During the system upgrade period.
Qin Yanan brought Tang Feng a serving of dumplings and also brought one for Mr. Xu.
But Mr. Xu couldn't bring himself to eat, so he gave both servings to Tang Feng.
Tang Feng didn't stand on ceremony and ate both servings of dumplings.
And truth be told, the dumplings Qin Yanan made were indeed delicious, as delightful and fragrant as she was herself, round and full.
Eating the dumplings under their watchful eyes, he felt it wouldn't do to just sit around waiting, so he pretended to examine the porcelain bowl in his hands, turning it over and back.
Time ticked by, and soon it was nine o'clock in the evening.
Not much time was left until the three hours he'd mentioned before.
During this period, Mr. Xu took three phone calls and looked at his watch more than a dozen times, growing more and more impatient.
Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer, "Mr. Tang, the three hours are almost up, what findings do you have for me?"
Qin Yanan, who had been sitting on the couch fiddling with her phone, playing Fight Landlords, hurriedly put down her phone and turned her head to look over.
Tang Feng didn't answer but silently opened the system's page.
"System upgrade progress 98%, estimated 3 minutes remaining…"
It's almost complete, the upgrade that is.
He had no choice but to cough dryly, "Don't rush, isn't it not three hours yet?"
Mr. Xu couldn't bear it anymore and slammed his hand onto the coffee table, standing up angrily, "Mrs. Qin, are you playing with me? Is this supposed to be funny?"
Qin Yanan quickly got up, "Mr. Xu, don't be in such a hurry, it's the last few minutes after waiting for three hours, don't you think?"
Mr. Xu was taken aback and laughed out of annoyance, "Fine, I'll wait a few more minutes. But if he can't give me a satisfying explanation, then Jifeng Hall will stop supplying to Ya Garden in the future."
Qin Yanan instantly felt a headache coming on.
Jifeng Hall is one of the largest antique suppliers in Zhonghai, and all the major antique shops source from them.
If Jifeng Hall were to cut off her supply in the future, her antique shop might as well close its doors for good.
She couldn't help but glance back at Tang Feng. If it wasn't for Mr. Xu's presence, she would have wanted to grab this guy by the ears and ask what on earth he was thinking.
But since things had come to this, she could only hope this guy really could find something wrong.
Otherwise, she'd see how she would deal with him.
"System upgrade complete! Scan system upgraded to LV2, unlocked features: system store, detailed item information…"
In the midst of the dull wait, a system prompt suddenly sounded in Tang Feng's ear.
He was instantly energized and hurriedly opened the system page.
The system page had undergone some subtle changes, and a "system store" button had been added on the side.
But he didn't have time to delve into it now, he needed to deal with the matter at hand first.
With the assistance of the upgraded system, when he scanned the porcelain bowl again, in addition to the conclusions he already knew, some detailed item information really did come up.
"Qing Guangxu Blue and White Official Kiln Bowl, identified as: fake!"
"Item information: The item is a modern crafted imitation with a high level of imitation. The Qing official kilns have sandy grains stuck in the glaze on the foot, whereas the imitations, being of higher firing technology than ancient ones, have thinner glazing, not causing such accumulations of glaze…"
"Identification methods: observation, tapping, carbon-14, thermoluminescence…"
"Item valuation: 50 yuan"
"…"
After seeing this information, Tang Feng finally let go of the anxiety in his heart; the system did not fail him after all.
Mr. Xu had been observing his every move, and seeing that he had relaxed and appeared to have made a decision, he spoke up again, "Mr. Tang, the three hours are up, can you give me an explanation now?"
Qin Yanan also immediately turned her gaze to Tang Feng, wanting to see what he would say.
Tang Feng placed the blue and white porcelain bowl on the coffee table and turned to look at Mr. Xu, "Your Jifeng Hall, you have quite a few appraisers specializing in ceramics, right?"
Mr. Xu, irritated by his beating around the bush, was immediately on edge, "Of course, our Jifeng Hall takes our reputation very seriously. That's why we employ many experts and professors with high salaries…"
"I think you can fire all of them," Tang Feng cut him off without waiting for him to finish.
"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Xu, already at the end of his patience, showing signs of exploding after a three-hour wait.
"What I mean is, not even being able to detect such an obvious fake, and they still dare to call themselves experts?"
Tang Feng spoke rather bluntly, not giving Mr. Xu a chance to retort, and took the chopsticks he had used for eating dumplings to tap on the blue and white porcelain bowl.
"Ding!"
The bowl immediately emitted a clear ring.
Tang Feng turned to Mr. Xu, "Do you hear anything?"
Mr. Xu frowned and listened for a moment, asking doubtfully, "Is there a problem with that?"
Tang Feng tapped again and turned to Qin Yanan, "Do you hear anything?"
Qin Yanan glared at him irritably, "If you've discovered something, why can't you just say it? It's so frustrating."
Seeing that the two still hadn't noticed, Tang Feng explained in detail, "The sounds produced by old and new porcelains are different."
"If it were old, the porcelain body would be hard, and the sound produced from knocking it would be deeper."
"Modern ceramic technology is much more advanced than in ancient times, making the density much higher. The decibels from tapping on a new porcelain will be a lot higher…"
Qin Yanan and Mr. Xu, one the owner of an antique shop and the other the sales manager of Jifeng Hall, both had deep knowledge in antiques.
Yet they were being taught a lesson by a newcomer just getting his feet wet.
The scene was quite amusing, to say the least.
But the newcomer made sense, and they found themselves at a loss for words for a moment.