True or False

At moments like these, no matter how tempted Professor Zhang might be, he wouldn't take the lead. After all, he had already stated in advance that he was just here to broaden their horizons.

Gu Ming keenly sensed an invisible tension in the air. She tightly grabbed Bai Fangfang's hand, fearing that her friend might cause trouble at this moment.

In the end, it was the man who had been conversing with the one wearing a checkered shirt who stepped forward first, pulling out a magnifying glass to examine the items carefully.

The man in the checkered shirt stood quietly on the side. Although his attention was also focused on the enamel-colored porcelain bowl, he also split his attention to watch the short man waiting nearby.

From this brief observation, Gu Ming deduced that the man in the checkered shirt was likely the decision-maker, while the one meticulously examining was probably a professional appraiser.

The antique trade has its own set of rules. When someone steps forward to appraise an item, others around should not interfere or speak up, to avoid disrupting the appraisal process and causing misunderstandings.

The professional appraiser who had approached first didn't spend much time, considering there was someone else waiting. As soon as he stepped back, the short man quickly moved forward, also taking out a magnifying glass to examine the item meticulously.

Professor Zhang patiently waited on the side, while Gu Ming couldn't help but glance towards the man in the checkered shirt. At that moment, the appraiser was whispering softly into the man's ear, who stood there, listening quietly with an expression unchanged, making it impossible to discern what he was thinking.

From a distance, despite her curiosity, Gu Ming couldn't hear what the appraiser was saying.

"Gu Ming, look over there." Bai Fangfang gently nudged Gu Ming and pointed towards a shelf in the lower right corner.

Bai Fangfang was always lively and active. This rather serious atmosphere was uncomfortable for her. Although she was quite curious about the so-called enamel-colored porcelain bowl, after waiting quietly for a while, she couldn't bear it anymore. Her eyes were darting around restlessly.

"What are you doing?" Gu Ming glanced at Professor Zhang and saw that he hadn't noticed Bai Fangfang's small gesture. She turned back and whispered softly.

"Look at that one on the shelf. Isn't it Yuan Qinghua?" Bai Fangfang lowered her voice.

Yuan Qinghua?

Gu Ming looked over as Bai Fangfang mentioned it. On the third shelf in the lower right corner, there indeed was a porcelain plate. However, the plate was somewhat damaged with obvious repair marks.

Bai Fangfang was captivated by the plate. Seeing that it wouldn't be Professor Zhang's turn to examine it anytime soon, she pulled Gu Ming towards the shelf.

Gu Ming also felt it was pointless to stand there idly, so she followed Bai Fangfang's lead to take a closer look.

Both of them didn't notice that as they moved towards the shelf to inspect the porcelain plate, the man in the checkered shirt glanced in their direction.

"Looks like it's a Feifeng Qilin patterned plate, but it's damaged too badly. Repairing it like this isn't easy," Bai Fangfang clicked her tongue, expressing a sense of regret in her tone. "But if it really is Yuan Qinghua, even if it's broken like this, it's still worth quite a lot."

"The color isn't stable, the blue glaze is diffused. This does match the characteristics of Yuan Qinghua porcelain. Let's feel how it feels to the touch." Gu Ming remained calm on her face. As she spoke, she habitually extended her left hand to gently touch the porcelain plate.

She didn't believe that the casually placed item on the shelf was truly Yuan Qinghua. However, the repair marks on the plate made her somewhat uncertain.

Blue and white porcelain materials are divided into two types: one is the imported "Su Ni Bo Qing" material, and the other is domestic material. The former has a rich and vibrant color, with black spots known as "heci" in the thick areas. When touched, the blue glaze feels uneven. The latter has a blue color with hints of gray, sometimes appearing bluish-gray or shimmering gray, which is one of the basic points for distinguishing Jingdezhen Yuan Qinghua porcelain.

