Chapter 43 None of the scenes he imagined appeared

Qin Tian was woken early in the morning by her phone. Thinking it was the alarm, she pressed the button for a long time with her eyes closed, but there was no response. Squinting, she struggled to answer the call. A hoarse "Hello" came out.

"Teacher Qin, did you read the news I sent you last night? I don't see you replied," Yuan Junruo asked. He knew that disturbing his superior so early in the morning was a serious offense, but with Qin Tian's temper, if she knew that he hadn't informed her in time, it would be an even greater crime.

Qin Tian hummed a few times in a daze.

Yuan Junruo breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you've seen it. Then... then I'll hang up first."

He hung up in a hurry. It would be best if she didn't remember being woken by him that morning, but the call log would tell her that he had reminded her. Perfect.

Qin Tian put her phone down and fell asleep again, but she kept hearing the words "Have you read the news?" in her dream, which kept waking her up. She forced her eyes open and opened WeChat. Yuan Junruo's message was in the first row, a forwarded news item.

Kongshan Museum's Patriotic Ming and Qing Porcelain Exhibition is about to open

The news said that Kongshan Museum received 2,000 precious porcelain pieces donated by patriotic businessmen, and will hold a grand patriotic Ming and Qing porcelain exhibition on August 25, which is tomorrow, and has invited well-known cultural and museum experts from home and abroad to attend the unveiling.

Qin Tian flipped through the pages quickly. She was quite familiar with the photos of the artifacts in the news; they looked very similar to the ones she had appraised in the Peace Hotel's Chinese suite. She woke up completely and immediately called Yuan Junruo.

"What's going on?"

"I just saw this yesterday too. Doesn't it look a lot like the artifacts Zhou Qiang donated to the Shanghai Museum?"

More than just a resemblance, they must be from the same batch. She turned on the hands-free mode and began to change her clothes.

"Are you at the museum now? When you get there, prepare the thermoluminescence data for Zhou Qiang's batch of porcelain. I'll be right there."

"clear."

Qin Tian washed up as quickly as possible and rushed to the Shanghai Museum. When she arrived at the office, Yuan Junruo was already at the door and handed her the materials.

Qin Tian frowned as he flipped through the pages one by one. Within 50 years, within 50 years, every single one was within 50 years.

“What is the error rate?”

"12%." Yuan Junruo replied.

12% is already very low. That's plus or minus six years. The oldest item is from 56 years ago, so it can't be a cultural relic.

"Is the sampling still there?"

"exist."

"I'll go take a look."

Qin Tian walked into the thermoluminescence laboratory, picked up a sample tube from last time, put on radiation-proof glasses, and put it into the machine for verification. Sure enough, it was a 12% error rate over 50 years.

56 years ago was the 1960s, after the Liberation. Zhou Qiang said these porcelains were excavated by his grandfather before the Liberation. Even if they were modern replicas, they should be over 70 years old. Furthermore, these porcelains are not top-quality replicas, so why would the Kong Museum accept and exhibit them?

"Teacher Qin." Yuan Junruo's voice came. She looked up at him, and he winked at her and looked towards the door. She followed his gaze and saw Tong Zhongyuan standing at the door, looking at her quietly.

By dawn, he hadn't received her reply. As he reached her office door, he was still wondering what he would say if she saw him and turned away. But that didn't happen; she didn't even see him. She hurried out of the office and went straight into the thermoluminescence lab. He stood at the door, waiting for her to notice him and say the first words. Now, her eyes met his, she stood up, walked toward him, and pulled out her phone.

"You've arrived just in time. Can you help me take a look? Do you think the artifact being exhibited in this news report is the same one identified in my photo album?"

She flipped through the porcelain photo she took last time and handed him the phone. He stared at her intently, and only after a moment did he look away from her and take the phone. He enlarged the pattern, looked at it for a while, and then his gaze returned to her face. There was a trace of anxiety on her face, but more of it was the expectation of waiting for an answer. The scenes he imagined of her ignoring him, treating him coldly, or even pretending not to see him, did not appear. The quarrels of yesterday had been completely forgotten by her, left behind, as if they had never happened. The matter he had been worrying about all night was resolved so calmly, like dust blown away by the wind, without leaving a trace. But for some reason, he did not feel relieved or happy, but inexplicably melancholy.

"From the picture it looks like it's the same one," he replied.

She gave him a look that said, "As expected, you think so too," and her frown deepened. She walked back to the radiation meter and picked up another sample tube for verification.

