Inside the No. 1 politician's hot spring villa, a middle-aged man appeared on the second floor and timely averted a conflict that was about to erupt.
I looked at the man, who was over forty years old and wearing a Zhongshan suit, and asked Qinghuai beside me, "Is this the Uncle Gen they were talking about?"
"It shouldn't be. I heard that Uncle Gen is not from the mainland and is quite old. It is said that he came from Taiwan Province. His ancestors were high-ranking officers of the Kuomintang. When the mainland was in retreat, his elders took a lot of national treasures and fled to Taiwan. Uncle Gen also did business with his family connections and did a good job. He even opened a branch factory on the mainland."
Seeing that the scarred man had let us through, Qinghuai walked with me toward the stairwell, and continued, "It is said that when Uncle Gen was young, he found a mistress on the mainland. Later, his mistress took him to Macau for a trip, and he became addicted to gambling. In just six months, he lost almost all of his family's wealth. In order to keep the family business running, he began to sell the antiques passed down from his ancestors, but the more he gambled, the bigger the hole became, and he could not fill it!"
It is said that after he went bankrupt, he disappeared for a period of time. When he reappeared, he had transformed into a major antique dealer, specializing in buying antiques from Taiwan that had been taken to the mainland by remnants of the Kuomintang. As the supply of antiques became increasingly scarce, he turned to counterfeiting! It is said that his counterfeiting team was brought from Taiwan, and his largest counterfeiting operation is currently located in Hubei province.
While Qinghuai and I were chatting, everyone had already gone up to the second floor and entered the meeting room.
At this moment, there were two items on the long table in the room, both covered with red silk.
Three people were sitting at the table. The one in the lead was an old man with a white beard who looked to be around seventy years old. The two middle-aged men on either side of him had crew cuts and looked very capable.
Behind these three men stood seven or eight burly young men, clearly skilled in martial arts.
Su Jialiang was a man who had seen a lot of big events, and he was not afraid of this kind of scene. He sat down opposite the three of us, including me and Qinghuai, and said: "Uncle Gen, I've been a bit busy with business these past few days. I apologize for neglecting you."
“Ah Liang, we’re all from the same world, so there’s no need for formalities. I’m not here to reminisce with you.”
Uncle Gen retorted curtly to Su Jialiang, "I'm here to discuss business with you. Since we have no connection, let's not try to build a relationship."
"Alright."
Su Jialiang leaned back in his chair, relaxing his posture: "Since Uncle Gen wants to talk, then let's draw up a line."
The middle-aged man next to Uncle Gen cleared his throat: "Cola boy, offer incense."
As soon as he finished speaking, three young men came out from behind. Two of them unfolded Fan Li's portrait and hung it on the wall, while the other placed an incense burner on it.
Upon seeing the portrait of our patriarch, all of us present spontaneously stood up.
People in the antique and collectible trade worship Fan Li, much like people in the martial arts world worship Guan Yu. It's a kind of spiritual belief, and it also represents that everyone will adhere to their bottom line.
Of course, this is just a public image project. How can the unfathomable human heart be confined by a portrait?
After the incense burner was set up, Su Jialiang and Uncle Gen stepped forward at the same time and each put three incense sticks inside. The rest of us waited for them to return and sit down before we sat down together.
The other side made the first move. The middle-aged man to Uncle Gen's left pushed three teacups in front of him and filled them with tea in one go.
Tea ceremony!
Tea formation is a kind of secret language in the martial arts world. It originated in the Ming Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the Heaven and Earth Society, which was determined to "overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming", used it as a secret language to promote it and made it extremely popular. It was also called Hongmen Tea Formation.
In a typical duel, each side needs to prepare two items to attack each other, but in reality, only three rounds are needed. If one side can win two rounds, it is the final winner. The extra items prepared are to prevent a draw.
These three teacups placed side by side are called a "fighting formation," signifying that the opponent has already made their move.
If we accept the challenge, we need to drink all three cups of tea from the other side.
If you don't dare to accept the challenge, take the middle cup and drink it alone. This means you have to give in and agree to one of the other party's conditions.
The Qing family used to work as laborers, relying on real fighting and killing, so they naturally didn't understand these kinds of rules.
Su Jialiang is in the main position, so he is unlikely to play in the first game.
So after a moment's thought, I picked up the three cups of tea and drank them all in one gulp.
The middle-aged man frowned slightly when he saw me placing three teacups upside down in front of me in an insulting manner. He then stood up and unveiled a red silk ribbon: "Please!"
Beneath the red silk was a sandalwood box containing nine copper coins neatly arranged.
All of them are Daquan Wuqian!
This copper coin is a Wu Kingdom coin from the Three Kingdoms period. It is a large coin minted by Sun Quan from the first to the ninth year of the Chiwu era. Very few of them have survived to the present day. It was once rated as one of the "Fifty Famous Treasures" of ancient Chinese coins. One of them was offered at the China Guardian Autumn Auction in 2011, with an estimated price of 200,000 to 350,000 yuan. If I remember correctly, that coin did not sell successfully.
These nine coins are uniform in shape, with slight differences in damage and condition. At least at first glance, no signs of forgery can be found.
Since the opponent is here to engage in a verbal duel, there must be some flaws in this round. In other words, among these nine copper coins, there are definitely counterfeit ones. As for how many counterfeit coins there are, I can only rely on my own observation.
There are three basic ways to identify ancient coins: look at the rust color, listen to the sound, and smell the odor.
At first glance, all nine coins appeared to be either "date-skin red" or "chestnut shell" rust colors. As I was certain that some of them were counterfeit, I did not detect any problems with the naked eye.
Immediately, I reached out and pulled the wooden box in front of me, then lowered my head and began to sniff it.
This method of identification may seem rudimentary, but it is actually quite difficult to distinguish fakes by smell, especially for small bronze artifacts, because less reagent is used and the smell is less noticeable.
It is said that some top appraisers abstain from smoking and drinking for years in order to keep their sense of smell sharp, and they even eat only boiled food without any meat.
Aside from a faint sandalwood scent, the box didn't have a pungent medicinal smell, indicating that the counterfeit money inside had been made for some time. The fact that the seller used a sandalwood box to package it was likely to suppress any remaining odor.
After raising my head, I took the nine copper coins in my hand one by one, and picked one up to examine it closely.
Although I appeared to be observing the one in my left hand, all my skill was actually in my right hand.
While I was pretending to examine the copper coins, I was using all my strength in my right hand to clench the coins in my hand, just to make them rub against each other.
Counterfeit rust is not only dull in color, but also superficial and easily peels off, unable to withstand such friction.
After about thirty seconds, I felt my knuckles hurting from gripping so tightly, so I loosened my grip and pretended to switch to another one.
But when my gaze fell on my palm, I broke out in a cold sweat.
It was spotless, without a trace of even a crumb.
The counterfeit goods mixed in by the other side are top-quality products in the industry. It seems that Uncle Gen and his group have made thorough preparations in order to protect their territory.
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