Chapter 83 Deception

Observing colors is also known as the "color observation method".

High-purity silver has a snow-white surface and a soft, uniform luster. When left in the air for a long time, it will gradually darken due to oxidation (forming silver oxide), but it will not turn black or develop discoloration.

There is a saying among the people: "70% silver is green, 80% is black, and 95% is white." This means that if the silver content is 70%, it will be light green; if it is 80%, it will be black; and if it is more than 95%, it will be white.

Fake silver containing lead and tin has a bluish or grayish color, a rough and dull surface, and may even have a bluish-black tinge.

Fake silver that is plated with silver or filled with silver (with copper or iron inside) will reveal the inner metal layer after the outer silver layer wears off, and obvious delamination can be seen at the interface.

The method of listening to the sound is also known as the "throwing method".

When you drop real silver onto a hard surface, it will produce a dull, soft "thud" sound and will not bounce (because silver is soft and the energy is absorbed upon impact).

When fake silver is thrown onto a hard surface, fake silver containing copper produces a sharp, short sound and bounces violently after landing (copper is hard and has a strong rebound force); fake silver containing lead or tin produces a dull, muffled sound, but has weaker rebound force, and other methods are needed to distinguish it.

Testing the hardness is even simpler; just bite it with your teeth or scratch it with your fingernail.

Pure silver is relatively soft; a light bite with your teeth will leave a faint tooth mark, and you can also scratch it with your fingernail. This method is generally applicable to broken silver and silver ingots.

Fake silver containing copper or iron is hard and leaves no mark when bitten, and may even hurt your teeth; fake silver containing lead is soft but leaves a bluish mark when bitten and is easily deformed.

The burning method requires charcoal or fire tongs as auxiliary tools. After burning with charcoal or fire tongs, the surface of pure silver will still be silvery-white (it can be wiped clean and restored after oxidation), without discoloration or peeling.

Fake silver containing copper will turn black on the surface (forming copper oxide) after being burned, and the blackening cannot be removed.

Fake silver that is plated or clad in silver will have its plating peel off at high temperatures, revealing the inner metal color (such as the red of copper, the gray-black of lead, etc.).

Just to be on the safe side, Xie Wanniang used all three methods.

The Wang family looked very unhappy. They felt that Xie Wanniang's behavior was a blatant statement that their family was not trustworthy.

The problem is, they really don't deserve Xie Wanniang's trust.

One of the silver ingots looked pitted and uneven, as if it had been struck with a blunt object. From the outside, it seemed to be fine except for being ugly, but when Xie Wanniang threw it onto the stone slab, the sound immediately made people realize that something was wrong.

It wasn't the dull, soft "thud" of real silver, but a muffled sound with a slight collision of foreign objects. The silver ingot even bounced back slightly after hitting the ground, which made it even more strange.

Without saying a word, Xie Wanniang picked up the silver ingot and examined it for a while before saying to Chen Lizheng's eldest daughter-in-law, "Sister-in-law, could you lend me a pair of scissors?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Lizheng's eldest daughter-in-law hurriedly went back into the house and got her some scissors.

Xie Wanniang handed the scissors to Jiang Yuan, who was standing silently beside her. "Yuan, take off the silver outer layer and let me see what's hidden inside."

"Okay." Jiang Yuan replied, took the scissors Xie Wanniang handed him, and started working.

He was quite impressed by the Wang family's despicable character. Since Chen Lizheng had blocked their path of slandering Xie Wanniang with empty words, they started to tamper with the silver and copper coins they were given. No wonder Xie Wanniang was so cautious that she even personally recounted each copper coin from beginning to end.

"Hey—" Wang Eryou, who knew perfectly well what was going on inside, reached out to try to stop Jiang Yuan from cutting with scissors.

Chen Lizheng gave him a cold look and said, "If you keep playing these underhanded tricks with me, your Wang Sanhu can just get a beating. I'm not going to waste my time with you."

Upon hearing this, Wang Eryou and his family immediately looked embarrassed.

Wang Er shamelessly withdrew his hand, "Just this one piece, the rest are fine."

It wasn't that their family had any conscience left, it was just that the remaining loose change was too small. Even if they wanted to continue playing tricks, they didn't have the ability to.

Before Wang Sanhu was beaten up and caught red-handed by Xie Wanniang, they never dreamed that their family would have to empty their savings to pay off debts. Naturally, they wouldn't prepare counterfeit silver of insufficient quality or with other items inside beforehand.

Ordinary people like them mainly save money in copper coins and silver coins. They are unwilling to exchange these for silver ingots at money shops because it involves both risks and handling fees.

Therefore, even though their family had accumulated more than ten taels of silver in total, they still didn't have a single silver ingot.

That piece of silver that they used to make a silver ingot was already the largest piece of silver they could find.

The four members of the family worked together, clanging and banging away for quite a while, before finally managing to flatten the silver into a thin sheet, and then wrap a stone inside it.

To avoid leaving any obvious traces, they deliberately smashed the stuffed silver ingot until it was dented and uneven. But Xie Wanniang, that vicious woman, was more wary of them than of thieves.

What they expected was simply counting the copper coins and weighing the silver scraps on a scale, but for her, it turned into personally handling and repeatedly checking them.

While the Wang family cursed Xie Wanniang in their hearts for being so cunning at such a young age and not being afraid of dying young from overthinking, they had no choice but to obediently admit defeat.

While enduring Chen Lizheng's scolding, Wang Eryou waved his hand to signal his wife to hurry home and get more money to cover the shortfall.

Tan Xinghua understood what Wang Eryou meant by waving his hand at her, but the problem was, where did her family have any money left? Hadn't they already given it all away?

Seeing that she was standing there dumbfounded, Wang Er had no choice but to remind her, "Go and get your pair of silver bracelets!"

Not only would Xie Wanniang not want the stone-made core of that silver ingot, but she would also refuse to accept the silver outer layer, which had been smashed to pieces by their family.

In Xie Wanniang's words, the inside of the silver foil was already embedded with gravel. Since their family liked to cause such trouble, they might as well keep it themselves.

Now that things had come to this, Wang Eryou didn't dare to continue arguing with Xie Wanniang while facing Chen Lizheng's anger. Helpless, he could only ask his wife to take out her pair of silver bracelets first.

Those silver bracelets were a reward his parents gave his wife twice when she gave birth to Wang Erhu and Wang Sanhu.

His sister-in-law, who had given birth to Wang Dahu and Wang Sihu, also had a pair of the same bracelets.

Only Wang Xiaozhi's mother, because she only gave birth to Wang Xiaozhi, a girl, didn't get anything.

“This…” Tan Xinghua was reluctant to part with them; those were her only two pieces of silver jewelry!

Wang Er glared with his toad-like eyes, "Hurry up and get it!"

Wang Sanhu also tugged at her sleeve and pleaded, "Mother, I don't want to be beaten."