Zhuang Rui wasn't just being polite. He had a good day and made so many friends in Zhengzhou's antique world. He really didn't want the money. Besides, you really couldn't get him to make an appearance for three or five yuan these days.
"Teacher Zhuang, you absolutely must keep this. Otherwise, if word gets out, people will say we don't know the rules..."
For Zhang Li, getting to know Zhuang Rui was definitely something to celebrate. Spending a little money to maintain the relationship would make it easier to ask Zhuang Rui for help in the future. This is what they mean by "burning incense in ordinary times so that you can pray to Buddha when you need it." You should know that in order to increase its reputation and status among collectors, the antique market often invites well-known experts to conduct free on-site appraisals. Of course, the experts' fees are paid by the organizer, and the money goes into their own pockets every time an appraisal certificate is issued.
However, nowadays, not only is the antique market chaotic and in need of cracking down on fakes, but even the experts who appraise antiques vary greatly in quality.
Some people get a certificate from who-knows-where and then use it to swindle people. Zhang Li has also suffered from this before, so spending 30,000 to 50,000 yuan to get to know a nationally renowned appraisal expert like Zhuang Rui is really nothing.
"Hey, I'm telling you, don't give it to me! Why are you passing it around like that? Are you even leaving or not?"
It's fine that Zhuang Rui and Manager Zhang are refusing to cooperate, but the taxi driver is getting impatient. Isn't this delaying his ability to make money?
"Alright, Manager Zhang, then I'll accept your invitation without further ado. I'll be waiting for you in Beijing on the 8th of next month..."
Seeing that waiting around on the side of the road wasn't a solution, Zhuang Rui thanked Zhang Li and got into a taxi with Peng Fei.
"Did you two just buy these?"
After asking Zhuang Rui where they wanted to go, the taxi driver glanced at the items they were holding in the rearview mirror and said with a disdainful look, "What good stuff can you find in this antique market? It's all fake. How much did you two spend? If you're into collecting these days, you have to go to an auction house to buy good stuff..."
"Well, it didn't cost much, only three or five hundred yuan, so it's just a loss..."
"Hey, this really is a national collectible," Zhuang Rui couldn't help but chuckle at the taxi driver's words. However, he didn't dare reveal how much he'd bought it for, otherwise the guy would have been so shocked he'd staged a car accident. ...
"Peng Fei, let's go get something to eat. Let's get some rest early tonight..."
After returning to the hotel, Zhuang Rui put the items in the room and called out to Peng Fei. He was feeling a bit tired after appraising over a hundred antiques that day.
Peng Fei shook his head and said, "Brother Zhuang, you go ahead. Just pack it up for me later. I'll watch the stuff here..."
The room not only contained the things Zhuang Rui bought today, but also the 500,000 RMB and USD they brought with them in the safe. Peng Fei was a little worried when he went out today, and he checked the safe as soon as he came back.
"What's there to be afraid of? We'll just call the police if we lose money anyway. Let's go eat..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head indifferently. His room was under close surveillance, and if anything was stolen from there, it would only prove that the police were incompetent.
"Huh? What does this kid want to call again?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to leave with Peng Fei, his phone rang. He looked at it and saw it was Yu Zhenping again. Three calls in one day. Zhuang Rui felt that he and the other party were not that familiar.
"Mr. Zhuang, do you have some time now?"
After pressing the answer button, Yu Zhenping's voice came through the phone.
Zhuang Rui honestly replied, "Mr. Ren, I just got back to the hotel and was about to go eat. Do you have time? How about we grab something to eat together?"
Yu Zhenping, who was standing at the intersection 100 meters away from Zhuang Rui's hotel, swallowed hard and said, "Boss Zhuang, didn't you want to see the goods? Come downstairs now, I'll wait for you at the hotel entrance. I'll treat you to dinner later, but you have to come alone..."
Upon hearing Yu Zhenping's words, Zhuang Rui raised an eyebrow and said, "One person? Boss Ren, inspecting the goods is fine now, but one person won't do. My little brother must come along..."
To be honest, without Peng Fei going with him, Zhuang Rui really wouldn't have dared to go alone. He had witnessed Yu Laoda's madness before. Both of them were surnamed Yu, so who knew if Yu Zhenping had the same crazy genes as Yu Laoda?
"There's one more person?"
"Yes, Mr. Ren, I'm completely unfamiliar with Zhengzhou. What if... well, you're an expert in this field, so I don't need to say more, right?"
Zhuang Rui's tone was firm. If he didn't take Peng Fei with him, he would rather cancel the deal. As the saying goes, a wise man doesn't stand under a crumbling wall. As for the police mission, let whoever wants to go, I'm not taking that risk.
"Okay, come down right away, I'll wait for you at the hotel entrance..."
