Chapter 53 Three Hands
In front of the main hall of the City God Temple stands a huge iron incense burner, filled with incense offered by devout men and women. Inside the hall, there is an incense table, in front of which is a statue of the City God, and behind it is a "Hundred Children Picture" depicting children with different expressions. It happened to be during the Spring Festival, a time of folk celebration, and the entire City God Temple was bustling with activity, with the sounds of friends calling out to each other filling the air.
The Sihui Tower is an open-air structure, unlike typical pagodas. From each floor, you can see the surrounding scenery. After Zhuang Rui and the others went up to the fifth floor, they looked around and had a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. In the distance, there were shopping malls surrounding the tower and a central square that looked quite large.
On the northwest side of the pagoda is Zhuang Rui's destination, the City God Temple Antique City. Standing on the high ground, the entire antique city has streets in the tower and shops in the streets, with a very clear hierarchy. Because of the distance between them, the crowds in the antique city look like ants, a dark mass.
Looking at the time, it was almost 1:30 pm. He was leaving Hefei around 5 or 6 pm, so he didn't have much time left. Zhuang Rui hurriedly walked down from "Sihui Building" and headed to the antique market next door.
From the ground, the Chenghuang Temple Antique Market doesn't appear very large; it's just a four-story building forming a courtyard. If Zhuang Rui hadn't viewed it from the air, he wouldn't have known that there was more to it than meets the eye. The market's entrance is also inconspicuous. However, when passing through the parking lot at the entrance, Zhuang Rui saw quite a few luxury cars, including several Mercedes-Benz and BMWs, and even a Rolls-Royce Phantom, which is rarely seen in China. This filled Zhuang Rui with anticipation for the Chenghuang Temple Antique Market, which is said to be one of the top ten antique markets in China.
Since it was only a short time after the Lunar New Year, people still had some holidays, so the antique market was packed with people. Like the Pengcheng Antique Market, there were many stalls here, and these stalls were the most lively. In contrast, the regular antique shops with storefronts were deserted, with few tourists.
The reason is actually quite simple: the things at street stalls are cheap, which in the trade is called "hot goods," and there are quite a few good ones among them, it just depends on each person's eye. However, Zhuang Rui knows that those shops have some regular customers and don't care much about these casual shoppers who want to find bargains on Taobao.
During his time in Pengcheng, Zhuang Rui frequented the antique market quite often. He knew that those who often wandered around the antique market were generally of two types. One type was mostly elderly people who came here to cultivate their minds and bodies. If they came across genuine items, they would certainly buy them; if they didn't, they could appreciate their artistic style. These people had high taste and often looked around more than they bought.
Another type of person has the same purpose as Zhuang Rui: to shop online. Of course, Zhuang Rui's main purpose is to replenish some spiritual energy in his eyes. As for shopping online, Zhuang Rui defines it as a byproduct of absorbing spiritual energy.
People who come here to hunt for treasures can be divided into two types: one type buys items because they like them and mostly keep them for collection and enjoyment, rarely reselling them; the other type are industry insiders, like the Mr. Wang whom Zhuang Rui knows, who specializes in buying and selling antiques to make money. In their eyes, all items are for sale, as long as you offer a reasonable price.
Zhuang Rui was pressed for time and didn't have any specific goal. He followed the crowd, moving from stall to stall, only stopping to observe the stalls selling calligraphy and paintings. He just glanced at the other stalls, but he still learned a lot. The variety and quantity of antiques here were obviously more than in Pengcheng Antique Market. However, the dazzling array of small jade items, casually displayed on the stalls, looked much lower in quality.
As Zhuang Rui walked along, he unexpectedly found a lot of comic books, cigarette boxes, matchbox labels, and various tickets and certificates at a street stall. These were all common items in the 1980s, which evoked memories of Zhuang Rui's childhood.
