Chapter 286: Where Did These Samples Come From?

Morning light spilled down, and the willow leaves by the lake took on yellow edges. Egrets skimmed across the water, the breeze from their wings stirring up ripples.

Two business vehicles pulled up at the entrance of the Center, and seven or eight people stepped out one after another.

Led by Lv Chenglong and accompanied by Dan Guoqiang, they were followed by several experts from the Palace Museum Ceramics Research Institute and the Cultural Heritage Institute.

The school leadership went up to greet them.

The group had arrived yesterday afternoon, the reception banquet had been held last night, and the itinerary had been arranged in advance; the school's reception standards could be considered top-tier:

The Deputy Principal, Dean Geng of the Cultural Heritage College, Deputy Dean Jing, Deputy Dean Su, as well as Deputy Bureau Chief He Zhigang of the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau and the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Municipal Cultural Bureau accompanied them.

Wang Qi Zhi, as the Youth League Secretary, and Lin Sicheng, as the Person in Charge of the Center, could only accompany them at the very back.

After introductions, the group entered the Center, with Wang Qi Zhi and Lin Sicheng serving as guest guides.

The two stood at the front, putting on a show, but before they could even open their mouths, Lv Chenglong smiled and waved his hand: "We're all familiar with each other, don't bother with the formalities, we'll look around ourselves!"

There was indeed no need for introductions, because Wang Qi Zhi had been boasting ever since he arrived at the Forbidden City: about how Lin Sicheng started from scratch, and how the Center had grown from nothing.

About how Lin Sicheng's skills stunned everyone, making school, district, and municipal leaders marvel, leading them to provide both policies and funding. About how investors were swarming in, carrying money in sacks.

And how Lin Sicheng didn't want any of it.

Or about what leaks Lin Sicheng had picked up the day before yesterday, what Cultural Relics he had restored yesterday, what ancient sites he had discovered today, and what research projects he planned to start tomorrow.

Everyone felt that, in Wang Qi Zhi's words, his student was practically a superman.

They were all insiders, and as for whether it was true, one look at the scene would tell.

The accompanying leaders were indifferent: the Center was built right here, and Lin Sicheng's abilities were on display; there was indeed no need for such superficiality.

Subsequently, the group entered the exhibition hall.

Nearly three hundred square meters, built like a museum, both spacious and bright.

As soon as they entered the door, Dan Guoqiang squinted his eyes:

The wall directly facing the entrance was covered in Calligraphy and Painting. A rough count showed at least twenty or thirty pieces.

But since it was a Cultural Relic Restoration center with a primary focus on Porcelain Restoration, displaying so many Calligraphy and Painting pieces made the style a bit strange.

Dan Guoqiang walked up close and took a careful look.

There was a Squirrel Painting by Ren Bonian, one of the Four Masters of the Republic of China; the Autumn Mound Painting by Ma Lin, a famous Song Dynasty master and son of Ma Yuan (one of the Four Masters of the Song Dynasty); and a Ma Lin Fangmayuan Qiujiangyuyin.

There was also the Pine and Crane Longevity painting by the famous Ming Dynasty master Dai Jin, a Sanskrit Heart Sutra by Dong Qichang imitating Zhao Mengfu, and two portraits of Qianlong and Yongzheng.

Especially the last two: the craftsmanship, brushwork, and artistic conception were only average, and because they were imitations, they were heavily laden with the air of a Craftsman, and they weren't very well preserved either. Give them to ten experts, and at least nine wouldn't even notice them, definitely glancing over them instantly.

Unless one had been to the Forbidden City and seen the portraits of Yongzheng and Qianlong.

But could Dan Guoqiang not know whether Lin Sicheng had been there?

Wang Qi Zhi had mentioned that Lin Sicheng had seen the electronic versions on the National Library website, so he had an impression.

But Dan Guoqiang was extremely skeptical: Ye Anning studied traditional Chinese painting and had grown up immersed in the Forbidden City; she must have seen those two emperors' portraits at least thirty or fifty times, if not eighty.

She had even seen these two paintings together with Lin Sicheng at the time, so how had she not noticed them?

However, he was only curious for a moment; Dan Guoqiang did not doubt Lin Sicheng's eye and appraisal ability.

Because Lin Sicheng had already demonstrated his profound foundation and knowledge in Calligraphy and Painting appraisal at the Xiling Auction. Otherwise, that seven-character poem by Zheng Banqiao and the Squirrel Painting by Xu Gu would not have fallen into his hands.

Afterwards, he saw the Qianlong Iron Seal, Yongzheng's "Recluse of the Garden of Perfect Brightness" seal, and the Congyun Vermilion Bird Seal he had seen last time.

These three Imperial Seals alone were worth at least ten million.

Subconsciously, Dan Guoqiang recalled what Wang Qi Zhi had said: if Lin Sicheng wanted to make money, he only needed to take a stroll through the antique market.

Of course, it wasn't that exaggerated, otherwise Panjiayuan and Liulichang would be full of billionaires. If leaks were that easy to pick up, he and Lv Chenglong would have long since become the richest people in Beijing.