He looked at her phone in his hand. His message was tucked away a few rows behind, with a red circle on it. She hadn't even clicked it. He clicked on it and deleted the "Where are you?" message.

Tube No. 2 also showed a 50-year result. She removed her radiation-shielding goggles and, pensive, walked out of the thermoluminescence chamber. She turned and asked him, "Are you free? I have something to ask you."

He sat in her office, and she explained the whole story to him, then showed him the thermoluminescence report and the photo files she had kept.

"Since it was dug before liberation, why is it only 50 years old?" she asked.

There was a smile in his eyes, but it was clear he was trying hard not to appear mocking. He stared into her eyes and answered seriously, "That means it wasn't dug before liberation."

"Why would he lie? There's no difference between 70 years ago and 50 years ago. No, he didn't know! He didn't realize that the porcelain in his hands were all modern imitations. He thought they were cultural relics. So he dug these porcelains himself! He thought he had dug up cultural relics, but he was afraid to hand them over to the state, so he falsely claimed that his grandfather dug them! There was no cultural relic protection law before liberation."

Qin Tian stood up suddenly. So that was it, this was the truth. But if he didn't want to give it to the state, why would he donate it to a museum? And if it didn't work out the first time, he'd try again. If the Shanghai Museum didn't accept it, he'd donate it to the Kong Museum.

Tong Zhongyuan propped up his chin and looked at her quietly. After she struggled and thought for a while, she couldn't help but ask him why he insisted on donating the cultural relics to the museum. Over and over again, what serious illness did she have?

Song Suiyang also asked this question, but he didn't answer at that time.

"He said his grandfather dug up 5,000 artifacts, right?"

"Yes, that proud spirit. He said that there was no need to have so many cultural relics at home and that we should contribute to the country." Qin Tian felt sick when he thought of Zhou Qiang.

He took in her expression, tapping his fingers on the table. He had a guess.

"If there is a donor who has 5,000 cultural relics at home, 2,000 of which are collected by the Capital Museum, would you think the remaining 3,000 are fake?" he said slowly.

Qin Tian was stunned for a few seconds, then turned and walked towards the office door. She called Yuan Junruo's name at the door. Yuan Junruo quickly responded and walked over.

"Have you driven yet? Lend me a ride?"

Yuan Junruo gave her the car keys. She said, "I might not be able to return them to you after work, is that okay?"

"Of course... OK." Yuan Junruo said. Of course, it's OK, but why is it his car? Isn't Tang Zhixu also in the hotel?

Qin Tian picked up his bag and walked away quickly. When he passed the door of the convenience store, his wrist was pulled and Tong Zhongyuan's voice rang out.

"Buy some bottles of water."

She turned around and found that he was still there, looking down at his phone. He looked up at her and continued to scroll through the navigation: "It's a three and a half hour drive now. There's a bit of traffic outside the city."

Tong Zhongyuan took out a few bottles of water and also bought a box of snacks and two bottles of milk.

"Let's go." He tilted his head at her and walked in front with a bag of food.

"Are you going too?" She followed his pace, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Do you know where I'm going?"

"Well, I'm going to broaden my horizons," he said. "Kongshan City Museum."

There was a constant flow of traffic on the elevated road, and she actually forgot that Yuan Junruo's car was an electric car. Fortunately, it had just been charged last night, enough for her to drive a one-way trip.

Tong Zhongyuan drank milk and watched her drive. She wore glasses when she was a child. Did she have surgery?

"Once we're out of the city, I'll drive on the highway," he said.

Qin Tian was surprised and asked, "You drive? You don't have a Chinese driver's license."

"I have a Hong Kong driver's license and can apply to exchange it for a Chinese driver's license. It was sent to the hotel last week." Fortunately, he immediately applied for a driver's license when he planned to stay in China for another two months.

"Driving in the opposite direction, aren't you used to it?"

"Yeah, so change it once you're on the highway. Driving on the highway doesn't make any difference."

Qin Tian's phone rang, and the car computer showed it was Tang Zhixu calling. She glanced at it and saw that the phone had been placed on the central control. She wanted to answer it, but the car computer was connected, which was equivalent to a car-wide broadcast. She had no choice but to say, "Can you help me switch to the phone to answer it?"

Tong Zhongyuan was sipping milk while looking out the window, ignoring her words. Since he couldn't drink coffee or tea, he probably only had milk to satisfy his cravings.

Seeing that he didn't respond, she had to raise her voice and repeat it again. He turned around and asked her what was going on with his eyes. When he got the phone from the control panel, Tang Zhixu had already hung up. He took her phone and asked, "Do you want it for me?"