Thursday morning.

This week's superpowers were fun, but with exams next week, Chen Yuan didn't explore them too much. Besides flipping through a few pages of Xia Xinyu's diary every night before bed, checking out some of her inner thoughts, and various poses of the girl.

Unfortunately, even when it was hot, Yu Zi wore at least underwear.

Fortunately, he had seen Xinyu in all kinds of underwear.

Of course, that's because Chen Yuan wasn't trying to peek. If he really wanted to see something, he could just sneak into the bathroom and grab a towel.

It could only be said that this man was too upright.

But it wasn't completely useless.

At this moment, a job came up.

On the school overpass, an old man selling antiques was setting up a stall.

Surrounding him were a group of people seriously discussing a piece of porcelain that looked like a large vase.

"This, this, this, it looks a bit like the one in the Forbidden City."

"And it's definitely an old object, not a fake antique. You can tell at a glance."

"This should be Jingdezhen porcelain from the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. The inscription is very proper."

"It's a good thing. How much is it?"

Seeing someone ask, the old man sitting on the small stool proudly held out a hand, making an eight: "180,000."

"Hiss, not expensive." An old man wearing black-rimmed glasses pushed them up and continued to stroke the vase. He nodded, "This thing is probably real. I suggest you go to a professional appraisal agency to have it auctioned."

As soon as he said this, a man next to him widened his eyes and began to observe carefully.

"I don't understand anything about appraisal. There are too many scammers," the old man waved his hand and said. "My family used to be rich landlords. I won't talk about some reasons. Only this thing is left. In my grandfather's time, he was a *juren* (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) in the late Qing Dynasty. A Huizhou merchant gave it to him. Anyway, it has been passed down to this day. If you want it, take it for 180,000."

"This is a real thing. 180,000 is practically giving it away. I suggest you keep it yourself or donate it to a museum."

"This?" While the scholar-like man with black-rimmed glasses was speaking, the man who had been staring at it all along discussed it with his companion. The two of them stepped forward together, each holding up three fingers, "30,000 yuan, is that okay?"

"Don't even think about it. Not a cent less than 180,000," the old man stubbornly shook his head, showing an attitude that he didn't care about a few small coins.

At this moment, two more old men were attracted and wanted to see what was happening.

Then, everyone gathered around the Jingdezhen porcelain, commenting on it, having a great time.

There were seven people here, six of whom were scammers.

And one was Chen Yuan.

Seeing that he was watching from the side, they began to get a little impatient. After all, the acting was for fools. People like Chen Yuan, a high school student protected by law, were not easy to deceive and had no money.

But they couldn't just stop acting directly, as that would be too obvious and wouldn't attract any fools.

Being a scammer also required perseverance.

Want to relax?

Then go to college.

Chen Yuan wasn't interested in the big porcelain, but other things on the stall, such as some Yuan Datou (silver coins with Yuan Shikai's head), caught his attention.

So, he squatted down and began to touch these silver coins.

Seeing him make this move, everyone's eyes secretly gathered on him, as if they had seen a fat sheep.

Although high school students were not easy to deceive and were protected by law, they had some money. If they could scam a hundred or eighty, that would be breakfast.

This kid was studying Yuan Datou, which meant he knew a little bit.

Because the number of these coins still in existence wasn't small, the price wasn't too exaggerated, but because they had the attribute of antiques, the value far exceeded silver blocks of the same quality.

Generally, people who came to find these things had some knowledge. If they really found one, they could sell it for between 750 and 2,000. Depending on the year, the price also varied.

Among them, if they were Flying Dragon and Republic commemorative coins, they could sell for tens of thousands.

But because this thing was still in existence in a large quantity, and there were many ways to identify it, even if it was made very well, there were ways to distinguish it.

A scammer was also half an antique expert.

These people had some antique knowledge, so they knew that none of the silver coins here were real.

Unfortunately, they were all fake, stamped out of factory molds.

Chen Yuan just touched them and checked the memories of these coins, and he easily distinguished them all.

Including those Sun Yat-sen silver coins with slightly smaller denominations.

Similarly, they were all fake.

Moreover, they came from the same factory.

If Chen Yuan had a whim, he could even destroy the fake-making den.

Sure enough, it wasn't as simple as he thought.