However, Gu Ming didn't have time to feel the texture her fingers imparted when she touched the plate. She realized that the area where her left hand was touching the plate began to heat up, and the warmth was considerable. A crisp sound, reminiscent of the knocking on blue and white porcelain, emanated from her heart, indicating that the porcelain plate was indeed a genuine antique.

Gu Ming was shocked. This was completely unexpected. She hadn't realized that her left hand, in addition to having a sense for jade and copper artifacts, could also detect porcelain. Moreover, she couldn't believe that this severely damaged Yuan Qinghua plate was real!

The only puzzling aspect was that the heat was intermittent, especially when her fingers touched the repaired area. It felt as though something additional had been added to the repair, making it not part of the original antique.

Could it be that the repaired area had other substances added, disqualifying it as an authentic antique?

Gu Ming's heart raced. Instinctively, she glanced towards the enamel-colored porcelain bowl that was still surrounded by people. Does this mean she can now determine the authenticity of the bowl supposedly from the Kangxi era?

Stepping back, even if she couldn't accurately determine the bowl's age based on the warmth in her hands, at least she could tell if it was a modern high-quality imitation.

Bai Fangfang, unaware of Gu Ming's thoughts, noticed that Gu Ming had been examining the porcelain plate for a while without speaking. She extended her hand towards the plate: "What do you think?"

"Ladies, you shouldn't touch the items on the shelf casually." Before Bai Fangfang could even touch the plate, the burly man who had been guarding the entrance approached to stop her.

"We're just curious," Gu Ming immediately snapped out of her trance and withdrew her hand.

Seeing this, Bai Fangfang didn't dare to say much. Under the pressure brought by the burly man, she quietly leaned a bit closer to Gu Ming.

The burly man nodded, signaling with his eyes for the two to move away from the shelf.

They were indeed wrong to touch the items without permission. Facing the burly man's dismissive gesture, they couldn't stand up to him and had to sheepishly retreat back to Professor Zhang's side.

At that moment, the appraiser and the short man had seemingly finished their examination and quietly went to one side to ponder. Professor Zhang finally seized the opportunity to step forward.

Gu Ming and Bai Fangfang weren't foolish; they naturally followed closely behind Professor Zhang, fearing they might miss this rare treasure.

Professor Zhang carefully took the enamel-colored porcelain bowl in his hands to examine it, feeling the texture as he touched it. He flipped the bottom of the bowl and noticed the blue inscription "Kangxi Imperial Edition" written in regular script. The elegant and solemn characters complemented the bowl's shape perfectly.

"Enamel-colored porcelain from the Kangxi era is extremely rare. According to Geng Baocang's 'Appraisal of Ming and Qing Porcelains,' 'There are very few bottle types, and none are large. Surviving pieces are scarce, most kept in Taiwan. The Palace Museum's collection consists mainly of round vessels, with only one purple ground lotus pattern small bottle. The glaze surface has color cracking and bubbles due to excessive firing. It is rumored that some enamel-colored porcelains were distributed during Puyi's escape, but it's unknown if this is one of them.'" Professor Zhang explained as he saw that Bai Fangfang and Gu Ming were closely observing, silently smiling to themselves.

"Professor Zhang, is this real or fake?" Bai Fangfang whispered softly.

Professor Zhang gave Bai Fangfang a disapproving glance and didn't respond, instead slightly furrowing his brows.

Gu Ming observed carefully and noticed that Professor Zhang's expression showed some doubt and uncertainty. It seemed he couldn't immediately determine the authenticity of the porcelain bowl he was holding.

"Can I take a look?" Gu Ming took a deep breath, summoning her courage, and asked Professor Zhang.

Professor Zhang considered for a moment before gently placing the porcelain bowl back on the table. He solemnly whispered, "Be careful."

Gu Ming nodded and extended both hands to pick up the bowl from the table. Regardless of whether the bowl was real or fake, Gu Ming didn't dare to be careless. If anything went wrong, it would be troublesome for her.

"Hiss!" As soon as the enamel-colored porcelain bowl was in her hands, Gu Ming couldn't help but gasp, drawing astonished gazes from those around her.