Chapter 110

He couldn't help but stop, his brow furrowed as he examined the octagonal candlestick.

After confirming several times, Gu Jinshui remained silent, only saying one sentence to Professor Bai before speeding up his search.

Professor Bai noticed his hurried pace and increasingly furrowed brows, and suspected that something had happened.

Since Gu Jinshui didn't say anything, Professor Bai pretended not to know and even covered for Gu Jinshui, laughing and saying, "This Xiao Gu is really young. He can't sit still when he sees so many good things. We don't have his energy. Let's take our time looking at them."

Everyone laughed and agreed.

Professor Xu added, "It seems Xiao Gu has made some progress today; we'll have to get him to write a few more articles later."

The group chatted and laughed.

On the other side, Yamamoto had already noticed Gu Jinshui's strange behavior, and a thoughtful look flashed across his eyes.

"Mr. Yamamoto, the coins you requested are on the table," Dean Zhang greeted with a smile.

Yamamoto nodded and said "Yes, Dean Zhang" to him, then led everyone upstairs.

Gu Jinshui's expression changed completely after only glancing at one floor.

He came back to Professor Bai and casually made up an excuse, "Professor Bai, how about we go outside for a smoke?"

Professor Bai was taken aback. Before he could answer, Professor Xu said, "Just go to the corner to smoke. Why go outside? It's freezing cold outside."

Gu Jinshui waved his hand and laughed, "That won't do. These are all cultural relics inside. We dare not be reckless. Even though there's glass between us, it would be a sin to damage them with the smoke."

"Yeah, you guys keep watching. I'm going out for a smoke with Xiao Gu, we'll be right back."

Professor Bai also downplayed the situation and walked out side by side with Gu Jinshui.

Sun Zhiping looked suspicious, his eyes darting around, and quietly followed.

"Professor, it seems there's a thief inside the museum."

Gu Jinshui lit a cigarette but didn't smoke it. The sparks flickered in the wind, and the smell of nicotine filled the air.

Professor Bai's expression changed slightly, and he lowered his voice, "Have you noticed something amiss?"

Gu Jinshui flicked his cigarette. "There are seven or eight fakes inside, mostly porcelain. I haven't looked at the upper floors yet, but these rats can't just steal from one warehouse."

His eyes were deep, and his words carried a profound meaning.

Professor Bai suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Dean Zhang had previously told them that the museum has over 100,000 artifacts, although only a small portion is on display, but that small portion is the most precious of the collection!

"We can't talk about this yet." Professor Bai's throat tightened. He coughed and covered his mouth with his hand. "There are foreigners here today, and we are guests. Let's quietly tell Dean Zhang later and ask them to investigate internally."

"I'll do whatever you say."

Gu Jinshui said.

He understood the principle that family scandals should not be aired in public.

Even though he was doing a good deed, he still had to consider the host's feelings and not let them lose face in front of the guests and the Japan.

After discussing it with Professor Bai, Gu Jinshui turned around and went back.

As soon as Gu Jinshui entered the museum, he saw Dean Zhang and Yamamoto's group hurrying down. Dean Zhang's face was flushed red, and he suppressed his anger as he quickly walked over and questioned in a low voice, "Professor Bai, Comrade Gu, what are you doing?"

"Dean Zhang, you..."

Professor Bai was bewildered by the questioning and was about to ask what was wrong when Sun Zhiping shouted, "Gu Jinshui, you're really something! You call all the artifacts in museums fake? So everyone else is blind, and you're the only one with sharp eyes, huh?"

Professor Bai no longer needs to ask.

Gu Jinshui guessed what had happened. He looked at Sun Zhiping, Sun Zhiping beaming with pride, clearly very proud of having eavesdropped and embarrassed Gu Jinshui.

"Xiao Gu, you can't just say things like that. Are you joking with everyone?"

Professor Lin stroked his beard, drawing out the last syllable of his sentence with a hint of sarcasm, "It's good that this young man is capable, but he can't be arrogant and spout nonsense."

"Yeah, this young man is so impatient; he dares to say anything out of the blue."

"Xiao Gu, quickly apologize to Dean Zhang."

