The surrounding old men all looked at me when I uttered the word "can."
Their faces were filled with doubt.
Seeing their expressions, I knew what they were thinking.
They must have thought that a mere greenhorn like me could figure anything out.
As expected, before I could go up and examine them closely, an old man spoke, "Mr. Wu, who is this?"
"Xiang Fei." Wu Tingxiu glanced at me and, perhaps intentionally, said, "He claims his appraisal skills are even better than Bai Zhujing of Yipin Zhai."
Upon hearing this, those old men became even more contemptuous.
"He can compare to Mr. Bai?"
"I think he's a fraud?"
"So boastful, does he even know appraisal?"
...
Wu Tingxiu smiled, looking at me with a hint of provocation.
I knew that the antique business couldn't be convinced with mere words; it relied on real skill.
Without saying anything, I walked over and took a look at the display stones on the table. "If I'm not mistaken, these should be Ying stones."
Hearing my words, those old men finally quieted down.
In ancient times, there were the Four Famous Stones: Lingbi Stone, Taihu Stone, Kun Stone, and Ying Stone.
Ying stones generally appear very thin, rising straight up and down in pieces. The two Ying stones before me had this characteristic.
The prototypes of high mountains in many ancient landscape paintings came from Ying stones.
"Since you recognize these as Ying stones, do you know which one is real and which one is fake?" an old man asked.
"It's impossible to tell now, of course, but it's quite easy to distinguish them with a little effort," I replied.
Wu Tingxiu raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but ask, "What effort?"
"Could you ask the hotel if we can use their kitchen?" I asked.
Wu Tingxiu looked puzzled. "Why do you need to use the kitchen?"
"Naturally, to help you distinguish the real from the fake," I said.
The others were also puzzled.
Wu Tingxiu pulled out a silvery-white Motorola CD928 mobile phone. It was the same model as mine, though mine was black.
She made a call to someone, and after hanging up, she said, "I've already arranged for the kitchen to be cleared. Tell me what you want to do."
I pointed at the two display stones on the table and said, "Have someone take these two stones to the kitchen."
Wu Tingxiu hesitated. Seeing this, I added, "Do you still want me to appraise them?"
"Alright, I'll arrange for someone to take the stones over now."
Soon, our group went to the kitchen. While taking the elevator, I didn't see Wang Yang and Hong Yunpeng. I didn't know where these two were being taken to rest.
Upon arriving in the kitchen, I found two large cooking pots, filled them with water, turned on the gas stove, and asked Wu Tingxiu to place the two stones inside.
"What are you doing?"
"Boiling stones to distinguish the real from the fake!" I said.
She was stunned, her expression extremely dramatic. "Boiling stones to distinguish the real from the fake?"
"Don't worry, stones can't be boiled to destruction," I said helplessly.
Wu Tingxiu took a deep breath and said with a hint of warning, "You had better be able to distinguish them..."
After speaking, she had someone place the stones in the pot according to my instructions.
When it came to display stones, my father didn't torment me. He used to take me to the deep mountains and old forests to dig for stones.
Although we only dug ordinary mountain stones, he taught me a lot about stones.
He once said a nine-character mantra: "Warm water boils stones, revealing both real and fake."
To fake Ying stones, they typically use electric drills to make holes in the stone, then polish them with a sandblasting gun, and finally corrode them with strong acid.
This entire process would make the stones appear mottled and layered, as if they had truly endured the ravages of time.
Stones that have undergone oxidation for thousands of years will form a stone skin, which wraps around the stone like a thin veil and is very uniform.
Using an electric drill would damage this stone skin.
Although they look the same after being corroded with strong acid, boiling them with high-temperature water will dissolve the acid oxides, revealing the traces of drilling.
As I watched the water in the large pot slowly boil and steam rise continuously, I walked over and fanned the air with my hand. Seeing that it was almost ready, I turned off the gas stove.
Wu Tingxiu leaned over and looked into the pot, a look of confusion on her face.
I said, "The real and fake are already very clear now. Have them come over for appraisal."
Wu Tingxiu hesitated and looked at the old men.
They also curiously crowded over and were astonished by the changes in the two stones.
Seeing their expressions, I felt a little helpless. These methods were all simple chemistry knowledge.
It was a pity that they only knew how to use magnifying glasses and historical records to distinguish them, instead of keeping pace with the times.
When we returned to the conference room, only Wu Tingxiu and I were left.
We sat facing each other on the sofa. She smoked and watched me with great interest.
"Ms. Wu... why are you staring at me like that?" I asked.
The corners of her mouth curved upwards slightly. "I thought you were just a dabbler before, but I didn't expect you to have some real skills."
I smiled and said, "As the saying goes, you can't judge a person by their appearance, nor can you measure the sea with a bucket."
"You've taught me a lesson today." Wu Tingxiu smiled and said, "Are you interested in working for me?"
I was stunned and didn't quite react.
"Name your terms."
I took a deep breath and, regaining my composure, said, "Ms. Wu, I'm not here to look for a job today..."
She smiled, stubbed out her cigarette, stood up, and walked to a nearby desk, taking out a document bag from within.
When she returned and sat down, she handed the document bag to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
Wu Tingxiu said, "What you wanted."
I was a bit confused. I took it and opened the document bag. Inside were some black and white photos, which appeared to be quite old.
"These photos are my grandfather's burial objects," Wu Tingxiu said plainly.
I was dumbfounded. Liu Hun asked me to dig up the grave, just for these photos?
I carefully examined the photos in my hand.
There were about ten photos, showing various items, including notes, porcelain antiques, and some calligraphy and paintings.
I couldn't see anything valuable in these items at all.
As I was pondering in confusion, Wu Tingxiu leaned back on the sofa, crossed her fair legs, and said, "Did the person who sent you to dig up my grandfather's grave tell you what was inside?"
I looked at her. She was looking at me with a half-smile and asked, "You're not one of my second uncle's people, are you?"
I was taken aback and didn't answer the question.
Mainly because I didn't know how to answer.
"From the first time I saw you, I felt you weren't ordinary grave robbers..."
Wu Tingxiu clasped her arms and asked slowly, "Tell me, who exactly sent you to dig up my grandfather's tomb?"