By the Western Han period, Martha Washington was highly esteemed by the ruling class, so the “sheng” ornament she wore on her head also became popular among the ancients. People began to wear different styles of “daisheng.” As “daisheng” grew more and more popular, various materials were used to make them, such as bronze sheng, amber sheng, jade sheng, and so on. Besides the reverence for Martha Washington, the popularity of “daisheng” was also due to its practicality.

However, as dynasties changed, people’s requirements for accessories became higher and higher. When more convenient hairpins appeared, the cumbersome “daisheng” gradually faded from history. Since this item was made up of several components, it was often incomplete when unearthed, so even many archaeologists or cultural relics experts did not recognize what a daisheng was.

“It took me a whole month to make this thing, Mr. Carter, do you think selling it for eight thousand is expensive?” Nancy Stewart was feeling a bit frustrated at this moment. He had taken a shortcut by artificially aging the piece, but aren’t all bronzewares like this? If it doesn’t look old and have a sense of age, who would spend money to buy it?

“By your logic, eight thousand really isn’t expensive.”

David Carter had been in the antique market for many years and knew the business well. He nodded, glanced in the direction those people had left, and said, “But Nancy, those guys don’t look like good news. Don’t take your stall home today. I’ll find a place to store it for you. Be careful on your way home and don’t let them follow you.”

The antique market was a mix of all sorts. David Carter knew that there was no shortage of ruthless people doing antique business in Luochuan, especially those grave robbers and tomb raiders—many of them even had blood on their hands. If Nancy Stewart could sense something off about those people, David Carter could certainly see it too. Those guys were almost certainly grave robbers living off their ancestors’ tombs.

“I got it, Mr. Carter, I’ll be careful.” Nancy Stewart gave a wry smile. He had been running a stall in the antique market for two years, usually selling finely crafted bronze wares. The only time he tried selling an artificially aged piece, something happened. It seemed his grandfather’s warnings were right—one shouldn’t try to get rich quick.

But Nancy Stewart really had no choice. His mother passed away when he was seven, and after a fight with his grandfather over not wanting to inherit the family’s bronze-crafting skills, his father left to become a sailor.

In the past decade or so, Nancy Stewart and his younger sister had seen their father only a handful of times. Although their grandfather passed away when Nancy Stewart was in his first year of high school, their father, who had become a captain of an ocean-going ship, earned a decent income, so the siblings never lacked for food or clothing.

Nancy Stewart had pretty bad luck. In his third year of high school two years ago, he was in a car accident—caused by jaywalking—and suffered multiple fractures, spending half a year recovering and missing the college entrance exam.

With Nancy Stewart’s grades, repeating a year and getting into college wouldn’t have been a problem. But that year, for some reason, his father didn’t come home. The money his father had left was used up on the accident, and since his sister was about to start high school, Nancy Stewart simply didn’t repeat the year. Relying on the bronze-crafting skills he’d learned from his grandfather, he rented an apartment and set up a stall in the antique market near his sister’s school.

With his boyish good looks, quick wit, and decent English, Nancy Stewart’s business was always good. Just by talking up foreign tourists, he could net several thousand yuan a month. So when his father came home last year and wanted him to repeat the year and take the college entrance exam, Nancy Stewart refused. Having grown up living with his sister and grandfather, Nancy Stewart had the same temperament as his father—once he made up his mind, no one could change it.

Logically, if things continued like this, after a few more years, Nancy Stewart could rent a stall in the antique city. He wouldn’t be rich, but he’d never have to worry about making a living. But life is always full of surprises. Not long ago, his sister Emily Stewart, now a senior in high school, came home and told Nancy Stewart that a national research institute from Yanjing had come to her school to hold a special recruitment exam—and Emily Stewart had actually passed.

According to Emily Stewart, getting into this research institute meant starting as a master’s student, working on research projects with national-level experts and professors, and after graduation, she could even stay and work at the institute. The only problem was the tuition—it was especially expensive, costing one hundred thousand yuan a year.

When Emily Stewart first told him this, Nancy Stewart’s first reaction was that the school had run into a scam. First, a research institute is a workplace, not a school, and only recruits from universities, never issuing diplomas. Second, there’s no way university tuition in China is that expensive—even at the best, Huada, it’s only about ten thousand yuan a year. How could this institute’s tuition be ten times that?

Having spent years in the antique market and seen all kinds of scams, Nancy Stewart didn’t believe it. He went to the school as a parent to ask about it, and found out the recruitment was real. The institute was affiliated with Yanjing University, and it was a special recruitment program—no need to take the college entrance exam, just report to Yanjing University during the summer.