Chapter 600: As If Having Won

Wang Bin, who was helping his father with chores, wiped his hands and trotted to the garage. He took a box and a scroll from the trunk of the car he had just driven back, then placed them on the dining table.

Liu Jinyou fiddled with the items with a smile: "Little son-in-law, Wang Yan, you two come take a look. These are treasures I obtained just two days ago. See what you think."

Old Hou remained his usual slouching self, examining the items from inside out under the confused gazes of Su Meng and the others. Gradually, his brows furrowed, and he shed his unserious demeanor, becoming earnest.

Wang Yan didn't even need to look at the items; just seeing Old Hou's expression told him the jar was fake. He washed his hands, dried them, and walked to the table. He looked at the ink shrimp painting spread out on the table, felt the paper with his hands, checked the inscription and seal, and nodded: "It's authentic. How much did you pay for it?"

"One hundred and fifty thousand." Hearing the affirmation from Wang Yan, an expert in calligraphy and painting, Liu Jinyou looked smilingly at Hou Sue beside him: "See that? I told you my eye for antiques is fine. You still didn't believe me."

Hou Sue curled her lip, snorted, and said: "Look at my dad's expression; don't you understand what's going on yet? That jar has problems."

"What problems could it have? Little son-in-law, I even had it appraised by a machine two days ago. The certificate is right here."

"Machine appraisal? Wasn't that machine made by humans? Old son-in-law, you underestimate human capability too much." Old Hou snorted disdainfully and casually pushed the jar toward Wang Yan: "You take a look."

Wang Yan picked up the jar and turned it over to examine it. Although he still couldn't tell stories well, over these twenty-six years, he had done nothing but study these things; his level was much higher than when he had first arrived.

He said: "Forgery techniques are endless, but compared to the true craftsmen of ancient times, they lack creativity. Carbon-14 dating is accurate, yet also inaccurate. As long as you find a way to manipulate the raw materials to create signs of age, it's not a very difficult task. Besides, the people doing the appraisals are also human. As long as they casually issue a report, whether it's real or fake is determined by them, isn't it? This jar, regardless of the glaze or the inscription, is processed to a degree that could be called flawless."

"However, this jar uses decals, and there are still small flaws in the detail processing. You know, this is court-designated ware with a reign mark; even the slightest flaw is intolerable; it must be perfect. It can be poorly preserved with chips, or damaged due to improper use, but in its initial production, there simply cannot be flaws."

"Hear that? It's fake. Go home and pickle your vegetables with it." Old Hou looked smilingly at his old son-in-law, whose face looked unpleasant, and rubbed salt into the wound by continuing to ask: "How much did you spend?"

Liu Jinyou didn't want to speak and refused to answer. Hou Sue rolled her eyes at this old fatty and said irritably: "Five hundred thousand! When he bought it, I told you to let them take a look before deciding, but he insisted it was just small money and bought it without a second word. Happy now? Let's see if you can sleep well these next two days of the New Year."

Old Hou laughed: "It's fine, isn't he a big spender? Just five hundred thousand. How do they say it in the south? It's just a sprinkle of water. They say a broad mind makes for a fat body; dwelling on such a small matter is an insult to all that fat on you."

Liu Jinyou felt even worse. As mentioned before, he didn't care about the money; it was just that being fooled affected his mood. Especially now with Old Hou, his little son-in-law, mocking him, how could he not be unhappy?

Su Meng asked curiously: "Uncle, where did you buy this thing?"

"Just two days ago when it was snowing heavily, Li Yuejin sent it over."

"Li Yuejin?" Su Meng paused, not knowing who that was. Ever since she moved out of that courtyard, she hadn't returned in all these years. She had no involvement with those messy affairs and didn't know the specific situation of the Han family. Even in the original story, she played with antiques, but now she wasn't involved at all, focusing solely on business.

After all, Wang Yan had too many things. Two years ago, when Wang Yan was free, he sorted through them piece by piece. He kept the ones he thought were good and the ones Su Meng liked, and donated the remaining tens of thousands of antiques to the Palace Museum. Even after donating so many, the remainder was still a significant number, including quite a few unique and rare pieces. In such a situation, how could Su Meng bother to study those things?

"Chunming's brother-in-law." Wang Yan explained, then looked smilingly at Old Hou, who had turned to look at him: "Old Hou, have any thoughts?"

