a serious expression, “there are only three possibilities for the Qing Dynasty officials’ collections to have been smuggled out of the palace. First, it happened during the Puyi era, when Pujie or eunuchs smuggled them out of the palace and took them to Liulichang in Beijing to sell. Although the country’s power had declined during the Guangxu era, we have never heard of any princes, ministers, or eunuchs openly selling imperial gifts or Qing Dynasty officials’ collections on the market.”