Chapter 64: Moving

What is inlay-lacquer for ceramic mending?
It is a specialized type of glue and lacquer used exclusively to repair blue-and-white porcelain and cloisonné, originating from the miscellaneous crafts workshop of the Imperial Household Department's Workshops. Artisans specializing in repairing various vessels within this workshop were known as mending craftsmen.
Following Puyi's abdication, the artisans were completely dispersed. Some became folk artisans in the Beijing-Tianjin region, while others returned to their native places, either taking apprentices or establishing their own practices.
Among them, several became remarkably famous masters: such as Ancient Bronze Zhang, Painted Porcelain Li, and Mounting Liu (specializing in calligraphy and paintings)...
It was not until the 1950s that the State Bureau of Cultural Heritage established a cultural relic restoration department, recruiting these individuals, their descendants, and their apprentices to carry out specialized restoration and protection of key cultural relics in museums and cultural institutions across the country.
This included the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, the Terracotta Army...
Later, Northwest University took the lead in cooperating with the State Bureau of Cultural Heritage and the Shaanxi History Museum to establish a cultural relic protection and restoration course in 1985, officially founding a specialized major in cultural relic protection in 1989.
Due to a slightly different focus, Peking University started a bit later, cooperating with the Palace Museum to establish its program in 1993, and officially opened the cultural relic protection major in 1998.
The crucial point is that the traditional cultural relic protection and restoration techniques researched and taught by these two universities largely originated from these folk artisans. Therefore, Lin Sicheng claiming that Wang Qizhi's lineage traced back to "Ancient Bronze Zhang" and his grandfather's lineage to "Painted Porcelain Li" was far from being a far-fetched association.
Yet the old lady refused to accept it.
Then why was she so insistent on recognizing Lin Sicheng?
Because of that speck of inlay-lacquer on his fingernail.
In the early Republic of China, the lineage specializing in repairing blue-and-white and Ming dynasty porcelain was completely severed. It was not until 2020, during the renovation of the former site of the Palace Museum's Workshops, that related technical literature was unearthed from underground.
Subsequently, the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, and the Cultural Heritage Bureau conducted sequential research. The following year, in 2021, the relevant technological processes were included in the textbooks of major universities.
Yet today, this remains a strictly lost supreme technique... neither the Palace Museum nor the National Museum of China possesses it.
Just imagine how excited the old lady must have been when she caught sight of that speck of lacquer on Lin Sicheng's fingernail:
If one can mix lacquer, one can certainly mix glaze. If one can mix glaze, one can certainly refire. If one can refire, it means those two cups in the box can be restored to their original state... Who wouldn't be excited?
With this, the logical loop closed perfectly: no wonder the moment they met, the old lady offered him the ancient jade from her walking stick. Afterward, she became as warm and affectionate as a long-lost grandmother greeting her own grandson.
Therefore, giving away an inkstone worth three million meant nothing. If this were the old days, would you believe the mending craftsman could have asked her for half of her estate?
However, Lin Sicheng was not after this; he simply wanted to give it a try.
This was a chicken cup, after all. If he could genuinely repair it, would you believe his name could end up in textbooks in the future?
After thinking for a long time, Lin Sicheng let out a breath, pushed the box back, and said, "Elderly madam, I have never repaired one of these before. I'll need to practice my skills first when I get back!"
Of course he had never repaired one. Let alone repairing it, who would dare claim they had even seen one?
The old lady exposed her gums and smiled again. "Right, practice first. Just use this box of broken porcelain to practice... If it's not enough, we can find more..."

Lin Sicheng was slightly stunned: No wonder those were a piece of Chenghua-style doucai and a piece of delicate yellow glaze!
Doucai porcelain originated from the Chenghua era and was relatively more complex in craftsmanship. Meanwhile, delicate yellow glaze originated from doucai porcelain, and by comparison, it had even higher demands for glaze application and temperature control.
If he could successfully repair these two pieces, tackling the chicken cup afterward would be practically a sure thing.
Lin Sicheng pondered for a moment and nodded.
By this point, Lin Sicheng had lost all interest in inspecting other items. After all, what kind of object could ever rival a chicken cup?
He stood up to take his leave, and Zhao Xiuneng called out his two sons to carry the box of porcelain shards out to the car for him.
