Since the bottom of the seal had already been ground away, could the inscription on its face still have been carved by Wu Changshuo? Obviously, the possibility was extremely low.
Afterward, Chu Chen examined it carefully and found that although the inscription looked convincing enough to pass for the real thing, its artistic spirit was slightly inferior to the inscription on the side.
Although it was only the inscription that was problematic, this alone had a considerable impact on the seal's value. Moreover, it was not just that—the result was like adding legs to a snake, making it worth even less than when only the inscription had been ground away.
As for whether Huang Shanyi had overpaid, that depended on whether he knew about it. If he knew, he probably had not suffered a loss. However, judging from his attitude of striving for perfection when buying things, Chu Chen felt it was more likely that he did not know.
After Chu Chen let the others examine the seal, Huang Shanyi asked with a smile, "Teacher Chu, what do you think of this seal?"
Chu Chen replied tactfully, "There's no need to say much about the material or the inscription on the side. It's just a pity that this seal was polished in the past."
"Polished?" Huang Shanyi had been quite pleased at first, but after hearing that, he was stunned.
The others had heard this as well and hurried over to take a look. Since the person who had polished it had been highly skilled, they examined it for quite a while before discovering that the face had indeed been polished. That raised the question: Had Wu Changshuo felt that his carving was poor and deliberately done this, or had a later owner polished it away?
Everyone thought it over