Chapter 50

Song Haowen didn’t have time to think. He dashed away, completely forgetting to restrain his full ability . His feet seemed to be equipped with rockets, as fast as lightning. In the blink of an eye, he covered a hundred meters.

When he crossed the finish line, the other competitors hadn’t even covered a third of the distance. The judges were so surprised that they forgot to stop the clock. By the time they realized it, the other runners had covered more than half the distance, and they quickly pressed the stopwatch.

In this way, the stopwatch showed a time of 9.9 seconds, breaking the national record.

Considering Song Haowen’s past, the first time a Chinese person ran under 10 seconds in the 100 meters would take another thirty-five years; the latest world record of 9.58 seconds would take another twenty-nine years to be established.

Song Haowen’s 100-meter performance caused a sensation throughout the school. Even though 9.9 seconds was already dominant nationally and throughout Asia, people still couldn’t believe it was his real achievement.

Thousands of spectators witnessed his lightning-fast figure, leaving the second-place finisher several yards behind. The second-place time was 12.2 seconds, so by that ratio, his 100 meters should have taken less than four seconds.

The audience was indignant about Song Haowen’s performance until the awards ceremony ended. The entire school continued to debate it. However, Song Haowen didn’t pay much attention to the controversy.

He only knew that he had once again set a school record in the 100 meters, won the championships in high jump, long jump, and the 100 meters, and received the title of Best Male Athlete at the school sports meeting. His class, department, and college all secured first place in their respective categories.

From the class level to the school level, everyone celebrated Song Haowen’s achievements. The news even reached the National Sports Committee, prompting experts to investigate the situation.

Unfortunately, there was no video footage at the time, and no one could explain it clearly. The on-duty judges refused to admit any mistakes, and Song Haowen himself just said it was a random stroke of luck, and the result couldn’t be genuine.

He declined the committee’s request for a retest. As a result, the incident became a mystery, causing a public outcry until the interest gradually faded a few months later.

After the sports meeting, Song Haowen continued to focus on the electronics store. At the same time, he continued learning about antique and jewelry appraisal from the school’s experts while attempting to acquire antiques, calligraphy, and Ming-Qing furniture.

At that time, the Gem Identification Center and the Archaeology and Cultural Relics College at Beijing University had not been established. The experts in gem identification were concentrated in the Geology Department, and those in archaeology were in the History Department.

Song Haowen invited several masters from these departments, who had guided him before, have a to dinner and took them to visit his newly purchased courtyard. He told them it belonged to a friend, not daring to say he bought it, and asked them if the furniture and decorations were valuable.

After examining the furniture, the experts confirmed that most of the items in the second courtyard were made of pear wood and sour jujube wood and were quite valuable.

The furniture in the third courtyard, as claimed by the landlord, belonged to late Qing rosewood pieces and had certain collectible value. This reassured Song Haowen, proving that the original homeowner had not deceived him; what was said was the truth.

With this understanding, Song Haowen posted advertisements at the store entrance offering high prices for antiques, calligraphy, jewelry, and Ming-Qing furniture. He also placed ads with the same content on the tricycle carrying his merchandise.

There is a great risk in collecting folk artifacts, with both opportunities and pitfalls. The probability of making a good find was much lower than stumbling upon something valuable.

Moreover, there were professional scammers who specialized in creating fake aged items, making Song Haowen decide to personally handle the acquisitions.

If he made a mistake, he considered it bad luck, with no one else to blame. However, with his regular classes, he could only allocate time for collections on Saturdays and Sundays.

On the first Saturday morning of collecting, the store saw many customers, most of whom were there to inquire and understand the market without actually selling anything.

Faced with this situation, Song Haowen remained patient, answering each customer’s questions. Thanks to his previous apprenticeship and extensive research, he appeared confident, resembling an expert.

In the afternoon, a middle-aged man arrived with a pair of Ming-style rosewood armchairs on a flatbed cart.

He claimed they were passed down from his ancestors and had a history of several hundred years. Song Haowen asked the man to place the chairs in the living room for careful examination.

Upon inspection, he found that the craftsmanship was average, and although the material was rosewood, it was a common newly cultivated variety. Additionally, the chairs were unlikely to be more than thirty years old, making them less valuable.

Song Haowen shared his conclusion with the man, who accused him of being too young and refused to accept it. Instead, he scolded Song Haowen, criticizing him for not recognizing valuable items.

The man insisted that the armchairs were Ming Dynasty furniture, passed down through generations, made from high-quality Huali wood, and were genuine antique pieces.

Not wanting to argue, Song Haowen asked the man how much he was willing to sell them for. The man was somewhat disdainful, saying, “Get your parents here. I don’t want to negotiate with a kid.”

Feeling embarrassed, Song Haowen was about to explain when Wang Li intervened, saying, “Comrade, he is the manager of our store. His decision is final.”

