Chapter 278: This Piece is Worth at Least a Million

A fake!

Just two words, light as the wind and calm as the sea, without a ripple.

Looking at the disconnected phone interface, Chen Yangyan was slightly stunned.

Just then, the auctioneer's quotes reached his ears: "Number 42, 3.35 million... Number 11, 3.4 million..."

Chen Daoqing prepared to raise his paddle, but Chen Yangyan waved his hand: "Daoqing, let's not bid for now!"

Not bidding?

Before the auction started, his father had said that as long as it didn't exceed four million, he should feel free to bid?

He was merely suspicious for a moment, but he didn't say anything, obediently putting down the paddle.

Chen Yangyan gathered his thoughts: "Chairman Hao, does Teacher Lin also understand oil painting?"

If it were traditional Chinese painting, Lin Sicheng certainly understood it, with accomplishments even higher than Guan Xingmin, who came from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. But oil painting... he hadn't heard of it?

Amidst his suspicion, Hao Jun turned his head.

Wang Qi Zhi and Zhao Xiuneng nodded in unison.

He still remembered going to Baoji last year and meeting Zhao Laotai for the first time. Thinking Lin Sicheng was young and easy to bully, Zhao Xiuneng brought out an oil painting by Li Shutong, only for Lin Sicheng to see through it at a glance: half-real and half-fake, with a grafted base.

It was also after that incident that Ye Anning, who was also from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, grew increasingly impressed by Lin Sicheng.

In a flash, Wang Qi Zhi smiled: "General Manager Chen, since Lin Sicheng is so certain, then this piece might have some problems; why not hold off for now!"

"Professor Wang, I understand, I'm not doubting Teacher Lin!" Chen Yangyan explained with a smile, "I'm just still feeling a lingering fear..."

Four million is neither a lot nor a little; it wouldn't break Chen Yangyan's bank, but it shouldn't be wasted like throwing money into the water.

Therefore, the preparatory work had been thorough: he had asked professionals to look at it and had even inquired through side channels, and all said there was no problem with the painting.

Suddenly, Lin Sicheng told him: it's a fake.

If it were anyone else, Chen Yangyan would certainly be skeptical, but because it was Lin Sicheng, he stopped bidding without hesitation.

Firstly, it was based on the life-saving friendship between the two; secondly, it was his trust in Lin Sicheng; and thirdly: Chen Yangyan was planning to give this painting as a gift...

The auction continued, and Chen Yangyan adjusted his mood: it didn't matter, there were plenty of good things, as long as one was willing to spend money. If not Xiling, there was Poly; if not an auction, there were art companies.

Just as he was thinking this, he subconsciously paused: the frequency of the bidding seemed to have slowed down a lot?

Before, several parties were fighting over it; sometimes the auctioneer hadn't even finished announcing the previous bid before the next paddle was raised, and five or six would go up at once.

But now, the auctioneer had to ask two or three times before someone would slowly raise a paddle.

If it were just that, Chen Yangyan wouldn't be suspicious. The key was that two of the bidders were always intentionally or unintentionally glancing back toward them.

They were all insiders; Hao Jun, Zhao Xiuneng, and Wang Qi Zhi all saw that something was wrong.

Perhaps realizing the ruse had been exposed, they followed up twice more, but seeing that Chen Daoqing never raised his paddle, two of the parties stopped bidding, and it finally sold for 3.68 million.

The moment the hammer fell, the successful bidder glanced back again, but his expression was as if he had eaten excrement.

Chen Yangyan suddenly realized: were these parties all shills?

Suddenly, his eyelids couldn't stop twitching: he had asked for help to send a gift, and as a result, he had sent a fake painting?

The scene was thrilling just to think about...

Instinctively, Chen Yangyan gritted his teeth and cursed: "Damn it."

Wang Qi Zhi and Zhao Xiuneng exchanged a look, and Hao Jun looked completely bewildered: was this painting really fake?

The problem was, where was it fake?

