"Since this is Miss Mina's area of expertise, I assume she knows this basic professional knowledge, right?"
She was too lazy to wait for Mina to answer and walked to the other side of the wall, reaching up and tearing down a painting that the staff had just hung up.
There were scissors on top of the cabinet and she picked them up without hesitation, getting ready to cut.
"Mrs. Huo, wait a minute!"
Seeing her actions, Huo Ersi was scared out of his wits!
"Mr. Huo Ersi, this means you don't trust me?"
Rong Dai stopped for a moment, the corners of her lips curving up into a smile as she stared at him.
Huo Ersi's face revealed an unusual expression, seeming troubled and helpless. "Mrs. Huo, let's talk nicely. If we damage the original work, it would be a huge loss for humankind!"
"Don't worry, I can afford to pay for it."
"If Mr. Huo Ersi can accept looking at imitation paintings, I can paint one for you immediately that will look even more authentic than this one."
As she spoke, she cut into the painting with the scissors, and it was immediately ruined in half.
"Xue Chun, get me some water."
She didn't look at Huo Ersi, but threw the other half of the painting on the ground, holding onto the one half.
Song Xuechun didn't hesitate and immediately twisted open a bottle of mineral water.
Rong Dai used her fingers to slowly smear the water on the painting, repeatedly wetting the same spot. In less than half a minute, a few strands of cotton-like curled shreds appeared on her fingertips.
"Because of the special texture of silk paintings, long-term exposure will make the silk painting core brittle. Thus, there is a saying in Chinese paintings that it's 'Three parts painting, seven parts mounting'."
"Due to the passage of time, the mounting paper supporting the painting core will also be discolored. Therefore, for an authentic work, as long as the mounting paper can be peeled off completely intact, many authentic works can be made from it."
"After all, the painted traces on the mounting paper are real, it just lacks charm due to the change in colors."
Rong Dai stopped speaking and handed the painting to Huo Ersi.
"If this painting had just had the complete mounting paper peeled off and remounted, although not as valuable as the original, it would still have some appreciative value."
"Unfortunately, the forger was too clever for their own good, cutting the mounting paper into several sections before having someone paint over the cuts and patches, thinking they could fake authenticity."
"The connections do look seamless without any flaws, but the forger forgot that time does not lie."
"No matter how skilled the artificial aging methods, without the precipitation of time, it will lack charm."
"Fakes are fakes after all, not living up to their name."
Rong Dai's words had double meaning, and her eyes glanced mockingly at Mina.
"I'm very curious whether Miss Mina lacked expertise, or did this deliberately. Such obvious flaws, how could she not see them?"
She asked lightly, then casually pointed out the flaws and identifying features of several pieces already placed in the display cabinet, explaining in detail how each one was forged.
Huo Ersi had been very unhappy with her reckless and rude behavior, but seeing that a third of the collectibles just delivered to his museum were fakes, his face sank immediately.
"Miss Mina, if you have any doubts, you can bring them up."
"As long as you can point out one complete authentic piece here, I will pay you back ten times the price. How about it?"
She looked down at Mina, eyebrows knitted.
She had given the other party a chance, not wanting to force her to lose face in public, yet this was how she ended up.
Huo Ersi's expression was ugly. Mina explained in panic, but she was incoherent and unable to explain herself clearly.
"And for the few ladies, remember this: Since you've stolen from others, you should keep quiet about it."
"Not strut around arrogantly here - in the end, it will only be yourselves losing face."
Rong Dai stared sharply at the socialite women who had come with Mina, her words cold and extremely scornful as she sneered.