But it also showed from another angle that Lin Sicheng's appraisal ability was definitely not inferior to that of a true Expert.

Continuing to look: four pieces of red porcelain from the three generations of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Kiln, a copper-bodied Enamel and jade orchid bonsai, a Copper Lion Knob Treasure Basin, and even two damaged Chicken Cups.

Looking at the labels: they were all gifts from guests who came to congratulate the Center on its opening.

This point alone proved that Wang Qi Zhi wasn't just bragging: these few items were more intuitive than big bosses carrying sacks of money to give to Lin Sicheng.

Continuing to look, after walking around the entire exhibition hall, Dan Guoqiang discovered something wrong: there were several empty slots in the display cabinets, the items were missing, and only a few labels remained.

There were the Imperial Brush annotations of the "Liu Zhuang Shen Xiang" by Qianlong, a Taige Style calligraphy copybook by Shen Du, a bronze crane censer with the Yongzheng "Recluse of the Broken Dust" mark, as well as a Ming Dynasty Five-Beam Gold Threaded Consort Crown, a Song Dynasty Three-crown Pearl Flower, a Jiaqing Pastel Kiln Worker Porcelain Bottle, and a Jiaqing Zhanqingzhai Pastel Cup.

He remembered Department Head Wu saying that the latter two had been taken by Lin Sicheng to Jingdezhen to exchange for research samples of Shadow Blue Porcelain. But what about the others?

"Where are the items?" Dan Guoqiang glanced at them: "Sold!"

"Right!" Wang Qi Zhi nodded, "And the money was spent!"

Dan Guoqiang was stunned: just those few pieces would have sold for at least ten million.

Calculating for Lin Sicheng: the Center had over twenty employees; besides paying salaries, they only bought some Reagent and materials, and some samples for Artifact Research. To maintain normal operations, a hundred thousand a month was more than enough.

It had only been open for a year, so that was only about a million. Plus renovations and equipment... six or seven million at most; what about the rest?

Had Lin Sicheng been swindled?

Dan Guoqiang looked at Lv Chenglong, "Old Lv, how much did our Ceramics Research Institute invest in total?"

"A little over ten million!" Lv Chenglong was also puzzled, looking at Lin Sicheng, "Were you cheated?"

Wang Qi Zhi sighed: with him around, who would dare cheat Lin Sicheng?

"Donated!" He gestured, "Over seven million, all of it was used by Lin Sicheng to buy supplies and donated to the Sichuan XZ region."

Dan Guoqiang and Lv Chenglong were suddenly stunned and looked at each other: their own salaries were a little over thirty thousand a year each; seven million would take them over two hundred years of work without eating or drinking.

In Beijing, that could buy half a small courtyard house near the Forbidden City.

Looking at Lin Sicheng again, whether it was Dan Guoqiang and Lv Chenglong, or the several experts, their gazes were exceptionally different.

Including the accompanying school leaders, although they had only just found out and didn't know the specific details, that didn't mean they weren't proud.

It is said that one should cultivate the truth, unify knowledge and action, serve as a model for others, and act as a standard for the world. But in the history of Xida, how many have truly been able to do that?

For a moment, they were all filled with emotion, but the topic had drifted a bit far, and no one asked for details.

Afterwards, the group went up to the second floor.

There are three studios: one for appraisal, one for restoration, and one for experimental research.

A quick glance left Dan Guoqiang and Lv Chenglong secretly clicking their tongues: there were quite a few machines, everything that should be there was there, and most of them were imported goods. These pieces of equipment alone must have cost four or five million.

Among them, there are several machines that few provincial-level museums would even know how to use.

But that is not the point; the point is the price: excluding the antiques in the first-floor exhibition hall, and counting only the hardware investment, this Center has invested at least seven or eight million.

Of course, the specifications are slightly lower than the Forbidden City Ceramics Research Center, but the problem is, that is the Forbidden City, the top-tier Cultural Relics research institution in the country. This place is just a research institution under a secondary college affiliated with a provincial university; the difference in rank between the two is a hundred and eight thousand miles.

And setting aside the Forbidden City, there are no more than two handfuls of ceramics research institutions nationwide with such high-end equipment and such complete configurations.

A group of Experts sighed in secret as they entered the experimental area.

There were quite a few Researchers, seven or eight men and women, each doing their own work and performing their own duties.

Seeing the glaze paste that was white with a hint of green, resembling lake water, Lv Chenglong suddenly understood: even if Lin Sicheng had not completely restored the Shadow Blue Porcelain, he must have researched it to near perfection.

And weren't they here specifically for this, having traveled all the way from Beijing to Xijing?

The group of Experts felt a surge of energy and stepped a little closer.

But after watching for a while, they frowned again.

Looking at the technique, it was slightly clumsy, whether it was mixing the glaze, shaping the body, or trimming the base. Of course, this is in comparison to the Experts from the Forbidden City.

Looking at the process, however, it was by the book; the dosage of the formula was precise to the milligram, and the depth of the base trimming was controlled at the micron level.

Listening further to their discussions with one another, these Researchers clearly knew which part had not been done well, and which data point in which link had not met the requirements.

