How could this be Brian Carter making a mistake? Clearly, he himself was the one who got it wrong, yet he insisted on mocking the other's sharp eye. Such a shameless act—even with his thick skin, he couldn't help but feel his face flush red and blue with embarrassment.

Not to mention, Old Bennett had witnessed the whole thing. His original intention in acting so magnanimous and generously offering advice to a junior was precisely to leave a good impression on Old Bennett, hoping the latter might give him some guidance in the future. But now, it had all turned into a colossal joke.

“Old Bennett...”

For a moment, overwhelmed with shame and anger, Lee Grant stammered, not knowing what to say, his entire face turning as red as blood-soaked paper.

“This tile has actually been patched together in a shoddy way to impersonate a Ming dynasty blue-and-white porcelain plate—what a travesty!”

No matter how mortified Lee Grant was, Old Bennett didn’t spare him another glance. Instead, he lifted the porcelain plate with admiration, pointed to the bottom, and spoke to Brian Carter.

“If I’m not mistaken, this should be a blue-and-white floor tile from the Bao’en Temple Pagoda, built by Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty in memory of his mother.”

Chapter 011: Failing the Character Test

“Bao’en Temple Pagoda?”

“So it really is a blue-and-white floor tile!”

...

With just one sentence from Old Bennett, both Brian Carter and Lee Grant were shocked, their expressions changing dramatically.

Lee Grant’s shock came from finally recalling what the Bao’en Temple Pagoda was, thanks to Old Bennett’s words, while Brian Carter was able to confirm that he had truly stumbled upon a treasure.

“Bao’en Temple Pagoda? This is actually a blue-and-white tile from the most famous pagoda in China? And someone used it to patch up a Ming blue-and-white porcelain plate? Too bad the repair wasn’t perfect, making the traces easy to spot. Tsk...”

As Lee Grant dug up the rumor from the depths of his memory with Old Bennett’s hint, he couldn’t help but gasp.

But this gasp only made Old Bennett roll his eyes. With your level of expertise, even if someone hadn’t made it into a plate, you’d probably still think it was just a broken piece if it was placed in front of you.

Meanwhile, Brian Carter was beaming with joy. Could this be considered his first real success as a collector? And what a success—he’d managed to acquire a relic from the most famous pagoda in five thousand years of Chinese history. The excitement was overwhelming.

He knew the modern value of this tile was limited. After all, the Bao’en Temple Pagoda was seventy or eighty meters tall, and each tile was only about ten centimeters square. One could imagine how many such blue-and-white tiles there were inside the pagoda.

Even though the pagoda was destroyed, quite a few spare tiles had been unearthed.

You couldn’t expect to sell this thing for millions at the drop of a hat—that was impossible. Its value mainly depended on how much a buyer wanted it for their collection.

Normally, the market price for such a tile would top out at a couple hundred thousand yuan, and only a true enthusiast might pay more regardless of cost.

Still, he was thrilled—after all, he’d picked this up for just a few hundred yuan.

“So, young man, if you’re interested in selling this tile, I’d be happy to offer you a price you’ll be satisfied with.” As Brian Carter was still excited, Old Bennett spoke again with a gentle smile, a deep look of anticipation in his eyes.

“Sorry, I have no intention of selling it right now.” Without hesitation, Brian Carter refused Old Bennett’s offer. He had a certain fondness for the old man, since it was his guidance that had allowed him to confirm the tile’s origin.

But that fondness was nowhere near enough for him to hand over this blue-and-white tile. He needed the Edgar within it.

Once he had absorbed all the Edgar, he might consider selling it—but not now.

A flash of disappointment crossed Old Bennett’s eyes. He could clearly see the determination in Brian Carter’s gaze; the young man truly had no intention of selling the blue-and-white tile from the most famous pagoda, and wasn’t just using polite words to drive up the price.

He couldn’t help but feel disappointed, as he himself was very fond of this type of tile.

“Brian Carter, aren’t you in need of cash lately? Since Old Bennett is interested in this tile, why are you still holding out? Isn’t that a bit ungrateful? If it weren’t for Old Bennett, you wouldn’t even know what it was.” Just as Old Bennett was sighing inwardly, Lee Grant finally snapped out of it and, with a hint of dissatisfaction, rebuked him. No matter how embarrassed or surprised he’d been by the tile’s origin, he clearly wasn’t in the mood to care about that now.

Old Bennett wanted the tile, and Brian Carter wouldn’t sell?

He knew full well that Brian Carter needed money lately, but he hadn’t noticed the look in Brian Carter’s eyes, so he naturally assumed he was just trying to drive up the price.

This kind of behavior isn’t just common in the world of collecting—it’s everywhere in society. If you have something someone else desperately wants, and you say you won’t sell, isn’t it just to keep them on the hook and make them raise their offer?

Thinking he’d seen through Brian Carter’s little scheme, Lee Grant secretly felt a bit excited. After all, he’d made a fool of himself in front of Old Bennett earlier. If he could help Old Bennett get the tile now, it would surely help redeem his image in the old man’s eyes.