Chapter 488: The Cantonese Are the Best at Doing Business

Some people, at twenty years old, have already become scholars.

But some people, at twenty years old, are still in a fifth-year high school classroom talking about love.

Is this the gap between a genius and an ordinary person?

Chen Shiquan has heard of it, but doesn't understand: even if one is a genius, shouldn't one still need time to study?

His eldest grandson is twenty-one, and this year is his second year repeating the grade. The day before yesterday, the eldest (his son) even called to say that this punk had gotten a female classmate pregnant at school and had been pinned down in the classroom and beaten up by her mom and dad.

Yet this person here started from scratch and now has a net worth of several hundred million?

"Precisely because they are few, that is why they are geniuses!" Peng Yanzhi sighed, "This is the gap!"

Chen Shiquan didn't speak, just nodded blankly.

After arranging for a driver to send the bowl to the Provincial Museum, Peng Yanzhi made another phone call to give his subordinates a few instructions.

Subsequently, the two returned upstairs.

Lin Sicheng was still looking, with Zhao Xiuneng and Wang Qizhi following by his side, discussing a thing or two from time to time.

The housekeeper held a small notebook, jotting things down every now and then.

Chen Shiquan's second son was over by the tea table, busy packing things into boxes one by one.

Looking closely, there were eight or nine items laid out on the table, including plates, cups, bottles, and pots, all of which were porcelain.

Peng Yanzhi looked puzzled: "A-Qing, what is this for?"

Chen Yunqing glanced toward the display rack, his voice lowering: "That young Expert Lin said that these few pieces all seem to have some problems. To be safe, he asked Director Peng to contact the Provincial Museum to run them through the machines uniformly and perform some tests..."

Peng Yanzhi was stunned for a moment: What the hell?

That means these are all fakes... but how much time has even passed?

Furthermore, are machines really that easy to pass?

Not to mention sampling tests: at best it leaves a pit, at worst a hole. After two or three times at most, the item is ruined.

Even those that don't require sampling, the so-called non-destructive tests, are not truly non-destructive.

Just like the bowl that was just sent away: Lin Sicheng suggested performing X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Laser Raman Spectroscopy.

Both of these tests use rays to excite the atoms on the glaze surface, analyzing the trace element composition of the body and glaze through fluorescence and isotopes. It is indeed non-destructive; no drilling or sampling is required. But there is one point: it requires exposure to rays.

Each time it is irradiated, it is equivalent to receiving another dose of radiation, and crystals like Quartz in the ceramic will accumulate energy. If a dating test like Thermoluminescence is performed later, it will produce errors.

Irradiating it once will produce an error of at least several decades. At most three or four times, it could be off by an entire dynasty.

For example: if this piece of yours is clearly mid-Qing porcelain, and you use instruments to perform a dating test, it ends up in the mid-Ming dynasty—can this item of yours still be real? This is also one of the reasons why many antique transactions prefer to rely solely on eye-appraisal rather than machine testing.

Lin Sicheng is an expert among experts and naturally understands these principles. Therefore, he dared to pick these porcelains out and dared to let Chen Shiquan send them to the Museum for machine appraisal; the implication is self-evident:

They are all fakes, so it doesn't matter even if a chronological error is produced.

Silently turning this over in his mind, Peng Yanzhi lowered his head and began to examine them carefully.

He first picked up a small blue and white plate from the Bamboo Stone Residence:

The so-called Bamboo Stone Residence was a relatively famous private hall name in Jingdezhen during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, mostly for elegant scholar's studio items, highly sought after by literati and scholars. Looking at this piece again: the body is relatively light, the degree of porcelainization is high, but it is slightly loose. Adhesive sand and chatter marks can be seen on the foot rim.

The glaze is white with a greenish tint (Bright Cyan Glaze), with occasional glaze shrinkage spots and orange peel texture. The blue and white coloring is grayish-blue, with relatively obvious halo diffusion and layering. The pattern is simple with plenty of white space, typical of the Wu School literati painting style.

And these are all craft characteristics of the early Bamboo Stone Residence, specifically the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods. Looking at the patina and surface crust, the signs of aging are very obvious, at least three or four hundred years old.

Turning it over and over, looking at it several times, Peng Yanzhi didn't feel there was any problem.

He frowned: "A-Qing, what exactly did Sicheng say?"

