Reborn in 1977

Apart from returning to the guest house to sleep at night, Chen Fan spent all his other time in the museum, for a whole week.

With Director Zhang personally teaching him and the foundation laid by Fourth Master Lu, his treasure appraisal skills and experience soared, and his progress amazed Director Zhang.

Even after he mentioned that he had previously studied the theoretical knowledge in this area, Director Zhang repeatedly marveled, no wonder he could catch Professor Xu's eye and be accepted as his personal disciple.

He understood as soon as he heard it, and understood as soon as it was pointed out, and the key was that he could remember it. This kind of learning agility alone is not something that ordinary people can have.

Most importantly, he didn't have the impetuosity that is most common in smart people.

Why do many smart people not achieve as much as some ordinary people? The reason is that smart people are prone to complacency, and their learning and work are not solid enough. If they cannot be corrected in time, they will eventually become mediocre.

This problem does not exist in Chen Fan.

How solid is his learning? Everything he has heard and seen has become experience points stored in the skill panel. He can't forget it even if he wants to, and he can also infer other things from one instance. His foundation is absolutely deep and there is nothing wrong with it.

So in this week, Chen Fan gained a lot.

Throughout the museum, all the collections that Director Zhang introduced, including similar utensils, from the production process to the historical background, and even the related era stories, he knew them all like the back of his hand.

If it was just like this, he would at most be considered a bookworm. If he really wants to get involved in the treasure appraisal industry, it is still very dangerous.

Because in this industry, you must not only identify genuine items, but also be able to identify fakes!

Many people think that there were no fake antiques before the reform and opening up. If you enter this industry with this idea, then wait to be swindled out of your pants.

Because the most prosperous period of counterfeiting was not in the 1990s when the antique market exploded, but in the 1920s and 1930s during the Republic of China.

Note that that period can only be said to be the most prosperous period of counterfeiting, which does not mean that other times were safe and sound.

In fact, from the Two Song Dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty, counterfeiting in various aspects never stopped, from clothing, food, housing, and transportation to writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and various antiques, no less than the later high-tech methods.

For example, when Ji Xiaolan bought an ink stick made by Luo Xiaohua, a master ink maker during the Ming Dynasty, the ink stick looked "dark and old in the lacquer box, a genuine old object", but when he went back to use it, good heavens, it turned out to be just a mud stick coated with a layer of black, and it also considerately had a layer of white frost, which looked particularly real.

This is still good, there are even more outrageous things.

When he went to the capital to take the exam, he bought a few candles on the road for later use. When he arrived at his residence and prepared to light them, the wick was burned out, but the candle did not melt. When he broke it, it turned out to be made of mud, coated with a layer of mutton fat.

In addition, he also bought fake roast duck and fake boots.

The ancient book "Old Affairs of Wulin" which recalls the customs of Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, records, "Selling goods, exchanging the fake for the real, even using paper as clothing, copper and lead as gold and silver, and wood as incense and medicine..."

The meaning is: Some people have a big brain, using paper to make clothes, using copper to impersonate gold, mixing lead ingots into silver ingots, and using ordinary trees to impersonate sandalwood...

As for the small tricks such as stuffing sand into the bellies of chickens and ducks, blowing air into the bodies of geese and sheep, and injecting water into fish and meat, etc., these were common occurrences as early as the Two Song Dynasties.

Look, injected pork is not only available in modern times, the ancients also ate it.

Compared with the ancients, later generations are just picking up the wisdom of others.

Even clothing, food, housing, and transportation are like this, let alone priceless antiques?

So, counterfeiting antiques has existed since ancient times.

And it is inevitable that some fakes are mixed in the museum's collection.

This kind of thing was the most common during the Republic of China. Many big collectors have been fooled, and some even enshrined the fakes they mistakenly bought as a warning.

Later, "collecting fakes to identify the real" became a common practice in museums.

That is, museums will actively collect some fakes that are difficult to distinguish from the real ones, and use them to compare with the real ones to prevent confusion between the real and the fake, and also to increase knowledge.

Being able to make fakes look like the real thing must mean that you have a very good understanding of the production process of that year. What is this if not knowledge?!

