Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1444: Chapter 1428: Priceless Ancient Guqin

Of course, since it’s an auction exhibition, it couldn’t be entirely composed of contemporary replicas. The Changnan Porcelain Research Society conducted this auction exhibition with much fanfare, so it couldn’t be done in such a shabby manner. After the auction began, several genuine items were presented one after another.

The first genuine item was a Blue and White Porcelain vase from the Yongzheng period. Such vases are not rare, so the price wasn’t high, just a bit more than those modern art pieces, finally selling for 240,000.

The second genuine item was a pastel flower porcelain bowl from the Song Dynasty. Song pastels are naturally much more in demand than Qing Blue and Whites, so when this porcelain bowl appeared, it was quickly snatched up, with the price climbing higher and higher, and it finally sold for 1,070,000.

Afterwards, several more somewhat presentable porcelain items were auctioned, such as a Yuan Dynasty red glaze Boshan stove, a celadon glaze brown-green painted high-footed jar, and a set of Qing Dynasty printed purple clay teapot set.

However, upon seeing this purple clay teapot set, Huo Sining chuckled. Having seen the Mansheng Eighteen Styles in Elder Feng’s hands from Porcelain Village, and comparing them to this set of purple clay teaware, the difference was worlds apart. Such things really couldn’t pique Huo Sining’s interest.

Because she had plenty of nice things in her hands, Huo Sining had a high standard, but many people who came to the auction were actually just porcelain enthusiasts. Upon seeing such items, they were eager to snap them up.

Later, Huo Sining successfully bid on the hollow thin-bodied porcelain chandelier, simply because she made a very high bid. She started with a bid of 80,000, several times higher than the base price, which left others at the scene reluctant to speak up. With the momentum up, no one dared to raise the bid, and she finally acquired the chandelier.

The final piece, the highlight of the auction, was the focus of the exhibition. When the item was brought out and the red silk cloth was unveiled, revealing the item inside, the entire place fell into silence.

Huaxia is hailed as the country of porcelain, nurturing a rich ceramic culture. In ancient times, it was common for craftsmen to make traditional musical instruments out of ceramics, such as clay whistles, stone chimes, ceramic xiao, and ceramic flutes, some for personal enjoyment and others for ceremonial music in the Imperial Court.

In ancient times, there was a concept of the Eight Sounds, which included fish, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, earth, leather, and wood. Ceramic instruments belong to the earth category, and the unique timbre produced by ceramics was described by the ancients as ”sound like chimes,” indicating the long-standing relationship between ceramics and music in Huaxia’s history.

This highlight piece was a guqin, but unlike the usual ones. This mixed-chaos style guqin had a base of ebony, with genuine black-brown Ge Kiln plum blossom inlays embedded within the ebony.

On one side of the guqin, there were three full applications of deer antler frost, blended with peacock stone, mica, coral, cinnabar, and other elements, commonly known as the Eight Treasures Paste. With 12 layers of surface lacquer, the ebony was engraved with motifs of pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms, where plum petals emitted a faint fragrance, and bamboo leaves and pine shadows exhibited a simple yet elegant fullness, perfectly complementing the Ge Kiln’s textures.

”This guqin is named Mei Hua Luo, a Shen Nong style guqin from the Song Dynasty, with its ebony bottom made from gold-threaded nanmu. This guqin is over a thousand years old.”

”Moreover, on the back of the ebony base of this guqin, there are a few very clear words inscribed; everyone can take a look.”

The Emcee was introducing it while lifting the guqin. People close to the podium, including Huo Sining, noticed a few lines of words etched on the back, resembling a poem, with the last four large characters, Zhong Yin Mei Feng.

Upon seeing these four characters, Huo Sining was immediately taken aback.

She didn’t know where Mei Feng was, but she recognized Zhong Yin, a self-designation of The Last Ruler of the Southern Tang, Li Yu!

Could it be that this guqin was actually used by Emperor Li of the Southern Tang?

Huo Sining’s expression was one of astonishment, and as if to match her expression, the Emcee explained with a smug smile:

”That’s right, Zhong Yin Mei Feng indeed is the self-designation of The Last Ruler of the Southern Tang, Li Yu. Everyone should be familiar with Li Yu, the poet known for writing ’just like a river of spring water flowing eastward,’ and also the last emperor of the Southern Tang.”

”He wasn’t good at being an emperor, but excelled in poetry and music. He even rewrote the music for the Feathered Garment Dance. The guqin before us might very well be the imperial guqin he used to compose Feathered Garment Dance!”

Huo Sining sighed quietly below, unsure of the authenticity of this guqin, but the Emcee’s ability to stir the audience was undoubtedly impressive, his words already inciting many guests below to stir with excitement.

”I bid eight million!” As the Emcee began tapping the desk, someone immediately made a bid, not an unfamiliar face, but the shopkeeper Wu Qingshan from Huimo Hall.

As Wu Qingshan made this bid, someone below was unconvinced: ”Ten million!”

”Twelve million!”

”Fifteen million!”

”...”

Originally, Huo Sining wanted to ask the Emcee if she could go on stage to examine the guqin. Seeing this situation, she decided to give up.

Since she wasn’t well-versed in music and couldn’t do more than display the guqin at home, she sensibly chose not to join the excitement.

Her decision didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of others, which continued to grow, with the price climbing ever higher.

”Thirty-five million!”

”Forty million!”

”Forty-five million!”

Hearing this price, Wu Qingshan no longer dared to speak and could only reluctantly hold his tongue.

Huo Sining listened, more and more astonished, thinking to herself: Just a guqin, yet it has reached over forty million. Huaxia people indeed have plenty of money, practically showing off their wealth. No wonder all those foreigners are flocking to Huaxia Country now; with this kind of easy money, who wouldn’t come?

The Emcee, standing on the podium, was flushed with excitement, knowing that according to his agreement, the higher the auctioned items’ prices, the more bonus he would receive.

Seeing that after forty-five million, no one else spoke, the Emcee glanced at the audience and picked up the gavel, stretching out the announcement:

”Forty-five million, there has been a bid of forty-five million. Is there a higher offer? Forty-five million once—”

The Emcee called out, eyes scanning expectantly over the audience, when suddenly a man in a security uniform appeared from behind the podium, unnoticed by others, and walked up to the podium.

As all the attendees’ focus was on the Emcee and the guqin before him, no one found the security personnel suspicious, until he suddenly spoke up, announcing: ”I bid fifty million!”

This statement left the audience in stunned silence, and the Emcee instinctively turned around to see that it was a security guard who had spoken, immediately becoming impatient:

”What’s going on with you? The auction hasn’t ended, who allowed you to come up here and cause trouble?!”