Truthfully, he held little expectation for this trip, only reluctantly agreeing to Liu Liang’s suggestion out of a cautious mindset of rather being overly suspicious than missing something. At the very least, he could use the opportunity to learn about the prevalence of forgeries in Hubei Province...

It wasn't that Wang Guan was inherently cynical; it was just that Liu Liang himself was unreliable, so how dependable could his friends possibly be? Of course, perhaps realizing how prejudiced this thought was, Wang Guan consented to taking a look.

'Brother Wang, rest assured, he is far more capable than I am,' Liu Liang replied, his tone laced with envy, suggesting he wasn't lying—perhaps his friend wasn't as questionable as imagined.

As Wang Guan pondered this, the car sped out of the city, entering a country lane bordering the suburbs, finally stopping within the courtyard of a house built of blue bricks.

At that moment, Liu Liang scrambled out of the car and called out, 'Brother Duan, the guest has arrived, come out quickly.'

'Coming...'

Instantly, someone hurried out from the house in the compound. Despite his slightly portly build, the man displayed the same cunning smile as Xiao Duan, the man who had greeted Shopkeeper Tan yesterday.

Seeing this person, Wang Guan recalled him vaguely and felt a twinge of surprise, even sensing that this might not be a coincidence.

'Mr. Wang has arrived, please come in quickly,' Xiao Duan said with a warm smile, his familiarity making an uninformed observer think he and Wang Guan had been friends for years.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since he was already there, Wang Guan didn't mind seeing what game the two were playing. He nodded lightly and calmly followed Xiao Duan inside.

The interior of the house was quite clean and tidy, possessing a certain coolness. After all, being in the countryside surrounded by numerous trees helped mitigate much of the summer heat.

Naturally, this wasn't the main point. The important thing was that under Xiao Duan's guidance, Wang Guan was led into a very spacious room. It was cluttered with miscellaneous items: various dilapidated pieces of furniture, along with broken jars and pots, resembling a scrap collection yard.

Seeing this scene, Wang Guan felt no particular emotion, only a degree of certainty that Xiao Duan was likely a junk dealer, otherwise, he wouldn't have gathered so many disparate things together.

'The items are a bit messy; please forgive me, Mr. Wang.'

At this point, Xiao Duan brought over two bamboo rattan chairs and motioned for Wang Guan to sit down with a genial smile.

'You are too kind.'

Wang Guan nodded slightly, his gaze slowly sweeping over the clutter in the room, and he inquired, 'Are these all the things?'

Xiao Duan's eyes flickered, and he suddenly laughed, 'Mr. Wang, take a look first. If you find anything you fancy, we can discuss the price slowly.'

'That works too...'

At this moment, Wang Guan grew even more certain that Xiao Duan's purpose in inviting him was not simple. However, since the other party wasn't in a hurry to speak, Wang Guan had no intention of pressing. After all, he was the one invited, meaning they needed his favor; if he wasn't anxious, why should he be?

He decided to wait and see which of them would lose patience first.

Wang Guan remained calm and began to concentrate on examining the miscellaneous items in the room, the first things to catch his eye being the various antique furniture pieces.

Despite their worn appearance, these pieces held some value. If taken to a master carpenter for restoration and refinishing, they could become high-end, stately reproductions of antique furniture. Items originally worth a few hundred yuan could easily fetch several thousand.

However, dealing with these things was cumbersome, and they were difficult to transport, so Wang Guan naturally bypassed them to look at other objects. Some broken porcelain shards were quite nice; they must have been excavated from the Porcelain Capital and were definitely genuine.

Yet, these shards were too common, lacking any distinctive character. Wang Guan figured he might as well return to the Porcelain Capital for a bulk purchase if he wanted mere shards, as the price would be much lower. Thus, the broken porcelain fragments could also be ignored.

Wang Guan proceeded to examine more than half the contents of the room, yet he failed to find a single item that truly appealed to him. It wasn't that everything was junk, but rather that his standards had risen; he simply wasn't interested in overly low-end items.

It was like asking someone accustomed to rich banquets to occasionally taste simple home cooking—they might find it appetizing. But how would they react if asked to eat chaff and thin gruel?

Ultimately, it was Wang Guan's own elevated perspective, so he harbored no complaints. He merely shook his head lightly, turned around, and smiled, 'Is this all there is? These items are decent, but unfortunately, none of them strike my fancy.'

'There are, there are...'

Just then, Liu Liang pointed toward a cabinet in the corner and laughed, 'Brother Wang, I know this one. Brother Duan always likes to hide the best things inside cabinets.'

'Oh?'

Wang Guan immediately felt a surge of interest. 'May I take a look?'

'Of course you can.'

Xiao Duan naturally didn't refuse, promptly taking out a key to open the securely latched large cabinet. Wang Guan peered in and saw that the cabinet was divided into four sections, top and bottom, each holding different items.

The first section contained calligraphy, paintings, books, and scrolls; the second held ceramic plates and bowls; the third and fourth sections contained various small decorative objects. Although the items inside the cabinet weren't numerous, each piece was arranged with perfect orderliness, immediately giving an impression of quality.

Of course, everything was relative. To Liu Liang, the contents of the cabinet represented the goals he strove for, but to Wang Guan, while they were worthy of a proper glance, they evoked no special feeling.

Still, outwardly, Wang Guan displayed an appreciative smile and walked over to examine them.