Furthermore, most of the exhibits displayed in most museums are actually fakes, especially national treasures, which are kept in the warehouse for many years and basically only fakes are exhibited.

Oh, they have their own professional terms, called imitations.

Anyway, most of the visitors are laymen, just watching the excitement is enough, what do you need real products for?!

The reality is like this, and the Jiangnan Museum is naturally no exception.

From the folk kiln fakes of the Republic of China to the modern simulated bronzes produced in Yanjian Village, Yichuan, Henan, the museum's collection is so fake that even the fakes are very distinctive.

Chen Fan looked at the real products during the day and pondered the fakes at night. After a few days, he emptied Director Zhang's brain.

In the end, Director Zhang had no choice but to issue him a long-term pass and said helplessly, "In terms of treasure appraisal, I have nothing to teach you. Since you can appraise treasures, you can study the historical aspects yourself, so there is no need to continue to stay here.

Teacher Xu is not only a master of Chinese studies, but also a master of history. He knows more about this than I do.

Since I have nothing to teach you, then you don't have to come here every day. I have issued this pass for you. You can come and see it when you have time. You can enter the exhibition area in the front and the warehouse in the back, as long as you don't take things out."

Chen Fan learned his skills, and of course he was very polite, "Thank you for your guidance these days. I didn't feel anything about antiques before. After studying these days, I realized that the knowledge inside is really not simple.

The value of antiques does not lie in their material, shape and rarity, let alone how much money they are worth, but in their craftsmanship, artistic connotation, and the historical value they contain.

The museum is a good place. Here you can see the continuation of our five thousand years of Chinese civilization. This kind of cultural connotation is unique in the world. I will come often in the future and continue to study these things."

Director Zhang felt very gratified when he heard this, and nodded with a smile, "I am very happy that you can have this change, and it is not in vain that I taught you these days."

After a pause, he joked again, "You are welcome to come here at any time, as long as you don't take things out, you can stay as long as you want."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "That's not the case. If I want to collect, there are many things in the Shanghai Cultural Relics Store, and the prices are not too expensive. I can go there to buy them."

Hearing this, Director Zhang's heart moved, took out his small notebook, opened it and flipped through it, and then found a record and copied it on a blank sheet of paper behind it.

He tore off the paper and handed it to Chen Fan, saying, "This is an old classmate of mine who is now the deputy director of the Shanghai Cultural Relics Store and also a senior researcher. If you really want to buy treasures there, it must be right to find him."

These days, they don't call them appraisers, but researchers, which seems formal and stylish.

After Chen Fan took it, he said again, "Since the mid-1950s, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Store has been renovated. All the products sold there have been identified as genuine. It is very guaranteed to buy things there."

Chen Fan put away the note, his face full of smiles, "Thank you."

Don't say, after studying here for a week, he really had the idea of collecting antiques.

Anyway, he now has too much money to spend, and he is also interested in antiques. It would be very cultural to buy a batch and put them at home to admire from time to time.

After putting away the note, he took out two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes from his bag, and handed them to Director Zhang with a smile, "This is the tuition fee. If you don't accept it, you are disliking it."

Director Zhang was not polite, took the cigarette and threw it on the table, then smiled at Chen Fan, "I have accepted the things, but I will be happier if you can accomplish one thing."

Chen Fan blinked, "What's the matter?"

Director Zhang pretended to be mysterious and looked around, whispering, "When you go to Shanghai to visit the Cultural Relics Store, see if you can find one or two fakes from there!"

Chen Fan's eyes widened, full of incomprehension.

What do you mean? Are you going to smash someone's signboard?

Director Zhang coughed dryly and smiled embarrassedly, "A few years ago, I collected a Qianlong blue and white plum vase with folded branches, but I didn't expect that thing to be a 'joint bottom', and later my classmate found it out, and I lost face."

Chen Fan suddenly understood that this was to let him take revenge. He really regarded him as a close classmate!

The so-called joint bottom generally refers to a special kind of porcelain fake, which is to connect the bottom of a real antique to a fake bottle body to form a whole.

Because the most important means of porcelain appraisal is to identify the marks on the bottom, and the joint bottom thing happens to have a real bottom, so many veterans will be fooled if they are not careful.