He took out his phone and quickly typed a text message.

Lin Sicheng glanced at his phone but did not reply.

There were many fake aspects, but they were too subtle and too troublesome to explain.

First, the pigments: to brighten the dark areas and enhance the transparency of the seascape, Liu Ye's works, whether for the base or the covering, always used Baryte Powder, which is Natural Barium Sulfate.

But this painting used the chemically synthesized Titanium White Powder most popular in modern oil paintings.

Second, the canvas: Liu Ye never used domestic canvas, but specifically ordered it from Germany. But this one used canvas from the Shanghai Mali Factory.

Third, the refractive index: in Liu Ye's "Little Navy Series," whether backlit or facing the light, the lenses were always treated with a matte finish. This one, however, was blindingly bright.

During the preview, because Ye Anning was interested, Lin Sicheng had just taken a casual look. At the time, he thought someone might get fooled, but he hadn't expected it to be General Manager Chen?

And when the Center was unveiled, Chen Yangyan had given such a generous gift, and last month in Huo Prefecture, the two siblings had been busy helping out. Knowing this was fake, it was impossible for Lin Sicheng not to warn him.

Ye Anning poked him: "Didn't you say that different professions are like mountains apart?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Of course!"

But he wasn't referring to the judgment of authenticity, but to artistic value and historical significance.

He believed that the reason antiques were expensive was that they filled gaps in history, corrected errors in official records, solved historical mysteries, strengthened cultural identity, and consolidated national self-confidence.

Even traditional modern artworks, such as Calligraphy and Painting, could similarly serve the functions of cultural inheritance, technical innovation, and connecting the present with the past, passing on the national humanistic spirit.

Furthermore: even from the perspective of education and dissemination, since schools taught it when children were young and television broadcast it when they grew up, at least the common people understood a little; there was a cultural gene and a market foundation.

But for contemporary Western artworks like oil paintings, if someone asked: why is it that Master Leng's works are no different from photos, and AI might draw them better than he does, yet they can sell for hundreds of millions domestically? While the works of historical figures like Ji Xiaolan and Liu Yong, who are famous in history and known to every household, only sell for a few hundred thousand?

If Lin Sicheng were asked to explain, he couldn't justify it no matter how hard he racked his brains.

It wasn't that the masters didn't paint well, but that there were too many artificial factors driving it.

For example: if a painting by Master Leng appeared now and only sold for a few thousand, Lin Sicheng would know it could reach hundreds of millions in ten years, but he still wouldn't buy it.

Just the operating models and the channels for cashing out—what stood between Lin Sicheng and the market was no longer just a mountain, but a galaxy...

Sighing inwardly, the auction continued.

Lu Zhen and Lu Meng didn't pay any attention, assuming Lin Sicheng was discussing one of the lots in the catalog with Ye Anning.

Wang Qi Zhi got his wish and bought Liu Haisu's Sketch.

It was 16mo, slightly smaller than AV paper, but after more than a dozen rounds of bidding, the hammer only fell at 220,000.

After that, it entered the crowd-pleasing segment: failed bid, failed bid, and failed bid again.

Only when a work with some small reputation appeared would someone raise a paddle, but they basically all sold at the reserve price.

Every now and then, guests would get up, and in less than half an hour, more than half had left. The auctioneer also couldn't be bothered to put on airs anymore; after asking once and seeing no one raise a paddle, he would move on to the next piece. The eighty-plus Western paintings and sculptures, including a break in the middle, took exactly one hour.

Next was the calligraphy and painting session, including ancient (Ming, Qing), modern (late Qing, Republic of China), contemporary, and works by some members of the Xiling Seal Art Society. The *Letter of Lin Zexu* that Wang Qi Zhi was quite interested in, and the *Landscape Album of Yun Shouping* that Zhao Xiuneng favored, were among them.

The "Qing Four Wangs" that Lin Sicheng was focusing on, along with three contemporary artists and the running script couplets of Xuan Ye and Hongli, were all in this session.

