The test questions in the sandalwood box, the broken jade that even experts shook their

The usually bustling and lively Lin Family Restaurant was now so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Song Wan sat upright at the stone table.

Before her stood a dark purple sandalwood box, its patina so thick it seemed almost solidified, quietly emitting a faint, pleasant fragrance.

This calm, woody aroma is mixed with the unique scent of aged wood from the courtyard.

This added an extra layer of oppression to the already heavy atmosphere.

All eyes in the room were now fixed on Song Wan's slender, fair hands.

She didn't rush to open the box.

Instead, he gently and slowly stroked the edge of the sandalwood box twice with his fingertips.

Then, Song Wan's finger moved to the brass clasp on the front of the wooden box.

"Clatter".

A crisp metallic click rang out abruptly in the quiet courtyard.

Although the sound wasn't loud, it made Jiang Ruoyun, who was standing to the side, subconsciously hold her breath.

Song Wan exerted a slight force on her wrist.

With a soft scraping sound, she slowly pushed the lid of the sandalwood box open.

It lacked the dazzling, eye-catching brilliance I had imagined.

Inside the box, there was only a layer of bright yellow silk that looked quite old.

In the very center of the silk, a piece of jade lay quietly.

To be precise, it is a piece of ancient jade that was once perfect but is now broken into three pieces.

It was a piece of topaz.

Its color is not that frivolous and eye-catching bright yellow, but a deep and restrained mature chestnut color that has been mellowed over countless years.

The surface of the jade is covered with a complex mixture of dark red and brown stains, mottled and interwoven.

Like the gnarled roots of an old tree, it exudes a strong sense of historical vicissitude.

However, what is most regrettable is the jagged and glaring fracture mark that runs across the center of the jade.

The three fragments were carefully pieced together, barely maintaining the original shape of the vessel.

Before Lin Mo, who was standing opposite him, could speak...

Wang Cunxin, who was standing under the eaves with a fine cotton cloth ready to continue wiping the pillars, suddenly stopped.

Zhou Yang, who was behind the cashier, couldn't sit still any longer.

He ripped off the ridiculous reading glasses perched on his nose and casually pushed the cup of tea aside.

He didn't care at all when a few drops of tea spilled.

Two old scholars who have long since reached the pinnacle of their respective fields and are arrogant and condescending.

At that moment, they were like sharks that had smelled blood, quickly gathering around the stone table.

Neither of them reached out to touch it; that's the most basic rule in the antique trade.

They simply bent down in unison, bringing their faces close to the sandalwood box.

To avoid their breath affecting the jade, the two even deliberately kept their breathing very low.

Zhou Yang narrowed his eyes slightly, eyes that had been used to paint countless ink paintings.

His gaze swept over the patina and luster of the topaz three times, carefully and repeatedly.

A flicker of pain crossed his old face, his eyes twitched slightly, and he shook his head repeatedly.

His tone was filled with deep regret and heartache.

"Top-grade Hetian yellow jade... This color, this smooth texture, in earlier years, it would have been an item that could have been directly sent to the palace for imperial use."

As a master of traditional Chinese painting, his sensitivity to color and materials far surpasses that of ordinary people.

"As the saying goes, first red, second yellow, third mutton fat jade. This piece of ripe chestnut yellow jade is already the best of the best among yellow jade."

Zhou Yang sighed deeply, his withered fingers tracing the broken lines in mid-air.

"What a pity, what a real pity. It's shattered so thoroughly; all the aura and spiritual energy within this jade has dissipated."

Hearing Zhou Yang's extremely high praise, Song Wan's eyes remained unmoved.

Of course she knew the value of the jade.

The purpose of bringing it out today was not to show off, but to create an unsolvable dead end for this young man.

At this moment, however, Wang Cun's attention was not on the material and color of the jade at all.

As a leading figure in the field of ancient building restoration, he always focused on the structure and load-bearing capacity when examining things.

His brows furrowed into a deep frown as he stared intently at the cross-section of the three broken fragments.

Suddenly, as if he had discovered something extremely terrifying, he gasped sharply.

Wang Cun sat up straight, ripped off the pink rubber gloves from his hands, and threw them disdainfully onto the bamboo chair next to him.

He reached up and pushed up his thick-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.

The expression on his face had changed from initial shock to unprecedented solemnity.

"Professor Song, where did you get this thing from?"

Wang Cun's voice was low, yet it carried an undeniable professional authority.

He pointed to a crack in the box, and his hand, which he used to hold drawing pens for years, was trembling slightly at that moment.

"This crack is too strange! It didn't break from falling from a height."

"It was subjected to immense external pressure, causing it to burst open from the inside!"

He took a deep breath of the cold autumn air, his tone growing increasingly heavy.

"Old Zhou is, after all, an artist. He only saw that the surface spiritual energy had dissipated; he didn't see through the essence of this jade."

"Look closely at the reflection at the break."

Following the direction Wang Cunzhu pointed, Jiang Ruoyun couldn't help but stand on tiptoe and crane her neck to take a look.

The broken surface looked grayish, as if shrouded in mist, lacking the warm luster that a broken jade surface should have.

"The internal texture of this jade has become completely brittle."

Wang Cun made his final judgment, and those words slammed down on the stone table like a heavy hammer.