After thinking for a moment, Yu Zhenping touched the pistol in his pocket and agreed to Zhuang Rui's request.
Chapter 698 Tracking
"Peng Fei, take the money and get out of here..."
After hanging up the phone, Zhuang Rui immediately took out another phone and dialed Jiang Hao's number to report the situation to him, while Peng Fei opened the safe in the hotel and took out the money from the two backpacks.
"Brother Zhuang, is it that person?"
Peng Fei, with a backpack slung over one shoulder, asked softly from behind Zhuang Rui. Compared to Zhuang Rui's serious expression, Peng Fei was much more relaxed. Back in the day, he had even dealt with drug dealers with his bare hands, so this was nothing to him.
"Yes, are you ready?"
Zhuang Rui nodded and looked at Peng Fei.
"Hehe, let's go, Brother Zhuang. With me here, no one can touch you..."
Peng Fei smiled confidently, and as he raised his hand, a small, dark knife flipped across his wrist.
Before coming here, Zhuang Rui had wanted to ask the police to apply for a handgun for Peng Fei to use for self-defense, but Peng Fei refused. In his opinion, if the other party was only one person, it would be better to use his own knife than a gun. Peng Fei was absolutely confident that he could take care of the other party before he could pull the trigger.
"Hey kid, you didn't hide that knife there, did you? Be careful not to accidentally cut your little thing..."
When Zhuang Rui looked at Peng Fei's crotch while speaking, Peng Fei's smile froze instantly, and he involuntarily squeezed his legs together, which made Zhuang Rui burst into laughter.
"Holy crap, it's real?"
Zhuang Rui still couldn't figure out where Peng Fei had hidden the knife, given how little he was wearing in this sweltering heat. Could it really have been hidden there?
"I can't be bothered to talk to you, let's go..."
Peng Fei, looking embarrassed, pushed open the door with a huff and walked out first. ...
Inside a Buick minivan outside the hotel sat four people. A surveillance camera was in the back, and a police officer in his thirties, dressed in plainclothes with an earpiece, muttered, "This guy's really causing trouble. If we catch him, we'll give him a good beating..."
"Stop complaining, and start listening in..."
Jiang Hao glared at the man, then spoke into a miniature microphone: "The target is coming down soon. All units, pay attention! Vehicle number three will follow the target first, and vehicle number five will take over in three minutes..."
"Number Three understands..."
"Number Five understands..."
Hearing the reply from the earpiece, Jiang Hao's expression improved a little. To be honest, he also wanted to grumble a bit. He had been keeping watch around the antique market all day, but hadn't seen a single bird's feather. Staying in the car all day in this sweltering heat was incredibly frustrating.
Jiang Hao and his group were considered lucky; those who pretended to be cleaners and passersby were in a much worse situation. They wandered around under the scorching sun all day and almost got skin peeled off.
This is a joint case by the Beijing and Henan police. If Yu Zhenping escapes again, Jiang Hao will not only lose his position as the head of the task force, but he will also likely be relegated to an office in Beijing where he spends his days drinking tea and reading newspapers.
Because Yu Zhenping was too small a target and too cunning, Jiang Hao, just in case, even made a special zipper for Zhuang Rui's backpack containing money. The thing looked like a zipper, but it was actually a miniature satellite positioning device.
It's safe to say that as long as Yu Zhenping has those two bags of money, the police can locate him in the shortest amount of time.
"Damn, this guy's so suspicious. If he doesn't come soon, let's go eat..."
After Zhuang Rui and Peng Fei went downstairs, they waited for nearly 20 minutes, but Yu Zhenping did not show up. When they tried to call him, the phone was always switched off, which made Zhuang Rui a little impatient.
"Mr. Zhuang, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting..."
Just as Zhuang Rui was about to turn back to the hotel, a taxi stopped four or five meters away from him. Yu Zhenping rolled down the window, showed his face, and greeted Zhuang Rui.
“Mr. Ren, you… sigh, this isn’t the first time we’ve done business together, is it really necessary? I’ve been to the black market in Tibet and Beijing, and I wasn’t this cautious as you…”
When Zhuang Rui saw Yu Zhenping, he couldn't help but grumble a few words. However, to Yu Zhenping, these words were perfectly normal. If Zhuang Rui had waited at the door for so long in the sweltering heat without any reaction, Yu Zhenping would have become suspicious.
"Mr. Zhuang, haha, I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry. There was a traffic jam on the way here, which delayed me a bit..."
Yu Zhenping pushed open the car door and got out of the car. He repeatedly bowed to Zhuang Rui to apologize, keeping a very low posture. However, his eyes were fixed on the backpack behind Peng Fei, and his left hand was in his pocket, never taken out.