Old Hou nodded: "It seems we've both thought of the same thing."

Su Meng frowned looking at the two: "No, what is all this? Why don't I understand?"

"Yeah, Dad, what do you mean by thinking of the same thing?" Hou Sue followed up, and the others were also blank-faced, not understanding.

"Last summer, Old Hou and I were drinking and chatting at the Commander's place. We were just talking when Meng Xiaoxing called..." Wang Yan recounted what happened at that time, as well as Cheng Army Supervisor's jealousy toward him, and laughed: "At that time, the situation was basically the same as now, bringing one real and one fake item. I suspect it was to cover up the source of the fake, making people not think of him, but rather think it was just bad luck that they got a counterfeit, not that he intentionally brought it out. Furthermore, I have an impression of that blue and white plum vase from back then; the technique is similar to this jar. I estimate it likely came from the same person."

"I understand now, Dad. You mean Cheng Army Supervisor intentionally used a middleman to transfer the goods to Li Yuejin, intentionally finding Uncle to scam him out of money. He doesn't have the ability to take revenge on you, so he sought revenge through Uncle." After listening for a while, Wang Bin took over: "But that's just talk; we don't have evidence in our hands. We can't just bully people and go find trouble with Cheng Army Supervisor, right? That would make you lose face."

"Kid, you still need practice." Old Hou smilingly patted Wang Bin's shoulder: "Have you ever seen a hawk let go of a rabbit it's caught?"

At this moment, Liu Jinyou still didn't quite believe it: "Can't be, right? I think this is just a coincidence; how could there be so many schemes?"

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled: "Whether there are so many schemes, we'll know if we keep watching."

Su Meng raised her brows: "You mean Han Chunming's brother-in-law will have to find my uncle again?"

"That's for sure. He pays so readily, and it has a connection to me. If it really is Cheng Army Supervisor causing trouble behind the scenes, he won't let it go. This time it wasn't a Qing dynasty item, right? I estimate that if he sells fakes next time, it will be Ming dynasty, likely a blue and white porcelain jar or vase."

"That would be several million then." Hou Sue asked: "What should we do then?"

Wang Yan laughed: "As the saying goes, if you don't risk the child, you won't catch the wolf. In the meantime, Li Yuejin will definitely bring items over a few more times, and most should be real, just to build trust and make you lower your guard. As long as you pay attention to blue and white porcelain, based on the last time, this forger should be good at blue and white porcelain. When the time comes, call Old Hou and let him check if it's real or fake. If it's real, Uncle keeps it; if it's fake, call the police directly."

At this time, Su Mu, who had been silent, spoke with some hesitation: "Wang Yan, is this good? That Li Yuejin is Chunming's brother-in-law. If he's really arrested, Chunming won't look good either. And Cheng Army Supervisor, if he goes in for the third time, his parents won't be able to face anyone, right?"

Su Fu waved his hand: "You're wrong. How come the older you get, the lower your awareness? This is a matter of principle. Breaking the law and discipline means one should receive the punishment one deserves."

"Dad is right. Think about it, it's only been two years since Cheng Army Supervisor last came out, right? He's buying large western-style houses, cars, and opening businesses. Where did that money come from? If it's really as Wang Yan said, it was all scammed. In these two years, he doesn't know how many people he's scammed into bankruptcy. This is just because Uncle has money; if it were an ordinary family, where would they have five hundred thousand for him to scam? Just that blue and white plum vase mentioned before could scam a family into ruin. He's committed too many sins."

Su Meng spoke with righteous indignation, her words showing great disdain for Cheng Army Supervisor. This was a conflict from '75; Cheng Army Supervisor was always playing tricks and always calling Wang Yan a hooligan, intending to destroy her relationship with Wang Yan. Since then, she had always found Cheng Army Supervisor an eyesore. He only did bad things; he should go in for the third time and die in prison, so he wouldn't come out to harm people again.

Wang Yan nodded in agreement with Su Meng's words. He said: "Don't worry about Li Yuejin's matter; he's just someone with a missing brain, only seeing the money and not the risk. Cheng Army Supervisor has been in prison for over ten years; he definitely wouldn't hand the items directly to Li Yuejin. Although he factually participated in the scam, subjectively he didn't know, so at most it's a year or two, and paying some fines will settle it. If there's a good lawyer to help defend him, it's not impossible to just get an administrative penalty. It's not a big problem."

