As Zhou Xuan walked out of the hall, he noticed that Wu Jianguo and his group of people in the corner had also come out, but it seemed that they didn't intend to follow him.
Wei Haihong then asked, "Brother, aren't you going to look around some more? We haven't seen anything good yet!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and shook his head, saying, "Brother Hong, come back with me first. If you want to see something good, you can see it when we get back!"
After going downstairs, Li Wei drove his Jeep behind Wei Haihong's car. Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying rode in Li Wei's car. When they saw Wu Jianguo and the others' car drive out, Zhou Xuan used his Ice Qi to probe into their car. Wu Jianguo said fiercely, "Go to Shangguan Mingyue's place and teach her a lesson!"
Zhou Xuan ruthlessly made the two rear wheels of their car roll off again. Looking in his own rearview mirror, Wu Jianguo climbed out of his car and started cursing loudly, clearly having run into some bad luck. Several times, the tires had spontaneously detached!
On the way, Zhou Xuan thought for a moment and quickly called Wei Haihong, asking his driver to drive to Panjiayuan and their antique shop, instead of returning to Hongcheng Garden.
Upon arriving at Panjiayuan, both cars were parked in the outdoor parking lot, and then the group returned together to Zhou Zhang Antique Shop.
Old Wu and ** were both there, and they were quite puzzled to see Zhou Xuan leading a large group of people and carrying a mahogany box.
Zhou Xuan, holding the mahogany box, said to Old Wu, "Old Wu, come to the inner room for a moment. I would like to show you something."
Seeing Zhou Xuan's mysterious tone and judging from his expression, Old Wu must have found something good again, so he excitedly followed him into the inner room.
They quickly invited Wei Haihong and Li Wei into the inner room, called out several workers to come out and guard the shop, while Zhou Cangsong sat outside with Wei Haihong's driver.
In the inner room, the main light was turned on. The bright light illuminated the room.
Zhou Xuan placed the mahogany box on the table and then opened the lid.
The box was empty; there was nothing inside.
Old Wu frowned, then said, "Young Master Zhou, is this the rosewood box you're talking about? It's rosewood, and it's about two hundred years old, but its value isn't much. At most, it's worth about twenty thousand yuan. There's nothing special about it!"
This was a question that Fu Ying, Wei Haihong, and Li Wei all wanted to ask, but Zhou Xuan hadn't brought it up on the way. Since he wouldn't say it, they could only wait.
Zhou Xuan smiled and said to **, "Boss, find me a flat-bladed mule knife!"
Old Wu was taken aback, then realized and said, "Young Master Zhou, you mean, 'there's a hidden compartment?'"
Zhou Xuan smiled without answering, took the screwdriver handed to him, and inserted the flat end of the screwdriver into the gap in the hidden compartment at the bottom of the mahogany box. Because the ice energy had been used to test it, he wouldn't go to the wrong place. He was currently using the ice energy to probe the Ru porcelain inside, so as not to damage it with the screwdriver.
He pried at the gap a few times with force. The gap widened a bit. Then, with a final pry, a panel was easily pried out. This panel was half a foot wide, about ** centimeters high, and only one centimeter thick.
But everyone's attention was not on the small panel, but on the hidden compartment.
Fu Ying let out a soft "Oh dear!" Just as she expected, nestled among the soft cloths in the hidden compartment lay a small, slender-necked, large-bellied bottle, about fifteen or sixteen centimeters long. The others knew nothing about porcelain; besides Zhou Xuan who recognized it as Ru ware, only Old Wu knew what it was. He paused, initially doubtful, then his hands trembled slightly.
Shuai Xuan carefully took the Ru porcelain bottle out of the cloth and handed it to Lao Wu.
After receiving it, Old Wu held it in his hands, and the more he looked at it, the more his hands trembled. This action surprised him. Before, even with Zhou Xuan's luminous pearl and twenty-six emeralds, Old Wu had never shown this reaction!
Sensing something was amiss, the others remained silent, holding their breath as they stared at the small bottle in Old Wu's hand.
Fu Ying knew Zhou Xuan's abilities, so she wasn't surprised to detect something in the wooden box. Wei Haihong, however, was somewhat astonished. Although he didn't know much about porcelain, the small bottle's shape and color were very appealing and pleasing to the eye, especially considering how well it had been hidden. He guessed it was a treasure, at least more valuable than the large bottle he had seen in the box earlier.
Old Wu examined it over and over, becoming increasingly excited. He then asked Zhou Xuan, "Little Zhou, where did you get this? You're really making me more and more excited!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Brother Hong asked me to participate in an appraisal event organized by a non-governmental organization. There were many people and many items at the event, but almost nothing of value. There was only one late Qing Dynasty official kiln porcelain vase worth several hundred thousand yuan. The vase was placed in this rosewood box. I noticed that the box was made of old rosewood. The vase itself wasn't particularly valuable, but it was placed in a rosewood box, which I found strange. I originally wanted to buy the box and the vase together, but someone else bought the vase, so I only bought the box. Before buying it, I secretly examined the space inside the box and felt a bit suspicious. The other three sides of the box were single-layered, but the bottom was seven or eight centimeters thicker. There was no need to add that thickness; it didn't make sense. I was suspicious at the time."
