Chapter 95

"I really do have something I'd like to ask him to help me with; the benefits will be substantial."

Professor Bai was clearly serious when he said that.

Gu Jinshui looked at the Old Master. If this were outside, he could make the decision himself.

But if it's in front of the master, and the master's friend, then the master's approval is indispensable.

Xi Han asked, "What could possibly be difficult for you?"

"It's a painted pottery piece," Professor Bai said quite frankly. "Our college has recently been thinking of buying some antiques to use as teaching aids, so that students can easily identify genuine artifacts and avoid making a fool of themselves by saying that archaeologists can't even tell the difference between real and fake. One of our students bought a Neolithic painted pottery jar, and other professors all say it's authentic, dating it to the Stone Age. But to me, it looks like a later imitation, so I wanted to ask an expert to help me take a look."

Actually, it would be better and more suitable to ask Xi Han for this.

But Professor Bai knew Xi Han well. Ever since those ten years, Old Xi had never helped anyone else with their business, not even friends.

He was intrigued by Gu Jinshui's logical and reasonable words that day and decided to ask him for help. Little did he know that Gu Jinshui was actually Xi Han's apprentice.

"That's all?"

Xi Han said calmly, "Jin Shui, just make a trip when you have time. I don't think it's a big deal."

"Then I'll listen to you, Professor Bai. Just let me know when you need to talk to me."

Gu Jinshui agreed immediately, without any hesitation.

Professor Bai repeatedly said "good" and toasted Xi Han and Gu Jinshui.

Before leaving, he arranged a time with Gu Jinshui to go to Peking University the next afternoon, and someone would pick him up.

After seeing Professor Bai off, Gu Jinshui went back into the house and glanced at the table. The two bottles of ginseng wine had already been put away. The Old Master came out of the house, put his hands behind his back, and said to Gu Jinshui, "That old Bai is alright to deal with. It won't hurt for you to associate with him more."

Gu Jinshui knew that the Old Master was trying to pave the way for him, and said with a smile, "I really have to thank you for setting me up today."

Xi Han snorted, "Just don't embarrass me tomorrow. There are quite a few bookworms in the serious archaeology circle who've become stupid, and they're quite arrogant too. They're not all like Lao Bai."

Hearing the Old Master's tone, Gu Jinshui knew that the Old Master must have seen those people before. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'll show them what I've got later. I guarantee they'll be shocked."

After the slogan was issued, Gu Jinshui actually did some last-minute cramming when he got back, finding several books that the Old Master had written before and reading them one by one.

He has collected quite a few things over the years, mostly porcelain and calligraphy, as well as some ancient coins, but not much pottery. The reason is simple: pottery is difficult to sell, and it is too old. Doing that business is a bit risky, so it is safer to deal with porcelain and calligraphy.

However, Gu Jinshui also collected one or two pieces of fine pottery.

For example, there Two-Handled Folded-Shoulder Pottery Jar and Triangle-Pattern Pottery Plate. Although there aren't as many of them as there are others, Gu Jinshui is not afraid to look at pottery.

The next afternoon.

Gu Jinshui went to the university. As soon as he reached the gate, he saw those bastards who had caused trouble a few days ago standing there.

"Guangwen, they're here." A classmate nudged Qian Guangwen.

Qian Guangwen also saw Gu Jinshui, and looked somewhat embarrassed, but still stepped forward. "Gu Xian, our professor sent us to pick you up."

"You've made such a big fuss to pick me up, with so many people coming."

Gu Jinshui joked.

Qian Guangwen was even more embarrassed. He was afraid of losing face, so he thought of bringing his classmates over to save face. "Our professor said that you were invited with great difficulty, so we have to make it a special occasion."

That's a fairly pleasant thing to say.

Gu Jinshui nodded and asked Qian Guangwen to lead the way to Professor Bai.

Professor Bai is currently in his office, arguing with several other professors.

When Gu Jinshui arrived, they were arguing fiercely. A professor in a suit pointed at the Human-Face Fish-Pattern Painted Pottery Basin on the table and said, "Professor Bai, how could this not be an authentic piece? You couldn't explain it before, and now you're asking someone to come and see it. I'm telling you, aren't you just wasting everyone's time?"

