The Rise of the Ranch King

Chapter 18 18. One bad news, one good news

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Feng was leisurely drinking coffee at a roadside cafe and reminiscing about his supercar dream.

A strange phone call came in. The caller claimed to be the assistant of the appraiser Ernest and asked him to come to the Zhenbao Appraisal Office immediately.

It seemed that Golden Apple had a conclusion, so Lin Feng asked him what the result was.

"It's better to come to the laboratory first. Mr. Ernest is waiting for you in the office."

The assistant's tone was very urgent. This sentence made Lin Feng's heart skip a beat. Maybe there was an accident.

No matter how I asked, the assistant refused to reveal any information.

Lin Feng had no choice but to take a taxi to the laboratory immediately. The twenty-minute journey was very tiring.

I called Paul, but he was also confused and said he didn't know.

When he arrived at the laboratory and went straight to the office on the top floor, Lao Ou was staring at a report with a serious expression.

Seeing Lin Feng, Lao Ou immediately stood up and called him over.

"Lin, before I tell you the identification results, please answer me a question first, where did you get it?"

Lin Feng looked calm, "It was left by the previous owner in the storage room of the ranch."

He began to wonder in his heart, could this be stolen goods? The small world teleported a treasure from a certain museum?

Ernest tapped the table with his right hand, then nodded, "Okay, now I'll tell you the results of the appraisal. You have to be mentally prepared."

"Whatever the outcome is, I can accept any outcome."

"That's good."

Then Lao Ou placed an appraisal report in front of Lin Feng.

It's all in English, and there are pictures of golden apples. I don't have the heart to read page after page now.

"Just tell me the results directly, everything else is secondary."

Ernest nodded and said with a look of embarrassment: "The golden apple is fake."

fake?

Although I was mentally prepared, my head was still buzzing.

Lao Ou quickly added: "I'm sorry I wasn't accurate enough. The outermost layer of the golden apple is gold-plated. It's very thin, about two millimeters."

what?

This was a bolt from the blue.

Lin Feng thought for a while, "But it's heavy, what's inside."

Lao Ou took out a piece of the test report and said, "Some kind of resin-like liquid, not a solid metal anyway."

Thinking about it this way, I seemed to have heard a noise when I shook the golden apple before, but I didn't take it seriously at the time.

"Also, why is it brighter than ordinary gold crafts?"

Lin Feng still refused to give up.

"The gold-plated surface layer is mixed with phosphorus and a catalytic enzyme, which is similar to the principle of fireflies luminescence. The addition ratio is moderate so that it will not glow at night, but will be crystal clear when illuminated by light."

Lao Ou's words made Lin Feng's heart completely freeze, and he flipped through the test reports one by one aimlessly.

At this time, Paul Schneider knocked on the door and entered the office. This guy came at the wrong time. After all, Lin Feng's face was a little ugly now.

After listening to Lao Ou explain the identification results of the golden apple, Paul covered his head with his hands.

Paul patted him on the shoulder and said: "You must be feeling terrible now, brother. Don't beat yourself up or embarrass yourself. Go out for a drink, I'll treat you."

Lin Feng remembered what his father said on the day he broke up in love. No matter how sad things happen to a man, they will get over it. It's no big deal.

It was just a failed appraisal, but there is still a bright future for ranching with the help of Small World.

It's just that Lin Feng had too high expectations for Golden Apple before, and now he feels helpless.

After leaving the house, Paul called a taxi and they were going to continue at the bar last night.

Forget about your worries and relax completely for one night, and return to River Valley Town to carefully manage the ranch tomorrow.

As for golden apples, they are still very good as decorations at home. Just when Lin Feng got into the taxi and was about to close the door, someone outside suddenly pulled the door.

Lin Feng thought he met a robber, but turned out to be Ernest's assistant.

"Wait, Mr. Lin."

The assistant gasped and probably ran all the way downstairs, otherwise it wouldn't have been like this.

Lin Feng looked at Paul in front of him and asked him what else he wanted.

The assistant handed a piece of paper to Lin Feng.

I took it and saw it was a photo taken with an X machine, in the shape of a golden apple.

Most of the photo is black, with a small white spot in the middle. The edges are smooth, the border is clear, and the outline is like a drop of water.

He didn't understand what this meant and looked up at the assistant.

"Sir, I suggest you cut it open! There may be stuff inside!"

"What material?"

"The worst thing is a stone, but I don't think there would be a stone hidden inside such a sophisticated shell. It would be like an ugly woman with freckles underneath the veil of a stunningly beautiful Persian beauty."

He continued: "The shell of your golden apple is very smooth. We used a thousand-fold magnifying glass in the laboratory to see the roughness on its surface. This is only possible with top-level craftsmanship."

The assistant paused for two seconds and emphasized his tone, "So, I don't think the creator of the golden apple just wanted to wrap a stone with it."

His words rekindled Lin Feng's hope.

Paul poked his head from the front, "You have to think about it, brother, if you cut it open, this golden apple will be destroyed. Think about its brightness under the light, it is actually quite good as a handicraft."

Lin Feng was persuaded by his assistant. Originally, he did not think that the number one product of the small world would be a gold-plated apple filled only with liquid resin.

Taking the black and white X-ray film, Lin Feng stared at the white light in the middle for a full ten seconds, and then said confidently that he would cut it.

The assistant was overjoyed and said, "I'm willing to help you."

Just like that, the two got out of the car, and the assistant personally drove them to another street not far from here.

There is a studio dedicated to jewelry processing, and the room is full of equipment.

The assistant said hello to the boss. It seemed that they were familiar with each other.

After explaining the purpose of his visit, the boss readily put down his work. He had seen the golden apple and said he could try it with a cutting machine.

“If I can’t do it, no one in Seattle can do it.”

The boss is very confident in his craftsmanship, saying that he once participated in the revision of the British royal family's wreath necklace.

"It is inlaid with 105 expensive diamonds. It was a customized gift from King George VI for his daughter Queen Elizabeth II."

The boss was talking, but Lin Feng was not interested. He just kept saying that he was still listening. He was more focused on what he would see after cutting his golden apple.

But what the boss said must be true. There are photos of him and Queen Elizabeth hanging in the studio. Although they are not alone but a group photo of a large group of people, it is enough to illustrate his ability.

In order not to cut into the core, the boss decided to cut an arc-shaped cross section from the bottom, so that even if the inside is disappointing, a base can be added as an art piece to be displayed at home.

The assistant is very cautious and keeps telling the boss to pay attention to details. It can be seen that he is a responsible person.

He had been cold to me in Ernest's office before, so it must have been his duty.

During the preheating stage of the cutting machine, the boss asked the three of them to stand outside the transparent glass to prevent their faces from being hit by debris.

This glass is very thick and must have been specially customized.

The boss put on goggles and gloves. After turning on the power, the cutting machine made a screeching sound, and then watched it slowly move towards the fixed golden apple.

Paul looked even more nervous than Lin Feng. In his eyes, this thing seemed to have become his little brother's lifeblood, but he didn't know that Lin Feng had already accepted it calmly.

Even if this thing is worthless, I still have the trump card of Small World.

As the cutting machine slowly penetrated the golden apple, the whole room was silent.

(End of this chapter)