As soon as the four police cars arrived, they screeched to a halt. The doors opened, and a dozen or so officers jumped out. Look at their shoulder insignia; they're much higher rank than ours.
The middle-aged man in the lead had a police badge with the insignia of a bureau-level officer, which Deputy Chief Yang recognized. He was Director Fu of the Dongcheng Branch Bureau, a rising star who had just been promoted to deputy director-general!
Because the major case previously presided over by Fu Yuanshan was solved, it caused a sensation throughout the entire public security system in Beijing, and Fu Yuanshan's reputation was well-known. How could Deputy Director Yang not recognize him?
Startled, Deputy Director Yang quickly stepped forward with a smile and said, "Director Fu, what brings you here?"
Fu Yuanshan looked at Fu Ying and Zhou Xuan in front of him, his face darkened, and he said coldly, "Why am I here? That's a question for you to answer. It seems that our system's rectification campaign will need to be intensified!"
Deputy Director Yang was quite embarrassed, while the few people he brought and Deputy Captain Zeng were already dumbfounded by the factory, not knowing what Fu Yuanshan and his group of superiors had come for, but judging from their expressions, it was probably a bad omen.
"Yingying, what's the reason?" Fu Yuanshan didn't ask Zhou Xuan because Zhou Xuan's expression was indifferent, while Fu Ying was very unhappy, so of course she knew what was important and what was urgent.
Fu Ying didn't stand on ceremony and immediately told Fu Yuanshan the whole story. Fu Yuanshan frowned more and more as he listened. After Fu Ying finished speaking, Fu Yuanshan was silent for a moment, and then looked at the three people, including Deputy Captain Zeng.
Deputy Captain Zeng's face flushed red and then turned pale. The two men behind him realized something was wrong and quickly returned Fu Ying's vehicle documents. Fu Yuanshan took them and said coldly, "If you're acting properly and according to the law, that's fine. Let me make it clear, it's not because they're my friends that they're being treated specially, but because you've tarnished the national emblem on your hats. I'm very busy right now and don't have time to argue with you. Since you towed their car, go back and write a report to your director. How you handle it is your North City Branch's business. I don't care. I'm taking her away now!"
Deputy Captain Zeng's face turned ashen, and the three of them, including his two companions behind him, trembled, unsure of what to say.
Deputy Director Yang was secretly glad that he had good judgment and was experienced in doing things. He almost suffered a loss. This Deputy Captain Zeng not only harmed him, but also almost dragged him down with him. Moreover, there were several colleagues from the institute who came with him. This incident involved several people!
Thinking of Deputy Director Yang filled Fu Yuanshan with lingering fear. He ignored them and invited Zhou Xuan and another person into the car. Then he sat in the driver's seat and drove himself. The four cars came like the wind and then went away like the wind.
After the four police cars disappeared, Deputy Chief Yang and his three colleagues, along with Deputy Captain Zeng and his two comrades, stood there dumbfounded for a long time. Finally, Deputy Chief Yang turned his head, looked at the three of them, who were still in a daze, and sighed before saying, "Deputy Captain Zeng, this is Beijing. Our positions are not enough to handle this. So we should just focus on performing our duties seriously and fairly. You see, this matter is beyond repair. There's no way to avoid it now!"
Deputy Director Zeng, with a troubled expression and furrowed brows, said to Deputy Director Yang, "Deputy Director Yang, please help me think of a solution. What do you think we should do? I'm so worried!"
"Now you're panicking, aren't you? What were you doing before?" Deputy Director Yang said angrily, turning around and pointing at his colleagues. "Deputy Captain Zeng, look at you, you've gotten yourself into this mess, and almost dragged us all down with you. Luckily, I'm experienced enough. I sensed something was wrong when I saw those two young guys, and I held back from hitting or saying anything, which is how I pulled us all back. Otherwise, you see..."
Deputy Director Yang spoke with lingering fear, and the police officers who came with him were also relieved. If they had acted as they usually did, the outcome would have been completely different, and they would have ended up like Deputy Captain Zeng and his two companions!
