Chapter 86

"Transport, transport out of the country?!" Xiao Xiao gasped, stumbling and almost tripping over herself. "Boss, isn't this idea of ​​yours a bit too scary?"

Zhou Yiheng frowned, his gaze fixed on Yang Ye's face, as if trying to digest information that was completely beyond his comprehension and cognition. He said uncertainly, "Yeah, from defrauding appraisal fees to smuggling it out of the country. Boss, isn't the span of your association a bit too big?"

Yang Ye's face showed no sign of wanting to joke with them. Her expression grew increasingly silent as she turned and walked towards the open glass door. Beyond the door lay a pitch-black courtyard. She closed the door behind her and drew the curtains tight, shutting out the night and the worries that had weighed on their hearts.

The living room became even quieter, with only the breathing of a few people and the occasional sound of people passing by in the alley outside.

Yang Ye had her back to them, the warm yellow light from the living room fell on her face. Her back was thin, her shoulders bent forward, and her eyes were dim, as if she was trapped in a not-so-easy memory. Even the air around her slowed down, revealing a sense of stagnation.

"It's entirely possible." After a long time, Yang Ye turned around and came back.

His eyes were slightly heavy, and his voice sounded even lower than before. With a hoarseness that had not yet fully recovered, Yang Ye looked up at the two of them and said, "The same thing happened to me decades ago."

As soon as the words fell, Xiao Xiao and Zhou Yiheng opened their eyes wide instantly. They both held their breath and subconsciously leaned forward, afraid of missing a word.

"It was the 1950s, when I just returned to Beijing," Yang Ye smiled. Her voice was calm as she slowly walked to the sofa, sat on the edge, folded her hands in front of her, and looked at the two people in front of her seriously. She said softly, "At that time, everyone I knew either chose to go abroad to avoid the war or left. There were almost no familiar faces in Beijing that I still knew. I sold a few old things that I had hidden in the cellar, got some money, and renovated the house. Only then did I barely find a place to stay."

"In Beijing at that time, many things were just beginning. The aunt next door saw that I was living alone, and she was very enthusiastic and always came to help me. Later, the neighborhood organized a work team, and she even asked me to sign up. Maybe it was because I had really seen many valuable things in the early years. I had not worked in the team for two years, and the Cultural Relics Bureau was short of staff, so I was recommended by the team to do work related to appraisal at the Cultural Relics Bureau. One day, the son of the aunt next door found me and said that his friend had something he wanted me to help take a look at. It was a blue and white flat pot from the Ming Dynasty. I took a look at it and told him my judgment and estimated price."

Yang Ye paused and looked down, probably thinking about what to say next, or perhaps trying to calm the turbulent waves in his heart.

"Less than two weeks later, the buyer suddenly showed up with several other people, angrily smashed down my door, and demanded to settle the score with me," Yang Ye said, his voice slowing down, a lingering sense of panic in his voice. "A group of burly, middle-aged men blocked me in the yard. He said I'd cheated him, and that he'd consulted other experts, who said the item wasn't a genuine Ming Dynasty artifact at all, but a common, high-end replica from the Republic of China. He'd spent hundreds of dollars on it, and now he couldn't find the seller, so he wanted me to compensate him."

Yang Ye swallowed her saliva and smiled softly, with a sense of helplessness about the embarrassment she faced back then, "But how could I have so much money back then?"

Xiao Xiao was puzzled. "This is too unreasonable. You were just helping out and didn't participate in their transaction. Why should he ask you to pay?"

"But he was convinced that I was in collusion with the seller and didn't even give me a chance to explain. He took me to the police station and had them arrest me." Yang Ye shook his head gently, feeling an indescribable sense of powerlessness all over his body. "I stayed there for almost a month. The other party was very capable. What they said and the evidence they found were all against me. I was thinking at the time that if I was convicted, would there be no way out? In the end, it was a friend of mine who happened to have returned from abroad. He heard about my situation, used all his connections, and went through a lot of trouble to get me out of the police station."

Yang Ye took a deep breath and continued, "After I got out, he still wouldn't let me go. I had no choice but to sell the few remaining things in my house to collect money to compensate him. Later, I went abroad with a friend. At that time, I felt that I was too stupid and too easy to trust others. I regarded the money as a lesson learned. But every two years, I went to a private buyer's collection exhibition with a local friend, and in the glass cabinet in the corner of the exhibition hall, I saw the blue and white flat pot again."

