Lu Yubai fixed his gaze on Yan Chi. Yan Chi’s eyes were slightly lowered; he had not spared Lin Lan a single glance.
The woman handed the list to Yan Chi.
“Director Yan, I do not know much about these cultural relics. I am afraid I might accidentally bump or break something, so I will not go in.”
Yan Chi took the list and nodded.
As he looked down at the list, he caught a glimpse of Lu Yubai out of the corner of his eye and unexpectedly met his gaze.
Lu Yubai’s face instantly flushed. Feeling as if his inner thoughts had been pried into, he immediately lowered his head.
A flicker of panic flashed through Yan Chi’s eyes. He cleared his throat and said coldly, “Lin Lan, call the people from the museum. Tell them to send someone to pick up the goods in two hours.”
“You go back with them,” Yan Chi added.
Lin Lan froze for a moment, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He hesitated, “But the teacher said”
Yan Chi’s cold gaze landed on him like a blade glinting with a chilling light pressed against his neck.
Lin Lan shuddered in terror and tried again, “With so many items, how long will it take for you to appraise them alone? Let me stay and help you.”
Yan Chi ignored him. He simply took a pair of rubber gloves from his suit pocket and handed them to Lu Yubai.
His tone was almost an order. “You come with me.”
Lu Yubai doubted his own ears. “Huh?”
Yan Chi looked at the woman nearby. “Could you please bring a pen and paper?”
The woman quickly brought them over and, under Yan Chi’s gaze, handed them to Lu Yubai.
Lu Yubai had not put on the gloves, nor did he take the stationery.
His mind instantly flashed back to what Yan Chi told him yesterday: that damaging cultural relics would result in “stepping on a sewing machine,” or prison time.
He did not want to go to prison.
He was only twenty-eight and just got married.
Standing to the side, Lin Lan watched Lu Yubai with cold eyes, a look of contempt surfacing in the depths of his gaze.
“Yan Chi, the workload for appraising relics is enormous. Mr. Lu is a layman. If he accidentally bumps or damages something”
“I will take responsibility.”
Yan Chi cut Lin Lan off mid-sentence.
Lu Yubai did not deny it; what Lin Lan said made sense.
Regarding cultural relics, Lin Lan was far more professional than he was. Lin Lan was a top student from a prestigious university and had been a member of the research institute. After being transferred from Jiangcheng, he had been engaged in relic restoration.
Lin Lan’s expertise in porcelain vases, calligraphy, and paintings was definitely beyond Lu Yubai’s league.
Under Lin Lan’s skeptical gaze, Yan Chi stuffed the pen and paper into Lu Yubai’s arms. “You just stand by my side and keep the records.”
Only then did Lu Yubai breathe a sigh of relief. He gripped the stationery, nodded obediently, and followed Yan Chi’s lead.
The first floor of the storage building held miscellaneous items; the cultural relics were on the second floor.
Before heading upstairs, Yan Chi cast a cold glance back.
“I do not like having people around when I am working. Wait until I have finished the inventory before coming up.”
These words were clearly directed at Lin Lan.
Lin Lan was speechless. With a stiff face, he went to make the phone call.
Lu Yubai, standing nearby:
“Am I not a person?”
He felt offended.
The two went upstairs and passed through the entrance hall. What met their eyes were rows of display cabinets. The vintage-style decor was elegant, possessing a scholarly aura and a heavy sense of history.
Lu Yubai could only describe it as “stunning.”
As he followed Yan Chi inside, he immediately spotted a porcelain vase similar to the one donated by Jinghua.
Yan Chi turned on the lights and began the appraisal starting with this vase.
Strangely, Yan Chi had not looked at it for even half a minute before his expression suddenly turned grave. He stared at the square vase with a deep frown.
“Check the collection list and see if this porcelain is on it,” Yan Chi said.
Lu Yubai was used to reading documents and could scan ten lines at a glance. After searching several times and finding nothing, he replied with certainty, “No.”
Seeing that Yan Chi remained silent, he asked suspiciously, “This thing? Is something wrong with it?”
Yan Chi said nothing. He took off his jacket and hung it aside.
He was wearing a white shirt underneath. He skillfully unfastened his cufflinks and rolled up his sleeves.
Under the milky-white rubber gloves, his movements looked sacred yet ascetic.
A hint of surprise crossed Yan Chi’s face. He bent over, picked up the square vase, and placed it on the table by the window to examine it more closely under natural light.
As he held the vase to check the bottom, the firm, smooth muscle lines on his arms tightened, and the raised blue veins looked incredibly sexy.
Under the bright white light, Yan Chi’s features were well-defined. His coolness carried a hint of severity, exuding a distant aura that warned others not to approach.
While Lu Yubai was lost in thought, Yan Chi suddenly clicked his tongue.
“This one is a fake.”
“The material of the bottle is wrong, the craftsmanship is poor, and the seal on the bottom is an obvious forgery.”
He carried the square vase to a corner and set it down.
Lu Yubai snapped back to reality and followed him, asking in confusion, “Is the fake that obvious? I mean, does it require high appraisal skills to tell?”
Yan Chi shook his head. “This vase does not even qualify as a high-quality imitation.”
Lu Yubai’s gaze grew increasingly puzzled.
How could Old Mr. Yang fail to see through something so obviously fake?
Furthermore, this vase was not on the donation list. It was clear that Yang Shu was aware of its existence.
But since he knew, why would he ruin his lifelong reputation for a single fake vase?
Lu Yubai truly could not figure it out.
With so many collections in Yang Shu’s home and his experience in the antiques world, he should not be so petty as to frame Lu Yubai’s authentic piece just because his own was a fake.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
Yan Chi shared his opinion.
Two hours passed by the time they finished the inventory.
Although Lu Yubai did not understand these things, he had a very good memory. When Yan Chi mentioned the historical periods, origins, and names, there was no need for repetition; he remembered everything after hearing it once.
He remembered so clearly that he could even match the appraisal reports to the specific relics.
Coupled with Yan Chi’s professionalism and their mutual understanding, the two were extremely efficient.
After finishing the work, Lu Yubai felt a bit tired. He placed the notebook on the table and leaned against it lazily, looking around out of boredom.
He suddenly noticed a painting hanging on the plain white wall. The content of the painting was the table in front of him and the scenery outside the window.
In the painting, a light drizzle was falling, creating an immediate sense of comfort and tranquility.
He pointed at the painting and looked at Yan Chi, who was taking off his gloves. “Do you know how to paint like that?”
Yan Chi: “Mhm, a little.”
“Then can you paint one and give it to me?”
Under Lu Yubai’s expectant gaze, Yan Chi nodded.
Lu Yubai smiled and stood up. Just as he picked up his notebook to leave, he suddenly felt a sticky sensation on the corner of the table.
“Why is it sticky here?”
Lu Yubai was somewhat puzzled.
Hearing this, Yan Chi came over and touched it, finding that only the area near the brush holder was sticky.
Following the brush holder, he looked at the paper pressed down by the paperweight on the table. On the first page, a drop of deep red had fallen.
He looked up at the painting Lu Yubai had just pointed to, comparing them back and forth. He quickly discovered the anomaly.
In the painting, the paper did not have that smear of red.
He took the paper and smelled it; there was a faint scent of sugar.
He folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
Lu Yubai stared at him suspiciously. “Is there something on it?”
Yan Chi made a gesture for silence, indicating that he should not make a scene.