Deputy Director Yang shook his head and sighed, "Deputy Captain Zeng, to be honest, based on my experience, I think your jobs are in jeopardy. Deputy Captain Zeng, you've been a traffic policeman for many years. Just look at that Miss Fu from earlier. Even a blind man could tell that such a beautiful girl is usually accompanied by someone rich and powerful. Now that I think about it, it's probably much more than that. I don't need to introduce Director Fu's status, right? Director Fu has now been promoted to deputy director level. Look at the expression and attitude Director Fu had towards those two young people just now. Did he act like he was treating family and friends?"
Deputy Director Yang shook his head and said, "That expression... it's like he's facing a superior, a leader. Don't you think about it? If Director Fu, with his status, still acts like that, then those two young men are probably... Think about it again, where is this? This is the capital city! What kind of young people could have such influence?"
The faces of Deputy Captain Zeng and the others turned deathly pale, and they were trembling with cold sweat. Deputy Captain Zeng even sat down on the ground with a thud!
Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying sat in the back of Fu Yuanshan's police car. After the car had driven quite a distance, Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Director Fu, you seem to be in a hurry. Is there something important?"
Fu Yuanshan spat, "There are no outsiders here, only Yingying. You're still giving me this nonsense. Get lost!"
Fu Ying chuckled, forgetting her earlier annoyance, and asked again, "Big brother, when can I get my car back? It's so inconvenient without a car. We only have a cheap motorcycle that Brother Hong gave us, and it's too flashy to drive. I don't like it, so I bought this Audi TT. Zhou Xuan's car won't be available for another two months!"
"Yingying, this is easy to discuss. It's definitely no problem for us to send the car back right now, but if I bring it up over the phone, it won't be as effective as having them send it back themselves!"
Fu Yuanshan chuckled and said, "What these people did wouldn't be worth mentioning if you hadn't been involved. We have policies from above, but we have countermeasures from below. Besides, even a county magistrate is no match for a local official. On a grand scale, this is Dafeng! On a smaller scale, it's just a trivial matter. Here's what we'll do: Yingying doesn't have a car, so I'll arrange one for you to use temporarily. Don't mind the quality, an Audi A4 will do. It's just for getting around anyway. Don't use Japanese or Korean cars; they're unsafe and can't withstand a crash!"
"Never mind!" Fu Ying sighed and said, "Big brother, don't trouble yourself. Just keep that sports car; it'll only last a day or two!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Brother, don't worry about it. Just have them return the car. If you fight to the death over something like this, the world will be full of enemies. You're in this line of work. How can you get things done if you offend your subordinates?"
Fu Yuanshan shook his head and said, "Brother, you've misunderstood. If you want to be a good official who gets things done, you have to start with small things. You all know the saying, 'He who steals a needle when he's young will steal gold when he grows up.' People at the grassroots level are dealing with ordinary people like us. Think about it, if it weren't for you, but other ordinary people, wouldn't we just let them do whatever they want? The more trivial the matter, the more attention we need to pay to it. We can't just focus on big cases. These ordinary little things are also closely related to the lives of ordinary people!"
Zhou Xuan fell silent for a moment. These words touched him deeply. Fu Ying might not understand because her living environment was completely different from Zhou Xuan's. His family lived in the countryside, and the ups and downs his family had experienced made him understand the many difficulties of ordinary people!
"Brother, what's the matter that you're in such a hurry to see me?" After a moment of silence, Zhou Xuan changed the subject and asked about Fu Yuanshan's visit.
Fu Yuanshan smiled and said, "If you hadn't brought it up, I would have forgotten why I came. Well, there's a case that's related to your area of expertise, so I wanted to ask you to take a look and give me your opinion. Consider it my last thing to do for the Dongcheng Branch before I leave!"
"Antiques?" When it came to his profession, Zhou Xuan immediately blurted out. Besides antiques, what else could be considered his profession?
