Lin Xiaotian's smile grew even brighter. "That's a given. If Grandpa wants to see, I certainly won't refuse."
He walked over and gently patted the dilapidated cabinet. "All of Grandpa's treasures are stored inside. You'll know once you open it. Today, I've brought back a lot of good stuff."
Tang Jingde didn't mind the cabinet's long-standing, pungent odor. Instead, he quickly walked over.
"Young friend, did you go to the countryside to collect antiques?"
"Why does this cabinet smell like it's been soaked in a sauerkraut jar?"
Lin Xiaotian chuckled. "I just found something to store the antiques in. Grandpa, you'll know once you see what's inside."
Chu Nianxue's gaze also shifted over. She didn't approach too closely, as the smell was indeed unpleasant.
Lin Xiaotian said with a proud smile, "Wife, how are you going to reward me today? Do you know how much good stuff I've brought back?"
"Don't underestimate this cabinet. The items inside, combined, are worth at least tens of billions.
"And there's a rare treasure, a treasure that only exists in legends."
Upon hearing this, Tang Jingde could no longer contain himself and had already reached out.
As he opened the cabinet door, he saw the items arranged inside, mostly packed with various soft materials.
He moved aside a piece of tattered cloth and saw a blue and white porcelain plate.
"This... this is actually a blue and white imperial kiln from Ming Dynasty?"
"And it's preserved so perfectly?"
"This single piece of porcelain is worth at least twenty million."
"And judging by the packing material, such a porcelain is only placed on the outside. Young friend, how many treasures have you actually collected?"
Although Tang Jingde was speaking to Lin Xiaotian, his eyes were fixed on the blue and white porcelain plate. Its condition was simply perfect. None of the blue and white porcelain he had collected could compare to this plate.
He had a particular fondness for blue and white porcelain.
He ran his hand over the porcelain for a moment, then felt something was off. He raised his hand and carefully sniffed his fingertip.
His expression suddenly changed.
"Xiaotian, where did you get this thing?"
"You didn't go and do that kind of thing these past few days, did you?"
"I don't think you're that kind of person."
Old Master Tang hated it the most when people dug up ancestral artifacts from the ground.
He was very experienced with confiscated antiques and was often called upon to identify them.
Therefore, he had a deep memory of that earthy smell.
Lin Xiaotian's face broke into a brilliant smile. "Grandpa, I would never do such a thing. However, someone did do it, and I happened to see it, so I accidentally killed him.
"As for the items he dug up, I just took them back."
As he said this, Lin Xiaotian spoke as if he were recounting a simple story.
Tang Jingde was stunned for a moment, but then quickly reacted. "You little brat, you engaged in a black-on-black operation?"
Lin Xiaotian chuckled, not giving a direct answer.
However, his smile conveyed the meaning.
They were all in the antique circle, and they knew how deep the waters were. Black-on-black was a common occurrence, especially when it involved grave robbers.
"Grandpa, you should continue looking to see what else is inside!"
Tang Jingde, suppressing his excitement, began to examine them one by one.
Soon, he took out all the precious antiques and placed them on the table in the lounge area.
There were over twenty items in total, and each one was in near-perfect condition.
"I can't believe there are still so many Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelains preserved so well. The craftsmanship suggests they might have been fired in the early Ming Dynasty, and they are all from the imperial kilns."
Lin Xiaotian smiled and nodded. "All my items are from the early Ming Dynasty. The most precious are the items inside."
Tang Jingde was momentarily stunned and instinctively looked at the last ceramic bowl on the old table.
If Lin Xiaotian hadn't deliberately pointed it out, he would have thought it was just a small, insignificant item.
"This is the most precious?"
He spoke instinctively, then remembered Lin Xiaotian saying the items were worth tens of billions.
The twenty-odd items combined didn't even exceed five hundred million. How could they be worth tens of billions?
He picked up the ceramic bowl and examined it carefully for a long time, but couldn't make out anything. His brow furrowed deeply, as the bowl was indeed very old, with many chipped edges. The chips were so old that their age was indistinguishable.
After a thorough inspection, he discovered three characters at the bottom.
Ming Jue Temple?
"Xiaotian, I remember this temple is..."
Mid-sentence, Tang Jingde suddenly realized, his eyes widened, his whole body trembled, and his face flushed with excitement.
"Xiaotian, you're not going to tell me this bowl was used by Emperor Taizu of Ming, are you?"
Lin Xiaotian's face beamed with a brilliant smile.
"Grandpa, take a closer look at the bottom of the bowl. Are there small characters inscribed in ancient script around the edge?"
Tang Jingde quickly took out a magnifying glass. He had initially thought they were special patterns, but upon closer inspection, they were hair-thin characters.
"What kind of divine craftsmanship could carve such fine script? And this was during the Ming Dynasty."
He spoke with amazement, but soon his mouth fell open, and he almost dropped the magnifying glass.
Lin Xiaotian's eyesight was sharp enough to see the content of the script.
However, Tang Jingde lacked such vision, and with his age, he could only rely on the magnifying glass. After he clearly saw them, he solemnly put down the bowl and took out his phone to quickly search for some characters.
"There's a record in the Yongle Encyclopedia!"
"On the thirty-second volume, page nine..."
"It's indeed correct!"
"Xiaotian, it's fortunate that the thirty-second volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia was not lost, otherwise, it would be impossible to prove that this bowl is an early artifact from Emperor Taizu of Ming."
"Everyone knows that Emperor Taizu of Ming's life was an astonishing legend. His beginning was a bowl, and his end was holding the reins of the empire."
Lin Xiaotian said with a bright smile, "It's precisely because I confirmed the true value of these items that I brought them back."