Reborn Treasure Appraiser: I Really Didn’t Want to Be an Expert

Chapter 7 Buddha Statue
When it comes to cultural relics, the art comes first and the fun comes second.

So don’t be surprised when you come across any kind of items in the antique market.

What Xiao Yuzhu found strange was the price: urban workers earned 1,200 to 1,000 yuan a month, while migrant workers earned even less, averaging 800 to 900 yuan a month.

Lin Sicheng spent four hundred yuan to buy a broken feather duster?

After looking at it for a long time, she blinked and said, "Senior Sister, this thing is very old?"

Li Zhen took a closer look and said, "The patina is very thick, so it must be quite old."

No matter how old it is, it's just a feather duster, how can it be worth four hundred?

After seeing Lin Sicheng pay, Xiao Yuzhu stared at the duster and said, "Lin Sicheng, you are quite rich, aren't you?"

Are you quite good at yin and yang?

Lin Sicheng smiled: "Not bad!"

Xiao Yuzhu was surprised by his rudeness and choked. "Why did you buy this?"

"Sweep the kang!"

Xiao Yuzhu was stunned and didn't know how to respond: You used to be very cool, why are you so funny all of a sudden?
Li Zhen raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.

Another customer came to the stall, and the stall owner quickly put on a smile: "Boss Chen, Teacher Sheng."

In order to avoid blocking other people's business, Li Zhen and Xiao Yuzhu made way.

Lin Sicheng also turned around and narrowed his eyes again.

There were two middle-aged men standing in front of the wood carving stall, one of whom he actually knew: a well-known collector in Xijing and an expert in lacquerware identification.

He has good vision and skills, but his reputation is not very good: he often does things like "knowing the true and distinguishing the false" and "knowing the false and distinguishing the true".

It seemed that Li Zhen also knew him and was whispering to Xiao Yuzhu.

When they reached the stall, the man in the suit pointed to a wooden sculpture and said, "Teacher Sheng, that's the one!"

The stall owner hurriedly handed it over: "Teacher Sheng, please judge!"

Teacher Sheng nodded and took it.

Lin Sicheng also took a look: a longan-carved Guan Gong statue, about twenty centimeters tall. The shape was very rough, and the "Xiangyuan School" axe-cutting technique was obvious at a glance.

But the wood grain is clear, round and delicate.

Looking closely, it is purple-red all over, very dark in color, yet with a hint of gray.

Generally speaking, wood carvings will only have this gray and "old" feeling if they have been passed down for more than a hundred years, but this one is definitely not like that.

First, it is too bright, second, the wood grain is too dark, and third, the gray is too light. It is obvious that it has been aged.

Teacher Sheng should be able to see it.

Sure enough, Teacher Sheng first looked, then touched, then knocked, and then smelled.

Finally, he smeared some saliva on the wood carving, tasted it with his tongue, and frowned suddenly: "When did you find it?"

The stall owner quickly responded: "I bought it when my father was still alive. It's almost ten years old!"

"Oh~ the thing is okay!"

Teacher Sheng said it was okay, but returned the wood carving.

Mr. Chen's expression changed: Something is wrong?

The stall owner was stunned at first, then quickly forced a smile: "Why don't you take a look at the others, such as this Guanyin statue and this female Buddha statue. I bought them both from the snowy area. I asked someone to examine them, and they are at least from the Ming Dynasty!"

Teacher Sheng took a look at the bottles, shaking his head at each one. "This one is too new, and the smaller one is quite old, but it's not Tibetan!"

Suddenly, the stall owner's face dropped.

Lin Sicheng held back his laughter: You didn’t succeed the first time, and you’re trying to fool them a second time. It would be strange if they didn’t choose you.

The lines on the Guanyin statue are as dense as spider webs, the color is warped and burnt, and it looks fake no matter how you look at it.

The one without clothes is quite authentic, but it is clearly written in Mongolian. Why do you insist that it was found in the snowy area?
Expert Sheng just has a bad reputation, not bad eyesight, right?
Hey, no clothes on?

