Chapter 243: Am I Being That Obvious?
Her appearance made Luo Yunxuan feel a wave of helplessness. He smiled wryly, “Mr. Cao, please forgive me. This maid has been spoiled by me and has a somewhat naughty personality.”
“Professor Luo, you’re too polite. I actually think Miss Luo’s personality is quite lively and cheerful. I very much appreciate and like it.” Cao Weida said with a light laugh:
“It’s clear that she is well protected by you and well educated by you. You are a good father, and even more so a qualified father, raising your daughter to be so outstanding and so youthful and charming.”
As a father who dotes on his daughter, being praised like this naturally put him in a pleasant mood.
Professor Luo’s mouth corners couldn’t help but curl up. He said reservedly, “Ah~~ Mr. Cao is really too modest. I’m just doing what a father should do, fulfilling a father’s due responsibilities.”
“By the way, Mr. Cao, my daughter said you came to see me for something. I wonder”
“Oh, I almost forgot the main matter. Sorry, sorry.” Cao Weida patted his head, then remembered the purpose of his visit and placed the box he brought on the table.
“Professor Luo, this is an antique cup. Could you take a look at it for me?”
“Oh? Let me see!” Professor Luo didn’t have many lifelong hobbies, but antiques and calligraphy paintings were his greatest hobby, without exception!
Upon hearing it was antiques, his interest surged, and at the same time, he was quite satisfied with Cao Weida’s action of placing the gift on the table first.
There is an unwritten rule in the antiques world called “porcelain does not pass hands.”
It means that porcelain cannot be directly placed in someone else’s hands, otherwise if an accident occurs, the responsibility cannot be clearly assigned.
He slowly opened the box, and upon seeing the thing inside, his spirit shook, his eyes flashing with surprise:
“This is… a Ming Yongle blue and white hand-pressing cup?!”
“Professor Luo is indeed knowledgeable and talented. That’s right, this is exactly a Ming Yongle blue and white hand-pressing cup. I came today to trouble you to take a look at it.”
“Oh my, this is a good thing!” Professor Luo was overjoyed and carefully took it out, holding it in his hands and examining it from top to bottom, left and right, his mouth incessantly clicking in admiration. He loved it so much one cannot put it down.
Seeing that Professor Luo had been playing with it for a long time and still reluctant to put it down, Cao Weida couldn’t help but smile and ask, “Professor Luo, what do you think of this cup?”
He actually knew that this item was basically impossible to be a fake, after all, this thing was for Ono Shiota, concerning the rise and fall of the Lou Steel Rolling Mill.
If the Lou family dared to use fake goods to deceive, wouldn’t that be asking for trouble?
Unless they were sick, they wouldn’t do that.
The reason he came for an appraisal was mainly to see Luo Mengyun, whom he had very much liked while watching the TV series.
And evidently, the result did not disappoint him.
Luo Mengyun was not only much more beautiful in appearance than in the TV series, but the actress in the TV series hadn’t fully showcased it at all.
The real Luo Mengyun was more attractive!
“Good, good stuff!” Professor Luo reluctantly shifted his gaze away and praised repeatedly, “Deep belly with round foot, firm and delicate body, well-washed and clear without impurities, glossy and thick glaze, white with a bluish tint like congealed fat, forming a wonderful contrast with the blue and white color, truly the exquisite craftsmanship of the imperial kiln!”
Is it that good?
Cao Weida blinked his clear and foolish gaze at the cup, unable to see how those terms’ characteristics came about no matter how he looked.
He didn’t think it was that good-looking either?
But on his mouth, he didn’t stint on praise, “Professor Luo’s knowledge is profound; he can explain this small cup so thoroughly, which really makes me admire him.”
“If I had half of Professor Luo’s knowledge, I could proudly boast of being versed in ancient lore!”
“No, no, just some shallow opinions. Mr. Cao overpraises me.” Perhaps having heard too many flatteries, Professor Luo turned a deaf ear to these words of praise, not even as good as the previous praise for Luo Mengyun.
Then, with a face full of expectation, he looked at Cao Weida, “Mr. Cao, I have a presumptuous request, I don’t know if I should say it.”
“Please go ahead, Professor Luo.” He was going to marry Luo Mengyun, so Luo Yunxuan would be his future father-in-law, and his attitude was naturally very polite.
“Then I’ll be bold,” Professor Luo paused, then gritted his teeth, seeming to be struggling inwardly.
Afterward, as if he had made up his mind, he said in an expectant tone, “I wonder if this cup can be sold to me?”
“Rest assured, you name a price, and as long as I can accept it, I will definitely find a way to scrape together the money!”
The reason Professor Luo was so conflicted was that although he was a professor with a not-low salary, that was only relative to ordinary people.
Plus, he liked collecting antiques on weekdays, so the money he had on hand was really limited.
If he wanted to acquire this cup, he would have to borrow everywhere and sell off some of his own collected antiques.
Because he knew clearly in his heart that the price of this cup absolutely wouldn’t be low!
The difference was just how many antiques he needed to sell to gather enough.
Unexpectedly, Cao Weida shook his head and said words that disappointed him greatly, “To tell you the truth, Professor Luo, this cup doesn’t belong to me.”
