58: Counterfeit

Eyes closed and opened, time and space intersected.

Lu Fan looked at the full signal displayed on his phone; he had returned.

"Ding-dong~ Ding-dong, Ding-dong..."

The dense sound of notifications kept ringing incessantly, so he simply put his phone aside and walked into the bathroom.

After taking a hot shower, he picked up his phone again to check the messages.

He had thought that the most messages on his phone would be from Old Liu.

After all, the agreed three days had passed, so he figured he would be the most anxious.

But upon closer inspection, the most messages were from his bank account manager.

The entire content of the messages could be summarized in two words: debt collection.

A few days ago, Lu Fan might have panicked a bit when faced with debt collection, but now, he wasn't afraid at all.

With a full 300 kilograms of gold in his space, what was there to fear?

Opening the app to check, today's gold price was 771, making the total value of this batch of gold over two small targets.

It was still far from enough to pay off all his debts.

However, it was more than sufficient to repay the bank loan.

Besides, if it wasn't enough, he still had antiques; selling a few pieces would cover it.

Lu Fan opened his conversation page with Liu Zhicheng; apart from daily work reports, it was completely clean.

"Uncle Liu, I'm back. Wait for me in the office tomorrow morning!"

After sending the message, Lu Fan thought for a moment and added, "Help me sort out the loan accounts for Tiandong Bank."

"Understood."

"Wait five minutes."

Watching Liu Zhicheng reply with two consecutive messages, it was typical of him: few words but strong execution ability.

Looking at other departments, the situation was similar; they operated autonomously without needing any oversight.

Those old-timers who had followed him to build his empire all adhered to the same standards.

They worked diligently, reporting only good news and hiding the bad.

With employees like these, what more could one say!

A raise was a must, and giving them shares wouldn't be excessive either.

After briefly handling work matters, he opened the chat dialog with Chen Ying.

A playful smile curled at the corner of Lu Fan's mouth as his fingers quickly typed a reply:

"This is something my wife should ask. You're just my female friend; please respect yourself?"

The few days he spent in 1937 had stifled him; he had to think carefully before speaking to people.

Especially when with Sheng Aiyi, he was afraid of saying something inappropriate.

Chen Ying, holding her phone, was taken aback by the reply at first.

Then she couldn't help but let out a "pfft" laugh, her fingers nimbly tapping, "Hahaha, since when did you have a wife?"

Lu Fan leaned lazily against the headboard and sent a voice message: "Because my relationship with her isn't very stable yet.

Sometimes I dream of her, sometimes I don't."

"Hahahaha~~"

After listening to the voice message, Chen Ying laughed so hard she nearly doubled over, tears almost coming out.

After a while, the laughter gradually subsided, and she asked with a hint of slyness, "So that's how it is! Have you ever dreamed of me?"

Biting her lower lip, she knew he was flirting, but she couldn't resist asking.

They hadn't interacted much, but they just clicked.

The unexpected reply caught Lu Fan off guard.

Then a line from the playboy's handbook flashed in his mind, and he blurted out, "Yes~~ I dreamed of you last night, and when I woke up this morning, the bed was wet."

"What, you playboy!"

The smile on Chen Ying's face instantly froze; her first thought was of indecent imagery.

Her cheeks quickly flushed with red, and she replied with a mix of anger, urgency, and curiosity, "What are you talking about? What did you dream of?"

Listening to her voice, Lu Fan could easily imagine Chen Ying on the other end getting all flustered.

He laughed and delivered today's big twist: "Beauty Chen, what are you thinking? I dreamed you weren't wearing makeup, and it scared the piss out of me!"

The sudden sarcastic remark completely dissipated the shyness from moments ago.

Feeling both annoyed and amused, she clutched her stomach and rolled around on the bed.

Finally at a loss for words, she could only send, "Damn, you playboy~~"

"What have you been busy with these days?"

Chen Ying steadied her emotions, sent the text message, and quickly added a voice message: "Be serious. If you keep flirting, I won't talk to you anymore!"

You say stop flirting, and I'll stop? Everyone knows you women are famously double-standard!

Flirting must continue, but the approach has to be more refined.

Lu Fan replied very sincerely: "Of course! You are a celestial beauty, belonging to the brilliant galaxy. Why would I drag you down to watch fireworks?"

"Still at it? So good at flirting, confirmed playboy!"

Chen Ying replied angrily, then sent an emoji of angrily rubbing a dog's head after the message.

After a back-and-forth exchange, both slowly relaxed physically and mentally.

After a while, Lu Fan finally sent a serious voice message: "I have something good here. Not sure if you'd be interested?"

"What is it?" Chen Ying responded casually, putting down her phone and drinking water on her own.

She had thought he would take the opportunity to flirt again.

But the appearance of a picture made her so excited she forgot to drink.

Water from the cup trickled down her neck, soaking her collar, with a hint of spring peeking through.

Chen Ying paid no attention to any of this, immediately picking up her phone to take a closer look. It was indeed a masterpiece by Zhang Daqian.

Judging by the length of the scroll and the thickness of the painting, this was undoubtedly a large-scale work.

If its authenticity were unquestionable, this piece would become the leader in this year's calligraphy and painting market.

As the second and third clearer images of the painting's content were sent over.

After just a few quick glances, her expression darkened, and she sent a text message: "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, but this piece is not right?"

Lu Fan was also very surprised. This Zhang Daqian copy of the Dunhuang murals had been examined by professionals at Huifeng Bank.

Nowadays, so-called experts and professors will spout nonsense with their eyes closed if you pay them.

But the experts and professors of that era were truly reputable; they valued their reputation more than their lives and wouldn't speak carelessly.

Plus, with Huifeng Bank's standing, they wouldn't accept anything with even a hint of doubt as collateral for debt.

So he believed this painting was genuine.

But the key question was, why did Chen Ying determine it was fake after just a few glances?

So Lu Fan decided to get to the bottom of it: "Beauty Chen, why do you say this painting is fake? What evidence do you have?"

"It's simple. This is Zhang Daqian's manuscript copy of the Dunhuang murals.

Strictly speaking, it's not a finished product; it's a semi-finished work.

Zhang Daqian's oral autobiography clearly mentions that these copies made at Suzhou's Wangshi Garden were destroyed in the chaos of war in 1937.

They were not passed down, which was a lifelong regret for him.

So what you have must be a counterfeit."

After sending a long voice message, Chen Ying quickly got up and pulled "The Biography of Zhang Daqian" from her bookshelf.

She opened the book to the pages about this copied painting,

highlighted the key points, took a photo, sent it, and added a voice message: "It's a good imitation; you can keep it for fun."

Lu Fan looked at the sent picture; the highlighted points matched the painting in his hands perfectly.

It also clearly stated that this painting was not taken during the hasty escape.

When Suzhou's Wangshi Garden was destroyed, the painting was burned as well.

Faced with solid evidence, instead of feeling discouraged, a sly smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He took a photo of a list and sent it out.

A few breaths later, the phone rang, and Chen Ying's urgent voice came through the receiver: "Send me your location. I'm coming right away."