Zhou Yiheng's throat moved, he swallowed hard, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Do you know how I reacted when I saw it? I really thought I had seen it wrong. I even asked my friend what the English introduction meant." Her fingers tapped lightly on her arm, and she pulled the corners of her mouth. The irritation in her eyes and the suffocation in her heart made her choke and feel uncomfortable when she thought about it now. "That buyer, and the one who asked me to do the appraisal at that time, actually they had planned it from the beginning. What the buyer showed me was actually a replica that was exactly the same as the real thing. He smashed it in front of me, and used my words as proof, and then tried to get me involved. Taking advantage of the chaos at the time, they secretly shipped the real thing out of the country to launder it, and then delivered it to the buyer they had found long ago. And I was a link in their plan from beginning to end. I was a tool to help them get the proof, and also a pawn for them to shift the blame and disrupt their vision afterwards."

After saying this, Yang Ye seemed to have used up the last bit of his strength. He sat down tiredly on the edge of the sofa, his back hunched forward, his face pale, and even his lips seemed to have lost their former color.

Zhou Yiheng and Xiao Xiao were completely stunned. They really couldn't believe that something that sounded so absurd and outrageous could actually happen to Yang Ye decades ago.

"So..." Zhou Yiheng's voice was a little hoarse. He looked at Yang Ye with heartache, "You are suspecting that Jinshizhai is also likely playing a similar trick, using a large number of false reports and counterfeits as smokescreens to cover up their intention to secretly sell the real antiques."

Yang Ye nodded gently. "Grandma Chen's bowl is the best example. They were able to imitate something similar in a short period of time. The scope of their research is probably wider than we thought."

Xiao Xiao tried to think more simply, "Could this have happened by chance?"

"By chance?" Yang Ye raised his eyes and asked back, "I happened to see a bowl, I happened to want to switch it, I happened to know a master craftsman who could make a one-to-one imitation, I happened to make it, and I also happened to give that fake bowl to Grandma Chen, and I even happened to make a fake appraisal report. With so many coincidences, do you still think it's just coincidence?"

Xiao Xiao didn't say anything. One coincidence might be believable, but so many coincidences could only be a premeditated plan.

Ding Dong

The doorbell outside rang.

Xiao Xiao reacted first and went to open the door.

Seeing Xu Jingzhe standing at the door, she was a little surprised, "Why are you here? Didn't you say you were on the night shift today?"

"I'm here to see Yang Ye," said Xu Jingzhe.

He walked in and handed the report wrapped in a brown paper bag to Yang Ye. "I asked a friend I know, and this is the information he just sent me. I thought you might need it, so I sent it to you right away."

Yang Ye took the document and opened it anxiously.

Xu Jingzhe said, "This Jinshizhai was originally in G Province, and they also processed and purchased overseas artworks. Later, I don't know where they found a few retired guides and teachers from the provincial museum, and they started to develop antique appraisal. Three months ago, they moved to our place."

He tapped his finger lightly on the copy of the business registration and said in a more serious tone, "After moving here, their previous overseas business was discontinued, and they changed their registration. Now their main business scope is antique identification and evaluation."

"You mean, the business direction changed as soon as they arrived?" Yang Ye keenly grasped the key point.

"Yes," Xu Jingzhe nodded, and then as if he suddenly thought of something, he added, "Oh, there's one more thing. Last week, my colleagues and I went to the industrial area on the outskirts of the city to help out. We passed by a warehouse that had been abandoned for quite some time and saw someone moving things into the warehouse. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but I remember there was a yellow logo on the back of a van. The more I thought about it when I came here just now, the more I felt that the logo was very similar to the Jinshizhai logo."

Yang Ye suddenly understood a lot of things, and her confused thoughts were gradually sorted out. She looked up in shock, "That makes sense. If they just wanted to cheat some appraisal fees, why would they set up a warehouse in the industrial zone? Many industrial zones are former abandoned factories, and no one would go there. They must have transported the real things to the industrial zone first, and then found a way to send them out of the country. There are few people in the industrial zone, so anything they do there will not be discovered in a short time."

"What are you talking about? I don't understand." Xu Jingzhe was confused by her words as soon as he arrived. "Aren't you checking the appraisal agency? Why are you talking about shipping it out of the country?"

Xiao Xiao pulled Xu Jingzhe's arm and whispered to him, "Wait for me to explain it to you later."

"They shouldn't be moving that fast," Zhou Yiheng said. "From the time we saw Grandma Chen's item being swapped to the time so many people showed up today, it's only been a little over half a month. They need to find the next buyer and arrange transportation, which all takes time. They've only been here three months, so they probably don't have much."

Yang Ye nodded.

Zhou Yiheng continued, "My roommate works at a logistics company. I'm trying to get him to find out if that warehouse has shipped anything recently. Officer Xu, could you please send me the warehouse address?"

"Okay," Xu Jingzhe nodded half-confusedly.

Yang Ye said, "Xiao Xiao, if you have time, go find Granny Chen and Grandpa Zhang and try to find out how they found the Jinshizhai."

"What about you?" Zhou Yiheng was a little worried.

"I have to go there," said Yang Ye.