The second update, why are the recommendation votes so lackluster? .................................. "Dog-head gold" is naturally formed gold nugget, so named because its shape closely resembles a dog's head. There is also the name "horse-hoof gold," also derived from its shape.

Whether called dog-head gold or horse-hoof gold, these were ancient, general terms for natural gold nuggets. In reality, the shapes of natural gold nuggets are incredibly varied; forms resembling a dog's head or a horse's hoof are extremely rare. However, since these names were common and easy to understand, they have persisted.

After listening to Qi Fei’s explanation, Wang Zhuo pondered, "So, this piece was formed naturally?"

The surface of the gold nugget on the table was uneven, as if it had endured the weathering of countless ages. Sand and silt in the crevices had not been completely washed away, giving it an ancient and weathered appearance.

"This is truly a treasure," Qiu Lu laughed. "Dog-head gold is exceedingly rare. Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty, an official sent many people specifically to search for these, intending to present one to Empress Dowager Cixi as a birthday gift, but they never found one."

Qi Fei nodded. "Exactly. That's why some say dog-head gold is something one might encounter only by chance, a treasure that cannot be sought. Precisely because of its rarity, it has come to be regarded as a symbol of good fortune."

Wang Zhuo hummed softly, nodded, picked up the dog-head gold nugget, turning it over and examining it, then asked, "A naturally formed gold lump? Then what is inside it—is it solid gold?"

"Not entirely," Cai Yuantu interjected. "Dog-head gold comes in three types: gold-encasing-stone, stone-encasing-gold, and gold-encasing-water. This one is the gold-encasing-stone type; there should be a stone core inside. Otherwise, its specific gravity would be off; it couldn't be this light if it were all gold."

Qi Fei explained, "Dog-head gold isn't pure gold; its purity is generally around seventy percent. The impurities are other metals, sometimes copper, sometimes silver or iron."

Hearing this, Wang Zhuo gained a rough understanding of dog-head gold. He took a magnifying glass and examined the nugget closely, secretly activating his clairvoyance, piercing through the lens and the surface of the gold to look inside.

To his surprise, as his vision penetrated just a few millimeters deep, the outer layer of gold gave way. Inside was a whitish river pebble. Strangely, the surface of this pebble showed signs of corrosion, as if it had been gnawed by insects.

Another anomaly was the overly direct transition between the gold and the pebble. Though they adhered closely, they existed in a state of separate domains—the water of the river did not mix with the riverbank—a condition completely unlike the crust formation seen on jade roughs.

Wang Zhuo turned the dog-head gold nugget to a different orientation and peered in again. This time, he finally reached a conclusion: this thing was another fake. From this angle, he saw the golden shell on the surface divided into three distinct layers. The bottom-most layer terminated in a visibly cut, sharp corner, and the surface of the pebble facing that side showed clear signs of carving and tooling—obviously done by hand, certainly not naturally formed.

While still looking through the magnifying glass, Wang Zhuo had already formed a plan; he had guessed the process by which this dog-head gold was manufactured, with about seventy to ninety percent accuracy.

"This thing probably weighs about four liang?" Wang Zhuo hefted it lightly and asked with a smile, "Boss Cai, how much did you pay for it?"

"Your estimate is quite accurate. I weighed it; it’s two hundred and six grams," Cai Yuantu replied with a faint smile. "Someone offered two hundred thousand for it yesterday, but I didn't sell."

"For something like this, someone offered two hundred thousand?" Wang Zhuo was stunned, asking with a wry smile, "Pure gold is only about three hundred per gram, and this is only seventy percent pure, with a stone inside—it’s worth a thousand dollars a gram now?"

"Wang Zhuo, you can't calculate the ledger that way," Qiu Lu interjected with a bitter smile. "Xuan paper and ink are cheap, but if Master Tang Bohu paints a picture with them, it’s worth millions. Dog-head gold is a natural marvel; its value lies in its scarcity. You can't measure it solely by its gold content."

"Don't underestimate this small piece," Qi Fei said. "Dog-head gold is formed by microbial adsorption and accumulation. Something this size might have taken millions, even tens of millions of years to form."

Cai Yuantu nodded. "It’s somewhat like the formation process of coral, but vastly slower."

"Millions of years? I think a few days would suffice," Wang Zhuo chuckled, turning to Cai Yuantu. "Boss Cai, this thing is a high-quality imitation. Are you testing my eyesight, or did you get swindled?"

"You say it's fake?" Cai Yuantu’s smile faded, and his brow furrowed slightly.

"Heh heh." Wang Zhuo laughed and nodded. "What is false cannot remain true forever. No matter how many times it manages to mimic the real thing, its veneer will eventually be stripped away."

"This piece of dog-head gold has been in my possession for over ten years," Cai Yuantu stated solemnly. "Wang Zhuo, Miss Qi, Little Qiu, I won't hide it from you: I acquired this piece when collecting a debt, taken as collateral for ten thousand yuan. Back then, I asked many people, what you would now call experts, to appraise it, and they all confirmed it was genuine. However, the person who offered it as collateral mentioned that he had bought it from a tomb robber from Henan. That's practically the same as having an unclear provenance. You all know Henan is a major hub for antique counterfeiting, so I’ve always felt uneasy about this piece."

