The waiting time always feels long, and with thoughts in his mind, Lin Yi found it hard to sleep.
Finally, during the unbearable wait, the digital clock in the bedroom ticked to 0:00.
Seeing this, the long-restless Lin Yi immediately flipped over and sat up, eagerly grabbing the small paper box in his hand.
To ensure there were no slip-ups, Lin Yi simply reached in and took out a handful of ceramic shards, clutching them tightly in his palm.
With everything ready, Lin Yi took a deep breath and called out to the system in his heart.
"System, system, help me disassemble these porcelain shards and reforge them into a complete antique porcelain piece!"
Whoosh!
As this thought emerged in his mind, the heavy feeling in his hand suddenly lightened, and a mechanical voice echoed in his brain.
[Recovered a handful of broken porcelain shards from the owner, the system has decomposed them, system is screening and optimizing molecules, screening and optimization complete, reconstruction in progress, owner obtained a Yuan Dynasty blue and white peony-patterned stem cup.]
As the system's voice faded from his mind, Lin Yi suddenly felt something appear in his previously empty hand.
Instinctively, he gripped it tightly, then glanced over and saw a complete small porcelain cup had appeared in his hand.
The small porcelain cup wasn't large, only about half a palm's size, with an overall height of roughly ten centimeters.
Its overall design was similar to modern goblets, but its upper part was bowl-shaped, resembling a small bowl attached to a pedestal.
Anyway, in Lin Yi's eyes, it didn't seem particularly impressive.
Although he didn't find it attractive, he knew that this thing was certainly not cheap.
"Hehe, the system is really amazing, it actually made me a genuine antique. Well then, tomorrow noon after school, I'll head to the antique market and sell it for my first bucket of gold!"
After staying up most of the night, Lin Yi was already tired, but looking at the small porcelain cup in front of him erased all sleepiness.
Carefully putting the small porcelain cup on the desk, Lin Yi casually turned on the computer to start searching. There's no other way, high school students aren't allowed to use mobile phones.
Although he wasn't a great student, with exams approaching, his mom diligently followed the school's orders by confiscating his phone.
The value of antiques is difficult to define, especially porcelain; some pieces can be worth millions, while others sell for just a few hundred.
As an outsider, he couldn't determine the true value of this porcelain cup.
He didn't want it to turn out to be worth tens or hundreds of thousands, only to be fooled into selling it for a couple of thousand.
Alternatively, he could conveniently ask his dad about it.
Given his dad's knowledge of antiques, he could probably estimate its approximate value.
At least he could tell whether it's worth ten thousand or a hundred thousand.
But Lin Yi didn't intend to let his dad see it now, as it would be hard to explain later.
Recalling the system's notification, Lin Yi typed 'Yuan Dynasty blue and white peony-patterned stem cup' into the computer.
After hitting the search button, Lin Yi was immediately stunned and couldn't help but exclaim out loud:
"Damn! This little thing is worth so much?"
From the search results, Lin Yi was shocked to discover that if genuine, this little thing was worth at least two million.
A similar stem cup was auctioned off by a company in Shanghai for two million seven hundred and ten thousand!
Who would have thought! Who would have thought that my first bucket of gold would make me financially free!
Two million, just think about it, with dad's five thousand monthly salary, it would take thirty years without any expenses to earn that!
With these thoughts, Lin Yi became even more excited, gazing once more at the goblet, his eyes filled with symbols of copper coins.
He wished he could kiss it.
To ensure the treasure's safety, Lin Yi grabbed a roll of toilet paper and carefully wrapped it up tightly.
Still not satisfied, he found some tape for a big wrap.
Seeing it bundled up like a dumpling, Lin Yi nodded in satisfaction.
"Haha, it's foolproof now; even if it falls, it won't break my treasure!"
After carefully placing it in his backpack, Lin Yi excitedly lay back in bed, planning how to use this considerable sum of money.
The next morning, the first thing Lin Yi did upon waking was to open his backpack and check the 'dumpling'. Seeing it lying quietly in the bag, he let out a sigh of relief.
As the saying goes, joy brings spirits high, and Lin Yi was just like that now.
"Calm, calm, after all, I'm a cool guy with a system; how can I be excited over such a small amount of money, huh... calm."
Riding his bike down the community road, Lin Yi took several deep breaths to calm his excitement.
Beep Beep Beep!!
Suddenly, an urgent honk came from behind, startling Lin Yi.
He looked around at his location, he was already at the side. Is the driver behind crazy?
Turning around, just as he was about to see if it was a woman driver, suddenly a voice of anger called out from behind:
"Hey, kid on the bike! Does this road belong to you? Didn't hear my car coming? Move aside! If my car gets scratched, you won't be able to repay me even if I sell you!"
Hearing the reprimanding voice behind, Lin Yi couldn't help but frown.
Looking back, he saw a black old model Porsche Cayenne approaching, a slicked-back, greasy-haired middle-aged man glaring at him angrily from inside the car.
When Lin Yi turned his head, the middle-aged man in the car was clearly stunned, and before Lin Yi could speak, he took the lead, continuing in an arrogant tone:
"Oh, turns out it's the Lin Family kid, right? About to take the college entrance exam, I heard from your Aunt Liu that your grades have been consistently poor. So, what do you plan to do after the exam, work somewhere? How about you come to work at our company? Others earn fifteen hundred a month as interns, I can offer you eighteen hundred, what do you say?"
This middle-aged man in the car, named Sun Zhi, lived in the same community as Lin Yi, not only that, his wife Liu Mei was also colleagues with Lin Yi's mom.
However, his mom didn't have a good relationship with Liu Mei, or rather, Liu Mei now had a bad rapport with all women at their workplace.
The reason clearly linked to her husband, who, according to rumors, was just promoted to a senior executive position in some company a couple of months ago.
Lin Yi often heard his mom complain at home, saying ever since Liu Mei's husband was promoted, she's been looking down on people at work with her nose, acting superior and speaking with sarcasm.
[To be continued....]