roccoschili Chapter 39: 7 Days
Chapter 39: 7 Days
After leaving the noodle shop, Cheng Xiaojin rode his bicycle directly to Master Ma's house.
When I arrived at the courtyard house, I called Tieguai Li.
"Old Li, come to Master Ma's house within half an hour, it's urgent."
How urgent?
"It's as urgent as it gets!"
Tieguai Li didn't ask any more questions and hung up.
Twenty-five minutes later, the three of them sat down at the stone table in Master Ma's courtyard.
Master Ma held up his enamel teacup, the sound of scraping tea foam from the lid ringing out more frequently than usual.
Cheng Xiaojin recounted the entire conversation in the noodle shop verbatim, without changing or adding a single word.
Tieguai Li was the first to speak after listening.
"Damn it, he figured out my rust-making skills?"
He said there was a small area with an overly uniform grain texture, and he suspected it had been artificially treated.
Tieguai Li's expression was not good.
"When I was making the rust, I used old clay from Baiyun Temple. I applied it in three batches, and even turned it over in the middle. Even so, he still managed to spot it."
"Old Li, it's not your fault. Your skills have fooled both the acid test and the magnifying glass. The fact that Glasses King could detect something was wrong with a small part shows that he really has real skills."
Master Ma put down the lid of the teacup and inserted it.
"Stop worrying about the rust. The problem now isn't whether the rust is good or bad, but whether the 'glasses king' will pass the full re-examination in Penang in seven days."
"I heard it when I was inspecting fakes at Tieguai Li's place. The sound of a fake is dull, short and muffled, without any resonance. It's not on the same level as the inner resonance of a genuine piece. Any qualified ironware appraiser can tell just by tapping it."
"This guy with glasses, just tap him and you'll know if he's real or fake."
Tieguai Li cursed, "So that means Boss Lin will find out he bought a fake in seven days?"
"right."
The stone table fell silent.
Master Ma picked up the teacup, took a sip, and put it down.
"Tell me your thoughts, one by one."
Tieguai Li spoke first.
"The first solution is to stop King Glasses from going to Penang and prevent him from doing so."
"How do we stop him? Break his legs?"
Master Ma glanced at him.
Tieguai Li scratched the back of his head.
"I'm just giving an example."
"Even if breaking his leg is something we can't do, what happens after we do it? Boss Lin will just find another appraiser. Penang has no shortage of people who know about ironware. If you break one, there will be another. Besides, messing with Glasses King is like telling everyone that you have a guilty conscience."
"Then this road is blocked."
Cheng Xiaojin took over the conversation.
"The second option is to strike first. I'll take the initiative to confess to Boss Lin, return the money, and admit defeat."
Master Ma stopped lifting the lid of his teacup.
"Can you afford to back out? Let's not even talk about how you've already given away most of it."
"Even if you manage to collect the money, is a refund all you need?"
Master Ma looked at him.
"You sold counterfeit goods to smugglers, bypassing the middleman and trading directly. Do you think Boss Lin would accept the money and shake hands with you?"
"He has been doing business in Southeast Asia for over 20 years. It's a small matter that you cheated him out of 800,000. The real issue is that you made him lose face in his own circle. Returning the money won't solve the problem of his face."
Tieguai Li patted his knee.
"That means this path is also blocked; refunding the money is tantamount to suicide."
"There's a third point."
Master Ma placed the teacup on the stone table and crossed his hands on his knees.
"Make King of Glasses one of our own."
Tieguai Li was stunned for a moment.
"What do you mean? Trying to bribe him?"
"You can't bribe him. You can't move someone like King of Glasses with money. He just told Cheng Xiaojin that his condition isn't money, but seeing real stuff."
Cheng Xiaojin took over.
"He said he would let him examine a real ancient iron artifact or talisman, and the complete authentication process included tapping it."
Tieguai Li frowned.
"Then just show it to him. Why not just take one out of Master Ma's secret compartment and show it to him?"
"Have you finished watching?"
Master Ma countered with a question.
"He saw the real thing and knew you had good stuff, so what? When he went to Penang to check for counterfeits, was he telling the truth or lying? Why should you let him lie for you?"
Tieguai Li was stumped by the question.
Cheng Xiaojin was also stumped by the question.
"Old Li, I've thought about the plan you just mentioned."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned against the stone bench, took the cigarette from behind his ear, and tapped it twice.
"We showed the Glasses King the real stuff so he would get a taste of the benefits, and then we would get him to cooperate in Penang, where we would deliberately let him off easy during the inspection."
"It won't work?"
"It won't work. For someone like King of Glasses, his lifeblood is his professional judgment. He's built his reputation on his words and his hands over fifteen years. Asking him to go easy on him is like asking him to cripple himself. He'd rather not earn those $50,000 than do something like that."
Tieguai Li tossed his prosthetic leg aside, sat on the steps, and rested his chin on one hand.
"So all three roads are completely blocked?"
The courtyard was quiet for almost a minute.
The thrush hopped around in its cage twice and chirped once.
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the tea stains under the enamel mug on the stone table for a long time, pondering the three paths in his mind over and over again, but they were all dead ends.
Master Ma reached out and lifted a corner of the cloth curtain on the birdcage, then lowered it again.
"There are not three paths."
His voice was low, but each word was clear and steady.
"There are four."
Cheng Xiaojin and Tieguai Li both looked at him.
"The three paths you just mentioned have a common problem: they all involve counterfeit goods. They either prevent customers from verifying the authenticity of the goods, offer refunds, or ask people to turn a blind eye. But you've forgotten one thing: you don't just have counterfeit goods; you also have genuine goods."
"How so?"
"Genuine Zhenhai Iron".
Master Ma picked up the lid of the teacup and scratched it against the rim, making a crisp sound.
"You can't make King of Glasses lie for you, but you can make him speak for you."
Cheng Xiaojin narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"After he finished the test, he was told not to say it was fake, nor to say it was true. He gave Boss Lin a vague conclusion, leaving it in doubt, putting it aside, and not making a final judgment."
"On what grounds?"
"Based on his judgment after seeing the genuine article."
Master Ma put down his teacup and looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
"Take out the genuine Zhenhai Iron from the hidden compartment and have the Glasses King conduct a complete appraisal, including tapping it."
Tieguai Li opened his mouth.
"Mr. Ma, are you crazy? That's a genuine artifact, you're showing it to a stranger?"
"People like King of Glasses are appraisers at heart. They look at things to make judgments, not to buy or sell."
Master Ma turned to Cheng Xiaojin.
"After he hears the dragon's roar of the genuine artifact, he will understand one thing: the thing in your hand is a true national treasure-level talisman, the Water-Locking and Pulse-Suppressing Iron from the 22nd year of Yongle, one of 135 pieces. Once such a thing leaves the country, it will never come back."
"and then?"
"Then you ask him a question."
Master Ma slowed down his speech, uttering each word carefully.
"Would a conscientious appraiser personally help deliver national treasures to overseas smugglers?"
Cheng Xiaojin's finger stopped on the cigarette, but he didn't tap it.
"Are you betting on his conscience?"
"I'm betting on the rules of the game."
Master Ma's gaze was deep and somber.
"The oldest rule in this industry is that national treasures don't go out."