The three of them examined the spots Chu Chen had mentioned with magnifying glasses. Sure enough, there were tiny air bubbles in all of them. If it had been genuine jade, that clearly would have been impossible.
Although it had already been confirmed that his jade sword was a fake, Du Yile still had one question he could not figure out. He asked, "But why was its carving so 'realistic'?"
Chu Chen said, "Actually, the reason is very simple. This jade sword was made by taking a mold from a genuine piece. It wasn't carved by hand. How could it not look real? Besides, the sword pommel of this jade sword is actually genuine, which makes it even more 'confusing.'"
As he spoke, he used the magnifying glass to show everyone the gap at the bonded section. The traces of glue were even clearer at a glance.
"Ha! I was wondering why the sword pommel looked genuine no matter how many times I examined it. It turns out it really was genuine!" Du Yile shook his head and smiled bitterly. The forger had gone to extraordinary lengths. Collectors like them, who only had a half-baked understanding, could easily end up battered and bruised.
"Old Du, you can't really be blamed for this."
Yuan Hongjian offered a word of comfort, then continued, "But this jade sword must have cost quite a lot, right? You're usually very careful when buying antiques. How did you fall into this trap?"
"Well, wasn't it because of these three jade artifacts?"
Du Yile smiled bitterly and pointed at the other three jade artifacts. "After buying these three things, I had friends appraise them. They all said they were genuine. And that Teacher Ren spoke about appraising jade artifacts with such authority—every word and action made him