Proofread by  May Zou

Liu Xingming?

Lin Qi’s eyes twitched slightly. This man was the president of a well-known pharmaceutical enterprise in Jin Hai city. It was said that the drugs produced by his enterprise were supplied to all hospitals in Jin Hai, and even the drugs used for medical experiments in Lin Qi’s university were also supplied by his company. He had a powerful background.

“Ruoqing, long time no see. I hear that you are here, so I come at once. How have you been doing lately?” Liu Xingming had a gentle smile on his face, with a box in his hand.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?” Jiang Ruoqing frowned.

“Ruoqing, although I had a divorce, I have been pursuing you for 3 years, which is enough to show my sincerity. Please give me an opportunity.” Liu Xingming was in deadly earnest.

“Sorry, I don’t want to repeat.” Jiang Ruoqing turned her head, ignoring him.

But Liu Xingming insisted: “Ruoqing, I’m being serious about you. Look, I know you like collecting vases, so I purposely bought you a Ming dynasty vase of blue and white porcelain.”

With his words, Liu Xingming opened the box and took out a well-preserved blue and white porcelain vase, which looked gorgeous in color with intricate patterns and exquisite workmanship. It must be expensive.

“This blue and white porcelain vase is from the Ming dynasty court. It took me great effort to get it from another person. Please accept it.” Liu Xingming presented the vase with both hands.

The blue and white porcelain vases in Ming dynasty were the masterpieces at the peak of the blue and white porcelain era. And this one was handed down from the court, so it was the best choice whether for collection or for appreciation.

Jiang Ruoqing showed an obvious appreciative expression, but when she saw Liu Xingming’s flattering smile, she shook her head and said: “I won’t take any of your gifts. Now, please leave here.”

“Ruoqing, don’t you know that I am…”

Before Liu Xingming finished his words, Lin Qi suddenly interrupted him: “Mr. Liu, this blue and white porcelain vase you bought is a fake, isn’t it?”

Liu Xingming was stunned. He was so excited to see Jiang Ruoqing that he hadn’t noticed another person beside just now. Then he looked at Lin Qi seriously and said: “Who are you?”

“I am Lin Qi, a student of Jin Hai University.” Lin Qi answered honestly.

“So you are just a student. What makes you so bold to say this blue and white porcelain vase is a fake? Don’t you say you know something about antiques?” There was a hint of hostility in Liu Xingming’s eyes, for he didn’t even have a single chance to have a meal with Jiang Ruoqing, how could this guy be ahead of the pack?

“Just a little. My grandfather had a blue and white porcelain vase from Ming dynasty. It’s worth no money now because it was broken when it was moved. But, I can distinguish the difference between a genuine blue and white porcelain of Ming dynasty and a fake.” With just one glance, Lin Qi already recognized that this one was a fake.

“It’s impossible. I spent 500 thousand yuan on it. And I even have it authenticated by an expert. It was indeed one of the Ming dynasty porcelain.” With these words, Liu Xingming took out an expertise with a seal of the Association of Treasure Appraisal from his pocket.

“That can only mean the imitation of this fake blue and white porcelain has reached a very high level, so that it can deceive many people.” Lin Qi said lightly.

“Are you kidding? Are you, a student, more knowledgeable than the expert of the Association of Treasure Appraisal?” Liu Xingming sneered, took a pile of banknotes from his pocket, threw it in front of Lin Qi and said: “Take this, and go away at once, before I get mad.”

“Mr. Liu, it seems that I didn’t offend you?”

“Hehe, you are here to make these impertinent remarks, wasn’t it your purpose to smear my image in front of Jiang Ruoqing, then you can ask me for money? You think that sum is not enough, don’t  you?”

Liu Xingming took out a check from his pocket, wrote something swiftly, then put it heavily on the table: “Is this enough? 100 thousand yuan, it’s enough for you to have a cool life on campus for a whole year!”

Lin Qi finally understood why Jiang Ruo-qing loathed him. Such people thought too highly of themselves because they had a lot of money. They were self-righteous with their over-confidence.

Seeing Lin Qi was in silence, Liu Xingming thought he still wanted more. He couldn’t help shouting with anger, “You brat, don’t try to push your luck. You’d better take the money and get out of here immediately. Otherwise, I will have you driven out directly. I have little tolerance.”

A feeling of annoyance loomed in Lin Qi’s heart. He rebuked him in a low voice, “Mr. Liu, I won’t leave no matter how much money you gave me. Such nasty look as yours is virtually more disgusting than the sewer!”

“Brat, you’d fucking better say it again if you can!” Liu Xingming’s face fell and he almost screamed.

“So what!”

“Well, well. It serves you right! I’ll ask Senior Fang to have you driven away right now!”

Liu Xingming took out the phone directly, but before he got through, there were footsteps behind.

An old man in Tang suit and cloth shoes came in slowly.  There was an unpleasant look hidden on his spirited face.

“Senior Fang, you’ve come just in time!” Liu Xingming put down the phone and came over hurriedly to greet him.

Seeing the old man, Lin Qi was in a daze. The old man looked a bit familiar to him. It seemed that he had seen the old man in a Treasure Appraisal program on CCTV. It was unexpected that he was the owner of Taste Pavilion.

“Little Liu, what’s going on here? What are you arguing about?” Being able to set up the Taste Pavilion and attract all the celebrities in Jinhai to scramble for a meal here, Senior Fang naturally has very high prestige, so he naturally called Liu Xingming as Little Liu.

Liu Xingming answered and put the blue and white porcelain vase in front of Senior Fang and said, “Senior Fang, this boy said the blue and white porcelain vase of Ming Dynasty of mine was a fake. You just help me to have a look at it and give me a fair comment. And make him know who he really is!

“I see. I’m good at appraising treasures indeed.  Show me the porcelain.” Senior Fang carefully took over the blue and white porcelain vase, and roughly scanned it, but showed a color of suspicion.

Next, Senior Fang took out a magnifier from the pocket, leaned toward almost on the vase, where all the details could be seen very clearly.

After a long time, Senior Fang returned the vase to Liu Xingming. He sighed and shook his head, “This blue and white porcelain is a high-quality counterfeit product!”

“What?” Liu Xingming took on a look of disbelief, raised his voice and said, “Senior Fang, I spent 500,000 RMB on it and I have an expertise for it”

Senior Fang just picked up the blue and white porcelain vase, pointing to one of the flaws and said, “See the texture of the porcelain. Clearly it imitated the technology of Ming dynasty. It is indeed age-old and the flaw is very small. If I didn’t look at it carefully, I would also be cheated.”

Senior Fang then picked up the certificate to have a look and said, “I have to be honest, this expertise is fake, too. There should be four words ‘Association of Treasure Appraisal’ on the seal, but the second word is clearly misspelt as ‘traesure’. What a sham. Liu, you were cheated.”

Hearing this, Liu Xingming looked at the expertise carefully and his face fell in a moment. He hadn’t expected that the seal was also fake, which even cheated him.

And unexpectedly, Senior Fang’s remarks were exactly what Lin Qi had said, which made him so ashamed of himself.

“Damn, I was actually cheated. Senior Fang, let me smash the vase here and make everybody hear a bang!” Liu said, lifted the vase and was going to smash it on the floor.

People who collect antiques all knew that to hear a bang meant to learn an important lesson by spending a large sum of money. Smashing the vase of 500,000 RMB on the ground not only showed his disdain of the fake, but also gave everybody  a joyful time.

Just then, Lin Qi suddenly reached out for the porcelain and said, “Wait a moment. Could I have a look at this blue and white porcelain vase one more time?”