Compared to the previous session, there were more than six or seven times as many guests, and the two-hundred-person venue was packed full.

Lin Sicheng's seat was toward the back, and people kept passing by him; from time to time, he would see one or two familiar faces.

The China Institute of Painting, the Beijing Art Development Foundation, the Peking University Library, Fengbaozhai, the Beijing Research Institute of Culture and History, and several cultural companies under the Beijing Cultural Relics Store (Cultural Relics Bureau).

These were all collection, exhibition, and research institutions with official backgrounds, and those who came were all the Persons in Charge of the exhibition or collection departments. Since these people were here, they had one goal: the auction had artworks within their respective units' planned scope up for bid.

Of course, Lin Sicheng recognized them, but they did not yet recognize Lin Sicheng. However, he estimated that the prices for the two pieces his teacher and Zhao Shixiong had favored earlier would not be low today.

Just as he was thinking this, two men and two women passed by him.

At first, Lin Sicheng didn't pay attention, but suddenly, Ye Anning turned her head, covered her face, and winked at him.

Lin Sicheng felt suspicious, and when he looked closely, his eyelids twitched: Teacher Bai, Bai Wan!

No wonder Cousin Ye was acting like a thief?

Just last autumn, she traveled to Xijing and bought a Tang Dynasty Beast-Headed Agate Cup and a Tang Dynasty Wrapped Arm Gold Bracelet at the Bell Tower. Ye Anning brought her to find Lin Sicheng for authentication, and it turned out both were imitations.

It was also a coincidence that Teacher Bai's husband happened to be in charge of exhibition work at the Gongwang Mansion, and at that time, they were collecting Ming and Qing porcelain. In the end, he offered eighteen and took away a Ming Dynasty Dehua Kiln Pig Oil White Bowl that Lin Sicheng had half-repaired.

At the same time, in order to research the lost Tang Dynasty craftsmanship, Lin Sicheng bought the two imitation Tang Dynasty beast-headed cups and gold bracelets from Teacher Bai. It was that time that Wang Qi Zhi instigated him to apply for World Heritage status.

Afterward, Teacher Bai would call Lin Sicheng from time to time to ask about authentication knowledge. So, although they had only met once, their acquaintance was not shallow.

But what Lin Sicheng cared about was not Bai Wan, but the two people beside her.

One was thirty-six or thirty-seven, about the same age as Bai Wan, and the two were arm-in-arm; it should be her husband, who worked in the collection department of the Gongwang Mansion Museum.

Coming here, he must have set his sights on some auction lot.

The key was the person next to him: Yu Zhiyuan, Deputy Director of the Fine Arts Research Institute of the Art Research Institute under the Ministry of Culture.

No... he wasn't the Deputy Director yet, he should just be the Director. But the main responsibility of this institute was creative research themed on national subjects.

To put it more bluntly: researching and creating paintings with themes of landscapes, red history, and revolution. The subjects of research included Fu Baoshi, Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, Li Keliang... and so on and so forth.

The first director was Huang Binhong.

Lin Sicheng suddenly felt something was wrong: he suspected that if he still wanted to acquire the works of the three masters he had favored earlier, he would probably have to spend a large sum of money...

As these thoughts turned, the group passed by, and Lin Sicheng also turned his face, pretending to be talking to Ye Anning.

The two smiled at each other.

Subsequently, the auction officially began.

The first item was the main event: Weng Tonghe's ink and wash paper, *Three Autumn Osmanthus Seeds*.

Anyone who knows a little modern history knows that he was a famous politician, calligrapher, and collector during the late Qing Dynasty.

He placed first in the imperial examinations, served through the Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Guangxu reigns, and rose to positions such as Left Censor of the Censorate, Minister of Justice, Minister of Works, Minister of Revenue, and Grand Secretariat Assistant. At the same time, he was also the tutor to the Tongzhi Emperor and the Guangxu Emperor.