With nine items in total, if he only relied on his brain, Chen Yunqing naturally couldn't remember. But the clumsy have their own methods: he fished a small notebook out of his pocket and handed it to Peng Yanzhi. Peng Yanzhi stared at it: small blue and white plate... body and glaze too fine, blue and white too flashy, reign mark too regular... late Qing/Republic of China imitation.

Suggest performing Proton-Induced X-ray Fluorescence Analyzer, focusing on testing the Cobalt Material coloring elements...

Seeing the second paragraph, Peng Yanzhi's eyelids twitched. He finally understood what Lin Sicheng meant by "blue and white too flashy": this plate did not use traditional blue pigment; nine times out of ten, it had Foreign Blue added, which is imported Cobalt Oxide.

To put it bluntly, as long as it is traditional blue pigment, whether it is domestic or imported, whether it is the relatively cheap Zhejiang Blue, Stone Blue, or Pingdeng Blue, or the more precious Sumali Blue or Hui Blue, they are all natural cobalt ores.

Since it is natural ore, it is perfectly normal to have some impurities; given ancient purification techniques, the purity can be imagined.

But Foreign Blue is chemically synthesized Cobalt Oxide; one dare not say it is one hundred percent pure, but at least it can be over ninety percent pure.

As long as one tests the coloring elements of the blue and white pattern and compares the ratio of trace elements like iron and manganese, one can know: was blue pigment used here or Foreign Blue? If it is the latter, that stuff didn't reach China until the late Guangxu period, so how could it possibly be used on late Ming porcelain?

Of course, it is a later imitation.

But the problem is, why couldn't he see it himself?

He looked at it carefully again, but it was useless; he still couldn't see anything. Peng Yanzhi refused to give up; he handed the plate to Chen Yunqing and had Chen Shiquan help him hold the Flashlight.

Front light, side light, back light...

Ninety degrees, sixty degrees, thirty degrees...

When it tilted to just over ten degrees, and the Flashlight beam was almost parallel to the plate surface, he suddenly paused.

Subsequently, his eyes widened bit by bit: beneath the elegant blue and white, a flash of Indigo appeared.

It was infinitesimal, vanishing in an instant.

If it were traditional cobalt material, it would be blue with a purple tint, blue with a gray tint, or even a kingfisher green tint, but it would never have this transition color that is neither blue nor purple, cold and glaring.

Foreign Blue, without a doubt...

Just to be sure, Peng Yanzhi took the plate back and looked for the angle again.

But as if he had seen a ghost, after switching hands, he couldn't find it anymore?

Could it be that his eyes were playing tricks on him?

Nonsense...

Several minutes later, Peng Yanzhi held the Flashlight, not knowing what to say.

It turned out that only at this angle, at this position, and with a specific light intensity, could one see this specific glaze sheen.

So how did Lin Sicheng find it? Did he do it like this too?

Impossible: he had been copying the answer and it had already taken him over ten minutes; if Lin Sicheng had also taken this long, then where did these dozen or so pieces of porcelain on the tea table come from?

It hadn't even been half an hour since General Manager Chen and he went downstairs and came back up.

Incredible skill...

Peng Yanzhi set down the plate and let out a breath.

Then, he turned around, preparing to explain things to Chen Shiquan and offer some persuasion.

The logic was simple: for those who truly collect, what they fear and loathe the most is exactly this kind of situation.

Which one of these items wasn't confirmed one hundred percent when it was acquired? But to suddenly find out they were fake—who could feel comfortable with that?

Not to mention there were so many: even calculating conservatively at one hundred thousand per piece, how much would ten-plus pieces add up to?

But before he could even open his mouth, he suddenly froze: Chen Shiquan was staring with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, as if he had seen a ghost?

No... why is your expression like that?

Suspicion, annoyance, heartache, or even gnashing of teeth... none of these expressions, which should have been on Chen Shiquan's face at this very moment, were there at all?

On the contrary, he looked as if he had been frightened?

Peng Yanzhi's heart skipped a beat: "General Manager Chen, you knew?"

Chen Shiquan nodded blankly and bared his teeth as if he had a toothache.

Why did he specifically buy a villa just to use for collecting?

To put it nicely, it's "meeting friends through antiques"; to put it bluntly, it's catering to others' preferences.

For example, suppose General Manager Chen has a friend who wants to befriend someone and give them a gift. But the other party is cautious and unwilling to accept it—what to do?

