Chapter 242
For several days in a row, Shen Nanchu was nowhere to be seen in the archaeology classroom at Jing University.
The window seat in the first row was empty. Sunlight spilled across the desk, but the bright figure in the goose-yellow sweater was missing. Many students were a bit distracted during class.
Zhang Qiang and Li Zhe huddled together, their hearts full of confusion.
"Why do you think Shen Nanchu hasn't come to class for days? Do you think something happened to her?"
Zhang Qiang scratched the back of his head, looking baffled.
Li Zhe pushed up his glasses, frowning as well. "I don't know. She used to come every day and never missed a class. Why don't we ask Pei Yunzhou?"
Seizing a break between classes, the two sat behind Pei Yunzhou.
Zhang Qiang patted Pei Yunzhou on the shoulder.
"Yunzhou, tell us, where exactly did Shen Nanchu go? Why hasn't she been to class for days?"
The surrounding students also stopped what they were doing out of curiosity and pricked up their ears to listen.
Pei Yunzhou smiled with a face full of pride.
"My sister-in-law went to help out at the Cultural Relics Bureau. A new batch of artifacts just arrived there, and they are short-handed, so Director Guo specifically invited her over."
"The Cultural Relics Bureau?"
Zhang Qiang and Li Zhe exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening.
Li Zhe pressed further, "Shen Nanchu also knows how to appraise artifacts? That's amazing!"
"Of course!"
Pei Yunzhou looked incredibly proud.
"Even before my sister-in-law came to study at Jing University, she was already an unofficial staff member at the Cultural Relics Bureau."
Li Zhe and Zhang Qiang gasped.
"Goodness, no wonder Shen Nanchu is so awesome."
"I bow down to her."
The surrounding students also began to express their envy.
"We're just starting to learn about archaeology, and Ms. Shen is already doing actual archaeological work."
"She's completely won at the starting line!"
"So impressive."
...
Pei Yunzhou's face was full of pride as he animatedly recounted Shen Nanchu's exploits in Wangjia Village.
"You bet! My sister-in-law is super capable."
"After the New Year this year, in Wangjia Village, my sister-in-law took me into the mountains to excavate antiquities. With just one glance, she could tell that a Neolithic pottery piece was hidden under a broken rock."
"Later, we even found a small ancient tomb. She cleaned and appraised all the artifacts inside with her own hands. Even the leaders at the Cultural Relics Bureau praised her skills!"
Zhang Qiang and Li Zhe listened, dumbfounded, their mouths hanging open wide enough to fit a fist.
"My God! Shen Nanchu is too incredible! Not only are her grades good, but she can also excavate and appraise artifacts. She's simply an all-rounder!"
The surrounding students couldn't help but sigh in awe, their admiration for Shen Nanchu deepening.
This news quickly reached the ears of other students, but some had a very different reaction.
In the girls' dormitory, Qin Rong's eyes turned red with jealousy when she heard people talking about Shen Nanchu helping out at the Cultural Relics Bureau and excavating artifacts.
"Isn't it just good luck and some unorthodox tricks? What's the big deal? She probably only got into the Cultural Relics Bureau through connections!"
Liu Min, beside her, chimed in in agreement.
"Exactly. She skips class every day and still gets to show off at the Cultural Relics Bureau. How could she be so lucky? The Pei family must be backing her up behind the scenes. We simply can't compare to her."
These sour words seemed to grow wings, spreading rapidly across the campus.
Some said that Shen Nanchu was relying on her family's background, deliberately skipping class to put on airs.
Others said she just went to the Cultural Relics Bureau for show and had no real skills at all.
All these rumors transformed into Disgust Points, continuously flooding toward Shen Nanchu.
[Disgust Points +1]
[Disgust Points +3]
[Disgust Points +5]
...
When Pei Yunzhou found out, he was furious and wanted to confront those people, but Shen Nanchu stopped him.
"Don't lower yourself to their level. They're just a bunch of jealous clowns, it's not worth it."
Are you kidding?
The more people who were jealous of her, the more disgust points she would earn.
These past few days, even without attending classes at Beijing University, the disgust points had been pouring in endlessly.
It was all thanks to Pei Yunzhou's big mouth.
...
For the next few days in a row, Shen Nanchu continued to stay at the Cultural Relics Bureau.
She was busy sorting out clues.
After Zhang Jianjun was arrested, the people behind him went quiet. The replicas in the warehouse were still piled up there. Director Guo had deliberately found an excuse to pause their destruction, just waiting for the other party to take the bait.
Every day, Shen Nanchu carefully observed everyone in the warehouse, afraid of missing any subtle clues.
Unfortunately, she had found nothing so far.
This morning, a few trucks parked at the entrance of the Cultural Relics Bureau, bringing in a new batch of artifacts.
Shen Nanchu joined the staff in opening the boxes. When she saw three oddly shaped bronze vessels inside, her eyes instantly lit up.
She put on her gloves, carefully picked one up, and closely examined the patterns and rust on it, before using a magnifying glass to check the marks at the bottom of the artifact.
"These three pieces are one of a kind!"
Shen Nanchu said with certainty.
"Their era can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Shu Kingdom. That dynasty existed for a short time and left behind very few artifacts. The craftsmanship and patterns of these three pieces perfectly match the characteristics of existing ancient Shu artifacts. They are priceless!"
Director Guo leaned over, looked at the three artifacts, and frowned.
"If such precious artifacts are taken away as replicas, it would be a huge loss."
He was about to put the three artifacts away for safekeeping, but Shen Nanchu refused.
A cold sneer curled the corners of Shen Nanchu's lips.
"Perfect. Let's use these three unique pieces as bait and see if the people behind the scenes will make a move."
"The fact that they could see the value of the bronze sword before shows they have some skills. They definitely won't pass up these three unique pieces."
To be on the safe side, Shen Nanchu picked out two Song Dynasty porcelain pieces from the warehouse that were of slightly lower value but had distinct features, and mixed them into this batch of artifacts.
"Just in case their skills aren't up to par and they can't recognize the value of the unique pieces, these two porcelains will surely catch their attention,"
she explained to Director Guo with a smile.
A glint flashed in Director Guo's eyes as he gave Shen Nanchu a thumbs up.
"You're amazing."
With everything ready, the artifacts were sent for appraisal according to standard procedure.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the appraisal results to come out.
The three unique pieces and the two Song Dynasty porcelains were all categorized as replicas.
Shen Nanchu had already asked Zheng Tongwei to keep an eye on things early on.
Whoever was responsible for appraising this batch of artifacts would be the key target of observation.
Zheng Tongwei was very efficient; he came looking for Shen Nanchu as soon as the appraisal results were out.
"Sister Nanchu, it was Li Guanhua and Zuo Wenjie who appraised them."
"Both of them are veteran employees of the Cultural Relics Bureau with clean backgrounds. Their appraisal accuracy has been very high in the past, and they've never made any mistakes."
Shen Nanchu held their files, flipping through them carefully.
"Clean backgrounds, good skills, yet they mistook genuine pieces for replicas..."
She tapped her fingers lightly on the desk, deep in thought.
"Was it intentional, or did they really make a mistake? Either way, we have to find out."
She had worked out a plan with Zheng Tongwei: he would take a few men and quietly stake out the warehouse where the replicas were kept. The moment anyone showed up to steal the artifacts, they would move in and make the arrest.
On the first night, the area around the warehouse was dead silent. Aside from the rustling of the wind through the leaves, there was no sign of movement at all.
Crouching in the corner by the wall, Zheng Tongwei pulled his coat tighter around himself, a sliver of doubt creeping into his mind. Had they completely misjudged the situation?