CH 31

Shi Yunnan was stunned for a second, then curled his lips, speechless.

He was so unlucky. He just blindly chose a shop on a whim and was lucky enough to win this ‘black shop’.

Shi Yunnan turned around and walked back to the original position without any fear, “Boss, I just handled it very carefully, where is the crack?”

The middle-aged boss showed a distressed look and pointed to a crack on the back of the jade carving, “Look, it’s here!”

Shi Yunnan followed his finger to see——

This jade carving had a ‘bamboo basket’ as the base, which was full of flat peaches, bergamot and other objects implying happiness, longevity and well-being.

In general, the craftsmanship of the engraving was smooth enough to show the skill of the engraver carver.

But this seemingly perfect work, at this moment, had an inconspicuous crack of six or seven centimeters at the back of the ‘bamboo basket’.

If you don’t look closely, it doesn’t really stand out.

But after a closer look, it does affect the price of the whole piece.

“See? You knocked against this place. Now I can no longer sell this even if I want to. You must compensate me!”

Shi Yunnan shook his head and retorted with a smile, “Boss, isn’t your porcelain touching[/mfn]A scam to extort money.[/mfn] technique too old-fashioned? It’s way too obvious that you’re deceiving others.”

“Young man, what did you say?”

The boss put the jade sculpture back on the velvet fabric, pointed to the surveillance cameras on the left and right sides, “You can see clearly, we have surveillance cameras in our store!”

He rolled up his thin lining sleeves, with the look of ‘Be reasonable to others’, “The first point is that you entered my shop yourself, and this jade carving is something you liked and picked, that’s why I opened the cabinet to take it out, isn’t that right?”

“That’s right!”

The clerk naturally spoke for his boss, “At first glance, you are an amatuer. There is a saying in our line of business that jade can’t be handed over. Do you know what it means?”

Shi Yunnan nodded calmly, “I know.”

Jade was a valuable item that could be easily knocked and bumped. If the seller and the buyer passed it directly by hand, it was often difficult to determine the responsible party in case of loss.

On the other hand, human hands were prone to secrete sweat, which could easily leave sweat stains on the surface of jade, and affect the gloss and cleanliness of the jade, and sometimes cause difficulties in cleaning.

Therefore, there was a saying in the industry that “Jade can’t be handed over”.

In recent years, in the process of passing jade, some sellers deliberately let go of the jade without waiting for the buyer to get a firm grasp, thus creating the “touch porcelain” situation to extort money.

There are many such unscrupulous merchants. Honest sellers and buyers have been paying special attention to this problem.

Having said that, this shop did take extra caution in this regard.

The middle-aged boss continued, “Secondly, I wear special gloves, and the counter is covered with velvet fabric. When I showed it to you just now, this jade carving was completely fine, and you didn’t raise any objections, didn’t you?”

“After you touched it with your hand, and then returned to my hand in less than three seconds, this crack appeared! How dare you say you didn’t put too much force on the jade carving and broke it?”

The middle-aged boss was full of confidence, “Young man, even if you call the police, I’m not afraid!”

Shi Yunnan looked at the jade carving on the counter, and there was a hint of coldness in his eyes——

When the boss showed him just now, he was experienced and deliberately hid the crack at the bottom of the back with his palm. After Shi Yunan took over, he just roughly looked at the front, which allowed the former to blackmail him.

In any case, even if Shi Yunnan noticed it the first time he took over, the boss would probably use other methods to push the ‘blame’ on him.

After all is said and done, this is definitely not the first time this boss has touched porcelain this way!

While he was in deep thought, eight or nine young and middle-aged customers wearing little red hats poured into the store. At first glance, they seem to be a tourist group.

The middle-aged boss winked at the clerk, and the latter quickly understood and shouted—

“Hey, all the bosses, please come here to judge which side is right! This young man broke the jadeware in our shop and still doesn’t admit it…”

At this age, the uncle and until of the tour group love to join in the fun. When they heard about this, they gathered around them one after another. In addition, they also attracted several individual customers outside the shop who understand jade.

The clerk saw more people, and repeated what he had just said to Shi Yunnan, just to say—

There were surveillance cameras in the shop to prove everything. They definitely wouldn’t touch porcelain on purpose. It was obvious that Shi Yunnan knocked and damaged their jade, resulting in no way to sell it for a good price.