From the Qin to the Qing, there were only six imperial tutors for two emperors in history, and he was one of them.

He was a bona fide member of the Emperor's party and, even more so, a staunch member of the war faction. During the First Sino-Japanese War, he repeatedly requested to continue fighting. Afterward, when the Beiyang Fleet was wiped out and Li Hongzhang requested to cede territory, Weng Tonghe firmly opposed it, preferring to pay more reparations. He even proposed agreeing to the reparations first, but delaying the payment, then raising silver to rebuild the navy and fight again.

According to the plan, he was supposed to go to the negotiations with Li Hongzhang, but Cixi feared that if he went, the talks would easily collapse, so she only sent Li Hongzhang, and after that, the *Treaty of Shimonoseki* came to be.

After that, he presided over the Hundred Days' Reform, and after it failed, he was dismissed by Cixi and never employed again.

In his past life at the Forbidden City, Lin Sicheng had seen his *Jiawu War Preparation Memorial*, as well as the arithmetic homework he graded for Guangxu when he was a child. At the time, he even joked with Old Lady Wang: no matter which piece it was, if you stole one and took it out, you could sell it for millions. As a result, he was scolded by the old lady.

Looking at this piece again, the painting was not large, only 1.2 square feet (33cm*44cm), but the colophons were extremely numerous, occupying more than three times the space of the painting itself, and they were all by famous masters.

"Do you smell the osmanthus fragrance? In the ninth month of the Yiwei year of Guangxu, I visited the Poshan Temple in Changshu," recorded by Tao Junxuan. Seal marks: Junxuan Yin Xin (white), Xin Yun (vermilion). He was the 45th-generation descendant of Tao Yuanming and a famous calligrapher of the late Qing Dynasty.

"Weng wrote this, he rarely painted," Yang Xian, fourth month of the Bingshen year of Guangxu. Seal mark: Yang Ya (vermilion). He was also a famous calligrapher and epigrapher of the late Qing Dynasty.

"Short paper, light ink, autumn breeze; I imagine the time of facing the candles behind the wind curtains. Dedicated to my brother Ziying," Zhang Jian. Seal mark: Chen Jian (vermilion). He was even more famous: the top scholar of the 20th year of Guangxu, a modern Chinese industrialist, politician, educator, calligrapher, financier, philanthropist, and collector.

Puyi's abdication edict was drafted by him. During the Xinhai Revolution, he served as the Minister of Industry of the Nanjing Provisional Government, advocating for saving the nation through industry. The famous Dasheng Cotton Mill was co-founded by him and Sheng Huaixuan. The first museum in China, the Nantong Museum, was also founded by him.

Afterward, there were Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Lu Hui, Liu Yanyi, Jin Erzhen, Yun Minling... totaling ten people, and every one who left a colophon or seal was a famous master.

Looking at the valuation again, fifty thousand to seventy thousand?

Lin Sicheng felt that even if you just scraped off the seals on the painting, they would sell for more than that.

But the strange thing was that the heat in the venue was not very high. Starting at fifty thousand, it only went up by two thousand at a time, and it took almost two minutes to break eighty thousand.

According to Lin Sicheng's previous guess, it should have broken one hundred thousand in at most a minute and reached five hundred thousand in three minutes.

No... what is going on?

Seeing him looking puzzled, Ye Anning whispered an explanation: "I asked around; this painting was at the China Guardian autumn auction last year. During the preview, after a professor from the National Art Academy authenticated it, he believed it was an imitation from the Republic of China period:

First, the brushwork of the osmanthus leaves is soft; second, the last stroke of the 'He' character in 'Weng Tonghe' is weak and shows hesitation. Third, the ink paste of several seals is too bright... The most important thing is that the ink is wrong; it has oil smoke components, not tribute ink. So it failed to sell last year, which is why today's valuation is so low..."

Lin Sicheng was dumbfounded: soft brushwork, hesitant last stroke—when he looked at it, he really didn't see those two points. He just felt that the brushwork was full of indignation and venting.

