Seeing this, Lu Jianzhao helplessly comforted her, saying, “It’s not necessarily true. I think this is a genuine piece of jade, isn’t it pretty good? Wanwan was just saying it casually, she might not be right. You’ve been looking at these things with your dad since you were little, how could you be wrong?”

Su Hongyan, however, wouldn’t listen to a word.

She didn’t want to hear Lu Jianzhao say anything ambiguous like ‘not necessarily’, ‘I think’, ‘might not be’, or ‘this is pretty good’. He was just making wild guesses to comfort her. He didn’t understand at all, unlike Chu Wan, who could speak fluently and knowledgeably using professional terms!

Although she was unwilling to admit it, she understood that Chu Wan was right; she had been deceived!

She was somewhat indignant. After thinking for a moment, she gritted her teeth and said, “No, I can’t let him get away with this so easily. Isn’t that just fooling me?”

She immediately turned back to find the old man.

Seeing this, Lu Jianzhao had no choice but to follow, and Chu Wan also went back to watch the excitement—she loved watching excitement the most.

When they went back, they found the old man sitting there with his legs crossed, puffing on his old pipe.

He let out a comfortable breath, opened one eye, and glanced sideways at Su Hongyan. “Why are you back?”

Su Hongyan said unhappily, “Isn’t this a scam? This is glass, not jade!”

These words amused the old man. He glanced at Chu Wan beside her and said slowly, “I didn’t say it was jade, did I? I only said it was a ‘no worries’ pendant, tucked in the prince’s belt, from the Qing Dynasty palace, so it’s genuine. But I didn’t say that everything from the Qing Dynasty palace is jade. Glass is also from the palace, don’t you think so?”

Su Hongyan was stunned, and Lu Jianzhao was dumbfounded as well.

He never said it was jade; he only said it was a ‘no worries’ plaque, claiming it came from the palace. But things from the palace weren’t necessarily jade; he didn’t even mention that!

The old man chuckled at the two. “Are you trying to snag a bargain here or what? You can’t see clearly, whose fault is it? If you managed to get a good deal, were you also going to come back and hold me responsible? If you bought the wrong thing, just blame it on your own blindness. Go find a secluded corner and gouge your own eyes out! Don’t embarrass yourself here!”

Su Hongyan was speechless and blushed.

If it were someone else, she would probably have made a scene, but she had seen things through her father’s experience and knew the rules of the trade. If you couldn’t see clearly, who could you blame but yourself? He didn’t deliberately lie to her; he just didn’t explain things clearly. She could only blame herself for not being discerning!

After a long pause, she finally suppressed her frustration and gritted her teeth, saying, “Fine, I’ll just consider it a mistake! I admit defeat!”

The old man tapped his pipe lightly on the stone bench beside him, white ash falling as he laughed and said, “Young lady, you can’t call this making a mistake. It’s when an expert buys something wrong that you make a mistake! You’re just an amateur, you’re a wooden mallet! You know nothing, yet you dare to spend tens of yuan on things. You’re a spendthrift, you have money but nowhere to spend it!”

A ‘wooden mallet’ is someone who doesn’t understand anything.

Upon hearing this, Su Hongyan was utterly dumbfounded and overwhelmed with shame, unable to utter a single word.

That old man was really ruthless; he got the benefit but still had to insult her so harshly!

Chu Wan advised from the side, “Sister Su, just consider it a lesson learned. It’s nothing. This glass is a good thing, it came from the Qing Palace. In the long run, it’s worth it. The price will eventually go up. Anyway, you won’t starve just because you’re short of 40 dollars. Just keep it.”

The old man nodded, “Look at this young girl, don’t underestimate her because of her age, she has a good eye and what she said makes sense. You two are still inexperienced, you should observe more and broaden your horizons. The more you see, the more you’ll understand!”

Su Hongyan’s face flushed red and then turned pale as she was told this, but she was still somewhat unconvinced. She looked the old man up and down and said, “Look at what you’re saying, you seem like an expert. You must be quite well-off!”

The old man chuckled and said, “We have so many old things in our house, they’re all stored away. I just came out to clear out all this junk first.”

Junk? Did that mean what you sold to people was junk?

Su Hongyan was speechless, “That’s too much! What else do you have at home?”

The old man slowly took a puff of his pipe and exhaled a smoke ring. “If you want to see it, just come to my house later, and you’ll broaden your horizons.”

Su Hongyan gritted her teeth, trying to justify herself, and stared at the old man, saying, “That’s great! We’ll go and broaden our horizons. No matter how much you have, it won’t be better than a museum!”

On the way back, Su Hongyan was still indignant. “I have to see for myself. I don’t believe he can have anything good with such a big mouth. I’m determined to get my revenge!”

Lu Jianzhao said, “Your family has a deep academic background. You were just careless this time. This old man is too cunning. He deliberately came out to trick people, and of course we fell for his trick.”

Su Hongyan wholeheartedly agreed, but after agreeing, she touched the jade pendant in her hand again, and ultimately felt a pang of heartache.

She was actually criticized like that; it made her want to vomit just thinking about it. He was just a wretched old man, wasn’t he?

