Chapter 37
Liu Guoxing walked ahead, occasionally glancing back at Fang Zhiyang, who was following behind. He saw Fang Zhiyang, his back slightly hunched, following silently behind him. His steps were quick but slow. He was still carrying the same old schoolbag he had brought with him last time. The zipper was frayed, and it weighed heavily on his thin shoulders. He didn't know what was stuffed inside.
The sun shone down, and Yang Ye hadn't seen it clearly before, but now she suddenly noticed how sparse Fang Zhiyang's hair had become in the sunlight. Silver-white hair completely covered the previously black hair. He stood there quietly, letting the sun beat down on him without reservation, his white hair glaring in the sunlight.
They had already reached the picnic mat, so Yang Ye had no choice but to walk over in silence and sit down opposite Zhou Yiheng.
The air seemed to freeze the moment she arrived, even the passing wind grew cautious. Yang Ye pursed his lips, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with the inside of his index finger. Li Cheng's gaze roamed across their faces, first looking at Yang Ye, then at Zhou Yiheng, and finally at Fang Zhiyang, seeming to want to speak but stopping himself.
No one spoke, only the laughter of children coming from afar, clear and distant, making the environment at the moment silent and heavy.
Liu Guoxing slapped his thigh, shook his head and sighed, "Lao Fang, why didn't you tell me about this?"
Fang Zhiyang licked his dry lips, which were covered with a thin layer of skin, giving them an unhealthy paleness. He lowered his head and spoke awkwardly, "You've helped me so much, how can I bother you again? I owe you so much in the past few years, and you've helped me so much, how can I continue to bother you again and again?"
Liu Guoxing looked at Fang Zhiyang and raised his voice unconsciously, "What are you talking about? We have known each other for many years. What's the point of being so sentimental? Everyone needs help sometimes. If you are in trouble, I will help you. If I am in trouble, you help me."
"Yeah," Li Cheng echoed from the side. He moved closer to Fang Zhiyang, and the picnic mat made a slight friction. Zhou Yiheng had just explained the whole process to him. "Those people dare to say anything for traffic, why do you still believe them?"
As he spoke, he turned the conversation back to Yang Ye, "You saw it last time, what do you think of his thing?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Yang Ye. Fang Zhiyang even raised his head sharply, a hint of hope in his cloudy eyes. Yang Ye nodded slowly under everyone's gaze, "It's authentic. If I find a specialized appraisal agency to issue a relevant test report and then go through the collection channel, it will definitely be worth no less than 800,000."
"Boss Yang, I've also asked the appraisal agency you mentioned, and the fastest wait is half a year. As for the hospital..." Fang Zhiyang paused, "I really can't wait any longer."
Fang Zhiyang also expressed his concerns. The hospital asked them to change the medicine, and the money for changing the medicine plus the cost of treatment would be a bottomless pit. Tens of thousands of dollars would be used up in just two days. He really had no choice.
Li Cheng and Liu Guoxing exchanged glances, neither of them knowing what to say. Finally, Li Cheng broke the silence, "The most important thing now is to find a way to get rid of the stuff online. Otherwise, even if you put it up now, it will be messed up by the fans of that anchor."
Liu Guoxing also nodded in agreement.
"Teacher Fang, do you still remember the account of that anchor?" Xiao Xiao took out her mobile phone and found the account of that anchor through Fang Zhiyang's description and memory.
Click on his homepage, and you will find many popular science videos explaining the history of antiques. Click on any one of them and you will see him talking about an unfolded scroll picture.
Wearing a dark blue retro robe and holding an elegant folding fan in his hand for decoration, he said, "Just looking at the level of detail in the landscape painting, it can be said that every detail is exquisite and every brushstroke is sharp."
He waved the folding fan in his hand. "Ink has five colors: thick, light, burnt, dry, and wet. Look at the texture of the mountains. It is obvious that it has been passed down from ancient times. It is definitely not something that people today can imitate. If they can imitate it, they must be masters of calligraphy and painting. The flowing patterns of ink and the overlapping of light and shadow are all extremely delicate and natural."
Yang Ye was sitting next to Xiao Xiao. When she heard the chatter coming from the phone, she leaned in to take a look. "You're lying!"
"What?" Xiao Xiao looked up, and a strand of hair just slipped from behind her ear, and she tucked it back.
Yang Ye pointed to the spot on the screen that had just been amplified by the host, "If you're going to deliberately make it look old, you should make it a little more realistic. This color is obviously an imitation of an antique. Even if the real thing is well preserved, there will be irregular yellow marks on the surface. This one has nothing, it's just to fool those laymen who know nothing and grab a gimmick.
Zhou Yiheng, who was standing opposite him, also came over to look at the screen. When he saw the picture, he muttered, "This isn't even as good as the one the boss's father drew."
