Chapter 111: The Reappearance of a Unique Skill

The streetlights were dim and yellow, stretching the two figures long and thin.

The evening breeze was wrapped in autumn chill, carrying a faint dampness and the scent of grass and trees.

A colorful butterfly drifted and swayed, landing silently on Lin Sicheng's shoulder.

He looked up at the moon, the stars in the sky transforming into the appearance of gold beads.

Ye Anning pulled the collar of her trench coat tight and gave a light laugh: "Lin Sicheng, we're here!"

"Ah, so fast?"

Lin Sicheng woke as if from a dream and looked up.

Without realizing it, the two had arrived downstairs at the residential building; the lights were bright, and the sound of a television drifted into their ears.

Inadvertently, the second-floor window flickered, as if something had flashed past.

A trace of confusion appeared in his eyes, and Lin Sicheng was not very sure: "I think... I saw my master's wife?"

"Think"?

She had been standing there watching for several minutes already.

Ye Anning pursed her lips and gave a light flick of her finger; the butterfly clumsily flapped its wings and flew crookedly into the grass.

"Is that kind of technique very strange?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Yes, Fried Bead Gold Inlay, very rare!"

"It's not like it's in another city; you can go take a look when you're not busy. Call me when the time comes, I'm nearby too!"

Ye Anning smoothed the stray hair by her ear, "You've been busy all day, don't think about it anymore, go back and get a good night's sleep..."

"Okay!" Lin Sicheng replied, then remembered something, "Sister Anning, how is your work?"

Ye Anning smiled with pursed lips: "Didn't Uncle tell you?"

"He mentioned some of it!"

Lin Sicheng just felt that since they were friends, it didn't matter if he hadn't thought of it, but now that he had, he definitely had to ask.

Ye Anning smiled: "Everything is good!"

As long as everything is good.

"Sister Anning, you go on up!"

"Okay!"

Ye Anning nodded, turned, and entered the unit door; with a "click," the latch locked into place.

Lin Sicheng shoved his hands into his pockets and walked back slowly. He hung his head, as if counting ants.

Dan Wangshu stood by the window, watched him walk away, and pulled the curtains shut.

Immediately, the sound of a lock opening came from the doorway; Ye Anning entered, changed her shoes, and hung up her bag and trench coat.

Dan Wangshu smiled: "What were you chatting about, standing downstairs for so long?"

Ye Anning pursed her lips: "We didn't chat!"

"Oh?" Dan Wangshu was stunned, "Then why stand there for so long, what were you doing?"

"Thinking about a problem!"

Wang Qi Zhi had just taken a sip of tea and nearly spat it out.

Dan Wangshu turned around and glared at him: You still have the face to laugh?

She thought for a moment: "Was Lin Sicheng in a daze the whole time, not saying a word, stopping every few steps, either looking up at the sky or down at the ground?

It was the same when he ate; his eyes were fixed on the food, but there was no focus in his pupils. He didn't even realize what he was picking up with his chopsticks or what he was feeding into his mouth—would he even dare to eat it if you served him maggots?"

Ye Anning laughed out loud and nodded vigorously.

"He's hopeless!"

Dan Wangshu covered her forehead, "No wonder they are master and apprentice?"

Wang Qi Zhi also laughed and set down his tea cup: "What Cultural Relics did you show Bai Wan that stumped Lin Sicheng like this?"

"Just a piece of goldware and an Agate Cup. He looked at them quite quickly and said both were imitations... but in the end, Teacher Bai bought that Dehua White Bowl that hadn't been repaired yet, offering 180,000, saying she would come over to pay tomorrow..."

"That Zhuyou White one, right?" Wang Qi Zhi paused, "Does Bai Wan have that kind of eye?"

"She took it back for Teacher Zhang to look at!"

"Zhang Jindong, no wonder!" Wang Qi Zhi nodded, "He spent over two hundred on the porcelain shards and sold them for 180,000; that's not bad!"

If he had sold it, it would have been at least 200,000 or more.

"You call this 'not bad'? Wang Qi Zhi, how much do you earn from repairing a piece of Bronze? Thirty or fifty thousand at most. Besides, how many pieces do you repair in a year?"

Although she had long been numbed by the shock, Dan Wangshu still sighed: every day she heard about Lin Sicheng making money—not tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands or millions; even a printing press wouldn't be that fast.

"How many Bronze Cultural Relics have you seen that can be traded normally?" Wang Qi Zhi argued back, then looked suspicious, "Then what is Lin Sicheng worried about?"

"It's not worry, it should be curiosity." Ye Anning thought for a moment, "It seems the technique on those two gold ornaments is very rare: they used some kind of 'Rhenium'?"

Lin Sicheng said that you only need a tiny bit of Gold Plating to make copper look like fake gold... and you can't even burn it off with fire!"

Wang Qi Zhi couldn't help but be startled, thinking to himself that Lin Sicheng was impressive—he even knew about Rhenium?

He hadn't known either, until he went to Baoji (the country's largest Rhenium production area, accounting for seventy percent of the total domestic reserves) and helped a leader at Lianshi Aviation (the domestic leader in the Rhenium industry) appraise some Cultural Relics, only then did he learn what Rhenium was.

There were very few people who knew you could use this stuff to make fake gold, and even fewer who knew that using Rhenium for Gold Plating couldn't be detected even by burning it with fire.

Wang Qi Zhi just felt that this kid knew more crooked ways of doing things than legitimate ones.

Just as his thoughts were wandering wildly, Ye Anning suddenly asked again: "Uncle, what is Fried Bead Gold Inlay?"

The hand holding the tea cup paused, and Wang Qi Zhi's eyes widened: "What gold?"

"Fried Bead Gold Inlay!"

With a "clack," Wang Qi Zhi slammed the tea cup onto the coffee table: "He said it himself, Fried Bead Gold Inlay?"

"Yes... Lin Sicheng was in a daze all night, he's been pondering this the whole time!"

Staring blankly is nothing? I'm even blanker myself...

Wang Qi Zhi stood up, felt his pockets, and looked around: "Where is my phone... Wife, where is my phone?"

"Wang Qi Zhi, what kind of madness are you acting out?"

"What do you know?"

After searching around, Wang Qi Zhi fished his phone out from the sofa crevice, "A palace secret technique lost for hundreds of years has reappeared in the world, do you think I'm not excited?"

As he spoke, he dialed, and then: "The number you have dialed is powered off..."

"What time is it?"

Wang Qi Zhi was a bit dazed, looking at Ye Anning.

"I don't know, it must be out of battery!"

"Then since you two were downstairs, why didn't you bring him up?"

"It's precisely because he was thinking so intently that I didn't dare bring it up!"

Ye Anning let out a "tch": "Once he comes, can't you two chat for the whole night?"

"Nonsense, how could one night be enough?"

It was only because it was too late, otherwise Wang Qi Zhi would have taken Lin Sicheng and rushed to that shop.

Just after replying, the phone "buzzed" once.

Wang Qi Zhi tapped it open and squinted his eyes. It was just one text message, the content no more than ten characters: Professor Wang, the matter has been handled!

After reading it again, Wang Qi Zhi's mood suddenly eased.

He had almost forgotten, Lin Sicheng had just poked a hornet's nest.

He thought for a moment, pressed the keypad, and replied with six characters: Secretary Ding, sorry for the trouble!

Then he grabbed his phone and went into the bedroom: "Time to sleep!"

Ye Anning and Dan Wangshu looked at each other: "Aunt, why is Uncle acting so weird?"

"Who knows?" Glancing over, Dan Wangshu waved her hand, "Don't mind him, sleep!"