"Jade breaking ensures peace. But this piece of jade has had its internal structural stress completely destroyed."

"It's like a wooden house that's been completely eaten away by termites for thousands of years."

"It looks like it's still standing there, but it's actually just holding on by its last breath."

Wang Cun raised his head, looked at Song Wan, and waved his hand repeatedly without hesitation.

"With this level of damage, let alone repair, even a god would shake his head."

"Touch it even slightly, even when using tweezers, apply just the slightest bit too much force..."

Wang Cun paused for a moment, seemingly reluctant to recount the tragic outcome.

"Even if you get too close and breathe too heavily, it might disintegrate and crumble into a pile of powder!"

"This is an absolutely unsolvable dead end!"

After Wang Cunzhu finished speaking, the courtyard fell into a deathly silence once again.

Only the rustling sound of leaves falling in the wind and rubbing against the bluestone slabs serves as a reminder of the passage of time.

Two titans of their field.

One judges by appearance, the other by bone structure.

The two of them joined forces and delivered an irreversible death sentence to this rare piece of topaz.

Standing beside Lin Mo, Jiang Ruoyun's already anxious heart plummeted into an abyss.

She didn't understand jade, but she understood the weight of the words "dead end".

Even Director Wang of the Department of Ancient Architecture at Tsinghua University said that it would crumble into powder if touched, so how could it be repaired?

This is simply an impossible task!

My mother didn't come to test Lin Mo at all today.

She had clearly presented Lin Mo with an unsolvable, age-old problem, hoping to make him back down and lose face!

Jiang Ruoyun's palms were covered in cold sweat.

She instinctively reached out and tightly gripped the hem of Lin Mo's shirt.

She squeezed too hard, her knuckles turned slightly white, and the smooth fabric was creased with deep wrinkles.

She turned her head with concern to look at the man beside her, her usually cold eyes now filled with anxiety and pleading.

That look seemed to say: Don't be stubborn, at worst we won't fix it. Being laughed at is better than turning this treasure into powder.

If it were to shatter into dust, given her mother's intolerant nature...

I will never let Lin Mo step into the Jiang family's door again in this lifetime.

Meanwhile, Song Wan remained seated on the stone bench.

Her posture was upright and elegant, like an inviolable, perfect sculpture.

From the moment she opened the wooden box, her gaze never left Lin Mo's face.

She is waiting.

When this arrogant young man, who didn't know his place, showed signs of panic.

Wait until his brows furrow, until sweat beads on his forehead, until he stammers and makes excuses to decline.

As long as Lin Mo showed even the slightest bit of fear.

The hurtful words she had prepared would immediately fly out like knives.

Everyone was waiting for Lin Mo's reaction.

Two pairs of eyes were filled with regret, one with worry, and one with a sense of oppression.

Everything was seamlessly interwoven into this man.

The cold, sharp autumn sunlight shone on Lin Mo's face, outlining his angular, calm profile.

He lowered his head slightly, his gaze lingering on the broken piece of topaz for a moment.

There was no surprise, no regret.

There was none of the despair and fear of facing a dead end that Wang Cunzhen described.

Lin Mo's expression was so calm it sent chills down one's spine.

Even on that usually calm face, not a single furrow of brow appeared.

The look in his eyes as he stared at the broken piece of jade.

It's like looking at an ordinary pebble that you can see anywhere on the roadside and kick away with one foot.

Or, to put it another way, it's like a god-level player who has already reached the maximum level suddenly seeing a rough blueprint for a beginner's village.

That sense of relaxation and indifference that emanates from within.

The stark contrast between the panicked reactions of the two titans seemed particularly jarring, even bordering on arrogant.

Song Wan's eyes narrowed slightly, and her fingers unconsciously tapped on the stone table.

Is this kid putting on a brave face, or did he genuinely not understand the danger in Old Wang's words?

Just then, Lin Mo made a move.

He didn't rush to touch the sandalwood box, nor did he offer any rebuttal to Wang Cuncun and Zhou Yang's diagnoses.

He simply turned his head and smiled gently at Jiang Ruoyun, whose eyes were full of anxiety.

Then he gently patted the back of her hand that was clutching his clothes, the movement as natural as comforting a frightened kitten.

Then, he turned around and slowly walked toward the bluestone trough in the corner of the yard.

The sink was hand-carved from a single piece of old bluestone, and a clean bar of soap sat beside it.

Lin Mo walked to the sink and turned on the slightly rusty brass faucet.

Cool tap water gushed out, splashing onto the bluestone slabs and creating tiny water droplets.

He put his hands down into the water.

He slowly lathered up with soap, gently rubbing his fingers, palms, and even wrists.

The movements were extremely meticulous, like a surgeon about to step onto the operating table, making the most rigorous and sacred pre-operative preparations.

The sound of flowing water was exceptionally clear in the quiet courtyard.

After washing the foam off his hands, Lin Mo turned off the tap.

He pulled a snow-white, dry towel from the wooden shelf next to him.

Little by little, I wiped the water off my hands until they were completely dry, leaving no trace of moisture.

Finally, he casually draped the towel back on the rack.

He turned around, stepping on the fallen, withered leaves, and walked back with an air of composure that was hard to look at directly.