Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1317: Chapter 1313: Second Round of Selection

Huo Sining was taken aback when she heard this, and she awkwardly glanced at Mr. Bai. Finally, she looked around before asking with some seriousness:

”Mr. Bai, regarding Master Qin’s condition, I have some personal opinions and thoughts. Can we find a time to discuss them alone another day?”

The Golden Lotus was something Huo Sining brought back from a deserted island. Although Fujiwara Seiho wasn’t here at the moment, with so many people around, both familiar and unfamiliar, Huo Sining didn’t dare to mention it recklessly, fearing it might slip out unintentionally and cause trouble.

Bai Buzhi was momentarily stunned upon hearing Huo Sining’s words but, seeing her earnest expression, his eyes flickered with a hint of seriousness, and he nodded, leaving her a contact number.

The two elderly men quickly left, and Huo Sining and her party of four continued to wander around Dashilar. After finishing there, they headed to Liulichang and Dapanjiayuan.

They had combed through all three places and finally found a piece of Southern Song ancient inkstone at an unassuming vendor’s stall.

However, the vendor was not easy to fool, knowing the origin of the inkstone and was adamant about not lowering the price.

After haggling for over half an hour with the vendor, without being able to lower the price, Liu Pengcheng reluctantly pulled out money to buy the inkstone.

The inkstone was somewhat pricey, but compared to official stationery shops, it was still 20-30% cheaper. Moreover, the inkstone was well-preserved, and with Huo Sining inspecting it, there was no doubt it was genuine. Liu Pengcheng felt it was still a bargain and something worthy to present.

Two more days passed, and the mid-phase of the treasure appraisal competition arrived.

Since many participants were eliminated in the preliminary round, there were not many entering the mid-phase competition.

Just like last time, this competition also followed the examination number order. However, the difficulty of this test was much greater than the first one, making Huo Sining a bit uncertain if this competition would be as smooth as the last.

Huo Sining entered the examination venue alone and glanced around to see many people already seated in the hall waiting.

What she hadn’t anticipated was encountering someone she despised upon entering the venue, the ancient calligraphy and painting expert from the Forbidden City—Ma Liwen.

Ma Liwen also recognized Huo Sining, and upon seeing her enter, he shot her a disdainful look and snorted contemptuously at her.

Huo Sining didn’t have a good impression of Ma Liwen. The first time at Diecuiyuan, she had bet and won fifty million against him over the ”Li Duanduan Drawing” that Elder Wu presented.

How the money was handled afterward wasn’t clear, but it was certain it was paid to Wu. The details weren’t something Huo Sining inquired about; she speculated the process of collecting the wager must not have been pleasant.

Later, during the Taicheng Ancient Tomb incident, Huo Sining had another conflict with Ma Liwen. He attempted to escalate the issue of the Secret Color Porcelain nearly being smashed, trying to ruin Huo Sining’s future. If it hadn’t been discovered that Feng Yang was behind the sabotage, Huo Sining might have been forced to leave the field of antique appraisal.

After these two incidents, Huo Sining’s impression of Ma Liwen plummeted to the bottom.

The reputation of domestic experts has been tarnished by these few bad apples. Nowadays, when mentioning experts, people think of derogatory terms like ”so-called experts,” lacking respect, and holding doubt and disdain.

The public lacks basic trust in what experts say, and the crisis of credibility is a significant challenge faced by authoritative institutions in the country.

Ma Liwen’s mentor, Elder Jia Bingrong’s character is beyond reproach, standing on almost equal footing with Zhou Shitao. However, no level of reputation can withstand having a disciple with poor character.

Jia Bingrong has often been criticized in recent years, likely due to his association with Ma Liwen. At this rate, Huo Sining speculated that their mentor-disciple relationship is bound to fall apart eventually.

Huo Sining couldn’t be bothered with Ma Liwen. After entering the venue, she directly found a corner to sit down.

Although she tried her best to conceal herself and stay low-key, as a young woman in a venue full of middle-aged appraisers, she stood out too much.

From the moment Huo Sining walked into the venue, everyone’s attention was on her. Even after she sat in the corner, many were still scrutinizing her, with whispers about her identity evidently being the topic of discussion.

Once all participants entered the venue, the overall head of the treasure appraisal competition, the director of the Forbidden City Museum, gave a short introductory speech. The primary message was about promoting friendly relations, exchanging knowledge, and complementing each other’s strengths among appraisers from different regions through this treasure appraisal conference.

Such official speeches are so routine that they usually go in one ear and out the other for everyone.

Everyone’s real concern was not about friendly exchanges but how exactly the mid-phase competition would be assessed.

The director from the Forbidden City seemed aware that people’s minds weren’t on his speech, so he wrapped up quickly and left the stage unimpressively.

Amidst the anticipation of the crowd, the staff of the appraisal conference brought two large wooden boxes, sealed with stickers, to the central space of the hall and placed them on two prepared large tables.

Then, they covered the wooden boxes with black velvet cloths.

The velvet was so large that it completely shrouded the boxes when draped over them.

Seeing such a scene, everyone speculated that the items in these wooden boxes were likely the antiques to be used in this competition, though they didn’t know what this assessment would entail.

Seven invigilators took the stage, leaving Huo Sining quite surprised.

The invigilators had changed, and surprisingly, three out of the seven were people she knew: Cai Limin, Shi Qingyun, and Xu Shilong, all quite familiar to Huo Sining.

Huo Sining’s expression changed slightly, but she soon understood.

Since this appraisal event was co-organized by the China Jade Association and the Forbidden City, having the Vice Chairman and Forbidden City experts as invigilators was perfectly normal.

After the wooden boxes were brought up, no one spoke until everything was ready, and the chief examiner, Shi Qingyun, stood up and began to speak:

”Everyone present here is a top-notch appraiser selected from across the nation, with their own specialties. But this time, what we seek are individuals to participate in the international treasure appraisal conference for the exchange of appraisal experts between East and West. Antiques are without borders; whether they come from the East or the West, they are the treasures left by our predecessors. Being able to identify these treasures is both the duty and the responsibility of appraisers.”