Chapter 3077: Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

The gossip-mongers in the group chat saw this video and were all left feeling a bit confused.

Someone asked in bewilderment, "Could it be that people from out of town all know Zhou Liangyun is a huge sucker, and they're rushing over overnight to come and take a look?"

Someone immediately replied, "Even though Zhou Liangyun is in a bad spot, it's not worth traveling this far just to see him, is it?"

Another person said, "Maybe they know Zhou Liangyun is a huge sucker, so they're bringing fake goods over to sell to him?"

This theory was accepted by quite a few people, who replied one after another, "That's plausible! After all, suckers like that aren't easy to find!"

"Right, knowing Jin Ling has produced such a sucker, anyone selling fakes is probably tempted."

Chen Yufei had only just opened his eyes, and clutching his phone, he replied with a voice message: "This bunch of scammers is probably just like flies; they know there's dung here, and they all came running as soon as they smelled it."

As he spoke, he added another sentence: "Oh my! What they don't know, unfortunately, is that Zhou Liangyun is out of money! It's said he only had a few hundred thousand in capital to open the shop, and most of that has probably been sunk into this. This bunch is driving over overnight to scam him, I'm afraid they won't even earn back their gas and toll money!"

The stall owner walked toward his own stall while recalling the conversation he had just overheard, then hurriedly said in the group, "Everyone, I think I remember now. One of the people from the south had a non-standard accent; it sounded like they said they were here to collect items, not to sell them."

"Collect items?" someone asked suspiciously. "Zhou Liangyun's shop is cleaner than my pockets. Besides the fake goods he received last night, what else does he have? What could they possibly collect from him?"

Another person asked, "Holy crap, could it be that Zhou Liangyun found a channel and is planning to sell these fake goods off?"

Someone else asked, "Isn't it obvious they're fakes? He's already been burned, who else would buy them?"

That person said, "If others can scam him, why can't he scam others? Maybe he bluffed his way through and found a new sucker to take the bag?"

Someone asked, "Isn't Zhou Liangyun famous for being burned? Who would still buy his stuff?"

That person laughed, "He's only famous in Jin Ling, not nationwide. Those two groups drove over overnight, so they're clearly from out of town. People from out of town don't know about these local affairs; maybe they'll get bluffed by him?"

Hearing this, Chen Yufei hurriedly sent a private message to that stall owner, saying, "Hurry back and ask those two people if they are here to collect that fake bronze Buddha. If they are, show them that video of mine on the internet. You absolutely cannot let them get bluffed by Zhou Liangyun! Once it's done, I definitely won't treat you poorly!"

Chen Yufei was also afraid that Zhou Liangyun might make a comeback.

Never mind that he was scammed out of 300,000 yesterday and became the laughingstock of everyone; as long as he could sell this item today for more than 300,000, it would prove that the person collecting it hadn't been burned and was confident in making a profit.

In the antique trade, having no money gets you looked down upon, getting burned gets you looked down upon, and having no good items and tinkering with a pile of junk all day also gets you looked down upon. But as long as you make money, whatever you do, people will look at you with a bit more respect.

To say nothing else, take the master craftsmen who make the fakes; as long as the fakes they make can sell for a high price, even if they are in a shady and immoral line of work, everyone still has to look up to them and call them 'Teacher'.

Don't look at how everyone mocked Zhou Liangyun last night for being burned and being a sucker; as long as he made money today, he would be a 'good man' on the antique street. If he bought it for 300,000 and sold it for 350,000, he would have made 50,000 in one night. Who would care if he got burned or not?

Therefore, Chen Yufei had only one thought in his mind: he had to ruin Zhou Liangyun's business no matter what.

Seeing that Chen Yufei needed his help, the stall owner also wanted to seize this opportunity to get on his good side, so he hurriedly replied, "Manager Chen, don't worry, leave it to me!"

After saying that, he immediately turned back, went to the side of those people, and said to the collector from Yan Jing, "Buddy, you wouldn't happen to be here to buy that bronze Buddha from Boss Zhou, would you?"

The Yan Jing collector asked with a hint of vigilance, "You know about that bronze Buddha?"

"I sure do!" the stall owner said with a smile. "I know that bronze Buddha of his all too well. It's already become famous in our little patch of Jin Ling."

As he spoke, he hurriedly opened the short video platform on his phone, clicked on the video that Chen Yufei had spent 5,000 yuan to promote, and said, "Take a look at this video!"

The collector was a bit curious, took the phone, and started watching it seriously. The collector from the south next to him also hurriedly leaned in, watching intently.

The video played, Hong Wu's lackey brought the item in, Chen Yufei took the item to look at it, and began his detailed critique, which he thought was very professional.

The Yan Jing collector said in surprise, "Oh my, it really is this bronze Buddha."

The southern collector couldn't help but click his tongue: "Damn, what kind of background does this manager have?"

The stall owner hurriedly said, "You might not know, but this Manager Chen is the general manager of Jiqingtang, the largest antique shop in our Jin Ling. He is a very powerful and accomplished professional!"

"Professional?" The southern collector, feeling unhappy because he hadn't grabbed the number one spot, didn't hide the disdain on his face and mocked, "Damn it, not a single word this prick said is right. And he's a general manager? Let him go eat shit!"

