Chapter 694: Chapter 691: Present the Evidence

Even rosewood chairs made of huanghuali carry the risk of collapsing under weight, let alone rosewood which is denser and more brittle.

Some knowledgeable individuals immediately nodded in agreement, but the middle-aged man just laughed out loud:

“You’re telling me just because it’s easy to break, that rosewood can’t be used for armchairs? The ancients were extravagant and liked to use such materials for chairs. Is that wrong? Your reasoning hardly convinces me. You’d better present some solid evidence!”

The middle-aged man looked at Huo Sining with disdain, clearly not taking her words seriously.

“Of course, I have evidence. Don’t be in such a hurry!” Huo Sining’s expression remained unchanged, still wearing a calm smile, seemingly unfazed by the man’s attitude.

“I’d like to see what kind of proof a greenhorn like you can produce. Let me tell you, if you can’t produce any evidence, I want you to apologize to me and then get out of the ‘Folk Treasure Hunt’ production team!”

The middle-aged man looked at Huo Sining and added with a gloomy face.

Several experts, including Xu Shilong, frowned at the middle-aged man’s statement.

It was despicable of him to coerce Huo Sining into appraising for him and still not take no for an answer. Now, he’s even demanding an apology from Huo Sining and calling for her removal from the production team.

Huo Sining asked with a smile, “I have no problem with that, but what if I do produce evidence?”

The middle-aged man was momentarily taken aback, “What do you propose?”

Huo Sining smiled and said, “I don’t want much, it just doesn’t seem fair for only me to pay the price while you risk nothing, right? If I produce the evidence, I don’t need you to apologize or leave the production team. You just have to shout three times in front of all the audience here that your item is fake, how’s that?”

Huo Sining glanced at the man and spoke slowly.

Being so aggressive and arrogant, Huo Sining didn’t mind teaching such a person a harsh lesson to bring them back to reality.

“Fine, it’s a deal. I’ll wait for you to present the evidence!” The man shouted boldly, not believing Huo Sining could come up with any actual proof. He thought she was too young to be taken seriously–a girl not even twenty years old, seemingly lacking the authority and persuasiveness.

Huo Sining smiled and calmly picked up a cup from the table, pouring a portion of high-concentration alcohol into it.

Seeing Huo Sining’s action, including Xu Shilong, several veteran appraisers in the group realized what she was planning to do.

“I see now, ‘Purple Aura from the East’!”

Among the audience, there were some experts familiar with rosewood who, upon seeing Huo Sining pouring the alcohol, immediately shouted out, their faces showing excitement.

The others looked on with puzzled expressions, while some, upon receiving the hint of “Purple Aura from the East,” revealed expressions of sudden understanding.

“I get it now, Miss Huo intends to use alcohol for identification. Rosewood contains a very strong fragrance of rosewood essence, and as soon as it’s soaked with alcohol, the purplish-red essence will leach out from the wood.”

“That really is a good method. If this chair isn’t made of rosewood, there won’t be the phenomenon of ‘Purple Aura from the East,’ and it would prove the chair is fake!”

Huo Sining smiled faintly, the experiment she was about to perform was “Purple Gas from the East”, which was a very simple method for identifying the authenticity of rosewood. By soaking the rosewood in alcohol, a purple mist would rise from the alcohol, resembling the “Purple Gas from the East”.

The structure of rosewood is somewhat different, and it reacts to certain substances, with the most intense reaction occurring with alcohol. Apart from alcohol, high-proof spirits like 58-degree Er Guo Tou can also be used.

This method of identification was not a big secret, basically anyone with a little knowledge of rosewood knew about it. Huo Sining was initially planning to patiently explain further, but seeing that some people in the audience had guessed what she was about to do, she couldn’t help but purse her lips in a smile and decided not to waste any more words.

“If this chair is entirely made of rosewood, then scraping a little bit of wood shavings from the back of its leg shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

Huo Sining took a small knife blade from the table and asked softly.

The middle-aged man’s face showed a moment of hesitation. He had also heard the murmurs of the crowd below, but he was a bit confused. He had only faintly heard the words “Purple Gas from the East” but was unclear about what they meant.

“Let her scrape, that way you can verify the authenticity of your chair!”

“Exactly, scraping a bit of wood shavings from the back won’t affect the whole!”

“You’re not afraid of losing, so you dare not do it?”

Seeing the man’s hesitation, people immediately voiced their support for Huo Sining from below. Because of the bet, everyone’s interest had been aroused, and they all wanted to know the final result, especially those who had just heard about the “Purple Gas from the East” test method, and were even more eager.

“What’s the matter, don’t you dare?” Huo Sining, seeing that the middle-aged man didn’t react, also pressed him with a question.

“Yeah, it’s just an experiment. Are you scared? This proves your chair is fake, everything you said earlier was a lie!”

“Hurry up and try it. I’ve never seen what ‘Purple Gas from the East’ looks like!”

The crowd below kept urging him, and the man’s complexion turned from green to white. Finally, he clenched his teeth and agreed.

“Fine, you can scrape, but only from the back of the chair, you must not damage it!”

Huo Sining chuckled and nodded slightly. She hadn’t touched the chair before but she was able to discern from sight alone that it was a fake. Now she had touched it with her hands and had once again confirmed it under the Heavenly Eye.

This chair was not made of rosewood at all, but rather of ordinary wood that had been soaked in chemicals to fake the appearance, making the surface of the wood resemble the color of rosewood.

The quality of the chair was also off. Huo Sining picked up the chair and weighed it, feeling that it was very light and airy, totally lacking the heft of genuine rosewood.

Huo Sining used the knife blade to gently scrape off a few thin flakes of wood shavings from the bottom of the chair’s foot, which did not affect the chair’s aesthetic in the slightest.

Throughout the process of Huo Sining scraping the wood shavings, the middle-aged man’s eyes were firmly fixed on her, and only after seeing that the chair showed no unusual signs after a few shavings, did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The man clearly distrusted Huo Sining, fearing that the young lady might be a bit heavy-handed, potentially ruining his chair. If it had not been for the audience’s support of Huo Sining, he would have never agreed or even allowed the scraping of shavings.

At this moment, the camera also moved to Huo Sining’s side of the table, focusing on the transparent glass she was using for the experiment, giving the glass a close-up shot.