The method is simple: change the approach. "Leader, everyone in the circle says you have a sharp eye. As it happens, I've come across some ancient porcelain and I'm not quite sure about it. Could I trouble you to take a look and provide an Appraisal?"

Ah, where to go? Naturally, to the antique market.

Then, once you go to the market, you look at it and think, why does this look more and more like it's from an Official Kiln? But Chen Shiquan's friend insists it's from a Folk Kiln, and a worthless Folk Kiln at that.

The key is that the antique shop owner also says it's a Folk Kiln. It's worth a little money, but not much—just a thousand or eight hundred.

Then you remind Chen Shiquan's friend that this item might be a hidden gem, but he doesn't believe it and firmly refuses to buy it. No matter how you persuade him, he won't buy it, even if you make it obvious to him.

At this point, even a fool knows what's going on. And there's no law stating that people like them can't collect.

You reluctantly spend three or five hundred to buy the item back. After a period of time, you entrust someone to take it to a professional institution to have a senior Expert perform an Appraisal.

Good heavens, it's worth several hundred thousand?

What does this count as?

This, of course, counts as finding a hidden gem, and there is no law stating that people like them cannot find hidden gems.

Therefore, there is no need for the other party to have a sharp eye, nor do they need to understand this, or even truly like collecting; they just need to be able to understand the subtext.

And the items in this villa of General Manager Chen's came about exactly this way: the "friends" in his so-called "meeting friends through antiques" are all business friends who are preparing to ask for favors but don't know what gifts to give.

It can be said that he has turned this into an industry chain of considerable scale.

The key is that there is not a shred of risk: I didn't give the gift, I didn't receive it, and I didn't introduce the person receiving the gift. Even if something goes wrong and someone falls from grace, what does it have to do with me?

But there is one point: it must be one hundred percent guaranteed authentic.

Fearing a blunder, fearing shooting himself in the foot, and failing to help the person while offending them instead, Chen Shiquan is exceptionally cautious. No matter where an item is acquired from, and no matter if the price is low or high, as long as the item is brought back, he will always have someone re-appraise it. For lesser items, he invites ordinary Experts; for better ones, he invites senior Experts. If it is a treasure, or if the person receiving the gift is of high rank, or if the matter being handled is important, he will not only invite top-tier Experts, but may even perform machine testing.

Therefore, he knows clearly in his heart how many items in this building are real, how many are fake, and how many are ambiguous and hard to define. And these items on the table are all fakes he bought back after he misjudged them and the Appraiser he hired also misjudged them.

The key is that two of them were items he bought back from collector friends after asking Peng Yanzhi to help appraise them.

Just ask, isn't that embarrassing?

Peng Yanzhi also recognized them, and for a moment, the expression on his face was extremely colorful.

If one were to say these two items were fine... Lin Sicheng had already proven otherwise with that Jian ware tea bowl and this Blue and White Plate.

Looking at Chen Shiquan again, the answer was all in his expression...

He opened his mouth and struggled to spit out two words: "General Manager Chen..."

"Don't, Director Peng, you don't need to feel bad. As the old saying goes: even the best archer misses the target..."

Chen Shiquan waved his hand. "The same goes for General Yu (the seller); even now, he still doesn't know these two items are problematic..." Peng Yanzhi was stunned for a long time: "General Manager Chen, why didn't you say anything?"

"No need!" Chen Shiquan didn't care at all. "We are all friends; it's not easy to maintain a relationship to this extent..."

Peng Yanzhi was stunned: he finally understood why Chen Shiquan's reputation in the circle was so good.

Why was it that a business everyone could do was only done so well and so long-term by Chen Shiquan?

While sighing, he suddenly remembered: "Then why didn't you say so before?"

Meaning, since you were so clear about it, there was no need to let Lin Sicheng appraise them again.

"I thought he liked this, and seeing so many treasures, his hands were itching for a moment..."

After all, he was Director Ye's relative; if he wanted to look and appraise, then let him appraise to his heart's content.

Chen Shiquan sighed, "Furthermore, because of that Jian ware tea bowl!"

Peng Yanzhi suddenly realized: "You also had a master appraise it?"

Chen Shiquan shook his head: "Didn't have time!"

It had just been brought back, and Chen Shiquan hadn't found an Expert who understood it, so he hadn't had time to appraise it at all.

Before, he had even thought about whether to ask Peng Yanzhi to come over and take a look.

