After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

The shopkeeper took it and smelled it carefully. Sure enough, as Madam Gu had said, there was very little ink fragrance; it was so faint that it was almost undetectable.

"Shopkeeper, your boss must have been deceived as well. By speaking out, I'm helping your boss recover some losses. If you really sell it, within three months, this imitation 'fish brain jelly' will crack and peel off due to alternating drying and wetting. That would damage your Baibaozhai's reputation. No one will come to your shop to buy antiques anymore," Rong Yingluo continued.

The shopkeeper's face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled as he was unable to speak.

Gu Ce smiled faintly, "Madam, you know so much. Who taught you that?"

"Of course, it was my master who taught me," Rong Yingluo said with a smile.

Her master was knowledgeable in astronomy and geography, and she had never met anyone in the world who could surpass him.

The shopkeeper hurriedly put the inkstone away: "Thank you for your guidance, young madam. I have truly broadened my horizons today. I have been a shopkeeper for more than ten years and have learned a lot about antique appraisal from my master, but I still couldn't tell that this is a fake."

"No need to thank me. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll take a look at everything in the shop for you and give you my opinion." Rong Yingluo kindly offered her help.

"Thank you, Madam Gu, please!" The shopkeeper warmly led Rong Yingluo to look at each item.

This was quite alarming; even the shopkeeper broke out in a cold sweat from the shock.

Rong Yingluo pointed out that 40% of the antiques displayed in the shop were fake.

The shopkeeper slapped himself twice. All those years of studying were for nothing; he was still inferior to a sixteen-year-old girl.

In fact, Rong Yingluo's most important judgment skill is to look at the aura of time, which ordinary people cannot see. Only she, who has learned from her master, can see it.

Moreover, she was even more accurate than her master. After all, her master was old, and his senses were not as sharp as hers.

Her master said she was born to study Taoism, but unfortunately she didn't pursue her studies properly and preferred to learn about medicine and poisons.

When Rong Yingluo walked to a tall lotus-shaped lamp stand, she let out a long "Eh?"

"What's wrong?" Gu Ce asked in surprise.

"Shopkeeper, where did you get this?" Rong Yingluo asked the shopkeeper.

"This came from the Su family's residence," the shopkeeper said truthfully.

"Which Su family?" Rong Yingluo didn't think too much about it for a moment.

"It's the maternal family of the Duke of Zhenguo's wife." The shopkeeper was a little surprised that Madam Gu knew nothing about the Su family.

In the capital, the only families that could be considered part of the Su family were the maternal families of the Duke of Zhenguo and the Marquis of Dingxi.

The two men's fathers were brothers.

"Oh, so it's my mother's family." Rong Yingluo drawled out the words, and Gu Ce immediately understood the deeper meaning in her eyes.

There's definitely something wrong with this thing.

"What did you find?" Gu Ce asked.

"Shopkeeper, could you leave for a moment? My husband and I have something to discuss." Rong Yingluo sent the shopkeeper away.

The shopkeeper discreetly moved away and instructed the waiter to pack all the counterfeit goods that Rong Yingluo had pointed out into boxes, preparing to send them to the owner so that he could inspect them again.

We must investigate who sold these things to the owner; how dare they deceive the Prince of An's residence.

"My lord, this lamp has a malevolent aura about it. Someone must have used it to kill someone." Rong Yingluo's eyes were grave.

"What?" Gu Ce was taken aback. He remembered that on their first night of marriage, his wife had performed a ritual for the souls of her four ex-wives in the ancestral hall. He knew his wife wouldn't lie.

Rong Yingluo picked up the lamp and examined it closely. Sure enough, she saw a trace of blood in the gap of a lotus leaf. She then held it to her nose and smelled it. Sure enough, there was a faint smell of blood.

If she hadn't frequently dealt with various medicinal herbs and developed a keen sense of smell, she might not have been able to detect it.

"Not too long has passed, at most three months," Rong Yingluo gave an approximate timeframe.

Gu Ce frowned: "Shortly before our wedding, the eldest grandson's wife of the Su family died, supposedly from complications during childbirth."

It seems she was about seven months pregnant at the time, but for some reason, she went into premature labor, and the baby didn't come out, resulting in the deaths of both mother and child.

