Chapter 2: Kid, You Set Me Up?
"What? *Four Zhou*?"
Hearing Zheng Dagang's words, the middle-aged man looked down at the receipt in disbelief. Sure enough, it clearly read:
"Craft item. Era: Four Zhou."
"You brat... you tricked me!"
The man's face darkened. Looking more closely at the receipt, he noticed a faint horizontal stroke above the character *四* ("four"). Combined with the way the middle strokes of the character had been written slightly longer than normal, it could easily be mistaken for *西* ("Western"). At first glance, it looked exactly like *西周*—the **Western Zhou Dynasty**.
"Brother, that's where you're in the wrong."
Now that he had the upper hand, Zheng Dagang no longer spoke politely. Raising his voice, he said,
"Our business depends on one thing—your eyesight. You failed to spot it when you bought it, and now you're coming back to settle the score afterward. That's against the rules. If you keep making trouble, it won't end well for you."
"Brother Gang, Xiaofan, what's going on?"
The sight of four or five burly men surrounding Su Xiaofan's stall had already attracted the attention of nearby vendors. As soon as Zheng Dagang raised his voice, several more people hurried over.
This kind of thing wasn't unusual in the antique market. Buyers often returned after realizing they'd purchased a fake, hoping to get their money back. Whenever that happened, the other vendors naturally stood together.
In the blink of an eye, the four or five men found themselves surrounded instead.
"...Fine. I admit defeat."
The middle-aged man glanced around before saying,
"I misjudged it. That's on me, not anyone else. Today's incident is my fault. Everyone, just pretend I was never here."
With a wave of his hand, he led his companions out through the crowd.
Seeing that the matter had been settled peacefully, no one stopped them. Soon the group disappeared into the bustling sea of people filling Antique Street.
"Thanks, everyone."
Only after they left did Su Xiaofan finally breathe a sigh of relief. He cupped his fists toward the surrounding vendors in gratitude.
"It's nothing."
"If you can't tell real from fake, you've got no right coming back afterward."
"Exactly. Xiaofan, if anything like this happens again, just shout. We'll be here immediately."
The crowd laughed and chatted for a moment before gradually dispersing. After all, everyone still had their own stalls to watch. Their goods might not be expensive, but having something stolen would still be a headache.
---
After everyone left, Zheng Dagang pulled Su Xiaofan aside.
"Xiaofan... to be honest, you were the one who broke the rules this time."
"You can sell a bronze item for a thousand yuan or so and nobody would complain. But eight thousand? You skinned him alive. It's no wonder they came back looking for trouble."
Most transactions in the antique market—especially at the street stalls—involved inexpensive trinkets. Selling three or five hundred yuan's worth in a day was already considered decent business.
Yet Su Xiaofan had sold a fake for eight thousand yuan.
Sometimes that was more than another stall earned in an entire month.
As the saying in the trade went...
**He'd sheared that sheep a little too thoroughly.**
Besides, Zheng Dagang had seen clearly what happened.
When Su Xiaofan wrote the receipt, he'd deliberately left a faint horizontal mark above the character *四*. Although the mark was light, anyone examining it carefully could still tell it had been altered.
That was why Zheng Dagang said he'd crossed the line.
---
"Brother Gang, that piece wasn't easy to make."
Su Xiaofan smiled bitterly.
"I only charged eight thousand because it was worth the work."
"I copied an ancient bronze *Daisheng* ornament. It's a composite artifact that's extremely rare nowadays. At first, I thought he was an expert who understood how difficult it was to make one."
"Who would've thought... he actually believed it was a genuine antique?"
"Daisheng?"
Zheng Dagang blinked.
"What's that?"
"It's an ancient woman's hair ornament."
"I only learned about it from one of my grandfather's bronze rubbings."
Su Xiaofan began explaining.
---
A *Daisheng (戴胜)* consisted of three parts:
* two decorative side pieces,
* and a connecting rod.
Its overall shape resembled a modern barbell.
The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* records:
> "The Queen Mother of the West leaned upon her staff and wore a Daisheng."
Han Dynasty stone carvings from the Wu Family Shrine in Jiaxiang, Shandong, also depict an ornament labeled *'Jade Sheng'*, consisting of two symmetrical pieces connected by a rod, with a circular hole in the center so it could pass through the hair.
The Queen Mother of the West herself is shown wearing such an ornament.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the Queen Mother of the West became highly revered by the ruling class.
As a result, the ornament she wore became fashionable, and people began producing Daisheng ornaments in many different styles.
There were bronze Daishengs, amber Daishengs, jade Daishengs, and many other varieties.
Besides their symbolic meaning, they were also practical to wear.
However, as fashions changed throughout later dynasties, simpler hairpins gradually replaced the more complicated Daisheng.
Because it consisted of multiple pieces, archaeological discoveries were often incomplete.
As a result, even many archaeologists and cultural relic experts today no longer recognize what a Daisheng actually is.
---
"It took me an entire month to make that piece."
Su Xiaofan sighed.
"Tell me honestly, Brother Gang... is eight thousand really too much?"
"When you put it that way..."
Zheng Dagang nodded.
"...it really isn't expensive."
Then he glanced toward the direction the men had disappeared.