When he casually asked about the price, he was surprised to find that it was not cheap. An early comic book could sell for over a hundred yuan, and a complete set was even more outrageously expensive, ranging from several hundred to several thousand yuan. Zhuang Rui never expected that these things would have survived to this day and become antiques.
“When I was a kid, my family had boxes of these things. They were only a few cents. How can you sell them for such a high price?”
Zhuang Rui squatted on the ground, examining the trinkets on the stall, and muttered something unpleasantly to the stall owner wearing a baseball cap in front of him.
The stall owner, who looked to be in his forties and had a kind, honest appearance, wasn't angry after hearing Zhuang Rui's words. He smiled and said, "Young man, that's not how you put it. Twenty years ago, a few cents could buy a lot of things. Now, you probably can't even find a few cents in bills or coins. Even vegetables aren't sold by the cent at the market anymore. Don't you think so, young man..."
"Brother, you're right. Back then, a cream popsicle only cost one cent, but now you can't even buy one for dozens of times that price. This stuff gets more expensive every year..."
Although he was rebuffed, Zhuang Rui wasn't angry. The street vendor's words were indeed reasonable. Putting aside everything else, in the early 1980s, the term "ten-thousand-yuan household" was synonymous with wealth and the envy of everyone. But if it were today, everyone on the street would be a ten-thousand-yuan household. Even Zhuang Rui a few months ago, if he included all his assets, he would be a twenty-thousand-yuan household. In the early 1980s, a ten-thousand-yuan household was probably at least comparable to a multi-millionaire today.
"Yes, young man, you're right. What are antiques? They're things that have stood the test of time. Anything that has survived to this day is an antique. See that?"
The stall vendor was quite talkative. Pointing to a red tin thermos at his feet, he said, "This thing, in five hundred years, it will be an antique, of course, if it hasn't been broken."
Zhuang Rui found the man's words amusing and burst into laughter. What he said wasn't wrong; hadn't you seen those broken bricks on the ancient city wall of Xi'an? They've all become treasures now. Just as Zhuang Rui was about to make a few jokes with the man, he suddenly heard a commotion ahead. The Chinese people's love of watching a spectacle was on full display at this moment. As soon as Zhuang Rui heard the noise, there were already three or four circles of people gathered in front of him.
Zhuang Rui is only 25 years old this year. Although he is mature and steady, he is also curious. He stood up and was about to squeeze in to take a look when the stall owner stopped him.
"Young man, it's fine if you want to watch the show. Once the market management staff arrive, they'll disperse. You can watch then..."
The street vendor was clearly acting out of kindness, because when Zhuang Rui followed his gaze into the crowd, he was shocked to see someone's hand taking a wallet out of their pants pocket. However, the hand taking out the wallet did not belong to the owner of the pants.
Chapter 54 Understanding the ways of the world is all knowledge
"Thief!"
A word popped into Zhuang Rui's mind, and he instinctively wanted to step forward to stop the thief who was stealing. However, he didn't expect that his arm would be tightly grabbed by the street vendor. Zhuang Rui tried to break free but failed. When he looked at the crowd again, the thief had already disappeared into the crowd.
"Brother, what do you mean by this?"
Zhuang Rui turned around angrily and said that if he hadn't been caught red-handed, he would have caught the thief in the act by now.
"Young man, judging from your accent, you must be from out of town. We get along well. Let me give you a few pieces of advice: when you're out of town, don't cause trouble. These places are full of all sorts of people, and trouble often comes from sticking your neck out."
The street vendor was very good-natured. After pulling Zhuang Rui back, he didn't get angry when he heard what Zhuang Rui said. He still smiled and gestured towards the crowd.
After hearing what the street vendor said, Zhuang Rui also came to his senses. He realized that his actions just now were a bit impulsive. It's not that being a hero is wrong, but with his abilities, even if he caught the thief on the spot, he probably wouldn't be able to convict him, let alone avoid the retaliation that would follow.
