Argument

Old Qian continued, "So, I believe this qin could still possibly be genuine."

Old Liu shook his head. "I'd also like this qin to be the genuine Rao Liang Qin, but we have to respect science. Have you ever heard of an ancient qin being preserved for more than two thousand six hundred years?"

Zhu Dafu and the others all nodded in agreement with Old Liu. They likewise hoped this qin was the genuine Rao Liang Qin, but natural laws were natural laws. They had never heard of an ancient qin surviving several thousand years completely intact. It might not even have lasted two thousand years before its body decayed into a pile of rotten wood.

Hearing this, Old Qian retorted, "I admit that I've never heard of an ancient qin being preserved for so long, but just as bamboo slips from more than two thousand years ago have survived to this day, you can't say for certain that such an exceptional case doesn't exist, can you?"

Old Liu laughed. "If you insist on putting it that way, then I have something to say too. Let's not even discuss the preservation conditions of bamboo slips. Just look at how many of the bamboo slips that exist today are still perfectly preserved. Even among those that are intact, how many aren't extremely fragile? Besides, ancient qins have to be played regularly. Do you really think the two are comparable?"

What Old Liu said was indeed true. Chu Chen had heard before that a large number of precious bamboo slips had been unearthed from an ancient tomb. While this had greatly excited the archaeologists, extracting and preserving them had given them a tremendous headache. This was because, after waterlogged bamboo slips were exposed to air and light for a few minutes, their