Chapter 86 Tony, you won’t tell me that you are getting married in China

She now just hopes that Nanbo is still in the inspection stage and no transaction has been completed.

"Give me the number of Nanbo's contact."

Qin Tian called the National Museum of China and told them that the previous report was inaccurate and needed to be re-evaluated. The museum staff were very surprised: "But I see that these reports all show data from 2,700 years ago, which is consistent with the age of these bronze artifacts."

"I'm sorry, I made a mistake. We used duplicate sample tubes, resulting in the same data. Can you give me three more days? I need to re-identify."

"But we agreed to sign the contract tomorrow. Finding these bronze artifacts is not easy. If we can't give a response tomorrow, the other party will no longer consider us. The Nanjing Museum is different from the Shanghai Museum. This is a precious opportunity for us. Can you expedite it and produce the report before the end of tomorrow's get off work?"

It's not that an expedited report couldn't be issued, but the problem wasn't the report. It was that she couldn't get everything sorted out in one day. Three days was the fastest time she could think of.

She said earnestly, "I'm sorry, the report won't be ready tomorrow. I need three days. But please, please, please, don't sign the contract before you have a confirmed report!"

"Ah, this is really... Then I'll discuss it with the other party. Please re-inspect it as soon as possible."

"Understood. I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."

Qin Tian hung up the phone and hugged her head. She'd been talking about it for three days, but she had no idea where to start. All she could think of was contacting Ming Yuanxing. Ming Yuanxing was in the US trying to get the Chunhua Ge Tie. Was it a bit incompetent for her to bother him with such a matter? Besides, he was out there, unable to see the whole picture, and unable to reach out.

Yuan Junruo felt uneasy when she saw how distressed she was, but she didn't know how to help her.

Qin Tian glanced at the time. It was 10:30 in the morning, so Tang Zhixu should still be awake. She called him, and he answered almost immediately.

"Are you back to work after your vacation?" he asked lazily.

"I want to ask you something. Can the Chunhua Pavilion Post be completed? When will you be back?"

He was not serious: "Miss me?"

"Let's get down to business. When will you be back?"

He was silent for a moment, then replied, "Qin Tian, ​​is there something wrong? I can come back right away."

"No," she said irritably. "Why did you come back? I just wanted to ask, did your business go smoothly? Does Director Ming have any other means besides negotiation?"

Qin Tian, ​​though apparently incredibly slow-witted, was incredibly sensitive to cultural relics. He sometimes wondered if he hadn't taken action all those years. His kindness to her was simply a way of telling her he loved her. Besides her, he'd never been so attentive to anyone else. He felt like he'd been incredibly obvious, and all his colleagues had noticed, yet she didn't notice, insisting on lumping him in with the list of those darn male besties.

"You asked at the perfect time. It'll be done soon. An Siyuan has already verbally agreed. We're revising the contract, and if nothing goes wrong, it should be signed in the next few days."

"Great!" Qin Tian stood up. This was the best good news he had heard in recent days.

"If all goes well, I'll be back this week."

She only had three days, and Ming Yuanxing wouldn't be back for a week. She'd wait until tomorrow, after signing the contract, and then she'd tell him about the Nanbo bronzes.

It wasn't until the next day, but in the afternoon, Wang Qiqing called her to his office. She knew something was wrong the moment she received the call, and when she saw Wang Qiqing for the first time, she knew it was over and no one could help her.

Wang Qiqing got straight to the point: "The National Museum of China said you made a mistake with the bronze sample tube? You weren't even in the museum when they were doing the measurements. How did you make that mistake?"

"That's right. But there's a problem with the data, and I need to review it. I can't send such a report to Namba."

"What's wrong with the data? The report shows that all of these bronze artifacts are 2,700 years old, which is consistent with expectations. You haven't even handled any of this, so how can you tell there's something wrong with the data?"

"I have seen the three bronze artifacts in the Nanjing Museum. Their inscriptions are not from the same dynasty and should not all show dates from 2,700 years ago. So I suspect there is something wrong with the data," she told the truth.

Besides the inscription, she could tell something was wrong with it with her naked eyes, but compared to the expertise of thermoluminescence, her naked eyes were nothing. She couldn't say.

"Thermoluminescence has an error rate of over a hundred percent. It's normal for it to vary a few hundred years or change dynasties. Is this why you're holding off on submitting the report? The people at the National Museum of China told me they couldn't wait any longer, but you're refusing to let them sign the contract? Since when did you have to have the final say on other museums signing contracts?"

Qin Tian lowered his head and said nothing.

Wang Qiqing looked at her sullenly, then finally waved his hand and said, "Forget it, don't worry about it. There's no need to review it. I'll tell them later that the report is fine, it's just that you just got back and didn't understand it clearly."

Wang Qiqing picked up the teacup and took a sip. He put it down. Qin Tian was still there. She hadn't left. He frowned.

"What else?"

Qin Tian raised his head and looked at him directly: "No. I can't just ignore it."