Zhuang Rui could see clearly now that there were four or five people in the crowd who were intentionally or unintentionally slipping into the more crowded areas, and their hands were repeatedly touching the pockets of some people. He guessed that these people were accomplices of the thieves. If he had shouted or rushed forward, he probably wouldn't have gotten away with it.
When Zhuang Rui worked at Zhonghai Pawnshop, he often took a car or subway. Over time, he could see some of the people in this line of work. Some of them were lone wolves, but most of them were in groups of three or five. Once someone made a mistake, others would come up to move the stolen goods, stir up trouble, and some would even directly threaten the victim, making them swallow their anger and not dare to report the crime. As a result, even if a kind-hearted person caught the thief and took him to the police station, there was no evidence to prove it, and at most he would be detained for 24 hours before being released.
As the two were talking, a middle-aged man in his forties, slightly overweight, walked over with four or five uniformed security guards. Each guard was carrying a rubber baton. The crowd that had been watching parted to make way, and Zhuang Rui noticed that the few people who had been sneaking around in the crowd had quietly and slowly retreated.
Zhuang Rui couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Indeed, "knowledge of everything is knowledge, and understanding of human relationships is literature." No matter how many books he had read, when it came to social experience and the way to deal with people, he was far inferior to not only the older brother in front of him, but also Liu Chuan.
However, Zhuang Rui still took out his phone and dialed 110, recounting what he had seen. Living with a clear conscience is Zhuang Rui's principle, and this was indeed the duty of the police.
After seeing Zhuang Rui's actions, the street vendor chuckled and patted Zhuang Rui on the shoulder, saying, "Hehe, it's alright now, go on..."
Zhuang Rui nodded gratefully to the stall owner, then followed a few security guards into the crowd. When he looked inside, he was immediately stunned.
The group arguing in the middle of the crowd consisted of four men. Two of them were foreigners with high noses, and another was a young man in a suit with slicked-back hair, who seemed to be the translator for the two foreigners. He was speaking to them in English. The third man was a young man, probably a few years younger than Zhuang Rui. He had a two-meter square piece of oil paper laid out at his feet, on which were some root carvings, but they had been kicked all over the ground. He seemed to be the one who was involved in the argument.
"What's going on here? This is your stall, right? You should explain yourself first."
After the middle-aged man from the market management office entered, he glanced around and understood what was going on. He guessed that the young man had fooled the two foreigners, and then the foreigners brought the translator to cause trouble. This kind of thing had happened several times in the market before.
The middle-aged man immediately felt a bit dislike for the young, parted-hair translator; not everyone these days is a Westernizer.
The young stall owner, who was squatting helplessly tidying up the root carvings that had been kicked all over the ground, stood up after hearing the middle-aged man's words. It seemed the stall owner recognized the middle-aged man, as he called out, "Director Wang..."
Just as he was about to recount what had happened, he was interrupted.
"You're the leader of this market, right? This person is passing off ordinary handicrafts as antiques, deceiving my two American friends. I urge you to handle this seriously and provide us with appropriate compensation. Otherwise, I will sue you for defrauding foreign friends."
The man with the slicked-back hair became annoyed when he saw a leader-looking person arrive but didn't greet him first. He immediately interrupted the stall owner, pointing and gesturing arrogantly.
"That scoundrel!"
"Damn it, I thought this was back in the Eight-Nation Alliance era! Let's beat these bastards up!"
His words also aroused the dissatisfaction of the onlookers, and there was a chorus of jeers. Some hot-blooded young people even started rolling up their sleeves. In people's hearts, these traitors and collaborators were the most hateful.
Director Wang reached out and brushed aside the fingers of the slicked-back hair, and said sternly, "If I haven't asked you anything, please stand back a little. You can answer when I ask you."
The man with the slicked-back hair was furious that Director Wang would be so disrespectful. He was about to confront him when he saw the several burly security guards standing behind Director Wang and heard the accusations from the surrounding crowd. He immediately retreated and began whispering among himself with the two foreigners.