This makes sense, Fu Ying thought to herself.
Old Wu nodded, then asked, "Young Master Zhou, do you know what this bottle is now?"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said calmly, "Old Wu, you look a bit like Ru'an, don't you think?"
Old Wu's hand trembled again, and he murmured a few times, "Ru porcelain, Ru porcelain."
Li Wei and Fu Ying didn't know what Ru porcelain was, but Fu Ying knew from Zhou Xuan's actions that this small bottle was probably a very valuable item.
Wei Haihong paused for a moment, then asked, "Ru porcelain?"
"Yes, this is a piece of Ru ware!" Old Wu's voice was unusually filled with excitement. "Look at this porcelain vase, it's smooth and delicate, and its shape looks like a piece of jade, but you know it's not jade. The glaze is like agate, and the fine lines on the surface are like cicada wings. And look at the bottom of the vase, there are the two characters 'Feng Hua.' This is a genuine piece of Northern Song Dynasty Ru ware, it is priceless!"
"Priceless treasure?" Li Wei chuckled. "Just this little bottle? They call it priceless, but I think all so-called priceless treasures end up selling for a price. Tell me, how much is this bottle worth?"
"Money?" Old Wu snorted and said smugly, "All you know is money. Let me tell you, this March, at a London auction house, a piece of Northern Song Dynasty Ru ware that was only eight centimeters tall sold for 17.85 million pounds. And this little piece sold for twice as much as that Ru ware. The value of Ru ware is beyond your imagination!"
Li Wei exclaimed in astonishment, "Seventeen million eight hundred and fifty million pounds? Good heavens, that's almost two hundred million! Is it worth that much money?"
Old Wu shook his head and sighed, "Two hundred million? This Ru porcelain piece is worth at least double that price. Young man, do you know that even a fragment of a porcelain bottle like this can be worth millions!"
Although Li Wei was a second-generation official and a playboy, he was so surprised that he was speechless when he heard that such a fragment of skill could be worth more than a million yuan!
Of course he knew that antiques were valuable, but the more intact the antique, the more valuable it was. He understood this principle. Moreover, even the most valuable antique was worthless if it was just a fragment. He had never heard of a fragment being worth millions!
"The most prosperous period of Ru ware was in the Northern Song Dynasty, from the fifth year of Chongning of Emperor Huizong of Song to the first year of Yuanyou of Emperor Zhezong of Song. This period was the peak of Ru ware. At that time, the Northern Song royal family spared no expense and ordered Ruzhou to produce celadon. At that time, Dingzhou also produced porcelain, but Dingzhou white porcelain had rough edges, which the royal family thought was unusable. Therefore, Ruzhou was designated as the place of production, and thus it was designated as the royal ware and was called official porcelain from then on."
Old Wu, admiring the Ru ware vase in his hands, explained the history of Ru ware: "China has been renowned for its ceramic craftsmanship since ancient times. The original meaning of 'porcelain' in English is simply 'porcelain,' so foreigners, and even the whole world, understand China primarily as porcelain. Among Chinese porcelain, Ru ware from the Song Dynasty is considered the pinnacle. However, Ru official ware only existed for a short period of twenty years. Because it was imperial ware, it couldn't circulate among the common people. Furthermore, because it used agate as its glaze, and because it displayed a dazzling array of colors under certain lighting, resembling stars, it was considered to possess too much 'yang energy,' so even emperors and high-ranking officials dared not use it as burial goods. Therefore, it is extremely rare in excavated ancient tombs, making it an even more precious treasure. To this day, fewer than seventy pieces of Ru ware exist worldwide. Even a fragment is worth an unimaginable fortune, hence the saying, 'Even with a fortune of ten thousand pieces of gold, it's not as valuable as a single piece of Ru ware!'"
Seeing everyone listening with rapt attention, including Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan knew that this was Ru ware and that Ru ware was very valuable, but he did not know that it could be so incredibly valuable.
Old Wu continued, "As for porcelain, Ru kiln has been known as the best porcelain in the world since ancient times. I only saw a fragment of Ru porcelain in Henan more than ten years ago. Apart from the seventeen pieces in the Palace Museum and the eight pieces in the Shanghai Museum, no other pieces have appeared in my country. As the hometown and origin of porcelain, there are only twenty-five pieces in existence. Do you think Ru porcelain is precious or not?"
Volume 1, Chapter 227: The Moon-Gazing Earthworm
"A mere shard isn't worth that much. I think we should—Li Wei, with a grin—smash this Ru porcelain vase to pieces, the more shards the better. If one shard sells for a million, how much would a few hundred shards fetch?"
"You," Old Wu was furious. Not a single word this kid said was pleasing.
After a pause, Old Wu continued, "Young Master Zhou, this Ru porcelain vase is a national treasure. What do you plan to do with it?"
To be honest, Zhou Xuan didn't understand some of the restrictions imposed by the government, because since entering this industry, he had never dealt with antiques at a level higher than restricted, nor did he know which category was considered restricted.