Liu Jinyou slapped the table: "Fine, it's settled. Daring to scam me, no matter who it is, they must be sent in."

"That's right. When the time comes, call me, and I'll go take a look. And don't just look for blue and white porcelain; what if he scams you with something else in the meantime? If Li Yuejin brings items to find you, just call me."

"Then drink less alcohol; I'm afraid you'll misjudge."

Old Hou laughed: "Do you think I only drink all day? With these items, I can tell real from fake even with my eyes closed. You're still far behind."

Liu Jinyou sighed, let Wang Bin put away the ink shrimp painting, and then sneakily leaned over to his little son-in-law, holding that blue and white jar and asking carefully exactly where it was wrong.

Turning the page, Wang Yan turned and went to the kitchen to get busy. Twelve people, four soldiers, Wang Yan and Wang Bin, father and son—all six were big eaters. The dishes had to be varied, and the portions had to be large.

After some busyness, cooked food, cold dishes, hot stir-fries, and various other dishes were served one by one. It was past one o'clock when the meal for so many people was finally ready, and the group began to eat, drink, and chat.

Although Beijing had banned the setting off of fireworks and firecrackers as early as '93, there were always people who liked to challenge it, especially since there wasn't such strong surveillance back then to cover everything. So, from time to time, firecrackers would explode in the sky. By tomorrow, news would spread about who had been detained for setting off firecrackers privately. It added some schadenfreude-filled amusement to the New Year period.

During the New Year, people would fill a table with all the delicacies they could buy, make well, and liked to eat, which they usually couldn't bear to eat on ordinary days. A family that couldn't be gathered together on ordinary days would sit around the table, drinking and eating good food, talking about the gains of the past year.

At this time, children were the happiest because they would have a new set of clothes. This was as it should be; who doesn't like new things? They would also have lucky money given by elders, although most of it was swindled away by their parents, there would always be some left. When school started, everyone would wear new clothes, spend their lucky money, and play happily together.

But because of this, there were always many children who had no new clothes or much lucky money during the New Year. Every spring when school started, they would feel quite awkward. They learned very early that they were different from others, learned very early to cover up for themselves, lying that they didn't like new clothes, or saying something about being frugal, or that old clothes weren't unwearable. Because of this, they learned to change the subject, skipping over new clothes, and even more so skipping over their own pitiful few yuan or tens of yuan of lucky money compared to others' hundreds, turning instead to talk about interesting things from the holiday.

Children wouldn't naturally compare themselves, but when most people had things they didn't, they felt the suffocating feeling of fate gripping their throats, hurting the fragile self-esteem of the little children.

After all, who doesn't like new things, and who doesn't want more lucky money...

Besides these, another point that made children happy was the various gifts brought by relatives visiting, which they could eat to their heart's content. Adding to that, neighbors and old playmates who had gone to other places returning, everyone playing happily together—this was the happiness that belonged to them, and it should also be the happiness that belonged to those children before 2010.

Because after that, the means of production were already very abundant. Most families didn't lack good food or drink on ordinary days. How to find happiness in these few days of the New Year?

In the final analysis, people used to celebrate the New Year because of 'poverty'. Because they were poor, they were happy in those few days when they weren't poor.

Compared to the poverty people shout about now, it's always two different things. After all, no matter what, people aren't lacking food or drink now, and most people can eat meat. It's just that people's desires are bigger now—wanting to marry a wife, wanting to have children, wanting to drive a luxury car, wanting to live in a big house. Then looking at aging parents, then looking at a salary of a few thousand yuan, how could they not be poor...

At this time, the people in this room had, of course, long since left poverty behind, and had even left the masses behind. They didn't see each other less on ordinary days, and what needed to be said had long been said, so everyone didn't have any special happiness, and the New Year was no different from daily life. At the dining table, besides talking about business, it was still Liu Jinyou, who hadn't recovered, talking about appraising antiques.

Even Wang Bin had started to mutter that the New Year was boring...

Having earned five hundred thousand, Cheng Army Supervisor was happy, very happy, extremely happy. Because this sum of money could be counted on Wang Yan's head; he had earned Wang Yan's money, how could he not be happy.

