The Beiman Mountain area and its surroundings in Luoyang are dotted with ancient tombs from various dynasties. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Jian even wrote the line, "There is little idle land on the top of Beiman Mountain; it is full of old tombs of Luoyang people."
The Ancient Tomb Museum covers an area of over 130 acres and consists of a group of buildings imitating the Han Dynasty and a group of buildings imitating the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is divided into two parts: above ground and underground. It is the world's first park-style ancient tomb museum and a major wonder in China.
This museum mainly consists of three exhibition areas: typical tombs, the mausoleums of Northern Wei emperors, and the mural gallery.
I had heard about the ancient tomb mural "Fighting Ghosts" exhibited in the typical tomb exhibition area, so my first stop was there to see this mural.
The museum has a highly accurate recreation of the ancient tomb that was moved and restored. Apart from the bright lighting, the rest of the furnishings are almost identical to those in the ancient tomb, which is of great help in understanding the culture of ancient tombs.
After leaving the typical burial exhibit area, our group sat on a bench in the smoking area by the museum's pool and had a conversation.
Looking at the white marble gate in the distance, Song Laosan slowly said, "Xiao Huai, I discussed it with the Duan family head at noon, and we think that we can cooperate on the matter of Su Gouzi."
"real?"
Upon hearing this reply, Qing Huai's eyes lit up instantly: "Third Master, you know the reputation of our Qing family. Although my father is not in the province, he entrusted this matter to me to handle entirely. Rest assured, as long as we can reach a cooperation agreement and successfully secure Su Gouzi's business, you will each receive 10% of the net profit generated each year thereafter."
According to Qinghuai's previous statement, Su Jialiang's business has an annual output value of 500 million yuan. Although he doesn't make as much profit as the end consumer, even a 10% net profit would probably be tens of millions of yuan.
No wonder Song Laosan was so eager to return to China and even helped the four families reconcile their differences.
Even with the four factions so divided and disunited, we are still able to make such huge profits. If the four factions were to unite and work together, what would that be like?
Even though I was somewhat resistant to the idea of counterfeiting and selling fakes, the conditions Qinghuai offered still made my mouth dry.
I'm just a poor guy. Just two months ago, I was still worrying about heating costs of several thousand yuan.
I never imagined that my identity as a member of the Four Gates would transform me and bring me into a new world of immense potential benefits.
I'm just an ordinary person. When I received the two million yuan payment from Song Laosan, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep for two nights.
Honestly, I don't even have a concrete concept of tens of millions. I only know that even if I buy lottery tickets, I would have to win the jackpot several times.
The Song family has the most external contacts among the four families. Song Laosan, being worldly-wise, was not attracted by Qing Huai's offer: "What you're saying is all for later. Su Gouzi has been operating for many years, and it's still unknown whether we can bring him down. It's too far ahead to talk about these things now. Xiao Huai, since your Qing family wants to take action against Su Gouzi, you must have already obtained a lot of intelligence. If we're all going to work together towards the same goal, then let's not hold back. What do you say?"
"Haha, that's natural."
Qinghuai was in a good mood after receiving our promise, and stopped beating around the bush: "Then I'll tell you two what I know... Su Gouzi entered the counterfeiting business at the age of twenty, and it's been more than twenty years now. This man has been making counterfeits for many years, and his nose is extremely sensitive. He can tell the authenticity of most bronze artifacts just by smelling them, which is why he got this nickname."
The Su family has four siblings, with Su Gouzi being the eldest. Their counterfeit business started with all four brothers. Initially, they sold their counterfeit goods overseas. In 1998, Su Gouzi competed with a group of bronze counterfeiters from Shanxi for business, and his second brother was murdered; reportedly, even his body was never brought back.
The monkey interjected, "This has resulted in a death, and hasn't the matter gone through the authorities?"
Song Laosan explained, "The antique trade is inherently a gray area. Apart from a few heirloom artifacts, most of them are taken from underground. If you really investigate, no one's background is clean. So when people in the industry encounter problems, almost no one calls the police. After all, everyone has something to hide, and no one can be in the light of day. This trade is more profitable than drug trafficking, so don't think of it as clean."
Qinghuai also felt that the monkey's question was a bit childish, so he didn't respond. He continued, "In 2007, the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics was officially implemented. The standards for identifying and appraising counterfeit cultural relics became more rigorous and standardized. As a result, Su Gouzi's fourth sister was arrested and imprisoned. She took the blame for all the previous cases of the Su family and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She has not been released to this day."
That incident served as a wake-up call for Su Gouzi. From then on, he retreated behind the scenes and stopped actively contacting people. Instead, he relied on his existing network of connections and only did business with long-term clients. This limited Su Gouzi's sales channels, and buyers would definitely try to drive down prices, but the advantage was that it was much safer.
Because of this business model, Su Gouzi's business has never encountered any problems since 2007. In fact, nobody in the underworld even knows who he is. Rumors circulate that Su Gouzi's hideout is in Luoyang, but no one has ever actually seen him or any of his gang members.
Although Qing Huai put on a confident demeanor, I believed that since Mr. Leng had specifically named us to come to Henan, it couldn't be based on mere rumors. I feigned displeasure and looked at Qing Huai: "Mr. Qing, since we've already agreed to be on the same boat, let's be honest with each other! Do you think I would believe that your Qing family would try to take over someone else's business based on just a baseless rumor? I must remind you, there are so many counterfeit gangs across the country, and your Qing family isn't the only one trying to take over Su Gouzi's business. If you can't see any sincerity in me, I might not necessarily need you."
Qinghuai sensed the displeasure in my words, his eyes darted around, and he naturally took over the conversation: "Xiao Duan, you're being too sensitive. I haven't finished speaking yet! Although our Qing family is in a semi-retired state, we still have some influence in the province. After our investigation, we're not completely without clues. At least we've found one of Su Gouzi's distribution channels."
"Hey, what you said makes some sense."
Song Laosan sat up straight and nodded to Qinghuai to continue.
"In the Cultural Expo City on West Street in the old city, there is an art shop called Chuanshitang. The owner is nicknamed Ma Quezi (meaning 'crippled man'). In his early years, he was an underground tiger. After he became crippled, he moved from underground to above ground."
As Qinghuai spoke, he showed us a photo of a square-faced middle-aged man on his phone: "It is said that Ma Quezi helps Su Gouzi sell his goods to North China. I have already found out his whereabouts and can arrest him at any time. If you two think this is feasible, then I will have someone tie him up and interrogate him to find out Su Gouzi's whereabouts."
Song Laosan stuck his cigarette butt into the trash can: "Xiao Duan, what do you think?"
I pondered for a moment, then shook my head: "It's not advisable to alert them; arresting them directly is too risky."
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