Chapter 103

The stall owner seemed persuaded. He sighed helplessly. "All right. Nineteen hundred. Pay me now, and this craft piece is yours."

Professor Lin didn't have that much money, so he borrowed some from Sun Zhiping, scraped together the rest, and paid the stall owner on the spot.

Without another word, the stall owner handed him the piece and stuffed the money into his bag.

Professor Bai, watching from the side, couldn't help sighing with worry.

Sun Zhiping said smugly, "Well, Professor Bai? Doesn't it sting to see a good find slip away right under your nose?"

Gu Jinshui chuckled. "Oh, it's a fine piece, all right. I'd say it came fresh out of the kiln last week."

The Ninety-Eighth Day of Being Overheard

"What was last week?"

Sun Zhiping looked puzzled and asked what he meant.

Professor Bai gave Sun Zhiping a helpless look, then turned to Professor Lin. "Professor Lin, there's something wrong with this piece. It looks Shang-Zhou in style, but the inscription is raised. As you must know, after Yu the Great, inscriptions on bronze vessels were incised. The characters were cut into the metal and recessed. They were also written in bronze script, with slightly rounded forms. This piece fails on both counts."

Professor Lin and Sun Zhiping were both startled.

Professor Lin hurriedly looked down. The more closely he examined it, the more he realized Professor Bai was right about everything. When he pressed a little harder, even the patina on the bronze seemed to shift. His confidence crumbled further.

"Professor Bai, stop trying to scare us. We're not children. This piece has such a distinctive shape, almost like the ones in museums. How could it be fake?"

Sun Zhiping swallowed and tried to argue.

Gu Jinshui laughed. "That just shows you don't know the