He paused, then smiled faintly. "It's precisely for this reason that I’ve never sold it. I was afraid that if it turned out to be a fake, I would gain a reputation for being fooled and for cheating others. I don't need this small amount of money. If it were fake, I could return it; the key is that I can’t afford to lose face."

"This thing is fake? How did you figure it out?" Qi Fei picked up the dog-head gold nugget, still in disbelief, and began examining it closely again.

Wang Zhuo sat serenely, sipping his tea. "If I say it's fake, it dares not be real. It doesn't matter how many experts are brought in."

Qi Fei glanced at him and shook her head. "I truly don't believe it. If so many people couldn't tell, your eyesight must be incredibly sharp?"

"Then let me first tell you how this thing is made." Wang Zhuo popped two olives into his mouth.

The three of them immediately laughed. This young man, less than half an hour ago, didn't even know what dog-head gold was, and now he dared to lecture them on how to counterfeit it. Could he stop being so absurd?

Qi Fei chuckled. "Alright, we'll listen to your tall tale."

Wang Zhuo cleared his throat and began his narrative smoothly: "First, take some pure gold, mix in some copper, silver, tungsten, or other elements—anything with relatively high ductility. You all understand ductility, right?"

Qiu Lu nodded. "We learned that in physics class."

Qi Fei affirmed, "Gold has the highest ductility; the metals you mentioned are slightly inferior."

Cai Yuantu laughed. "I didn't study physics, but I can understand. Wouldn't it be easier if you just said softer metals?"

"As long as you understand," Wang Zhuo continued. "Melt these metals together with the pure gold, drip them into tiny beads, flatten them, and hammer them into handmade gold leaf. Do you all know what handmade gold leaf is?"

Qi Fei shot him an impatient look. "Stop getting sidetracked and keep explaining."

Cai Yuantu's expression grew serious, as if something had occurred to him.

"Make the gold leaf a bit thicker—of course, our gold isn't pure enough, so it won't hammer thin either. It'll be about what it is. Hammer it until it's about two or three millimeters thick."

"Hold on," Qi Fei interrupted. "Two or three millimeters is a gold sheet, not gold leaf."

Wang Zhuo hummed, unconcerned. "It’s all about the same, then hammer it to one millimeter."

Qiu Lu also shook his head. "One millimeter is way too thick. The unit for gold leaf thickness is the micron—a thousand times thinner."

"Then you just hammer a one-millimeter gold sheet!" Wang Zhuo finally conceded defeat and continued. "Then, you find a stone. The shape shouldn't be too regular. If it’s too small, you don't make much profit; if it’s too large, estimate first whether your gold sheet can cover it. Wrap the stone tightly with the gold sheet. Don't be stingy; use several layers."

"Then throw this semi-finished product into an acid bath. I don't know what acid, but it has to be one that won't dissolve gold but will dissolve other metals. You guys experiment with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid. After soaking it in acid a few times, you get a brand-new dog-head gold nugget, more exquisite than one made by microbes, more 'coralline' than coral. Oh, it’s too beautiful, like a piece of art, so you have to oxidize it first to make it look old. Next, smear it with some riverbed mud. Then find a cement mixer—preferably a new one, uncontaminated by artificial materials like cement or lime—put some river sand, pebbles, and old grass roots inside, and toss your dog-head gold in to churn. Once you feel it’s done, take it out."

"And just like that, our dog-head gold is made?"

"Yes, it’s that simple. You can make as many as you want at once."

Cai Yuantu pointed to the dog-head gold on the table. "Then mine, was it made this way too?"

"Correct," Wang Zhuo replied decisively.

"Do you have a way to prove it?" Qiu Lu asked the question everyone was concerned about.

Wang Zhuo looked at Cai Yuantu and smiled. "To prove it, this thing will have to be destroyed."

Cai Yuantu spread his hands generously. "If it gets destroyed, it gets destroyed, as long as you don't destroy it completely before telling me it's the real thing."

"Alright, watch closely." Wang Zhuo snatched up the dog-head gold from the table, found a good spot, and gripped it with both hands, exerting force to bend it!

It was a pity that Guan Yingying and the others were not present, or they would have noticed that the scene unfolding before them was strikingly similar to the one that occurred in Shangdong Tower, only this time, the object in Wang Zhuo's hand had changed from a blue-and-white porcelain vase to a dog-head gold nugget!

Wang Zhuo did not possess the skill to break gold with his bare hands, but prying apart the golden shell covering the stone was more than enough, especially since the shell had already been treated with acid, leaving it riddled with holes.

With a "clatter," a stone fell onto the table, kicking up a few specks of dust. Wang Zhuo glanced at the peeled-off inner layer of the gold shell, nodded with a smile, and casually handed it to Qi Fei beside him.

Just as Cai Yuantu and Qiu Lu leaned in to look, Wang Zhuo picked up the stone. "Boss Cai, Brother Qiu, please look at this stone."

The men quickly turned their heads back, simultaneously opening their mouths in astonishment. On this ordinary river pebble, the marks of filing, notching, and grinding were extremely obvious, along with a small area corroded by acid—clearly not something microbes could accomplish. Indeed, just as Wang Zhuo had said, what is false cannot remain true; this was a counterfeit!

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