Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1299: Chapter 1295: The Showdown Between Two Girls

Even before the competition began, Su Zhongqing had already made up his mind, believing that Su Anning would lose this time. He even suggested Huo Sining teach his granddaughter a lesson. Hearing this, how could Su Anning possibly feel comfortable?

Her expression instantly darkened, and her glance toward Huo Sining became increasingly resentful and defiant. She turned around and began rummaging through the pile of congratulatory gifts behind Su Zhongqing.

Before long, Su Anning found what she was looking for. Without a word, she took out the box and turned to look at Zhou Shitao:

”Grandpa Zhou, you are a person of high status and prestige. Please be a witness. If I win this competition today, I hope you won’t forget in the future that I, Su Anning, have defeated your apprentice!”

Not becoming Zhou Shitao’s disciple had already left Su Anning with a grudge. She couldn’t believe that Huo Sining had snatched away the position of closed-door disciple. How could she swallow this anger?

If Zhou Shitao had chosen a disciple older than her, with superior status, ability, and skill as his closed-door disciple, Su Anning would not have stirred up so much trouble and petty thoughts.

But the fact was, Zhou Shitao’s chosen closed-door disciple was a rural orphan girl, which did not sit well with Su Anning at all.

No matter how inadequate, could it be that she, Su Anning, was inferior to a 20-year-old rural bumpkin?

Su Anning was seething inside, eager for a chance to teach Huo Sining a lesson, naturally full of fighting spirit, especially after being refused as a disciple by Zhou Shitao. The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became, wishing that Huo Sining would immediately bow down to her in defeat.

Zhou Shitao, known for his eccentric temperament in daily life, however, had a playful heart like a child’s. Seeing the two young girls about to compete, he stood to the side, joyfully watching the spectacle.

When Su Anning asked him to be the witness, he wasn’t annoyed. Instead, he clapped and praised, glancing at the composed Huo Sining and teasing:

”What’s so difficult about that? Not only will I remember, but if you, Miss Su, win today, from now on, I, Grandpa Zhou, will tell everyone that my disciple is not as good as you, Su Anning. How about that?”

Su Anning originally spoke in a serious tone, but faced with Zhou Shitao’s playfulness, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She stomped her foot and pouted, ”Grandpa Zhou!”

”Alright, alright, no more jokes. You both compete, and I’ll be a fair judge!”

Zhou Shitao was most afraid of young girls acting coquettish. Seeing Su Anning use her trump card, he immediately surrendered and asked for mercy, speaking in a solemn tone.

The two exchanged the items they had chosen, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, they each opened their gift boxes, revealing two distinctly different pieces of porcelain to everyone.

Unlike Huo Sining’s calm gaze, upon seeing the gift Huo Sining gave her grandfather in her hand, Su Anning’s brows instantly furrowed, while Zhou Shitao’s expression changed dramatically, staring in awe at the object in Su Anning’s hand: ”This is...”

”Teacher!” Seeing that Zhou Shitao was about to reveal the origin of the porcelain, Huo Sining hurriedly called out.

Only then did Zhou Shitao come to his senses, realizing he almost broke the rules of the game. He looked at the porcelain, then at Huo Sining, and suddenly a smile broke onto his face, his eyes full of schadenfreude:

”Alright, alright, you kids have your fun. I, the old man, won’t interfere. Little Huo, take it easy, don’t be too harsh. Don’t blame me for not warning you first, this Miss Su’s ace is absolutely unbeatable...”

Huo Sining didn’t understand Zhou Shitao’s words at first and thought he was giving her a tip. She looked down at the object Su Anning had chosen from her.

In Huo Sining’s hand was a set of Famille Rose Nested Cups. The sizes just fit perfectly together, with ten pieces in total from large to small. The colors weren’t bright, but the porcelain’s glaze looked very full, resembling antiques.

Though her first impression was such, Huo Sining didn’t dare to make a quick conclusion. She took each cup out for a closer look.

Indeed, it wasn’t long before she noticed something amiss.

This was a set of Famille Rose nested cups from the late Ming to early Qing dynasty, with imperial kiln marks at the bottom. However, the style of painting could reveal a few clues.

Only folk kiln porcelain usually doesn’t indicate the origin, while imperial kiln-made nested cups often have bottom marks. Normally, assembling such a complete set of Famille Rose nested cups is extremely difficult.

Because porcelain is hard to preserve, and such nested cups were typically imperial furnishings, having them circulate among the public is already difficult, much less having them so intact, which is even more challenging.

Although the ten nested cups seemed to fit together very well, and their glaze craftsmanship was extremely similar, Huo Sining keenly noticed subtle differences between the cups.

This set of nested cups had been tampered with. Among the ten cups, aside from seven genuine ones, there were three fakes mixed in.

Moreover, this time, Huo Sining didn’t even need to use the Heavenly Eye to easily discern the difference in fakes.

Though the set of cups had consistent patterns, it was clear that the three fake cups were slightly inferior in artistry. The details weren’t as transparent and smooth, making the engravings on the cups appear a bit stiff.

Of course, ordinary people might not spot the issue, but after Huo Sining received the Spirit of Azure Pearl’s blessing, not only did her memory improve, but her vision became extremely sharp and sensitive, able to notice even the smallest differences.

Thus, judging the legitimacy of this nested cup set wasn’t difficult at all.

However, to verify her guess, Huo Sining eventually activated the Heavenly Eye for a final examination, and after being confirmed by Heavenly Eye, she grew even more confident in her speculation.

Meanwhile, on Su Anning’s side, she was frowning, flipping the object from Huo Sining in her hand up and down.

Although the young lady had studied porcelain for many years, she knew little about truly exquisite pieces, especially unique items, which she had hardly encountered.

As soon as Huo Sining took out the object, Su Anning noticed the difference, but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t determine its origin.

It was a finely crafted celadon-glazed brush washer with a diameter of no more than 30 centimeters and a thickness of about five centimeters, with the foot and one side of the washer employing relief carving techniques.

The carvings on the brush washer depicted a scene of children fishing, but the superb craftsmanship even captured the child’s playful intent to catch a butterfly while fishing, vividly and lifelike.