Chapter 37

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The gentlemen of the Holy See had seen many, many Western nobles, but the scene they witnessed today still surprised them no small amount.

One could see groups upon groups of Chinese nobles, brimming with curiosity, circling their precious column round and round; some even suspected that if one didn't watch closely, someone might stick a finger in, or even wedge a glasses temple into a finger gap and use the glasses to pry, just to try and prove a conclusion that had nothing to do with them?

The priest naturally could not allow the Chinese to pry open the Samothrace Column; Alphonse stood in the very center of the Round Hall like a mother hen protecting her chicks, glaring fiercely at Chen Yi — the first person to demand the Pope's collection be pried open.

Classmate Chen Yi faced him calmly, looking at the other party with sincere eyes. It's just a stone pillar; prying it open would do. He thought this, but merely didn't say it out loud.

He really didn't feel that prying open a cultural relic was anything remarkable. As for what artwork, or even comments about inestimable value, none of it could give him a sense of fear.

Han Jie looked at Chen Yi with a strange gaze and said in a low voice: "When did you learn to appraise antiques?"

"Been bored recently, so I read some idle books." Chen Yi shrugged.

Han Jie habitually narrowed her eyes: "But isn't the College Entrance Examination coming up soon?"

"Uh... got tired of reading textbooks, so I read some idle books." Chen Yi spouted nonsense.

Professor Lang, who had just finished a phone call, turned around and smiled: "To have this skill amidst the College Entrance Examination is truly not easy, but still, it depends on whether your guess is accurate or not."

"Definitely accurate."

Chen Yi and the others chatted and laughed; the others also drank champagne and fine wine, the banquet continued on, and moreover seemed to have an even better topic, only it didn't necessarily conform to the Church's expectations.

About an hour later, several Jiangning University professors and students appeared in the hall; at the same time, the experts invited by the priest also arrived in the same period. Both sides set up their instruments and equipment in the room respectively, just waiting to begin.

Chen Yi stole a cup of wine, hid in the rear of the crowd, and watched with great interest as the handsome foreign guys and the others discussed the problem of how to test with the professors, looking harried.

Han Jie followed beside him and asked: "This time Stanik stole the chicken but lost the rice; you ruined the banquet, the priest hates you to death."

Chen Yi gave a profound, inscrutable smile.

There was some commotion in the crowd; precisely Professor Lang and the others had begun the testing work.

"Aren't you going to the front to watch?"

"Grandpa said, do things high-profile, be a person low-profile..." Chen Yi spoke half, then suddenly felt something was off; such a coarse voice was obviously a man's.

Sure enough, the speaker was Liang Yu, one of his dead party buddies from Jiangning Middle School.

Although this guy was talking to Chen Yi, his eyes stared straight at Han Jie; that evening dress seemed tailor-made for her, her tall figure, the snow-white shoulders slightly revealed outside, undoubtedly attracted the gazes of countless men.

Although compared to some of the ladies present, Han Jie appeared more youthful, that pure breath, that young girl's appearance, instead surpassed them by a notch.

"Don't recognize Han Jie?" Chen Yi took the opportunity to punch Liang Yu; he was actually watching, entranced, too.

Liang Yu hehe'd twice, tugged at his necktie twice with his hand, and said with a twisted expression: "Grandpa got an invitation, Dad had to bring me along to see the world; didn't expect to really run into something interesting."

"Just arrived?" Chen Yi wasn't in the same class as him, indeed hadn't seen him for some days.

"Arrived 20 minutes ago." Liang Yu continued twisting his necktie: "Heard this stone pillar is the Pope's collection, someone says it's fake?"

Chen Yi nodded.

"They can measure density with just a notebook-sized instrument?"

Chen Yi nodded.

Liang Yu said helplessly: "You wouldn't have just arrived too, right?"

Chen Yi shook his head.

"Don't tell me you studied yourself stupid." Liang Yu didn't take it seriously, laughed haha, and took the opportunity to say to Han Jie: "Chen Yi scored so high on the third mock exam; could it be you two reviewed together?"

Han Jie only pursed her lips and smiled; her big eyes blinked and blinked, so bright that Liang Yu felt embarrassed.

Right at this moment, the sound of people whispering suddenly quieted down. Turned out both sides' experts had completed the instrument testing and each issued a report.

Very formal format, but it made the priest's face look very ugly. He stared at his own side's expert so obviously that even without an announcement, people could know the result.

"Hurry up and say it." Someone deliberately made trouble.

Those who came to attend the banquet, although they were candidates the Church hoped to absorb, did not mean they all held good feelings toward the Church, especially on this land of China; decades of anti-religious education made the new generation's upper-class elites maintain the most basic vigilance toward them, and at certain times, hidden aversion.

The priest's mood was simply terrible, but he did not deny it. He recited the first half of the two appraisal certificates by rote, then repeated the conclusion: "Samo Stone Pillar, using the 1.2-meter diameter as the boundary, the inner and outer densities are different..."

