Upon considering the dimensions of the kitchen, Liang En decided to narrow down the detection range to the size of the kitchen. He then utilized the card labeled "Detect (N)".
In an instant, the card vanished from his mind and imbued a power into Liang En's eyes. Subsequently, a dazzling white light emanated around him.
"It seems there's no hidden compartment here," Liang En chuckled as he realized the source of the white light was the pile of items next to him. After a moment's thought, he concluded that it was unlikely for every place he visited to have hidden treasures.
Through the gaps in the cluttered space, Liang En curiously eyed the object emitting the light. Partially obscured by the haphazard pile at the center of the room, he could only see the curved and smooth surface of a copper plate.
"Is this a jar or a pot?" Contemplating the various items he had cleaned out from the corners of the room, Liang En pondered.
Soon, he began to clear away the debris from the container, realizing that the simplest way to figure out the purpose of this item was to take it out and examine it.
"What are you doing?" Piers, who had just returned from outside and saw Liang En carefully dismantling the pile of items, asked curiously.
"Oh, I remembered that among the things we found earlier, there seems to be something special. So, I want to take that item out and have a look," Liang En replied.
Since Piers couldn't naturally see the white light formed by the card, he found Liang En's actions a bit peculiar.
"Could there really be treasures in there?" Excited by Liang En's words, Piers also became intrigued.
While all these items technically belonged to Liang En, Piers, who had been duped by the Russian magnate, was quite pleased to see his friend possibly finding some forgotten treasures in this place.
"Not necessarily, but it should be the most valuable item in this room," Liang En shook his head with a smile after recalling the content of the card. He then took a medium-sized stew pot intact from the pile and placed it aside.
Ultimately, from the midst of the clutter, the two of them retrieved the target of their search: a massive covered copper pot. It appeared larger around the waist than the two grown men present. The pot had a rounded trapezoidal shape, complete with a lid and a pair of handles.
"A pot this large could probably feed twenty or thirty people with a single cooking," Piers exclaimed as he looked at the huge pot.
He was now convinced that this pot was likely the most valuable item among the clutter. From his experience, he knew that items with either significantly large or small sizes often fetched a good price compared to their counterparts.
"I believe this was used by the estate's servants to cook stews or soups back in the day, while the manor's owner and guests likely had their food prepared in smaller pots in the kitchen on the first floor," Liang En explained, tapping the copper pot with his hand.
The pot had previously been placed at the very bottom of a cabinet, covered in dust, black oxidation, and ash on its bottom. It appeared rather inconspicuous and unimpressive.
If we talk about the only abnormal thing, it's when this pot was discovered, there was a postage-stamp-sized area wiped clean on the dusty lid, revealing the copper underneath.
Evidently, those who had searched this place before had also caught sight of this pot. However, due to the lack of any decorative patterns on the pot and its excessively large size, it seemed to have been discarded as something meant for the servants' use.
Anyway, the Russian magnate was undoubtedly a wealthy man. He could've taken away valuable items from these rooms out of stinginess, but taking items like the big copper pot or the cast-iron stove would have appeared beneath him.
Though Piers seemed excited nearby, Liang En still felt that something was amiss.
Because the Victorian-era cast-iron stove that had been underneath this pot had some reliefs on it, along with accompanying tools such as tongs, a graphite box, a chimney, and even a stiff brush – all in good condition. Theoretically, these should be worth more than the large copper pot.
"There must be something I haven't noticed in there," Liang En thought, but he also knew that clearing out this pot here wasn't the best idea.
So, quickly, the two of them loaded these items into Piers' business car. Then, they called in the representative left behind by the magnate to oversee the inspection.
Soon, all four rooms passed the inspection. After receiving their respective wages of £1800 from the representative, the two immediately drove back to London.
They had no intention of spending even one more second in a place that had duped them.
Fortunately, due to their efficiency, their work progressed faster than they had imagined. As they drove back to London half a day ahead of schedule, darkness was just setting in.
Upon returning to London, neither Liang En nor Piers went to their own residences. Instead, they bought fish and chips along with sodas and headed straight for the Emerald Gem Antiques.
However, this time, they didn't enter through the front door; instead, they circled around and parked their two cars at the back entrance of the antique store, by the warehouse.
"I plan to start sorting through these things tonight. What about you?" After finishing their dinner in the tight space of the car, Piers turned to Liang En and asked.
"Of course, together. Many items among my collection are relatively easy to clean, so I can sell them to you once they're cleaned up tonight," Liang En said, opening the car door and walking towards the warehouse.
Due to their previous collaboration and the fact that Liang En's rented room was too small, his set of cleaning tools was kept at Piers' place.
After using a forklift to unload everything from the cars into the warehouse, the two started their cleaning work under bright lights. After quickly tidying up a stack of ceramic bowls, Liang En placed the large pot on a workbench to sort through.
"Oh, what's this?" Just as he was cleaning the dust off the pot's bottom and beginning to clear away the coal and soot, a patch of cleaned-off pot bottom revealed some letters.
"This seems to be Arabic?" Looking at the curvy strokes of the letters that had caught Liang En's whispered exclamation, Piers said, "Although I can't make out what's written, the script looks quite familiar."
"Not necessarily. Several languages use Arabic script, just like the entire Western Europe uses the Latin script," Liang En said while cleaning the pot's bottom.
"So, we need to clean enough to form a complete word at least before we can confirm the meaning behind these words."
With Piers's curiosity-driven assistance, the two quickly cleared enough of the soot-covered pot bottom to reveal a complete word. After carefully studying it for a few seconds, Liang En recognized the word's meaning.
"Constantinople. Seems like this pot has a story to tell," Liang En lightly tapped the word with his right index finger, uttering a sigh.
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