Chu Wan had remained silent the whole time, but Lu Jianzhao suddenly remembered something and looked at Chu Wan. “Wanwan’s great-grandfather used to run an antique shop in Liulichang, no wonder Wanwan knows about this!”

At this moment, the way he looked at Chu Wan was different. It was as if he had walked eighteen laps and returned to the starting point, only to suddenly discover something good under his feet.

Upon hearing this, Su Hongyan looked at Chu Wan in surprise. “Really? Your great-grandfather owned an antique shop?”

Chu Wan nodded, “Yes, but that was a long time ago. My great-grandfather stopped doing it a long time ago, and my family doesn’t have much left. I just happened to have seen glassware before, so I’m a bit familiar with it. That’s all I can do.”

Su Hongyan said, “You’re already quite impressive to be able to see that. I couldn’t see it at all!”

Thinking back to what had just happened, she couldn’t help but feel a little regretful. “I was so stupid. I should have listened to your detailed explanation back then.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Wan naturally understood that even if she had said it at the time, Su Hongyan might not have believed her.

Su Hongyan had already negotiated a price with the seller, which put her in a difficult position. The seller knew how to keep Su Hongyan hanging on.

Su Hongyan definitely didn’t believe her at the time but instead believed that old man.

So all of this was hindsight and pointless.

Sometimes when people saw something they liked at the antique market, they became obsessed with buying it, and no one could stop them.

Once the money had been spent and they’ve calmed down, that’s only when they start to waver and doubt. At this point, they would believe whatever others say.

Su Hongyan looked at Chu Wan and tentatively asked, “Chu Wan, you seem to know quite a bit about jade, is that right?”

Chu Wan replied, “I don’t know much about jade, but I do know a few friends who have some good pieces on hand, and I’ve seen them.”

Su Hongyan said, “Good stuff?”

Chu Wan noticed Su Hongyan’s interest. “Your father collects jade, did he collect any ancient jade?”

Su Hongyan nodded, “Of course! My father loves antique jade.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Ancient jade referred to jade artifacts from the Han Dynasty (202 BCE- 220 CE) and earlier. Compared to jade from later dynasties, this type of jade was generally simple in design but heavy, and although the carving may not be very exquisite, it had a unique charm.

Nowadays, jade was a minor item. Even a finely carved jade pendant from the Qing Dynasty would only cost around 60 or 70 yuan at most. Ancient jade would be even cheaper, mainly because fewer people collect it and it was not a popular item.

However, everything depended on personal preference. If you find something you like, the price would naturally go up. As the saying goes, ‘you can’t buy what you love with a thousand pieces of gold.’

Upon hearing Su Hongyan’s words, Chu Wan said, “I have a friend who has several Han Dynasty jade gui, which are genuine and authentic. If you are interested, you can take a look.”

Su Hongyan asked, “Jade tablets?”

Chu Wan said, “According to the Rites of Zhou, six jade objects are made to worship heaven, earth, and the four directions: a blue jade bi (disc) to worship heaven, a yellow jade cong to worship earth, a green jade gui to worship the east, a red jade zhang to worship the south, a white jade hu to worship the west, and a black jade huang to worship the north.” 

“This green jade gui was a precious object used in rituals to worship the east.”

Su Hongyan’s father, Su Yuhang, naturally understood these things, but Su Hongyan was still a complete novice.

Su Hongyan listened to Chu Wan’s eloquent explanation and was impressed by her profound knowledge, so she immediately became interested. “Great! I’ll mention it to my dad later!”

Chu Wan listened and also felt that this was an opportunity.

She planned to make money in this line of work. To make money, she couldn’t just hoard good items and keep them in her stock. She had to circulate them. Finding a few regular sellers would be very beneficial. Since Su Hongyan’s father was rich, she could treat him as a long-term customer.

The key was that by having this one person, she might gradually attract other customers, allowing her to slowly expand her business and avoid her current situation of just blindly stumbling around.

After parting ways with Su Hongyan, Lu Jianzhao accompanied Chu Wan back, glancing at her from time to time without saying a word.

Chu Wan remained silent.

Lu Jianzhao sighed, “Wanwan, you’re usually so quiet, I never expected you to have such sharp eyes! I never realized you were so capable!”

Chu Wan said, “Our family used to do this. I’ve always been learning from my great-grandfather. Didn’t you know this, Eighth Brother?”

Lu Jianzhao said, “I’d only heard about it, but you never talked about it much. Who knew you’d be so quiet until you made such a big splash!”

Chu Wan slowly yawned before saying, “Eighth Brother, I only happen to know about this piece of jade; I may not know about others.”

Lu Jianzhao said, “Alright, Wanwan, you’re still being modest with me!”

Chu Wan didn’t really want to continue the topic, but Lu Jianzhao was quite attentive, asking all sorts of questions along the way. When he asked about the jade gui, Chu Wan gave him a brief introduction, and Lu Jianzhao listened with great admiration. 

“Actually, you are quite cultured. I think if you study hard, you have a good chance of getting into university.”

Lu Jianzhao brought up the college entrance exam preparation again, this time talking at length and much more patiently than before.

Pearls and Jade Beside Me in the ’80s translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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