At the critical moment, Li Yang reached out and successfully caught the schoolbag. Seeing that the glass cup inserted into the side pocket of the schoolbag had not fallen out, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, it didn't fall on the ground."
"You little brat, look at what you've done," Uncle Peng rushed forward, grabbed the spiky-haired boy, and pinched his ear, saying, "If Mr. Li hadn't been agile, the schoolbag would have fallen to the ground."
"Hurry up and thank Uncle Li!"
"Thank you, Uncle Li," the spiky-haired boy said reluctantly, with a hint of disdain.
Uncle Peng said angrily, "Hey, you little brat, how are you thanking him? Have a better attitude. Thank him again!"
"Dad, I've already said thank you. Besides, this is my schoolbag, and there's nothing inside. It won't matter if it falls on the ground," the spiky-haired boy said unhappily. "You still want me to thank him? Isn't this making a mountain out of a molehill?"
"You..." Uncle Peng was about to twist his ear to teach him a lesson.
Li Yang said to him, "Uncle Peng, forget it. This child is too young and doesn't understand anything. Otherwise, I believe he wouldn't be so reckless."
"Who's reckless? Who doesn't understand?" the spiky-haired boy retorted defiantly.
"Xiao Ping, I haven't seen you in a while, and your temper has grown," Murong Xue stood up and looked at him, saying, "Would you like me, your sister, to help you stretch your muscles?"
"No, no, no, Sister Xue, we can talk. I won't dare again," the spiky-haired boy's face turned pale with fright. He quickly hid behind his father and said, "But Sister Xue, I didn't say anything wrong. It's just a schoolbag, there's no need to be so careful."
"If it were just a schoolbag, it wouldn't be a big problem. But the problem is, there's a treasure in your schoolbag that's comparable to a national treasure. If it were damaged, it would be a very big deal," Li Yang said with a smile.
Everyone was stunned when they heard him say this.
A national treasure?
Murong Xue was a little surprised, "Li Yang, what national treasure? Are you scaring him?"
"I'm really not scaring anyone," Li Yang shook his head and took out the glass cup from the side pocket of the schoolbag. "The national treasure I'm talking about is this."
"Hahaha, Uncle Li, you're so funny. You almost made me die laughing. Isn't this just a glass cup? My classmates and I picked it up by the river," the spiky-haired boy said, patting his chest and laughing.
Murong Xue was also a little surprised, "Li Yang, are you joking?"
"It's not a joke, and this isn't a glass cup, it should be called a crystal cup," Li Yang placed the cup on the table. "If you look closely at this cup, you'll definitely find something different."
"Really?" Murong Xue looked at it. The cup was quite transparent, with a hint of white, and some signs of wear. It looked a little different from an ordinary glass cup, but it wasn't a big problem.
"I'm sorry, I can't see anything. Why don't you just say it directly?"
"Yes, Mr. Li, please tell us directly," Uncle Peng also said quickly.
Li Yang nodded and said, "Generally speaking, glass is very transparent. Even if it's dyed, people can still feel the high transparency of the glass. But crystal is different. It's slightly less transparent than glass, but more transparent than jade. Experienced people might be able to distinguish it with the naked eye, but ordinary people can't."
"Then what should we do?" Uncle Peng asked.
Li Yang said, "Natural crystals can resist flames. They won't burn or char, which is similar to jade."
"Uncle Peng, please get me a lighter."
"Just a moment, Mr. Li, I'll go get the lighter," Uncle Peng nodded.
The spiky-haired boy said, "I'll get it!"
He didn't believe Li Yang's words at first, but seeing Li Yang's serious expression, his childish curiosity immediately surfaced, and he volunteered to get the lighter.
After a while, he came back with four or five lighters. "Uncle Li, are these lighters enough?"
"One is enough," Li Yang smiled, took a lighter, and then roasted the surface of the cup.
Gradually, everyone could see that a scorched black mark appeared on the surface of the cup.
The spiky-haired boy immediately said, "Uncle Li, didn't you just say that crystal can't be burned? This is already black. It's even blacker than the bottom of my kitchen pot."
"Little friend, your observation is very keen, but being scorched black doesn't mean the crystal is damaged," Li Yang said with a smile. "Go and get me some tissues."
"Okay, I'll get them right away."
The spiky-haired boy immediately ran over and then ran back, holding the tissues for Li Yang. "Uncle Li, what's next?"
"Next, it's naturally time to witness a miracle," Li Yang said with a slight curl of his lips. He picked up the tissues and wiped the scorched area.
The black mark was wiped away by more than half, revealing the same surface as before.
With another wipe, there was no trace of scorching left, and the cup was still intact.
"See, I didn't lie to you, did I?"
The spiky-haired boy was shocked, "Wow, it's really not burned, this is really crystal!"
"Dad, I found crystal!"
"I know, I know! You're amazing!" Uncle Peng's face also showed some joy, but being an adult, he still asked calmly, "Mr. Li, you said this crystal cup is a national treasure. But I heard that the East Sea region is rich in crystals. It seems that such a crystal cup isn't very valuable, is it?"
"If it's a modern handicraft, then it's naturally not very valuable," Li Yang said with a smile. "But this is exactly the same as the crystal cup from the Warring States period in the museum, and I've authenticated it. It's definitely a Warring States crystal cup."
"Then the value of this crystal cup is immense."
"Warring States crystal cup? Did I hear that right? We had crystal cups in our country during the Warring States period, before the Qin and Han dynasties?" Uncle Peng was dumbfounded.
Murong Xue and the spiky-haired boy also found it hard to believe.
In the minds of ordinary people, crystal is something fashionable, something imported from abroad, a modern product, not something that should have existed in ancient times.
The Warring States period was the period before the Common Era, so how could there be crystal cups?
"Don't be so surprised. In fact, our country has had crystals for a very long time, but the names were different. The more familiar names are quartz and ice jade," Li Yang said with a smile. "However, quartz is a relatively low-grade variety of crystal, generally used as decoration for certain objects, such as quartz watches."
"And ice jade refers to high-grade white crystal, which is more valuable. In many ancient Chinese medicinal prescriptions, white crystal was taken orally for treatment."
"Eating jade for immortality?" the spiky-haired boy suddenly said, "Our teacher mentioned this myth during class today."