Chapter 27 She finally figured out what was different about him. He started talking more.
"Sorry for the wait. I just confirmed with the curator. If you, Mr. Zhou, insist on not taking samples, then the Shanghai Museum will have no choice but to reject this donation. Thank you very much for your kindness to the Shanghai Museum."
Zhou Qiang was stunned. He'd assumed he'd come to donate something, and the other party would be incredibly respectful, treating him like a deity. Sure enough, not only had the Shanghai Museum's director personally received him, but they'd even arranged for him to have a suite at the Peace Hotel to store the artifacts. He hadn't expected the young woman to spend half an hour with him, and then, in a few words, announce that the Shanghai Museum no longer wanted the artifacts. He'd been so eager to give them things, but they'd refused. How could he possibly save his face?
"Okay, if you want to check, go ahead. Check it quickly!" Zhou Qiang waved his hand impatiently and lit another cigarette.
Qin Tian didn't waste any more words with him. He gave Yuan Junruo a look. Yuan Junruo nodded and started taking samples.
After the sampling was completed, Qin Tian said goodbye to Zhou Qiang and left with Yuan Junruo.
Qin Tian sniffed the end of her hair in disgust; it reeked of cigarette smoke. This trip had truly nauseated her. Entering the Shanghai Museum, she offered Yuan Junruo a cup of coffee to calm her nerves. Yuan Junruo smiled wryly. It was Teacher Qin who should have been calming down; he'd seen the look Zhou Qiang had just given her. She'd assumed that all she'd meet and associate with in the museum were scholars and literati, but it seemed otherwise.
This was the scene Tong Zhongyuan saw when he walked into the coffee shop. Qin Tian's face was filled with disgust and anger, while Yuan Junruo's face was full of sympathy for her. He approached her, and the smell of cigarettes wafted from both of them.
"Teacher Qin, I'm going to the lab to set up the sample tubes first." Yuan Junruo hesitated, "Don't be too angry. That Mr. Zhou... I probably won't have any contact with him again. If he comes again, I'll go with you."
After Yuan Junruo left, Qin Tian looked up and saw Tong Zhongyuan. She hadn't run into Tong Zhongyuan in the coffee shop once last week, but it was only the first day he came back, and they had already met twice.
"What's going on?" Tong Zhongyuan's eyes were calm but concerned.
Qin Tian was stunned. In her impression, Tong Zhongyuan never meddles in other people's affairs. Even when she asked him for the British Museum catalog, he didn't ask why. On the bright side, he respected other people's privacy, but in reality, she felt he had no interest in other people's affairs at all.
.
She hadn't wanted to talk about Zhou Qiang; the thought made her sick. But since it was a rare occasion for Tong Zhongyuan to speak up, she didn't want to spoil his fun. He was staying for two months and would be giving a demonstration to the restoration department, so it would be a good thing if he could integrate quickly.
She omitted the part about Zhou Qiang's secret sexual harassment and told him about going to the Peace Hotel for the appraisal.
Tong Zhongyuan frowned. Although Qin Tian's account was objective, he had appraised a batch of porcelain, and the results showed that all of it was fake. It took a lot of effort to obtain samples. It sounded like a difficult official business trip, but the strong smell of cigarettes on her body and the disgusted expression on her face when she mentioned Zhou Qiang suggested that this trip was more than just difficult.
"Thermoluminescence measurement at the Shanghai Museum..." He had barely finished his sentence when a violent coughing fit hit him. He covered his mouth with his arm and turned sideways to deal with the sudden, uncontrollable cough.
"I'm sorry," he said apologetically after calming down. His voice was a little hoarse.
"Are you cold?" Qin Tian asked.
"A little."
On the rainy night that had held him captive, he was soaking wet. Not wanting to bother taking a taxi, he walked back to the hotel. Normally, this would have been fine, but last week, in order to repair the Heart-Transforming Aquarius as quickly as possible, he'd only slept three or four hours a night. Perhaps his immunity had weakened, and by Sunday, he was already experiencing some cold symptoms.
"Did you know you can buy medicine on Meituan?" Qin Tian took out his phone and pointed it at him, only to see the words "real-name registration." "I forgot. You can't buy prescription drugs without real-name registration."
Qin Tian put away his phone and opened his palm to him: "Give me your phone."
Tong Zhongyuan placed the phone in her hand. She opened Meituan, entered her ID card, and completed the real-name registration.
"If you feel unwell anywhere, use my identity to buy medicine. Like here, you can choose the symptoms. For example, if you have a cough, buy this medicine. It will be here in a while." She pointed to it for him to see.
"Got it." He took the phone. She really had no suspicion of him at all. He only knew she was three months younger than him from her ID number, but this was the first time he knew her birthday.
"What were you about to say?" Qin Tian said, "I interrupted you again."
"Once the thermoluminescence report comes out, will this matter be over?"
"Well, I'll submit the report after the thermoluminescence results come out. You'll know once you see it. That batch of goods can't be real at all, and there's no need to even do thermoluminescence. Doing thermoluminescence is just a procedure." As she spoke, she took another sip of coffee angrily and cast her gaze towards the Shanghai Museum Hall outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
There seemed to be a dispute at the entrance to the staff passage. The security guard stopped an old man, and it was unclear what he was saying. However, the old man insisted on walking towards the staff passage. Seeing that he would not listen, the security guard grabbed him.
