Chapter 395 - It"s A High-Grade Replica
Kenneth was greatly embarra.s.sed today, especially after Alexis rebuked him several times and even chased him out in front of everyone. He had never been so humiliated in his life!
Kenneth felt extremely aggrieved as well. He had no idea what was wrong with Alexis because he had clearly said those things in the best interests of the Coles. He didn"t know why they wanted to target him like that.
He could barely maintain the expression on his face. After leaving the exhibition hall, his face immediately turned gloomy, and his features distorted with so much menace that he seemed to be on the verge of killing someone.
Nikki hurriedly followed behind Kenneth and asked worriedly, "Kenneth, you…"
Smack!
Before she could finish speaking, Kenneth slapped her hard on her face.
"It"s all your fault, you useless piece of garbage! I wanted you to get Cheyenne Carter here, but you ended up letting her good-for-nothing husband tag along too. He kept going against me! That woman… Hmph! If you hadn"t said so much c.r.a.p in front of that woman from the Cole family, she wouldn"t have nitpicked on me! This is infuriating!"
Kenneth vented all his pent-up anger onto Nikki. While las.h.i.+ng out at her, he even wanted to curse at Alexis, who had popped up out of nowhere. But he quickly stopped himself when he thought that she was a Cole, whom he couldn"t afford to provoke.
After hearing what he said, Nikki aggrievedly placed a hand on her face, which had turned numb because of the slap. I got kicked out by that woman too. Why is Kenneth taking out his anger on me?
But she didn"t dare to argue with him, especially since he was now boiling with anger. Regardless of how aggrieved she felt, she had to bear with it.
But she put the blame on Cheyenne and Lucas.
If it weren"t for them, Kenneth wouldn"t have had to suffer such mistreatment, nor would he vent his anger on her! It"s all their fault!
With a trace of resentment in her eyes, Nikki looked down and said, "Kenneth, please calm down. I"ll definitely send Cheyenne to your bed tonight so that you can take it out on her properly!"
Hearing this and imagining the fiery, pa.s.sionate rendezvous he might have tonight, Kenneth finally contained his anger a little. He said sneeringly, "Hmph. When I get my hands on that little b.i.t.c.h, I"ll definitely recoup my losses!"
In the middle of the exhibition hall, Lucas, Cheyenne, and Alexis were still surrounded by many people.
"The detestable people are gone. Now, can you tell me why you said that there are replicas in this exhibition organized by the Coles?"
Alexis glared at Lucas furiously with her arms crossed. "If you don"t give me a reasonable explanation, I won"t spare you easily!"
As soon as she said this, many looked at Lucas with a sympathetic gaze.
Alexis was the heiress of the Cole family, and yet Lucas had the audacity to say that some of the exhibits were replicas. They all thought that he had failed to realize how powerful she was!
Just now, Kenneth ended up getting chased out mercilessly by Alexis for saying something she didn"t like. They reckoned Lucas would end up in a worse plight!
There was a trace of worry in Cheyenne"s eyes.
She was just chatting with Lucas at the time and didn"t expect Alexis to have overheard them and get offended.
Furthermore, she hadn"t done much research on antiques. So even if she wanted to speak up for Lucas, she couldn"t say anything that would make sense.
She believed that Lucas wasn"t the type who would boast and make casual remarks, but she didn"t know if Lucas knew much about antiques…
Cheyenne was extremely anxious.
But Lucas didn"t panic and instead pointed to an item that looked like a copper cauldron in the gla.s.s display case in front of him. It was labeled "Ming Dynasty Blue Cloisonné Enameled Three-legged Cauldron". He said, "I just said that this item is a replica and not a real Ming Dynasty cloisonné product."
"That"s impossible!" Alexis shook her head and ordered someone to take out an appraisal report.
She then said firmly, "If you say that the other exhibits are replicas, I may still believe it. But I watched the appraisers examine this Ming Dynasty blue cloisonné enameled three-legged cauldron with scientific instruments to a.n.a.lyze the material it"s made of, as well as its age. This is definitely genuine enamelware of the Ming Dynasty!"
It was possible for human errors to occur if the appraisers had merely examined it with the naked eye, and the judgment might vary depending on the appraisers" knowledge. But since scientific instruments had been used, there would basically be no room for error!
All of a sudden, everyone looked at Lucas, thinking that his plan to brag and show off had backfired.
But Lucas shook his head. "The detection of scientific instruments is not 100% accurate all the time. For example, if I take the materials left over from the Ming Dynasty now and create a new item out of them, the instruments will still detect it as a relic from the Ming Dynasty. But the truth is that it wasn"t even created during the Ming Dynasty."
Alexis"s eyes lit up, and she seemed to be deep in thought. "There"s indeed such a possibility. But how are you so sure that this cauldron wasn"t created during the Ming Dynasty?"
Alexis"s gaze was clear. She wasn"t questioning Lucas but genuinely asking him for guidance.
Her att.i.tude immediately took the countless people around them by surprise.
Alexis had behaved like an arrogant, domineering, and spoiled heiress when confronting Kenneth just now. But she was now facing Lucas with an extremely calm att.i.tude and didn"t lose her temper even when he doubted the authenticity of the antiques at the exhibition. Instead, she was discussing it composedly with him.
It was indeed a little strange…
"As the name implies, this Ming Dynasty blue cloisonné enameled three-legged cauldron is a cloisonné product and one of the most famous types of metal craft in China. It requires bending soft metal wire into various patterns and then filling it with colored enamel before welding it onto the object. It was at its prime during the Ming Dynasty, and the production techniques had already reached a mature stage at that point. The enamel used was blue most of the time.
"I won"t go into detail about its history. All I have to say is that the process of making this cloisonné enamelware includes numerous steps such as hammering, filigree work, filling, sintering, polis.h.i.+ng, gilding, and so on. Each step of the process is extremely tedious and demanding. The slightest carelessness and mistake will ruin the piece, and all efforts will go in vain. That"s why the cloisonné enamelware handed down throughout history are some of the finest."
Lucas explained a little bit about the history and process of the cloisonné enamelware, which immediately made the entrepreneurs around them cluck their tongues in awe. Although some of them were antique collectors, most of them were focused only on the elegance of the antiques and had never done much research on antiques.
Alexis"s eyes were full of interest too. Since Lucas could give such a detailed explanation of the history of the cloisonné enamelware, it was enough to show that he wasn"t spouting nonsense. At the very least, he had done enough research on cloisonné enamelware.
Of course, the reason Lucas said this was indeed to prove that he wasn"t lying.
"But what does what you said have to do with replicas? Is it because of the difficult production process that this three-legged cauldron is flawed?" Alexis asked in bewilderment.
"No. On the contrary, this three-legged cauldron is extremely perfect and flawless. But that"s precisely the reason that it can"t be a genuine item from the Ming Dynasty," Lucas said lightly.
But his words were like a bomb that sparked lots of laughter in the exhibition hall.