"Mr. Zhang?"

"Hey! What are you looking at?"

"Hello?!"

Master Jin called out several times before finally calling Zhang Yang out of his deep thoughts.

It was too difficult to analyze the purpose of these museum collections. Zhang Yang thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so he chose a better way.

"Ahem." Zhang Yang cleared his throat and asked, "Master Jin, I have a question I want to ask you."

"How are your copying abilities?"

"For example, some of my clients want to replicate a group of artifacts from the British Museum. To what extent can you replicate them?"

"Um... this... Mr. Zhang, you are joking."

Master Jin smiled awkwardly.

He thought he was quick enough, as he had collected all the items on the counter in less than ten seconds.

Who would have thought that in just the blink of an eye, this young man with a young face in front of him had already figured out the meaning of these things.

"You don't have to point me out. You just want to ask me why I want to imitate the snuff bottles in the British Museum, right?"

"Yes."

Zhang Yang nodded frankly. This was what he wanted to ask.

Who would copy museum pieces? Isn't that something the low-end national treasure gang can do?
The high-end national treasure gang now directly collects counterfeit products, and they don’t even look at this kind of fakes.

"But don't worry, Master Jin. I'm just simply curious. If you're worried, I can ask Elder Lu to go out and wait. You can just tell me."

"Don't worry!" Grandpa Lu actually didn't understand what was going on, but there was no way he could get out.

He quickly said, "I am also very tight-lipped. If you don't believe me, go to Qingzhou and ask around. Everyone knows that I, Lu Mingfei, am very tight-lipped!"

"No, no, Mr. Lu, you don't have to go out either." Master Jin smiled and waved his hand, telling the two: "This is in Xiangjiang, which is different from Qingzhou."

"What I did was just a little bit of water in Hong Kong!"

"Come, both of you take a closer look at my work..."

Seeing that Master Jin had no intention of hiding anything, Zhang Yang and his grandson didn't hesitate to speak politely and stood up and walked straight to the cabinet.

After the cabinet door was fully opened, Zhang Yang found that his previous thoughts were too conservative. Master Jin was not imitating the collections of the British Museum, but was copying the entire collection list of the museum one by one!

If these things were not authentic and were 100% in the museum, Zhang Yang would really think that someone had stolen things from the museum.

Every single thing has a resounding name.

A Qing Dynasty Qianlong period plain tri-color gourd-shaped snuff bottle;
A Qing Dynasty Qianlong-era double-vase snuff bottle with poem and flower pattern;

Copper-based kingfisher-inlaid snuff bottles from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, etc.

"these things……"

Grandpa Lu touched his chin with a thoughtful expression, as if he was carefully thinking about something.

But he really didn't understand snuff bottles, and after a long while he managed to utter:
"It looks pretty good, Zhang Yang, what do you think?"

"I think it's OK, but it's a little too new. It's shiny." Zhang Yang said matter-of-factly.

"Master Jin, why don't you make these things look old? If done right, they can at least be considered high-quality imitations."

"If there is still a glimmer of light, it is at most a work of art. The value of the two is very different!"

"Aging? I don't know how!" Master Jin spread out his hands and said innocently, "And there's no need to do it."

"The thief light you mentioned is just looking at it with the naked eye, but if it is in a display case, under the warm light, you shouldn't be able to see the difference, right?"

"Why?" Zhang Yang asked back in confusion.

It was the first time he heard that one couldn't tell the difference by shining the light in the window. Was there some trick to the light?
“Why… I don’t know why, but the man told me that there’s no need to make it look old.”

Master Jin was a little confused by Zhang Yang's question and muttered to himself:
"He also said that if the aging technique is not up to standard, the flaws in the artifact itself will make it easier for people to spot the difference."

"What he said is true. It is true that low-level aging is worse than no aging at all. But I see that the lacquer snuff bottles in the Treasure Pavilion are all aged, right?"

"Those were arranged by the people from the Treasure Pavilion." Master Jin explained.

He is just a simple snuff bottle craftsman. Making snuff bottles look old is a skill that only people who sell fakes need to master, but he doesn't know how to do it at all.

The snuff bottles that Zhenbao Pavilion bought from him were also brand new imitation antique snuff bottles. As for the subsequent aging and deception of the buyers, he was not quite sure.

Of course, he also discovered that there would be some problems if the artifact was not aged, such as the "thief light" that Zhang Yang mentioned. Master Jin didn't know it was "thief light", he just felt that the artifact was too bright.

