Chapter 49 Part 2: Genuine

Due to Jiang Li’s presence, the people surrounding them to watch the play grew. Ye Shijie wrinkled his brows but on the contrary, Liu Zi Min was more patient.

After looking at it for a while, Jiang Li put down the painting in her hand. Instead of returning the painting to Liu Zimin, she spoke: “Master Zeng’s ink treasures are indeed precious. It’s really interesting, hard to come by and invaluable. But…….”

She hadn’t completed her words yet but Liu Zimin’s brows had risen an inch higher. Upon hearing Jiang Li’s final words, he subconsciously asked: “But what?”

“This painting is fake,” said Jiang Li.

“This painting is…….” Liu Zimin reacted suddenly and spoke loudly: “How is it possible?” When he again looked at Jiang Li, the original amiable look was no longer there.

Ye Shijie was stunned and also looked at Jiang Li.

“This painting was copied very well and resembled the original very much. However, it still cannot conceal the fact that it’s a counterfeit. According to the current market value of the closest resemblance counterfeit goods, this painting would at most fetch no more than 52 silvers. Young master Ye,” she looked at Ye Shijie: “you only need to pay 52 silvers to this young master, that’s it.”

“Little girl,” Liu Zimin sneered evilly: “Red mouth white teeth1 , if you say that it’s a fake then it’s a fake? This painting is a genuine article! You must not speak recklessly.”

“Yes ah,” the surrounding crowd jeered: “How are you going to prove it?”

Jiang Li wasn’t in a hurry and spoke steadily: “Master Zeng was from the previous dynasty.The pen and ink from the previous dynasty used silk from back then. However, there wasn’t any double-threaded silk fabric in the former dynasty.”

“Double-threaded silk?” Baixue asked doubtfully.

“The double-threaded silk fabric the previous dynasty produced was coarse and thin. But look at this painting scroll, it’s spotlessly white, smooth and thick. It’s clearly a double-threaded silk fabric. It’s not possible for the former dynasty’s Master Zeng to use the current double-threaded silk fabric to paint. This is the first point.”

“The second point, the stamp is incorrect. The former dynasty never used this stone stamp. If it was a stamp from the previous dynasty, it would have the marks specific to the previous dynasty: the place where each character stops should appear thicker than the original writing. But it appears relatively light and rather yellowish. The stamp of this painting is smooth, the color is reddish. It’s clearly wrong.”

While talking, Jiang Li explained and showed the《Bird Drinking in Spring 》picture in her hand for everyone to see. If nobody had said anything, they wouldn’t think so but once the words were out, in the light of Jiang Li’s words, sure enough, they felt something didn’t seem right.

Very soon Liu Zimin’s complexion became more and more ugly. On the contrary, Ye Shijie became more and more amazed. Jiang Li smiled: “The most important point is, the idea in this painting of 《Bird Drinking in Spring 》lies in Master Zeng’s attention to details. While the songbird was pecking, in the water there’s an inverted painting of the songbird. The same goes the other way, there’s water reflected in the songbird’s eye. There should also be a shadow of the songbird on the blossoming branch. However, in this 《Bird Drinking in Spring 》 painting, there isn’t any reflection in the water or in the eye.”

“Therefore,” Jiang Li smiled: “Young master’s 《Bird Drinking in Spring 》’s painting is a counterfeit. A counterfeit painting of 《Bird Drinking in Spring 》for 3,200 gold, this is just a fantasy.”

[T/N: The author wrote 32,000 gold in the previous chapter and 3,200 in this chapter T-T.]

Liu Zimin flew into a rage out of humiliation and reached his hand out to grab the painting in Jiang Li’s hand. How could Jiang Li let him get away with it, Bai Xue had long ago smartly taken the painting passed to her and held it up high, displaying it for everyone to examine.

“Do you know who I am?” Liu Zimin finally couldn’t help it, exposed himself and said evilly: “You dare to slander me so much, when my dad knows about it you’ll get into big trouble!”

Upon hearing him, Jiang Li put away the smile on her face and said indifferently: “I don’t know who you are. But you dare to be so insolent towards me, when my dad knows it, your trouble won’t be small either.”

“I actually want to know which family you came from, report your name!” Liu Zimin spoke angrily.

“From the capital’s Jiang family, the daughter of the chief assistant’s di wife, Jiang second miss.” Jiang Li said.

－－－－－－Off topic－－－－－－

Ah Li: My father is Li Gang ╭（╯^╰）╮

“My Dad is Li Gang!” (Chinese: 我爸是李刚!; Pinyin: wǒ bà shì lǐ gāng) is a popular catchphrase used ironically among Chinese netizens to avoid responsibility. The phrase stems from a fatal hit and run incident that occured near Hebei University in Baoding, China, in which a drunk driver named Li Qiming yelled at his pursuers, “Go ahead, sue me if you dare. My dad is Li Gang!”, referring to the Deputy Director of Baoding Public Security Bureau.

As a result, any reference to “Li Gang” has become associated with acting recklessly above the law because of supposed connections to government officials.

Footnotes:

1: Red mouth white teeth: an idiom refers to the normal appearance of ordinary people, but this is a scolding if they say something abnormal. Perhaps something like, “have eyes but can’t see” 1.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook: