Yang Zhenran snorted and said, "You don't need to explain this. We understand. The Jixi porcelain, which was made at a high price, naturally has its value. But tell me, how can the firelight not damage the luster of the porcelain?"
Zhou Xuan tapped the radium bottle lightly with his finger, producing a short sound, before saying, "Listen, when you tap it lightly, the sound is crisp but short. This is because the bottle is pieced together from fragments. If it were a complete antique bottle, the sound would be crisp and long. If you break it, you'll see at a glance that there's a very clear dividing line between the old porcelain and the outer layer, and the color of the new clay outlined at the seam of the old porcelain fragments is also very different. You can clearly distinguish them from these places!"
However, what Zhou Xuan meant by "obvious" was that he used ice energy to detect the location. If it were taken to someone else, it wouldn't be so obvious.
Yang Zhenran frowned. Heng said, "When a duck dies, all that's left is its beak. You're just good with words, aren't you? What you said is practically meaningless. You think you can break this priceless antique to see what's inside? Who can take responsibility for that? Hmph, young man, be more practical. Don't be like Zhao Kuo, all talk and no action. Theory is no different from actual combat!"
Yang Zhenran had clearly lost patience with Zhou Xuan, and her words were now laced with hostility.
Zhou Xuan said calmly, "Who said I have no way to verify it?"
Volume 1, Chapter 332
Zhou Xuan's words, though spoken casually, exuded unparalleled confidence. ()
Fu Yuanshan also knew that Zhou Xuan could definitely convince the two experts. Based on what they had just said, the difference in their abilities had already been made, so there was no question of whether they were experts or not.
Experts Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi both stared intently at Zhou Xuan, eager to see how he could determine the authenticity of the porcelain without damaging it!
Zhou Xuan turned to Fu Yuanshan and asked, "Director Fu, do you have any small knives or similar tools?"
"Of course!" Fu Yuanshan nodded and immediately instructed the guard outside the collection to bring in a small dagger.
After Zhou Xuan and the other on-duty police officers brought in the razor blade, Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi both crowded around and stared at it with wide eyes. Zhou Xuan smiled, moved the radium bottle to the brightest and most conspicuous place, and then carefully turned it upside down, placing the razor blade against the bottom of the bottle.
This porcelain is extremely hard; it would take a lot of force to break it with a steel hammer. Zhou Xuan was just pretending, secretly channeling his ice energy. The moment the steel hammer approached and he pretended to exert force, the ice energy transformed and absorbed that small layer of the surface.
Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi could not possibly see this change. They only noticed that Zhou Xuan had used a steel hammer to chip a tiny bit of the outer layer of the bottle's bottom. This did not damage the bottle itself; it only chipped a small corner of the bottom, and it did not affect the overall appearance at all.
But even in that small area, the thickness of that corner clearly reveals the three layers of old and new.
The innermost layer is old, made of old porcelain shards, while the very thin middle layer is clearly the junction between the old and new, and the outermost layer is an artificially aged surface.
With these three levels of understanding, the truth is revealed!
Zhou Xuan smiled, placed the bottle securely, then put the steel clapper on the table, clapped his hands (there was actually no dust, it was just for show), and then smiled and took two steps back.
Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi both stepped forward to carefully examine the small mark Zhou Xuankeng had made. With their eyesight and experience, they immediately understood!
Zhou Xuan and Fu Yuanshan's faces immediately changed upon seeing the two experts, turning from red to white, and then from white to green!
Fu Yuanshan understood without even thinking: Zhou Xuan had completely defeated these two so-called experts!
Zhou Xuan, as if they were not colleagues, said indifferently, "Actually, the methods of counterfeiting now far surpass those of the past. The more advanced the technology, the more sophisticated the methods of counterfeiting become. Some high-quality imitations are undetectable to the naked eye, and even with high-tech instruments!"
Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi looked at each other, both with expressions of fear in their eyes!
If it were just Zhou Xuan exposing the authenticity of these antiques, it would only be a loss of face for the two men at the police station, which is just a matter of personal face and not a major issue. What they were afraid of was that their museum had purchased over a hundred similar antiques in the past three years, ranging from two or three hundred thousand to as high as three or four million, totaling more than 20 million yuan. They had spent so much money to rescue antiques and cultural relics flowing out of the black market, but now it seemed that they might have bought counterfeits worth tens of millions of yuan!
Of course, it had been authenticated and confirmed by several experts from their museum. Through technical means, instruments, eye examinations and other methods, it was determined to be genuine. If Zhou Xuan had not just said and made those actions, they would still have believed it to be genuine. But now, both of them were very uneasy!
Judging from this situation, most of the antiques they bought are probably problematic. If this is exposed, it will be a disaster for their museum, involving such a large amount of money and many people, including their top and core experts!
People like Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi are experienced, and it's not uncommon for them to make mistakes. They handled quite a few cases when they were young, but they rarely make mistakes now that they're older. Even if they do make a mistake, it's usually only one or two. But this time, there's a big problem. If we follow Zhou An's method of inspection, how many fakes will he find?
Zhou Xuan was naturally unaware of their ulterior motives and couldn't possibly profit from them. What he needed to do now was to authenticate the antiques and see how Fu Yuanshan planned to proceed.
Yang Zhenran and Zhang Zhi no longer had the desire to compete with Zhou Xuan, and their initial sarcastic remarks had vanished. At this moment, they were more concerned about the batch of antiques in the museum.
