Chapter 65

He rubbed his eyes vigorously, and with his right hand trembling, Zhao Zanggui reluctantly brought the magnifying glass back to his eyes.

Upon this look, a look of despair appeared in his eyes. Indeed, from the center of the earring, seven or eight cracks had spread out.

Although these cracks were concealed by the green of the jade, a careful observation would reveal the anomaly, even to someone who knew nothing about jade. How much more so for someone like Zhao Zanggui, who had played with jade for half his life?

"Cracks? Old Zhao, that can't be possible, right?"

Zhao Zanggui's cry also made Nie Tianbao's face change abruptly. He snatched the magnifying glass from Zhao Zanggui's hand and began to examine another earring.

"Old... Old Zhao, could this... could this thing have been switched?"

Things from the same batch naturally wouldn't favor one over the other. Not only this pair of earrings, but even the Maitreya Buddha pendant had problems. The ice cracks on it were clearly visible even without a magnifying glass.

"Boss, this thing was in your hands, I only saw it today..."

Zhao Zanggui immediately tried to shift the responsibility. After all, these items had only been in the antique shop's safe for over an hour, and he couldn't have faked them that quickly.

"That's not right, this is exactly what we received!"

Holding the earring and examining it for a while, Zhao Zanggui saw the mark he had left on the secret silver. His face turned ashen, and he felt a sweetness in his throat, with a stream of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

But Zhao Zanggui was completely unaware, muttering, "Boss, we've been duped. The kid brought us a fake!"

In the antique and jade business in Shishi, Zhao Zanggui was a well-known figure, otherwise, he wouldn't have been hired by Nie Tianbao with a high salary.

But after a lifetime of playing with jade, he was humiliated by a young man in his old age. His internal organs churned, and his body went limp, falling to the ground.

"Hey, Old Zhao, everyone has their off days, you... don't be so angry."

Ge Jun was a kind person. Seeing Zhao Zanggui's state, he quickly helped him to a chair and sighed, "I've long heard that before liberation, someone could turn stones into gold, making high-quality fake jade. I thought it was just a legend, but I didn't expect it to be true..."

"Old Ge... no, Teacher Ge, what... what's going on here, please tell us quickly!"

Standing dumbfounded to the side, Nie Tianbao grabbed Ge Jun's arm and said, "How can jade be faked? That's impossible!"

"I used to think it was impossible too, but now that the thing is right here, what's impossible?"

Ge Jun shook his head and said, "Before liberation, someone invented a method. They would place low-quality jade in water at a certain temperature, then add some chemical ingredients to wash away the impurities, improving its quality. I only heard about it from others, but I didn't expect the method to still exist!"

Before liberation, Ge Jun had lived in the capital for a while with his father and had heard this story. However, he had rarely dealt with jade since then and had long forgotten about it. Now, seeing the real thing, he recalled it.

"Could it be that young man?"

Looking at the jade in front of him, a strange thought suddenly popped into Ge Jun's mind, but he quickly dismissed it. This kind of work couldn't have been done by someone of that age.

"You... you mean this thing is made from cheap jade?"

Nie Tianbao's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Ge Jun. It felt like a fire was burning in his insides. Nie Tianbao wasn't worried about the money, but he couldn't afford to lose face in front of everyone.

Moreover, if the news of buying fake goods spread, whether inside or outside the industry, Nie Tianbao would surely be laughed at as a fool. How could he have any face left in the business world?

"That's right, and it seems to have been rushed..."

Ge Jun picked up the Maitreya Buddha pendant and examined it for a while before explaining, "I've heard that this kind of fake jade can't be detected for a year or two, but if it was fine a few days ago and has changed now, there must have been a problem with the process."

Ge Jun had some genuine expertise. He almost immediately saw through the essence of the matter, and his explanation was spot on.

According to the method left by Zai Shi, the "jade" produced would maintain its quality and structure for a long time before gradually changing color, but it wouldn't crack so severely.

However, Qin Feng used high-temperature steaming for both removing impurities and dyeing, which greatly shortened the time but also severely damaged the internal structure of the jade.

Qin Feng himself had estimated that this thing could only last three to five days, which was why he appeared on Hongqi Street as soon as he finished making the "jade."

"Old Nie, you didn't make this thing yourself, did you?"

Suddenly, a sarcastic voice rang out from the crowd. "According to your claim, this thing is worth a few million. If you really sold it, that would be fraud!"

There were people in Shishi who didn't like Nie Tianbao's actions. The speaker was Wang Qifu, whose family was in the gold and silver jewelry business. He had originally planned to deal in jade but was blocked by Nie Tianbao, thus creating a grudge between them.

Wang Qifu's words were quite venomous. Many people in the room were planning to bid, and his words made their faces turn unpleasant.

These first-generation rich people after the reform and opening up might not care about money, but they cared a lot about their reputation and were most afraid of being cheated, which would make them seem too foolish.

Nie Tianbao's current behavior and his not-so-good reputation raised suspicions of deception, so even the face of Li Boss from Tianhong Group turned grim.

"Boss Nie, you didn't invite us here just to bid on this worthless stone, did you?" Wang Qifu felt a great sense of satisfaction seeing Nie Tianbao in such a predicament.

"You... you Wang, stop spouting nonsense!"

Nie Tianbao's face was as red as a pig's liver, his veins bulging, and he gritted his teeth, "I sincerely apologize to everyone. I've been duped by a scoundrel today, but I didn't mean to deceive anyone..."

Nie Tianbao's heart was bleeding. He not only hated himself for not seeing through the "Mazi Bian" scam and being cheated out of 200,000 yuan.

He also hated himself for not checking the jade more carefully before taking it out. If he had noticed the flaw, he wouldn't have lost so much face in front of the top merchants in Shishi.

What hurt Nie Tianbao the most was that he would become a laughingstock in the jade market in Shishi in the future.

After such a big embarrassment, who would dare to buy jade from his shop? Even if we set aside the low-end market, the people in the room who could afford top-quality jade would certainly not spend a penny at "Yushizhai."

"Alright, we've known Old Nie for a long time. He shouldn't be here to deceive us. Let's just let it go."

Li Boss from Tianhong Group had a good relationship with Nie Tianbao. Seeing him in such a difficult situation, he couldn't help but smooth things over. They would still be doing business in Shishi, and it wasn't necessary to make things so tense.

Changing the subject, Li Boss asked, "Old Nie, you've been in business for a long time. Who could have duped you?"

As soon as Li Boss asked this, the room fell silent. Everyone knew that Nie Tianbao was cunning, and it wasn't easy to deceive him.

"It... it was a young man."

Nie Tianbao's heart felt like it was being squeezed, and he couldn't express his pain. Thinking back to the events of the day before yesterday, he had to admit that he had been like a puppet, manipulated step by step into the trap.

"Boss, we... we were all wrong!"

Zhao Zanggui, slumped in his chair, suddenly laughed bitterly and said, "The young man said his name was Mazi Bian. 'Bian' sounds like 'bian' (flat), and 'Mazi Bian' means 'cheat.' He... he clearly told us he was a cheat!"

"What? That... that kid is too much!"

Nie Tianbao, who had just calmed down a bit, felt like he had been hit by a heavy hammer. He spat out a mouthful of blood!

---

PS: I'm spitting blood to ask for three-river votes. Friends, please go to the three-river page and vote for Baojian. Thank you all!

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