Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 49: Needle in a Haystack (3)

“You must not be feeling well. Or do you tend to get nervous about small things?”

Yaerin got mad at hearing Lee Shian’s provocation and looked at him, but she then turned away. She was probably thinking that if she now got mad and talked to him, it would be bad for Haejin.

Lee Shian smiled and started to examine the paintings. He was not nervous at all and was not trying to focus.

He just looked at the paintings. He sometimes frowned, but he just moved and stopped as if he was there to enjoy the paintings at ease.

He looked calm which made Yaerin worry. She kept glancing at Haejin, but he had turned away because of his still beating heart.

“This is why a man must have guts. He is good-looking but so weak. How is he going to do his part at night? Shouldn’t you take him to a hospital or something?”

Yaerin arrogantly smiled at the woman who was scolding them and spoke in Mandarin instead of Cantonese.

“You are worrying about how others spend the night, so you must have a problem with your own. What, is your husband having an affair? With a girl pretty like me?”

Haejin thought that she couldn’t speak Chinese, but she just didn’t know Cantonese. That is why she could not restrain herself.

Yaerin lifted her chin, sneered and licked her lips with her tongue.

Haejin would have thought it was childish, but that childish provocation seemed to work well on the woman.

She steamed, and her face was red. She looked like she was about to raise her index finger again in anger, but she just glared at Yaerin for a long time and opened her mouth very slowly.

“Your guts are better than your boy’s. Good, I will get to spend some money today.”

Yaerin flinched at ‘your boy’. However, she didn’t feel the need to correct that in the situation. She nodded and replied.

“I am about to do some very impressive shopping in Hong Kong after a long while.”

Haejin didn’t care about their arguments. His head was about to explode because he couldn’t figure out what to do.

Should he acknowledge Lee Shian? As he had learned magic thanks to his father’s book, Lee Shian could have been one of his kind.

On the other hand, he might have offended Lee Shian and his people by burning that book.

He kept thinking that he probably should talk to Lee Shian later even if he couldn’t do that now, but he was hesitating because of Lee Shian’s eyes.

His eyes were somewhat ominous and sharp. His gaze was stopping Haejin from putting his thought into action.

Eventually, he decided to pretend that he knew nothing. He didn’t know whether they knew about magic and, even if they did, there was no guarantee that they would help him if he revealed himself.

Once he made up his mind, his heart quickly calmed down. He slowly took a deep breath and started to look at the paintings.

The moment Haejin started to look, Yaerin faintly smiled and looked at the rude woman. She meant ‘we are starting now’, and the woman replied with a snort.

After a while, he stopped at a painting. He thought ‘it couldn’t be’, but he couldn’t pass it.

For a moment, he thought Lee Shain might realize it if he used magic as he was nearby, but he decided to ignore it.

The moment he carefully casted the magic, he started to see something different from what he would normally see with magic before.

The moment passed. Haejin blankly recalled what he had seen and walked away again. He could feel that Lee Shain was coming closer.

He pretended to look at the paintings again and thought about what he had seen, then a dark shadow covered the painting he was looking at.

“The colors are clear and neat, and the theme is simple and plain. Whose painting do you think it is?”

Lee Shian was not looking at Haejin. He was looking into the eyes of the woman in the painting.

In the painting, there was a woman with a drawing board. She looked like she had something to say.

Her hair was in Greek style curls. The draped texture and beauty of her white tunic was depicted so well. Additionally, the simple background that illuminated her beauty made Haejin recall an artist.

“Do you want me to say Jacques-Louis David?”

“Oho… you know.”

“Anyone with a little interest in art would know that this painting was drawn by Constance Marie Charpentier, David’s apprentice.”

“You must know this painting is in the Metropolitan… so is this real? Or is it the one in the museum?”

Haejin took his eyes off from the painting and looked at Lee Shian’s back head. He was still meeting the eyes of the woman in the painting.

“You cannot be believing this is real. The real one is in the museum…”

Lee Shian slowly stood up and shook his head.

“That cannot be a reason, especially to an appraiser… if you are right, all the paintings here, that have a copy in famous art museums and galleries, must be fakes, right?”

Then what, they are not?

“It sounds like the Chinese’ characteristic bluffing.”

“Haha, a lie is convincing when it is based on the truth. An appraiser must see the truth hidden in the lies and the lie hidden in the truths. To do that, you always have to have reasons. Reasons why it is fake, reasons why it is real… to answer my question, you cannot simply say it’s fake. You must say the reason why it’s fake to complete your answer.”

“You are lecturing me? Then you are asking the wrong question. You should have asked whether this is real or fake first.”

Only then did Lee Shain slowly turn back. His eyes were calm, but Haejin could see that he was not acknowledging Haejin as an opponent since he was young.

“Your learning attitude is not good.”

“I used to make my teachers angry as a kid.”

Lee Shian tutted at Haejin’s answer.

“Tut tut… negative and selfish. You won’t get to improve much. Sometimes, being young and hot- blooded stops you from progressing. It is sad that it is usually too late when you realize it.”