"Director Wang, it's like this. My family has been craftsmen for generations, specializing in carving small items. I've learned a bit of it in my generation. Some of the items on this stall are family heirlooms, and some I carved myself. I set up this stall here to supplement my household income."
When I was setting up my stall at noon, two foreigners came to buy my root carvings. They picked out an old item that had been passed down in my family, and I sold it to them for 500 yuan. That price wasn't too expensive. Even the ordinary root carvings I make myself usually sell for 100 or 200 yuan.
"But I just went out for a meal, and less than an hour later, these two people came with the translator and smashed up my stall. They even accused me of fraud, which is completely unjust! I can't even understand what they're saying; we negotiate prices using gestures. How could I tell them it's an antique? Besides, if it really were an antique, I wouldn't have sold it for only 500 yuan."
The stall owner was clearly aggrieved, having his stall vandalized for no reason. Luckily, the items on his stall weren't porcelain, otherwise he would have suffered a huge loss. However, several root carvings scattered on the ground were missing, presumably pocketed by some people who took advantage of the situation.
At this point, several stall owners who were setting up their stalls nearby also stepped forward to testify that they were all there when the two foreigners came to buy things, and they even joked that he had earned foreign exchange.
After hearing the stall owner's words, the translator's expression changed. He whispered a few more words to the two foreigners, who shook their heads repeatedly, seemingly disagreeing with him. The translator with the parted hair became a little anxious and said a few more words before the two foreigners reluctantly nodded.
In such a noisy environment, it's really hard to hear what people are saying unless you listen carefully. Coincidentally, Zhuang Rui was jostled by someone and is now standing behind those two foreigners, so he can hear their conversation clearly. Keep in mind that Zhuang Rui has passed the English Level 6 exam.
Chapter 055 Two Japs
"Holy crap, how can there still be such amazing people these days? Damn it!"
Zhuang Rui stood behind the two foreigners and heard everything clearly. He couldn't help but curse under his breath.
The slick-haired young man was indeed the translator for the two foreigners. However, he did not accompany them to the City God Temple Antique Market at noon. Later, in the hotel, after seeing the two foreigners buy a root carving of a pot-bellied Maitreya Buddha, he felt that 500 yuan was too expensive. Wanting to show off his abilities in front of the two foreigners, he encouraged them to come and settle the score.
What he just said to the two foreigners was roughly to make them insist that what they wanted to buy was an antique, and that the stall owner had initially also said it was an antique, but later realized they had been cheated and came here to seek compensation. The two foreigners did not agree, as they had bought the craft because they liked it and did not feel cheated. It was only when the translator told them to handle everything that the foreigners agreed.
Hearing this, Zhuang Rui finally understood what was going on. It turned out that this traitorous translator was bullying his own compatriots in order to curry favor with two foreigners. This left Zhuang Rui speechless. In this day and age, there are still such despicable traitors who actually take pride in helping foreigners bully their own compatriots.
Liu Chuan's grandfather didn't pass away until 1990. He was an old revolutionary and a veteran who had participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan. He still had several gunshot wounds on his body. When Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan were young, he often told the two troublemakers stories about the war years and talked about the traitors who surrendered to the Japanese. In addition, Zhuang Rui and Liu Chuan had watched the movie "Little Soldier Zhang Gana" countless times when they were young and were deeply impressed by the fat translator in it. Therefore, the two of them hated traitors to the bone since they were young. If Liu Chuan were here now, he would probably have punched him already.
At this point, Director Wang from the management office also found out the reason, and the stall owner indeed had no responsibility.
In any place, buying and selling is a voluntary transaction between the two parties. However, the antique market is more special because the items there may be worth a fortune or be worthless. Therefore, whether you can buy something of value depends entirely on your experience and judgment. Furthermore, the stall owner did not claim that his items were necessarily antiques, so there was no fraud involved. Clearly, the fault in this matter lies entirely with the two foreigners.