Quite a few people laughed; the scene of pricking ears and listening quietly thus ended; more people began searching for Chen Yi's presence. After all, the two Germans and the chubby Professor Lang were in the center of the hall; only the suddenly appearing Chen Yi was hidden in the back of the crowd.

Liang Yu likewise turned around, exclaiming in admiration: "Relying on eyes alone, to see the difference from that gap — what a perverted animal that takes."

Chen Yi's mouth twitched; he thought, why does it feel like I was just scolded.

Han Jie had long since laughed out loud, pointed her finger meaningfully.

From afar, Professor Lang squeezed over with difficulty; the gentlemen and ladies nearby holding red wine and champagne offered him sincere congratulations; the former responded unhurriedly.

It was somewhat awkward to leave directly; Chen Yi cleared his throat and said: "Liang Yu, among those perverted animals that can see differences from gaps, one might be me."

Liang Yu thought for 10 seconds before understanding his words, then immediately shouted: "No way, could it be the fatty spoke the truth?"

"Porcelain?"

"Nonsense." Liang Yu said, lowering his voice: "I thought you stole a bottle from home; could it be you really found it? 3 million?"

For aristocratic scions, a million-level sum isn't anything; it's just the way of obtaining it that's too strange. Chen Yi told the truth straightforwardly, shrugging: "Bought for 80,000 at a pawnshop, sold for 3 million."

"So the pawnshop missed it? You count as... a vampire drinking vampire blood? A skylark specializing in catching sparrowhawks? Or a scavenger specializing in eating dung beetles..." Liang Yu started naming names.

"You don't have a single good term." Chen Yi glared at this bastard; seeing Professor Lang come to the front, he hurriedly shouted: "Professor."

This form of address still had quite some deterrent power over students; Liang Yu shut up, looking around restlessly.

"Let me introduce you; this is Karl, Karl Smith; this is Andre Weber. They want to personally thank you." Professor Lang smiled at Liang Yu and Han Jie.

"No need for thanks." Chen Yi immediately became polite, and simultaneously asked: "Are you also Archaeology Department professors?"

"German archaeological research has unique advantages." Professor Lang finished speaking, then translated for the two.

Although their ages differed considerably, borrowing the light of the Perception Scroll, Chen Yi received the wholehearted praise of the two foreign friends; not only them, in a moment's time, quite a few gentlemen who liked socializing, carrying wine, came to this small circle.

Chen Yi and the others had received basic etiquette education since childhood and often accompanied their elders to various public occasions; plus, Professor Lang helped them out, so they actually earned praise as "promising young talents."

Soon, Liang Yu's father walked over holding a glass of red wine. He was one of Jiangning's few prominent figures, with dealings in both the underworld and legitimate society, and business at home and abroad; he had also met Chen Yi two or three times.

With him present, just a few words immediately eased Chen Yi's pressure. Many adults who liked or disliked the Chen Family merely watched from afar and no longer came over.

On the other side, the expressions of several priests grew increasingly stern.

Unlike ordinary people's leisure, they deeply understood the impact of this matter—although it had not reached the level of a scandal, for conservative Catholics, that was already enough.

Stanik also deeply regretted his invitation. He had originally only wanted to approach Han Jie, thereby entering China's upper-class families, and then indirectly influence their religious views. This was the Holy See's established strategy; the idea was not novel, and there were countless successful precedents. However, the result was that he had botched it.

Throughout the entire banquet, let alone getting a chance to speak, he was busy to the point of frazzled nerves, and Han Jie's impression of him surely would not be good.

Amidst silence, the handsome foreigner gritted his teeth and said: "Among the Chinese people who spoke today, the two younger ones both belong to Jiangning's upper class; given their experience, I fear they cannot make an accurate judgment on the Samothrace Column. Perhaps China's upper class does not like our grand banquets."

He was proposing a solution in a tactful way.

The priest nodded with a grave face. Those of his faction all quite liked this young man, Stanik, and valued his suggestions, so he said: "If that is the case, we need to provide more materials. Furthermore, the Samothrace Column really was filled with something, which is truly unexpected."

"Perhaps it is a good thing, not a bad thing." The hot-tempered Alphonse suddenly began to speak slowly.

"Oh?" The priest knew Alphonse was learned and spirited, so he had to value him and said: "What kind of good thing?"

"Do you remember what that young man said? Chen." Alphonse recalled: "He said the Samothrace Column was collected by Saint Maurice I, then its core was hollowed out and filled with other things. Leaving aside how he made such a judgment, in my memory, Saint Maurice I reigned for only one year, so in history, several Holy See documents were lost because of this..."

Without him continuing, the priest's eyes had already lit up. He barely restrained himself from ordering an immediate inspection, but instead commanded: "Notify the guards; after the banquet ends, immediately lock the Samothrace Column into the safe, and also notify the Vatican..."

A storm was slowly forming.