After awakening her X-ray vision, the beautiful CEO couldn't sit still any longer.

"The second round of the book and calligraphy competition is now beginning."

Just like the previous round, the winner is the one who chooses the book or painting with the highest value!

Ye Tian looked at the 2.6 million yuan he had received in his account and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

I couldn't help but sigh, thinking how easy it is to make money off the rich.

Chen Tai watched with a chilling gaze as Ye Tian walked towards the second competition venue.

"Liu Ruyan, you made me lose more than 200 million."

If you lose this round, I'll go back and get a hundred big guys to gang up on you!

Watching Chen Tai leave without looking back after uttering those harsh words, Liu Ruyan felt her blood rush to her head.

Suddenly everything went black, and I almost fell to the ground!

"Ye Tian, ​​I will never let you get away with this!"

Liu Ruyan turned and walked toward one of the appraisers who was leering at her.

Since she couldn't win by herself, she would find help.

Anyway, that perverted Chen Tai doesn't care what methods she uses, as long as she can win!

"Mr. Ye, what do you think of this calligraphy and painting?"

An antique dealer presented Ye Tian with a painting and calligraphy piece as if it were a treasure.

As the brocade wrapping was slowly untied, a landscape painting on silk was gradually revealed.

The painting is not large, about two square feet.

The composition of the painting is sparse, with distant mountains and nearby waters, a desolate forest and temple, and the brushwork is light and elegant, creating a lofty and solitary artistic conception.

The rocks are painted with vigorous and powerful strokes, the trees are depicted with sparse and orderly leaves, and the blank spaces seem to have a flowing cold mist.

The overall color scheme is a faded cyan, exuding a sense of age that seeps into the bone.

The inscription in the upper right corner is blurry, and the signature appears to be damaged.

Only a few small characters can be vaguely discerned: "Written in the autumn of Xinmao year..."

In the lower left corner is a red seal with a dull ink color, but the seal script structure is quite archaic.

Ye Tian walked to the painting and stood with his hands behind his back.

The antique dealer's enthusiastic voice rang out again:

"Boss Ye, this painting is said to be the work of a reclusive painter from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties."

The style is very similar to the work of one of the masters among the "Four Monks." What does Mr. Ye think?

Ye Tian felt a surge of respect for Mr. Ma, the owner of Yunxi Pavilion, who was in charge of arranging the competition.

The first round of the competition focused on figurative porcelain, while the second round shifted to the appreciation of calligraphy and painting, which relies more on brushwork, artistic conception, and extensive knowledge of art history.

With porcelain, you can examine the body and glaze, as well as the firing process. With calligraphy and painting, you can only look at the misty, ink-colored mountains and use your own knowledge to distinguish between genuine and fake pieces.

This undoubtedly increases the difficulty of identification.

If it weren't for Ye Tian's X-ray vision and treasure-appraising eyes, this level would have been really difficult for him.

"Activate your Heavenly Eye!"

Ye Tian quietly activated his X-ray vision and carefully examined the painting.

As the distance closed, the distinctive scent of aged paper and silk filled my nostrils.

Visually, one can clearly see the texture of the silk and the subtle patterns of ink penetrating the fibers.

The fibrous structure of silk paper exhibits a unique morphology under a microscopic scale.

In some places the fibers become brittle and break, while in others they remain tough.

The ink color is not just on the surface, but deeply penetrates into the fiber texture, creating an incredibly rich and layered effect.

What really excited him was that he could "see" the different layers of paint.

The base layer is a stable mineral pigment, and the plant-based pigments on top are darker in color due to their age, and they blend very naturally with the mineral layer.

On the back of the drawing paper, faint traces of old ink can be seen when viewed through the light, as if it had been stacked on another sheet of paper or as marks left by the brush when the drawing was done.

These are microscopic pieces of information that are absolutely invisible to the naked eye.

The problem is that while he can tell if the materials are genuinely old and that the painting has complex and natural layers, he cannot determine who painted it, which school it belongs to, or what the characteristics of the brushwork are.

Knowledge has once again become a fatal flaw.

His gaze swept over the blurry red seal, trying to make out the seal script, but the faded ink and worn silk made the characters difficult to decipher.

Upon closer inspection of the inscription, the characters were in running-cursive script, demonstrating considerable skill, but the exact content was not fully deciphered.

In this second game, his lack of knowledge was laid bare.

Just as he was frantically thinking about how to start the conversation without seeming too uninformed, he caught a glimpse of the antique shop owner beside him out of the corner of his eye.

