"Not entirely Yuanfu Tongbao?" Hearing Xing Qiu's reminder, Liu Liang quickly leaned in for a look and indeed found that the characters on the copper coins were all different, though the majority were either Kangxi Tongbao or Qianlong Tongbao.

"And you missed one other point."

At this moment, Wang Guan chuckled lightly, "I never claimed all these copper coins were genuine articles."

"Huh?" Xing Qiu was startled, then immediately realized, exclaiming in surprise, "You mean there are fakes among these coins?" "Wrong."

Wang Guan shook his head directly, correcting, "It should be said that among these fake coins, there might be a few genuine ones mixed in.

After all, the person who made the money tree isn't truly foolish; how could they possibly use only real coins?

It would be quite something if a few happened to get mixed in due to some reason."

Xing Qiu considered this and immediately agreed wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile, due to his mobility issues, the middle-aged man hadn't followed them to pick the coins, so he naturally overheard Wang Guan and Xing Qiu's conversation.

In an instant, the smile vanished from his face. After a moment of stunned silence, he hurriedly sought guidance, "Young man, how do I distinguish the genuine copper coins from the fakes?" "I'm not very familiar with that,"

Wang Guan said with a hearty laugh, "After all, I'm not an expert specializing in ancient coin collecting."

"Who would believe that?" The middle-aged man inwardly rolled his eyes. A person who could single out a Yuanfu Tongbao from thousands of coins and confirm it as authentic claiming ignorance—only a fool would believe him.

Just as the middle-aged man was silently grumbling, Wang Guan suddenly spoke, "Fourth Brother, can the matter between you and Liu Liang be settled now?" "This..." The middle-aged man wasn't stupid; he certainly understood Wang Guan's meaning.

He even vaguely sensed that the talk of dispelling bad luck was merely an excuse.

But it didn't matter; the matter of bad luck was just his pretense anyway.

Now that he had obtained a Yuanfu Tongbao worth tens of thousands, most of his heartache and resentment had dissipated, leaving only a matter of face.

At the right moment, Wang Guan gave a subtle glance.

In other matters, Liu Liang might be contemptible, but reading faces and gauging situations was his instinct. Seeing Wang Guan's signal, he immediately knew what to do.

"Fourth Brother, it was my fault."

Liu Liang picked up a cup of tea again, his expression one of deep remorse.

He said fearfully, "You are magnanimous; please do not hold my trivial mistake against me. Forgive me this once."

"Hmph!" Having been given an honorable exit, the middle-aged man followed the path provided. He casually took the teacup, placed it heavily on the table without drinking, and said coldly, "For the young man's sake, this matter is dropped. If there's a next time, I'll break your legs..."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Liu Liang nodded hurriedly, inwardly cursing that if he saw this man again, he would keep his distance as much as possible—how could there be a next time?

The middle-aged man didn't know Liu Liang's thoughts, or perhaps he simply didn't care. His entire focus was now on discovering how many genuine coins were in that money tree.

Thinking of this, the middle-aged man looked toward Wang Guan again.

Hesitantly, he said, "Young man, how about..." Having achieved his objective in Ezhou, Wang Guan was in high spirits and didn't mind offering further guidance: "This matter isn't difficult, actually. The first step is to categorize the coins. The most numerous Kangxi Tongbao and Qianlong Tongbao are likely mass-produced replicas made by machinery; we can exclude those. Then we proceed to the second step of screening..."

What followed needed no further narration. With some pulling and tugging from the group, strings of coins were taken down from the iron tree, quickly examined, and categorized into several piles.

The largest pile was undoubtedly composed of Kangxi Tongbao and Qianlong Tongbao. Although these two types of coins appeared somewhat dull and aged from hanging on the iron tree for so long, a closer look revealed good copper quality with a faint luster.

Moreover, their molds and inscriptions were very rigid, instantly revealing they were churned out from a mechanical assembly line. Of course, the above appraisal was spoken by Wang Guan.

At this moment, he was sitting squarely in his chair, with over two hundred miscellaneous coins laid out before him. What he needed to do now was to pick out the truly valuable ones from this pile. This was not difficult, at least not difficult at all for Wang Guan.

"Generally speaking, to authenticate whether a coin is an ancient one, one can examine several aspects," Wang Guan spoke eloquently at this juncture. "First is the patina. Ancient coins are divided into two categories: excavated and inherited. Excavated coins, having been buried for many years, will certainly be rusted. Inherited coins, due to oxidation, will have a layer of surface patina, appearing black or dark copper-colored. Of course, whether it's rust spots or patina, it should be deeply ingrained into the metal of the coin."

As he spoke, Wang Guan picked up a coin and squeezed it hard with his fingers. A patch of mottled rust broke off. He immediately gestured and smiled, "See? This type is definitely not an ancient coin."

