Live Appreciation, Congratulations to Brother

Chapter 295
"Professor Dong is not one of yours, is he?"

Zhang Yang glanced at Chu Ziqiang with squinted eyes. The Chu family seemed to be able to arrange anything. Should the next step be to reveal his identity and declare that he was one of the four great hidden families in China?

"What are you thinking about? Professor Dong is half of my second uncle's master. He was my tutor when my father was in graduate school, so I'm almost his disciple." Chu Ziqiang explained in a low voice.

"Your relationship is really complicated..."

"I'll think about it again. I originally planned to go to Liangzhu Museum in the past few days, but I may not have time."

Zhang Yang shrugged and was noncommittal about what Xiao Chu said about going to see the clay pots.

This Liangzhu Forum has a long time span, so let’s take a look at the excitement first.

The exchange meeting was still going on. Professor Dong came on stage next, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. The first words he said made Zhang Yang a little confused:

"If you look at Liangzhu using the common settlement theory, it cannot be considered a country or dynasty at all. However, as the remains of Yao's Taosi Temple (2300 BC), the custom of using pig bones to bury them has proven that they came from Dawenkou Culture. Just because the Liangzhu people moved northward, forcing the Dawenkou ethnic group to move westward, the so-called Yanhuang people were just wishful thinking of the ancients..."

It turns out this is a serious academic conference!
For a junior student who has never been exposed to this kind of thing, it is too complicated.

Zhang Yang could only roughly hear that some people wanted to prove that "Liangzhu Civilization = Yu Dynasty", while others wanted to refute and tell everyone that the real "first dynasty" was the Xia Dynasty at the Erlitou site.

"What are they fighting about?" Miss Gao asked the person next to her in a low voice.

"I seem to understand." Xu Jie explained: "Actually, it's the difference between 5000 years of history and 4000 years of history. If it were just the Xia Dynasty, China's history would only be 4000 years old."

"Boss, is that so?"

"Absolutely." Zhang Yang said truthfully: "I can only say that I understand everything about this thing."

The experts and scholars on the stage changed one after another, but the issues they struggled with repeatedly remained unchanged. No one could convince anyone.Anyway, there are enough air conditioners and mineral water pipes here, so let’s do it slowly.

Zhang Yang originally thought that this exchange meeting would be like this, with no solution to the discussion, until a somewhat familiar treasure appeared on the stage.

"Wow, why is this guy carrying props? It's a foul!" Xu Jie exclaimed.

"Bringing props shows that you are professional. I really like using props."

"It's a bronze vessel. It looks like an antelope?"

"Here, Brother Yang, it's your specialty. Help us see if this is true or not?"

"It's true at first sight." Zhang Yang blinked, confirming that he had seen both the treasure and its holder: "This is an antelope statue from the Bronze Age of West Asia."

The item information showed "Production time: 2101 BC". He had only encountered one such treasure before, when he was conducting an offline treasure appraisal in Yangcheng.

West Asian Bronze Ware... Zhang Yang had a vague feeling that someone was here to cause trouble!
Sure enough, as soon as the middle-aged man on the stage who had met Zhang Yang opened his mouth, he pushed the atmosphere of the meeting to a high point.

“I know that all of you here want to use the successful application of the Liangzhu site as a World Heritage Site to prove something, but I think this is because the people at the World Heritage Center are sick. Even if the people at the Universal Heritage Center say that Liangzhu is a civilization, You won’t get the approval of me, Wang Long!”

It seems that Wang Long should be the enemy of this treasure friend, Zhang Yang thought secretly in his heart.

"Okay, now that I've vented my emotions, let me give you some useful information. What are the three elements of civilization?"

"It's words, cities, bronzes."

"This is not a Western standard. This is what Mr. Xia, the founder of archeology in our country, said."

"You guys here, tell me, have any bronzes been found at the Liangzhu site? No, so it can only be called the Liangzhu culture, let alone the concept of a country."

Many people present who supported "Xia is the first dynasty" agreed with Baoyou's statement, so everyone's reaction was not too intense.

But what he said next was explosive.

"You should have noticed the bronze vessel I brought. You must have thought it was from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, right?"

"Hey, that's a big mistake! The bronzes of the Shang Dynasty came from the west. They came from the Sumerian civilization in West Asia, where my bronze statue came from. With all due respect, is there a possibility that the Shang Dynasty you are discussing Modern culture, like bronzes, also came from the West?"

"The so-called Xia Dynasty was actually the disseminator of Western culture???"

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and almost everyone present objected to Baoyou's statement that "culture came from the West."

To put it more conservatively: “Ridiculous!”

The more radical ones directly scolded: "You fart!"

I can’t bear to watch the fun: “Fight, fight, fight!”

But knowing this treasure friend Zhang Yang, I just feel a little weird.

It’s 2023 now, not 2003. “Culture comes from the West” is outdated. Now the popular argument on the Internet is that “Western history is forged.”

The saying that “bronze smelting technology came from the West” still had many audiences ten years ago.

