Chapter 137: 136 – Authentic?

The first thing Li Yun did in Imperial City was visit Little Yan.

He looked brighter than before.

"Big brother!"  He cried out, jumping out of his room to greet Li Yun.

Li Yun arrived to Xia Guying's personal villa. As the president of the airline, she was at work, leaving Little Yan with all the maids to assist him.

"Hey kid, you look better," Li Yun lifted Little Yan up.

His body and dantian was stronger than before. It looked like Little Yan should be able to live healthily for a while. Although, it looked like the kid was gaining a lot of weight.

"Are you exercising?" Asked Li Yun.

"I play with my friends at the playground?" Responded Little Yan.

"Playing with friends is good, but playing on a mobile phone while sitting on the swing isn't considered exercise."

Little Yan's mouth opened into a wide. "Big brother, are you spying on me!? How do you know? Even my mother doesn't know."

It wasn't that difficult. In the course of 3 months, he gained 10 kg. A lot was natural growth, but a good portion was fat.

"I'm not going to tell you to exercise, that's on you," said Li Yun. "But if you weigh too much, you won't be able to race and beat your friends."

"Oh? Is that why I kept on losing? Help me train?"

"It doesn't take much. Do you see your garden? It looks like your gardener takes very good care of it. How about you help him water every other day?"

Little Yan thought it was doable until he tried it one day. He never knew how big his garden was.

After seeing Little Yan, he left to visit the Imperial City Museum.

“Li Yun! You are here,” Peng Shi greeted Li Yun as he arrived in the lobby of the office building lobby associated with the Imperial City Museum. “Master Yaoshi is waiting for you.”

Li Yun followed Peng Shi as they passed through security. There were guards and cameras everywhere around the museum, either to prevent people from touching the items or to keep watch of potential thieves.

“The painting is stored in the back area,” said Peng Shi. “We had invited all the leading experts in the field, but so far, it’s still fifty-fifty between people who think it’s real and people who think it’s fake.”

Walking into the back room, the air was cool and the room was without any windows. The sun and humidity could easily damage antiques, so a lot of the internal storage rooms were designed without windows. It also prevented potential robbery.

Li Yun saw Elder Fu Yaoshi, and four other people in the room. The two in the corner were armed guards, while the other two looked to be authenticators from the museum. They were currently in the middle of a discussion.

“Master  Yaoshi, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but treasure hunters, in general, are more like hobbyists,” said a woman. “I don’t believe it will do us good to start inviting them to authenticate a work of art.

Lao Fu Yaoshi returned a cheeky smile, he loved to show off his new discovery. Li Yun was a goldmine in his eyes. 

“Little Rui, you will be impressed if you see his calligraphy,” Lao Fu Yaoshi replied in a cheery tone.

“Not only a treasure hunter, but a copyist?” asked Ms. Rui.

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“Not a copyist. Have you ever seen a forgery so good that it was more real than the original?”

No wonder her master was in such a good mood, he was a calligraphy enthusiastic. Anyone who could replicate the intent and thoughts of the old masters would be placed on a pedestal.

They turned to look at the two arriving guests and Fu Yaoshi introduced everyone. Mr. Luo was the museum curator and Ms. Rui was the professor of archeology and Chinese Arts for the Imperial City Arts University. They were both curious as to why Lao Fu Yaoshi had invited such a young man to look at the piece.

“I rushed over to Yide after Lao Dun told me that Little Yun had found the calligraphy of Dong Qichang,” Elder Fu Yaoshi narrated. “He had been able to find several artifacts just by scrolling through the flea market.”

“Mr. Li, do you have any formal training in antiquity?” Ms. Rui asked.

“I have studied calligraphy under a local master,” Li Yun replied. Did having a girlfriend in archeology count? Probably not.

Ms. Rui nodded, seemingly more understanding than before. If he was taught calligraphy, then it was possible to use that training to search for antiques. However, even with that knowledge, she didn’t understand how it was possible for him to authenticate a painting, especially when most of the experts failed to.

“Do you make a living treasure hunting?” Ms. Rui asked.

“Sort of, but I also sell calligraphy on Teebee,” replied Li Yun. Would it be odd if he told them he was a surgeon? It wasn’t really relevant to their discussion, so Li Yun left it out.

“Then let’s take a look at the painting?” Ms. Rui signaled Mr. Luo to unravel the scroll.

Mr. Luo, while wearing blue latex blues, removed the protective covering, and carefully unrolled the large calligraphy spanning out 1 meter long over the counter. Li Yun gasped at the sheer beauty of the piece. Peng Shi and Fu Yaoshi were also in a daze, despite having seen the piece several times already.

Ms. Rui was an antiquity enthusiast, but she wasn’t at the level of craze. Pure calligraphy without any paintings wasn't her interest. She preferred ink paintings with beautifully written poetry. But Zhao Mengfu’s calligraphy had that effect on people who were calligraphy enthusiasts. He was known as the Master of the Water Spirits Palace, born in 1254 during the Yuan dynasty. His calligraphy of the Heart Sutra was sold for 190 million yuan.

Li Yun had studied Zhao Mengfu’s copy of Tao Te Ching extensively when he was young. The one in front of him looked like an exact replica of the Tao Te Ching that Zhao Mengfu had written in lower regular script. Out of all the calligraphers, Zhao Mengfu was considered one of the top four regular script masters.

Zhao Mengfu’s calligraphy was clean and neat, with square and round edges, giving people the impression of hardness and softness. The structure of the characters were wide and strong, showing off the righteousness of the content. Yet, in the center of the characters had soft strokes, showing the elegance of each meaning. The interplay of hard and soft created a mysterious effect on the reader, characterizing the mysterious wisdom behind Laozi’s Tao Te Ching. 

On just visual inspection, it really seems like an authentic piece from Zhao Mengfu. Li Yun could understand why so many were having problems discerning the authenticity.

“We were able to test the paper, and it is authentic from the Yuan dynasty,” Mr. Luo explained. “However, we did not want to test the ink as it would ruin the piece. From under the microscope, it appears to be authentic ink strokes. Since the court had appointed the museum as the rightful owner, we plan to release news coverage and create a grand opening showcasing the piece along with other calligraphy collections in our archive.”

“If you plan to attribute this piece to Zhao Mengfu, you would have already, what is preventing you?” asked Li Yun.

Mr. Luo nodded. “We are having a disagreement with our insurance provider. We want to have 200 million coverage on the piece, but Mr. Bing from Aikang Insurance Group, would not agree to the coverage stating that it had an unclear origin and potentially a fake.”

Li Yun nodded. Art insurance was risky business, especially if they were covering for a piece of art that could be a fake. 

Returning his gaze to the piece, the replica wasn’t the same as the ones in the museum. However, it had the same intent and thought as the original calligrapher. Was it possible for people to copy intent and thought? Yes, Li Yun was one of them, so why couldn’t other people do the same?

The only problem was, the forger's frame of mind and thought must be very similar to the original in order to forge this. It required a lot of time, studying, and constant practice to reach such a level of skill.

Li Yun wanted to touch the piece, but was also forced to wear gloves. Luckily no one told him he couldn’t touch the painting with his elbow.  He brushed his elbow briefly near the edge. A sudden flash of images displayed in his head.

A skinny young man, pale and without any facial hair, painted the piece. His movement was lethargic, but his hands were steady and willful, writing each word as though he knew the texts by heart. The surrounding was calm, a windowless room, lit by a simple candle.

Near him was a monk that Li Yun recognized, "Lufa?"

Staring back at the piece, Li Yun could definitely confirm that this was a fake.

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