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

Chapter 71 There is no way to reason
The last time she was mending the sunflower plate, Shang Yan had an illusion: once Lin Sicheng put on the white coat, he seemed like a different person, very stylish.

This style doesn't mean that he is handsome, but that he is good-looking... Of course, he is indeed good-looking.

Rather, it refers to the calmness that comes from the heart and the confidence that penetrates into the bones.

It felt like Lin Sicheng was at home when he entered the laboratory. No matter how advanced the machines were, or how complicated or difficult the experiments were, they were all trivial to him.

What is even more difficult to understand is Lin Sicheng's proficiency in repairing sunflower-mouthed plates: he only does it in one go each time, as if he has repaired a basin like this a thousand times?

But to be honest, let alone putting it into the furnace six times and applying blue six times, even if it is cold-adjusting the glaze, Shang Yan can't do it in one go without any error.

Today was even faster. Before even starting to adjust the glaze, Lin Sicheng made her feel it again:
More than a hundred eyelets in less than an hour?

More than seventy rivets, just over an hour?

It’s annoying to keep using one person as an example, but Shang Yan really can’t find a more suitable person: If it’s Professor Lin, how long will these two steps take?

It’s a little less, one day!
If you give it to her, at least two days!
Don't be skeptical: the porcelain mending process isn't overly complicated; the difference lies in whether it's coarse or fine. If this were a clay pot, she and Professor Lin could still finish it in two hours.

But the problem is, this is a porcelain artifact, and it is a white glaze glutinous rice body with a glaze and body that together are only five millimeters. If you are not careful, tens of thousands of dollars will be lost.

If you don't want to lose money, you can only take your time and do your job carefully.

But Lin Sicheng gives people the impression that he is just mending a clay pot, and he focuses on doing it as quickly as possible.

The problem is, the quality of his work is no different from that of an expert who took more than a week to do it?

This is quite weird...

After the rivets are nailed, the next step is to apply glue and fill the gaps.

Li Zhen can do all these things well, no need to explain further.

Lin Sicheng turned around and started making gold foil.

At 0.5mm, the gold sheet is still far from being considered “foil” and is at most a gold plate. It still needs to be hammered to make it thinner.

Lin Sicheng's ideal thickness is 0.2: one is to save materials, and the other is to reduce the weight of the gold jewelry so that it fits tightly with the porcelain.

But it can’t be too thin, as it will easily deform.

Feng Lin had been idle before, so Lin Sicheng asked her to heat it up in advance, and the furnace temperature was always controlled at 600 degrees, so that the gold flakes remained dark red.

After quickly changing into protective gear, Lin Sicheng retrieved the red-hot gold sheet and secured it to the anvil. With a flat-headed hammer the size of an egg, each blow sent a shower of sparks flying.

Suddenly, the laboratory was filled with the sound of "clang clang clang clang", accompanied by a faint smell of burnt iron, as if one had entered a blacksmith's shop.

After hammering it once and tempering it, it was about one-third thinner. After hammering it again, the palm-sized gold piece became as big as a washbasin.

Holding it in your hand, it flutters like a page of paper.

Wang Qizhi secretly praised them, finally understanding Shang Yan and Hao Jun's feelings a little:

First, it is fast. The hammer in Lin Sicheng's hand basically never stopped, and he hammered thousands of times in one breath. How much physical strength does this require?
Give him at least seven or eight breaks.

The second is stability: one anvil after another, one hammer after another, just like measured with a ruler. The hammered gold sheets are like spread out fish scales: one row after another, one line after another.

The more Wang Qizhi looked at it, the more strange his expression became: This piece of gold can be used directly in the museum and stuck on the statue of a military general. Who dares to say that this is not ancient golden scale armor?

It’s no exaggeration: without more than ten years of accumulation, don’t even think about achieving this.

But ten years ago, Lin Sicheng was still wearing open-crotch pants...isn't that a bit out of line?

Shang Yan narrowed her eyes: Does Wang Qizhi have this skill?
There should be some, but definitely not to this level of proficiency.

"Professor Wang, if it were you, how many days would it take to hammer someone to this extent?"