"Second is the inscription," Wang Guan continued his explanation, "The biggest characteristic of ancient Chinese coinage is that the script of every type of coin has distinct features. The inscriptions on coinage from different eras have different calligraphic styles. Generally, the coinage of successive dynasties was designed by the most renowned calligraphers of the time, or even by the emperor himself, so the inscriptions on coins from each period are unique."

"To authenticate whether a coin's calligraphy is correct, you first look at whether it conforms to the characteristics of that period. If a Han or Tang dynasty coin shows Song typeface, you know there's an issue. The most unforgivable thing is when ancient coins display simplified characters—they lack even the sincerity required for deception, which is simply laughable." With a sneer, Wang Guan tossed a few more coins aside.

"Next is distinguishing the variations. Ancient coinage has too many versions, so many it’s uncountable. Even under the same reign, the coinage issued varied. Sometimes thinner, sometimes thicker, sometimes even made of silver—it's too chaotic, so chaotic that a common person might spend a lifetime studying and still not fully grasp it." Wang Guan shook his head slightly, then smiled, "But there are also shortcuts. After all, the counterfeiters aren't fools; if a coin is only worth a few yuan or tens of yuan, they wouldn't bother going to such lengths to fake it. So, as long as one understands the most precious or relatively precious varieties, they won't be easily duped."

"Take these large Taiping Heavenly Kingdom coins, for example." As Wang Guan cited an example, he casually picked out over a dozen coins and then shook his head, "These are one of the Fifty Famous Coins; they aren't common cabbage you find everywhere. Unless you have a special providence, they wouldn't appear concentrated like this. Furthermore, since they are called 'large coins,' they must have considerable weight; they couldn't feel this light..."

Hearing this commentary, the others could only nod in agreement. They didn't understand anyway, only watching as Wang Guan grabbed a bit here and a bit there. In a short while, the scattered pile of over two hundred coins dwindled rapidly.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man's surging enthusiasm was mostly extinguished, and naturally, other thoughts arose. He felt that Wang Guan's casual approach might mean he had misjudged some. The human heart is like this: if something is beneficial to them, they are willing to believe even the most absurd things. But if it's not beneficial, they will doubt the truth even if it's laid right before their eyes. Wang Guan could understand this kind of mentality.

Sensing the change in the middle-aged man's expression, he simply gathered the remaining few genuine coins and handed them over: "I can confirm these coins are not fake. As for the others, there might be genuine ones too, but I beg your pardon, my eyes are too dull to distinguish them."

"Heh, your eyes are dull? Then there are no clear-sighted people under heaven."

Just then, a vigorous laugh echoed, and everyone instinctively looked over. Several people were walking in from the stairwell. The speaker was a spirited old man wearing a black silk gown and holding a black sandalwood-ribbed white paper fan, exuding the charm of an ancient scholar.

Xing Qiu turned back for a look and immediately cried out in surprise, "Grandpa!" To avoid confusion, Xing Qiu wasn't addressing the old man with the fan, but another gentleman standing next to him. This man was also casually dressed, with a tiger-shaped jade ornament tied to his wrist with a red silk cord, which shone with a crystal-clear, bright luster in the light, indicating it was made of high-quality jade. However, judging by the bright luster, the ornament was newly made and hadn't been handled by Xing Qiu's grandfather for long enough to develop its aged character. Otherwise, the jade's glow would be subdued, more gentle and fine. It seemed Xing Qiu's earlier statement that his grandfather had only recently become interested in antique collecting was true.

Wang Guan took a glance and drew these conclusions. Simultaneously, he showed a degree of surprise: "Elder Tian, why are you here?"

"That's what I intended to ask you," Elder Tian walked over, gently fanning himself, his face full of smiles. "Weren't you in the capital? How did you find time to come to Ezhou?"

"I had to go home briefly, and then I came here on business," Wang Guan explained briefly, slightly curious. "Elder Tian, what about you? You should be holding down the fort at the Appraiser's Association in the provincial city. How did you get over here? Are you planning to sample authentic Wuchang fish?" Only Wuchang fish from Ezhou's Liangzi Lake is universally recognized as the authentic variety, which is why Wang Guan mentioned it.

"That's one of the objectives," Elder Tian laughed heartily, gently shaking his fan, immediately capturing Wang Guan's attention. From a distance earlier, Wang Guan hadn't seen clearly, but now, being closer, he noticed there were paintings and calligraphy on the fan surface. He looked closely and saw the fan painting was in the typical literati style. On the small fan surface, a scholar stood with his hands behind his back beside rugged rocks and surging waves, gazing up at the vast sky—possessing an aloof, outstanding temperament. The entire scene conveyed a profound artistic conception; the stillness of the scholar and the movement of the massive waves complemented each other perfectly, showing the author's extraordinary brushwork. Furthermore, above the painting were more than ten lines of unrestrained running script, flowing like running water, all in one go—it was Su Dongpo's world-famous Nian Nu Jiao: Reflections on the Past at Chibi...

The great river flows east, its waves sweeping away heroes of the past... (To be continued)