"Boss, what do you think of this painting?"

The antique shop owner stood a little behind, looking somewhat nervous.

His gaze was fixed on the painting, especially lingering on the seal and the rocks.

"Boss Ye, to be honest, I think this painting looks a bit like the early works of the monk Bitter Gourd in the 'Four Monks'."

But I'm still a little unsure, don't you think?

The antique dealer referred to the "Four Monks" as four famous painters who shaved their heads and became monks during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

They entered monastic life due to the change of dynasties, expressing their grief and indignation over the destruction of their country and the loss of their homes through writing.

His painting style is unique and his personality is strong, which has made him beloved by scholars and collectors in later generations.

The "Bitter Gourd Monk" refers to Shi Tao, a descendant of the Ming Dynasty imperial family, who achieved great success in painting.

If it is his original work, this painting is absolutely priceless.

When Ye Tian was in college, he enjoyed studying the history of the Ming Dynasty in his spare time.

Therefore, they are not unfamiliar with these figures.

Based on this important information, Ye Tian activated his X-ray vision and focused on the painting again.

This time, his attention was mainly focused on the red seal.

In the overall painting, the small area with the seal appears somewhat out of place.

It's not a matter of new or old, but rather that the blending with the surrounding paper and ink isn't perfect enough.

It looks a bit like a patch with a very similar color and texture.

Despite its superb craftsmanship, a closer look reveals a very subtle discontinuity between the original and the original parts.

Was it added later?

The thought flashed through Ye Tian's mind.

Combining the early painting style of Monk Bitter Gourd, the ink layers seen through perspective, the faint old marks on the back of the paper, and the subtle sense of discontinuity in the seal, Ye Tian's judgment gradually became clear.

The antique shop owner looked at Ye Tian with a somewhat nervous expression: "Mr. Ye, have you reached a conclusion?"

Ye Tian looked up, took a deep breath, pointed to the main part of the painting, and said in a steady voice:

"The paper and ink of this painting are very old and rich in layers, suggesting it dates to roughly the late Ming or early Qing dynasty, but..."

Ye Tian's finger moved towards the red seal in the lower left corner:

"But there's something wrong with this seal."

"Oh? What's the problem?" The antique shop owner's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

"The color of the ink pad, the ink color of the painting, and the aging of the paper are not completely synchronized."

The seal and the overall painting create a sense of unity, but this feels somewhat incongruous; it was likely added later.

Upon hearing this, the antique shop owner's expression changed, and he gave a wink to the appraisal assistant behind him.

The assistant quickly stepped forward and took out a magnifying glass, a rather sophisticated-looking light source, and a small bottle of clear liquid from his toolbox.

He carefully used a light source to illuminate the seal and its surrounding area from different angles to observe the adhesion of the ink and the slight differences in paper color.

Then, use a cotton swab to apply a small amount of clear liquid very carefully to the edge of the stamp and observe the reaction.

Throughout the entire process, the antique shop owner and Ye Tian watched in silence.

A few minutes later, his assistant packed up his tools, stood up, nodded to him, and reported in a dry voice:

"Boss, the ink color on the silk paper and the mineral pigments at the bottom of this painting all conform to the characteristics of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The aging is natural, so it is undoubtedly an ancient painting."

He paused, then looked at Ye Tian with a hint of disbelief and solemnity in his eyes:

"However, analysis of the seal ink composition showed that it contained trace amounts of chemical binders that only began to be widely used after the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty."

Although the silk at the seal has been aged, the fiber structure differs in age from the main body of the painting.

It was indeed a seal added later.

Boss Ye has an excellent eye; he even noticed the slight difference in color between the reprinted paper and the original.

The test results once again confirmed Ye Tian's judgment.

Upon hearing this, the antique shop owner looked at Ye Tian with a mixture of awe and apprehension.

"Boss Ye, you're amazing! Your insight is incredible! I'm truly impressed!"

This painting doesn't deserve your selection; I was being presumptuous.

The antique shop owner's voice was much lower than before, and he sounded somewhat apprehensive.

"Although it has flaws, it's still a rare and excellent painting. Boss, keep it safe."

After Ye Tian finished speaking, he walked forward, but suddenly he stopped.

At the same time, Chen Tai's subordinate hurriedly reported in his ear: "Young Master Chen, Ye Tian saw through the flaw in the painting we carefully prepared."

"Ye Tian, ​​you're really something, you can even see that."

Okay, looks like I'll have to increase the difficulty for you!