Professor Bai was clearly also somewhat agitated, but he suppressed his anger and said, "Professor Lin, you're wrong. How is that a waste of everyone's time? We buy these things so that our students can broaden their horizons. I have doubts about this product, and we should find out if it's genuine. Otherwise, we might mislead our students."

"Fine, you just think my student bought a fake, so how about I pay for it? Fine, I'll pay!" Professor Lin said impatiently, his tone sharp.

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinshui immediately felt that this person was being quite shameless.

Professor Bai's considerations make sense. He's clearly not after money, yet he's bringing it up. Judging from how Professor Bai helped his student buy the vase earlier, you can tell he's not short of money and isn't stingy.

"Professor Bai!" Gu Jinshui greeted him.

Professor Bai only noticed his arrival at this moment, and immediately felt relieved. He pulled him over and said, "Professor Lin, I want to emphasize again that this is not about money, but about whether the item is genuine or not. You can say I'm meticulous, or you can think I'm reckless, but I've hired someone to help me take a look and see if this item is genuine."

Before Professor Lin could speak, a fat man next to him objected. He was young, probably in his early twenties, and dressed well, clearly from a well-off family, so he was rather arrogant.

"Professor Bai, aren't you being reckless? Who did you hire? How are we supposed to know if he's reliable or not?"

"He owns an antique shop in Panjiayuan. He has a good eye; Guangwen bought that Xianfeng- era vase from him."

Professor Bai explained.

Gu Jinshui keenly noticed the disdain in the fat man's eyes. "He's just an antique shop owner with no education. Asking him to appraise something, Professor Bai, is really playing games. So many professors at our school have examined it and said it's genuine. Why are you so insistent that it's fake?"

If someone were easily embarrassed, they would be furious by now.

Gu Jinshui had a good attitude; instead of getting angry, she secretly admired the old man's foresight, wondering if it was due to his experience or something else.

He had only just arrived when he realized the discrimination the official organization held against those of them who came from outside the system.

But Gu Jinshui knew that good eyesight really had nothing to do with education.

In all his years in the antique business, he has seen many high-ranking officials and intellectuals make mistakes, as well as people with little or no education who have exceptionally good eyesight.

For example, there was an older man I knew who was digging land. He was over fifty years old, uneducated, and could only write his own name, but he had an incredibly sharp eye for determining the authenticity of pottery. He could tell at a glance whether a piece was real or fake.

"Sun Zhiping, please show some respect for others!"

Professor Bai's face turned bright red, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

His voice trembled with anger.

"Professor Bai, it's alright, really alright. I don't have much education; I only graduated from junior high school and didn't even get my diploma." Gu Jinshui was very easygoing and didn't hold it against Sun Zhiping at all. "You trust me and invited me here, so I won't refuse. Let's just look at the goods directly. Whether they have the ability or not, and whether the goods are good or not, we'll have to handle them first to see."

Professor Bai felt somewhat apologetic towards Gu Jinshui.

He pointed to the painted pottery basin on the table, "This is it. I'll have to trouble you to check if it's an authentic piece."

Gu Jinshui looked at everyone and asked, "You don't mind if I do it myself, do you?"

"Just you wait and see, I'll see what tricks you can come up with." Sun Zhiping's tone was somewhat arrogant, and he looked at people sideways with an air of superiority.

Professor Bai stared at him a few times, but he didn't intend to change his attitude.

Gu Jinshui picked up the pottery basin directly. The basin was made of red clay, with a flat, folded edge and a square, round lip. The inner wall had two sets of symmetrical human-faced fish patterns, which were vivid, cute, and quite interesting.

After examining it for a moment, Gu Jinshui put down the ceramic basin and asked, "What's your price for this?"

"They gave me eight hundred yuan."

Sun Zhiping said smugly.

Gu Jinshui chuckled and shook his head, saying, "You overpaid for this. If you bought it locally in Sichuan, you could get it for thirty yuan."