However, as bronze knives were unearthed from the Majiayao Culture (3000 BC) and Shijiahe Culture (2700 BC), and serious bronzes were also unearthed from the Taosi Site (2300 BC), this statement It is already difficult to convince the public. The current saying is that "several ancient cultures communicated with each other."

As a treasurer who is engaged in transnational "cultural relics trade", on such an occasion, before making such remarks, did he really not do any homework at all?
Also, how did he get in? Where was the security guard?

Zhang Yang was very curious as to what kind of evil Baoyou was holding back.

"Don't be so impatient. The age of my bronze has been appraised by treasure experts. It is a genuine cultural relic of the Eastern Mediterranean civilization. Its history is older than your Shang Dynasty bronze."

"Which bullshit expert identified it?" someone asked at the scene.

Zhang Yang suddenly felt something was wrong.

Fortunately, Baoyou didn't repay kindness with evil, so he simply ignored the problem and continued to talk about the strange viewpoint of the introduction of culture to the West around the bronze.

"Why is this person like this..." Sister Gao expressed disbelief at Baoyou's statement.

"Banana people are like this. I previously wanted to use genes to prove that our ancestors are descendants of Southeast Asian monkeys." Xiao Chu said also a little angrily.

A few people were discussing in a low voice, and the rest of the people on the scene were doing the same. The whole conference room was buzzing, and it would be an exaggeration to call it a vegetable market.

Zhang Yang's eyes were always on the middle-aged man on the stage, and when he came off the stage, he immediately greeted him.

"Boss, where are you going?" Xu Jie was a little clingy.

"There is an old friend here, let's go say hello."

Maybe he was afraid of being beaten. After he stepped down from the stage, Baoyou walked directly out of the venue with the bronze in his arms. The whole journey was very busy. Most of the experts and scholars attending the meeting were elderly, and no one dared to stop him.

Zhang Yang followed him silently until he was outside the conference room, and Baoyou didn't react until he came to his senses.

He turned around and asked: "You will follow me... Zhang, Master Zhang?"

Baoyou looked at Zhang Yang in surprise: "Master, when did you come?"

"You were at the venue before you went on stage." Zhang Yang said with a smile.

"Oh, that's a coincidence. By the way, who is this?"

Baoyou poked his head and looked behind Zhang Yang.

Um?Is there someone behind this?
Zhang Yang turned his head.

At some point, an old man followed behind him. He was wearing an old suit and square-framed glasses with yellow lenses, and his expression was somewhat restrained.

"Excuse me!" the old man said with a smile: "I want to ask this gentleman if you can lend me your Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age cultural relics for study?"

"Oh?" An old man who was interested in West Asian cultural relics suddenly appeared. Zhang Yang and Baoyou were both surprised.

"Do you believe his assertion that culture came to the West?" Zhang Yang asked.

Judging from the old man's age, he is about the same as Professor Dong, so he shouldn't have any knowledge at all.

"Of course that's impossible." The old man shook his head: "If the Liangzhu ruins had not been excavated, some people might believe this, but now, hehe..."

"Then why do you want to look at my baby?"

Baoyou's tone was a little unhappy. The old man's words were a bit too rude, and he was even suspected of treating him as a fool.

However, the old man dispelled all his unhappiness with just two words:

"I'll buy."

"So you want to buy it. I'm sorry. Please hurry up and let us find a place for you to take a good look."

Baoyou quickly made an invitation gesture, led the old man to the coffee table in the hotel lobby, and placed the bronze antelope statue in his hand on it.While the old man was observing, Zhang Yang asked the question he wanted to ask:

"I remember, wasn't your stuff smuggled in overland? How dare you show it on such an occasion?"

This behavior of Baoyou is very dangerous in Zhang Yang’s view, because his bronze antelope appeared together with Zhang Yang at the Yangcheng Treasure Appraisal Activity.

The police can find out if they look a little more carefully.

If this involves a cross-border cultural relics lawsuit, then the treasure appraisal event organized by Zhang Yang will be a big deal.

Although Zhang Yang and the auction company were forewarned of this kind of situation before the event and signed some exemption clauses, it is up to the judge to decide whether they can really be exempted from liability.

Now that we have bumped into each other, it is best to ask clearly, so that we will not know the reason when we come to check the water meter in the future.

"Hey, what's this? The big one is still behind!"

Seeing Zhang Yang's expression, Baoyou didn't seem to believe it. He smiled mysteriously and took out an ID card from his pocket.

It says "Member of the Sumerian Civilization Propaganda Group of Liangzhu Forum".

"This is a real ID." Baoyou pointed to the website address above and said, "We built an official website overnight. When you go to this website, you can see my profile picture."

"I'll go, is it so big now?"

Zhang Yang admitted that he was a little shocked.

If there is no problem with the documents, then the purpose of Baoyou coming to this exchange meeting is already obvious:

The purpose is to screen out potential buyers among those attending the meeting.

Zhang Yang glanced at the old man who was marveling at the bronze antelope statue. Baoyou seemed to have caught a fish?
"So it's legal for you to sell these things now, right?"

"Of course, with our funds, it is very simple to bribe a few local people in war-torn areas."

