Chapter 103

The stall owner seemed to be persuaded, and sighed helplessly, "Alright, 1900. You pay now, and I'll give you this handicraft immediately."

Professor Lin didn't have that much money, so he borrowed some from Sun Zhiping and gave it to the stall owner on the spot.

Without saying a word, the stall owner handed him the goods and stuffed the money into his bag.

Professor Bai, standing to the side, couldn't help but sigh with worry.

Sun Zhiping said smugly, "Professor Bai, what's wrong? You're not happy that something good slipped away right under your nose?"

Gu Jinshui chuckled and said, "Yes, this is a good product. I reckon it was baked last week."

Chapter 98 The Ninety-Eighth Day of Being Eavesdropped On

"What, last week?"

Sun Zhiping looked puzzled and asked, puzzled.

Professor Bai glanced helplessly at Sun Zhiping and said to Professor Lin, "Professor Lin, this thing is wrong. It looks like it's from the Shang-Zhou, but it has raised characters on it. As you probably know, since Yu the Great, all bronze inscriptions have been incised characters, meaning the characters are carved in relief, recessed. Also, the characters are in bronze script, which should have a slightly rounded shape, but neither of these two things match up on this one."

Professor Lin and Sun Zhiping were both startled.

Professor Lin quickly looked down, but the more he looked, the more he realized that Professor Bai was right about everything. As he moved his hand harder, the rust on the bronze artifact showed signs of loosening, which made Professor Lin even more uncertain.

"Professor Bai, don't try to fool us. We're not easily scared. This statue has such a unique shape, almost identical to those in museums. How could it be fake?"

Sun Zhiping swallowed hard, trying to refute Professor Bai.

Gu Jinshui laughed and said, "Heh, you're being uninformed. There are plenty of things on the market that look exactly like the portraits in museums, but are they all real? Take the Ming Dynasty incense burner, for example. There are many on the market that look exactly like the ones in museums, but do you really believe they're genuine?"

Nonsense.

Of course, I wouldn't dare.

Sun Zhiping cursed inwardly, but Professor Lin was completely convinced that he had been scammed. He was so anxious that his face turned red. He still had to pay back the 1,600 yuan he had borrowed from Sun Zhiping. If he had bought the Da Kai Men, it would have been a great deal.

Bronze, porcelain, and pottery are the most sought-after items in the antique trade; he can easily double his profit by reselling them.

But if you make a mistake, you'll lose a lot of money.

Professor Lin immediately grabbed the stall owner and said, "No way! You sold me counterfeit goods, you have to compensate me! Give me my money back!"

The stall owner, a brazen fellow, shoved Professor Lin Professor Lin aside, nearly causing him to fall. Luckily Gu Jinshui kindly pulled him up, but Professor Lin was ungrateful, shaking off his hand and angrily shouting at the stall owner, "You hit people?! This is Beijing!"

The stall owner dusted himself off and said with a grin, "Oh, old man, who hit someone? Who saw me hit someone? I wouldn't dare do such a illegal thing. We are law-abiding citizens."

"Bullshit! You're the one who tricked us into buying this thing! We don't want it, give us our money back!" Sun Zhiping said angrily, his fist clenched.

The stall owner put his hands in his sleeves and said, "Refund? Sorry, we don't have that rule here. Once a deal is made, we can't give a refund no matter what. Besides, you bought this willingly, I didn't force you."

"But this isn't the real thing!"

Professor Lin was so angry that his voice trembled, his hair, which he had styled with hair oil, became disheveled, and his face turned red.

The stall owner laughed and said, "Oh dear, who said it's genuine? If it were genuine, buying and selling these kinds of ancient antiques is illegal. You two are from Peking University, right? If this gets to your school, you'll have a good laugh."

As he said this, he gestured with his lips toward the Peking University badge on Professor Lin and his companion's coats.

Gu Jinshui, standing to the side, was speechless at the sight of the two.

Going to a place like Panjiayuan, where all sorts of people mingle, and wearing a school badge—are they afraid people won't know they're suckers, or are they trying to show off their status?

Now look what's happened. This guy has been setting up a stall here for so many days, he obviously didn't do it for nothing. If you try to be tough, he has his fists; if you try to be gentle, he has the law. He even knows your work address. He's a real troublemaker.

