Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 489: Chapter 485: There’s a Problem with the Incense Burner

Huo Sining’s words were quite to the point, but as soon as the middle-aged man heard them, his previously honest face suddenly changed.

In just an instant, the middle-aged man’s aura shifted, and he stared at Huo Sining with malice, as coldly as a poisonous snake:

”Why can’t it be within the scope of redemption? Young lady, isn’t your work a bit too irresponsible? Just by looking at it a few times, without even touching my item, you dare say my incense burner doesn’t meet your criteria?”

”I think you’re not able to appraise it, just spouting nonsense, right? If you can’t provide evidence, then let someone else appraise it. The nation hires you for a job; is it for you to be so casual and negligent?”

Huo Sining did not expect the man to change his demeanor so quickly. The stark contrast between his behavior before and now made her even more certain that there was something wrong with the tripod censer the man had brought.

Hearing the noise from Huo Sining’s direction, Feng Yang and Li Xuanbing immediately sensed something was amiss, and they both stood up and walked towards Huo Sining: ”What’s the matter?”

Seeing two more appraisers approach, the middle-aged man was secretly pleased, yet he feigned anger and pointed at Huo Sining indignantly.

”You two comrades have come at just the right time. This tripod censer of mine was appraised by an expert, yet this young lady merely glanced at it, didn’t even hold it to observe carefully, and just said no; what does that mean?! Could it be that my incense burner is fake?”

”If it is indeed a fake, you still need to give me reasons that will convince me entirely. I see that you, young lady, are not old enough, perhaps your appraisal skills are not up to par? If you can’t handle it, let someone else do it!”

Li Xuanbing and Feng Yang exchanged glances. After the progress made that afternoon, Huo Sining’s appraisal abilities were widely recognized; with her sharp eye and decisive judgment, no one dared to doubt her appraisal skills.

Seeing the middle-aged man become increasingly agitated and his voice growing louder, attracting the attention of many who had come for appraisal, Li Xuanbing quickly spoke up to calm him down:

”Sir, please don’t be hasty; let’s talk things over slowly. We always adhere to the rules in our work and would never negligently deal with anyone. Despite being young, this Ms. Huo is the most skilled appraiser here, and you can rest assured about that!”

The middle-aged man snorted coldly: ”The most skilled appraiser? I think she’s just pretending to know what she’s doing. How can an antique appraiser rely solely on sight to ascertain authenticity? I want someone else; have another appraiser come over!”

”Let me do the appraisal for you, then.”

Li Xuanbing smiled and unobtrusively shielded the silent Huo Sining behind her: ”Would you be comfortable letting me have a look, sir?”

By now, the middle-aged man had completely shed his previously honest demeanor, he glanced sideways at Huo Sining and then, somewhat reluctantly, nodded at Li Xuanbing:

”You can have a look, but you better be careful. This is a Qing Dynasty antique, and if you damage it, you will have to pay!”

”Sir, rest assured, we all professionally study this field, we certainly won’t damage your treasure, I’ll have a look now...”

As she spoke, Li Xuanbing intuitively reached out her hand towards the tripod censer.

She didn’t expect her hand to be held back before it even touched the tripod incense burner.

”Don’t touch it!”

It was none other than Huo Sining who had stopped Li Xuanbing!

”What’s the matter?”

Li Xuanbing looked at Huo Sining, puzzled, not knowing what she meant.

”There’s a problem with this incense burner!”

Huo Sining lowered her voice and whispered in Li Xuanbing’s ear, but her eyes were tightly fixed on the middle-aged man.

The moment Li Xuanbing reached out her hand, the man became extremely excited, but he hadn’t expected Huo Sining to stop him, and he glared at her furiously, ”Young lady, what do you mean by this?!”

”Sir, are you sure you want to continue with the appraisal?”

Huo Sining signaled to Li Xuanbing, who understood and quietly stepped back, giving Huo Sining the floor to look up, her face wearing a smile that was not quite a smile as she stared at the man before her.

”What do you mean by that? Just because you can’t appraise it, you think I can’t have someone else do it for me?” the middle-aged man retorted sharply, his voice piercing, instantly drawing the attention of those around them.

A smile played at the corners of Huo Sining’s mouth; she thought to herself that he had entangled himself in his own web and shouldn’t blame her for not giving him face!

She glanced around at the crowd, then stepped forward and spoke loudly, ”You want an appraisal of this item simply for proof. You say I can’t appraise it, fine, then let’s talk in detail about your tripod censer!”

Li Xuanbing and Feng Yang bowed their heads to examine the incense burner on the table, exchanging doubtful glances, unable to see any problem with it.

However, since Huo Sining had said so, she must have had her reasons. Neither Li nor Feng asked questions; they just stepped back to give her space, yet their gazes remained firmly on the middle-aged man.

”The craftsmanship of this piece of porcelain is very exquisite, both in shape and pattern, which is unquestionably grand. Judging from the design and decoration, it belongs to the same series as the Qing Dynasty tri-colored ding-style incense burners.”

Huo Sining slowly said, ”However, the patterning of this tri-colored ding-style incense burner is stiff and lifeless, the lines are harsh, and the brushwork breaks off intermittently, lacking charm. It doesn’t have the ’clamshell sheen’ that authentic pieces have over the passage of time; instead, it bears an unmistakable worldliness!”

The man seemed as though he had been insulted, his face flushed with anger as he coldly said to Huo Sining:

”That’s utter nonsense! Are you implying my incense burner is a fake? Just because you say it lacks charm, it lacks charm; just because you say it lacks clamshell sheen, it’s missing clamshell sheen? I think you just want to take advantage of my lack of knowledge, don’t you?”

”I’ll have you know, I had this piece appraised by a professional! Now you’re saying it’s fake; have you even touched it? You just looked at it and dared to spout nonsense. Do you believe I’ll go to the Cultural Relics Bureau to complain about you?”

Huo Sining was waiting for this very response, upon hearing it, she didn’t get annoyed but instead looked at the middle-aged man with a slight upturn of her lips and a smile:

”Sir, there’s really no need to be so agitated. I mentioned only one aspect; there are two more points that can confirm this incense burner is not from the Qing Dynasty.”

”The tri-colored ding-style incense burner is a type of tri-color porcelain, whereas the creation of blue and white porcelain involves a process of underglaze blue with a cover glaze that’s fired, then it’s put into the kiln a second time for the colors—which is quite difficult to imitate.”

”But the body of your incense burner is hard, with a new kind of superficial shine to the glaze and a cloudy surface. Despite its fine shape and pattern, any expert can tell that the orange peel texture on the glaze is rough compared to a genuine Qing Dynasty tri-color porcelain,there’s certainly a difference.”

The man seemed ready to argue again, but Huo Sining did not allow him to interrupt and continued to speak:

”Please hear me out; there’s also another, most important point.”