The old lady told him to take the inkstone with him, but Lin Sicheng declined: it would not be too late to take it after the cups were successfully repaired.
The family of five personally escorted him out to the entrance. Just as he was getting into the car, Lin Sicheng hesitated as if he had more to say, but the old lady just smiled. "Child, I understand!"
As long as she understood, that was enough.
Lin Sicheng got into the car and waved goodbye to the old lady.
Watching the SUV turn out of the village entrance and gradually drive away, the old lady exposed her gums and smiled silently.
Zhao Xiuneng stood behind her, a look of suspicion on his face. "Mother, this is all too much of a coincidence... Could this gang be setting up a trap?"
He could not be blamed for his suspicion: his mother had gone to great lengths, tried every possible method, and searched for decades without finding anyone. Suddenly, one day, a person appeared as if dropping from the sky?
Not only was he young, but he also understood everything, as if there was nothing he didn't know: appraisal, industry jargon, hidden techniques, restoration... Even at sixty, let alone twenty, he had never learned things so comprehensively.
The crucial point was how sharp his eyes were: leaving aside the first chicken-fat bowl he inspected, the subsequent six pieces presented to him were each examined by that young kid for only a single pass.
He had dabbled in the trade for forty years, selling tens of thousands of items mended to perfection as the real deal, with at least several thousand passed off successfully. It wasn't as if his work had never been seen through, but when had anyone ever managed to see right through it with just a single glance?
Therefore, the more Zhao Xiuneng thought about it, the more he felt this group had meticulously plotted to entrap them.
Yet the old lady shook her head. "Who else knew we had the cups?"
Zhao Xiuneng choked, unable to utter a response: apart from him and his mother, only the two of them knew the family possessed the Chengni inkstone and the jade cup; even his wife and sons were unaware.
Since they didn't know, what would be the purpose of setting a trap?
After thinking for a long time, Zhao Xiuneng clenched his teeth. "It's too bizarre!"
The old lady smiled. It was precisely because it was so bizarre that it didn't look like a set-up.
Those setting up a trap would not be so young: twenty years old—at this age, most city kids were still in school.
Furthermore, those setting up a trap would not show such genuine astonishment:
The first time, seeing her face and hands. The second time, seeing the jade on her walking stick. The third time, seeing the six pieces repaired by the eldest son. The fourth time, seeing that chicken cup...
The old lady had lived for eighty years and had seen more people than objects. She believed firmly that she could never misjudge whether that kid was genuinely shocked or merely putting on an act.
Moreover, those setting up a trap would definitely cast a bait: in truth, both parties understood that the inkstone served as a down payment. If they didn't even dare to accept the down payment, how could she believe they truly possessed this craftsmanship?
Without even casting a bait, what would they do if the fish unhooked and escaped?
And these were secondary; the most crucial part was still that speck of lacquer on his fingernail, as well as the faint scent of cloisonné-making on that kid's body.
How many times had he worked with it—five or six times?
On the strength of this alone, she dared to take a gamble...
The old lady turned around, her walking stick tapping crisp sounds against the ceramic tiles. Zhao Xiuneng followed closely behind, carefully guarding her rear.
"Did you save that kid's phone number?"
"Saved it!"
"Since you saved it, go tell your wife and your kids to pack their things. We're moving!"
Move? What things?
Zhao Xiuneng was dumbfounded. "Huh?"
"Huh what huh?" The old lady struck her walking stick against the floor. "Always so absent-minded and sluggish!"
Scolded by his mother, Zhao Xiuneng finally snapped back to reality. What did it mean when that kid hesitated to speak before leaving, and what did his mother's remark "I understand" signify?
As the old saying goes, do not flash your wealth. Now that everything had been exposed, if they didn't move, were they just waiting for thieves to break in?
Besides, the reason they moved back to the ancestral home from the capital the year before was precisely because experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, along with professors from the National Museum of China and Peking University, were leading excavations nearby at the Duke of Zhou Temple.
His mother had always pinned her hopes on encountering an expert capable of repairing those two cups, or at least unearthing some clues regarding the descendants of the Ming dynasty porcelain mending craftsmen.
Yet after living here for two years, they hadn't learned a single thing, only to have someone drop straight out of the sky?
He hurriedly nodded. "All right, I'll listen to Mother: we're moving!"