Chapter 65: The Wayward Apprentice

The most authentic Qishan Sausage Noodles, served in a bowl the size of a human head, with translucent red oil floating atop the soup and noodles.

Red carrot, white tofu cubes, yellow egg ribbons, green chive leaves, black wood ear strips, and pale yellow alkaline noodles... like colorful pearls piled upon a rope of yellow jade.

Steam billowed upward. The scent of vinegar mixed with a pungent, spicy aroma darted into the nasal cavity, and his Adam's apple couldn't help but bob. With a light lift of his chopsticks and a "slurp," nearly half the noodles in the bowl were gone.

In three or four bites at most, only soup remained in the bowl, and Lin Sicheng reached over for a second bowl.

The uncle and nephew sat opposite each other, listlessly picking at their noodles.

They were very hungry, but there were even more points of contention: the two of them had been stunned from start to finish; never mind interjecting, they could barely keep up with the train of thought.

An old lady who spoke in professional jargon and whose face was covered in rust?

Even her walking stick was inlaid with Shang Jade, the kind of rare object one could only see upon entering a Museum, and she was bringing them out like a flowing stream?

And those dozen or so antiques that, while restored, could still be called treasures.

Even stranger was Lin Sicheng.

He spoke the jargon more fluently than the old lady, knew historical allusions and figures like the back of his hand, and could see through fake restorations at a glance?

And to top it off, when millions worth of Shang Jade were offered to him for free, he wasn't moved in the slightest?

Even if he suspected a scam, or worried about the provenance of the items, shouldn't he have struggled a bit internally?

But thinking back to that moment, Lin Sicheng hadn't even hesitated...

What surprised Wang Qi Zhi most was the small box the old lady finally brought out: to be willing to use items worth millions as payment, just how rare must the object Lin Sicheng was to restore be?

After finally waiting for Lin Sicheng to finish his second bowl, Wang Qi Zhi hurriedly reached out with his chopsticks:

"What was in that last small box?"

Truly famished, Lin Sicheng picked up the third bowl and took a "slurp" of noodles: "A Chicken Cup!"

"What?"

"A Chicken Cup!"

The hand holding the chopsticks trembled, sending ripples across the soup, and Wang Qi Zhi was dumbfounded.

As everyone knew, there were only a dozen or so Chicken Cups in existence: ten in the Taipei Palace Museum, and one each in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, and the Swiss Museum.

That made thirteen, and private collections in the civilian world certainly wouldn't exceed five... how much did that add up to?

But now, two more had suddenly popped up? Even if these two were broken...

He had just wanted to say it was impossible, but the words reached his lips and wouldn't come out.

He had been standing far away at the time, and it was somewhat backlit, so he hadn't seen it very clearly. He only knew there was a bird on the porcelain shard at the very top of the box.

But as for the other items, Wang Qi Zhi had seen them clearly: Lu Zigang Jade Carving, Li Dongyang Manuscript, Ming Emperor Imperial Tribute Inkstone... especially that Chengni Tribute Inkstone, which was as real as it could possibly be.

So, if it wasn't a Chicken Cup in the box, what kind of porcelain would it be that the restoration cost alone was several million?

Thinking along these lines, the old lady's identity as a "descendant of the Imperial Household Department Zaozuochang Craftsman" was nine times out of ten true.

If she weren't a descendant of a Craftsman, her hands and face wouldn't be rusted like that... unless that old lady had excavated thousands of fresh pits (items that had never seen daylight or been exposed to oxygen).

If she weren't a descendant of a Craftsman, it would be impossible for her to be able to repair porcelain, wood, bronze, and jade, and to repair them so well.

If she weren't a descendant of a Craftsman, it would be impossible for her to have stolen a Chicken Cup from the palace... even if it was broken...

But why did she insist on having Lin Sicheng repair it?

After a moment of thought, Wang Qi Zhi widened his eyes: "You know how to repair it?"

Lin Sicheng shook his head: "Not yet, but I can learn."

Wang Qi Zhi let out a "Ha": How would he learn?

Never mind the Chicken Cup, never mind the doucai; over eighty percent of Ming Porcelain restoration techniques had been lost. Where would Lin Sicheng learn them?

If they could be learned, the old lady would have learned them herself and wouldn't need to beg Lin Sicheng.

Wang Qi Zhi looked at the wooden box at his feet, completely unable to fathom it: "But the old lady seems convinced that you will definitely be able to learn it?"

Lin Sicheng sighed inwardly: Because I really can.

He had indeed never repaired a Chicken Cup, but he had repaired plenty of doucai; it was nothing more than practicing a few more times...

Lin Sicheng was silent for a long time: "She must have smelled the Blue Pointing scent on me!"

