Chapter 48: Hosting a Banquet
Wang Qizhi took away the Kuikou plate, leaving only a photo of it on the computer.
Shang Yan stared blankly at the screen, her eyes vacant as her fingers absentmindedly tapped on the desk—“tap tap… tap tap…”
Suddenly, she turned around. “Li Zhen, have you mentioned Lin Sicheng’s graduate school application today?”
“Not yet, I was planning to have him discuss it with you in person.”
“That’s good… but don’t bring it up anymore from now on!”
“Ah?”
Yesterday, Professor Shang was so eager when she asked about it?
Seeing Li Zhen stunned, Shang Yan recalled a few words Wang Qizhi said before leaving:
“Professor Shang, if Lin Sicheng joins, how will you handle it? Will you treat him like any other new graduate student, following standard procedures? Or will you give him special treatment based on his talent? If the latter, how will you manage the other students? So, Professor Shang, you need to consider first: Lin Sicheng won’t be your only graduate student. There are second- and third-year graduates, PhDs, even postdocs… If he comes, what will happen to these students?”
That single sentence woke her from her reverie.
She sighed deeply and looked seriously at Li Zhen. “If he joins, in the lab, will you be the one reporting to him, or will he report to you?”
Li Zhen was stunned.
She knew very well that, whether in knowledge, familiarity with experimental procedures, or research level, she was slightly inferior to Lin Sicheng.
The saying goes: “No precedence in learning; one who attains is the teacher.” Logically, she should be the one listening to Lin Sicheng.
But what about the other graduate students? Should they also listen to Lin Sicheng? The question is, would they?
Or should Lin Sicheng listen to her?
Never mind whether Lin Sicheng would agree, what if she herself made a mistake?
She understood the reasoning but felt a sense of regret.
“There’s nothing to regret!” Shang Yan shook her head. “As Professor Wang said: you can’t sacrifice the whole forest for a single good tree… As a teacher, you must uphold the proper moral standards!”
Li Zhen bit her lip but dared not speak further.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that the professor had fallen into Professor Wang’s trap.
…
Wang Qizhi half-reclined on the sofa, eyes fixed on the two fish at the bottom of the plate, feeling he could never look enough.
How beautiful, how vivid, how natural!
Why not trust Lin Sicheng a little more and let him repair it directly?
Just as he was brooding, the lock clicked open, and Ye Anning pushed the door open.
Wang Qizhi glanced briefly and continued to watch the plate.
He didn’t even move his body, half-lying on the sofa, absent-minded, lost in thought.
Yet his eyes shone with deep affection and admiration.
Ye Anning paused for a moment and whispered, “Auntie, Uncle seems to have had a heartbreak!”
…
“Damn girl!”
Shan Wangshu shoved her playfully, and the family filed in one after another.
Looking at Wang Qizhi again, his mental state did seem odd—lazy, sickly, eyes unblinking as if dazed, but with a smile on his face.
“What are you daydreaming about?”
Shan Wangshu scolded and came closer to take a look. “Hey, the plate’s been restored?”
“So quickly?”
Wang Qihua perked up, and the whole family gathered around.
“Wow, it’s really beautiful!”
“These fish look alive; they’re even blowing bubbles!”
“Looks like it’s not fully repaired. Uncle, look, the fish aren’t attached yet. This copper plate must be a sample… but those scales are so fine, and the ripples and water droplets are incredibly realistic…”
Ye Anning clicked her tongue in admiration. “The glaze color is so rich. Ordinary people definitely can’t fire this!”
Wang Qizhi nodded. “It was glazed six times—can it not be rich?”
“Six times?”
Wang Qizhi counted on his fingers. “Six times, fired at 666 degrees!”
Ye Anning was stunned. “Uncle, your Vice Dean Lin… is pretty amazing?”
It wasn’t Vice Dean Lin who was amazing, but Lin Sicheng.
Wang Qizhi sighed softly. “Why use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken?”
“What?”
“Lin Sicheng’s exact words: repairing this plate doesn’t even require his grandfather’s involvement!”
Wang Qizhi sat up straight and pointed at the sample. “This was made by Lin Sicheng—the young man you met yesterday. He found this plate… coincidence, right?”
“He can repair glaze?”
“He can do much more… The whole maintenance process for the iron ticket you helped with the other day? That was all taught by him!”
Ye Anning was completely at a loss.
When she first arrived, her uncle had shown off the iron ticket and asked for her help maintaining it.
She was surprised because her uncle’s research had always focused on bronzes; she didn’t expect him to be skilled with iron as well.
But he said his student taught him.
She didn’t believe it then, but it turned out to be true.
“Where did he learn it?”
“From books!”
Tch, not even a decent lie.
Ye Anning stopped asking and stared at the copper plate, circling it as she looked. “This craftsmanship alone should be enough for the provincial museum, right?”
“The provincial museum?” Wang Qizhi chuckled. “Believe it or not, if I took a plate like this to the capital, both the Palace Museum and the Enamel Factory would be scrambling for it.”
That sounded exaggerated.
…
Words on his lips, Ye Anning swallowed them back: firing six times at 666 degrees to achieve this level of skill—whether in the Palace Museum or the Enamel Factory, it would certainly be considered masterful, and they would indeed compete for it.
Isn’t that to say that even before he graduates, he’s already paved a sunlit path beneath his own feet?
Startled, Ye Anning suddenly remembered: “The iron ticket was sold to you by him too?”
“Yes, the iron ticket cost 40, and he sold it to me for 500,000. The Kuikou plate was a gift, but he sold the elder brother’s for 800,000…”
Wang Qizhi chuckled. “That means in three days, he earned 1.3 million from our family!”
“No… how old is he?”
“A senior in college. How old could he be?”
Ye Anning bit her lip, unsure how to react.
Instinctively, Lin Sicheng’s image surfaced in her mind: young, energetic, even a bit innocent.
At that age, having such insight was possible. But possessing research ability and craftsmanship comparable to experts who had studied for decades? No matter how she thought about it, it seemed impossible.
Others were outsiders, unfamiliar with research and craftsmanship. But at least they understood what 1.3 million meant.
And thinking about that young man… with such talent, why bother studying?
The atmosphere grew quiet, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, the phone on the coffee table rang.
Wang Qizhi answered it and immediately brightened. “You’re downstairs? Okay, okay…”
“What kind of wine? What, no alcohol? How can a man not drink?”
“Wait for me three minutes…”
After three quick sentences, he hung up and flipped over on the sofa.
“Brother, you’ve already eaten, right? Then I won’t bother you… I’m waiting downstairs!”
“Wife, where did I put that case of wine I brought from the capital?”
As he rummaged through boxes, the family looked on puzzled.
Soon, Wang Qizhi stood up, holding two bottles of Moutai.
The porcelain bottles were yellowed, and the labels had faded.
Wang Qihua was stunned. The wine was at least ten years old. When he first arrived, he had shared two bottles with the third brother and was still thinking about how to sneak away the remaining four.
Now, only two bottles were left?
Just as they wondered, Wang Qizhi had already reached the door, and with a loud bang, was gone without a trace.
The family exchanged glances: why did it feel like they were being chased away like dogs?
After some thought, Ye Anning walked to the window and pulled back the curtains. The family followed.
Twilight was falling; the sunset cast splendid patches of light through the branches of the old locust tree onto the ground.
A youth stood beneath the tree, rough bark pressing against his back. The evening breeze gently lifted stray strands of hair from his forehead, revealing a slightly immature yet handsome and refined face.
Wang Qizhi stepped out of the building and put his arm around Lin Sicheng’s shoulder…