Old Harden, can you handle having your vision-shifting abilities on all the time?

Several fellow collectors nearby suddenly realized what was going on and started discussing it amongst themselves.

"No wonder something seemed off to me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it—now I know what it was!"

"Old Zhou truly lives up to his reputation as a master of porcelain; he spotted the problem so easily!"

"Yes, if Old Zhou hadn't pointed it out, I would have really been fooled by this thing!"

The middle-aged collector looked rather grim and retorted, "Mr. Zhou, you can't just say things like that."

This item of mine is indeed genuine, and I spent a lot of money to have it restored by a master craftsman. How can you say it's not genuine?

Zhou Zhihai smiled and said calmly, "Boss Liu, I didn't mean to offend you."

Although the antiquing technique is very clever, and restoration methods have been added to confuse the public, it is still wrong.

The body of this piece is rather porous, and the glaze is too uniformly glossy. The glaze of Yongle imperial kilns should be rich and lustrous, not this uniform, glass-like texture.

The middle-aged collector's face grew increasingly grim. He opened his mouth as if to refute, but was unable to do so.

After all, Zhou Zhihai is an authoritative scholar in the field of porcelain, and his words carry great weight within the circle.

Moreover, several fellow collectors around also felt something was amiss, which indicates that there is indeed a problem with this item.

Seeing his grim expression, Zhou Zhihai added, "However, I dare not take credit. To be honest, I only felt that something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong. It was Engineer Xu who noticed the problem first."

All eyes turned to Xu Xing.

Recalling his status as the top porcelain restorer at Chengxinzhai, everyone had no doubt about Zhou Zhihai's words and praised him.

"XCMG truly has keen insight!"

"To be able to spot the problem in such a short time, that's an amazing eye!"

"Chengxinzhai's top restorer truly lives up to his reputation!"

The middle-aged collector was somewhat unwilling to give up. He looked at Xu Xing, his tone tinged with resentment: "Mr. Xu, you say my piece is wrong, so can you explain exactly how you determined it? You can't just rely on your feelings, can you?"

Xu Xing smiled slightly, stepped forward, pointed to several parts of the chicken-heart bowl, and explained calmly:

"The foot of Yongle imperial porcelain is very neatly trimmed, and the slightly flared inner wall of the foot and the flat cut at the foot end are typical characteristics of Yongle porcelain."

However, while the finishing of the base of this piece is a very good imitation, the curvature of the inner wall of the foot ring is slightly excessive, making it appear somewhat unnatural.

"In addition, the uneven distribution and varying sizes of bubbles on the glaze of Yongle imperial porcelain are due to the firing techniques at the time."

However, the glaze bubbles on this piece are too evenly distributed and too uniform in size, a characteristic of modern gas kiln firing, not an effect that can be achieved in a wood-fired kiln.

Finally, Xu Xing pointed to a rather inconspicuous part of the chicken heart bowl, "There is a repair mark here, which was made with shellac-based adhesive."

However, the industry standard practice for restoring Yongle imperial kiln porcelain is to use lacquer or epoxy resin, rather than shellac.

Because the shrinkage rate of shellac is different from that of porcelain, it can cause secondary cracking over time. A qualified restorer would not make such a basic mistake.

This situation will not occur only if shellac is used on new tire bodies.

He paused, then calmly concluded, "Based on these three points, we can conclude that this item is a modern replica, deliberately broken and then repaired to pass it off as a genuine restored piece."

Xu Xing's words were clear, logical, and well-founded, with each judgment supported by specific evidence, making them irrefutable.

The middle-aged collector's expression changed completely after hearing this.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

The way the other collectors around him looked at him became more meaningful.

Zhou Zhihai patted the middle-aged collector on the shoulder and said gently, "Boss Liu, don't take it too seriously."

This relatively new method of forgery is indeed very subtle; not to mention you, even I didn't notice it at first glance.

"If it weren't for XCMG's sharp eyesight, we would have all been fooled by this thing today."

The middle-aged collector gave a wry smile and sighed, "Mr. Zhou, you're right."

It was my carelessness. I'll definitely talk to that restorer when I get back.

"You learn from your mistakes."

Zhou Zhihai laughed.

The middle-aged collector looked at Xu Xing and cupped his hands in greeting: "Mr. Xu, thank you for your guidance today. I will definitely pay you a visit another day to learn from you."

"Mr. Liu, you're too kind. Let's learn from each other."

Xu Xing smiled and didn't take it seriously.

As Xu Xing finished speaking, the surrounding chatter gradually subsided.

By now, this whole saga should have come to an end.

After all, Zhou Zhihai and Xu Xing had already pointed out the problem, and Boss Liu had admitted defeat. The collectors who were watching the commotion had also learned something new, so this matter should be put to rest.

However, just as everyone was about to leave and continue to visit other exhibits, a slightly gloomy voice suddenly came from behind the crowd.

"Wait a moment."

The crowd looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man in a dark blue Zhongshan suit slowly walking out from the back of the crowd.

The man was about fifty years old, tall and thin with prominent cheekbones, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a serious expression and sharp, piercing eyes.

Behind him were two young men in white shirts, each holding a folder; they appeared to be his assistants.

"Chairman Ko!"

"President Gu is here!"

People in the crowd immediately recognized the newcomer and made way for him.

Xu Xing raised an eyebrow and looked at the person.

Ancient cypress.

The vice president of the Chang'an Cultural Relics Association is also one of the initiators and supervisors of this antique exchange meeting.

Although Xu Xing had never met him in person, he had heard of his name.

It is said that this person is quite influential in the cultural and museum circles of Chang'an, has a good relationship with several leaders of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, and is also a figure of great influence within the Cultural Relics Association.

Gu Bai walked up to the display case, his gaze first sweeping over Zhou Zhihai before landing on Xu Xing.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes held a scrutinizing and oppressive quality.

"Old Zhou, it's been a long time."

Gu Bai first greeted Zhou Zhihai, his tone being fairly polite.

"President Gu, how have you been?"

Zhou Zhihai responded with a smile.

Gu Bai nodded, then changed the subject: "I overheard Zhou and this Engineer Xu saying that this Yongle blue-and-white chicken-heart bowl is a fake?"

Before Zhou Zhihai could speak, Gu Bai preemptively fixed his gaze on Xu Xing: "Engineer Xu, right? The restorer from Chengxinzhai?"

"It's me," Xu Xing replied calmly.

"XCMG is young and promising. It is really not easy for him to become a top restorer in a place like Chengxinzhai."

Gu Bai’s tone sounded like a compliment, but there was a hint of condescension in his words. “However, this Yongle blue and white chicken heart bowl was placed in the display case only after being strictly reviewed by me and my assistants.”

Our archaeological association's appraisal team meticulously authenticated each exhibit, only allowing it to be displayed after confirming its authenticity.

"By saying this item is fake in front of so many people, aren't you implying that our archaeological association's appraisal team is incompetent?"