So I deliberately found an old wooden cabinet to put things in, hoping that some dust would accumulate on it to make it look more real.

"I see." Zhang Yang looked away from the snuff bottle, looked into Master Jin's eyes and asked, "Then can you tell me what the person who asked you to make these things is going to do?"

"The market for replicas of this quality is very small, right? Usually only museums use them as replicas for display."

“No one asked me to do this!”

"So you said someone just now..."

"Oh, you mean him? He is a partner I found online. He is an assistant researcher at the British Museum."

"Wait a minute!" Zhang Yang stretched out his hand to interrupt the other party.

He suddenly smelled a hint of conspiracy.

Assistant researcher at the British Museum, this position is very delicate.

In fact, Zhang Yang didn't know much about the world's largest museum on the other side of the ocean.

But last year, there was an incident of cultural relics being stolen. At that time, there was an overwhelming condemnation of the British Museum on the Internet, demanding that they return the stolen cultural relics.

Zhang Yang showed a little concern.

If he remembered correctly, the person who was pushed forward to take the blame was the researcher in charge of managing the museum's collection of cultural relics.

The assistant researcher is naturally the person who helps the researcher manage the cultural relics!

"Master Jin, this assistant researcher you mentioned, he wouldn't be doing that kind of very special business, right?"

"Hehehe!" Master Jin did not answer directly, but laughed evilly.

"Fuck, is that true?"

"Tell me quickly, how did you get in touch with this guy? Is he responsible for preserving Chinese cultural relics? Besides the snuff bottle, can he get anything else?"

"Money is not a problem, and imitations are not a problem either. I can produce imitations that look more like the real thing than your works!"

Zhang Yang became a little excited as he talked about the latter part.

It’s not that he can’t manage his emotions well, it’s just that this kind of thing is too exciting.

The researcher who insisted on stealing from the British Museum last year was an anomaly. He was said to be a model employee of the museum and had worked there for 30 years without any mistakes. But such a person actually kept secretly selling things from the museum for 30 years.

And it’s sold very cheaply.

So when the incident was first discovered, the official response of the British Museum was: We helped when a national treasure came to cause trouble.

They even issued a statement saying that "no internal violations were found."

This matter is like you going to the Forbidden City to report and telling them that there is an insider in the Forbidden City who put Kangxi's blue and white porcelain online and sold it to him for 2000 yuan, and you are here to help them catch the insider.

The first reaction of a normal staff member would definitely be to ask you if you have 200 yuan and ask you to go to a brain doctor first.

Who would have thought that there would be a second such extraordinary person!
And Zhang Yang also encountered it.

If I don’t make good use of it, I’d feel like I’m letting down the opportunity God has given me.

"No, what are you talking about?" Grandpa Lu looked at the excited Zhang Yang and the smiling Master Jin, feeling a little puzzled.

"Can you explain to me what you are talking about? I am stuck in the middle and feel like a third party. It is very uncomfortable."

"Elder Lu, let me explain it to you!"

Master Jin put away his smile and told how he accidentally met Higgs on the Internet, how he talked to him about the theft of cultural relics from the British Museum, and finally how he persuaded the assistant researcher to be the insider.

After hearing this, Grandpa Lu also showed a shocked expression on his face.

He blinked violently and stared closely at the snuff bottle in the cabinet.

These things can actually be exchanged for artifacts in the British Museum by spending some money?
Is there such a good thing in the world?

For an old man who is a member of the National Treasure Gang, this feels absurd as if his dream has come true.

It really becomes "the museum's is fake, mine is real."

But after listening to Master Jin's story, Zhang Yang's joy was suppressed a little.

The other party explained it very clearly. The British man named Higgs chose to be the insider because he supported France to win the World Cup and was heavily in debt.

Whether such people are reliable or not is another matter, but they will definitely not last long. Once they are out of debt, they will probably quit.

Master Jin had never expected this. He was thinking that after he made some money from Zhang Yang, he would exchange it for more of China's stolen cultural relics!
Therefore, there are actually not many opportunities left for Zhang Yang and Master Jin to operate, and it is a pity to waste them on these snuff bottles.

If the British want to collect Qing Dynasty stuff, let them do so. There is absolutely no point in wasting time on it.

Even the so-called animal heads are just larger faucets in Zhang Yang's opinion, and their symbolic significance is far greater than the value of the cultural relics themselves.