Wang Qiqing met her gaze expressionlessly. She took a deep breath and said, "These three bronzes are fakes! If the Shanghai Museum acknowledges the report is correct, it would be tantamount to admitting the bronzes are authentic. With the Shanghai Museum's endorsement, the Nanjing Museum will immediately purchase these fakes! If that happens, not only will the Nanjing Museum become the next Kongming Museum, but where will the Shanghai Museum stand in shame? The report Yuan Junruo sent to the Nanjing Museum only represents his personal assessment results. I am the head of the Shanghai Museum's appraisal team. A report without my signature cannot represent the Shanghai Museum!"

Wang Qiqing's face turned pale, and his tone was icy: "Apart from the inscription, what basis do you have to say that the bronze artifact is a fake?"

"I have no basis for this. So I need time. Nanbo has promised to give me three days. In those three days, I will give them an explanation."

Wang Qiqing didn't speak for a long time.

"Only the report signed by you can represent the Shanghai Museum. Good! Very good. Xiao Qin, you have backbone and pride. Since you understand that your words and actions represent the Shanghai Museum, your refusal to allow the Nanbo Museum to sign the contract also represents the attitude of the Shanghai Museum! Our Shanghai Museum is so arrogant and domineering! Originally, this matter of appraisal had no place in my charge. But since I am in charge, I must take responsibility. You asked for three days, and I will give you three days. After three days, you must give an explanation not only to the Nanbo Museum, but also to the Shanghai Museum. The Shanghai Museum can tolerate talented people, but not self-righteous people!"

Qin Tian looked at him, bowed to him with a stiff neck, and left the office.

All morning, the restoration of the Song Dynasty Jian Kiln black-glazed rabbit-hair teacup made no progress. Tong Zhongyuan had left in such a hurry that he had tossed his tools into the toolbox without cleaning them. Upon his return, he discovered that the tips of several of the brushes had hardened. Although they could be restored to their original shape after washing and drying, the control was not as good as before. He could make do with them, but he was never one to compromise. He had brought those brushes from England, so even if it was a hassle, he could only ask someone to send another set from there.

He called Anna at his London studio, told her the model of the pen, and asked her to ship it as soon as possible. Anna asked when he could return, saying Eithans was frantic. He had put off several deals in the past three months: two porcelain pieces in need of restoration and a batch of bronzes that had undergone thermoluminescence testing and were just waiting for his signature.

"Why should Thermoluminescence wait for me? Eithans' signature is enough."

"Who knows. I guess he missed you so much and wanted you to come back soon. He talks to your photo every day."

"Is that the work photo on my desk?"

"That's right." Anna suppressed a laugh. "He comes in every day to take a look around."

"One more thing for me. Put this picture in the drawer and replace it with the King's coronation picture."

Anna laughed and finally said, "Tony, we all miss you. We'll be waiting for you to come back."

Not long after he hung up, Eithans called. "Why did you change your photo to Charles? You look nothing like him. You have a lot more hair," he complained.

Tong Zhongyuan smiled and said, "What's the situation with that batch of bronze artifacts? What makes you afraid to sign?"

"This batch of bronzes was sent for inspection here in Hong Kong. We don't need to find a buyer, just a thermoluminescence report. I'll only charge the appraisal fee. The problem is..." He paused, "These bronzes are all 2,700 years old. There are twenty pieces in total."

"It's common for bronze artifacts from the same batch to be of the same age," Tong Zhongyuan said. He paused for a moment after he finished speaking; the phrase sounded familiar. Not long ago, on the road to Yining, Qin Tian received a call that said the same thing.

"You think so? With such a large number of bronze artifacts from the same year flowing out, has another tomb in China been robbed? Tony, you know, I'm only responsible for scientific testing. I'm not sure about anything else. We've been doing business with Chinese museums, and if they knew we were doing appraisals for tomb robbers... I don't want to offend our big clients."

Tong Zhongyuan was silent and thoughtful. This couldn't be tomb robbery. China has strict regulations on tomb robbing these days. And even if it was, it wouldn't be easy to ship twenty items to Hong Kong.

"How about this, I'll send you the photos first. You can judge the origin of this batch of bronzes based on their appearance," said Eithans.

"OK."

"Then when you finish reading, give me the news."

"Wait a minute, Eithans." Tong Zhongyuan called him.

"how?"

"There's something I'd like to hear your opinion on." He hesitated.

"Oh my God! Listen to your tone. There's something I need your opinion on. Tony, you're not going to tell me you're getting married in China! Anna keeps saying the reason you don't come back is because you're stuck with girls in China." Eithans shouted exaggeratedly, then chuckled.

Tong Zhongyuan didn't laugh. He couldn't laugh. He couldn't think of how to laugh at himself to counter the joke.

Eithans laughed a few times, but when he realized Tong Zhongyuan didn't react, his laughter softened and stopped. He asked in a voice a hundred times more shocked than before, "Jusus! You're not really getting married, are you?"