It was precisely because he hadn't asked anyone to re-appraise it that he was half-doubting when both that General Manager Zhao and Peng Yanzhi said they weren't sure.

It was also for this reason that when Lin Sicheng spoke with such certainty and conviction that there was a problem with the item, he was so surprised: this young man's eye for antiques was actually sharper than Director Peng's?

While pondering, Chen Shiquan looked at the dozen or so pieces of porcelain on the table, then looked at Lin Sicheng in the distance: "For this one, I am convinced, completely convinced!" He had to be: the two pieces Peng Yanzhi misjudged were definitely treasures. So before reselling them, he had specifically asked friends at the provincial Appraisal Center to perform machine testing, and only then did he know that the famous General Manager Yu in the circle and the renowned Director Peng had both misjudged them.

And this kid, he just came in and took a turn around?

Calculating the time, from when he and Peng Yanzhi went downstairs to when they came back up, it was just barely half an hour.

These nine items on the table meant he only looked at each one for three or four minutes?

Only an insider would know what this concept meant: which one of these nine items on the table hadn't been misjudged by an Appraisal Expert? And they were scrutinized as carefully as possible, as seriously as possible...

Only now did Chen Shiquan truly understand the meaning of that sentence from Peng Yanzhi: This is what a genius is, this is the gap...

The more he thought about it, the more amazed Chen Shiquan became, a glint flashing in his eyes: "Director Peng, I'll make the arrangements at noon; let's invite Expert Lin to a meal!" Peng Yanzhi understood in a second: Chen Shiquan's goal was not just a meal.

With this kind of discernment, with this kind of speed, what kind of porcelain could he not appraise clearly?

Although Lin Sicheng was in Xijing, a bit far from Guangzhou, for Chen Shiquan, this was not a problem at all: how much did a plane ticket and an appraisal fee cost, and how much would one lose from a single misjudgment?

But Peng Yanzhi felt it might not necessarily work: if it were an ordinary insider, no matter how high their discernment or how strong their appraisal skills, they would ultimately rely on this for a living and would certainly be easy to befriend.

But this person was different: for him, appraisal was entirely a side job. With the things he was doing, he might not really have the time. Peng Yanzhi thought for a moment: "You can contact him, and you can bring it up, but don't be too anxious!"

Chen Shiquan nodded: "Director Peng, I understand!"

The other party was not short of money, nor did he rely on this to make money. To get him to help, one could only rely on personal favors.

But personal favors don't just appear; they must be paved and, even more, cultivated.

As it happened, he was quite familiar with Ye Xingchi, and it was that kind of pure relationship between fellow collectors.

Chen Shiquan felt that by taking a roundabout approach, the difficulty shouldn't be great...

The two waited quietly, found an opening, and went over to greet him again.

After resting for a while in between and drinking a cup of tea, Lin Sicheng continued.

By around twelve o'clock, he had gone through the entire half-floor of porcelain.

There weren't many with problems, just over ten pieces, accounting for about ten percent.

To tell the truth, this was very rare in the collecting world, and could even be called uncommon.

For example, that Master Ma in Beijing had high enough discernment and a big enough reputation. But Lin Sicheng doubted that even in his private treasure pavilion, which he never showed to others, there would necessarily be this ratio.

Furthermore, museums: many people had a misconception that as long as it was a museum collection, it was one hundred percent authentic, but that was actually not entirely the case. Early major Cultural Relics stores, including the National Cultural Relics Store under the National Cultural Relics Administration, were full of fakes.

The key was that they wouldn't let you pick: you had to get a number first, and when it was your turn, you could only buy the piece marked with your number. You couldn't bargain, and it was impossible to let you look slowly or appraise slowly. You only had one or two minutes, and there were only two choices: buy or don't buy. Many people had fallen for it.

Secondly, there were also quite a few fakes in major museums. Especially the Palace Museum: the fakes inside numbered at least in the hundreds of thousands.

It was perfectly normal for there to be hundreds of thousands of fakes inside.

What Lin Sicheng felt was not normal was: these things could absolutely not have been collected based on General Manager Chen's discernment. Even relying on Director Peng wouldn't work. Not to mention ninety percent, even reaching fifty percent would be the greatest luck.

The key was, did General Manager Chen seem to have known all along that the ten or so pieces he had picked out all had problems?

After pondering for a moment, Lin Sicheng's expression gradually became strange: Impressive!

No wonder it was said: the Cantonese are the best at making money and the best at doing business?