Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 954: Chapter 950: News of Secret Color Porcelain

Huo Sining was observing the black aura on Watanabe Yasu’s forehead with a look of pity, when Hattori Keiko suddenly spoke from across the table.

”I heard Watanabe-kun recently acquired a treasure from Huaxia. I wonder if you could let me have a look at it?”

Hattori Keiko looked at Watanabe Yasu with a smile, her eyes full of anticipation and desire.

Watanabe Yasu paused his knife mid-cutting the steak, then smiled: ”What treasure? It’s just a broken tea bowl. Speaking of which, Miss Keiko’s information is quite up-to-date. This tea bowl has been in my hands for less than three days, and the news has already reached your ears.”

Huo Sining, with sharp ears, instantly sensed something was amiss. Watanabe Yasu recently brought back a tea bowl from the country? What kind of tea bowl? If it was an ordinary item, Hattori Keiko wouldn’t have mentioned it like that.

Huo Sining had a vague bad feeling, and immediately dared not move, holding her breath and listening carefully.

Hattori Keiko heard the hidden sarcasm in Watanabe Yasu’s words, but she didn’t mind at all. Her smile unchanged, she said:

”The people below love to gossip, and I happened to hear it. Watanabe-kun, you’re too modest. This tea bowl is Yue Kiln’s Secret Color Porcelain, regarded as the gem of the Taicheng Museum in Huaxia, yet in your hands, it becomes a broken tea bowl? If that’s a broken tea bowl, then all the jewelry in my shop must be scraps.”

Standing outside the door, Huo Sining’s heart sank when she heard Hattori Keiko speak like this, thinking to herself that it was indeed the case!

She had felt something was off when she heard Watanabe Yasu mention the tea bowl. Now she was even more sure of her guess.

Watanabe Yasu’s tea bowl was indeed the one swapped from Taicheng Museum!

With a grim expression, Huo Sining couldn’t fathom how a good tea bowl in a museum could be secretly swapped by this Dongyang person. How was Watanabe Yasu capable of bribing internal museum staff and passing through national customs checkpoints?

Huo Sining’s mind was racing, while Watanabe Yasu laughed; though he spoke modestly, the pride in his eyes was unabashed.

”I was just lucky. Without Old Mr. Zhong’s help this time, I wouldn’t have gotten my hands on the tea bowl even if I cracked my head.”

Hattori Keiko became curious: ”Who exactly is this Old Mr. Zhong? Listening to you, it seems he has great abilities.”

Huo Sining was also intrigued by his words. For the past two months, Zhou Shitao and Taicheng Museum had secretly investigated the tea bowl swapping incident, but had no clue. Huo Sining even began to doubt that the matter might never be solved, unexpectedly hearing a crucial clue here in Dongyang. Her heart raced, her eyes shining brightly at the partially open bamboo curtain.

Old Mr. Zhong, the name reminded Huo Sining of the Zhong Fang inscription on the swapped tea bowl. If not for Zhou Shitao using blue cobalt glass to let her see, even the Heavenly Eye empowered Huo Sining couldn’t detect the flaw at the bottom of the tea bowl.

Zhong Fang, these words left a deep impression on Huo Sining’s mind. She suspected Old Mr. Zhong must be closely related to Zhong Fang.

Wanting to hear more useful information about Old Mr. Zhong, Huo Sining felt disappointed as Watanabe Yasu seemed extremely cautious, dodging Hattori Keiko’s probing with a smile and changed the topic to the upcoming New Year’s festival.

Unable to gather more information, Huo Sining felt somewhat let down, losing interest in Watanabe Yasu and Hattori Keiko’s idle chat. Just then, she noticed a server had brought their food to her and Gu Xu’s booth, losing the desire to eavesdrop further.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, she suddenly heard Hattori Keiko exclaim in surprise, ”What, Mr. Watanabe, you’ve been invited to Dongdu’s New Year festival?”

With a smug look, Watanabe Yasu said: ”Yes, because of the tea bowl, Meiji Shrine has sent me an invitation. Besides that, I might even serve as the High Priest. Although they haven’t publicly announced the specific arrangements yet, the shrine has privately communicated with me.”

Initially miffed at Watanabe Yasu for hiding matters about Old Mr. Zhong, Hattori Keiko felt a sense of awe and admiration upon hearing about Watanabe Yasu being invited to the festival and possibly serving as High Priest.

Outside the bamboo curtain, Huo Sining was stunned. She wasn’t unfamiliar with the New Year festival term. Previously, Nara Nigawa had taken her to antique shops, one named Yidao Pavilion. Its owner possessed a Khotan jade tea set, which earned him an invitation to the festival as well.

Huo Sining couldn’t grasp what this Dongdu New Year festival was about, but it seemed rather prestigious. Puzzled, she could only shake her head quietly.

At this moment, Huo Sining didn’t think the festival had anything to do with her. However, two months later, as she crouched by a statue at Meiji Shrine, watching the chaos unfold before her eyes, she would change her mind.

Of course, without the ability of foresight, Huo Sining couldn’t predict events two months ahead. Silently returning to the restroom, after disabling her Invisibility Skill, she returned to her booth to slowly enjoy the Kobe steak she ordered.

Though not fond of Western cuisine, Huo Sining had to admit the authentic Kobe steak was evenly marbled, subtly sweet with a hint of spice, savory and rich with a strong beef aroma, providing an excellent taste.

While savoring the delicious beef, Huo Sining kept her ears poised, quietly awaiting movements from the nearby booth. Sure enough, within five minutes, a piercing female scream suddenly came from the booth ahead on the right.

”Ah—”

The scream promptly attracted nearby servers. As they parted the curtain, they saw Hattori Keiko’s face flushed red, clutching her throat with pain etched across her face yet unable to speak.

Watching with great interest, Gu Xu raised his eyebrows and meticulously cut the steak on his plate before bringing it before Huo Sining. He then swapped plates with her and calmly asked with a smile, ”What did you do?”

Huo Sining chuckled and shrugged: ”Nothing much, just sprinkled a bit of chili powder on her foie gras and dropped two super-concentrated bitter melon capsules in her wine.”