However, Leo had an extra trick up his sleeve. He turned the porcelain bottle upside down and used his spiritual sense to investigate.
Under his spiritual sense, nothing could hide.
He saw that beneath the base of the porcelain bottle, there was another layer. Instead of the usual fibrous bottom pattern, it displayed a very regular spiral pattern.
This kind of pattern indicated machine processing.
Once something had been processed by a machine, it couldn’t be an antique.
Arlene and Old Xavier’s eyes were fixed on Leo, waiting for him to speak.
“This thing is a fake,” Leo concluded.
“A fake!?” Old Xavier exclaimed first. “Young man, you can’t just say things like that.”
“Not only did I appraise this porcelain bottle, but three other experts from the museum also examined it and came to the same conclusion.”
“This thing is indeed fake,” Leo replied.
Old Xavier’s face turned red with anger. “You say it’s fake, so it’s fake? Anyone can talk nonsense. Show me the evidence!”
Young people these days really had no manners.
“Evidence, huh…” Leo felt a bit of a headache coming on.
He could see it clearly with his spiritual sense, but how could he make Old Xavier see it?
After thinking for a moment, Leo took the porcelain bottle to the side. “Alright, I’ll give you evidence.”
Arlene watched Leo expectantly, thinking she had made a wise decision to bring him.
Suddenly, Leo let go of the bottle.
In the astonished eyes of Arlene and Old Xavier,
Bang!
The porcelain bottle fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
“You…!” Old Xavier’s mouth dropped open, pointing at Leo, speechless.
Arlene was also shocked. She had brought Leo to appraise the treasure, but he had smashed it. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.
Leo, however, seemed indifferent. He squatted down and began sifting through the porcelain shards.
Soon, Leo found the “evidence” and handed it to Old Xavier.
Old Xavier took the shard and put on a pair of glasses to examine it closely.
After a few moments, Old Xavier noticed something unusual. There was indeed another layer at the base, and the pattern on it…
“This…” Old Xavier stared at the pattern in disbelief.
“All that glitters is not gold. Although it has a layer of genuine material, it’s still a fake.”
Seeing Old Xavier’s expression, Arlene knew Leo was telling the truth. She asked in amazement, “Leo, how did you figure it out?”
“I guessed,” Leo couldn’t say he used his spiritual sense.
“Guessed?” Old Xavier and Arlene exclaimed in unison.
“Young man, you have some guts. What if you guessed wrong?”
Old Xavier knew very well that if this porcelain bottle were genuine, it would be worth a million dollars. Even if this young man’s family was wealthy, a million dollars was no small amount.
“If I guessed wrong, I’d pay for it,” Leo said calmly. He wasn’t short of money.
Since it was proven to be fake, their trip to the museum wasn’t in vain, and Arlene’s concern was resolved.
Arlene gave Leo a look, and they walked towards the door.
Just as they stepped outside, Old Xavier suddenly blocked their way with surprising agility.
Old Xavier stared intently at Leo as if trying to see through him. “Young man, you weren’t just guessing, were you?”
“What makes you say that?” Leo asked in return.
Old Xavier handed him the broken porcelain shard. “The junction between the real and fake parts is very tight. If you didn’t know where the dividing line was, you couldn’t have broken it so precisely.”
“You must have calculated it deliberately. So you definitely weren’t guessing!”
Leo hadn’t expected Old Xavier’s reasoning skills to be so sharp. Since he had been seen through, Leo nodded.
“Young man, may I ask where you work? Would you like to join our museum? I can recommend you!” Old Xavier extended an invitation.
This surprised Leo. Not only did Old Xavier not hold a grudge after being proven wrong, but he also offered him a job. This old man had quite a magnanimous heart!
Leo felt a bit more favorable towards Old Xavier but politely declined. “Old Xavier, thank you for your kind offer, but I don’t plan on working right now.”
“I see… that’s alright. Academic pursuits know no boundaries. We’re currently working on a project and have encountered some difficulties. Would you be able to take a look?”
Leo looked at Arlene.
Out of respect for Old Xavier, Arlene nodded.
Led by Old Xavier, the three of them went up to the sixth floor.
There was a large artifact identification and preservation room divided into small compartments by tempered glass. Various oddly shaped instruments were working continuously inside.
“This room is for C14 dating to determine ages. Over here is the artifact restoration room…”
As they walked, Old Xavier introduced each section to them.
They stopped in front of a large glass window at the end of the corridor.
Through the glass, they saw someone dressed in white work clothes with a face mask and gloves busy at work inside.
Judging by the person’s physique, it seemed to be a woman.
Leo’s gaze then fell on a wooden box on the workbench. His eyes narrowed slightly.
“See that wooden box? We recovered it from tomb raiders recently. It should be from the Western Xia period.”
“But we don’t know exactly which period of Western Xia because we haven’t been able to open it without damaging its structure.”
“It’s just a wooden box; why can’t it be opened?” Arlene asked curiously.
“The box isn’t made of wood but a metal that looks like neither iron nor copper. There are items inside. If we force it open, we might damage what’s inside,” Old Xavier explained.
Leo used his spiritual sense to focus on the box through the glass.
The box indeed had complex mechanisms inside, no wonder the museum experts were stumped.
For museum staff, if they couldn’t open the box normally, they wouldn’t try to force it open since preserving artifacts was their top priority.
“This thing isn’t hard to open…” Leo muttered softly.
Though his voice was low, Old Xavier heard him clearly and looked intrigued. “Do you have a way?”
“Soak it in mercury for an hour, then bury it in plant ash for seven days. After that, soak it in mercury again for an hour, and the box will open.”
Hearing this, Old Xavier looked both surprised and doubtful.
He couldn’t understand how this young man could know how to open it just by looking at it from outside without even touching the box. It seemed too mystical.
Old Xavier knocked on the glass door and made a gesture to the person inside.
The person understood and opened the glass door.
Old Xavier walked in and started talking with them.