We asked you to solve cases, and here you are sharing your criminal experiences?

Facing the murderous glare of Deputy Curator Chen, Song Qianxia cleared her throat, her mind racing.

I can't exactly openly say to Captain Gu that I learned these skills when I was collecting protection money in the black market back in the day, can I?

"Um..." Song Qianxia cleared her throat and forced herself to speak, "Actually, I'm a huge fan of treasure appraisal shows."

"It's that 'Treasure Hunting' program, and the live-streamed treasure appraisal room that airs late at night every day. I listened to it like a storytelling performance every night! I even memorized all the treasure appraisal tips!"

Song Qianxia spoke more and more fluently, her expression incredibly sincere, "Please don't be angry, old man. Based on my aesthetic intuition from watching eight hundred episodes of the show, I feel that something is wrong with this stove."

Deputy Curator Chen rolled his eyes in anger: "Absurd! They dare come to the museum and boss people around just because they watched a live stream? Director Wang, look at this behavior!"

Director Wang was wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, about to smooth things over, when Old Li raised his hand to stop Deputy Director Chen.

Professor Li was a pure academic fanatic. He stared at Song Qianxia and asked, "What mnemonic are you memorizing? Tell me about it."

"First, observe the thief's gleam; second, examine the broth; third, discern the sourness of the fake skin!" Song Qianxia immediately went into dramatic mode, pointing at the lid of the Boshan incense burner.

"Mr. Li, look at the edges of this gold and silver inlay. Normally, after being buried underground for two thousand years, the metal reacts with the soil, and the patina seeps in, giving it a warm and smooth appearance."

"But look at this, it's sparkling under the spotlight, the reflection is extremely dazzling. Isn't that just 'stealing light'?"

"The genuine artifact has been buried underground for thousands of years, and the rust that has grown on it is uneven, with some areas deep and some shallow, showing crystallization and layers."

"This one is so uniformly green, it looks like a green-haired turtle."

Old Li leaned over the glass cabinet, pulled a high-powered magnifying glass from his pocket, and examined the spot Song Qianxia was pointing to.

"It really is the acid-biting method! The crystalline layer at the edges didn't penetrate the copper core!"

"This is a modern work of art!"

Old Li was so excited that his face turned red.

"Yes! Absolutely! I knew it looked awkward no matter how I looked at it, completely lacking the natural, effortless style of Han Dynasty craftsmen!"

"Young lady, you have an amazing eye! This is definitely a mass-produced, artificially aged item from an industrial assembly line!"

Deputy Curator Chen's face turned ashen, but he still stubbornly refused to admit it.

"Nonsense! The carbon-14 dating report clearly states the year in black and white! The appraisal committee has signed it!"

Song Qianxia retorted without hesitation.

"Deputy Curator Chen, why don't they just collect scrap metal from two thousand years ago and remelt it?"

"The material is definitely from the Han Dynasty, but the craftsmanship was done last week. Your authentication report seems a bit unreliable!"

When Director Wang saw this, his legs trembled.

"Oh dear, this is about to start. If a fake artifact scandal breaks out, our museum's reputation will be completely ruined!"

Old Li was so angry his beard trembled: "Put the exhibition aside for now, this matter must be thoroughly investigated!"

The three old men were arguing like crazy in the exhibition hall.

Gu Tingchen patted Lao Zheng on the shoulder, telling him to keep an eye on things, and then gave Song Qianxia a meaningful look.

Song Qianxia understood immediately and quietly slipped out of the exhibition hall with Gu Tingchen.

In the fire escape stairwell, Song Qianxia immediately put on a sly smile and moved closer.

"Captain Gu, wouldn't you say I've done a great service by stirring up trouble by sheer luck?"

"You really think I dragged you out to get laid?"

Gu Tingchen took a step closer.

The stairwell was already narrow, and a cool, clean aura belonging to an adult male enveloped it.

Song Qianxia instinctively stepped back, her back pressed against the wall.

"Could it be that you, Living Yama, were all-knowing and knew from the beginning that the furnace was fake?"

"I don't know if it's real or not, but from the moment we stepped into the exhibition hall, Director Wang's body language was in a state of high tension."

Gu Tingchen crossed his arms, his gaze still fixed on the commotion inside the exhibition hall.

Song Qianxia suddenly realized, her eyes widening in shock. "You pushed me out to exacerbate his psychological breakdown? You're using me as a catalyst for psychological warfare without giving me a bonus? You're exploiting my labor!"

"That's called making the most of resources. Besides, you seem quite happy about it, don't you?"

Gu Tingchen chuckled softly, pushed open the fire door, and strode out.

Inside the exhibition hall, Director Wang was pulling on Old Li's sleeve, sweating profusely as he pleaded:

"How about... we start now? And then we can have experts conduct a thorough evaluation after things have calmed down?"

Old Li swung his arm and said, "Academic scholarship cannot tolerate even the slightest imperfection! To exhibit something fake is a desecration of our ancestors!"

"I'm afraid there's no chance of it happening," Gu Tingchen said coldly, directly shattering Director Wang's hopes.

He turned around and looked at Old Zheng behind him.

"Captain Zheng, has the 50 million yuan sponsorship fee that the Xinghai Foundation transferred to the museum's public account been frozen?"

Old Zheng nodded: "The abnormal inflow of funds was already frozen when the case was filed last night."

Gu Tingchen turned around and fixed his gaze on Director Wang.

"Director Wang, the Xinghai Foundation is suspected of transnational money laundering and multiple serious crimes."

"Our police now have reason to suspect that this Boshan incense burner, valued at 80 million, is a prop they used to launder money."

"Someone inside the museum colluded with criminal organizations to replace genuine artifacts with fakes, or the artifacts were fakes from the very beginning."

Director Wang was so frightened that he plopped down on a chair next to him, dropping his handkerchief on the floor.

Deputy Curator Chen was still yelling, "This is slander! Without solid evidence, I'm going to sue you in the city!"

"Go ahead and sue! Lin Wan, notify the technical department and the special police team to take full control of the museum's security system and seal off all surveillance footage and inventory records!"

Gu Tingchen's voice left no room for negotiation.

"No one is allowed to leave this building until the task force has completed its investigation."

The scene fell completely silent.

Gu Tingchen strode up to Director Wang.

"Director Wang, the Municipal Bureau's technical department is already downstairs with their equipment. We have the best experts in the province when it comes to hard drive data recovery."

"If you confess now, it's considered cooperating with the police investigation. If you wait for the technical department to recover the deleted data, that's considered harboring a criminal."

Director Wang's psychological defenses were already on the verge of collapse, and Gu Tingchen's barrage of words and provocations completely broke them down.

"Captain Gu! I really didn't mean to!"

Director Wang threw his thermos on the table and began to speak with a sob in his voice.

"Three days ago...that was the day these exhibits were moved from the underground vault to the special exhibition hall on the second floor."

"The museum's security system has been upgraded. Deputy Director Chen hired an outsourcing company to debug the infrared network and surveillance system."

"At the most crucial moment of the handover of exhibits, the main control panel in the monitoring room suddenly went black."

Gu Tingchen's eyes sharpened: "How long has the screen been black?"

"Just...just three minutes." Director Wang held up three fingers, cold sweat streaming down his face.

"After the restoration, I immediately checked the exhibits. Deputy Director Chen was also present, and we checked the seals and boxes; everything looked fine."

"It's about to be reported to the city. If we say the surveillance system malfunctioned at this point, and the higher-ups investigate, my job as director will be over!"

"Since nothing was stolen, we...we just kept it under wraps."