chapter 37 Mysteries of ancient paintings

“Exactly, the rules of Xiguan Antique City aren't played this way. This only means that you didn't have the skills to identify the fake. If everyone acted like you, wouldn't the rules be a mess?” “Exactly, this shouldn't be blamed on Mr. Wang.” For a moment, other antique shop owners all sided with Fatty Wang, pointing fingers at Leo Zhang, Junko Ye, and her friend, Fred Lin. “You guys…” Leo Zhang's face turned red with embarrassment and he became emotional. These people were selling fake paintings with such righteousness. Junko Ye was so angry that she cursed loudly. However, Jared Wang and the other antique shop owners didn't care at all. It wasn't the first time something like this happened. In the antique world, there were rules. They could only blame Leo Zhang for his lack of expertise, for being deceived. “Dad, Mom.” Noah Jiang rode over on an electric bike, squeezed through the crowd and asked, “Noah, why did you come?” “Mm, Cindy called me and asked me to come and mediate.” Noah Jiang looked at Leo Zhang and the graceful Fred Lin standing beside him. “He's my son-in-law, Noah Jiang. He was the one who identified the painting as a fake,” Leo Zhang introduced Noah to Fred Lin. “Oh…” Fred Lin looked surprised, sizing up Noah Jiang a few times. Noah nodded slightly to him in greeting. “What’s there to mediate? What use is it having a loser like you here?” Junko Ye turned to scold Noah, then pointed at the painting shop owner Jared Wang and others, shouting angrily, “All of you, don't think this matter is over. Let me tell you guys, I don't care about getting the money back. But you sold a fake painting to my husband. You must give us an explanation. Don’t think the Ye Family is easily bullied.” “The Ye Family!” Fatty Wang and the other antique shop owners were slightly taken aback when they heard "Ye Family." “What, scared now?” Junko Ye said smugly, shooting a proud and cold smile at Jared Wang and his crew. “Haha…” But the next second, barely after Junko Ye's moment of pride, Fatty Wang and the other shop owners burst out laughing. Jared Wang sneered at Junko Ye and coldly said, “You're not from our antique world. Even if the Ye Family is influential in Yulin City, so what? I say this painting is real, so it is. Stop making a scene here, the Antique City has rules. We don’t allow such behavior here.” “That's right, let everyone judge. Who does this? You buy a painting and return it the next day claiming it's fake. Could it be that you deliberately brought a fake painting to slander us?” “Exactly, there's no such logic.” Other shop owners echoed in agreement. Even some bystanders and other collectors felt that Leo Zhang and his group were in the wrong and watched coldly from the side. Especially since Junko Ye used the Ye Family's influence to pressure them, which made people despise and mock her more. “I don’t care, you owe me an explanation.” Junko Ye was furious, pointing at Fatty Wang and the others, refusing to let the matter go. Even Noah Jiang, who had come over, seeing his mother-in-law causing such a ruckus, making Leo Zhang and Fred Lin the center of attention and gossip, felt that the situation was embarrassing. Noah Jiang naturally couldn't say anything; he wasn’t going to foolishly step into the line of fire from his angered mother-in-law. Instead, his gaze settled on some antique paintings hanging at the entrance of the shop. He looked intently at one that depicted eight landscapes. “A typical eight-landscape painting.” Fred Lin came over, looked at the painting, and shook his head, saying, “Although it's old, the brushwork is messy and the layout is lacking. It only imitates 30% of the original but lacks 70% of its essence. It's not worth collecting.” “Yes, I don’t know much about paintings,” Noah Jiang turned and said with a smile to Fred Lin. Fred Lin laughed, “You could tell at a glance that the painting is a copy. This shows you have good observation skills. Are you interested in learning more?” Noah Jiang reached out to touch the painting and ignored Fred Lin. Turning to the owner of the art gallery, Jared Wang, he asked, “Boss, how much is this painting?” “You’re talking about this painting? This is from the Republic era. Although it's a reproduction, it's not cheap. It's at least ten thousand yuan.” Jared Wang could immediately tell that Noah was a novice. “Ten thousand? That's a bit pricey.” Noah Jiang frowned. Right now, he couldn't even afford a thousand yuan. He had previously treated Alfie Wang and Oscar's illnesses, spending thousands of yuan on rent. Now, he was broke. “What are you trying to do, Noah? Do you want to buy their painting? Are you deliberately trying to infuriate me?” Junko Ye pointed at Noah Jiang and scolded him irritably. “This painting isn’t worth buying,” Fred Lin, who stood by the side, also shook his head in agreement. “Noah, don't buy it. Let’s just go home.” Leo Zhang pulled at Noah Jiang. Feeling embarrassed by the pointing and gossiping of the crowd, he felt he couldn’t save face any longer. “Alright, there’s no need for you all to make a scene here. It’s not good for anyone. I’ll just gift this painting to you. Take it and leave,” Jared Wang said as he packed up the painting, handed it to Noah, and urged them to leave. “Let's go, let's go.” Without paying much attention to other matters, Leo Zhang, taking along Junko Ye and Fred Lin, decided to leave, knowing that they were in the wrong. Lingering would only bring more embarrassment. “Wait, boss.” However, Noah Jiang, holding the painting, asked Jared Wang, “Are you sure you’re giving this to us?” “I said I would, didn't I? You young people, really. Just take the painting and go,” Jared Wang replied, somewhat irritably. No one knew the value of this painting better than Jared Wang. He knew it was a Republic era reproduction without much collectible value. Thus, it wasn't expensive. By gifting it to Noah, he hoped to end the commotion. “Alright, boss, can I have a table and some water, please?” Noah Jiang asked, holding the painting. “What are you trying to do?” Jared Wang was puzzled. Fred Lin and Leo Zhang were also stunned, wondering what Noah was up to. “I want to verify if this painting is worth its price!” Noah said with a smile, holding the painting. “Isn’t it just a reproduction of the Eight Great Landscapes from the Republic era? How do you intend to verify it?” “Heh, this young man couldn’t possibly be thinking of testing for a hidden layer in the painting, could he?” An experienced collector remarked with a chuckle upon hearing Noah's intention to use water to test the painting. “It's impossible. If this painting had a hidden layer, I would have noticed long ago. How could he possibly find it?” Jared Wang was certain, giving Noah a skeptical glance. Fred Lin shook his head and smiled. He had also looked at the painting earlier and hadn’t noticed any hidden layer. “Noah, let’s go home. We can check it at home.” Leo Zhang felt that Noah was messing around. He wanted to leave to avoid further embarrassment. “Dad, hold this for a moment. I’ll go buy a bottle of water.” Noah Jiang handed the painting to Leo Zhang and quickly ran to a neighbouring store to buy a bottle of mineral water. He quickly returned and asked Leo Zhang to spread out the painting. The other gallery owners, bystanders, Fred Lin, and Junko Ye watched as Noah Jiang unscrewed the cap and poured the water directly onto the painting. When the water touched the ink painting, the Eight Great Landscapes instantly spread like spilled ink. Fred Lin, Jared Wang, and others were taken aback, staring intently as the ink spread, slowly revealing another painting beneath. “What's going on? How did it escalate to this?”