Chapter 24

Walking through the shade of the trees, the midday sun, wrapped in the unique warmth of midsummer, filtered through the gaps in the leaves, shining generously on them. The hot wind blew the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley, bringing with it a few leaves that had fallen from the tree.

The old, dark green stone pavement was flanked by light gray walls. In front of the neighbor's house, freshly watered flowers stood, their glistening drops of water still rolling on their petals and leaves. The village pond, still and clear, held a few thumb-sized fish fry swimming freely. An old man sat on a bench in front of his house, fanning himself leisurely with a palm-leaf fan.

They arrived at the now-closed antique shop. Standing in front of it, Yang Ye looked up at the dated exterior. Directly above the door hung a slanted sign. The three characters "Mo Wan Fang" on the wooden sign were noticeably faded, but the vigorous handwriting of the original calligraphy was still discernible.

I heard this shop actually had a long history in the village. From its initial acquisition to its final closure, it changed hands several times. It was originally intended to be a creative cafe, but due to paperwork issues, the cafe was unable to be completed, so it was sold to a bookstore. Within two years, the bookstore became its current antique shop. Business was generally decent, but the owner later left the country and decided to discontinue the business.

The entire door was a faded, brown-red antique wooden door with a rough surface. Although it felt rough to the touch, it was indeed solid. A large copper door knocker adorned the door. It had been rusted from not being wiped or touched for so long. Near the door, several dense spider webs formed.

"When did this store open? Why haven't I seen it before?" Yang Ye asked.

"It was a few years ago, it seems like it has been closed for a year or two," said Xiao Xiao.

Xu Jingzhe checked the surveillance footage he'd captured on his phone and found the camera next to the electric pole at the entrance to the alley, diagonally opposite the store. This location was exactly the blind spot they'd seen on the surveillance camera yesterday.

He approached the pole and looked up to find the sign on it. Then he looked down and looked around.

Zhou Yi walked around to the side and peered through the dusty window. The light in the room was dim, and the window seemed to be covered with a piece of light-blocking cellophane. He could only vaguely see the objects placed nearby, but couldn't tell what was inside.

Xu Jingzhe walked over and said, "There's no place to go next to this. Even if we want to switch things, there must be a place to put them in advance."

"Besides, the door is locked, there is no other way for him to get in." He lingered at the door, thinking about how to open the door and how to get in.

"You called the village chief, what did he say? When will he come?" Xiao Xiao asked. If a shop in the village is closed, they usually leave a spare key at the village committee so that it is convenient for someone to check the shop.

Xu Jingzhe replied, "On the way, I think they'll be here soon."

"Should we wait for the village chief to come, or..." Xiao Xiao had just said half of her words when she saw Zhou Yiheng had already removed the wooden window frame. Heavy dust was floating in the hot and humid air.

"What are you doing?" Xu Jingzhe walked over quickly and stopped his hand from trying to remove the other window frame.

Zhou Yiheng said: "The structure of this window is similar to the ones in my hometown, so it is easy to dismantle from the outside."

"Even if you can tear it apart, you can't touch it like this." Xu Jingzhe frowned and clicked his tongue. "What if there are some clues on it? You've destroyed them by tearing it apart like this."

"We haven't found out how he got in, so it's useless even if we see clues." Yang Ye walked to the side and looked at the empty room through the half-removed window.

Xu Jingzhe put his hands on his hips and said to them seriously: "First, find clues, and then follow the clues to find the direction. Solving the case must be done step by step, not so casually."

"Since it's been removed, let's go in first." Yang Ye observed the width and size of the window and thought it should be just big enough for her to get in. However, she needed to think carefully about what posture she should use to get in.

Xiao Xiao looked at the crumbling window and asked uncertainly, "Go in from here?"

"The door is fine, and the lock hasn't been pried open. Apart from these two windows, there seems to be no other way to get in." Yang Ye reached out and grabbed the window frame from the inside, turning back to ask them, "Aren't you curious about what he did after climbing in?"

As she spoke, she pushed on the tip of her right toe, bent her waist, and jumped in through the window first.

The weight of landing stirred up thick dust at his feet and a pungent smell in the room. Yang Ye saw the dust being carried up through the gaps in the sunlight and swirling in the air.

The others looked at each other, and finally, driven by curiosity, they removed the other half of the window and climbed in one after another.

The store was filled with a stale and rotten smell, mixed with the sour smell of moldy paper and the decay of wooden furniture caused by the repeated alternation of damp and dry environments. It seemed like a haze settled by the years, falling heavily on the entire not-so-large room.

The tables and shelves against the wall were covered with a thick layer of dust. In front of the cashier counter, the low cabinet without a door was filled with various antiques, small bottles and jars, and several yellowed old calligraphy and paintings.

Seeing them coming in from outside, Yang Ye, who had been looking around the room, said to Xu Jingzhe, "I have good news for you. He didn't come in through this window, so the evidence you were worried about just now hasn't been destroyed."

Xu Jingzhe asked, "Didn't you come in from this side?"

"Our footprints are all concentrated in this area, but look there," Yang Ye pointed to the window opposite the cash register. There was another neat row of footprints under the window, which looked like they had just been stepped on.

The footprints went from the window to several rows of shelves inside. In front of the shelves, the footprints became chaotic, as if the person had walked back and forth among the shelves many times after coming in.

Xu Jingzhe took his steps carefully, trying not to stir up any dust on the ground.