It's just that Director Zhang is really looking up to him by asking himself to "take revenge"!

That was the Shanghai Cultural Relics Store, a place as famous as Rong Baozhai in the capital. It's filled with countless appraisal masters, and getting a fake in there is harder than ascending to heaven.

Well, that's just something to listen to; he wouldn't take it seriously.

Director Zhang sent Chen Fan to the door, watching him leave, his mind also on this matter.

It didn't matter if he lost face; the main thing was, if he lost face, how could his old friend escape?

This junior brother, though young, had emptied him out in a week, especially in identifying fakes, never missing once, including that Qianlong plum vase that he had misjudged.

His eyes were like a microscope, able to see even the slightest flaws.

Now, it depended on whether one or two fakes had slipped into the Cultural Relics Store.

What if there were?

If he identified them, wouldn't he have ammunition to counterattack for the rest of his life!

……

Chen Fan returned to the guesthouse; it was already past nine in the evening.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the lights on in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the windows were two meters above the ground, so he couldn't see inside, only hear people talking.

He got out of the car and entered the gate, first greeting Xiao Peng, then asking, "Who's still eating at this hour?"

Xiao Peng stood up and leaned on the counter, whispering, "Aren't you having a meeting tomorrow? Everyone's arrived in the past two days. Chairman He and Secretary-General Xu are hosting them for dinner."

Chen Fan said "Oh" and nodded, saying, "That's really late."

Jiangnan Province not only has the Yangtze River but also many mountainous areas. If they came from those places, they could only take winding mountain roads. And the weather hasn't been good these past few days; it even drizzled this morning, so the roads must be difficult. It's normal that they might have set off before dawn and only arrived now.

But this had nothing to do with him. He had already eaten dinner in the museum cafeteria, the free kind, so he didn't need any more.

So he waved his hand, about to return to his room.

At this moment, Xiao Peng suddenly asked, "Director Chen, didn't your unit get allocated housing? Why haven't you moved yet?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her, "Has the news spread here already?"

Xiao Peng chuckled, "What's wrong with here? So many people come and go from the guesthouse every day, and they're all from the cultural system. Isn't it normal for news to travel fast?"

Chen Fan thought it was true, then smiled and said, "I've been too busy these past few days, no time. I'll find some time tomorrow to move."

Huang Tianzhi had passed the message to him through Xu Qizhen that the house had been renovated, and all the furniture had been provided.

In addition, the Yunhu appliances that Chen Fan had arranged were also delivered by Deputy Factory Director Li. Besides the two hundred sets for the Writers Association, hearing that his new home in the provincial capital was completed, they had specially sent him a set, and also somehow found the three major appliances: a TV, refrigerator, and washing machine, all equipped.

In addition, they even managed to get him a gas tank and a gas stove.

The gas stove was the same cast iron type used at home in Shanghai and the capital, without electronic ignition, requiring a lighter or matches to ignite. The difference was that here, only bottled gas was available, while Shanghai and the capital used piped gas.

There was no way around it. Although the provincial capital was not bad, it was still far from comparable to those two major cities.

And the first piped gas line in the provincial capital would not be built until the late 1980s; there was still a wait.

In short, now all kinds of furniture and appliances were in place, and even the bedding had been arranged properly by Xu Qizhen, just waiting for him to move in with his bags.

It just so happened that he didn't need to study tomorrow. He could find a break during the meeting, pack up his belongings from the guesthouse, and move over.

Chen Fan looked at Xiao Peng, curiously asking, "Strictly speaking, the Cultural Palace also belongs to the cultural system, and your guesthouse is an affiliated unit of the Cultural Palace. Shouldn't you also be allocated housing?"

Speaking of this, Xiao Peng couldn't help but pout, "There is, but it's nothing compared to your unit. I heard there are only a few dozen houses in total, and priority needs to be given to long-term employees with housing difficulties. Someone like me, who's only been working for two or three years, has no chance."

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and said, "If that's the case, new housing is definitely out of the question, but maybe you can try for old housing."