Not to mention that Professor Lin and his colleague were helpless, even Gu Jinshui would have to come up with a way to deal with this person.

"You, you..."

Sun Zhiping and his companion turned pale and then flushed with anxiety.

The stall owner ignored them, squatted down, and said, "If you don't want to buy, just leave. Don't get in the way."

Professor Bai, probably unable to stand by and watch, went up to pull Professor Lin away and advised, "Professor Lin, let's just consider this a lesson learned and apply it in the future."

"Don't bother with your crocodile tears and fake compassion!"

Professor Lin shook off Professor Bai's hand.

He pointed at Professor Bai, then at Gu Jinshui, "I understand, you did this on purpose, you deliberately tricked us, didn't you?"

Gu Jinshui's lips twitched. Even Professor Bai, a man of such good temper, was quite angered by him. He took a deep breath, "Professor Lin, you should speak with a clear conscience. Why would we cheat you? We've hinted at it so many times, but you didn't listen. Now that you've discovered it's a fake, you're blaming us. That's just too unreasonable of you!"

Professor Lin, his face dark, glared at Gu Jinshui and said, "We'll see!" Then he took the counterfeit and left with Sun Zhiping.

Professor Bai stared in disbelief at his retreating figure, breathing heavily, "Who... who are these people?!"

"Professor Bai, I think you should take it easy. Your colleague and student aren't exactly good people," Gu Jinshui said, not at all surprised. "On the contrary, you're a really good person. You'd probably suffer a lot working with them."

Professor Bai was quite open-minded. "I'm not afraid of taking a loss, but he's so old and a professor at the university. If his character is flawed, he'll only lead the students astray."

Professor Bai looked worried, his hands behind his back.

Gu Jinshui secretly admired him. This was the true image of a professor who should be a role model. Compared to Professor Bai, Professor Lin was simply dirt in a latrine.

Fearing that Professor Bai might overthink things, Gu Jinshui took Professor Bai for a few walks around. Just as the morning market was about to close, Professor Bai managed to snag a bargain and bought a "Large Yellow Thousand Coin" coin from the late Western Han Dynasty, during the reign of Wang Mang. Gu Jinshui, on the other hand, took the opportunity to collect a few Xianfeng Mother Coin.

Professor Bai looked longingly at the Xianfeng Mother Coin in Gu Jinshui's hand, praising him repeatedly, "Xiao Gu has such a good eye! How come I didn't see this Xianfeng Mother Coin among all those coins?"

While antiques are generally considered more valuable the older they are, this isn't always the case; the condition also matters. For example, among ancient coins, those from the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty are the most exquisite of the Ming and Qing dynasties because the regular script inscriptions are the work of calligraphers. If someone with a passion for antiques happens to buy one, a single Xianfeng Mother Coin can fetch several hundred or even a thousand yuan.

Gu Jinshui laughed and said, "If you like it, I'll give it to you. I have plenty more."

"No, no, no." Professor Bai hurriedly shook his head. "A gentleman does not take what others cherish. You Xiao Gu, also took a fancy to my Wang Mang coins, but you didn't ask for them. How could I be so shameless as to take your treasure? I'll come back for another look later; who knows, I might run into them again."

"Then you'd better get there early. The earlier you go to the morning market, the better. The early bird catches the worm."

Gu Jinshui chatted and joked with Professor Bai for a few moments, then the two went out for a meal before parting ways.

Professor Bai also urged Gu Jinshui to find an opportunity to write an article about the export porcelain. He was very considerate of Gu Jinshui, saying, "At your age, you should be taking the college entrance exam and going to university, or studying archaeology properly. But I guess you probably wouldn't find it interesting. In our field, there are many people who only care about academic qualifications. If you publish more articles and eventually compile them into a book, you can gain some fame. At that time, your academic qualifications won't matter anymore."

Gu Jinshui knew Professor Bai's good intentions and quickly agreed.

Professor Bai was pleased to see that he was willing to humbly listen to advice, and happily took his gains from the day back to the school.

A few days later, Gu Jinshui's article on export porcelain was published. Professor Bai specially showed it to everyone, and even took out the Large Yellow Thousand Coin he had bought that day, saying, "This Xiao Gu is really capable. You see, it was thanks to him helping me examine it that day, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to be sure that this was really a coin from the Wang Mang period."

