Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 969: Chapter 965 Looking at the Painting

After a lavish feast, Huo Sining and Su Qingqing returned to the villa. Knowing that Huo Sining had acquired many good things from Dongyang recently, Su Qingqing had long been eager to have a look, insisting that Huo Sining show them to her.

According to Huo Sining’s plan, some ordinary items were to be sent to Jubao Pavilion for consignment, while the rest were sorted and put in the storage ring. Since Su Qingqing wanted to see them, Huo Sining couldn’t refuse.

Huo Sining came back to the country with just a small suitcase, which couldn’t hold many items. She pretended to take something out and used the suitcase as a cover to retrieve a few items from the storage ring.

Luckily, Su Qingqing was carefree and didn’t notice that Huo Sining’s suitcase contained clothes, otherwise she might have suspected if the suitcase could hold everything.

Su Qingqing was not very proficient in antique appraisal, but she had a peculiar passion and obsession for antiques. As soon as she saw the items Huo Sining took out, stars sparkled in her eyes, and she impatiently reached out to grab the treasures.

The faster Su Qingqing was filled with envy and exclaimed, ”I regret it! If I’d known Dongyang had so many leaks to catch, I should have fought tooth and nail for the only exchange student spot in their archaeology class. I can’t believe I let such a good opportunity pass by!”

Huo Sining was speechless: ”Finding hidden gems among antiques requires luck. It’s not like antiques are everywhere, and you really think there are no scammers abroad? I saw people selling fake paintings in the back streets of Sensoji Temple. I even bought two—look, I brought them back for you to see!”

Huo Sining quickly took out a paper box from the suitcase (storage ring), retrieving two scrolls from it, ”Here, these two paintings cost me 600,000 Dongyang Currency—totally a rip-off!”

Su Qingqing accepted the paper box Huo Sining handed over, took out one of the paintings, and opened the scroll. Upon seeing the painting inside, Su Qingqing burst into laughter:

”Isn’t this Gu Kaizhi’s Picture of the River Goddess? The copy looks quite similar, but there’s no seal. It seems the copier knew their skill couldn’t match the original, so they didn’t dare to sign it.”

While studying the painting, Qingqing looked up with a strange expression at Huo Sining, ”Ningning, I remember your discernment isn’t that bad. The genuine Picture of the River Goddess by Gu Kaizhi is in the Imperial Capital Museum. You should be aware of that. Didn’t you see this crude forgery? How could you possibly spend so much money on it?”

Huo Sining originally intended to use her experience of buying fake paintings to warn Su Qingqing against overestimating the ease of finding treasures in Dongyang. That’s why she took these two paintings out. However, she didn’t expect her explanation in connection with the paintings would be seen through by Su Qingqing.

Inwardly, Huo Sining thought she made a mistake. This was truly bringing up the wrong topic. If Su Qingqing found out the truth, it would be disastrous.

Of course, Huo Sining wouldn’t tell Su Qingqing she bought the paintings intentionally to distract the seller, to deceive the seller into letting go of valuable Song Dynasty paper on display.

Huo Sining knew very well that if she really told Su Qingqing the truth, the girl would be even more restless, likely clinging to her like sticky candy when she flew back to Dongyang, utterly impossible to shake off.

Just imagining this scenario made Huo Sining shiver uncontrollably. She quickly managed an awkward laugh, giving a vague explanation:

”Well, 600,000 Dongyang Currency is only over 30,000 bucks when converted. If it had been authentic, it would have been quite a profit, wouldn’t it? I was just foolish, couldn’t think straight at that moment, completely forgot that the original is in the Imperial Capital Museum, and impulsively bought it.”

Su Qingqing felt Huo Sining’s explanation seemed off. She thought maybe Huo Sining had been deceived in Dongdu and wanted to ask more questions. But Huo Sining didn’t want to mention it, so she snatched the fake painting back from Su Qingqing and began stuffing it haphazardly into the box meant for the scrolls.

As she was doing this, Huo Sining’s hand touched the remaining scroll in the box. At that touch, her hand recoiled as if shocked.

”What’s wrong?” Seeing Huo Sining’s odd reaction, Su Qingqing instinctively looked over, confusion in her eyes.

Huo Sining’s gaze fell back onto the unopened scroll, various emotions flashed: surprise, astonishment, delight, doubt, all mixed together, and finally, she looked at Su Qingqing with unprecedented complexity.

Huo Sining’s corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily. Right now, she felt like she’d shot herself in the foot.

Her mind was racing with a million curses. She really wanted to ask the seller what on earth was going on.

Why did the forgery she bought for 30,000 bucks have such intense purple aura?

Su Qingqing, on the other side, hadn’t figured out what was going on, and Huo Sining didn’t care to explain. She was just about to forcefully stuff the scroll with purple aura into the suitcase when, unexpectedly, Su Qingqing, perhaps having a moment of impulse, suddenly said, ”Wait a moment, 30,000 bucks for two paintings, I’ve seen the Picture of the River Goddess, but haven’t checked the other painting yet!”

Without waiting for Huo Sining’s response, Su Qingqing quickly snatched the other scroll from Huo Sining’s hand. Huo Sining’s eyelids twitched as her gaze unconsciously followed Su Qingqing’s movements, watching Su Qingqing’s hands nervously, afraid she might carelessly damage the painting.

Su Qingqing, unable to see the tension in Huo Sining’s expression, swiftly untied the nylon string binding the scroll, slowly unfurling the painting.

A painting with great artistic conception was spread before them, depicting a stream, a bridge stretched across it, beside the bridge stands a dense bamboo forest, among the lush green bamboo, a curtain with the word ”wine” floats in the breeze.

Upon seeing the content of this painting, not only Su Qingqing but even Huo Sining was stunned.