After hearing the stall owner's words, the onlookers all looked at the man with the short, domestically-styled hair with disdain. Director Wang also had a hint of anger on his face. He himself was a person who loved traditional culture, and such people often had a good understanding of modern Chinese history. Therefore, they did not have much goodwill towards foreigners. After seeing the performance of this yellow-skinned, white-hearted traitor, the scales in his heart naturally tipped in favor of the stall owner.
Director Wang turned around and said to the translator with the short hair, "Take these two with us to the management office and explain things clearly. If you have slandered our market practitioners, then we will hold you accountable."
Seeing that the situation was getting out of his control, the young translator, whose name was Xiahou, became anxious. He was just a junior translator at a foreign trade company in Hefei. The reason he was chosen to accompany the guests from the United States who came to Hefei to inspect cooperation projects was because his sister had a flirtatious relationship with the company's vice president and had whispered in his ear beforehand. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him, who only knew English and knew nothing about business, to be chosen.
Therefore, Xiahou had been trying to curry favor with the two foreigners for the past few days, often scolding the hotel staff for their poor service. His intention was nothing more than to get the foreigners to say a few good words for him in front of the company boss. Another intention was to build a good relationship with them, which would be helpful for his future trips abroad. In fact, his behavior was seen as extremely impolite by the two American guests.
The young translator was starting to feel nervous, but he wasn't about to lose face in front of the foreigners, so he said loudly, "Fine, let's go. We're a country of etiquette, and we can't leave a bad impression on our foreign friends."
In his heart, he was actually thinking about whether he should go to the management office later and say some nice words to make the big problem small and the small problem disappear.
"Pack up your stall first. When you come to the management office later, Xiao Zhao, go and call Deputy Director Li and tell him to come to the market now. He speaks good English, so let him talk to these two foreigners directly."
After giving instructions to the stall owner, Director Wang then spoke to a security guard behind him. He also knew a little basic English and had overheard that the two foreigners didn't seem to agree with the translator. So he wanted to find a translator to figure out what was going on in this matter.
"Director Wang, Deputy Director Li said when he asked for leave yesterday that he was going to the wildlife park with his mother-in-law today, so I'm afraid he won't be able to get here anytime soon."
The security guard looked troubled after hearing what Director Wang said.
"Oh, right, how could I forget about that? Let's go, let's go to the management office first. Everyone disperse, disperse, what kind of mess is this..."
Director Wang frowned, told the onlookers to disperse, and prepared to take these people to the management office.
"Wait, Director Wang, right? My surname is Zhuang. I know a little English and have no problem with conversations. If it's alright, how about I help translate?"
Upon hearing their words, Zhuang Rui stepped forward and volunteered.
"you?"
Director Wang hesitated for a moment, looked Zhuang Rui up and down, and saw that the young man was dressed in ordinary clothes, but had a heroic air about him and spoke with a non-local accent. He didn't seem to be one of those people, so he nodded and said, "Then I'll trouble you. Please come with us to the management office."
After the group arrived at the management office, a security guard picked up a pen and paper and said to the translator, "Tell us what happened again. We will give these records to the market police station."
Xiahou was filled with deep regret. He had gotten used to throwing his weight around at the hotel these past few days, relying on the two foreigners, and thought everyone would give them some leeway. He never expected that these people in front of him would completely ignore him and act like it was all business.
However, this traitorous translator didn't even use his brain. Hotels are in the service industry, and they value harmony and making money. The waiters and waitresses there are all professionally trained, and they generally won't talk back to guests unless they physically assault them.
"Director Wang, may I speak with these two foreign friends for a few minutes first?"
Just as Xiahou the translator's face turned pale and uncertain, Zhuang Rui spoke up.
"Alright, you should ask them what happened first. Tell them that if it's our responsibility, we will deal with it seriously, but we also need to make them abide by our country's laws and regulations and not think that just because they are foreigners, they are superior."
Director Wang nodded and gave Zhuang Rui a few instructions.
Chapter 56 Asking for Trouble