Wang Qizhi rolled his eyes: "Two or three hours?" Haha... Mr. Wang, do you still have any shame?
The reason is simple: as time goes by, the temperature of the gold sheet continues to drop. Even if the force of each hammer is the same, the force exerted by the hammer to stretch and deform the gold sheet is constantly decreasing.

But from beginning to end, the scale-shaped patterns hammered out by Lin Sicheng were of the same size and spacing, which shows how precise his understanding of the ductility of gold and his control over temperature and strength were.
So, even though it was just a thin piece of gold, if Wang Qizhi wanted to take down the "sky", she would dare to take Wang Qizhi's surname.

Perhaps thinking that Shang Yan would say this, Wang Qizhi took two steps to the side without saying a word.

Shang Yan had a sneer on her face and was about to make a sarcastic remark when Lin Sicheng put the gold sheet back into the furnace.

After burning it for a while, Lin Sicheng took out the gold sheet and started hammering it, this time using a flat anvil and an iron-clad wooden hammer.

The force was much smaller, so the gold sheet did not become thinner, but with a crisp sound, the place where the hammer was hit became smooth like a mirror.

Watching the fish scales gradually disappear, Wang Qizhi sighed secretly: I should have brought a camera earlier...

After hammering, while the gold was still warm, Lin Sicheng picked up a pair of scissors and cut the gold sheets into thin strips as wide as chopsticks.

When he asked Feng Lin to change the chisel, Wang Qizhi realized that Lin Sicheng was ready to start engraving in one go.

Awesome boy, even I, the teacher, don’t dare to do this...

Seeing Wang Qizhi's shocked expression, Hao Jun leaned over quietly and asked, "Without any composition or layout design, he just carved like that?"

Logically, it shouldn't be possible, but when it comes to Lin Sicheng, sometimes it's really impossible to reason with him.

Regarding the fish scale mentioned earlier: Whoever dares to say that it can be hammered out within a day, Wang Qizhi would kowtow to him.

But Lin Sicheng, just an hour?

The same goes for mending porcelain. He is so skilled at it that he has repaired more than a hundred plum bottles of the same size, shape, and even the same damaged parts.

That's it, how can you reason with him?
Wang Qizhi sighed, "As the saying goes, 'A thousand times of practice will eventually lead to mastery!'"

"I know!" Hao Jun nodded vigorously. "The question is, where did he learn it?"

After holding it in for a long time, Wang Qizhi uttered two words: "In the book!"

Hao Jun stretched his neck, wishing he could roll his eyeballs to his forehead.

Isn't this bullshit?
Just as he was cursing inwardly, he heard the sound of frequent hammering. Hao Jun looked forward with concentration.

The flat-head chisel kept hammering, and gold pieces about a finger long and about the width of a match head were chiseled out one by one.

The root is slightly thicker, the tip is slightly thinner, slightly raised, convex outside and concave inside, but without any patterns.

As an expert after all, Hao Jun knew at a glance that this was the "flat chisel pressing the ground" technique used in engraving, and he also knew the purpose of these long and thin gold pieces: tree branches.

Then came the leaves, also chiseled flatly, one after another. Suddenly, leaves of all shapes, sizes, patterns, and even thicknesses fell from the chisel blade like golden snowflakes.

After that, he carved the leaf bracts, and then the even thinner petioles. Everyone was dazzled and overwhelmed. It seemed that Lin Sicheng had made a lot of use of this short chisel.

Only Wang Qizhi felt mixed emotions, accompanied by a deep sense of powerlessness.

Just like that day in Qishan, just like those seven Kaiyuan Tongbao coins.

Lin Sicheng, this is gold engraving, not ironworking. Why are you so casual and relaxed?
Casualness is secondary, carving well is the key.

If it were given to a master craftsman, a leaf that Lin Sicheng could chisel out in three or four minutes would take at least ten minutes.

No matter how steady the master craftsman's hands are, it is impossible for him to be like Lin Sicheng, who can shape each leaf in one go and carve it into such a vivid and lifelike image.

Hao Jun is right next to you. If you don’t believe me, just ask him how he feels.
This is gold, and it is dyed green. Who dares to say that these leaves and buds are not cut from the tree?

(End of this chapter)