The professors around him, whether out of good intentions or because they had some opinions about Gu Jinshui's "frivolousness," all spoke up to persuade him.

At this moment, Gu Jinshui just wanted to curse.

This matter was never something that could be discussed casually. Once it was mentioned, it had to be thoroughly investigated, otherwise it would alert the enemy. I had discussed it with the professor and everything was going well, but then I ran into a bastard like Sun Zhiping who harms others without benefiting himself.

Professor Yamamoto tilted his head, seemingly asking the translator beside him what had happened. After learning the whole story, Professor Yamamoto's face showed an interesting expression. He glanced at Gu Jinshui, and then said a few more words to the translator.

The translator then said to Dean Zhang, "Dean Zhang, Mr. Yamamoto said that since this young man said that, there must be a reason. Why don't we ask him to explain clearly so that the truth can be revealed?"

"This..." A look of hesitation appeared on Dean Zhang's face.

The translator insisted, "Professor Yamamoto said he won't tell anyone what happened today, so you can rest assured about that."

Dean Zhang was also feeling extremely overwhelmed.

But given the current situation, there's no choice but to get to the bottom of it. He holds a position at the museum, so he can't just know about the situation and not ask.

Dean Zhang asked, "Comrade Gu, you said there are fake artifacts in the museum. Which ones are you referring to? Could you please be more specific?"

"That's easy to do."

Gu Jinshui was not one to back down from trouble; he had already memorized the names of the seven or eight counterfeit items and read them aloud.

Dean Zhang then had someone bring out all the cultural relics and place them on the table.

"These items are so nice, how could they be fakes?" someone said, frowning in bewilderment as they looked at the artifacts in front of them.

"Xiao Gu, since you've gone all the way, just explain it clearly."

Professor Bai gave Gu Jinshui a look.

Since things have escalated to this point, it's best to cut the Gordian knot quickly.

Gu Jinshui thought so too.

He picked up a bronze Buddha statue. "You all know this is a Song Dynasty bronze Buddha, right?"

"Yes, this is from the Northern Song Dynasty." Professor Xu nodded.

Gu Jinshui, "Then who would like to cooperate and put their hand inside this bronze Buddha?"

Gu Jinshui was somewhat displeased when he saw the translator quickly relay the message to Yamamoto. Frankly, why air one's dirty laundry in public?

Besides, it was displayed in front of the Japan.

That bastard Sun Zhiping, if I don't find a chance to teach him a lesson, I'm not a Gu anymore.

"I'll do it!"

Dean Zhang raised his hand, suppressing his anger.

Gu Jinshui gestured for him to proceed. Dean Zhang reached his hand into the bronze Buddha from the bottom, then quickly pulled it out, clenched his fist, and opened it again. "Alright, what do you say now?"

"This is enough to prove that this bronze Buddha is a fake!"

Gu Jinshui stated firmly, "Bronze Buddhas from before the Ming Dynasty all had clips inside their abdomens and chests specifically for holding Buddhist scriptures and mantras. However, later imitations could never achieve such exquisite detail, so this one is undoubtedly a fake!"

The crowd gasped in astonishment.

No one could have imagined that verifying the authenticity of the bronze Buddha would be so simple.

Dean Zhang was still somewhat skeptical, so he asked someone to bring over another bronze Buddha statue. When he reached out and touched it, he found that it actually had a clip.

A cut appeared on the back of his hand, and blood flowed out.

"Dean!" The other professors were startled.

Dean Zhang gestured for a pause, his expression gradually turning serious as he looked at Gu Jinshui and asked, "Xiao Gu, how confident are you that the other items are fakes?"

"Ninety percent." Gu Jinshui casually picked up the blue-and-white porcelain candlestick from earlier. "Look at this candlestick, the flame is incredibly bright. Could it really be real?"

After hearing what he said, everyone realized that there really was something wrong with the candlestick.

The blue and white porcelain has a slightly superficial color and the patterns are a bit coarse. You don't notice it when you look at it through the glass, but once you take it out and look at it closely, it's immediately obvious that something is wrong.

Dean Zhang's face turned pale.

Professor Bai quickly reminded him, "Dean, the most urgent thing now is to call the police, find a way to determine how many are counterfeit, retrieve the genuine products, and catch the person who switched them!"