Lee Shian was writing fiction. Haejin thought he had been too scared. He had thought Lee Shian would use a much harder and more dangerous magic than his own to press him.

“So, why is this painting fake? You have started a lecture, so you should finish it.”

Lee Shain pointed at the wall that was in the background.

“The color is strange here. At the time, the umber color was painted with burnt wood, so it cannot be clear like this.”

Exactly. That was why Haejin had thought it was fake. In the 17~18 th centuries, many artists, including Rembrandt, used umber made of burnt wood.

Haejin had thought Lee Shian was only good at talking, but he was good as his job as well.

He had verified a fake by perfectly analyzing the characteristic of oil paint, and it meant he had great skills.

“I see, but… have you finished what your master told me to do?”

It meant Lee Shian should go and mind his own business, but he curled up one side of his lips. That smile made Haejin tense.

“If you are trying to provoke me by calling her my master, that trick is not going to work. However, if you are asking if I have finished this mission, then the answer is yes. I am waiting for you to finish.”

That was a long answer.

“You are fast.”

“When you are less skilled, you need more time to think, but thinking too long won’t give you an answer.”

He turned around and walked slowly, pointing at a painting for the employee. It meant he had chosen that painting.

“Our madams haven’t seen the paintings yet, so why don’t we cover them? It will be fun.”

He seemed to fully enjoy the situation, regardless of the rude woman’s command.

“Whatever.”

The employee carefully covered the painting with a red cloth, picked it up with its easel, and brought it to the fat lady.

“What about us?”

Yaerin really wanted to win.

“That one.”

The employee looked at the direction Haejin was pointing at. His eyes sparkled as he approached it with the red cloth. It was the painting Haejin had used magic on earlier.

“Have you picked well?”

Yaerin asked while looking at the fat lady.

“Well, I don’t know what meaning this game has, but…”

“It has a huge meaning to me.”

“Well, I guess so. Anyway, I have picked a good one.”

“I trust you.”

Yaerin must have wondered what the painting was and who the artist was, but she didn’t ask. She just looked into her opponent’s eyes. It made Haejin think that she was a strong woman.

She was like a gunslinger of the West looking at the enemy, seeking for a chance to take out her loaded gun.

It was funny that it was Haejin who had prepared the gun.

“I will have a lot to teach, so let’s start with your painting.”

Lee Shian was about to start his lecture right away, but Yaerin made him lose his passion.

“Hey, mister! Do the teaching to your kids. Your madam asked for this comparison, so show yours first.”

Sometimes, Haejin wanted to learn from her rudeness.

“Okay, showing you first is not a bad idea.”

The woman had taken out the sofa that should have been in the room and was sitting on it.

Yaerin sat down on the opposite end of the sofa and gestured to reveal the cloth.

Lee Shian shrugged and removed the red cloth.

“Umm… I knew it, Lee Shian…”

The painting was depicting a naked lady lying on the beach very beautifully. The glittering sand, white foams of the waves, and the water sparkling because of the sunlight made her even more beautiful.

“This is a painting from Mariano Fortuny. His uniqueness lies in how he used the light. The beach glittering in the sunlight, and the bright body of the woman is amazingly perfect. I must also admire the perfect description of the shadows made by the strong sunlight.”

Mariano Fortuny was painting in southern Italy when he then died because of malaria.

The value of the paintings left behind by the tragic death of an artist tended to soar up.

Additionally, Mariano’s paintings were even more valuable as he died at a young age and left few paintings.

Clap clap!

The woman clapped. She was so strong that the clapping sound made Haejin’s ears ache. She turned to Yaerin.

“What do you think about this painting?”

Yaerin looked at Haejin. He nodded and spoke in Cantonese.

“It is magnificent. Judging from the ability to use paint, light and the technique of using the brush, it is Mariano’s painting.”

Haejin appraised honestly, but the woman laughed.

“Ahaha! You sound like a real appraiser!”

“It’s your turn now. Which painting have you brought?”

Lee Shian took a step away from his painting. It was Haejin’s turn now.

“Hmm… you might be a little surprised when you see this.”

“Surprised in what way? In a good way? Or a bad way?”

Haejin smiled and removed the red cloth from his painting.

“Huh?”

At that moment, Lee Shian took a few steps forward to examine the painting. Then, he looked at Haejin again and shook his head. He looked puzzled.

“Didn’t you say the paintings that have copies in museums are, of course, fakes?”

“I did.”

“And you brought this thinking it was real? Hmm… I’m afraid your girlfriend will be humiliated today.”

Lee Shian sounded confident. His lady clapped with a smile.

Clap clap!

“I guess your husband has made a huge mistake?”

However, Yaerin didn’t even blink an eye at this.

“You cannot resist food because you are so impatient. Why don’t we hear him first like civilized people?”

Haejin had thought she was only rude but, to his surprise, she knew how to trust a person. Anyway, her decision was right. This painting was real. And, one more thing…

Lee Shian’s ring had turned dull.

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