Chapter 495: Make Amends By Doing Good
Great-grandfather Fang once again started to brag about his great-grandson. When he got up every day, the first thing he would think about was what angle he would take.
Fang Zhao wasn’t aware of this. Because of Great-grandfather Fang’s warnings, other members of the Fang family didn’t seek out Fang Zhao to take advantage of their relationship.
Fang Zhao cleaned up Curly Hair’s mess, rejected some more collaboration requests and went back to composing. The series producers had also contacted Fang Zhao after seeing the news online. When they found that the composition was still coming along smoothly, they didn’t say much more out of respect for Old Master Mo.
The music score was already mostly complete. There were only some follow-up amendments left.
After he finished the score, Fang Zhao sent it to the production team. With this finally done, Fang Zhao could focus on other things.
Fang Zhao still had to check over Curly Hair’s assignments and tests. Fortunately, Curly Hair was a lot more honest after his punishment. He knew that he needed to be on his best behavior to earn his game console and personal terminal back. Thus, he spent a lot more time on the learning console now.
However, Fang Zhao didn’t know that Curly Hair was spending a lot of time on the learning console outside of his assigned work.
Curly Hair had decided to make amends by doing good! However, there weren’t any trespassers to the island for him to bite. Curly Hair could only look for other options.
In the rare times he was brought for walks, Curly Hair no longer behaved atrociously in the ocean, nor did he assault sea creatures.
He was searching for treasure.
Curly Hair used his abundant knowledge to seek out valuable things on the ocean floor. He wondered what he could find about ocean floor mineral deposits. But, because his personal terminal had been confiscated, he didn’t have access to the Web. The learning console had limited resources, mostly in the form of academic papers.
Curly had heard multiple conversations between Fang Zhao and Nanfeng about constructing a collection hall and buying land. Buying land and constructing a building required quite a lot of money. Curly Hair wanted to help relieve some of this financial strain from Fang Zhao and show that despite eating a lot and causing trouble, he could also make money!
If he could help Fang Zhao make a huge fortune once again, perhaps his game consoles and personal terminal could have their jail sentences reduced.
At the thought of being able to get back his game consoles and personal terminal, Curly Hair jumped with excitement.
When Yan Biao brought Curly Hair out on the speedboat, he watched Curly Hair jump into the ocean and disappear. Curly Hair didn’t appear on the radar, nor was there any indication of his location. Yan Biao was already used to it. He turned on the apparatus to record today’s dog walking assignment. Then, he picked up his gun to start his shooting practice. As a bodyguard, he couldn’t slack off on his training.
On the island, Zuo Yu was driving around in a patrol car.
The sun gradually started to set. Zuo Yu looked at the time. Yan Biao seemed to be running late. He was normally back by this time.
Just as he was about to send Yan Biao a message, he noticed something approaching from beneath the water. Zuo Yu chuckled.
At the next moment, he witnessed Curly Hair hurtling out from the ocean onto the beach. Without stopping, Curly Hair dashed towards the house. There seemed to be something between his teeth, but Zuo Yu hadn’t managed to get a clear look.
Yan Biao wasn’t able to keep up even on a speed boat and arrived at the island ten minutes later.
“What happened? Did the dog play a trick on you again?” Zuo Yu asked. “Didn’t the boss order him to take the speedboat instead of swimming back on his own?”
Yan Biao’s mind was also full of doubt. “I have no idea what new discovery he made today. He wasn’t listening to my commands. After he surfaced, he immediately started swimming back to the island. I don’t even know what’s in his mouth.”
“If he’s rushing that much, perhaps he’s bringing that thing to gain some credit?” Zuo Yu guessed.
Back at the house, Curly Hair immediately ran to Fang Zhao with the bowl-shaped thing in his mouth.
“This! I found it on the seafloor!”
Fang Zhao raised an eyebrow when he saw the object held between Curly Hair’s teeth.
Porcelain!
During the hundred years of the Period of Destruction, practically all porcelain and other brittle historical relics had been thoroughly destroyed. Compared to metal items, porcelain was too fragile. At that time, everyone had had their hands full just trying to survive. They couldn’t care about gold, silver and gems, let alone porcelain objects.
From what Fang Zhao knew, there were collectors who preserved porcelain relics during the Period of Destruction, but these were few and far between.
New Era technology developed rapidly, and new materials kept being invented. Daily utensils became cheap and thus, porcelain gradually became obsolete on the general market. There were only a handful of ceramic craftsmen in the entire world, and these artists were merely enthusiasts who had fumbled about with surviving leftover knowledge from the Founding Era. Traditional crafting techniques from the Old Era had more or less died out during the changes of eras.
Chinaware in the New Era was mostly manufactured by smart machinery. Higher quality ones were custom-made by craftsmen, and they were made by New Era ceramic techniques.
Generally speaking, in today’s market, ceramics belonged to a very niche category. Besides households that paid special attention to quality and detail, most people didn’t use ceramics.
“Did you get it from the ocean floor?” Fang Zhao asked as he picked up the object.
“Oh yeah! I discovered many on the ocean floor! A small boat is buried there! I dug out this one. Is it worth anything?!” Curly Hair wagged his tail excitedly.
Fang Zhao’s attention lingered on the words “a small boat” for a moment, but he didn’t say anything.
In the beginning of the New Era, artifacts from the ocean had to be handed over to the authorities. However, after outer space picked up interest, the laws for ocean artifact salvaging were changed. Items found on the ocean floor now belonged to whoever found them. Even so, the attention of merchants also gradually shifted elsewhere, and the ocean floor was slowly forgotten by most. Only artifact collectors who were strongly attached to these sort of relics still watched the ocean floor. However, seafloor exploration costs grew prohibitively expensive, and they too gradually gave up.
“This thing is too fragile. I broke quite a few of them before I was able to bring this back. I didn’t even dare swim too quickly.” Curly Hair continued to wag his tail and show off his accomplishments.
He had learned via the learning console that this sort of fragile thing was expensive! The older it was, the more expensive!
Fang Zhao patted Curly Hair’s head and held the bowl up for a closer look.
There were a few teeth marks and cracks on the bowl from Curly Hair’s bite. Curly Hair had already been very careful but was unable to prevent this damage. This result was already rather difficult to achieve for Curly Hair.
Fang Zhao first searched the Internet for a way to clean artifacts that were recovered from the ocean. Following some instructions, he did a simple cleaning to remove stains and salt.
The sediments on the ceramic bowl were washed away, revealing how it looked. Although there was some damage, the elegance and beauty of this artifact could still be seen. Also, there was a distinct artistic style that had survived many events.
Fang Zhao didn’t know too much about ceramics and wasn’t able to determine which period this bowl was from. Back when the Poseidonsaur was dug up, Fang Zhao had bought two artifact dating machines, which he used now.
Fang Zhao was stunned for quite a while when he saw the digits displayed on the two machines.
“Over one thousand six hundred years…”
This bowl had been crafted at least 1600 years ago!
Curly Hair panted excitedly at the numbers displayed on the machines. He wagged his tail even more vigorously.
This junk is over 1600 years old!
It should be old enough. I wonder how many of these can be exchanged for my game consoles and personal terminal?