Chapter 107: The Vanity Appraisal

The classroom instantly exploded with gasps of shock.

The number one million had already exceeded the range of understanding for first-graders.

But the four words "used by the Emperor" carried a particularly strong impact.

"It's so beautiful... that green is just like jade," a girl in the front row whispered in admiration.

Teacher Li frowned, casting a glance at the inkstone inside the box.

She had never expected parents to let their children bring such precious antiques to school for an ordinary class meeting.

"Student Wang Zitao, this is too valuable; put it away after the introduction to avoid accidental bumps," Teacher Li spoke up to remind him.

Wang Zitao curled his lips.

"My mom said true traditional culture must have depth and must be worth money."

He picked up the appraisal certificate, turned, and left the podium.

He did not walk back to his original seat.

Instead, he walked step by step down the aisle towards the back.

He stopped at the position on the left side of the fifth row.

That was the desk of Xiao Ya and Xiao Sizi.

On the top right corner of Xiao Ya's desk today sat a cloth tiger the size of a palm.

It was sewn together from several pieces of scrap cloth of different colors.

The stitches were very tight, but the sewn lines were slightly crooked.

The fabric's color was old and dim, and the cotton stuffing inside was flat and not fluffy.

Wang Zitao stopped his feet, extended a finger, and pointed directly at that cloth tiger.

"Hey, what kind of broken thing did you bring?"

Xiao Ya suddenly shrank her shoulders, quickly moving both hands over to cover the cloth tiger.

"I... my grandma sewed it for me."

Xiao Ya kept her head down, her voice trembling as she spoke.

Wang Zitao let out a cold sneer from his nose.

He grabbed the gold-edged appraisal certificate in his hand and waved it back and forth above Xiao Ya's desk.

"A broken trinket sewn from scraps of cloth, can this even be called traditional culture?"

Wang Zitao's tone was particularly sharp, permeating from start to finish with the arrogance his mother taught him every day.

"Your broken cloth tiger, no one would even want to pick it up if you threw it in the trash."

After speaking, he patted the certificate clutched in his hand.

"This one stone of mine can buy ten sets of your family's houses."

The boys who usually liked to follow Wang Zitao let out a round of unrestrained laughter right there.

"My grandma sewed it for a whole month... it is not trash," Xiao Ya raised her head, wanting to refute.

But the voice got stuck in her throat, as thin as a mosquito's buzz.

"It is just trash!" Wang Zitao pressed closer step by step, refusing to let go.

The poor person's self-esteem, placed before an antique worth a million, was torn to shreds by this malicious comparison.

Xiao Ya lowered her head, and her eyes turned red instantly.

She used her rough back of the hand to wipe her eyes fiercely.

Then she swept that cloth tiger into the deepest part of the drawer.

Xiao Sizi sat on the outer side of the seat.

The education of the Great Tang Imperial Family emphasized not rejoicing in material things nor grieving over oneself.

Princes, kings, and generals enjoying brocade clothes and jade food relied on their own bloodline.

Common people at the bottom stitching cloth dolls stitch by stitch hide their love for their children.

Both of these are reasonable and conform to human nature.

But relying on having a few stinking coins to ruin someone else's hard work.

Such a thing, in the Great Tang, would be arrogance.

The rules in Taiji Palace dictated that if a prince made a mistake, he would be struck on the palm with a ruler.

Bullying the weak meant kneeling in punishment at the ancestral temple; readers are all discussing the charm of historical novels in the discussion forum. Noble swords and blades are used to cut down unfairness.

They are not used to show off power against the weak.

Xiao Sizi frowned, a mass of cold air gathering in the depths of her eyes.

She withdrew her gaze and stood up directly.

The original laughter in the classroom stopped instantly.

Xiao Sizi walked out into the aisle without even looking at Wang Zitao.

She walked straight towards the podium ahead.

Her gaze crossed the blackboard and locked directly onto the dark red inkstone placed in the red sandalwood box.

Seeing this, Wang Zitao instinctively stepped back half a pace.

Coming to his senses, he hurriedly returned to the podium.

The scene from two months ago when school first started, where this girl had exposed his aura right there, was still fresh in his mind.

But after glancing at the gold-edged appraisal certificate in his hand, his confidence slowly surged up again.

"Poor wretch, what are you looking at?" Wang Zitao reached out to grab the lid of the wooden box, preparing to close it. "Something worth a million; if you chip off even a tiny bit of stone dust, selling you wouldn't be enough to pay for it!"

Xiao Sizi happened to block the falling bronze latch.

The wooden box instantly stabilized there, not moving an inch.

"Imperial Tang?" A hint of cold mockery floated into Xiao Sizi's eyes.

She reached out and pointed at the rim surrounding the inkstone, which was carved with a scene of dragons playing in water, without touching it.

"The first point is fake; the craftsmanship simply doesn't match."

"This ring of coiling dragons uses an exceptionally complex openwork deep-carving technique, with even the gaps between the dragon scales hollowed out."

"When the Great Tang was first established, the nation was only slowly recovering; what the royal family used valued a robust spirit and great skill that appeared unadorned."

"This kind of overly intricate openwork pattern couldn't even cross the threshold of Taiji Palace back then!"

"It's more like the style Sui Dynasty craftsmen favored; using Sui carving techniques to carve an Imperial Tang inkstone is completely putting the wrong hat on the wrong head."

"A Tang Dynasty artifact made with Sui Dynasty craftsmanship..."

Xiao Sizi stopped here, smiled, and did not continue.

Down at the podium, homeroom teacher Li was instantly stunned.

Today was Traditional Culture Week, and seven or eight parents had come to sit in the back row for a rotating observation.

At this moment, all the adults' gazes converged on the podium.

A first-grade child could casually speak of the differences in vessel carving craftsmanship between the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Wang Zitao didn't understand the distinction between the former Sui and the Great Tang; he only knew the other person was saying the treasure in his hand was fake.

"You're talking nonsense! My mom had a big expert in Jingcheng look at it!" Wang Zitao waved the plastic-sealed paper card in his hand, his face instantly turning bright red.

Xiao Sizi didn't argue back and forth with him; she gently tapped the side of the inkstone.

Ding!

A sharp, crisp ringing sound emerged, echoing back and forth throughout the entire classroom.

"Did you hear clearly?" Xiao Sizi looked at Wang Zitao and said, "The second point is wrong; the polishing is fake and not genuine at all."

"Ancient people making inkstones would use jade-grinding sand paired with mountain spring water, relying entirely on the artisan's hands to polish slowly day after day, creating a solid foundation."

Xiao Sizi tapped the inkstone again, producing another crisp sound.

"Old objects polished by hand with water produce a dull sound when struck, like knocking on green tiles."

"Your stone's sound is floating and rootless; it's obviously cut at high speed by a modern electric motor with a diamond grinding wheel, and the heat hasn't even dissipated yet."

Delivering two solid pieces of antique appraisal knowledge directly stunned everyone.

Wang Zitao stood with his mouth open, stammering.

He couldn't spit out a single word of rebuttal.

He cast a look of help toward the parents' seating area in the back row where they were observing.