He had thought about going to the nearby antique market to identify treasures and find some real things, but now, there were more and more means of identification, and the methods were more comprehensive. If the people selling them had all fake goods on their stalls, how could he buy genuine goods from the fake ones?

Of course, not necessarily.

Scammers were, after all, just scammers, not *mojin xiaowei* (tomb raiders), and their vision and knowledge were very limited. Even if there were some small antiques worth *daqian* (7,000 to 10,000) or *zhongqian* (4,000 to 7,000) among their things, they themselves wouldn't know.

Seeing that Chen Yuan touched the silver coins and then stopped looking at them, turning his head to study other things, the stall owner was slightly surprised.

Did this kid really know something?

Did he see that these Yuan Datou were all fake?

Or was he just messing around here and hadn't thought about buying them at all?

Should he chase him away?

Forget it, let him look.

Anyway, they were all fake.

At this time, Chen Yuan touched a large white soup bowl. The stall owner introduced, "This is Ding ware white porcelain."

Chen Yuan ignored him, turned the bottom of the 'white porcelain' over, and then saw a circle of red characters on it—Microwave Oven Safe.

Okay, microwaves were also our invention.

Legend has it that the *Yongle Encyclopedia* recorded the principle and structure of microwave ovens, but unfortunately, the generator was not invented, so the people of the Ming Dynasty did not use microwave ovens.

You motherfucker, it's all a bunch of junk?

At this time, Chen Yuan saw a rusty bronze sword and was so frightened that his hand shrank back, quickly separating from it.

"Criminal, grandpa!"

If this thing was real, your retirement would be guaranteed.

Chen Yuan tentatively touched it.

Alright.

Not Eastern Zhou, not Western Zhou, but last week.

Damn it, is it really all junk?

Chen Yuan was really bored and prepared to leave. Just then, a memory suddenly rushed into his mind.

Earthen kiln, hammer, furnace, mold. After forging, a phoenix hairpin was cast...

This craft was a bit retro.

It didn't look like a modern factory.

Then, Chen Yuan stared at the somewhat dark red, quite exquisite, but not industrially beautiful phoenix hairpin that he had touched.

The next time he touched it, it was a scholar in white clothes and a cool hat, looking a bit shabby.

His hair was thick, unshaven, and he didn't have a queue, so it was before the Qing Dynasty.

The man was holding the hairpin in the corner of a large house, waiting. Suddenly, as if he heard something, the man wrapped the hairpin in a silk cloth with words written on it, then tore off a strip of cloth as a rope, tied it, and threw it over the wall.

On the other side, a gorgeous, delicate, and lovely girl about 14 or 15 years old found it, picked up the silk cloth, looked at the hairpin, hugged it to her chest, and smiled like a flower...

It was still a little story that the poor scholar, the favorite of the poor ancient literati, was loved by the rich daughter.

What, it's the same virtue as online writers who write about rich, beautiful women falling in love with poor graduates?

You say that again!!

"How much is this?" Chen Yuan asked.

Obviously, it wasn't gold because it was rusty, so it couldn't be gold-plated either.

So, if it was sold as metal, it really wasn't worth anything.

But after all, the age was there, and the craftsmanship was not bad. It should be worth a *zhongqian*, right?

According to Chen Yuan's aesthetic, it might be worth a *daqian*.

But it didn't matter anymore. There was a real thing in this pile of dog shit, so what else did he want?

Isn't this just a broken hairpin?

This young man took a fancy to it?

Did he think it was gold or gold-plated?

If it was gold-plated copper, I would have scraped off the gold powder long ago!

Forget it, let's just shout a price.

"3,800," the stall owner called out casually.

Hearing this, Chen Yuan stood up with the hairpin and said, "Twenty."

"Okay."

"?"

Looking at the stall owner who agreed so readily, Chen Yuan was stunned.

What the hell?

Damn it, I lost!

"That's fine, I'll scan your Alipay."

Forget it, this thing was real after all, no matter what, it was worth more than this price. Besides, even if he couldn't sell it, it would be great to wash this little thing and give it to Xinyu as a small headdress.

Then, he would have to get Xinyu a set of Hanfu, a fan, small red boots... Damn it, he was playing Shining Nikki again.

