The six-eared porcelain gui is the museum's most valuable treasure, but there are more than one? ...
The tacit understanding between Pinot and Wen Zichuan seemed to be innate. She knew what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.
"Sally said that for nearly twenty years, Aldridge made a living by showing antiques to people. He provided services to many buyers and sellers and participated in countless auctions. As for whether he resold antiques, there is currently no concrete evidence."
"Maybe he just hasn't been discovered yet," Wen Zichuan said, skeptical. The ambitious Wen Duo wouldn't be so focused on that tiny commission. After all, the entertainment industry has similar schemes, where rewards aren't always in the form of real money; resources might be exchanged for them. "A painting like 'Two Sheep in the Suburbs of Pu' is worth 500 million. How could he not be tempted?"
"'Two Sheep in the Suburbs of Pu'? Is that it?" Zhou Yitang was sitting opposite Wen Zichuan. She had sharp eyes and immediately caught a glimpse of the next page of paper, where Qin Zhihan recorded the whole process of tracking down this painting.
Most of the information Sally provided was recorded by Qin Zhihan and his team. The description of Aldridge may not be complete, but at least it records the events in which the two sides intersected.
Everyone in the industry knows that the "Two Sheep in the Suburbs of Pu" painting sold at the Nanzhu Auction was bought by an anonymous buyer for a whopping 500 million yuan. Everyone present today is an insider. The anonymous buyer is Qin Zhihan.
Zhou Yitang's eyes widened in surprise. "Uncle Qin is so extravagant! Five hundred million for a painting! Hey, he specifically recorded this incident. Does that mean Aldridge has also seen this painting?"
"That makes sense," Wen Zichuan mused. "He recognized immediately that the painting we have is a replica."
"Auction is a game in itself. With Qin's father's personality, as long as it is something he wants, he will buy it at all costs, even if he knows someone is deliberately raising the price behind the scenes." Pinault did not expect that it was his biological father who interfered, forcing his adoptive father to spend more.
"For him?" Wen Zichuan was referring to Song Xiang.
"Well, Father Song is in poor health, but he doesn't want to see a doctor. Father Qin wants to give him the courage to get treatment." Pinot said, with unconcealable sadness in his eyes.
"Don't be sad, it's all over." Wen Zichuan comforted softly. He knew that the story of Qin Zhihan and Song Xiang would eventually be written into "Graceful Heart" by Pinot. In the future, countless people would understand their past, the pain and joy, responsibility and perseverance of their lives.
Zhou Yitang only knew that Pinault's adoptive father had passed away. He thought she was grieving, so he turned around and gave her a warm hug: "Don't be sad. I'll come to accompany you often in the future, okay?"
"Okay, I'm fine." Pinault didn't want to infect an underage girl with sadness. She patted Zhou Yitang's back, then opened a drawer and took out a photo. "Take a look at this."
Zhou Yitang was stunned when he saw the photo: "Isn't this the treasure of the Dengyuan Museum?! I saw it during the school study tour. The teacher said it was called...what was it called..."
"A six-handled porcelain gui with purple gold glaze." Wen Zichuan and Pinot said almost in unison.
"Yes, yes, its name is too convoluted," Zhou Yitang looked at Wen Zichuan, then at Pinot, "So why is its photo here? Could it be related to Aldridge? Is there any information about it?"
Although Wen Zichuan had only seen the purple-gold-glazed six-eared porcelain gui once, at the porcelain exhibition at the Lantern Festival, its name appeared in the veins of every clue, and its story was pieced together very completely.
It is the most unlucky cultural relic in the ancient tomb of Beiling Village. It was accidentally broken into pieces by a tomb-robbing gang and left in deep mud. But it is also the luckiest one. Because it was broken and did not flow out, it was taken back to the Lantern Festival by the archaeological team for repair and was able to see the light of day again.
In the millennium, in order to obtain it, foreign forces fabricated a girl kidnapping case, resulting in the death of Jiang Anyi.
In 2012, An Jie, or Gu Yanxun, lost the favor of his leadership due to doubts about its authenticity and subsequently resigned from Dengbo.
Wait?! The millennium? 2012?
Wen Zichuan suddenly had an epiphany and turned to the last page of information. Sure enough, the record of the six-eared porcelain gui was incomplete.
Qin Zhihan's recording habits are very unique. In general, they can be described as "no matter how big or small".
The materials not only record in detail the original information of each cultural relic, the time, place, auctioneer, and final destination of the artifact, but also include the situation at the time and some of his personal thoughts.
The only thing that is different is the purple gold glazed six-eared porcelain gui.
There are only two records of it. The first one was in 1999. Qin Zhihan heard about such a thing and asked around but found nothing. The second one was in 2012. The record showed that it had been displayed in the Dengyuan Museum, but its authenticity was uncertain.
"In 2012, it matches An Jie's experience. Did Mr. Qin go to the Lantern Expo that year?" Wen Zichuan spread the paper flat so that they could also see the details.
"Why is there still something about Teacher An?!" Zhou Yitang's brain capacity was not enough.
"Look here, there's a supplementary record." Pinot was more familiar with Qin Zhihan's recording habits than anyone else. "That year, Song's father's parents passed away, and his condition began to worsen. Qin's father was busy taking him to seek medical treatment, so Sally went to the Lantern Expo in his place."
"This photo should have been taken by Sally at the Dengbo." Wen Zichuan guessed after comparing it with the background.
