CHAPTER 158: 93, YET AGAIN, CAN’T HELP MYSELF_2

He finally smiled: "You’ve done your homework well." His long fingers pointed at her pocket: "Tell me about the pearl in your pocket."

Shi Nian secretly gritted her teeth...

Once again, he figured it out.

She can understand the method now; it’s because when he mentioned pearls earlier, she instinctively reached to press her pocket to ensure the small, rice-sized pearl was still safely stored there.

Shi Nian took another breath: "Based on all this, I paid special attention to the patina and surface color of this pearl, deducing from the degradation of its pearly layer that it is already an ’old one.’

Shi Nian said while taking out the pearl, and Tang Yanqing tacitly picked up a magnifying glass.

Both of them leaned in to closely inspect the pearl. Shi Nian pointed at the drill hole: "The edge around the drill hole is the most fragile part of the pearl. It’s already somewhat brittle here; it’s the beginning of dry decay. So, I guess this pearl is about a hundred years old."

Tang Yanqing put away the magnifying glass, unabashedly showing a broad smile.

"From the age of the pearl... what else comes to mind?"

He asked her what she thought of, and she sighed: "I think of the court, the aristocracy."

His dark eyes glowed, the corners of his lips slightly lifted: "Speak. Why?"

His gaze—made her proud, yet she couldn’t help but feel a slight thrill.

She hurriedly closed her eyes gently, focusing on her reasoning.

"First, because I’ve seen pearl decorations at the Imperial Palace. As a child, I didn’t understand and wondered why royalty would use such small pearls for ornaments, thinking they should use large ones instead. Later, I grew a bit older and understood that pearls in ancient times were hard to come by and required living people to dive to retrieve them. Each pearl was exchanged for a human life, so even small pearls were cherished."

She cast a glance at Tang Yanqing and saw him nodding slightly.

Her confidence surged as she continued: "Later, when I grew older, I realized the value of those small pearls wasn’t in the pearls themselves, but in the craftsmanship of stringing and inlaying them. The perfection found in the delicate pieces was unique to the royal workshops."

She said while pulling over the laptop, opening a search engine, and brought up a news webpage to show Tang Yanqing: "You see, the Taipei Palace Museum once held an exhibition showcasing art pieces created by famous craftsmanship masters who revived ancient court inlaying techniques with small pearls. It shows such skills were exclusive to the court."

Tang Yanqing nodded with a smile: "Well said."

Shi Nian further explained: "In this respect, the East and West are alike. Craftsmen skilled in pearl inlay are invariably serving royalties."

Shi Nian held up the small pearl again, examining the tiny glimmers under the light: "Thus, I boldly hypothesize: this pearl might have slipped off a noblewoman’s jewelry. Perhaps from a necklace or a collar pin."

"The buildings at Kangchuan University are all over a hundred years old, so this century-old small pearl happened to roll into similarly aged floor cracks, coexisting until I discovered it."

Tang Yanqing laughed: "Even if someone else might have found it before, they wouldn’t appreciate such a small pearl without understanding its value. Thus, no one touched it. By coincidence, it awaited you quietly."

After speaking, both couldn’t help but look up at each other. Their gazes collided gently in the lamplight, and they couldn’t help but smile.

Minds in sync.

Perhaps it is in such settings that one becomes inspired, Shi Nian tilted her head, her eyes squinting slightly.

He encouraged: "You’ve thought of more connected clues. Come, speak it out, don’t worry."

Shi Nian took a deep breath: "I’ve thought of two things: firstly, even when Mark dines in the campus restaurant, his posture is extremely elegant. My first impression was that he seemed like a child from a noble family, receiving strict etiquette training, which unconsciously shows even in such campus settings."

Tang Yanqing raised an eyebrow slightly.

"What about the second thing?"

Shi Nian was a little stumped this time, propped her fingers against her forehead: "I’m not sure if this is related; it just seems coincidental—I went to meet the headmaster today, passed by the school history exhibition hall, and saw a large oil painting hanging on the wall. The image was reminiscent of ’The Last Supper,’ with the person in the center dressed in court attire, looking very much like nobility."