Was he dating or raising a daughter?

"Okay," the old man didn't think much, after all, this junk was all picked up, basically at zero cost.

He was willing to pay whatever price, so let him take it.

Twenty yuan could buy a box lunch.

"Okay, take a look."

After Chen Yuan showed his phone to the other party, he stuffed the hairpin into his schoolbag.

Then, he just walked away.

And those old guys began to surround themselves again, making pointing gestures, commenting on the Forbidden City's same model cultural relic.

This kind of scam had not been able to fool people for a long time.

But Chen Yuan still kindly took a picture and sent it to Li Tong.

Chen Yuan: A group of old guys are swindling and cheating on the overpass opposite Eleventh High School, here's some performance for you.

It's okay for you to set up a stall, and it's okay for you to fool people, but it's a bit unkind to specifically create a gang.

Of course, the most unkind was Chen Yuan.

Knowing that these people were scammers, he still had to consume here, and also took away the only thing that might be valuable.

Exploding the old guys' gold coins while kicking over their rice bowls!

I'm so bad, hehehe—

But if that thing was identified as a cultural relic, where should he sell it?

Wouldn't he be scammed?

Ah, idiot... He could read minds, how could he be scammed?

He could take it to a pawnshop, find out the highest price the boss could bear, and then sell it.

Thinking like this, Chen Yuan went to school.

When he arrived at the classroom, it was almost time for early self-study. Everyone was sitting in their seats, handing in homework and reciting.

It happened that the physics weekly test they took yesterday was graded and handed out to Chen Yuan's desk.

"94 points, amazing, such a big improvement." Seeing Chen Yuan's score, Zhou Fu looked at her own 92 points and sighed, "Hey, I've been surpassed by you again."

"It's okay, I'm going to surpass you two more times."

Chen Yuan put down his schoolbag and said quite calmly.

"Why?" Zhou Fu was puzzled.

"Now only chemistry and Chinese are a little lower than you," Chen Yuan replied.

"What a strong desire to win..." After Zhou Fu weakly complained, she also took out her tutoring materials and said quite aggressively, "Don't look at me like this, I also scored over 600 before. Sooner or later, I'll surpass you again."

"Then I'll surpass you again."

"Surpass, surpass, surpass what? So many fierce words so early in the morning."

Zhou Yu complained before sitting down at his seat, but after looking at Chen Yuan's physics score, his face suddenly collapsed: "You guy, you disgust me!"

Improving again, improving again!

"A perfect score in math for the midterm, another 20 points of improvement in physics, and if the other subjects are a little higher... wouldn't that be 650?" Zhou Fu, who had always believed in Chen Yuan, couldn't accept it.

"How is that possible?"

Zhou Yu laughed and said disdainfully, "Improvement is only fast at the beginning, and you'll encounter bottlenecks later. Can he improve from 500 points to the average score of the top class in these three months? Don't joke around!"

Okay, okay, I haven't said anything yet, and Yu Zi you've already stretched your face over for me to slap.

Damn it, it's a little too deliberate!

At this rate, all the boasting in this class would be done by him sooner or later.

It's okay, Eleventh High School's boasting had already been done by Chen Yuan until 2050.

But Zhou Fu was right, next time, as long as he got a perfect score or close to a perfect score in math, and physics improved a little bit more at this level, then he would really reach 650 points.

And this score had already exceeded the average score of 648 in the top class.

The ranking in the whole school would also reach at least the top fifty.

Even without those stories, this score would be He Hongtao's favorite.

There was still half a week left, he would try harder.

Argh!!!

Thinking like this, when Chen Yuan was taking the physics tutoring materials out of his schoolbag, he took out the hairpin by the way.

However, suddenly, seeing some scene, his expression froze.

"Wow, what a beautiful hairpin." Zhou Fu, who was next to him, smiled and reached out to touch it after seeing this.

Suddenly, Chen Yuan grabbed her hand seriously, not letting her touch it.

"Ah, ah?" Zhou Fu was a little puzzled.

Chen Yuan didn't explain. As if he had been electrocuted, the hairpin in his hand fell to the table, and the expression on his face was still shocked.

Because he saw a woman in red hanging from a tree, the hairpin stuck in her coiled black hair...

(End of chapter)