The things that were originally neatly arranged on the shelf were now in a mess. The small box was opened and thrown aside, and the things inside fell out, looking particularly abrupt in the dust.

Yang Ye flipped open one of the paintings and said, "No wonder everyone knows this is an antique shop, but no thieves come here."

Across the shelf, Xiao Xiao picked up the blue and white porcelain bowl and asked, "What's going on?"

"They're all fakes. They take up too much space when I put them at home."

Xiao Xiao saw the label on the porcelain bowl and asked, "A 38-yuan porcelain bowl, made in Jingdezhen?"

"The things in Jingdezhen are all more beautiful than those here. What is this? It's a weird mixture." She looked at the Ci lamp in front of her that had a slightly missing corner.

The dimming light prevented them from seeing some of the objects placed at the bottom. Walking around to the back of the shelf, Zhou Yiheng's eyes were attracted by the strange white pattern at his feet. In this dark place, the white cloth was particularly eye-catching.

He lifted the white cloth, but the expected thick dust did not hit his face.

Yang Ye, who came after him, looked carefully at the things on the ground and said, "It's really here."

Xiao Xiao, who was not far away, heard her words and asked, "What's here?"

Zhou Yiheng shouted: "That birdcage is really here"

The color was not as fresh as under the bald head, but it looked exactly the same as what they saw on Fu Yunsheng's phone.

Xu Jingzhe came over and saw what appeared. The muscles on his face twitched and he murmured in disbelief, "It really was switched."

"The most dangerous place is also the safest place," Yang Ye said. "If you put something here, mixed with a room full of fakes, even if it's real, even if it's worth a million or even tens of millions, in the eyes of others, it's just a fake."

Brilliant pearls are cast into a murky mire, into antique shops teeming with counterfeits, where true value is reduced to easily quantifiable counterfeits. Lost in the wrong environment, their understanding is disrupted, just as, in the eyes of most ordinary people, so-called truth becomes more like an absurd and twisted lie.

Zhou Yiheng complained, "This method is really bad."

"The real thing is hidden inside the fake one, and the original thing cannot be found. Fu Yunsheng can't produce any solid evidence, so he can't be convicted of any crime. Even if he is locked up for a few days, if he hides the real thing here, no one can find it. When he comes out, he can sell the thing on the black market." Xu Jingzhe could guess what he was planning.

Xiao Xiao said, "He should have a very clear understanding of Fu Yunsheng, or the situation of his house, and the situation in the village. Otherwise, he wouldn't know that there is an antique shop that specializes in selling fakes."

"That's good now, let's see what he can say." Xu Jingzhe went over and took out the birdcage with a white cloth.

The criminal was caught red-handed, so no matter how much he tried to argue, he couldn't cause any trouble.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Fu Yunsheng held Xu Jingzhe's hand and kept thanking him.

"This is what we should do," Xu Jingzhe said politely. "We'll need you to provide some supporting documents later. You'll be in China soon, right?"

"Yes, yes. I just entrusted my house to an agent and it will take a few months," Fu Yunsheng assured him. "Tell me what information you need and I will definitely cooperate."

His sight shifted to Yang Ye, who was squinting in the sun nearby. He walked over with the birdcage in his hand and said, "Hello, Miss Yang."

Yang Ye opened his eyes and asked, "What's the matter?"

He asked, "Miss Yang, are you involved in antique appraisal?"

Facing the sun, she couldn't open her eyes completely. She frowned, and her beautiful heart squeezed out several deep wrinkles, "No"

Fu Yunsheng smiled and said, "Looking at how familiar Miss Yang is with antiques, I thought you were an expert in identification."

Yang Ye chuckled, "I just run a grocery store."

"Look, I'm planning to open a small antique shop in City A. I'm wondering if Miss Yang is interested. Salary and benefits are negotiable."

"Sorry, I'm not interested." Yang Ye turned his head, blinked a few times, and looked down at the way he held the birdcage. His thumb was holding the ring on the top, which was about to fall off. Although it was his own thing and he could decide how to deal with it, the way he held it made people feel uncomfortable. "Mr. Fu, you've worked hard to get this thing, so you should take good care of it."

Fu Yunsheng was stunned, not realizing what she meant. He hadn't expected that a casual reminder like that would lead to so many things later.

On the way back, Zhou Yiheng asked, "Boss, why did you say that to him?"

"He's too careless with the older generation's stuff," Yang Ye said. "He spends a small million to buy it, but he doesn't treasure it as much as he would something that costs a few dozen yuan on the street."

"It's not our business to worry about what happens to other people's things."

"That's what I said. Alas, I just can't stand it." Yang Ye clicked his tongue, thinking of the pile of decorations he had left in the room. It seemed that he would have to spend some time to sort them out.

Zhou Yi tilted his head and asked, "What does this mean?"

Yang Ye pondered: "We must have awe and respect for those real histories."

"Really?" Zhou Yiheng was confused.

"Oh right," Yang Ye suddenly thought. She stopped and looked at Zhou Yiheng beside her, smiling at him. "Since you feel uncomfortable taking a formal salary, your internship period will be extended for another month. Once you get the hang of it, I'll make you a regular employee."

Zhou Yiheng's expression froze instantly. He tried to explain, but Yang Ye had already walked a distance forward. He could only chase after him and say, "Boss, that's not what I meant before. Boss, I meant, Boss, please don't walk so fast."