Dun Mao had met many treasure hunter in his line of work, but no one as impressive as the young man named Li Yun. Just after two weeks, the newbie was able to find a genuine artifact, something that collectors would pay millions to own.
"That young man hasn't brought me a single fake since he started!" Dun Mao commented to an elderly man in the back of the Buried Treasure shop. "Even the most experienced treasure hunter would bring in fakes every once in a while."
"So he was the one that sold to you the dozen antiques, including the Dong Qichang's calligraphy?" asked Fu Yaoshi, one of the most respected appraisers in the business. As a man who was constantly discerning fakes from the real, he had to be critical of everything. He had to consider the possibility that the young man was part of a group that created forgery.
Awhile back, there was a case the police had consulted with him involving forgery. Even after carbon dating the item, he was still skeptical on the item’s authenticity. However, since it had passed the requirement, it was considered real. The police were still holding onto the item, waiting for clearance before passing it onto a public museum. However, it didn't sit right with him to see a potential fake object in the museum. Forgeries were getting too sophisticated, but when there were millions at stake, he could also understand why people would spend thousands to forge items.
"Is the young man coming in today?" asked Fu Yaoshi.
"He usually comes in near the closing hours,” Dun Mao responded. “I believe he spends most of the day searching for items in the market."
"Is that really true?"
"I heard from Jing that he goes around the markets regularly. The vendors aren't aware yet, but once they realize he could spot real items, he's going to have a difficult time buying from them."
Fu Yaoshi nodded. Although vendors couldn't watch the treasure hunters themselves, they had spies who were constantly scoping around Buried Treasure to see what type of items people were bringing in and what type of items the shop was buying.
****
Li Yun had his own TeeBee shop, but he often sold his antiques to Buried Treasure. Although Buried Treasure asking prices were often a lot lower than market prices, he would receive the funding quicker than selling it on his shop. Buried Treasure also had a lot more customers and clients who would buy from them.
Although Li Yun did have buyers, his clients weren't usually the type that could afford to spend millions. If he wanted to sell the item, his bet best was a reputable auction house.
But then again, Song Taiji did buy a lot of his calligraphy. He wondered if the old man would buy the Dong Qichang's calligraphy.
“Probably not,” Li Yun thought. Dong Qichang wasn't well liked.
Later in the evening, Li Yun arrived with an oversized backpack on his stomach. He was finding more items as he gained more experience, so it was convenient to carry everything in a large bag. His system was cheap and didn’t provide him with something as useful as an inventory system.
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"Mr. Li, you have quite a haul!" Dun Mao looked at the five items sitting on top of the counter.
Li Yun looked curiously at the elderly man next to Dun Mao. He recognized him as Fu Yaoshi, one of the live broadcast streamers who focused on validating antiques. His shop was based in Magic City, identifying antiques that people would bring in. It was very rare to see him in Buried Treasure, but it was one of his outlining shops.
There was also a young man around Li Yun's age who standing next to the elder Fu Yaoshi. Li Yun also recognized him as Fu Yaoshi's disciple, Peng Shi, who often followed Fu Yaoshi around on their treasure hunt broadcasts.
"Mr. Li, this is Elder Fu Yaoshi, he was quite impressed with your ability," Dun Mao introduced.
"Master Fu, it's an honor to meet you," Li Yun greeted him enthusiastically, he was a huge fan. Being in Fu Yaoshi's perspective using Zuowang, Li Yun could tell how passionate Fu Yaoshi was about antiquities.
Unlike many shows where the host had to spend time researching the items, Fu Yaoshi was one of the few who was knowledgeable enough to identify antiques on sight.
Fu Yaoshi nodded. Outside of antiquities, he was a rather stern looking and serious man.
"Mr. Li is rather young, I heard from Mr. Dun that you have studied calligraphy?" asked Fu Yaoshi.
Li Yun sensed that Fu Yaoshi was rather cautious of him.
"Yes, I studied as a child," Li Yun said and nodded.
"The Dong Qichang's calligraphy is a rather rare find," said Fu Yaoshi. "People don't normally find one in the streets."
Considering that Li Yun had been restudying all of the characters from famous calligraphers and spending every single weekday walking around and spending all of his energy searching for antiques, Li Yun didn't think it was complete luck. He worked his butt off to find that one painting. His only advantage was that he could verify it with Qivi.
"Elder Fu, I want to say I was lucky, but I know my calligraphy very well," Li Yun stated.
He wasn't being arrogant. Even without Qivi, he would still buy the scroll. If it was fake, it was still worth it. A fake that was that well made was actually quite expensive to forge. A forger would have to find the paper from the time period and find a highly skilled calligrapher to write down a poem. The cost of paper and skilled labor was enough for Li Yun to spend 10,000 yuan on the replica. It may be fake, but the calligrapher who forged it was likely someone who had very impressive skill. Given some time, it may be even possible for the fake to develop qi.
That was one of the things Li Yun had to consider. It was possible for real items to not develop any qi. The creation of qi was highly dependent on the mood and skill level of the artist. If the artist was simply copying something without much thought, the quality of qi was weak or non-existent. If the artist was deliberately creating something of value, the quality of qi was strong. Time also enhanced the quantity of qi in the object.
Fu Yaoshi suddenly broke out in laughter, "That's a good statement to make!" Fu Yaoshi's opinion of Li Yun had suddenly changed. "I'm curious how much you know about calligraphy. How about a challenge?"
"Is there any benefit to it?" Li Yun was interested.
"If you are able to win, I'll give you a 50% discount on the authentication certificate," Fu Yaoshi offered.
It was tempting, and sounded fun so Li Yun agreed.
"My disciple is working on his doctorate on Chinese literature, with a focus on calligraphy,” Elder Fu Yaoshi waved his hand toward Peng Sho. “Little Shi, when did you start learning calligraphy?"
"My parents told me I picked up a brush when I was three," Peng Shi replied.
Peng Shi sounded like someone a bit pretentious, but he had the same type of intense energy when it came to calligraphy. Li Yun was beginning to wonder if he even had a chance against someone who was so focused on calligraphy their entire life.
Fu Yaoshi went to the back area and grabbed ten different scrolls.
"All of these scrolls are unmarked," Fu Yaoshi described. "Little Shi has not looked at this. Considering there's no benefit on our end, you are all right if we use these scrolls to test out your skill?"
Li Yun nodded. The challenge was more advantageous to him. If he lost, there wasn't anything to lose other than his pride. For Fu Yaoshi, other than gauging Li Yun's ability, he was also using this opportunity to challenge his own disciple.