Chapter 492: The Biggest Winner (8)

Chapter 492: Chapter 492: The Biggest Winner (8)

Joel Xavier fanned the air with the *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection*, and with the breeze, a faint, clean fragrance wafted into everyone’s nostrils. "The scent you just smelled is unique to tree oil! This just goes to show how sophisticated the forger’s methods are. It’s almost impossible to guard against! However, while this is a counterfeit, in a way, it’s a counterfeit with significant collection value of its own!"

"I don’t believe it! How can you just declare it’s a counterfeit based on nothing but a smell? Isn’t that a bit ridiculous?" Hale’s face was ashen; he simply couldn’t accept this reality. ’How could something that passed through my hands be a fake?’

"If you still don’t believe it’s a counterfeit, you can take it to a professional technical center for appraisal! The ink marks are definitely not from the Early Dynasty. This kind of ink-mixing technique is only achievable with modern technology! It was impossible to have purified tree oil during the Early Dynasty!" Joel Xavier stated his reasoning clearly, even bringing up technical centers.

"I’ll definitely get it appraised! But even if I do it immediately, it will take some time to get the results! Do you have any other reasons besides this one? Don’t tell me you know the appraisal takes a long time, so you deliberately proposed this just to make everyone think you’re confident? To make everyone, including the Fentons, believe your words?"

Hale was a crafty one, a seasoned old fox in the industry. He reasoned that if Joel couldn’t produce any other evidence, he himself would be the one handling the appraisal. The final result would be whatever he said it was; no third party would ever know the truth.

"The biggest reason is that the real *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* is right here, with me! And it comes with an appraisal certificate from the national testing agency of The Eight Great Families of Aethelgard! The one in my hands is the authentic piece, which means the one in your hands is, of course, a fake!" Joel Xavier’s smile was as serene as water. He exuded a gentle, refined, and scholarly aura—the very picture of a perfect gentleman.

Staring at the *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* in Joel Xavier’s hands, Hale stumbled back several steps, catching himself on the dining table to keep from falling. ’I lost? I actually lost? Defeated in appraisal! Beaten in my own area of expertise, by a man more than twenty years my junior!’

’It’s over!’

’It’s all over!’

’The reputation of The Hale Antique Collection has been shattered in my hands!’

’Because of my blunder, The Hale Antique Collection has been knocked from its pedestal!’

The crowd could hardly believe what was happening was real. Hale was actually wrong! This was just too incredible! The Hale Antique Collection, which had a flawless record, had actually sold a counterfeit! The tragedy was that this counterfeit was a gift for Mr. Hale himself, exposed in front of everyone at his own birthday banquet! It was like something out of a TV drama!

A counterfeit that Hale failed to spot, Joel Xavier identified. Did this mean Joel Xavier’s appraisal skills were a level above Hale’s? Did it mean Apex Antique Collections was more authoritative and accurate than The Hale Antique Collection? The crowd’s minds were reeling.

Joel Xavier wasn’t old, but he was certainly daring. He had actually used The Hale Antique Collection as a stepping stone to elevate his own shop’s reputation! Wasn’t he worried that the Hale Corporation would just acquire his Apex Antique Collections?

"A conspiracy! This is a blatant conspiracy! Joel Xavier, you planned all of this! You’re deliberately targeting the Hale Family, aren’t you?" Jacinta Hale suddenly shrieked. Her shrill voice startled everyone.

"Mrs. Fenton, you’re getting too emotional. I just run a small shop. How would I dare to go up against the massive Hale Corporation?" Joel Xavier remained completely unfazed, his tone growing even more sincere.

"This was all your scheme! You were the original buyer for the *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection*! You deliberately claimed you had cash flow problems! You deliberately had me introduce the seller to Hale! This was all your plot! You did this just to strike a blow against The Hale Antique Collection! That’s why you went to all this trouble! If you already owned this *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection*, why would you try to buy another one at a high price?" Jacinta Hale’s string of accusations made the crowd grow suspicious.

"Mrs. Fenton, first of all, I was indeed very interested in Shan Franklin’s *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection*. I was going to buy it. If you hadn’t blocked the loan I was getting from Fenton Bank, perhaps this counterfeit wouldn’t have been bought by Hale!"

"Second, you were the one who drove away my business deal. I certainly didn’t force you to introduce the seller to Hale. How could I possibly make your decisions for you? What you’re saying is ridiculous! Also, I acquired this *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* from a client *after* your transaction, not before!"

"Finally, when Hale acquired this *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection*, he should have appraised it carefully. It was his own lack of skill, his own clouded judgment, that led him to buy a counterfeit. What does that have to do with me? To blame all of this on me... isn’t that a little unfair?" Joel Xavier explained patiently, his face a mask of innocence and helplessness. The crowd was now completely convinced he was telling the truth.

"Then why did you bring this *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* here? Wasn’t this all part of your plan?" Jacinta Hale persisted, unwilling to give up.

"Mrs. Fenton, that’s even more ridiculous. I was invited to attend Mr. Hale’s birthday banquet. I brought this with me... as a birthday gift, of course!" Even the gentle Joel Xavier couldn’t help but sigh when pressed this far, looking utterly helpless.

"PFFT—" Seraphina Sterling couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a laugh. ’This Joel Xavier is a real master,’ she thought. ’When it comes to acting, he’s on a whole other level! Jacinta Hale must be about to cough up blood from anger!’

Hearing the laugh, Jacinta Hale shot Seraphina Sterling a vicious glare. ’How dare she mock me so openly!’

"Oh, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t laughing at you!" Seraphina said. "I was just thinking how lucky I am! If Mrs. Fenton hadn’t been so insistent on buying it back then, that *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* might have ended up in my hands! The Hale Antique Collection bought it for three million and was about to sell it for six million in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, I didn’t have that much money on me at the time, or I would have been the one who was swindled!"

Seraphina Sterling’s "narrow escape" act was like pouring salt on the wound, but Jacinta couldn’t say a single word in rebuttal. This was all her own doing. ’It’s over now, it’s all over! The status and reputation of The Hale Antique Collection... all ruined because of me! Father will hate me for this. He’ll never help Fenton Bank again!’

Joel Xavier presented the *Ancient Plum Blossom Poems Collection* in his hands to Mr. Hale. "Many happy returns!"

Seraphina suppressed a smile. ’He’s a sly and venomous one, too!’

The biggest winner of this banquet was Seraphina Sterling. Of course, tomorrow was the final day of her competition with Preston Patterson. The results would be revealed at the market’s close tomorrow afternoon. And she would be the winner of that, too!