Fu Yuanshan nodded and smiled, "Yes, you can take a look at the situation first. This matter is not very urgent. We arrested a few antique dealers and seized a batch of cultural relics at their residence. According to their confession, they said they were fake and the source was still unknown. However, they also revealed an even bigger problem: starting from the year before last, they have been selling a large number of antiques to museums in Beijing and several provincial cultural relics museums in other cities!"
Zhou Xuan paused for a moment, then asked, "They steal and sell cultural relics and antiques, and museums and cultural relics institutions take them back. That's protecting cultural relics, it's a good thing, what's wrong with that?"
Fu Yuanshan shook his head and smiled wryly, "Of course that's no problem, but these antique dealers confessed that what they sold to museums and cultural relics were all genuine articles, which is a big problem. Those places are where antique experts and masters stay, how could they buy fakes? Are they colluding with each other, or are the fakes so convincing that even the experts were fooled?"
Zhou Xuan scratched his head, somewhat confused. Those local experts were authorities in the antique world, on par with Lao Wu. How could they be wrong?
Of course, in this line of work, no matter how skilled or expert one is, it's inevitable to be fooled or deceived. But Fu Yuanshan just said that this has been sold for several years and in large quantities, so there must be a real problem. If we were really deceived, then the counterfeiting was too sophisticated. Fu Yuanshan must have come to him to use his abilities to expose this counterfeiting den, right?
If the experts are colluding with antique dealers, then it's not up to him to handle this matter. It's Fu Yuanshan and his team's own business, and there's nothing difficult to figure out. It just depends on how large the network and power of these people are, and whether he wants to intervene and whether he can intervene.
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then said to Fu Yuanshan, "Brother, okay, I can help you with this, as much as I can, but there's a condition: if this is collusion, then I'll back out and you can decide internally. But if you've been blinded by counterfeit goods and have really been deceived, then I'll help you!"
Fu Yuanshan understood Zhou Xuan's meaning, and smiled, "Alright, come with me to the bureau first to see the batch of cultural relics that were seized, and verify whether they are real or fake. After verification, I will report to the higher-ups for a decision. It won't be that fast before a case is officially filed and a task force is established to investigate. This afternoon, let's discuss your matter with Yingying. Although I haven't taken up my post in the department yet, I still have responsibilities to fulfill!"
Fu Ying was willing and asked, "Brother, shall we get the car or what?"
"How could we get the car back so easily? They might be able to tow it, but it won't be that easy. Don't worry, Yingying, your big brother will take care of everything. Just come and watch the show!"
Fu Yuanshan answered with a smile, and after driving for a while, they arrived at the parking lot of the East City Branch.
After parking the car and getting out, more than a dozen police officers in crisp uniforms came to greet me; they were all leaders from the Dongcheng Branch.
Fu Yuanshan used to be the highest leader here. Now he has been transferred and promoted. He is still a leader, but in a higher position. Naturally, his subordinates are more respectful to him. When the department is evaluating the thousand-man department, they still need to hear Fu Yuanshan's recommendation. Which of these deputy directors doesn't want to turn the word "deputy" into "director"?
In the collection room on the ground floor of the Public Security Bureau building, Fu Yuanshan and two deputy directors accompanied Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying inside. The collection room administrator opened the door and ordered them to stand guard outside.
The two deputy directors were no strangers to Zhou Xuan. He was the one who brought down a deputy director last time. One of the newly appointed deputy directors was here, and he was one of them. It was all thanks to him. But they still didn't know that Zhou Xuan and Fu Yuanshan had such a close relationship.
Fu Yuanshan naturally wouldn't tell them these secrets, but today's events were insignificant, unlike solving the previous murder cases. Since Zhou Xuan owned an antique shop, it was perfectly normal for him to be invited to appraise antiques; there was nothing strange about it.
Volume 1, Chapter 331: Fake Porcelain
Collection Room A displayed over twenty antique jars and pots, which, of course, only appeared to be antiques. (www.keNwenN.com)
Zhou Xuan is quite skilled and discerning. He knows a lot about porcelain and jade because these are the two things he has the most contact with.