"Actually, this photo is one of Qin Dad's relics. When I went back for his funeral last year, Sally handed me some things, including this photo. I didn't think much of it at the time, thinking it was just like those models, just another artifact that Qin Dad had tracked down. But now I think Qin Dad must have had his own intentions."
As Pinault spoke, he turned over the photo. There was a line of beautiful handwriting on the back of the paper: This one has returned home, and I feel very relieved.
The meaning of this sentence is not difficult to understand. When Sally visited the Lantern Expo, she took a photo of the six-eared porcelain gui and brought it to Qin Zhihan. Qin Zhihan felt very comforted when he learned that it had been exhibited at the Lantern Expo.
No, that's still not right.
Wen Zichuan and Pinot looked at each other and discovered the clue at the same time.
The word Qin Zhihan used was "return home", but in fact, the purple-gold-glazed six-eared porcelain gui had never been exported. Since it had always been in the country, how could it be said to have "returned home"?
Wen Zichuan thought for a while and felt that these two records could not be viewed separately.
If Qin Zhihan learned about the existence of the six-eared porcelain gui in 1999 and began to track it down, then the premise must be that this cultural relic had been leaked.
From where Zhou Yitang was standing, his line of sight could just pass between the two people opposite him and fall onto the display shelf outside.
There were so many models of cultural relics, and they were made so similarly that she was attracted when she came here for the first time. She wanted to borrow a few to show off at school - displaying cultural relic models would make history classes a lot more fun.
"You guys think... this thing, the purple gold glaze, six-eared porcelain gui, could there be more than one?" She didn't know if her idea was right, but regardless, children have the right to make mistakes.
"Perhaps you're right," Wen Zichuan thought, turning his attention in this direction. "Sally and Anjie both doubted the authenticity of the porcelain gui, but Cheng... Cheng Sizhou also said that if such a large jar was a fake and it was regarded as the treasure of the Lantern Festival, all of us cultural relics workers would lose face."
"Are you inclined to believe that the one with Deng Bo is the real one?" asked Pinault.
"I believe it's genuine. If it's genuine, there are two possibilities. The first is that Mr. Qin received false information in 1999, so he didn't track it down. But in 2012, he discovered it was already in China and mistakenly believed it had 'returned'. The second is, as Zhou Yitang said, perhaps there is more than one porcelain gui, and Mr. Qin was tracking down another one, which is also genuine, but their shapes are similar, so Mr. Qin thought it had 'returned'."
Pinot was silent for a moment, then spoke again. "While I can't judge which of these two speculations is more reasonable, both inferences are based on Qin's father's misjudgment. I have always felt that Qin's father is not someone who would be easily swayed by false information, or who would simply assume that similar objects are the same. He comes from a famous family and has been dealing with cultural relics all his life. Shouldn't we trust his judgment?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not questioning Mr. Qin." Wen Zichuan apologized. He admitted that he was very anxious and wanted to figure everything out in a shorter time.
"Also, our Tosali is investigating Aldrich. The data records the six-eared porcelain gui, which means Aldrich is also related to the porcelain gui." Pinault reminded.
The six-eared porcelain gui is of course related to Wen Duo. If he had not leaked the news of the ancient tomb in Beiling Village, the tomb would not have been robbed and the cultural relics would not have been leaked.
Wen Zichuan thought, if only Qin Zhihan were still here, they wouldn’t have to guess here. They could just buy a plane ticket and fly over to ask him, and all their doubts would be resolved.
"Sally, can I still contact Sally and ask?"
"Yes, but it's early morning there now. I'll contact her in a few hours."
At this point, Wen Duo’s identity abroad has become clear, but Wen Zichuan still feels that he cannot fully see through him.
Pinault noticed his anxiety and impatience. While making afternoon tea, she deliberately raised her voice and asked Zhou Yitang, "Last time at the hospital, I saw my brother had a very close friend. Do you know him?"
"He met Cheng Sizhou in the hospital?" Zhou Yitang blurted out.
"Yes, that's him." Pinault winked at her quietly, signaling her to cooperate. "Since you're all good friends, why don't you invite him over next time? We can have dinner together, or go out for a walk?"
Wen Zichuan heard this, but he didn't dare to answer. He could only hurriedly say "I have something else to do, I have to leave first", and went downstairs without looking back.
"Teacher Wen, I want to go home too. Please wait for me!" Zhou Yitang quickly packed up his things and chased after him.
Wen Zichuan guessed what she was going to ask, and he had no doubt that she was kind and concerned. However, no one knew how serious his withdrawal reaction was, and that he would spend the rest of his life in such contradictions and entanglements.
He could no longer withstand any provocation, dared not have any expectations, and even just hearing something related to him would make him feel a swollen pain like falling.
He could only escape.
"Teacher Wen—!" Zhou Yitang took a shortcut and blocked his way in front of him, panting, "Don't, don't go. I just want to say one thing. I heard about Cheng Sizhou's situation from my mother... Although I'm not a doctor, I think it's possible that he's too lonely... When I lived in Yangliu'an, I realized that he really needed company. But he's so much older than me, and we can't talk to each other. We talked about getting a cat or a dog, but the house is rented, so it's not suitable. Later, when we played Find the Voice, he held his phone every day to listen to the little prince talk... Teacher Wen, you and him have been sharing a house for so long, you must have a good relationship, right? You must help him, don't let his condition get worse!"
"There are many people around him who care about him, so he doesn't need me."
"But he likes you," Zhou Yitang said firmly, as if defending the couple he had personally brought together. "After the incident became a big deal, he suffered so much criticism, but he never denied it. It was just a rumor."
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