However, he wasn't happy for many days. After the New Year, he went to see his son, gave him five hundred thousand to buy a car, but was refused. He left Beijing with sadness and disappointment, and once again ran to the south, rolling up his sleeves to work hard. After all, it was only five hundred thousand; this was just the beginning. He wanted to earn five million, fifty million, or even hundreds of millions!

Only by doing so, spending Wang Yan's money and comfortably supporting his own old age, could he vent this pent-up anger in his heart. Even that hadn't been fully vented, and of course, he also knew that wanting to do that was impossible, otherwise how could he only want to earn money.

His kiln wasn't set up in the suburbs of Beijing like in the original story, because he had seen the national market, so how could he only stay in Beijing? Moreover, by comparison, his current technique was even three points better than in the original story. Firing porcelain is a job that also has strict climatic conditions, requiring a suitable ratio of dryness and humidity. Obviously, the south, which had been firing various porcelains for thousands of years, was the best place.

What he was doing this time was Ming dynasty items. Actually, he had done it before, but there weren't many, and they weren't easy to sell. Now it was good; with Liu Jinyou, this big sucker, he could be at ease and even more comfortable.

He wasn't afraid of Liu Jinyou knowing it was fake, because a fake is always a fake, and there's always a day when it will be exposed. But the rules of this trade are there; if you get fooled, you have to admit it. With Liu Jinyou's status and wealth, let alone five hundred thousand, even five million or fifty million, he would have to swallow his broken teeth. Who told him he didn't have that good eye for antiques?

Even if Liu Jinyou couldn't swallow it and wanted to settle old scores, he could only find Li Yuejin, and at most, it would just go to his subordinate's subordinate. Once there's a change, flee a thousand miles away immediately; who could do anything to them?

Moreover, he was confident in his craftsmanship. To sell to Liu Jinyou, he had previously made a few pieces to sell to experts, and until now, he hadn't heard of anyone discovering them, so it was even safer.

This time was the same. He made a few pieces of Jiajing and Wanli period blue and white porcelain, all kinds of vases. He didn't dare to make larger ones, and the reason was simple: large items were too rare. Large Ming dynasty items that were perfectly preserved until the Qing dynasty were already very rare, and then they went through the fires of war; porcelain isn't that sturdy, and a chip or a bump means it's shattered. With small quantities, the price is naturally high. Although he was greedy, he didn't dare to take risks on Ming dynasty items; from Hongwu to Chongzhen, sixteen emperors were already enough for him to eat.

At the same time, he didn't escape Wang Yan's prediction, collecting some calligraphy, paintings, furniture, jade, and other small porcelain items, basically earning a cost price of ten or twenty thousand, letting Li Yuejin send them to Liu Jinyou. This was a very normal operation; maintaining trust is just as important as gaining trust, otherwise how could he earn five million or fifty million?

Just like this, in the blink of an eye, another half a year passed, and it was July 2001. In a residential house with white walls and black tiles and an ancient atmosphere in Jingdezhen, Cheng Army Supervisor looked at a blue and white spring vase shining with a moist luster on the table...

To be safe, he went through even more trouble this time than last time, first actually trading two hands in the south, and only on the third hand was it bought by a Beijing person who came here, then it went to Beijing, and then it was transferred one more time, sent to someone who had contact with Li Yuejin before, and finally it reached Li Yuejin's hands.

By this time, it was already August. And in these four transactions, only the first person knew that the goods came from Cheng Army Supervisor. Moreover, one of the middle hands was completely a stranger, and later someone came to find them to buy it. That is to say, this person wasn't the target customer, otherwise, this unlucky guy would have already been ruined. However, he didn't let this person go either, preparing to study this unlucky guy during this period. Being able to take out millions to be ruined is also very rare, especially since he was such a fool who was easily scammed. Since God sent him money, there was no reason not to scam him.

By this time, Cheng Army Supervisor, who had returned to Beijing, revealed a look of smug satisfaction, as if he had already won...

At the same time, Li Yuejin came out of the entrance of an appraisal agency. He carefully held the box with both hands, with the appraisal results tucked under his arm, also unable to hide his grinning mouth showing his big teeth, his mouth open so wide that one could even see his back molars. It was simply unwatchable; his excitement and happiness could be imagined... ===== CHAPTER 601 =====