Xu Mo was appraising antiques at his stall on Antique Street when Chen Yaoyang, a rich young heir, mocked him in front of everyone as a fraud and kicked over his stall.
Chen Yaoyang raised the Song-dynasty imperial kiln piece he had just bought at auction and said he would show Xu Mo what a genuine treasure looked like.
Xu Mo glanced at it and said it was a fake made just last week, with machine-polishing marks still visible along the glaze seams.
Fuming with embarrassment, Chen Yaoyang threatened to smash his stall.
Xu Mo pulled a bronze mirror from his clothes and held it up to the imperial kiln piece.
A line of small text appeared on the mirror’s surface: “Jingdezhen high-quality replica, made in 2023, wholesale price: 300 yuan.”
The entire crowd fell silent.
The “imperial kiln” piece slipped from Chen Yaoyang’s hands and smashed to pieces on the ground.