In contrast, such precious calligraphy works as "The Admonitions of the Court Instructress to the Court Ladies", "Ink Bamboo", and "Thatched Cottage in the Western Hills";

Famous bronze wares such as the Bronze Twin Sheep Zun, Kanghou Gui, and Xinghou Gui;
Buddhist relics such as the Liao Dynasty tri-colored Arhat statue, the Sui Dynasty Amitabha Buddha statue, and the Mogao Grottoes murals;

and many more……

These things should be replaced!

It would be a great profit to exchange this whole cabinet of snuff bottles for a painting of "Ink Bamboo" by Tang Bohu.

But now the question is:
Master Jin had already paid Higgs a large deposit, and the latter then applied to be transferred from his original position in charge of the Greek cultural relics storage room to the position of administrator of Chinese cultural relics and Qing Dynasty cultural relics.

"Can I change it now?"

"Now? Not yet." Master Jin didn't understand what Zhang Yang meant, and replied irrelevantly: "Higgs hasn't been officially transferred yet. I will send the things over after he is successfully transferred."

"By then, I may have to ask you, Mr. Zhang, for some time off. For this opportunity to recover our national treasure, you should allow me to take a paid leave, right?"

"You may have a problem understanding. I am not asking whether these snuff bottles can be replaced. I am asking whether Higgs' position can be replaced."

"It should be possible, but it hasn't been changed yet. Mr. Zhang, don't worry."

"I...I'm not asking about his position...Forget it, I'll just be straight with you."

"Your pattern is not open."

Zhang Yang's hands opened like petals, suggesting that Master Jin should open up his horizons a little. Why deal in snuff bottles when there is such a good opportunity?
"There are so many artifacts in the British Museum, and you only saw snuff bottles? Why can't you choose something more precious?"

"Something more precious..." Master Jin looked at Zhang Yang's opening hands and fell into thought.

Soon, he opened up the situation.

"I understand, Mr. Zhang. Higgs should be transferred to another position, directly to the Egyptian cultural relics storage room."

"Egypt?"

"Yes, it is Egypt." Master Jin said with reason, "There is the Rosetta Stone, one of the three treasures of the British Museum. It is the stone tablet that is said to be the key to the ancient Egyptian civilization."

"If we can get that thing back and donate it to the Egyptian Museum in the name of our country, our two countries will definitely become the most solid allies."

"This way we will have a say in the Suez Canal."

"Oh my god! You are too open-minded."

Zhang Yang couldn't help but give a thumbs up. Compared to what Master Jin said, his vision was indeed narrow.

However, the Rosetta Stone is too difficult to operate. It contains three kinds of cultural relics: ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Arabic cursive, and ancient Greek, and it is also a broken stele.

Zhang Yang was worried that Higgs would be hacked to death by his creditors before he could make his own imitation.

"But who can make a replica of the Rosetta Stone?"

"I can't." Master Jin spread out his hands and said helplessly.

"Don't look at me. I can't do it either." Grandpa added to the drama.

"I can't either!"

"I can still try to imitate Tang Bohu's paintings, but I can't do anything about epic works like 'The Admonitions of the Court Instructress'."

"Or we can take a step back and replace the Ru porcelain in the British Museum. That thing is easier to imitate, and there are many Ru porcelains there, so it won't be easy to be discovered if we replace it with another one."

Zhang Yang gave two choices, Tang Bohu's "Ink Bamboo Painting" or the king of porcelain - Ru porcelain.

Grandpa Lu had no objection, he just wanted to join in the fun and would watch no matter what treasures were exchanged.

But after listening to this, Master Jin showed a hesitant expression on his face.

"It's okay, Master Jin, you can talk to us. We have a flat management system in Tukeng Section, and leaders will listen to the opinions of ordinary employees."

"If you have any opinions, feel free to speak up."

"Mr. Zhang, it's like this." Master Jin was fooled by Zhang Yang's encouragement and really spoke his mind: "I feel that those things you mentioned are not as easy to operate as snuff bottles."

"I specialize in making snuff bottles. My ultimate dream over the past few decades has been to collect a snuff bottle of national treasure level."

"Although what you said makes sense, it was I who found Higgs after all. Shouldn't he satisfy my needs first?"

"That makes sense." Zhang Yang nodded in agreement: "But you don't need Higgs to do what you need."

"I know that one person can be satisfied." (End of this chapter)