His gaze level, he could conveniently see the ceramics in the second shelf. Wang Guan reached out and picked up a plate to examine it. Judging by its shape, clay quality, and decoration, it appeared to be a Republic period blue-and-white Narcissus pattern plate. The craftsmanship seemed mediocre, with several 'pinholes' on the reverse side, diminishing its value. Yet, priced at several thousand yuan, many people would likely buy it.

Unfortunately, those buyers certainly wouldn't include Wang Guan. After a brief inspection, he set the plate down, letting his gaze drift over the other ceramic items, forming a general assessment.

These items seemed to have been carefully selected, mostly dating from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic era. Regrettably, however, there were more fakes than genuine pieces. Considering Xiao Duan's circumstances, he might be at that awkward, half-baked level like Liu Liang—being able to curate this selection was, in itself, commendable.

'Mr. Wang, you still haven't found anything you like?' Xiao Duan asked again with a warm smile. 'I wonder what kind of objects you prefer? Perhaps I can retrieve something for you.'

Hearing this, Wang Guan became convinced that the items in the cabinet were not Xiao Duan's entire collection; he was certainly holding back. Appropriately, Wang Guan chuckled lightly, 'I don't have anything I particularly favor; anything that catches my eye will do...'

This was pure nonsense, yet utterly practical nonsense—a subtle hint. It meant these items were too low-grade for his taste, and if there was anything better, he should bring it out immediately.

'In that case, let me recommend something to Mr. Wang,' Xiao Duan said with a smile, suddenly reaching into the cabinet's first section and rummaging around. Shortly after, he pulled out a relatively long scroll.

Seeing this, Wang Guan knew the main performance was about to begin. He gracefully moved to an armchair nearby and sat down, waiting to see what Xiao Duan's true intention was. Of course, if the item he recommended turned out to be good, Wang Guan wouldn't mind purchasing it.

The scroll was large, so Xiao Duan called Liu Liang over to help. After pushing three long tables together, they carefully untied the binding and slowly unfurled the scroll. Upon unrolling, it completely covered the three tables, with a section even hanging down over the edge. This indicated just how long this calligraphy scroll was.

Wang Guan observed from the side, realizing the scroll was a piece of calligraphy, densely packed with large characters across its immense surface, which could cause a momentary blurring of vision upon first glance.

'What is this?' Wang Guan asked, curiosity piqued, unable to help but stand up and lean in for a closer look. He started at the head of the scroll, and the characters Chibi Fu immediately caught his eye.

'Chibi Fu?' Wang Guan was momentarily surprised. 'Su Dongpo’s Ode on the Red Cliff?'

Amidst his astonishment, Wang Guan quickly continued reading. The opening lines read: In the autumn of the Renxu year, the seventh month, on the sixteenth day, Su Zi and a guest sailed their boat beneath the Red Cliff...

At this point, Wang Guan had no further doubts; the writing sample was indeed the Ode on the Red Cliff. Furthermore, by common categorization, this should be the First Ode on the Red Cliff, as it was widely known that Su Dongpo penned two such odes.

The First Ode on the Red Cliff was composed in the seventh month of the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era when Su Dongpo and his companions toured the Chibi Islet outside Huangzhou city. Recalling the Battle of Red Cliffs fought by Sun Quan against Cao Cao over eight centuries earlier, he was suddenly inspired to write the ode, expressing his views on the cosmos and life. In the tenth month of the same year, upon revisiting the site, he wrote the Second Ode on the Red Cliff. The pair, one preceding the other, were classic masterpieces.

However, to Wang Guan’s knowledge, there was a genuine manuscript scroll of Su Dongpo's First Ode on the Red Cliff still in existence, an Xingkai long scroll currently housed in the Taipei Palace Museum. This meant the current writing sample was likely a copy, or a forgery.

But it looked so long...

Wang Guan was slightly confused. Thinking carefully, the First Ode scroll housed in the Palace Museum seemed to be only two or three meters long, whereas the scroll before him far exceeded that measurement.

'Could the rest be colophons and inscriptions?'

With this thought, Wang Guan walked along the length of the tables and indeed spotted inscriptions at the rear. But before the final inscription, at the very end of the First Ode section, he noticed an unbelievable situation.

'...opening the door to look, one could not discern its location.'

Wang Guan’s eyes widened in shock. 'This is clearly the ending of the Second Ode on the Red Cliff.'

Starting with the First Ode and concluding with the Second Ode, combined with the extremely long section in the middle, Wang Guan immediately grasped a possible explanation and shifted his gaze, instantly noticing the anomaly.

It turned out this writing sample was a composite of both the First and Second Odes, which accounted for its enormous length.

However, this practice wasn't unusual, as Wang Guan knew that since the two odes were published, renowned calligraphers throughout history had often inscribed both together.

The most famous and precious sets of Both Odes on the Red Cliff calligraphy scrolls included the booklet format of both odes written in Xingshu by the great Yuan Dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, the Cursive script version of both odes by Zhu Yunming (Zhu Zhishan), one of the Four Great Talents of Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty, and also Dong Qichang’s rendition of both odes.

Speaking of Dong Qichang, despite his poor personal character, his calligraphy and painting were undoubtedly those of a master. Even more commendable was the fact that he was a high-ranking official who gained access to many fine objects. After these famous paintings and calligraphy works passed through his hands, he would often create meticulous copies, thus contributing significantly to later generations...(To be continued)"