Riding the wind of rebirth

Zhou Zhi waved his hand quickly: "We are just robbing Peter to pay Paul, mainly buying and moving old houses. Although it plays a protective role objectively, subjectively it is for the beauty and comfort of our own yard. I dare not compare with Mr. An's selflessness."

"After all, every bit of it saved is a bit of a bit of a saving. We are collectors, and collectors have objectively achieved the goal of protecting ancient artworks through such actions. There is nothing wrong with that." An Siyuan was very tolerant. "Recently, there has been some uproar in the New York collecting community about the ownership of the warrior statue. So I also sent this statue to the research institute and tried the multi-spectral thermal imaging dating method you mentioned. The result of scientific analysis shows that the statue is between 1150 and 1200."

"That period was the late reign of Emperor Shizong of Jin and the early to middle reign of Emperor Zhangzong of Jin, and was also the fifty years when the Jin Dynasty was at its most prosperous." Zhou Zhi secretly clenched his fists, thinking that he had guessed correctly.

"Come sit down and talk." An Siyuan invited Zhou Zhi and Hou Zhongjin to sit down together. "You can guess the age of the Bodhisattva statue, which shows that your professional level is indeed good, but you can also tell the approximate time when I got this Bodhisattva statue, which is quite impressive."

"I just like to make random associations." Zhou Zhi smiled shyly. Although he guessed the connection, he reversed the cause and effect, which was not a skill.

An Siyuan asked again: "I heard that the child is interested in stone inscriptions, porcelain, modern and contemporary calligraphy and painting, and Ming and Qing furniture?"

There is no need to hide in front of Ming people. Zhou Zhi said: "I have learned porcelain identification and calligraphy and painting mounting from my elders since I was a child. When I grew up, I received careful teachings from Grandpa Wang and Grandpa Qi. Grandpa Qi is a famous calligrapher in my country and a collector of inscriptions and rubbings; Grandpa Wang is a master of porcelain, calligraphy and painting, Ming and Qing furniture, and miscellaneous items. I have benefited a lot from learning from them over the past few years."

Not knowing why An Siyuan had called him over, Zhou Zhi added, "However, I have only been in contact with several collections for a short time, so I don't want to trouble Mr. An. The only thing I can really show off is probably the restoration of family heirloom calligraphy and paintings, which is still barely acceptable."

"Little boy, you are too modest." An Siyuan took a puff of his pipe and said with a smile, "The six scrolls from Prince Chun's Palace in the Fujita Museum of Art in Japan were brought back to China. They were restored by you, right?"

Although the outside world knows very little about this, Zhou Zhi does not want to hide it, so as long as someone wants to check, it can be found out quickly.

Zhou Zhi wondered if An Siyuan had called him over for this matter, so he said, "Mr. An, do you have a film that needs to be restored? Is it on paper or silk?"

An Siyuan laughed: "Why are you in such a hurry to find a job?"

"It's really not possible during this period." Zhou Zhi smiled shyly, "Mr. An, you know that we need to go all out to take down the warrior relief statue in Wang Chuzhi's tomb recently. But if Mr. An needs my help, I will come over after the matter is finished so that I can concentrate on the work."

"After all, we all know that Mr. An's collections are all fine products. It is my blessing to have the opportunity to get close to them."

"If I remember correctly, among the six scrolls, Zhao Lingrang's "Geese", Zhao Mengfu's "Washing Horses", and Han Gan's "Horse Nature" are all on silk. How did you manage to restore them to such a perfect finish?"

"It's not completely perfect." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "The main thing is that we have restored the silk used for calligraphy and painting with a diameter close to that of Song Dynasty silk. It is very suitable for repairing silk works. However, in order to prevent counterfeiting, we still use machine weaving technology. The texture density of the silk obtained is very consistent. If you examine it under a magnifying glass, you can still find that it is different from the real hand-woven ancient silk."

"So that's how it is..." An Siyuan nodded: "Then I have a favor to ask of you, little friend."

"Is it a restoration?" "Yes, but let's see the deposit first." An Siyuan took a puff of his pipe: "Zhong Jin, show it to the kid."

Hou Zhongjin walked forward and pulled open a velvet curtain covering the wall, revealing a relief stone statue behind it.

Zhou Zhi jumped up in shock, stuttering: "This... this..."

"This is a relief sculpture I received from Hong Kong Island last month. I will donate it to your country in exchange for you working for me for a month." An Siyuan saw Zhou Zhi's reaction and was very satisfied with the success of his prank. "As a deposit, you should be satisfied, right?"

"No, no, no, I can't describe this as satisfactory." Zhou Zhi bowed to An Siyuan repeatedly: "Mr. Dayi, with this thing, our school's computer department can complete the last piece of the puzzle..."

"When the business here is over, sir, if you have any orders, I will do them without hesitation!"

"Okay, we have now concluded a gentleman's agreement. You and Zhong Jin can take this thing away."

Two weeks later, the Southern District Court of New York decided.

The judicial system of the United States is very complicated. Before, neither party even showed up, and they all relied on their lawyers to engage in a war of words. Today is the final moment, and both parties are all present for the first time. Zhou Zhi also saw Lu Lirong's appearance for the first time.

From the appearance, Lu Lirong was wearing a well-fitting suit, his hair and even the sideburns were trimmed meticulously, and he wore gold-rimmed glasses. He must have been quite handsome when he was young. I think he paid great attention to exercise and maintenance in his daily life. He is still a handsome guy now.

On the other hand, Liang Pingyi from Zhouzhi was born a soldier, and he still has that kind of temperament. He is tall and strong, with a face full of flesh, and a flat head. Comparing the two, it seems that Lu Lirong is more cultured, well-educated, and has better temperament.

Although at Tony Huang's reminder, Zhou Zhi took Liang Pingyi to change his clothes from head to toe in order to make Liang Pingyi leave a good impression on the judge, but his hair was difficult to grow and his temperament was even more difficult to change. Originally, he wanted to give him a pair of plain glasses but he refused verbally, so now he had to go on stage like this.

Although Tony Huang concluded that they would win the lawsuit after seeing what Zhou Zhi and Hou Zhongjin brought, Zhou Zhi was not as confident as he was.

Fortunately, the judge was a black lady. In her eyes, all Asians were probably the same, so the tone and wording seemed to be similar for both sides. Zhou Zhi's English was good, and he could keenly perceive from the choice of some words that the lady seemed to have more favor towards them, which gave Zhou Zhi some confidence.

"Your Excellency, Honorable Judge, Honorable Jury," Lu Lirong's lawyer began his final statement: "After the other party unreasonably pointed out that the warrior relief stone carvings owned by my client came from the stolen tomb of Wang Chuzhi in China, it had a profound and irreversible impact on my client's reputation, career, and social image. Before the case was clear, they even used forces that individuals and companies could not resist, and set off a storm of public opinion in Hong Kong Island, forcing my client to transfer the auction items to Christie's Auction House in the United States in advance to seek possible justice." (End of this chapter)