Baoyou raised his eyebrows at Zhang Yang and said in an ambiguous tone:
"Master Zhang, are you interested in joining my team?"

"Your team?" Zhang Yang thought of what happened at the Egyptian Art Museum.

Because there were too many cultural relics involved and they were related to the beautiful country, after Captain Liu reported it, people from the province came directly.

Zhang Yang was originally thinking about how to preserve the mummy after opening the coffin, but he was dismissed with a banner.

The only gain may be that everyone in the criminal police team headed by Captain Liu is certain of one thing:

Director Zhang is a good person and can be dealt with.

Now, Baoyou wants to get himself involved again, but instead of ancient Egyptian cultural relics, he has replaced them with cultural relics from the Sumerian civilization.

"Forget it, I'm just here to join in the fun." Zhang Yang temporarily rejected Baoyou's kindness.

"It's okay, I understand."

Baoyou had already expected Zhang Yang's reaction. He took out a business card and handed it to Zhang Yang:

"If you figure it out, please contact me at any time. I am willing to cooperate with you at any time."

Zhang Yang glanced at the information on the business card, Mr. Cui of an international art trading company.

There was no office address written on it, not even a serious email address, just a contact number. It looked like a leather bag company, or maybe even an air company.

But this kind of person is planning to transport a large number of cultural relics from the Sumerian civilization to the country in the name of exhibition, and then quietly digest them in the domestic market.

As expected, the brave ones will be starved to death and the timid ones will be starved to death.

While the two of them were talking, the uncle had already finished playing.

He coughed lightly to attract their attention, walked to the opposite side of Mr. Cui, and said slowly:

"I'm afraid there's something wrong with this bronze vessel."

"What's wrong?"

"The shape, coating, and bronze material are all wrong, I think..."

"Hahaha." Mr. Cui laughed directly and interrupted the other party: "Don't think so."

"Old man, do you know what you are talking about? I made it very clear on the stage that this thing has been authenticated by experts."

"It's a coincidence that this expert is at the scene. Although you are old, you still need to be slapped in the face. You have to stand firm!"

"Come on, Master Zhang!"

"...Hey, where is Master Zhang?"

Mr. Cui suddenly discovered that the handsome guy who was next to him just now suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, in the conference room, because Sister Gao was there, all four people had seats.

After Zhang Yang sat down, he handed the business card that Mr. Cui gave him to Chu Ziqiang.

"Is this your new vest?" Xiao Chu asked, looking at the identity on the business card.

"No, this is an international cultural relic dealer, but what they sell are foreign cultural relics."

After listening to Zhang Yang's explanation, Xiao Chu gave him a meaningful look:
"Brother Yang, your channels are so wide now?"

"There are no channels. What they sell are bronzes, murals, pottery pots and other things from West Asia. I just want to buy his treasures to keep them fresh. Anyway, I have no interest in them."

"I gave you this business card to ask you to find someone to pay attention to. Be careful that when they leave, they may take away the domestic cultural relics."

"Oh~" Xiao Chu suddenly realized: "It's like a taxi running a long distance, right? It's a big loss to have an empty taxi on the return trip, so I want to pick up people along the way."

"That's almost the truth." Zhang Yang nodded.

On the stage, the exchange continued.

Maybe because of Mr. Cui’s proofing, everyone on stage now starts using props.

Everyone is here to participate in the forum, and who doesn’t know how to bring some of their own treasures?

Someone went directly back to the hotel, pulled the suitcase over, and took out the collected treasures to display in front of everyone.

"Boss, why do you suddenly feel that there is a trend of treasure appraisal competitions?" Sister Gao whispered in Zhang Yang's ear.

"Because of academic matters, no one can convince anyone, but collecting is different. It can really tell the difference."

"So is what they brought out real?"

Sister Gao asked, pointing to the three-legged bag-footed Tao Si (gui sound) on the stage.

This red pottery vase is one of the iconic cultural relics of Liangzhu culture and is collected by many museums in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The shape is somewhat similar to that of a pottery or bronze kei, with a bag-shaped base, but the pottery kei has additional handles and a rim for pouring soup.

"Of course it's a replica."

Zhang Yang thought to himself that if it were true, today would be even more lively.

"Not only is it imitated, but it is not Liangzhu culture."

"It should be pottery from the Dawenkou culture." Zhang Yang explained while suppressing a smile.

The middle-aged man on the stage was still introducing the origin of his collection. Little did he know that the more he talked about it, the more outrageous it became.

Chu Ziqiang on the side was always paying attention to Zhang Yang's reaction. When he heard him say that the things on the stage came from Dawenkou, Xiao Chu doubtfully took out the photos he took at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum a few days ago.

It’s so strange. The cultural relics in the museum are really similar to this pottery vase.

"Don't be confused. There is overlap between these two cultures, but the totem worship of the sacred bird is more obvious in the pottery of the Dawenkou Culture."

"When you look at the teacher's pottery hat on the stage, does it look like a bird with its head raised and its beak stretched out?"

　Thanks to Zhouyi zcb for the 100 coin reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)