Xiao Peng immediately stared at him with wide eyes, "What do you mean?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Think about it, those long-term employees with housing difficulties, when they get new houses, won't they have to return the old houses to the unit?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Peng immediately understood, clapping her hands and excitedly saying, "That's right, if I can't get a new house, I can try for an old house. That's still better than a family squeezing together."

After speaking, she put her hands together, worshipping Chen Fan like a god, "Thank you, Director Chen. If I get a house, I'll treat you to wild game noodles."

Chen Fan laughed, "If you say so, I'll give you another tip to greatly increase your chances of getting a house."

Xiao Peng's eyes lit up, "How so?"

Chen Fan pretended to look around mysteriously, lowering his voice and saying, "Our unit just allocated over 100 houses, and the original old houses are still in our hands. The Housing Management Bureau hasn't taken them back yet…"

Xiao Peng was a little curious, "Why haven't they been taken back?"

Chen Fan didn't say anything, just smiled and winked.

Xiao Peng was a bit puzzled at first, but soon a flash of inspiration came to her, "Compensation hasn't been到位?!"

Although the houses were allocated to the Writers Association by the Housing Management Bureau, since they were allocated, they were ours, right?

Now, although we don't lack houses and even have extras, other units still lack houses. If you want to take them back and reallocate them to others, it's not impossible.

But, you can't just take these houses back with empty words, right?

Shouldn't some appropriate compensation be given?

Otherwise, how will you fight for benefits for the younger ones in the future?

Seeing Chen Fan smiling and not speaking, Xiao Peng knew she had guessed correctly, immediately chuckling, "Our unit really lacks houses. Since the Writers Association has so many houses, I'll suggest it to the leaders tomorrow, and then, hehehe…"

Chen Fan laughed, "A promising student."

After speaking, he shook his head and walked towards the backyard.

Back in the room, the three little ones had already flown in through the open window, nesting in the bag, ready to sleep. Hearing Chen Fan come in, they immediately poked their heads out and chirped a few times.

Chen Fan touched the three little heads, "Are you full?"

More chirps.

Chen Fan, "Okay, if you're full, go to sleep."

Watching the three little ones shrink into the bag, Chen Fan touched his head, thinking about when to build them a nest. Just right, there's a very tall metasequoia tree in the yard of the new house.

This kind of metasequoia surrounds the entire Star Lake. In autumn and winter, the leaves turn yellow, looking particularly beautiful from afar.

Building them a nest on top of the tree, they would definitely be very happy.

After comforting the three little birds and closing the window, he went to the bathroom for a hot shower, changed into his pajamas, and came out, ready to sleep.

At this moment, a burst of messy footsteps sounded outside. Chen Fan glanced towards the window, guessing that they must have finished eating and were returning to their rooms, so he didn't take it to heart, turned off the lights, and lay down in bed.

But after a while, his door was knocked on.

Chen Fan opened his eyes, "Who is it?"

He Qingsheng's voice sounded outside the door, "It's me. You're not already asleep, are you?"

Chen Fan sighed, got up, put on his coat, turned on the light, and went to open the door.

He Qingsheng and Xu Qizhen were standing at the door. Seeing his appearance, they couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Xu Qizhen walked in, saying, "I heard you haven't been sleeping before 12 o'clock these past few days. Why so early today?"

Chen Fan yawned, took a teacup to pour tea, "The studying's over, no need to be so nervous anymore. We can take it slow in the future."

He brought the teacup to the coffee table, then took the cigarette He Qingsheng offered, sat down on the other side of the chair, and looked at the two of them, asking, "There's a meeting tomorrow. Are you here to discuss things in advance?"

He Qingsheng shook his head, "You don't need to discuss things in advance with them. Everything that needs to be said has been said. Just wait for the arrangements to be made."

Xu Qizhen took a sip of tea, looking at him with a smile, "After this meeting, you'll be a leading cadre in our unit. Shouldn't we come and do some preliminary work?"

Chen Fan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Virtuous and respected" at such a young age? Are you here to laugh at me?!

He Qingsheng lit a cigarette and chuckled, "I'm really not joking with you. To be honest, you might lack seniority, but in terms of merit and works, it's not an exaggeration to say 'virtuous and respected.' So, I specifically asked Xiao Xu to come and chat with you about how to carry out the work in the future."