Therefore, it gave a strange feeling: like a group of novices who had just started, following a standardized vector manual by rote.

In their suspicion, as they looked at the faces of several Researchers, Lv Chenglong suddenly remembered a sentence said by Department Head Wu Hui:

If you go, you will know how strange Lin Sicheng's Center and Wang Qi Zhi's laboratory are.

They are all novices, and their ages are ridiculously young; in a laboratory of the same level, they would at most be doing the work of an Intern. Even the Group Leaders of those two laboratories are at most at the level of a Laboratory Technician; they would struggle to even be a Research Assistant.

But why is it that here, Lin Sicheng can lead a few novices to research one National Level achievement after another?

Lv Chenglong finally understood: because Lin Sicheng had formulated standards for them, drawn the lines and boundaries, and even specified every step and every piece of data in the experiment.

It doesn't matter if they don't understand, it doesn't even matter if they don't know anything; they just need to follow the instructions. If there is an error in the result, then check according to the standard, and the problem will be found accurately every time.

But another question arises: before Lin Sicheng went to Shanxi, he hadn't even graduated yet; how did he go from a novice to an expert?

Without thousands or tens of thousands of experiments, without repeated reverse engineering and verification, where did he get these precise parameters, and how did he formulate these standard steps?

The key is, he has nowhere to copy even if he wanted to. Because in the whole country, there are only two institutions researching Shadow Blue Porcelain: Jingdezhen and Lin Sicheng.

Compared to that, Lin Sicheng's progress is at least three to four research cycles faster than Jingdezhen's. One has never heard of a top-scoring student copying the answers of a bottom-tier failing student.

But how did Lin Sicheng explain it to Department Head Wu?

He scraped some data from journal Thesis, had Wang Qi Zhi borrow materials from the Forbidden City, borrowed some research materials from the Jingdezhen Ceramics Research Institute, and finally obtained the results through comprehensive research.

To be honest, Lv Chenglong didn't believe a single word of it.

Not to mention whether it could be researched, let's talk about time: if it were him and his research team, just proving the feasibility and verifying the direction of the project would take time measured in "years"!

And that is on the premise that the direction does not have errors and the research framework does not deviate.

And how long did Lin Sicheng take?

Counting from the time he arrived in Shanxi and first discovered the shards of Hejin Thin-bodied Porcelain, at most, it has been only four months.

And in the meantime, Lin Sicheng found six kiln sites alone. How much time could he have spent on research?

In their suspicion, the group entered the showroom.

Lv Chenglong was frowning and still pondering when a few low gasps came from beside him.

He subconsciously raised his head, and his pupils could not help but shrink.

This should be the achievement showroom; the place is not large, the middle is empty, and there are several display racks against the wall.

Several Experts stared at the cups on the shelves, their faces full of expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Warm and coagulated like jade, half-moist and half-translucent, gentle and sweet, with pale green glaze accumulation... Yongle Sweet White Glaze Semi-translucent Ware?

The body is as thin as an eggshell, the carving is as fine as hair, the dragon shadow is visible under light, the glaze surface is greenish and translucent... Chenghua Eggshell Cup?

The glaze is like onion green, as green as Jadeite, as thin as green gauze, the vessel wall is translucent... Dehua Kiln Translucent Onion Root White.

With these cups placed here, could they still be antiques?

The glaze is shiny and bright, brand new, probably fired only a week or two ago.

Subconsciously, Lv Chenglong and several Experts exchanged glances.

The items are placed right here; what does that mean?

It means Lin Sicheng has already successfully restored the firing techniques for these three types of porcelain.

Especially the first two: Sweet White Glaze applied with yellow glaze is Coquettish Yellow. Using Blue and White as a base and then painting with Red Glaze is Blue and White Glaze Red.

An Eggshell Cup painted with a Blue and White base and then painted with colors is the world-famous Doucai. If you paint a few chickens on it, that is a Chicken Cup.

If they really had to say it, they could only say: with these three, who needs Shadow Blue Porcelain?

For a moment, the few people looked at each other. As if by agreement, their expressions were full of surprise and confusion.

If one were to say which institution has the deepest research, the highest research level, and the most achievements regarding Ming and Qing Tribute Porcelain, the Forbidden City says second, and no one dares to say first.

But for so many years, they had never thought about restoring any Sweet White Glaze or Eggshell Cups.

The reason is two words: rare, expensive.

There might be a few more Yongle Sweet White Glaze Semi-translucent Wares, maybe three or five hundred, or maybe seven or eight hundred, but the global collection volume is definitely less than a thousand. Taking any one of them to an auction would fetch five or six million.

As for Eggshell Porcelain, if you add up all the Three Autumn Cups and Chicken Cups, it is estimated that there are not even a hundred. Once they appear on the market, one would be at least tens of millions.

Who would be willing to use such things for research?

Even if they were willing, to restore the complete firing process, the experimental samples needed would have to be measured in tons. Specifically in terms of the number of objects, that would be tens of thousands of pieces; adding up all the collections in the world wouldn't be enough.

So where did Lin Sicheng get the standard samples?

(End of this chapter)