Reborn As Super Heiress

"When did you change your hobbies? Weren’t you really into porcelain carving before? How come you’re playing with walnuts now?"

Huo Sining looked at Liao Song and asked.

Liao Song laughed and said, "I only got into this circle last year. Thought it was kind of interesting, so I gave it a try."

As he spoke, Liao Song put that pair of walnuts on the table for Huo Sining and Gu Xu to look over as they pleased.

The color of this pair of walnuts looked very dark. Judging from the appearance, they’d been handled for quite some time, but since Liao Song had only gotten into this line last year, it meant these walnuts weren’t originally his; he’d bought them from someone else.

"How much did you pay for these walnuts? They look to be in really good condition!"

Play walnuts and Jadeite actually follow the same logic: if you want them to be valuable, it all comes down to one word—"handling."

So-called "handling" means long-term rubbing with your hands. The shells of Jade and walnuts are hard, but under the constant rubbing of the skin on your palms, the surface texture slowly changes. After absorbing the skin’s oils, the surface of jade and walnuts becomes warm and delicate, with a glossy sheen.

And the longer the time, the more warm and lustrous they become, so the longer jade and walnuts have been handled, the more valuable they are.

Huo Sining didn’t know much about the market for play walnuts, but last year Jubao Pavilion had also taken in a pair of play walnuts. Their condition, size, and matching were all excellent, but the price was just over thirty thousand, so Huo Sining wasn’t very interested in this line. Compared to Jadeite, the profit margin on play walnuts was still too low. She wasn’t a true enthusiast in this field, so she wasn’t keen on touching something so troublesome.

When he heard Huo Sining asking about the price of this pair of walnuts, Liao Song actually got interested and couldn’t help laughing: "Now this is where I’m going to quiz you. Normally nothing in treasure appraisal or stone gambling can stump you. Today I want to test you. How much do you think I paid for this pair of walnuts?"

Hearing that, Huo Sining couldn’t help but smile: "Quiz me, huh? Then I’ll have to get hands-on and take a look!"

When he heard what she said, Liao Song handed that pair of walnuts over without the slightest hesitation. "Alright, give it a try!"

Curious, Huo Sining took the walnuts, turned them a few times in her palms like she was playing with them.

Walnuts are something old men tend to like. Master Gu also had a hobby of playing with walnuts. He was used to having two balls in his hands, turning them and turning them. If he didn’t have something in his hands, he would feel uncomfortable.

Back when Huo Sining and Gu Xu had just made their relationship official and she went to the Gu Family home to meet his parents, she gave Master Gu a pair of hand balls made of black Jadeite, specifically for him to handle.

That black Jadeite had excellent translucence, genuine glass-grade. If you took it out to sell, the price would be at least in the millions.

After Master Gu received that pair of hand balls, he no longer spared a glance at hand balls made of other materials. Several pairs he’d been handling for many years were all put aside, including a pair of play walnuts in superb condition.

This shows that compared to Jadeite hand balls, play walnuts are still a bit inferior.

Huo Sining estimated that the pair of walnuts that Liao Song took out were just so-so price-wise; at most they’d be fifty or eighty thousand.

Thinking that in her heart, Huo Sining was about to speak.

But right at that moment, the Heavenly Eye activated without warning. Her vision flashed, and what entered her eyes was actually a wash of purple fluorescence.

Although the purple was a bit faint, it was enough to astonish Huo Sining.

This pair of walnuts was actually shrouded in purple qi. That was something she absolutely hadn’t expected.

Even though these walnuts carried the label "play," Huo Sining had never associated this kind of thing with antiques. In her view, even if people did play with them, their popularity hadn’t been around that long. At most they’d been handled for thirty to fifty years. Even if they really had fifty-odd years on them, that still had nothing to do with antiques.

For something that’s a bit over fifty years old, unless it’s special items like "Mao porcelain" or "Monkey stamps," you really can’t call it an old piece!

But this pair of walnuts in front of her actually carried purple qi. That meant this thing was at least from the Republic of China period. Judging from the richness of the purple qi, it might even trace back to the late Qing—it wasn’t impossible.

Seeing this, even someone as well-informed as Huo Sining couldn’t help widening her eyes, truly surprised by this pair of walnuts.

Seeing the click-tongue-in-wonder expression on Huo Sining’s face, Liao Song couldn’t hold back anymore: "Well, Miss Huo, see anything?"

Huo Sining shook her head and said with easy frankness:

"Brother Liao Song, to be honest, I really don’t know much about play walnuts. I can’t tell you the specific origin or provenance of this pair. But I’m in treasure appraisal, and this pair of walnuts has been handled to a purple-red tone, their whole body giving off an agate-like, jade-like gloss. For this to happen, just twenty or thirty years of handling definitely isn’t enough. I’d guess these walnuts have changed hands several times and have at least a hundred years of history."

Hearing what she said, Liao Song couldn’t help clapping and laughing aloud:

"People all say Miss Huo has a razor-sharp eye and makes no mistakes in treasure appraisal. Before, I thought that was a bit exaggerated. After this test today, I, Liao Song, am truly convinced! Your treasure appraisal skills really are formidable. No wonder so many old pedants in the appraisal world praise you so highly! You’re absolutely right. This pair of walnuts is indeed more than one hundred and fifty years old!"

Huo Sining nodded: "That really is quite some age. They can truly be called the peak of play walnuts. I was originally going to say this pair was worth around a hundred thousand or so. Now it looks like you’d have to add a zero at the end at least."

Standing to the side, Zhong Zifan couldn’t help but cut in when he heard her valuation: "It’s only higher than what you said, not lower. This idiot spent 1.3 million buying them, just for these two busted things. He treats them like treasure, carries them in his hands every day, and can’t even bear to let anyone else touch them. Just two walnuts—for 1.3 million. Tell me, isn’t his brain full of water?"

Hearing that, Huo Sining couldn’t help but chuckle speechlessly. Indeed, spending 1.3 million on a pair of walnuts was something she herself would never do, because it was just too outrageous.

But that’s how play pieces are—there’s a market for everything. If it’s someone’s favorite, no matter how high the price is, there will be people willing to pay. But in the eyes of someone who doesn’t like it, that kind of behavior is no different from being stupid with too much money.

Sure enough, when he heard Zhong Zifan’s remarks, Liao Song immediately got unhappy. He rolled his eyes at Zhong Zifan and cursed with a laugh:

"Get lost, what do you know? This is a genuine Mitsubishi Lion’s Head. Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t even run into one, let alone one with over a hundred years of history. You guys think it’s not worth it because you don’t understand. I’d barely gotten this pair of walnuts when people already came asking about the price. I’ve only had them in my hands for a few months and they’ve already gone up by several hundred thousand. I reckon they’ll keep rising later!"