Or Mongolian? Lin Sicheng's eyes lit up. After the stall owner sent the two away with a sullen look on his face, he pointed and said, "Boss, bring me that Buddha statue."

Suddenly, the stall owner's eyes lit up: "Which one?"

If someone dares to buy a broken feather duster for 400 yuan, wouldn’t the Buddha statue be sold to him for tens of thousands?

"It's the small female Buddha statue that you just pointed out to Teacher Sheng!"

"Hey, great..." the stall owner responded, carefully holding it over. "Young man, let me tell you, this is a genuine find from LS Red Mountain. So don't underestimate it because it's a ripped piece. It'll fetch at least hundreds of thousands of dollars if it's auctioned..."

Lin Sicheng just laughed cheerfully, looked over it twice, and raised a finger: "One thousand!"

The boss looked embarrassed, and before he could even open his mouth, Lin Sicheng shoved the wood carving into his hands and said, "If you don't want to sell it, forget it!"

“This is a Tantric Buddha statue!”

It is indeed a Tantric Buddha statue, but the stall owner was just making it up, he stumbled upon it by mistake. Otherwise, such a thing would not be put up on the stall.

Lin Sicheng shook his head and turned to leave. The stall owner grabbed his arm and said, "Hey, young man... one thousand is one thousand!"

Lin Sicheng took the statue and took out his wallet.

The stall owner took the money and smiled happily: "Young man, take a look at this big bottle!"

Lin Sicheng didn't even raise his head, and lowered his voice: "Roasted!"

The stall owner was stunned: Teacher Sheng just said it was new?
The stall owner was also very sure: Teacher Sheng was just guessing, but he didn't know why it was new.

This young man is so good, he said it right away.
I wanted to argue, but I didn't have the guts. The stall owner forced a smile and said, "You've got to be kidding me. Take a look at this Guan Gong statue. It's definitely over a hundred years old. I've had it for almost ten years."

Lin Sicheng looked helpless: Are you really so persistent that you want to pull a sheep to death?
He sighed, "How dare you brag? If you take the Longyan Carving north, how could it not explode?"

The stall owner was completely stunned, his smile frozen on his face: Really?
Longan is a type of dried jujube, which has firm wood and fine grain, making it particularly suitable for carving.

However, because the south is wet and the north is dry, when longan carvings are brought to the north, the temperature and humidity must be controlled, otherwise they will burst within two years.

Look at the bottle under your feet: let alone bursting, there is not even a crack from top to bottom.

But I just opened my mouth and said: I bought it more than ten years ago... I just leave it in the open air like this every day, it must have exploded a long time ago?

He was shocked and suspicious, and looked up suddenly: Where is the shadow of the young man?

……

"What did you say to the boss to scare him like that?"

"I told him my grandfather was a professor of archaeology at Xi'an University, so he wouldn't lie to me!"

"Then you still fell for it?"

Xiao Yuzhu pointed at the female Buddha statue in his hand and said, "That expert Sheng didn't even bother to look at it, and you're spending a thousand yuan?"

“This is value for money!”

"Where's the value?"

Lin Sicheng thought for a long time: I can’t just say, I have excellent eyesight and this thing is definitely valuable?

"At least it's quite unique. I'll put it on my bedside table when I get home, and I can take a look at it whenever I want!"

"Sigh~"

Xiao Yuzhu drew out the words with a look of disgust on her face.

It is indeed quite unique: she is completely naked, with only a ribbon hanging around her neck.

The carving is also very good, with a protruding front and a curved back. If you turn it over and look at it from the back, you can see the folds, wrinkles, whiskers, and strands... It is so lifelike and vivid...

The key is the expression: solemn yet with a hint of temptation, solemn yet with a hint of lust...

She curled her lips: "Instead of watching this, you might as well watch a movie."

Lin Sicheng was stunned for a moment.

(End of this chapter)