"Yes, yes, you're right."

Dean Zhang then came to his senses and hurriedly led his men to call the police and order the museum to be sealed off.

It's fortunate that today isn't a holiday, and the museum was specially set aside for a day to accommodate the Peking University faculty, students, and Yamamoto.

Otherwise, this matter would probably have become a huge scandal.

The police took the matter of the cultural relic being switched very seriously, and sent people over in less than half an hour.

Since it was difficult to determine the authenticity of the cultural relics, they specifically asked Gu Jinshui for help.

Gu Jinshui didn't mind, especially since these were state assets and he had an obligation to help.

Since Professor Bai and the others couldn't offer any help, they left for the time being.

After leaving the museum, Professor Bai glanced at Sun Zhiping indifferently and said, "Sun Zhiping, I will report your actions today to my superiors when we get back."

Sun Zhiping was stunned for a moment, then asked angrily, "Why? What did I do?"

"Don't you know what you've done?"

Professor Bai's face darkened, his expression more serious than ever before. "Because of your recklessness, our plans have been disrupted. If the thief escapes, you will be held responsible!"

Sun Zhiping was speechless and felt extremely guilty.

The two schools had originally planned to visit the local antique market, but after this incident, no one was in the mood anymore.

Gu Jinshui ran around for five days, and in the end, thanks to the quick response of the Public Security, they were able to apprehend the museum's security guards and recover two-thirds of the cultural relics. However, the remaining relics had already disappeared without a trace.

"That security guard is a real scoundrel!"

Listening to Gu Jinshui's account, Professor Bai was so angry that his hands were trembling. "Those are all national first-class cultural relics, and the country has not mistreated him. How could he do such a thing!"

"Professor Bai, in a word, is greed."

Gu Jinshui shook his head and said, "That security guard only earns thirty yuan a month, but he made three thousand yuan by reselling one antique. This man has been blinded by money and has lost his conscience."

"This kind of thing is definitely not an isolated incident." Professor Bai suddenly stood up. He said, "I need to get together with other professors and report this to the higher-ups. Museums everywhere must conduct more thorough inspections of artifacts and be more vigilant."

Cultural relics are different from other things, especially nowadays. It seems that the staff in museums don't know anything about authenticity. To them, Yuan Blue-and-White Porcelain and Ming blue and white porcelain are all the same. If an item is switched, they won't even know.

In this case, the security guard said that he started switching antiques two years ago. At first, he would only switch one item a year and was always on edge. Later, when he found that no one could tell, he became bolder and even took photos of many antiques for people to choose from.

If it weren't for Gu Jinshui's sharp eyesight, it would have been ages before the security guard was discovered.

By then, countless more cultural relics will have quietly entered the world of collecting.

Professor Bai went out for a while, Gu Jinshui leaned against the bed in the Guesthouse, flipping through the photos taken a few days ago and taking notes.

Just as he was engrossed in reading, he heard hurried footsteps outside, followed by a knock on the door. "Xiao Gu."

Gu Jinshui recognized Dean Zhang's voice and hurried over to open the door.

Besides Dean Zhang, there were several professors and Yamamoto's group at the entrance.

"Xiao Gu, you've really gone through a lot of trouble this time." Dean Zhang held Gu Jinshui's hand firmly; he had been so busy these past few days that he was practically running around, his eyes bloodshot. "Thank goodness you discovered it in time, otherwise the losses would have been incalculable."

"Dean, you're too kind. It's nothing I should do."

Gu Jinshui modestly declined, knowing that others might be criticized later if they encountered such a situation, and he shouldn't rush to claim credit. "This time it was our fault too; this should have been handled quietly."

"You don't need to say anything. I know that day had nothing to do with you. Old Bai has already told me the whole story. This is not your fault." Dean Zhang waved his hand.

He took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Gu Jinshui. "This is a reward for you, which our school, museum and police station have discussed. It's only five hundred, but it's a small token of our appreciation."

"I can't accept this."

Gu Jinshui quickly refused.

Five hundred yuan is a small amount for him, but for people like them, it's a lot of money.

No, you must