Who wants to take the civil service exam after being reborn?

Chapter 556: False is also true, true is also false

The next day, a rather tall and imposing young man, dressed in a suit and tie, came to the Shangri-La Hotel to find Fang Qingfeng.

After exchanging a few words, Director Fang called Chen Zhe and others, and they got into two cars and followed the other party to a small courtyard in Yuen Long District.

Chen could guess the young man's affiliation with the gang, so apart from the initial handshake, he didn't chat with him much, but instead observed the courtyard.

It looks very ordinary on the outside, but a large section bulges out from the back, making it look like both a warehouse and a storage room.

Not far from the courtyard is a dense forest, and a babbling brook meanders by.

In case of an emergency, it's a great place to escape and hide.

This burly young man seemed to know the people in the courtyard well. He went in and shouted a few times, and soon an apprentice in work clothes appeared.

The two men chuckled and smoked half a cigarette. Finally, an old man in his fifties came out.

Everyone called him "Uncle Liao".

The young man looked at Chen and his group, introducing them to them.

Only after Uncle Liao waved to Chen did the burly young man give up his seat and say arrogantly, "It's all settled, you two can talk it over!"

"Hello, Uncle Liao."

Chen smiled and reached out to shake hands.

Uncle Liao raised his arm to indicate that his hands were covered in ceramic, and then asked in fairly standard Mandarin, "Where in China are you from?"

"Guangdong."

Chen didn't lie, and it couldn't be hidden anyway, but he asked curiously, "Judging from your accent, Uncle Liao isn't from Hong Kong, is he?"

Uncle Liao scoffed, "What Hong Konger would do something like this?"

"I'm a proper resident of the capital, I used to learn a craft in the Forbidden City!"

After he finished speaking, he pulled open a thick curtain, revealing a dim, cold light that resembled that of a museum.

It was also filled with rows of cultural relics, like those in a museum.

From porcelain vases to bronze tripods, from incense burners to silk paintings.

A Tang Dynasty tricolor horse stands side by side with a Ming Dynasty blue and white plum vase, while Qing Dynasty enamel pocket watches and fragments of Dunhuang scriptures are casually discarded, and there are even bronze masks from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

Even seasoned people like Chen Zhe and Fang Qingfeng couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!"

Chen leaned closer to admire it. He didn't have a precise ability to appraise cultural relics, but the color and luster of the artifact did not look fake at all.

"You still have some manners."

Liao Bo nodded and said, "Some rude customers try to take advantage of me as soon as they come in. I don't want to deal with these bastards no matter how much money they offer."

At this moment, an apprentice came over and gave gloves to each of Chen and the others.

Chen put on gloves and, with Liao Bo's permission, touched the bottle and the plate, preparing to pick up a bronze vessel with a bluish-green hue.

Liao Bo shouted, "Forget about that. It's forbidden to trade things from that era now, not even fakes."

Chen Zhe wasn't curious and instead stated his requirements: "Two antiques worth around 300 million each, but not too big, and three small items worth around 100 million each."

"300 million in market value" is the true price of an antique.

But that's completely unnecessary here.

Liao Bo found two porcelain pieces, which he described as "Qianlong famille rose eight auspicious symbols tea bowl" and "Yuan dynasty celadon glaze pear-shaped teapot with handle".

Both of these items are small and easy to carry.

As for trinkets with a market value of around 100 million, they are nothing more than mutton fat jade, landscape pendants, or silver ingots.

"How much do these cost?"

Chen asked.

Uncle Liao picked up the calculator and said as he pressed the keys, "You were introduced to the boss, so I won't charge you too much. Five items will cost HK$9800 in total. And don't worry, we'll pretend we never saw the items after we sell them, and we won't say a word about it outside."

"I naturally trust Uncle Liao, count the money!"

Chen said to Jiang Jinyu in a straightforward manner, while secretly giving Wan Xulin a wink.

While Jiang Jinyu was counting the money, Wan Xulin said with a forced smile, "Uncle Liao, I'm a little worried. These things shouldn't be so easy to detect, right?"

"What are you talking about!"

Uncle Liao was a little unhappy: "To be honest, my skills are better than those of the people in the Palace Museum now! It's just that my family background was bad back then, which is why I had to flee to Hong Kong."

"If you don't believe me, then I won't sell it!"

