The Peremptory Casey Davies novel Chapter 137

Everyone turned to look at Casey.

Caleb suddenly showed disdain, and said, "Casey, I have already known what you can do. You can’t comment casually on treasure appraisal. Don't make trouble."

Casey shrugged, as if he didn’t care about how he was judged.

Edith didn't expect Casey to speak suddenly, but she quickly thought of that at the Patel family's banquet, Casey saw at a glance that the painting Albie gave was a fake.

Hugo's and Abraham's eyes widened at the same time. Others might think that Casey was talking nonsense, but they both knew clearly that Casey was right.

Abraham glanced at Caleb angrily. His best apprentice was not even as good as a trash who everyone in J City knew.

"Caleb, you shut up!" Abraham shouted.

Caleb was suddenly not convinced, and said, "Master, he is just a trash. What rights does he have to talk nonsense here?"

"He is right. This is indeed from Ru Kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty. Besides, it is from the official kiln. There are no wooden-club-shaped vases in the civilian kiln. You really disappointed me!" Abraham said coldly.

Caleb was dumbfounded. He didn't expect Casey was right.

He didn't understand how such a trash could know the origin of this vase. After learning from Abraham for so long, he nearly failed to recognize the origin of this vase.

Caleb turned to look at Hugo again, as if he wanted to verify with Hugo, in case his master had seen it wrong.

Hugo said, "Mr. Casey really has a keen eye. You can see the origin of this vase at a glance. You are right. This vase is indeed from the official kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty. Several appraisers have seen it wrong before. Just you and Mr. Abraham can recognize it."

Caleb was shocked. Casey was actually right!

He immediately clenched his fist, feeling unconvinced.

‘It must be Mr. Hugo who didn’t wanted Casey to be so embarrassed, so he told Casey in advance. Otherwise, how could such a trash recognize an antique that I can't recognize.’ Caleb thought.

Caleb thought that he couldn't lose.

He turned to glance at Abraham, and said, "Master, I was careless just now. I didn't observe carefully. I won’t make such a mistake anymore."

After speaking, he looked at Casey again, and said, "It seems that Casey also understands treasure appraisal, but it’s just a vase. We don’t know how much you know about treasure appraisal. Do you dare to have a competition with me to see who is better?"

Hearing Caleb's words, Abraham immediately understood what he meant.

Naturally, he believed more in his apprentice. Maybe Casey happened to have seen the vase before, so he could recognize it just now.

Caleb and Casey had to have a competition. Otherwise, people would say that Abraham's apprentice was not as good as a trash.

"I agree. The dinner party hasn't started yet. Just let them compete a round. It can also kill time." Abraham said with a smile.

Hugo looked at Casey and asked, "Mr. Casey?"

Casey nodded and said, "Okay."

Hugo also laughed and said, "In this case, let's watch them compete. The competition between young people must be very interesting."

Caleb felt weird. Shouldn't it be Hugo that told Casey in advance so Casey could recognize the vase? Why did Hugo seem not to be afraid that Casey would lose?

Hugo didn't care whether Casey was embarrassed or not?

"Actually, not all of the collections on the showcases in my room are the genuine articles. Some of them are high-quality imitations I bought. But the imitations are so genuine that they’re almost no different from the genuine article."

"Since you want to have a competition, just find out the high-quality imitations in my collections. Whoever finds out more will win. What do you think?"

Hugo spoke.

"What if he finds out imitations as many as I do?" Caleb asked.

"Then do an antique appraisal again. Mr. Abraham will pick one collection. You two appraise it." Hugo said.

Caleb laughed. If it was in this case, he could definitely win.

Casey stood up from his seat and asked, "Since it's a competition, there should always be time limit. I don't want to observe the collection too long. Otherwise, I have to wait for him till the dawn."

Hearing what Casey said, Caleb knew Casey was laughing at him that he spent so much time in appraising antiques just now. He glared at Casey fiercely.

"It's 7:15 in the evening. The dinner will officially start at 7:30. Ten minutes limit. You will write down the high-quality imitations you find. There are five minutes left to see the results. What do you think?" Hugo said.

"Okay." Caleb immediately agreed.

Casey also nodded.

Everyone in the room stood up, wanting to see who was better.

Hugo gave paper and pens to them. Under everyone's attention, the competition began.

Caleb observed the antiques on the showcase carefully. Because there was only ten minutes and there were a lot of collections on the showcase, he could not spend much time in observing one.

It was not an easy task to find all the high-quality imitations in such a short period of time. Caleb felt a huge pressure.

Even Abraham, the top appraiser in J City didn't dare to say that he could find out all the high-quality imitations within ten minutes.

After a while, Caleb's forehead was covered with sweat.

But Casey watched in front of the showcase quite leisurely. He didn't even need to pick up the antiques to observe. He just took a casual glance at an antique and immediately went to see the next one.

Everyone looked at Casey with a little surprise. They had never seen such an appraiser like Casey.