Qin Tian stood up and walked over there. Tong Zhongyuan followed her silently, and after a moment, he also stood up and followed.
"I'm not a bad person. I just want you experts to appraise a treasure." The old man tried to explain to the security guard.
"If you know any experts, just call them. This is the staff entrance. You can't enter without your ID."
"Didn't I show you my ID? How can this not be an ID?"
"Go away, go away! Stop causing trouble here. If you don't leave, I'm going to call the police."
The old man was thin and carrying a big bag, trying to break free from the security guard's grip.
"What's the matter?" Qin Tian asked the security guard.
When the security guard saw it was her, he let the old man go. Before he could open his mouth, the old man started talking.
"Are you a staff member? I'm here to appraise treasures. Do you have an expert in appraising treasures who can take a look and give me a certificate?"
"The Shanghai Museum currently does not provide appraisal services for folk cultural relics. You can go to a regular auction house or a state-authorized cultural relic store for appraisal."
The old man shook his head. "That won't work. Auction houses are all about making money. Mine is a rare Tang Dynasty treasure. If they see it and want it, they'll be too eager to bargain for it. They won't even bother issuing me a certificate. Antique shops are the same. They're all about buying and selling. Who would tell the truth?"
Qin Tian said helplessly: "Uncle, if you can't even trust them, then there is no place for appraisal."
"You guys! You're a museum, not a cultural relic dealer, so I can trust you. Little girl, let me tell you, if it were in the past, I wouldn't have shown it to anyone. Really, oh, let's not talk about it. I need money now, so I have no choice but to sell it. We're ordinary people, not rich. This treasure is my family's only hope, and I don't want to be cheated."
The old man's sweatshirt was old, washed so often that small holes appeared in the thin areas. He wore a pair of nylon socks, the kind you'd only see in years past, with fuzzy edges.
After his mother left, Qin Yunjie also became unkempt. It wasn't that he didn't have money to buy new clothes, he just got used to these old clothes and never thought that life could be changed into something new.
"Give it to me," Qin Tian stretched out his hand, "I'll help you take a look."
The old man didn't give it to her. He took a step back and held the backpack tighter.
"I want to see a specialist. I won't let anyone see me until the specialist comes."
Qin Tian laughed and said to him, "Uncle, I am an expert in the Cultural Relics Appraisal Department of the Shanghai Museum."
"You're talking nonsense," the old man said. "How can a little girl like you be an expert? Do you think I don't know? I watch treasure appraisal programs on TV. Please help me call an expert and I'll take it out."
Qin Tian was completely speechless. She was being too sentimental. Tong Zhongyuan couldn't help but smile at her frustrated look.
Tong Zhongyuan walked up to her and said, "Can I identify it for you, old man?"
The old man looked up and saw Tong Zhongyuan. He was also very young, but for some reason, he looked very senior, with gentle and firm eyes, and seemed very trustworthy.
"Are you an expert?" the old man asked doubtfully.
Tong Zhongyuan showed him his work ID: "If you want to believe it, I can help you verify it."
The old man believed it. He walked carefully to the wall, took off his backpack and put it on the ground. He took out an object wrapped in a lot of old clothes, peeling off the layers one by one, and found a stone Buddha statue slightly larger than the palm of his hand.
He handed the Buddha statue to Tong Zhongyuan, who took it with both hands.
"This is my family heirloom. This Buddha statue is from the Tang Dynasty," said the old man.
Tong Zhongyuan gently turned the Buddha statue and then carefully flipped it over to the bottom.
He turned his head to Qin Tian and said, "Help me with some light."
Qin Tian took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it on the stone Buddha statue. The stone texture and particle distribution were not from the Tang Dynasty.
After Tong Zhongyuan finished his inspection, he respectfully returned the Buddha statue to the old man. The old man put the statue away and looked at him expectantly.
"Old sir, this Buddha statue is indeed a treasure, but it is not from the Tang Dynasty. Do you have paper and pen?" Tong Zhongyuan asked.
The old man pulled out a pen and paper from his bag. Tong Zhongyuan opened his phone, looked at his business card holder, wrote down two addresses and phone numbers on a piece of paper, and handed it to him.
"These two are state-licensed, legitimate auction houses, and are internationally renowned. They hold auctions every autumn. The solicitation process has almost begun. You can take your Buddha statue there and try; they won't cheat you."
"Since it's a treasure, please issue a certificate for me from your museum."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to issue a certificate on behalf of the museum," Tong Zhongyuan said. "The Shanghai Museum can't issue authentication certificates for folk cultural relics. It doesn't matter who you ask. Please don't make it difficult for us."
The old man's face showed disappointment, but he was helpless. He could only put on his bag, said thank you, and left in a bad mood.
The old man disappeared. Qin Tian asked Tong Zhongyuan, "Why did you lie to him? This is a Tang Dynasty replica, not a rare treasure."
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