The northern collector was relatively restrained, turned to the expert beside him, and asked, "Teacher Liu, what do you think of this video?"

That Teacher Liu shook his head and sighed, "The manager in the video really doesn't understand anything. While this vessel type is very similar to the Ming Dynasty, it's also quite different. That's because the Ming Dynasty vessel types themselves were imitations of antiquity. Strictly speaking, the bronzeware of every dynasty didn't establish a new style; they all inevitably had shadows of earlier objects. Just open Taobao now and pick any bronze Buddha; as long as it's a serious work, it definitely has elements of imitation. Moreover, he didn't even see the true condition of the patina damage. Overall, it's quite amateurish."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but sigh, "Although the antique industry in Jin Ling can only be considered second-tier in the country, it is, after all, a city with deep heritage. It stands to reason that there should be some experts here. I didn't expect that someone so incompetent could become the general manager of the largest antique shop in Jin Ling. This really surprises me."

The stall owner was confused by what he heard and hurriedly asked, "Gentlemen, what do you mean? Could it be that this item is real?"

The few of them remained low-key on this question. The expert smiled and said, "I'll reserve my opinion on this. I still need to see the item before I can draw a conclusion."

The stall owner hurriedly looked at the outspoken southern collector and asked, "You just said that what Manager Chen said was all wrong, so do you think this item is real?"

Even though the southern collector was angry, he said very vaguely, "Whether the item is real or not, I can't just talk nonsense before seeing the actual object. I just simply can't stand that prick pretending to know what he's talking about."

The stall owner was even more confused. He hurriedly walked to the side and sent a voice message to Chen Yufei: "Manager Chen, I just chatted with them. It seems they really are here for that bronze Buddha."

Chen Yufei hurriedly asked, "Then did you tell them the item is fake? Did you let them watch the video?"

The stall owner said, "I already let them watch the video, but they don't seem to agree with what you said in the video."

Chen Yufei hurriedly asked, "What do you mean they don't agree? What were their exact words?"

The stall owner naturally didn't dare tell Chen Yufei their exact words, so he said vaguely, "Well, they seem a bit stubborn. No matter how I explain it to them, they all feel that they can't draw a conclusion before seeing the item."

Chen Yufei sat up from the bed, looked at his phone, and muttered to himself, "Isn't this bullshit? Can a big fool find a second fool to take the bag after getting scammed? If I really let him sell it, wouldn't that mean I worked for nothing, and I even let him make a profit?"

Thinking of this, he hurriedly called Zhang Ermao.

At this time, Zhang Ermao hadn't woken up yet. Ever since he started following Hong Wu, his daily routine was no longer that of a stall owner who went to bed early and got up early, but that of a street-smart guy who stayed up late and slept in. At night, not only did he have to find time to patrol Hong Wu's various nightclubs, but he also had to hold meetings with his lackeys to study the operation plans for the venues. Therefore, he usually went to bed at two or three in the morning and didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky, near noon.

Being woken up by a phone call early in the morning, and by Chen Yufei, whom he looked down upon, Zhang Ermao couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. He opened his mouth and said, "What matter can't wait until later? Don't you know I'm resting right now?"

Chen Yufei hurriedly apologized, "I'm sorry, Brother Ermao. I didn't mean to disturb your rest. There's a new situation on the antique street, and I want to sync up with you."

Zhang Ermao asked suspiciously, "What kind of trouble is it this time?"

Chen Yufei said, "Early in the morning, a few people drove all night from out of town to find Zhou Liangyun. It seems they want to collect his items, and it's that bronze Buddha you sold him. Zhou Liangyun even left a note at the door telling them to take a number. This is too outrageous, so I hurriedly synced the news with you."

"What did you say?" Zhang Ermao's sleepiness vanished without a trace. He blurted out, "Someone wants to collect the bronze Buddha that Zhou Liangyun got burned on?"

Chen Yufei said, "It's not just one person; there are two groups now, and judging by the sound of it, they all drove all night."

Zhang Ermao was also dumbfounded and asked suspiciously, "What's wrong with this bunch of people?"

Chen Yufei said, "I don't know either, Brother Ermao..."

As he spoke, he asked carefully, "Brother Ermao, do you think there's a possibility that the bronze Buddha you sold him isn't a fake?"

Zhang Ermao asked back, "Have you heard of the great name of Teacher Cheng?"

Chen Yufei exclaimed, "The King of Forgery, Teacher Cheng?"

"Right, that's him." Zhang Ermao asked, "Do you think anything that comes out of his hands could possibly be real?"

Chen Yufei hurriedly said, "That's impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

As he spoke, he also breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "Brother Ermao, I feel relieved now that you've said that. I guess this bunch of people hasn't seen the item yet and still holds fantasies in their hearts. Once they see the item, I guess they'll leave cursing."

Zhang Ermao laughed, "They traveled so far just to see a fake item. Those with bad tempers might even beat him up. Keep an eye on the follow-up. If there's any fun to be had, remember to leave me a message on WeChat. I'm going to sleep a little longer."

Chen Yufei hurriedly said, "Alright, Brother Ermao. By the way, Brother Ermao, sending you a WeChat won't disturb your rest, will it?"

"It's fine," Zhang Ermao said casually. "I've already set you to 'Do Not Disturb'."

After saying that, Zhang Ermao yawned and said, "Alright, I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to take a nap."