Many people thought that Casey was just pretending to be calm. He definitely didn’t know treasure appraisal at all. Maybe he had made Abraham's apprentice embarrassed. Now he wanted to please Abraham and Caleb. So he accepted the competition. If he lost to Caleb, the master and the apprentice wouldn't hold a grudge with him.

"Young man, treasure appraisal is not like this. Observing so fast can't tell whether they are the genuine article or the fake." An old man said.

"I think he doesn't know treasure appraisal. Now he is just pretending."

"That's right. If he can tell the genuine article by such a casual look, how sharp his eyes are."

...

Hearing the discussion, Caleb turned his head to glance at Casey. Seeing Casey casually watching these collections like a visitor, he suddenly sneered.

"This trash. He really doesn't know treasure appraisal. He still has the guts to accept the competition! He’s too cocky." Caleb muttered.

Ten minutes passed quickly. When the time was up, Hugo asked Casey and Caleb to stop.

"Time is up. Give me what you wrote down." Hugo said.

Both Casey and Caleb reached out and handed Hugo the paper.

"Casey, look at your laid-back look just now, I'm afraid you didn’t find out anyone of them, right?" Caleb said.

Casey smiled at him and said, "When Mr. Hugo announces the result, you will know it."

Caleb snorted coldly. He wanted to see whether Casey could be as laid-back as he was now after the results were announced.

Hugo opened the piece of paper written by Caleb and glanced at the things marked above. He nodded with a smile, and said, "Caleb, well done. You found out five high-quality imitations, which are all right. Mr. Abraham, your apprentice is great."

Caleb immediately became proud and said, "I'm flattered."

Abraham also laughed. Caleb was able to find five high-quality imitations from so many collections within ten minutes, which was that so many appraisers couldn't reach.

He glanced at Caleb with satisfaction. This brat wasn’t embarrassing him this time.

After everyone in the living room listened, they all praised Caleb.

Caleb smiled and said, "Mr. Hugo, let's see Casey's results."

Hugo nodded and took the piece of paper from Casey.

To be honest, he didn’t have much hope for Casey. Although Casey was from the Davies family in B City, Caleb was Abraham's apprentice and specialized in treasure appraisal. Even Casey was so good, he couldn’t compare with the man who majored in it.

"He must have not found any of them. Look at his expressions just now, it doesn’t look like that he was identifying treasures." Someone murmured.

Hugo opened Casey's piece of paper and looked at what was written on it. A few seconds later, his mouth opened wide. His entire face was fill of shock.

"Mr. Hugo, how many pieces did Casey find out? Could it be that he didn't find any so that you’re so surprised?" Caleb said and laughed.

Everyone in the room laughed.

"Thir... thirteen pieces. Casey found out 13 pieces." Hugo said.

The expressions on the faces of those who were laughing immediately froze.

Everyone looked at Hugo. Caleb asked, "Mr. Hugo, what did you say? He found thirteen high-quality imitations?"

Hugo nodded, and then looked at Casey in admiration.

Abraham's face immediately sank. He couldn't believe it. How could such a wimp find out more than his apprentice?

"Mr. Hugo, how many pieces of high-quality imitations do you have here?" Abraham asked.

"Thirteen." Hugo replied.

Everyone was shocked. They didn’t expect that Casey found all the high-quality imitations here in just ten minutes.

Abraham's expression was complicated. Even if he wanted to find out all the high-quality imitations here within ten minutes, it would be quite difficult.

"Casey is really a genius for appraising treasures. He took a casual look just now, but he found out all the high-quality imitations here. It's really amazing." Hugo said with emotion, thinking about people from the Davies family in B City were indeed outstanding.

"This is impossible! How could he find out all the high-quality imitations here? You must have colluded with him!" Caleb yelled.

Abraham's expression changed. He directly slapped Caleb in the face, cursing, "You bastard! What are you talking about?"

Although Abraham thought this matter was a bit weird, he knew Hugo well. As Mr. Hugo, Hugo didn't need to collude with Casey.

Hugo's expressions darkened. He said coldly, "Mr. Abraham, do you think I would play some tricks just for such a small competition? Do you look down upon the Gray family too much?"

Abraham immediately apologized, "How dare! He is out of his mind. We absolutely didn't mean it. Besides, this competition was an interim decision. How could there be any tricks?"

Caleb calmed down, knowing that he had said something he shouldn't have said. He really regretted it.

"Mr. Hugo, I know I was wrong. I was impulsive." Caleb quickly apologized.

Hugo glanced at Caleb angrily, and then apologized to Casey, "Mr. Casey, I'm really sorry. It’s just a misunderstanding. The dinner will start right away and let's go out."

Casey nodded, walked over to hold Edith's hand.

When going out, Casey glanced at Abraham and Caleb, and said with a smile, "Your apprentice thinks I played some tricks. If you also think so, I can compete with you. The rules are up to you. In this case, I won’t be suspected anymore, right?"