Gu Ce had heard about this matter, but since it concerned the inner quarters, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Su went back to her parents' home at the time, and Zhong Sheng mentioned it to him, which is how he remembered the matter.

"This eldest grandson's wife of the Su family might not have actually been premature," Rong Yingluo guessed.

"You mean someone used this to kill the eldest grandson's wife of the Su family?" Gu Ce understood Rong Yingluo's meaning, but this was too unbelievable. What a coincidence! She could tell it was a murder weapon just by looking at an antique.

"I'm just guessing. You'd better have someone investigate how this lotus lantern ended up in Baibaozhai." Rong Yingluo said it was a guess, but she was very confident that she was not wrong.

"Shopkeeper, please install this one for me as well." Gu Ce bought the tall lotus lamp stand without hesitation.

"Alright, this will cost three hundred taels of silver." That was the shopkeeper's quote. This was an antique that had been around for some time, and it even came from the palace. It had the inscription "Made by the Imperial Household Department" on it, so it had some collectible value.

Gu Ce simply nodded.

Yinghong took it and put it in the carriage.

The two hadn't bought the things they needed yet, so they continued looking at calligraphy and paintings.

Rong Yingluo was even more knowledgeable about calligraphy and painting.

Her master was a master painter; her dowry consisted entirely of his practice paintings.

She didn't surpass her teacher in this area; she only learned half of what her teacher had taught her.

Her master said she was too young and her life had been too smooth. People who have never experienced hardship can only create paintings that lack depth and meaning. They can only be used as decorations, not as collectibles.

She was well aware of this, so unless absolutely necessary, she would not draw, lest her master see it and laugh at her.

The shopkeeper led the two to the second floor.

"Lord Gu, Madam Gu, our Baibaozhai has calligraphy and paintings by famous artists from all over Southern Xia."

"We also have antique paintings. Take a look and see which one you like. I'll only charge the cost price for the smaller ones. Thank you for your guidance today, Madam Gu." The shopkeeper was very good at handling things.

"Okay." Rong Yingluo accepted his kindness. This man knew how to be grateful and was a conscientious shopkeeper.

The couple first looked at the paintings hanging on the wall; most were flower-and-bird paintings, and few were particularly outstanding. Then they looked at the seals, most of which they had never heard of.

"Shopkeeper, do you have anything decent to offer? These are all too ordinary." Rong Yingluo didn't find any of them appealing.

Having seen her master's paintings, these were simply not to her liking.

The shopkeeper was already prepared, and when he wanted to bring out something even better, he immediately took out a bundle and unfolded it one by one for the two to see.

"This calligraphy was created by Her Majesty the Empress's father, Lord Zhao. Our boss went through a lot of trouble to get his hands on it," the shopkeeper said, beaming with pride.

This entire calligraphy and painting consists of only one word: Fortune!

It's written in a grand style, but it's not Chinese New Year, so why buy a "福" (good fortune) character?

Moreover, it was originally intended as a birthday gift for Lord Zhao's wife, so how could it possibly be a gift of calligraphy written by Lord Zhao himself?

Seeing Rong Yinglu shake her head, the shopkeeper unfolded another painting: "This is an ancient painting, a work by Shi Xi, a painter from the previous dynasty."

Rong Yingluo leaned closer to take a look. It was a landscape painting with a nice artistic conception, but unfortunately, she said, "Shopkeeper, this painting is fake."

"Madam Gu, no way! Our master went to great lengths to acquire this. How could it be fake?" The shopkeeper was sweating profusely.

He admitted that the antiques were fake, but paintings are not easy to forge; each person's brushstrokes are different and each has its own unique characteristics.

Shi Xi's painting style is difficult to imitate; it's easy to spot a fake.

Over the years, there has never been a fake painting by Shi Xi on the market.

"Because I know the person who painted this." Rong Yingluo chuckled twice.

"What? Madam Gu knows the person who painted this?" "The shopkeeper is going crazy."

The painting the master went through so much trouble to acquire turned out to be a fake, and the person behind it is actually in the capital. Madam Gu even knows him. If the master finds out, he'll be furious.

"Who is it? Please tell us, young mistress. Our master will be eternally grateful," the shopkeeper said excitedly.