The man snorted but still didn’t fully believe it. Nevertheless, he stated his price. “Five hundred yuan for the pair. Do you want them?”

Song Haowen smirked. “Do you really think you can sell these chairs as valuable antiques? Thirty yuan, take it or leave it.”

The man’s face turned red and black instantly, angrily saying, “Your store is too unscrupulous. In business, negotiations don’t work this way.”

“Thirty yuan is a month’s salary for many people. Your chairs can’t be used for meals, and they’re not particularly attractive. They’ll only serve as ordinary wooden chairs at home. If you find the price too low, you can take them away.”

The man immediately argued with Song Haowen, who remained calm and negotiated slowly. In the end, they settled on forty yuan. Wang Li and Qian Youlai thought Song Haowen had paid too much.

Several more people came in with items for sale, including ceramics and calligraphy, but all were contemporary pieces of unknown value. Song Haowen rejected them all, not wanting to turn his home into a junkyard.

The next day, a sharp-eyed and thin man entered the store, claiming to have a Spring and Autumn Period sword once owned by the King of Wu. He offered ten thousand yuan for it.

Song Haowen was startled; if the sword was genuine, it would be priceless. There was a famous poem that praised the Wu King Sword: “At that time, the King of Wu’s sword, its brilliance could split rocks in the dark.” Legend had it that the most famous Wu King Sword and Yue King Sword were a pair, also known as Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

With skepticism, Song Haowen accepted the sword and indeed found it to be made of bronze, with a long and well-preserved blade, incredibly sharp. There were dozens of inscriptions on the sword, but he couldn’t quite understand them.

Although Song Haowen had learned from archaeological experts in college and had seen images of various Wu King Swords, the one in front of him was unfamiliar. He couldn’t immediately confirm its authenticity.

He told the seller that if the sword was genuine, the store would be interested, but he needed to have it authenticated by an expert.

The seller refused, claiming that the sword was authentic and vouched for by his parents. However, he insisted on keeping the sword a secret, fearing that if too many people knew about it and Song Haowen decided not to buy, the sword could be in danger.

After half an hour of communication, the seller remained adamant, raising suspicions in Song Haowen’s mind.

He worried not only about the authenticity of the sword but also about its origin. While losing some money was not a big concern, if the seller turned out to be a grave robber or engaged in illegal activities, it could lead to legal trouble.

The seller grew impatient, stating that if he wasn’t in a hurry for money, he would never sell such a priceless treasure. To ease Song Haowen’s concerns, he offered to provide identification and write a guarantee once the sword was purchased.

Song Haowen felt a bit relieved with this assurance and continued bargaining. However, he kept the price low, fearing deception. The negotiation went from ten thousand down to five thousand, then to two thousand, and further down to eight hundred. When Song Haowen tried to lower it again, the seller refused, saying, “If you’re not interested, I won’t sell.”

Song Haowen thought that buying a potential fake for eight hundred yuan would be a waste, but his intuition told him it was an ancient sword, and he might regret not buying it.

While contemplating, Qian Youlai, Wang Li, Zhu Hongyu, and Narenhua all came to advise him not to buy bronze artifacts due to the prevalence of fakes. They emphasized that even if the sword was genuine, without a famous provenance, it wouldn’t be worth so much.

Seeing the price negotiations were going nowhere, the disappointed seller packed up the sword and was about to leave. Suddenly, Song Haowen felt a surge of impulsiveness.

He ignored his colleagues’ warnings, braced himself, and purchased the sword. To prevent any potential issues, he copied down the seller’s name and address from his ID and had him sign a guarantee, along with a fingerprint.

As he watched the seller’s figure disappear down the street, Song Haowen’s heart inexplicably tightened. Ignoring the complaining glances from his colleagues, he carefully wrapped the sword and rushed to the university, seeking Professor Zheng Gang, an archaeology expert living in the professor’s building, to authenticate the ancient sword.

Professor Zheng Gang, a renowned forty-year-old archaeologist, was taken aback when he saw the ancient sword in Song Haowen’s hands. He carefully placed the sword on his desk, turned on a desk lamp, picked up a magnifying glass, and began a meticulous examination.

Song Haowen, anxiously watching the professor’s every move, felt his heart pounding. After about half an hour, Professor Zheng finally took his gaze away from the sword, looked up at Song Haowen, and said, “Where did you get this sword from?”

“Just bought it from someone,” Song Haowen briefly explained the purchasing process.

Professor Zheng, after listening to Song Haowen’s account, was silent for a moment before saying, “You’re so young and yet willing to take such risks. Don’t you know how deep the waters of collecting antiques can be?”

Song Haowen smiled bitterly. “It’s my first time dealing with collectibles. I’ll consider the money spent as a lesson.”