After replying, Lin Sicheng put down his chopsticks and pointed to the blue dot on his right fingernail, "Professor Wang, this is lacquer for Blue and White Porcelain Repair; I mixed it on a whim when I was doing some Blue Pointing the other day, and a bit got on me and won't wash off..."

Wang Qi Zhi nodded: "I know, and then?"

Those two fish had been glued on by Wang Qi Zhi himself, and at the time, Feng Lin had even reminded him that Lin Sicheng had mentioned this lacquer wouldn't wash off once it got on one's hands...

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "True lacquer for Blue and White Porcelain Repair refers to the adhesive lacquer used exclusively by the Imperial Porcelain Factory during the Ming Dynasty to repair Blue and White Porcelain, which was later passed down to the Qing Dynasty and used specifically to repair the Blue and White Porcelain left behind by the Ming Dynasty...

Because the Glaze Material formulas are similar and both require Cobalt Material, it was improved by the Zaozuochang and later used to repair Enamel... but the specific formula was lost during the Republic of China..."

After a slight pause, Lin Sicheng emphasized his tone: "Professor Wang, I'm not lying to you; this actually isn't real lacquer for Blue and White Porcelain Repair, it's just something I fumbled and mixed myself based on historical records... but I don't know why, the old lady is convinced: this is the real lacquer for Blue and White Porcelain Repair..."

"She inferred from this that if I can mix lacquer for Blue and White Porcelain Repair, I must be able to repair Ming Blue and White Porcelain; if I can repair Ming Blue and White Porcelain, I must be able to repair doucai (doucai porcelain uses Blue and White Porcelain as a Base Glaze for Overglaze), and if I can repair doucai, I must be able to repair a Chicken Cup..."

Spreading his hands, Lin Sicheng sighed: "That's why I didn't want that inkstone, but the old lady wouldn't believe me and insisted on giving me a box of porcelain shards to let me practice first..."

Lin Sicheng spoke quickly, urgently, and at length. At first, Wang Qi Zhi was still turning it over in his mind. But upon hearing the last sentence, his hand couldn't help but tremble, and his chopsticks dropped into the noodle bowl.

The corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably, and he nearly cursed out loud: Lin Sicheng, are you full of it?

I'm your teacher, and you're trying to fool me like this?

It was just that tiny little bit, the size of a millet grain; it had been several days, and I hadn't even noticed it.

But the old lady recognized it at a single glance—how sharp must her eyes be?

So, could she have been wrong?

Even just now, Wang Qi Zhi was still thinking, if that really was a Chicken Cup in the box, would the old lady have taken it out so carelessly?

Now he thought again: Careless, my foot?

The saying "the older one gets, the more cunning one becomes" was perfectly embodied in the old lady:

Why did the old lady insist on stuffing her walking stick into Lin Sicheng's hands?

Test his eye for detail.

Why use Shang Jade to lure Lin Sicheng?

Test his character.

The subsequent jargon, Hidden Gold in Sleeve, the dozen or so restored items, and the three treasures were all part of the setup.

Beyond probing Lin Sicheng's background, it was even more important to probe his capabilities and, ultimately, his character.

Even that question Lin Sicheng asked, "Why not send it to the Forbidden City for repair," was intentional on the old lady's part: who with a normal mindset could resist asking?

And if you didn't ask, that would mean there was something wrong with you. Nine times out of ten, it would mean you had ulterior motives.

So, in that short hour or so, how many schemes did that old lady play, and how many methods and how much wisdom did she use?

And this is just a descendant of the Imperial Household Department Craftsman?

This is a veteran, a senior who has weathered storms, experienced waves, seen enough sycophancy and deceit, and has long since tempered a pair of fiery, discerning eyes.

And could the Chicken Cup she brought out only after so many tests, until she was certain—with at least ninety percent confidence—be fake?

And such a person, who wouldn't even release the hawk unless she saw the rabbit, would she, based on just a tiny bit of speculation, give someone porcelain shards worth hundreds of thousands to practice on, or even dare to give someone millions in imperial wares as a deposit?

Therefore, that blue dot on Lin Sicheng's fingernail is absolutely genuine repair lacquer...

Therefore, Lin Sicheng, who didn't say a single truthful word from start to finish and was full of nonsense, really can repair the Chicken Cup...

Subconsciously, Wang Qi Zhi recalled the words Lin Sicheng had just spoken and couldn't help but grit his teeth:

"Professor Wang, really, I just read the literature a few times here and there and figured out the formula by messing around..."

"Professor Wang, really, I've never repaired doucai before, but I can learn..."

"Come, tell me: how did you figure it out, and where do you intend to learn from?"

"You wicked apprentice, I am your teacher, and you are trying to fool me like this?"