Chapter 685: Chapter 682: Strange Font

Huo Sining didn’t know that Zhou Shitao was joking with her. Although she was somewhat disappointed at not being able to own the bowl, she quickly adjusted her mood:

“When will they come to collect it? Teacher, you’ll have to vouch for me then. This bowl cost me one hundred and fifty thousand to buy. If they take the bowl away, that’s fine, but they can’t forget to reimburse me the one hundred and fifty thousand. Otherwise, your apprentice here will be at a huge loss.”

Huo Sining wasn’t foolish. Although she cherished the porcelain bowl, she wasn’t that fixated on it. Since the museum was interested, she didn’t insist on keeping it.

However, she wasn’t willing to be taken for a fool, to lose out on one hundred and fifty thousand without ending up with the item–that was a kind of loss-making deal she refused to make.

Zhou Shitao was torn between laughter and tears upon hearing this. A piece of Ru Kiln porcelain wasn’t just worth one hundred and fifty thousand, even five million might not be enough to convince him to sell. Yet there his apprentice was, ready to donate it without a second thought, not concerned about the bowl but about the eighty thousand.

“Rest assured, I was just joking earlier. Although your bowl is valuable, it was acquired through legitimate channels, no one would dare to take it from you!”

Zhou Shitao tapped Huo Sining’s head, “Look at you, all you care about is money. Could it be that the bowl isn’t worth as much to you as that one hundred and fifty thousand?”

Huo Sining was taken aback but soon caught on, feeling rather frustrated: “Master, that’s not fair! What kind of master teases their apprentice like this? After a few scares from you, even someone without a heart condition could end up with one!”

Zhou Shitao smiled: “Alright, take the bowl back for now. The museum has indeed contacted me. They hope to borrow your Ru Kiln White Porcelain for an exhibition for a month’s time, but they haven’t decided on the specific dates yet.”

Huo Sining had no objections to lending it for an exhibition, and she agreed to it without much hesitation.

“As for the other square object, it’ll take a little longer to sort out. You’ll be in the Imperial Capital recording programs for a while, so there’s no rush for now.”

Huo Sining nodded and suddenly thought of something. She took out a piece of sticky note paper from her backpack and handed it to Zhou Shitao, asking, “Master, do you recognize these characters?”

There were several odd characters copied onto the sticky note. Zhou Shitao looked down and instinctively frowned, “These characters are a bit strange.”

“What’s strange about them?” asked Huo Sining, looking at Zhou Shitao with confusion.

Zhou Shitao pointed at one of the characters, “At first glance, they seem like regular characters but they’re not. They’re neither in the clerical script nor Wei script, and they resemble Oracle Bone script but are simpler. They actually look a bit like Taoist runes.”

“Taoist runes?”

For some reason, upon hearing Zhou Shitao say that, Huo Sining suddenly thought of that Taoist depicted in “Buzhou Mountain,” holding a mermaid.

“Why do you ask about these characters? What’s your purpose?” After a moment’s thought, Zhou Shitao suddenly raised his head and inquired.

Huo Sining’s heart skipped a beat, and she replied with a forced laugh, “I just came across this by chance. I’ve never seen this font before and was curious about the meaning, so I copied down a few characters to ask if you knew anything about them.”

Zhou Shitao nodded his head, then took another look at the characters on the sticky note, his interest piqued, “Alright, leave it with me. I’ll look it up and see if I can find out anything.”

Huo Sining returned from Ao City and, upon opening the box that the Xiang Family gave her, discovered that it came from the same craftsman as the other three ebony boxes she had collected. When she opened the box, she found that it also contained a Bagua Chart.

Just as Huo Sining had suspected, the four pieces of cowhide paper with the Bagua Chart, when glued together, formed a complete pattern. In the center of the chart, they perfectly composed a segment of text, which seemed intended to explain the use of these several Bagua Charts.

However, the characters were bizarre and slanted, resembling runes. Huo Sining stared at the characters on the paper for a long time, unable to recognize even a single word.

With no other options, Huo Sining resorted to the most unsophisticated method. She took a few characters from the text, made rubbings of them onto another piece of paper, and then went to seek help from Zhou Shitao to see if he could make anything of it.

Seeing that Zhou Shitao didn’t recognize them either, Huo Sining had no choice but to wait. After bidding Zhou Shitao farewell, she prepared to leave.

She had only taken a few steps when Zhou Shitao suddenly seemed to think of something and asked, “By the way, there’s a Ghost Market in a couple of days. If you’re free, you could come and have some fun with me.”

“The Ghost Market? In the Imperial Capital?” Huo Sining was somewhat surprised. She had attended one in Tengchong before, and that experience at the Ghost Market was not exactly pleasant.

Guessing what Huo Sining might be thinking, Zhou Shitao laughed and said, “The Ghost Market here is not the same as the one you went to in Tengchong. That was run by desperate fugitives, whereas our Ghost Market is simply a night market, only on a larger scale and with more variety.”

The moment Huo Sining heard this, her eyes lit up, “Yes, yes, yes, I’m free!”

Just as she was reaching the Zhou Residence’s entrance, a few people suddenly burst through the gate. Ji Kun, leading the group, saw Huo Sining and said with a smile, “Junior Sister Huo, you’re here. Is Teacher Mother Zhou in?”

Huo Sining nodded, “She is, in the music room. Brother Ji, what’s this about…”

Ji Kun replied with a smile, “Some friends are interested in the Plain Lotus Spring Orchids in the courtyard of the master’s residence. I’ve come to bring these people to have a look.”

Upon hearing this, Huo Sining’s face momentarily stiffened, and she forced a smile, “Then you go ahead; I still have things to do, I’ll be leaving first.”

The Plain Lotus Spring Orchid was the very orchid that Teacher Mother Zhou had nearly killed due to improper care and had been planted in pots inside her home. Later, adopting a ‘what’s lost is lost’ attitude, she transplanted the orchids into the courtyard.

To everyone’s surprise, a month later, the orchids miraculously came back to life and even bloomed several buds.

That would have been fine, but Spring Orchids typically bloom around March or April. For some reason, these orchids bloomed in July, and the blooming period lasted almost a month with no signs of wilting.

Now, entering August, those flowers were still brilliantly blooming, not only lasting long but also numerous in quantity, with an intoxicating fragrance that was rich and pure.

These Spring Orchids were given to Teacher Mother Zhou by Ji Kun. Seeing such an odd phenomenon in the Zhou’s courtyard, Ji Kun grew suspicious. Initially thinking that the soil in the courtyard was special, he specially had samples of it tested at a research institute, but nothing unusual was found.

To further test his theory, Ji Kun planted other varieties of orchids in the courtyard, only to find that the subsequent plants did not display the same anomaly.

While Ji Kun was busy experimenting, Zhou Shitao didn’t bother much about it; however, the several old chess friends who regularly visited Zhou Shitao for chess games wouldn’t miss out on witnessing those mutated Spring Orchids.