Chapter 49: It Was All for the Last Sentence

"What would you like to eat?"

"Thank you, Professor Wang, the cafeteria is fine!"

"Alright!"

The school had a restaurant specifically for receiving guests; the private rooms were beautifully appointed, and the quality of the food was excellent, no worse than a large hotel.

The dishes were served quickly, and Wang Qi Zhi took out a wine bottle and asked for two stemmed glasses.

Lin Sicheng was startled: even now, a bottle of this wine would cost over ten thousand.

Wang Qi Zhi pried open the cap, but Lin Sicheng waved his hand and asked for a bottle of fruit juice.

It wasn't that he couldn't drink, but that he had to drink as little as possible: setting aside personal preference, this stuff had a significant impact on cognitive function and memory, and those who did Artifact Research generally didn't like it much.

Wang Qi Zhi did not insist, poured himself half a glass, and sipped it in small mouthfuls.

Suddenly, he exhaled: "Six Point Six Burn, hard to imagine?"

Lin Sicheng stopped his chopsticks: "Actually, it's not hard. This is firing a new piece; with current technology and craftsmanship, it's very easy to achieve... What's hard is how to restore the original artifact to this level!"

That's not right, is it?

If it were really as easy as Lin Sicheng said, could it have shocked Shang Yan into looking like she'd seen a ghost?

No matter how little Wang Qi Zhi understood, he at least knew the difference between technological craftsmanship and traditional methods.

He paused for a moment: "What do you mean?"

Lin Sicheng sighed: "Professor Wang, I won't hide it from you: that fish tail, the piece I pried off the bottom of the basin, you didn't see it, did you? Because it shattered during the fourth firing..."

Wang Qi Zhi didn't speak, pondering for quite a while.

Then, he picked up his chopsticks and picked up a peanut: "So?"

Lin Sicheng's expression was very serious, "So, for the original artifact restoration, at most, one can only achieve a Three Point Three Burn!"

"Oh?" Wang Qi Zhi picked up the wine bottle and poured another small half-glass, "And then?"

This "and then" actually stumped Lin Sicheng.

Professor Wang, can you not be so calm?

Or did you not listen carefully: I might very well ruin that plate for you during the restoration?

Just as he was organizing his words, Wang Qi Zhi raised his glass: "Lin Sicheng, you don't intend to burn that plate until it's ruined, do you?"

Lin Sicheng's eyelids twitched: it wouldn't go as far as being ruined, at most it would just be slightly worse in the restoration.

But he only had this thought in his heart, and Wang Qi Zhi, as if he could read minds, squinted his eyes:

"Lin Sicheng, no matter how much of a layman I am, I have studied arts and crafts. Don't tell me: you fired it six times and were able to apply the gradient effect of the Glaze Material to make the sample reach a color saturation and texture almost identical to the original, and if you fire it three times less, you won't know how?"

"Or are you saying you didn't expect to use too much force: you just tried it out and actually fired the sample so well, so perfectly? Later, when you got home, the more you thought about it, the more you felt something was wrong: how the hell do I explain this?

It just so happened that I called you to invite you to dinner, so you started to ponder: you can't explain your way out of it, so you can only insist to the end: it was just a coincidence that it turned out so well.

When it comes time for the actual restoration, you'll fire it a bit worse, or just ruin it entirely... At worst, you'll just refund my money! But you were afraid I'd be suspicious, so you took the opportunity of this meal to give me a heads-up in advance... Am I right?"

"Professor Wang, it's not like that, and I didn't think that way..."

"Whether you thought that way or not, I can judge for myself!"

Lin Sicheng was just about to explain, but Wang Qi Zhi waved his hand to interrupt, finished the wine in his glass in one gulp, and then began counting on his fingers:

"Come, let's calculate from the beginning: Lin Sicheng, the first time we met, you asked for ten thousand for that book, did I bargain? No, right?"

"After that, for the Iron Certificate, didn't I offer fifty thousand directly without you even having to open your mouth? Did I?"

"And this plate: that friend of yours who looks honest but is actually full of bad intentions... Yes, that dead Fatty from Rongbaozhai, he asked for eight hundred thousand, ninety-four thousand with commission, did I bargain even a penny?"

"So, Lin Sicheng, put your hand on your heart: does your conscience hurt?"

