Antiquities seized by the police station are usually transferred to the Cultural Relics Bureau after the case is closed.
And the museum is a part of the Cultural Relics Bureau's jurisdiction.
To one side, an old man seemed unenthusiastic, his face clouded with some worries.
Lin Chuan guessed that this person must be Old Bai's mentor, Cheng Qing.
"Excuse me, experts,"
Officer Chen entered the room with Lin Chuan, smiling and greeting.
"Officer Chen,"
The experts also returned the greeting with a smile, acknowledging Officer Chen's presence.
"The situation is like this, the authenticity of this 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel' bronze ware is still in dispute, and at the request of the involved party, we have invited this...treasure appraiser to assess this bronze ware."
When introducing Lin Chuan, Officer Chen initially wanted to say "web novel writer," but feeling it inappropriate, immediately replaced it with "treasure appraiser."
It felt peculiar to have a web novel writer appraise the authenticity of a bronze artifact.
Inside the function room, several experts turned their gazes toward Lin Chuan.
Lin Chuan appeared youthful with a refined face, untouched by the elements, looking like a young man of about twenty-four or twenty-five, which caused some to furrow their brows.
Among them, a man dressed in a Tang suit, of an age similar to Old Zhang, bore a ruddy and radiant visage, his eyes sharp like an eagle's.
He looked at Lin Chuan, cupped his hands with a smile, and asked, "Young brother, may I ask who your teacher is?"
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Lin Chuan also cupped his hands in response, replying, "Self-taught."
The crowd was taken aback once more, their expressions complex.
A couple of them looked at Lin Chuan with somewhat indifferent eyes.
In the antiques circle, especially among the older generation, there is a strong emphasis on lineage and tradition.
Self-taught individuals like Lin Chuan are often seen as amateur appraisers by the general public and are not considered for high society.
If one has an impressive teacher, they could be referred to as a protegé of a master, and their starting point would be where others end.
Cheng Qing, the mentor of Old Bai, looked at Lin Chuan with curiosity, "Young brother, can you really appraise treasures?"
Cheng Qing couldn't understand why his student would want to invite this young man to testify on his behalf.
Even if he declared the bronze ware fake, it wouldn't make a difference.
Because the opinions of this young man, when compared to experts like Gao Qinglin, lacked authority and thus were not persuasive.
"Let me take a look at Bai Yang's work first."
Lin Chuan nodded, his face wearing a slight smile that showed confidence, unaffected by the experts' disdain.
In front of them,
The 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel' bronze ware stood quietly on the table, its surface covered with a layer of irregular dirt stains, underneath which the verdigris could be seen, with the Taotie pattern decorations faintly visible and several inscriptions engraved on the round and full body of the vessel.
Lin Chuan stared intently for two minutes, slightly raising his eyebrow, his face showing a hint of surprise.
No wonder Old Bai was arrested.
This 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel' bronze ware, the craftsmanship of the forgery was very high, almost flawless; an expert would typically not be able to detect the signs of forgery.
Only an expert familiar with this 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel' could discern that it was a counterfeit.
Old Bai truly was a genius in artifact restoration; following my method, he could easily create deceptive replicas.
It was almost impossible for ordinary people to do so.
"Young brother, have you identified it?" asked the man in the Tang suit with a smile on his face.
He was none other than the chief expert of Modu Museum, Gao Qinglin.
Lin Chuan smiled and nodded, "This bronze ware is indeed a counterfeit."
"You certainly don't shy away from speaking your mind, young brother,"
Gao Qinglin, the chief expert of the museum, chuckled, "May I know where does this conclusion of forgery come from?"
The three other experts, including Cheng Qing, the mentor of Old Bai, had no doubts about the authenticity of the 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel' and had always believed it to be genuine.
And now a young appraiser was claiming it was fake?
Chen Hui and another police officer stood quietly to the side, watching to see why Lin Chuan deemed the item to be a fake.
In the room, everyone's eyes were focused on Lin Chuan.
Having seen his share of big scenes, Lin Chuan's face remained calm as he smiled and said,
"Experts, please don't rush. Bai Yang's counterfeiting method is somewhat different from the traditional ways of faking bronze ware. From my observations, this should originally have been a fine copy of exquisite craftsmanship.
