Chapter 175: Chapter 148: Three-Year Sentence, Astronomical Compensation! (Subscribe Please)

“What’s the matter?”

Inside the venue, Youyou sat next to Lin Chuan, noticing something off on Lin Chuan’s face and asked with concern.

“Let me have another look.”

Lin Chuan’s gaze fell upon the large screen inside the venue, which displayed the full view of the ‘Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase’.

The Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase, petite and exquisite, dignified in shape, smooth in lines, the vase body delicate and translucent, carved with a beautifully intricate tangled branch lotus pattern, clever in composition, perfectly combining the elegance of the lotus with the lively essence of the tangled branches, resulting in a rich and vibrant flower pattern.

Just from the appearance and decoration, the jade vase did not look like a replica.

But Lin Chuan had handed over this one previously, and his understanding of it was much deeper, similar to the way Editor-in-chief Zhang Yixing understood the Douli Bowl.

The pits one falls into always leave a lasting impression.

An unrequited love, the moonlight of one’s youth, engraves itself into the memory, unable to be erased.

The difficulty of this jade vase lay in its craftsmanship.

Its walls were extremely thin, the thinnest part being about one millimeter, like the wing of a cicada, making it challenging to produce and difficult to preserve.

Because of its cicada-wing-thinness, the light transmittance of its body was excellent, causing the entire thin-walled jade vase to display a unique interplay of light and shadow under illumination.

To replicate it and present the appearance of having weathered hundreds of years, one would need to soak a completely carved modern tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase in Chinese medicine for the aging process.

But once this was done, it would alter the unique light and shadow formed by its natural patina.

That was the most challenging part.

—The interplay of light and shadow.

Lin Chuan could not replicate this effect because its controllability was almost nonexistent. No matter how closely one imitated it, there would always be a difference in the transmission of light and shadow, with virtually no way to reproduce it perfectly.

The ‘Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase’ shown on the screen had exactly this issue.

Of course!

Aside from Lin Chuan, there were hardly any others who could spot this problem.

“Maybe it’s an issue with the projection. I’ll take a closer look in person later.”

Lin Chuan muttered under his breath.

“Lin Chuan, what did you say was wrong with this pot?” Youyou blinked and asked with a smile.

Lin Chuan took a deep breath and explained, “This is a jade vase. During this handover ceremony, it’s referred to as the ‘Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase,’ the Suzhou jade carving thin-walled craftsmanship. Right, it’s the same process as the thin-walled jade pot that ‘escaped from the British Museum’.”

Youyou suddenly understood, “No wonder the name sounded so familiar.”

The handover ceremony was quickly completed.

A full 27 cultural relics that had returned from overseas were displayed in various parts of the venue for the attendees to view and admire.

Inside the venue, the majority of the people were masters and experts from the antiques circle, well-known collectors. Once the 27 cultural relics were open for viewing, they all rushed to ‘see these relics’.

Old Bai didn’t want to hinder Lin Chuan and Youyou, so he went to appraise them on his own.

As the crowd surged, Youyou followed Lin Chuan towards the ‘Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase’.

The exhibition area for the thin-walled jade vase was crowded.

Because, among the 27 repatriated relics, its value was high enough to rank within the top three.

Youyou held tightly to Lin Chuan’s hand like an obedient little cat, eagerly following by Lin Chuan’s side.

The ‘Qing dynasty Chinese tangled branch pattern thin-walled jade vase’ was placed in a columnar glass cabinet, with two security guards stationed beside it. Visitors could observe from a distance of 50 centimeters.

“Don’t crowd, please don’t crowd!”

“Visitors in the back, please don’t rush!”

“The relic is very precious, no photography allowed! Do not touch!”

There were also six security personnel maintaining order among the viewers.

In reality.

These so-called masters and experts of antiques, along with individual collectors, did not exhibit high standards of behavior, not showing much sense of orderly conduct. Instead, most of them had a fervent look in their eyes, and many were not shy about cutting in line to get to the front.

Lin Chuan and Youyou queued up honestly.

Finally willing to leave, the people in the front moved away and those at the back surged forward. After waiting for several turns, it was finally Lin Chuan’s turn to get to the front, and the exquisite features of the ‘thin-walled jade vase’ came into Lin Chuan’s view.

“It’s so beautiful,” Youyou exclaimed, looking at the thin-walled jade vase in the display case.

“If you had Qinghai jade, I could make one for you,” Lin Chuan said with a smile.

“You really know how?”

Youyou blinked and smiled.

Lin Chuan touched his nose and muttered, “I should be able to succeed this time.”

“Writer Lin, we meet again.”

At that moment.

A familiar voice came from beside Lin Chuan.

The speaker was none other than Hu Shu.

“Mr. Hu, what a coincidence.”

Lin Chuan turned his head to look, slightly surprised, and smiled politely.

Youyou, on the other hand, was seriously admiring the thin-walled jade vase.

“Do you have a particular passion for this artifact, too?”

Hu Shu pushed up his glasses, pointed at the thin-wall jade vase, and asked with a smile.

Lin Chuan nodded and replied with a smile, “Indeed, I’m quite interested, wanting to see this cicada-wing-thin body and its wonderful craftsmanship.”

“Mr. Lin has a good eye for quality,” Hu Shu smiled and began addressing Lin Chuan as ‘Mr. Lin.’ “Why not appraise it for yourself?”

Lin Chuan raised his right hand and gestured lightly, “I’m merely here to admire, I wouldn’t dare to comment recklessly.”

“I’ve appraised this jade vase again and again but can’t determine whether it belongs to the mid or late Qing dynasty. Could Mr. Lin help me out of this confusion?” Hu Shu looked toward Lin Chuan and smiled softly.

Lin Chuan looked up at Hu Shu and replied with a smile, “My level is not high, my judgment is prone to large errors.”

“But by all means, speak your mind.”

“Firstly, we can rule out the early Qing dynasty,” Lin Chuan said half-jokingly.