Chapter Sixteen: Getting to the Bottom of Things

  "Is this really what you spent one hundred and fifty yuan on?" asked Xiaolan's father, turning his head.

  "Is that so! The copper Buddha is eighty, the snuff bottle is seventy, adding up to one hundred and fifty-five, what's wrong? What's not right?" Sun Xiaolan saw her father's strange expression and couldn't help but ask back in surprise.

  "Seventy? Eighty?"

  Xiao Lan's father held two treasures in his hands, stunned on the spot, unable to laugh or cry.

  After a while, he took a deep breath and calmed down, saying: "It's not right, and it's too wrong! The two things you bought are not counterfeit, but genuine! And they're quite valuable genuine goods! This bronze Buddha is worth 50,000 yuan on the market! And this white jade five-color snuff bottle, a friend of mine once offered 80,000 yuan to buy from someone else, and the other party refused to sell!"

  "What?!"

  "No way!"

  Sun Xiaolan and her mother were both shocked at the same time, exclaiming in surprise. No one had expected that two small trinkets bought for 150 yuan would be worth tens of thousands!

  Especially Sun Xiaolan, her eyes widened, mouth agape, and a look of utter incredulity on her face. She had been convinced from the start that these two items were fakes, never imagining that the two things Zhao Rui had picked out for himself would turn out to be expensive antiques!

  "Is this bronze Buddha and snuff bottle really worth that much money? Are they not fake?" Sun Xiaolan was stunned for a moment, then reacted and asked hastily.

  "Of course it's not a fake, you have to trust your old man's eyesight." Little Lan's father said very affirmatively.

  Sun Xiaolan cast a suspicious glance at Zhao Rui, these two things were what Zhao Rui had strongly advised her to buy at the time, she was somewhat doubtful, whether Zhao Rui had seen from the beginning that these two things were genuine.

  But where did Xiao Rui get such good eyesight? He hadn't touched any antiques before, had he? Besides, if he really had such good eyesight, then the jade pendant he bought for 2,000 yuan, was it real or fake?

  Sun Xiaolan thought to herself and asked tentatively, "Xiao Rui, you picked out these two things, did you already recognize at the time that this bronze Buddha and snuff bottle were valuable antiques?"

  "How could it be?" Zhao Rui hastily denied, "I just saw that these two things were made exquisitely, so I suggested you buy them. Who knew they would be worth so much? I don't know anything about antiques, how could I possibly recognize them? Didn't I buy a jade pendant for myself? That was a fake, and 2,000 yuan went down the drain."

  "Really?" Sun Xiaolan still had some doubts. "But I remember that at the time, you seemed quite confident that what you bought was a treasure!"

  "Hmph, that was just to save face. At the time, I was being ridiculed by so many antique dealers, I couldn't just slink away with my tail between my legs without saying a word, that would be too humiliating." Zhao Rui forced out a couple of dry laughs and quickly made excuses for himself.

  Sun Xiaolan looked at him sideways: "Then... take out the jade pendant you bought and let my dad see it."

  Zhao Rui let out a deep sigh in his heart, feeling that Xiaolan was too meticulous and too serious, not thoroughly investigating herself before giving up.

  As for that piece of terrestrial jade essence, during cultivation, the spiritual energy was absorbed dry, and it has already turned into powder. Where can I find another one?

  "The day before yesterday I fell to the ground and it broke, so I just threw it away." Zhao Rui forced a smile and casually made up an excuse, hoping to get past it.

  "A jade pendant worth 2,000 yuan was smashed and thrown away like that by you?" Sun Xiaolan's big eyes narrowed into a crescent shape, with a dangerous glint flashing inside, "Xiao Rui, are you deceiving your sister?"

  "No, no, absolutely not." Zhao Rui hastily waved his hand to clarify. If Xiaolan's sister got angry, she would pinch and scratch, extremely fierce. He had suffered from it since childhood and still had psychological shadows today.

  "Alright, alright, Xiao Lan. Look at you, you've got Xiao Rui so flustered that he's almost sweating bullets!" Xiao Lan's father intervened with a smile.

  Xiao Lan's mother also joked: "Yes, look at your expression just now, how similar it is to when I usually interrogate your father!"

  Xiao Lan's pretty face suddenly became like it was painted with rouge, both shy and charming.

  "Mom! What are you talking about?" She stomped her foot in a spoiled manner, "Is it Xiao Rui who didn't tell me the truth?"

  Xiao Lan's father smiled and said: "It's not that he didn't tell the truth, it's just that you're too suspicious. The antique business is vast and profound, even extremely skilled old hands can make mistakes sometimes. Xiao Rui had no experience with antiques before, how could he distinguish between true and false? That you were able to buy this bronze Buddha and snuff bottle was just good luck. However, luck can't always be on your side, it's normal for Xiao Rui to spend 2,000 yuan on a fake jade. You shouldn't be so suspicious!"

  Sun Xiaolan reluctantly accepted this explanation, but she always felt that Zhao Rui had hidden something from him. The familiar little Rui seemed to have changed in some way, but what exactly had changed, she couldn't quite put her finger on.

  Ate birthday cake, drank some wine, and chatted while eating until three o'clock in the afternoon before everyone dispersed happily.

  After lunch, Zhao Rui and Sun Xiaolan rested for a while before taking the bus back to school.

  Tomorrow is Monday, and I have to go back to class again.

  After arriving at school, Zhao Rui said goodbye to Sun Xiaolan and returned to his own dormitory.

  As soon as I entered the dormitory, I saw that Luo Cheng, Zhou Wei and Han Xing had all arrived and were sitting there, discussing something enthusiastically.

  "What's all the commotion about?" he asked with a smile.

  "Ah, Zhao Lao Da is back!" Han Xing exclaimed as soon as he saw him.

  "What's going on? It sounds so lively. Tell me about it." Zhao Rui sat down in a chair and joined their conversation.

  Luò Chéng suddenly pulled out a piece of chocolate from somewhere and stuffed it into his mouth, saying: "We were just talking about Yún Jiā's little sister Yún Fēi."

  "What's there to talk about? It has nothing to do with us." Zhao Rui let out a big yawn.

  "You're completely wrong. Yunfei is now in the same school as us, a freshman!" Luo Cheng said with his mouth full of chocolate.

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