“I’m just helping to pass it on to someone else; I really don’t have the right to dispose of it privately.”
Catching a glimpse of Professor Luo’s disappointed expression from the corner of his eye, he chuckled inwardly and continued:
“However, I do have some in my collection, including a good piece, something like a Ming Yongle Jingdezhen imperial kiln blue and white porcelain.”
“If Professor Luo likes it, I can bring it over another day for you to take a look.”
“Really?!” Sure enough, as Cao Weida expected, upon hearing this, Professor Luo’s previous dejected mood immediately turned to excitement.
He said impatiently, “If there really is a Ming Yongle Jingdezhen imperial kiln blue and white porcelain, please bring it, Mr. Cao… no, I will personally come to your door to appraise it!”
“By the way, if I may be so bold as to ask, how did you acquire that treasure?”
“Hey, Professor Luo is too polite. What bold or not— that porcelain, I spent nine thousand silver dollars to buy from Old Ru Beile at the Ruizi Mansion.”
“To tell you the truth, to buy this porcelain, I promised to owe Old Ru Beile a favor!”
Actually, he didn’t spend a cent to take it from Old Ru Beile; not only that, he also took two-thirds of the Ruizi Mansion’s wealth, as well as Ru Qiulan’s two boxes of antiques and calligraphy paintings as dowry.
But he didn’t say it, so who could know?
Moreover, the price of nine thousand silver dollars was indeed the initial asking price, so he wasn’t lying.
“Nine thousand…” Hearing this price, Professor Luo looked utterly distraught.
Speaking reasonably, a real Ming Yongle Jingdezhen imperial kiln blue and white porcelain was absolutely worth that money, even a bit low.
And bought from the Ruizi Mansion, it probably wasn’t fake either.
It was just this price that he really…
He had already started calculating if selling all his collections would be enough and how much he could borrow.
While he was conflicted, Cao Weida spoke up, “If Professor Luo truly likes it, I’ll bring it over later and leave it here with you for safekeeping. Maybe it can absorb some literary spirit.”
Luo Yunxuan shook his head repeatedly in refusal, “No, no, no merit, no reward. It’s too valuable; if it gets chipped or bumped, even if I sell everything I have, I might not be able to compensate.”
He had the integrity of a scholar; for such a valuable item, having only met once, he didn’t have the face to keep someone else’s treasure at home to play with and appraise carefully.
No!
If you don’t agree, how can I come often to visit Luo Mengyun in the future!
Seeing him refuse, Cao Weida grew anxious and quickly said, “Professor Luo, don’t be polite with me. Speaking from the heart, I’ve admired cultured and knowledgeable people since I was young. Someone as erudite as Professor Luo is even more so the object of my admiration.”
“Antiques may be valuable, but they are ultimately just dead objects. How can they compare to frequent contact with you and receiving your influence?”
“To be honest, I just want to use this as an excuse to have more contact with a great scholar like you, so I can absorb some of the charm of literati and absorb some culture to refine my mundane heart!”
“Although I’m a bit worldly, I also want to improve a bit.”
Hearing this, Professor Luo looked at Cao Weida in astonishment, then showed a wryly amused expression, with a hint of vigilance in his eyes:
“Mr. Cao, I guess you have more than just this purpose, right?”
Damn, was I that obvious?
Cao Weida was surprised inwardly. It shouldn’t be; I don’t think I showed any flaw!
“Cough cough, Professor Luo, what do you mean by that? I’m a bit confused.”
Seeing him refuse to admit it, Professor Luo snorted coldly inwardly. When my daughter was here, your eyes were practically glued to her. Do you think I’m blind!
He wanted to scold him, saying my daughter absolutely won’t be someone’s concubine.
But after thinking, he gave up. Saying that would be somewhat offensive.
Moreover, he believed his daughter wasn’t the type to abandon her principles for money; he knew his daughter.
Poor boy rich girl— his daughter had never worried about money from childhood to now.
All these years of schooling and education, she absolutely wouldn’t do anything self-degrading!
With this confidence, he suddenly had a plan in mind.
“In that case, thank you for your generosity, Mr. Cao. I will humbly accept.” Professor Luo played with the cup in his hand and smiled.
Hmph hmph, since you say so, I’ll pretend that’s the case!
By then, you’ll know what it means to retreat in the face of difficulties!
But he didn’t know that sometimes women get emotional and are beyond reason.
Whether Professor Luo would end up losing his wife and then his troops… who could say.
“Alright, then it’s settled!” Seeing Professor Luo agree, Cao Weida was overjoyed. Haha, now he could use this to dig up their family’s little white cabbage. Great!!
“Professor Luo, if you want to play with it more, feel free. I’ll go out for a stroll first.”
“Good, go ahead.”
Hearing this, Cao Weida immediately left the room and walked to the courtyard.
From afar, he saw Luo Mengyun sitting in the pavilion holding a book and reading.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the grape leaves onto her face; a gentle breeze blew, disturbing the stray hairs by her ear, playfully brushing her cheek—a truly beautiful scroll painting.
He couldn’t help but stop and watch, a doting smile gradually creeping onto his face.