In fact, Yu Zhenping had been hiding at a corner opposite the hotel, observing whether anyone was following Zhuang Rui. He only hailed a taxi when he felt there was no danger. However, perhaps because he had been wandering in the dark for a long time, Yu Zhenping still felt a little uneasy.
"Mr. Ren, I haven't eaten yet. How about we go back to the hotel and get something to eat?"
Taking advantage of the situation, Zhuang Rui patted Peng Fei's backpack on the back, blocked the taxi driver's view with his body, and pulled the backpack open a crack so Yu Zhenping could peek through. Then, lowering his voice, he said, "Boss Ren, what do you think? Am I, Zhuang, not a man of principle?"
"Mr. Zhuang, let's just forget about it. I'll treat you to dinner after this is all over..."
Yu Zhenping swallowed hard. He had only eaten two steamed buns for lunch, and he was even hungrier than Zhuang Rui. However, looking at the money in the bag, "Boss Ren" felt it would be safer to carry it on his own.
"Alright, then I'll definitely take advantage of you later..."
Zhuang Rui nodded in agreement, opened the taxi door and got in, while Yu Zhenping naturally sat in the front and signaled to the driver that they could start driving.
Zhuang Rui's hotel, Yuda International Trade Hotel, is located on Zhongyuan Road, a main thoroughfare with heavy traffic. After leaving the hotel, the car disappeared into the sea of cars.
"Target spotted! Target spotted! Car number three, now move to Zhongyuan Road in front of the target car, slow down, and let the target car pass..."
"Number Three understands. Target vehicle located. Tracking in progress..."
"Number 5, Number 5, the target car is almost at the Zhongyuan Road intersection. You can drive out now. You absolutely cannot lose it..."
"Number Five understands, Number Five understands..."
Upon seeing Yu Zhenping finally appear, Jiang Hao and his team immediately sprang into action, issuing various instructions to the different tracking groups. To avoid arousing Yu Zhenping's suspicion, Jiang Hao deployed three cars with Zhengzhou license plates on Zhongyuan Road, where the hotel was located, to take turns following him. ...
"Hey, sir, where are you headed? We've been driving around on this ring road for ages..."
After driving around the ring road four or five times, the taxi driver's face turned a little ugly. Although there have been fewer cases of murder and carjacking in recent years, it was hard to say that these people were not robbers, especially the two bags that Peng Fei was carrying. Could they be there to carry corpses?
Yu Zhenping said in an unfriendly tone, "It's not like we're not going to pay you, keep driving..."
"Even if you pay me, I won't drive. Sorry, I won't do business with you. Get out of the car..."
The taxi driver was already a little scared when he heard Yu Zhenping's loud voice coming from his small body. After hearing Yu Zhenping's words, he pulled the car to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes.
There were several shops along the roadside, and a lot of traffic was coming and going. The taxi driver, feeling a bit bolder, said, "I don't want your money anymore, just get out of the car now, or I'll call the police..."
"What kind of attitude is that? Do you believe I'll report you?"
Hearing that the fare was waived, Yu Zhenping was quite satisfied. After cursing the driver, he turned to the back and said, "Sorry, this driver is rude. Boss Zhuang, let's get another car..."
The main reason Yu Zhenping was willing to get out of the car was to prevent being followed. When he used to work with Boss Yu, he would change cars several times when going to a certain place for a transaction. Although Yu Zhenping was not familiar with this method, he would feel more at ease just by imitating it.
However, Yu Zhenping didn't know that with modern technology, let alone changing cars, even if he took Zhuang Rui underground, they would still be found out, unless he could convince Zhuang Rui to run naked and throw away the two bags of money, then the police might not be able to find him.
Zhuang Rui nodded and agreed, "Okay, but Boss Ren, let's hurry up, otherwise we'll only be able to eat at a street food stall after we're done..."
Zhuang Rui knew his actions were illegal, so he naturally had to be cautious. He had no objection to changing cars, but he still urged Yu Zhenping to hurry up, as he was really hungry.
Taking a taxi in Zhengzhou is quite convenient. Soon, Zhuang Rui and the others flagged down another car. This time, Yu Zhenping didn't drive around in circles. When the car reached an intersection on the outer ring road, Yu Zhenping pointed in a direction and told the taxi to drive in.
"Number One, Number One, the target vehicle is heading towards the outskirts of the city. There are fewer vehicles on this road. Should we follow it? Please advise..."
The road Yu Zhenping was taking was heading towards Jiaoshan Majialing. There were relatively few vehicles on this road at night, and the No. 5 car that was following him was afraid of being discovered by Yu Zhenping, so it stopped following.
Where does this road lead?
Sitting in the command vehicle, Jiang Hao asked a local policeman next to him.
"The only routes are to Jiaoshan and Majialing; beyond that is Xinmi City..."
"Okay, vehicles one through five, take the other road to these two locations first. Be discreet and don't arouse the target's suspicion..."