Bai Yang first used heated sulfuric acid to drench it, letting the sulfuric acid paper solution corrode the bronze, and then comes the key part, rusting and applying the paste."
"This step requires a high level of skill and particularly accurate control of the colors. Bai Yang has a background in cultural relics restoration, and he performed this step flawlessly. The next step would be burying it in the soil..."
Lin Chuan narrated the steps of Old Bai's counterfeiting process, one by one.
The two police officers didn't understand but felt it made a lot of sense.
The other experts understood.
Gao Qinglin, the chief expert from Modu Museum, narrowed his eyes and huffed coldly, "The rusting and applying of the paste you just mentioned, we understand all too well, but I dare say, no one has been able to forge something so convincingly realistic."
In Gao Qinglin's view,
Lin Chuan was just a fake treasure appraiser brought in by Old Bai to testify falsely, absolutely here to cause trouble.
Most importantly, Gao Qinglin found himself more and more fond of the 'Taotie Pattern Wine Vessel,' already calculating how to add it to the museum's collection more quickly.
"Elder, nothing is absolute, especially in today's world where science and technology are increasingly advanced. The difficulty in perfectly forging an artifact is also decreasing," Lin Chuan shook his head and responded.
At least, I could do it.
Gao Qinglin's eyes sharpened as he looked at Lin Chuan, "Then tell me, what materials would you use for rusting and applying paste if you were to forge this bronze ware?"
Lin Chuan looked towards Gao Qinglin with an unperturbed gaze, not intimidated by his aura.
After all, Lin Chuan himself was a master forger, a giant in the antiques circle.
Addressing Gao Qinglin's question, Lin Chuan answered fluidly, "Verdigris, glue, rosin, Bletilla Striata Paste, lacquer, mineral powder, pigments..."
Listing the materials one by one, Lin Chuan spoke them out loud.
The few people present furrowed their brows upon hearing the series of materials Lin Chuan mentioned.
They were all antiques experts; deeply knowledgeable in forgery and appraisal, they not only understood what Lin Chuan was saying but also learned from it.
"If you already have glue, lacquer, and rosin among other gel-like substances, why is Bletilla Striata Paste necessary?" Old Bai's mentor, Cheng Qing, couldn't help but ask.
Lin Chuan replied with a slight smile, "Bletilla Striata is a hemostatic Chinese herb, containing a large amount of mucilage, a natural thickener. It can coagulate the paste in a short time, acting as a substitute for chemical thickeners, enabling better adhesion to the bronze, making the forged oxide paste appear more natural and odor-free."
Old Bai's mentor Cheng Qing's brows tightened as he pondered the feasibility of what Lin Chuan said.
The other two experts were similarly reflective.
Only Gao Qinglin, the chief expert from Modu Museum, seemed to want to argue further.
But Lin Chuan didn't give him an opportunity to retort, "Officer Chen, please scrape a little of the paste off this bronze ware and send it for material analysis. They can test it for the materials I just mentioned."
Chen Hui looked dazed by what was happening in the room, as if... as if Lin Chuan had taken complete control.
If word of this gets out, that four renowned figures from the Modu antiques circle were schooled by a young web novel writer.
Hiss!
It was unimaginable what kind of stir this would cause in the Modu antiques circle!
"Officer Chen?" Lin Chuan called out.
"Ah, what is it?" Chen Hui returned to his senses and looked at Lin Chuan.
Lin Chuan repeated what he had said before.
Chen Hui looked perplexed as he scraped off some of the paste from the bronze ware while frowning.
Is he instructing me?
From his tone and the way he gave orders, he seemed to be more than just a web novel writer; he also seemed very familiar with the police station, even having some case handling experience.
Isn't this web novel writer knowing a bit too much?
These thoughts flashed through Chen Hui's mind.
Chen Hui couldn't help taking another look at Lin Chuan, thinking to himself that since Lin Chuan was from Anling, and he happened to have a college classmate at the Anling Police Station.
Once the case was over, he would have to ask her about this web novel writer!

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