Everyone looked at it and couldn't stop praising it.

Professor Bai chuckled again, "I think Xiao Gu is more than capable of being a teacher. Aren't we going to Shandong to have an exchange and discussion with Renmin University? Why don't we invite Xiao Gu to come along? That way, it'll save us from having to keep having our own people discuss things."

No sooner had Professor Bai finished speaking than Professor Lin, holding his enamel mug, snorted, "We're having a discussion with Renmin University, what's he going there for? If he says something wrong, it'll be a disgrace to our university."

Professor Lin looked at everyone and asked, "Don't you all agree?"

Professor Bai frowned slightly, glancing at Professor Lin with dissatisfaction.

Professor Lin is saying this because he's holding a grudge about being ripped off at the antique market. But can that incident really be blamed on Gu Jinshui?

Professor Bai said, "Xiao Gu isn't from our university, but he has solid scholarship. His three recent articles are increasingly detailed. It's not that I'm biased towards Xiao Gu, but as someone in our field, I can tell at a glance whether someone is capable or not, and whether their articles are good or not. If he goes there, I guarantee he will definitely bring honor to our school!"

Teacher Xu nodded in agreement, "That Gu Xian's article is indeed quite insightful. I've been looking at those painted pottery pieces according to his suggestions these past few days, and I've really figured some things out."

"Yes, if we always have internal exchanges, the topics we discuss will just be the same old ones, all the same old stuff." Teacher Wen nodded and said warmly, "Let's also exchange ideas with scholars from outside the academic community; who knows, we might spark some new insights."

Everyone chimed in with their opinions, and surprisingly, they all thought that inviting Gu Jinshui to go to Shandong for the exchange was a good idea.

Professor Lin was furious. He couldn't understand why these people were siding with Gu Jinshui. He could understand Professor Bai helping Gu Jinshui, but they weren't even familiar with Gu Jinshui.

Professor Lin is probably used to being arrogant and unruly. He doesn't understand the common people's thirst for knowledge, especially in the field of archaeology, where the more they learn, the more they realize how shallow their knowledge is. Now that an expert is willing to give them some pointers, they wouldn't refuse such a good thing, even if it means risking offending Professor Lin.

After the matter was finalized, Professor Bai called Gu Jinshui to ask about it.

Gu Jinshui's first reaction was, "Shandong, an exchange program there? Professor Bai, you really know how to find me work!"

Professor Bai laughed heartily, "Xiao Gu, I have my own reasons for this. The archaeology there has been going on for a long time, and there are many experts. Besides, I've heard that there's an antique market there too. You're always hanging around Beijing, don't you want to go out and take a look around and see if there are any hidden gems in the antique markets elsewhere?"

Gu Jinshui was actually swayed by her words.

He thought for a moment and asked, "When? How long will it take?"

"We'll set off on the third day of the twelfth lunar month. We'll be gone for fifteen days, so we'll be back in time for the New Year. Don't worry."

Professor Bai knew he was going as soon as he heard this, and was immediately happy. "Come with us, and I'll reimburse your round-trip travel expenses."

"That's unnecessary. You've given me this opportunity, how could I possibly let you spend money?"

Gu Jinshui, "How about this, I'll ask my family first. If it's convenient for us, we can go together. I also want to broaden my horizons."

Professor Bai readily agreed.

Gu Jinshui hung up the phone, put his hands behind his back, and came out. He Chunlian and the others were watching TV in the living room.

Liang Ying was there tallying up the accounts.

Gu Jinshui cleared his throat and coughed, "Well, I'm going to Shandong next month, is that convenient for you?"

He Chunlian didn't even look up, "Go if you want."

Liang Ying also asked, "How long will you be gone? Next month is Chinese New Year, isn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinshui immediately said, "Wife, are you reluctant to part with me?"

Liang Ying rolled her eyes at him, then looked down and realized she had written the wrong number. She quickly crossed it out and rewrote it. "Stop beating around the bush, get to the point."

"Okay," Gu Jinshui said, feeling incredibly disappointed. If his wife didn't have to work, they could have gone to Shandong together. Now, his wife was busier than him and barely paid any attention to him. "I'll be gone for fifteen days. I estimate I'll be back around the 20th."