Sun Zhiping and the others were taken aback. Professor Lin, with a stern face, asked, "What do you mean by that? Are you implying that we overpaid?"

Gu Jinshui took out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his hands. Hearing this, he paused, then laughed, "Oh, sorry, you didn't understand what I said. What I meant was that this thing is 100% fake."

"How could this be fake? Don't you know anything about painted pottery? There's even patina on it!"

Sun Zhiping pointed at the pottery basin and questioned it in an agitated tone.

The spittle flew all over Gu Jinshui's face.

Gu Jinshui took a step back. "Buddy, it's common to get fooled in the antique world. Everyone's bought something shoddy before. You don't need to get so worked up. This is a later imitation, and the craftsmanship looks like it's from Sichuan."

"You're talking nonsense!" Sun Zhiping retorted angrily, picking up the painted pottery basin. "It's pointless to argue with someone as uncultured as you."

"Zhiping, put the things down. Since they say it's fake, they can definitely explain why." Professor Lin's smile was like thin ice on a pond in early spring, faint and fragile.

Gu Jinshui laughed and said, "That's easy to explain. First of all, I knew it was a complete waste of time even before I tried it. It's just a feeling."

Hearing the commotion, the professors from the surrounding offices all came over to join in.

One professor couldn't help but say, "You can rely on intuition for this? That's too mystical!"

Gu Jinshui, "Don't worry, sometimes our intuition is more accurate than knowledge. For example, if two people are walking in front of us with their backs to us, we can't see their faces clearly, but we can definitely tell who is the man and who is the woman, right?"

"That makes some sense."

The professor stroked his chin. "So how do you guys in this field rely on gut feeling?"

"It's very simple, just observe and practice more. The more genuine things you see, the more you'll sense something's wrong when you see a fake," Gu Jinshui. "Of course, it's not just about intuition; you also need to pay attention to details. Does anyone have hot water? Bring me a cup."

Qian Guangwen hurriedly poured a cup of hot water and handed it to Gu Jinshui.

Gu Jinshui took the pottery and was about to pour the hot water onto it when Sun Zhiping panicked, "Hey, what are you doing? What if you burn yourself by pouring such hot water on?"

After Sun Zhiping said this, Professor Bai and the others looked at him with some strange expressions.

Professor Lin coughed lightly, pressing his lips to his mouth. "Zhiping, these things were used to hold water in the past, and the firing temperature of painted pottery is between 800 and 1000 degrees Celsius. How could they be damaged by heat?"

Sun Zhiping was extremely embarrassed. "Teacher, I was just afraid he would break it."

"Don't worry, this ceramic basin won't get burned," Gu Jinshui said as he poured hot water onto the patina outside the basin. "It's the patina that won't stay."

As the hot water poured down, the patina on the ceramic basin teetered on the verge of falling off. Gu Jinshui simply brushed it away with his hand, and the patina came off.

Gu Jinshui held the rust in his hand. "Look, this is another way to prove that this thing is fake. Real pottery rust grows on pottery, just like black spots on a person's body. It's hard to peel off, let alone scald it with hot water, or even if you try to pick it off with your hands. But fake pottery rust comes off as soon as you scald it, and it also has a fishy smell. You can smell it if you don't believe me."

Everyone took a piece of pottery rust and passed it around to smell it. Sure enough, it had a fishy, musty smell.

"And here, look, I just poured water here, and it was all absorbed. That's also a sign of forgery. Real painted pottery is fired at extremely high temperatures, so its density is beyond question. If you pour water on it, it will flow down. How could it possibly absorb it?"

Gu Jinshui pointed to a watermark on the ceramic basin and said.

Everyone looked closely, and it really was!

Faced with overwhelming evidence, Professor Lin and his apprentice had nothing left to say and could only admit that the items were indeed fake.

"This has truly broadened my horizons. Thanks to you today, otherwise these fakes would have almost misled the students." Professor Bai was very grateful to Gu Jinshui insisted on treating him to a meal.

Gu Jinshui smiled and said,