The ink was actually correct; it did have petroleum oil smoke components, but that was already the late Qing Dynasty, and Western ink was popular. At the same time, there were many collections in the Forbidden City created with oil ink.

As for the seal marks being too bright... those who left colophons were either high-ranking officials or huge tycoons, or at the very least, famous calligraphers and epigraphers, all using the finest oil-based cinnabar.

And it has only been a little over a hundred years, and the painting has been preserved so well, so of course the seal script is very bright.

Anyway, no matter how Lin Sicheng looked at it, this painting didn't look like a fake. Because the lot number was very early, it would definitely be auctioned at the start, so he took it for granted at the time that the auction company did it on purpose to warm up the venue.

He never thought that everyone regarded this work as a fake?

Thinking about it again: it couldn't be that they deliberately spread the rumor to wash goods, could it?

Just as he was secretly pondering, the auctioneer began to call out the price: "112,000 for the first time, 112,000 for the second time..."

Lin Sicheng woke up as if from a dream and "whooshed" as he raised his paddle.

The auctioneer had just raised his gavel and instinctively paused in mid-air. It's no exaggeration; if he had been one second slower, the gavel would have fallen.

He glanced over: "Number 42, 114,000..."

Ye Anning's eyes lit up, and Lu Meng beside her was stunned for a moment.

"No... are you muddled in the head, or is there something wrong with your ears? Ye Anning explained it so clearly, and you're still bidding?"

Lu Meng gave Ye Anning a look, but Ye Anning remained unmoved.

Thinking Ye Anning hadn't seen, she whispered a reminder: "Classmate Lin, there is a problem with this painting!"

Lin Sicheng smiled: "It looks quite authentic to me!"

Lu Meng choked, and didn't say another word. Lu Zhen, however, had a strange expression: "No... are you crazy about wanting to pick up a bargain?"

He looked at Lin Sicheng's attire and said with a weird look: "Brother, this is over 110,000, you know?"

The implication was: Do you even have that much money?

Lin Sicheng still smiled: "I borrowed a bit!"

Lu Zhen let out a "heh" and said nothing more.

Ye Anning rolled her eyes: "A thing that looks down on people with dog eyes..."

There was only one buyer left, and after raising the price twice more, Lin Sicheng bid 122,000, and he gave up.

The auctioneer dropped the gavel, and looking at the image on the screen, Lin Sicheng felt extremely strange: "I can pick up a bargain even like this?"

In his memory, the auctioned work of Weng Tonghe with a record was the four-volume manuscript of the *Diary of the Wuxu Year*, which sold for 126.5 million.

This was the original archive of the Kang-Liang Reform, possessing extremely precious historical documentary value, so the price was naturally high.

Furthermore, the eight-panel running script *Yueyang Tower Record*, the sixty-eight *Letter*s to Li Hongzhang, the twelve-page album of regular script *Heart Sutra*, the *Gui Tian Collection* poetry manuscript, and so on, were all at least ten million or more.

Of course, these items either had the Imperial Review Seal of the Guangxu Emperor, were secret records of late Qing diplomatic policy, were birthday tribute gifts for Cixi, or were poems of solitary indignation after being dismissed from office.

The piece before him was merely a lyrical work, small in size, with no way to compare in significance, and even less way to compare in representativeness.

But no matter how poor, Lin Sicheng felt it could still fetch five or six hundred thousand. In three years at most, with the rise of patriotic sentiment among the public, it would at least increase five or six-fold.

In other words, he hadn't even spent a fraction of the cost?

Sighing inwardly, the auction continued, and Lin Sicheng took a subconscious look. Immediately, his eyes narrowed.

A colored fan surface by Xu Gu, *Squirrel Painting*?

The item was definitely a good one, but why was the rhythm of this bidding even slower than before?

The starting price was 35,000, and after nearly three minutes, it had only reached 60,000.

According to Lin Sicheng's estimation, this piece was worth at least a million...

(End of chapter)