The three of them looked at Zhou Yiheng at the same time, and Li Cheng even accidentally touched the mineral water bottle next to him.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Yiheng felt uncomfortable being stared at.
Li Cheng patted his arm, nodded and said in admiration: "Xiao Zhou, you have good taste."
Zhou Yiheng was even more puzzled, "What does that mean?"
Yang Ye coughed and gave Li Cheng a warning look.
"Nothing." Li Cheng scratched his head, cleared his throat, and abruptly changed the subject. He continued, "Is this anchor just cheating?"
"It's not completely deceptive," Liu Guoxing said, clicking on a few more videos. One featured bronze artifacts, and it sounded completely accurate to him. The host used technical terminology to explain the structure of copper rust. "The authentic green rust is layered. The outermost layer is peacock blue, and the inner layer is jujube-skin red..."
"The shapes of bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou dynasties often embody the design wisdom of the people of the time. Take this bronze vessel, for example. It's a classic bronze color, and it's not just a dull, monotonous hue. It reveals rich layers of depth under the light. Let's look at the patterns on the tripod: the Taotie beast, with its teeth bared and claws dancing, is a symbol of the ancients' use of exaggerated forms. Culturally speaking, this symbolizes the desire to ward off evil, avoid disaster, and protect the safety of their families."
The host took two steps and continued, "The bottom of the bronze vessel is in a tripod-like shape. The three legs are placed in a way that we all know that triangles are stable. In many architectural structures we have seen in the past, triangular structures have been used to resist external forces. Now, back to the surface of this bronze vessel, the edges of the lines are clear and sharp, without the slightest blur or frizz. It must have been formed by a knife blade, pressing against the edge of the bronze vessel like this, cutting it down in one go."
Liu Guoxing paused, "Right here. Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties were generally cast using the ceramic mold method. How could the blades be so finely polished? Authentic bronzes should have subtle mold line seams visible along the edges."
Xiao Xiao looked at the place pointed out by Liu Guoxing and asked, "What is this? Is there some truth or some lies?"
"He's probably mixing the real and the fake together. In the same video, some things are true, and some are false, like this one." Liu Guoxing clicked on another video, this time showing a celadon vase. "He wrote on the cover that this one is from the Song Dynasty official kiln, but the glaze and crazing are clearly from the late Tang Dynasty. He's mixing characteristics from different dynasties together, and speeding up his presentation, so the average viewer won't be able to tell."
Li Cheng quickly flipped through all of the streamer's videos. When he got to the first few, he suddenly noticed something strange. He showed his phone to the others and said, "Look, his early videos were very rigorous. He still marked the source and checked the references. But his recent videos, like Liu Guoxing just said, deliberately include a few subtle errors."
Xiao Xiao said: "First, establish your image with a professional attitude, and after gaining the audience's trust, slowly add your own personal opinions."
"Boiling a frog in warm water" Yang Ye pointed out directly.
Liu Guoxing added: "He is very smart. He put these truths that can easily attract the audience's attention and quickly steal the trust of the audience into the above videos."
Li Cheng's face grew increasingly gloomy. "For this little bit of popularity and traffic, even the most basic bottom line is gone."
Yang Ye sneered: "I've made money, what bottom line do I need?"
Xiao Xiao swiped her phone and asked, "Can we report this?"
"It's very difficult," Zhou Yiheng said. "I have a friend who works on this platform. He told me before that if a misleading video appears and is reported, the platform will at most remove the reported video, which has little impact on the account itself, especially for an account like his with a large fan base. Unless it causes a large-scale public opinion storm or crosses the red line, the platform will not intervene at all."
"We still need to collect evidence first," Liu Guoxing said after thinking, "mark all the mistakes he made and make a detailed comparison file."
Li Cheng followed up, "I'll ask my friends in the media to see if I can use a professional platform."
Xiao Xiao disagreed, "By the time you find the evidence, Teacher Fang's story might have been forgotten. How long can the current internet buzz last? One month, two months. Who will remember it then?"
Zhou Yiheng seemed to have thought of something else. He looked at Yang Ye and tentatively called out, "Boss."
Yang Ye sat there, her hands beside her, her fingers unconsciously stroking the corner of her clothes. Zhou Yiheng's voice made her react, and she slowly turned her head, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yiheng said: "I do have a way to solve Teacher Fang's problem in a short time, but I need your help."
"Me?" Yang Ye frowned.
"Yeah," Zhou Yiheng nodded quickly. "In the era of short videos, what matters is popularity."
Xiao Xiao suddenly understood, "You mean..."
"He rose to fame by creating hype, so let's use even more hype to stir up this matter."
The two of them were talking back and forth. Yang Ye looked at them in confusion, still not understanding what this had to do with her. She asked, "What do you want me to do? Explain it clearly."
"Boss, go and uncover his affairs."
"Me?" Yang Ye was stunned.
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