Chapter 7: The Dog Died

Li Douzhan, uncharacteristically, didn't talk back. He just glared at Cao Chuan, then went back and gently placed the seal stone on the table, took another one to the window to examine, and finally appraised that bowl.

A full half hour passed before Li Douzhan slowly set the items back on the table. Then, in an instant, he transformed into an afternoon werewolf, lunging over to grab Cao Chuan by the throat. Shaking him as he squeezed, he demanded through gritted teeth, "Where did it come from, you blockhead? No—I'll choke you to death!"

Cao Zhenren couldn't keep up the act any longer. After a desperate struggle to break free, he coughed and shouted, "I got it from a friend!"

Li Douzhan didn't believe him at all and cursed, "Got it? A broke wretch like you couldn't afford even the stone dust! Where did it really come from?"

Cao Chuan saw he couldn't bluff his way out; if he kept pretending, he feared he'd actually get choked to death. So, sticking to his original plan, he put on an honest face and said, "I got it from a group—a team, I mean. They asked me to sell it on consignment."

Li Douzhan's expression changed instantly. He said gravely, "Cao Chuan, the waters in the antique trade run deep. If something goes wrong with this item, selling both of us wouldn't cover it. Don't let people use you as a fall guy."

Cao Chuan knew this was serious talk now. The two brothers had a tacit understanding; normally, they never used full names. The moment they called each other by their full given names, it was certain to be about serious business.

So he also turned solemn. "Listen carefully. There is indeed a team cooperating with me. As for their background, it's best you don't know. That's better for both of us. What you need to do now is sell the goods fast."

Li Douzhan asked suspiciously, "No matter who these people are, why would they let an outsider like you help them move their goods—fence their loot?"

Cao Chuan shook his head. "It's not stolen goods, rest assured. That team is from overseas. I got to know them by chance. This is just the first batch. As long as the goods move smoothly, there's more to come."

Li Douzhan's eyes went wide with disbelief. "Could it be a foreign speculator syndicate? You hooked up with them, bragged you had connections in the trade, and conveniently sold your bro out?"

"Right, right, that's exactly it." Cao Chuan beamed. This guy's imagination was even more thorough than his own. "So you can sell with peace of mind. If the price is good, I'll give you a cut. Brother, our good days are here. Later, I'll buy you a couple of girls."

Li Douzhan sat there, mulling it over for a long while before finally saying, "I don't believe a single word of your bullshit. Forget it, I won't ask about the source of these goods. Anyway, once the goods are sold, I get my share. And if one day you get hacked up, I'll be there for my share of that too."

Cao Chuan patted Li Douzhan's shoulder affectionately. "Alright, don't worry yourself to death. I'm fine, definitely fine. Also, in the next few days, get rid of all this junk in your place. Officially say goodbye to the stall-vendor life. Focus solely on contacting buyers. From now on, we're in business for ourselves."

Li Douzhan stood up and went back to scrutinizing the two seal stones. "If all your goods are like the ones on this table, then I really won't need to set up a stall anymore."

"Authentic Changhua Dahongpao, Frozen Ground, ninety percent blood, vivid and rich. Mined from the eighties till now, the veins dried up long ago. Do you know how many years it's been since such fine open material hit the market? Do you know how much it can sell for?"

"I don't care about all that. Just sell it quickly. Remember to keep a low profile; don't let everyone know this stuff came from you. Hmm, as for the payment... I'll give you a guaranteed ten percent cut. Once my channels are fully open, there'll be a massive bonus package in the future. Oh, right, give me my card."

Li Douzhan grunted, remarking that the commission was decent, while pulling Cao Chuan's card from his wallet and tossing it to him.

"What about that porcelain bowl? What's its quality like?" Cao Chuan only just now remembered the bowl.

Li Douzhan let out a scoff. "Crude stoneware. Came out of the kiln just a few years ago. Even a dog wouldn't want it."

Hearing this, Cao Chuan knew his grand scheme of flipping Ming dynasty porcelain was dead. It seemed items stored inside the ring were preserved exactly in the state they were at the time; there was no passage of time.

Originally, he had planned to bring back a few pieces of precious Ming porcelain in the future, blue-and-white ware and the like. Looking at the situation now, he'd better forget it. If someone took it for instrument dating, it would instantly be exposed as a fake, and he'd have no way to explain it.

As he was pondering this, Li Douzhan had already found a wooden box, lined it with red silk, swiftly wrapped the two seal stones, and locked them in a cabinet. Immediately after, he started making phone calls.

Seeing there was nothing for him to do, Cao Chuan went out to the street entrance and bought two ounces of braised pork. Then, following the scent, he headed straight for the nearby garbage dump.

Why the garbage dump? Because that's where the stray cats and dogs were. Why look for cats and dogs? Because there was an extremely important issue that needed verification right now: could the ring bring living creatures over?

What was the most pressing matter at hand? He had been thinking about it constantly since descending the mountain. Without a doubt, it wasn't how much the antiques could sell for, but determining whether he could bring people over from the modern world. This was a major direction, a route issue.

Being able to bring people over was one way to live; going it alone was another. Solo play versus team play—Cao Chuan knew there was a world of difference between the two.

He had no intention of exhausting himself to death over there playing some savior. Life is short, and a life with the stamina for dual pleasures is even shorter. Spending decades alone playing some nation-building epic—he was a third-rate university grad; he didn't have that kind of enlightenment.

He hadn't walked far when he spotted a row of dumpsters at the street corner. Without even searching, he found several stray cats, and a dog. Cao Chuan furtively crouched in a hidden corner, checked his surroundings for cameras and found none, and then the man began using the braised pork to lure a cat.

The cat didn't come, but the dog did. Before the dog could even snatch the meat, whoosh—it was sucked into the ring. Cao Chuan pressed his thumb to the ring to sense it, and his heart went ice-cold. The dog had struggled for only a few seconds before it was stiff and drifting in the gray space, apparently suffocated to death.

He gave the remaining braised pork to the three cats that had dodged a bullet, stood up, and walked away. As he passed by, he gave a slight wave of his hand, and the unlucky dog appeared inside the dumpster.

Since he couldn't bring living things over, the route ahead was clearer than ever: move some supplies back and forth, and he, the old man, could just be a solitary local tyrant. That was OK.

Lost in thought, he walked back. The moment he entered, he saw Li Douzhan tidying up. He asked, and it turned out Li Douzhan had already contacted two shopkeepers to come see the goods tomorrow morning. Now he was clearing the junk out of the whole room. If the transaction went smoothly tomorrow, Li Douzhan intended to transfer all his own stock to someone else.

Cao Chuan didn't say another word upon hearing this. He rolled up his sleeves and started helping. The two of them tidied up until dinnertime before the place was finally in order. They went out for a casual bite, and when Cao Chuan returned, he opened his laptop and went online.

After browsing for a while, he felt much more at ease: according to the general location on the online map, Dongmu Mountain, where Pingfeng Stronghold was located, was just over thirty kilometers west of Changhua Town—and Changhua Town was precisely the origin of chicken-blood stone!