Old Liao was probably a stubborn man; he actually stopped doing business altogether.

"Hey, hey, Uncle Liao, forget it... My friend was ignorant and said something nonsense, please don't be angry..." Chen comforted the old man Liao while making Wan Xulin apologize sincerely. At the same time, he said to Jiang Jinyu, "Increase it to 1, to make it a round number."

Seeing that Chen was good at handling people, Liao Bocai didn't hold it against him.

Before leaving, Uncle Liao tossed Chen a small gift: "I won't take advantage of you, here's a little trinket for you for 200 Hong Kong dollars!"

"what is this?"

Chen felt that the bag was heavy when he held it in his hand.

"The Imperial Seal of Qin Shi Huang!"

Liao Bo said in a deep, muffled voice.

……

After returning to the hotel quietly from Yuen Long, Chen said to Jiang Jinyu, "Do me a favor and send 1000 Hong Kong dollars to that young man as a treat for everyone to have tea."

This is a 10% commission split with the middleman based on the transaction price, which is probably more than the usual practice in the underworld.

Jiang Jinyu rushed over and came back saying, "He doesn't want it. He said that if Mr. Chen could leave some profit for the boss when he goes to do business in mainland China, he would be extremely grateful."

Chen grinned and said, "If you don't want it, then don't. I do owe you a small favor."

"Are you OK?"

It wasn't until Director Fang Qingfeng looked over in surprise that Chen Zhe realized something was wrong, and he quickly patted his mouth: "Having this Imperial Seal of the State gives me a strange power."

Director Fang Qingfeng burst into laughter.

Chen, this student, is intelligent, humorous, and sensible. Most importantly, he doesn't have any arrogant or domineering attitude.

For someone his age and achievements, this is quite remarkable.

In the evening, adhering to the principle of "few people should give gifts," only Chen Zhe and Fang Qingfeng went to the Peninsula Hotel with the "antique worth millions."

Of course, John, Smith, and Yang Lili could never have imagined this.

Chen, this college student who speaks sincerely and whose secrets we have, actually dared to send counterfeit goods to Ba.

Furthermore, Liao Bo's craftsmanship comes from the Palace Museum's tradition. Not to mention these foreign devils and traitors, even some so-called experts on the market might not be able to discover it.

Chen's only request was to delay raising the money for two more days, and then bring the $1000 million to settle the matter privately after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

John touched the "Qianlong Famille Rose Eight Auspicious Symbols Tea Bowl" under the light, which had a lustrous texture. He had heard that it was worth 300 million yuan and kept making an "OK" gesture.

But as John looked at it, he suddenly asked, "Chen, how am I going to bring this back to England? It's not easy to get it across the border in Hong Kong, is it?"

"It's very simple. Just take it out the same way I brought it here."

Chen smiled slightly and said calmly, "We will use our connections to label this artifact as a 'craft,' so it can be taken out smoothly."

"My goodness, you're such a smart kid!"

John couldn't help but get excited when he heard Fang Qingfeng's translation: "You Chinese are so clever to put fake labels on real antiques and smuggle them out of the country!"

However, after Chen and Fang left, John carefully put down his teacup and called Smith:

"We will formally file a lawsuit on the Mid-Autumn Festival, and now we will contact familiar newspapers in Hong Kong to expand our influence."

"No problem! Chinese military strategy always involves a mix of truth and deception, so let's teach this young man a lesson too!"

Smith was naturally happy to see this "patriotic young man under the general trend of China's rise" suffer misfortune, and immediately agreed.

……

Neither of these two groups are actually good people.

One person uses counterfeit goods to deceive others, buying time for their own product to launch.

One person accepted the gift but did not fulfill the promise, and instead planned to go back on his word.

It can only be said that anyone with a slightly lower IQ is not qualified to compete here.

However, neither of them knew what the other was thinking. After Chen finished giving the gift, he chatted with Yu Baibai for a while with great interest.

Upon hearing that she was going back to Guangzhou for the Mid-Autumn Festival and planned to visit Old Chen and Empress Dowager Mao, Chen expressed a warm welcome.

After finishing their long phone conversation, Chen called Sweetie to inquire about the pledging of Taomi Technology shares.

Song Shiwei said it went quite smoothly.

However, the secretary seems to have a fever.

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(Thank you everyone for the monthly passes~)

(End of this chapter)