Ode to the Luo River Goddess (Part 2)

But Zhao Mengfu was different. Not long ago, one of his old customers from the capital had traded with him, and that customer's home had a piece of Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy—also in regular script. Thus, when he saw that the handwriting on the regular-script piece before him was identical to the one in that man's home, he subconsciously assumed it had to be genuine.

In fact, Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy and paintings had been famous for generations, resulting in countless imitators and forgers. Among them were no shortage of renowned artists or works whose handwriting had been imitated especially convincingly. Quite a few could even pass off a fake as the real thing.

Since Ma Laocai was not skilled at appraising calligraphy and paintings, he should have paid some attention to these details. But at the time, his mind was already filled with thoughts of money. Besides, he had seen an authentic work at his old customer's home and had something to compare it with, so he did not bother examining the seals, paper, or anything else. He became absolutely certain that the piece before him was genuine.

With thoughts of getting rich soon filling his mind, Ma Laocai put on a regretful expression and told the old man, "This is a replica."

One person saying it was fake could mean he was wrong or had poor judgment. But when a second person said the same thing, the old man began to have some doubts. Still, the piece had been passed down through his family, and he had not yet given up on it. He prepared to put it away and look for another appraisal elsewhere.

Seeing this, Ma Laocai grew anxious. He did not want the duck almost in his mouth to fly away. He hurriedly explained that although the