"But Xiaofan... those guys don't look like ordinary people."
"Don't take your stall home today. I'll find somewhere safe to store everything."
"And when you go home tonight, be careful."
"Don't let them follow you."
---
The antique market was filled with every sort of person.
Zheng Dagang knew that many antique dealers who came to Luochuan weren't exactly law-abiding citizens.
Especially the tomb raiders—known in the trade as "earth rats"—who made their living robbing ancient graves.
Many of them had blood on their hands.
Su Xiaofan could sense the dangerous aura around those men.
Zheng Dagang could see it too.
There was a very good chance they were professional tomb robbers.
"I understand."
"I'll be careful."
Su Xiaofan smiled helplessly.
He had been running a stall in the antique market for two years.
Most of what he sold were finely crafted bronze replicas.
This was the only artificially aged piece he'd ever sold.
And trouble immediately followed.
His grandfather had often warned him:
*People aren't meant to make windfall profits.*
---
But Su Xiaofan hadn't really had much choice.
His mother died when he was seven.
His father had refused to inherit the family's bronze-casting craft.
After arguing with his grandfather, he'd run away and become a sailor.
During the following decade, Su Xiaofan and his younger sister rarely saw their father.
Although their grandfather passed away when Su Xiaofan was in his first year of high school, their father had eventually become captain of an ocean-going cargo ship.
His income was good enough to cover their living expenses.
---
Unfortunately, Su Xiaofan's luck wasn't very good.
During his final year of high school, he was hit by a car while jaywalking.
He suffered multiple fractures and spent nearly six months recovering.
As a result, he missed the college entrance examination.
With his grades, repeating a year would have easily gotten him into university.
But that same year, for unknown reasons, his father never came home.
The accident had already consumed all the savings his father had left behind.
His younger sister was also entering high school.
Instead of repeating the year, Su Xiaofan rented a small house near her school and began making a living selling handcrafted bronze items at the antique market, relying on the skills his grandfather had taught him.
---
He had a youthful face.
He was eloquent.
His English was excellent.
Business was surprisingly good.
Simply by selling to foreign tourists, he could earn several thousand yuan in profit every month.
When his father finally returned the following year and urged him to go back to school, Su Xiaofan refused.
Growing up with only his grandfather and sister had made him just as stubborn as his father.
Once he made up his mind, nobody could change it.
---
If life had continued peacefully, another few years would probably have allowed him to rent a permanent stall inside the antique city.
He might never become rich.
But he'd certainly never have to worry about making a living.
Unfortunately...
Life always brings unexpected twists.
His younger sister, Su Xiaoxiao, now in her final year of high school, came home one day with astonishing news.
A newly established *national-level research institute in Beijing* had visited her school for a special recruitment examination.
Against all expectations...
She had passed.
---
According to Su Xiaoxiao, students admitted there would begin directly as master's-level researchers.
They would work alongside nationally renowned professors on scientific research projects.
After graduation, they could even remain at the institute as researchers.
The only problem...
The tuition was extraordinarily expensive.
*100,000 yuan per year.*
---
At first, Su Xiaofan assumed it was a scam.
After all, research institutes weren't universities.
They recruited employees, not students.
Nor did they have the authority to issue academic degrees.
Besides...
No university in China charged tuition anywhere near that amount.
Even China's most prestigious universities charged only around ten thousand yuan annually.
Yet this institute demanded ten times that.
---
Having spent years among swindlers and con artists in the antique market, Su Xiaofan naturally didn't believe it.
Acting as her guardian, he personally went to the school to investigate.
To his surprise...
Everything was genuine.
The institute was affiliated with Peking University.
It recruited students through a special admissions program.
Those admitted didn't even need to take the national college entrance examination.
Instead, they would report directly to Peking University during the summer.
Still unconvinced, Su Xiaofan phoned Peking University's admissions office.
Only then did he learn that the institute had indeed opened that year.
Its research topics were confidential.
Although administratively attached to Peking University, it was actually under the National Academy of Natural Sciences.
Even the tuition standards had been set by that academy.
Peking University had no authority over them.
The admissions office also confirmed that many parents had already called to verify the program.
---
Once he knew it was real, Su Xiaofan was overjoyed.
Although his sister was an excellent student, she probably wouldn't have been admitted to one of China's top universities through the regular examination.
Now she had an opportunity to study there.
Even if he had to sell everything he owned, he intended to support her.
So he carefully counted all his savings.
The result left him speechless.
Over the past two years, he had earned a fair amount from his stall.
But after paying rent, daily living expenses, and supporting his sister...
He had only a little over *20,000 yuan* left.
Even adding the *50,000 yuan* his father had given them during last Spring Festival...
He still had *less than 80,000 yuan*.
He was still short by more than *20,000 yuan*.
---
His sister was due to leave for Beijing in just over a month.
His father was somewhere out on the vast ocean, completely unreachable.
Running out of options, Su Xiaofan became desperate.
That was why...
When the middle-aged man had subtly asked whether he possessed any genuine old artifacts...
Su Xiaofan finally decided to sell the artificially aged bronze *Daisheng* he had made.
(End of Chapter)
Comments
Post a Comment