Wang Qi Zhi's mouth was like a machine gun, and he drank while scolding; in the blink of an eye, he had finished three half-glasses. Lin Sicheng wanted to defend himself but didn't even have a chance to interject.

Seeing him pick up the wine bottle again, Lin Sicheng pressed it down, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Indeed, he hadn't expected the sample's effect to be that good.

It wouldn't go as far as ruining the original, but if he really restored it, the effect would indeed be slightly worse than the sample. The main reason was that the original Glaze Layer was too fragile, and he didn't dare to go all out.

Of course, he did have a little bit of a hidden motive: better safe than sorry. If he went all out and succeeded, the effect would definitely be even better than the sample.

It's no exaggeration to say that even if his grandfather came, he might not be able to fire it.

It was too troublesome to explain, so it was better to hold back two parts of his strength from the start.

He did indeed want to give Wang Qi Zhi a heads-up in advance, but he didn't expect that before he even opened his mouth, he had already guessed seven or eight out of ten?

But asking himself, Wang Qi Zhi had indeed treated him well... That was enough!

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment and sighed: "Fine, I'll do my best!"

Smart of you.

Wang Qi Zhi had been prepared to finish this bottle and throw a drunken tantrum along the way... just to see if Lin Sicheng was scared or not?

Capping the wine bottle, Wang Qi Zhi also asked for a bottle of fruit juice.

He poured a glass, clinked it with Lin Sicheng, and sighed with a hint of melancholy: "Lin Sicheng, this world is not as complicated as you think, so what are you afraid of?"

"I know!" Lin Sicheng nodded, "But it's very troublesome!"

Wang Qi Zhi pondered for a moment and agreed deeply.

Which genius isn't envied by others? Take him, for example.

Questioning and suspicion didn't matter, but as Lin Sicheng said: it really was very troublesome.

If family asks, don't you have to explain?

If leaders ask, if teachers ask, don't you also have to explain?

Classmates and colleagues are even more endless. The key is, even after you explain, they don't believe you! Over and over again, it's tiresome.

So it's better not to admit it; if asked, just say it was a coincidence, a lucky guess...

"Don't worry, I definitely won't ask!"

"It doesn't matter if you ask!" Lin Sicheng nodded, "I learned it from books!"

Wang Qi Zhi was choked up for a moment: come to think of it, this excuse was actually quite perfect?

"Then what is the point of your studying?"

Lin Sicheng looked matter-of-fact: "Of course there's a point, at the very least I can get a university diploma, right?"

What else?

At least ninety percent of university students come here for this. At the very least, it's easier to find a job after graduation, isn't it?

Wang Qi Zhi nodded: "What about you? You're graduating next year, have you thought about where you're going?"

Lin Sicheng shook his head: "Haven't thought about it yet!"

Impossible.

At most, he was just a little hesitant.

"Pursue a master's degree, stay at the school, join a work unit, or go solo—you have to choose one path! Of course, if you want to graduate early, it wouldn't be hard to arrange, but I think it's better for you to pursue a master's degree!"

Lin Sicheng paused: "Why?"

"Hasn't your grandfather told you?"

Of course he had.

Pure accumulation of wealth will cause the greed in a person's heart to expand infinitely... so what counts as wealth?

Knowledge, ability, insight, experience... and only lastly, money.

And as it happens, he already possessed almost all of these, skipping the process of accumulation entirely. But from a certain perspective, this also meant endless trouble.

Compared to that, the school is more like a fortress; he could leave at any time, but others couldn't just walk in, which effectively provided an extra layer of protection. It also gave him sufficient space and time to accumulate the strength needed for self-preservation.

Lin Sicheng basically agreed, but he felt it was too slow.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Sicheng picked up the juice and filled Wang Qi Zhi's glass: "And then?"

"Come and be my graduate student!"

Wang Qi Zhi sipped the juice unhurriedly: "Forgot to tell you, Professor Shang originally wanted you to take her graduate entrance exam, but after I reasoned with her and appealed to her emotions, she has changed her mind... look, am I not very thoughtful?"

Lin Sicheng was stunned for a moment, a strange look appearing in his eyes.

So, whether it was these two bottles of ten-year-old Moutai, the praise after coming in, the scolding, or even the act of pretending to be drunk, including the rambling talk at the end, was it all for this final sentence?

But Professor Wang, aren't you afraid that one day Professor Shang will catch you and spit in your face?