The two exchanged a glance, nodded, and immediately bid farewell to Fu Yuanshan, leaving in a hurry.
Fu Yuanshan didn't care about the two experts at all. Now that the authenticity of the cultural relics had been determined, the matter was clear. Smuggling and selling cultural relics was one crime, but now they had another one: manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods. What was needed now was to determine the direction of the investigation, catch the source, and find out the large number of cultural relics that had already been sold. This was difficult, but the quantity was so large and the amount of money involved was so huge that it constituted a major case!
Having confirmed this, Fu Yuanshan invited Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying to his office for tea. Although he had been promoted, he had not yet officially handed over his duties. In fact, even if he had finished handing over his duties, this office would not be occupied until a new director was appointed.
In his office, Fu Yuanshan answered a phone call, grunted twice, and then hung up. He then smiled at Fu Ying and said, "Yingying, your car has been personally delivered by Director Yang of the North City Branch with his men. Hehe, Yingying, you should accept the car, but don't take it too easily!"
In fact, the deputy director position in the department was coveted by the directors of several branch bureaus. In terms of strength and connections, Fu Yuanshan was actually ranked last. But things are unpredictable. None of them expected that Fu Yuanshan would later become a local official and is now extremely popular. It's really hard to understand.
Take Yang Shilong, the director of the Chengbei Branch Bureau, for example. He has stronger connections than Fu Yuanshan. The secretary in charge of political and legal affairs in the city is his former superior. He has the best chance of getting the deputy director position this time. Secretary Liu of the Political and Legal Affairs Bureau, his former leader, also revealed that he has an 80% chance of being promoted to deputy director this time because the newly appointed secretary of the municipal party committee, Wei, has a good relationship with him. He will give him a push from behind, so his chances of getting promoted are quite secure.
But things changed in the end. Secretary Liu called Yang Shilong and said vaguely, "Shilong, this opportunity has been lost. It's true that man proposes, God disposes. Don't be upset, just focus on your work!"
If Secretary Liu doesn't explain the situation, it must be because he doesn't want to talk about it. It's the higher-ups' intention; not saying it means they don't want him to know. Although Yang Shilong doesn't know how the higher-ups changed their decision, he considers Fu Yuanshan, who took his position, a thorn in his side.
I've been feeling really down these past few days, but I never expected that something reported from below would make me so furious!
That is, Zeng Yuguo, the deputy captain of the seventh squad of the Chengbei Traffic Police Brigade, impounded a car belonging to a woman named Fu Ying, and coincidentally, the person who came to the scene and took her away was Fu Yuanshan, his nemesis!
Yang Shilong quickly found out the whole story, and after understanding it, he was furious and gave Zeng Yuguo a thorough dressing-down on the spot!
If Zeng Yuguo had only impounded the car because of a driver's license issue, that would be understandable, or even justifiable. But this guy is blinded by greed and actually wants to detain the person!
Yang Shilong then called over Deputy Director Yang of the local police station who was at the scene to inquire about the situation. Through the stammering accounts of the group, Yang Shilong finally understood the real reason why Zeng Yuguo wanted to impound the vehicle and detain the people!
Those bastards!
Rugao wasn't acting out of personal motives or trying to make fun of Fu Ying. Yang Shilong could use this matter to make things difficult for Fu Yuanshan's friend. Although Fu Yuanshan had been promoted to deputy director, he hadn't yet firmly established himself and lacked prestige. He certainly wouldn't argue with Yang Shilong over such a trivial matter. Moreover, he could openly claim to be acting in accordance with the law and stand tall. It's a pity that Zeng Yuguo is simply a pig!
However, since he had impounded the car, Yang Shilong couldn't pretend he didn't know. If Fu Yuanshan came after him, things would be even more complicated. But he really couldn't swallow his anger!
Yang Shilong eventually called his former superior, Secretary Liu, asking for advice on whether he could ignore the matter and use it to his advantage to confront Fu Yuanshan.
Secretary Liu was his former boss, a cunning old fox. He paused for a moment, then asked who the car owner was. When Yang Shilong replied that it was two young men named Fu Ying and Zhou Xuan, the name sounded familiar. He was close to Wei Haihe and seemed to have heard the name Zhou Xuan from Secretary Wei, but he couldn't be sure. After thinking for a moment, he called Wei Haihe to inquire.
Wei Haihe had only recently taken office, and he was still trying to win over several key figures in the power circle, such as Lao Liu. Moreover, he had some acquaintance with Lao Liu. When Lao Liu asked about Zhou Xuan, Wei Haihe inquired about the reason and only told him that nothing had happened to Zhou Xuan. He also mentioned the relationship between his family and Zhou Xuan, and of course, he also mentioned the relationship between Zhou Xuan and Lao Li's family. Since they were in this circle, making things clear was a way of showing goodwill to Lao Liu.
Old Liu immediately realized his mistake and called Yang Shilong back, but his words were more subtle: "Shilong, you're my old subordinate, so let me give you a piece of advice: think twice before you act. What's the use of acting impulsively? If you're just trying to spite Fu Yuanshan, I can't say anything. But since it involves that young man named Zhou Xuan, Shilong, punish him according to the rules. Apologize sincerely and return the car to him. This young man is beyond your imagination. Today, you did one very lucky thing: you called me first to inquire. I won't say anything else!"