Chapter 211: Chapter 208: Luring the Snake out of Its Hole Chapter 211: Chapter 208: Luring the Snake out of Its Hole With Gu Xu and Wu Jun present, Huo Sining had no choice but to suppress her urge to find out the truth and temporarily shelved her suspicions.
The next morning, Huo Sining received a call from Liao Song inviting her over, mentioning that he had acquired a rare Song Dynasty Guanyin Jingping Porcelain Carving and wanted to invite friends from their circle for a gathering to discuss and share insights.
Huo Sining obviously knew the underlying reason; it seemed Liao Song had already started his scheming.
Since the strategy was hers, she had no reason not to be present at the scene to witness the con artist’s embarrassing predicament, so without needing another word from Liao Song, she was determined to uncover the truth.
Su Qingqing and Yin Zeyan, who had been at the Yin Yizhai event, were also part of the treasure appraisal circle and naturally received Liao Song’s invitation.
On the day of the gathering, Huo Sining gladly went.
However, to Huo Sining’s surprise, just as she was about to leave her house, Gu Xu coincidentally arrived at her villa. Upon learning that Huo Sining was going to Liao Song’s place, he immediately asked to come along.
Huo Sining’s mouth twitched, and she was quite troubled by Gu Xu’s frequent presence outside her home.
Gu Xu claimed he wanted to exchange ideas with Master Huang, but “the intent of Sima Zhao is known to everyone.” Even Huo Sining felt something off with such an overt move.
“Mr. Gu, isn’t your… company busy?” Huo Sining hesitated for a moment and ultimately did not ask “What are you trying to do?”
Gu Xu gave Huo Sining a thoughtful look and shook his head, “Not busy. With Song Hui in charge, I could take a year or half off without problems.”
“Uh…” Huo Sining was momentarily at a loss for words, seeing Gu Xu’s earnest appearance, a wave of frustration washed over her.
Big brother, are you playing dumb or just being dense? Can’t you understand what I’m clearly asking you? I don’t care if your company is busy, I’m asking what you mean by hanging around my front door every day. Don’t you know this makes a bad impression?
Although I may look youthful and be nearing thirty, deep down I’m a normal woman, in the prime of life and full of vigor. The kind of man I fancy is exactly someone like you, so aren’t you afraid I might not be able to restrain myself and devour you?!
Go ahead and eat, eat, I’ll bathe and present myself on the bed for your tasting pleasure!
If Gu Xu had known Huo Sining’s inner roar, he would have been ecstatic and agreed with both hands and feet.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t read minds and was entirely unable to decipher the subtle and obscure look in Huo Sining’s eyes.
So, the miserable boss Gu embarked on a long and arduous quest for love, trying to guess what the girl before him really meant while also seeking dating advice from his somewhat unreliable secretary, a process more torturous than business negotiations in the marketplace.
On the way there, both were preoccupied with their own thoughts, maintaining silence for over half an hour before arriving at Liao Song’s home.
Upon entering, they realized that apart from those present that day who had been invited, Su Qingqing had even brought along Professor Xie.
Of course, Liao Song was a formidable figure. Having mingled in S City for so many years and collected many fine porcelain pieces, he had connections with numerous collectors. Therefore, almost all the guests he invited, who had some relationship with him, were present.
Likewise, Liao Song didn’t forget to send an invitation message to the con artist friend, but as one would expect, the invitation went unanswered, as if it had sunk into the ocean.
Huo Sining glanced at the dozen or so people in the room, her eyes flashed with intelligence as she thought to herself that it looked like quite the scene was about to unfold, while on the other side, Su Qingqing’s heart was hardly able to contain her excitement.
“Hey Liao Song, we’ve had our meal, isn’t it about time you got to the main event? Hurry up and bring out your treasure for everyone to see. What’s with the suspense?”
After lunch, people were eagerly waiting, and when someone couldn’t hide their impatience any longer and shouted, the others hurriedly nodded in agreement:
“Exactly, exactly, hurry up and bring it out, don’t dawdle anymore!”
“Ah, my apologies everyone, I was so focused on drinking that I forgot the main business!”
Liao Song stood up upon hearing this, smiled apologetically, and took out a sandalwood box from the room.
People thought Liao Song was just bluffing to create suspense, so they didn’t take it very seriously, just watched eagerly as he held the object in his hand.
As Liao Song opened the box, he sneakily glanced at Huo Sining. Huo Sining smiled wryly and gave Liao Song a reassuring look.
Feeling reassured, Liao Song took the porcelain carving out of the box. With a proud smile on his face, he passed it around for everyone to see and proudly started to introduce the history of the sculpture.
Most of the attendees were like Liao Song and were interested in the collection of antique porcelains. Upon seeing The Droplet Guanyin, they were all amazed.
Knowing that Liao Song had invited several experts to validate this porcelain carving, everyone was thoroughly convinced and admired it purely, with no one suspecting it could be faked.
However, when the object reached Xie Daoyuan, things took a turn.
Professor Xie, unaware of Liao Song’s trap, was a man of realism and precision especially when it came to porcelain research, so as soon as the sculpture reached his hands, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
Suspicion in his eyes, he scrutinized the Guanyin from every angle, and spent tens of seconds attentively feeling the official kiln mark at the base, before he was completely convinced of his suspicion.
With an unfazed look, he glanced at the delighted Liao Song, hesitation flickered in Professor Xie’s eyes for a few seconds before he finally spoke slowly:
“Mr. Liao, this porcelain carving of yours seems a bit off to me, it doesn’t look like Song porcelain. May I ask from whom you purchased it? And which experts helped you with the validation?”
While everyone was immersed in the exquisite beauty of the porcelain carving, Professor Xie’s abrupt statement was like a bombshell, and suddenly the noisy room fell silent.
Everyone turned in surprise to look at Professor Xie, even Su Qingqing hadn’t anticipated such an incident.
According to Huo Sining’s plan, it should have been Xu Deqing who pointed out that the porcelain was a fake, but unexpectedly, Xie Daoyuan came out of nowhere and stole Xu Deqing’s line.
Liao Song knew that Su Qingqing was in cahoots with Huo Sining; thinking that Huo Sining had changed the plan of attack, Huo Sining’s eyes flashed with panic, and he subtly shook his head to indicate it wasn’t his arrangement.
Liao Song, a man of myriad experiences, managed to keep his composure. He reassuringly introduced Xie Daoyuan to the curious crowd.
Upon understanding that Professor Xie was a national-level appraiser, everyone suddenly realized.
Seeing such a professional like Xie Daoyuan expressing skepticism about the porcelain, instantly, everyone became as excited as if injected with adrenaline, looking at each other as if reading each other’s minds for gossip.
Oh damn, this is a big deal! Liao Song invited so many people with such fanfare to view his treasure. If this porcelain carving turns out to be a fake, wouldn’t he be slapping his own face?