The uncles and aunties believed it to be true, but the few jade customers looked at each other in dismay.

The water in this jade industry runs deep.

Some stores were dedicated to being sincere and honest to old customers, but for new customers, there was only one word to describe it, ‘slaughter’.

This young man was just too inexperienced, so he fell into the trap and was duped. Under this circumstance, he could only let the shopkeeper slaughter him for money.

Shi Yunnan fiddled with his mobile phone. Facing the gathered eyes around him, he asked, “Boss, so how much do you want for this jade?”

When the middle-aged boss heard this, there was a thud in his heart——

This little sh*t.

What can you do even if my porcelain touching technique is obvious and old-fashioned? You still took the bait and have to obediently pay me.

The middle-aged boss pretended to be sensible and took out the label in the cabinet, “And don’t say I’m screwing you over, just go with the price tag, 300,000 yuan1.”

Shi Yunnan stared at the boss who demanded an exorbitant price, and his eyes gradually darkened. T surrounding uncles and aunties who were listening to the excitement suddenly buzzed with discussion–

“Aiya, such a little thing costs 300,000 ah? I think it looks so-so.”

“Oh, this unlucky child, why are you so careless?”

“300,000? Is it worth that much? It’s enough to buy a nice car, right?”

The knowledgeable jade customers couldn’t stand it anymore, so they stood up and said something for Shi Yunnan, “Boss, these uncles, anuties, and the young lad didn’t understand this business, but we do. The quality of your suet jade isn’t worth 300,000.”

“Sir, you are wrong. The objects in our house are all carefully crafted. They are works of art that took time and effort from the carving masters, and they all have special craftsmanship certificates. ”

“Arlight, boss, but when buying and selling intact finished products, one can still get a discount.”

Another casual customer interrupted with a smile, both openly and secretly turned towards the ‘unlucky’ Shi Yunnan.

“There is no point in saying obvious and tedious words. Since this young man is willing to spend money on this moral lesson, you should also quote a real price.”

The middle-aged boss looked at Shi Yunnan who didn’t say a word, and pretended to hesitate for a moment, “How about this, I’ll give you a 50% discount, 150,000, can not be less.”

With just a few skillful words, the price suddenly half as cheap.

An uncle saw through the trick, and muttered with his hands behind his back, “It’s too shameful to trick a child.”

Shi Yunnan took a half step closer, picked up the jade carving product again, carefully looked at the crack at the bottom, and raised his lips subtly, “Boss, I’ve thought about it, isn’t it better to call the police to deal with it?”

“……”

The boss got stuck, he obviously didn’t expect Shi Yunnan to still have this idea.

“Didn’t I already say it? We have surveillance cameras, and if you report to the police, you will compensate us according to the price, which totally doesn’t make sense at all.” The boss showed some impatience, but he was still confident.

“Everyone is watching, now the jade is in your hand, don’t break it again.”

“150,000 is the lowest price. You must pay me! Otherwise, I won’t let you go today.”

“Boss, I forgot to tell you that my job is a jewelry designer. Although I have been dealing with diamonds all year round, diamonds and jades are not separated from each other, it’s not like I don’t know anything about jades…”

As soon as Shi Yunan said these words, the surprise on the boss’s face flashed quickly.

“The edge of the crack on this jade is a little dark. Obviously, it has been formed for a certain period of time. The result should be obtained by going to the jade quality appraisal center.”

Shi Yunnan refocused his gaze on the boss, the sharpness under his eyes could discern almost all of his dirty deeds.

“When I said I’m calling the police, it wasn’t to deal with the compensation for this jade, but to sue your shop for extortion! Anyway, you have said that the surveillance is all there, and there are so many people in the whole place to testify for me.”

Speaking of this, the aunties who were watching the fun immediately picked up their mobile phone to record videos.

The boss avoided his line of sight, feeling a little uneasy in his heart——

In fact, his method of touching porcelain was purely to deceive those new customers who weren’t knowledgeable.

As long as the two sides repeatedly pushed and pulled a few times, and he deliberately lowered the compensation price ‘over and over again’, those new buyers would also choose to spend money on small matters.

But how could he have imagined that Shi Yunnan, who looked so young, had actually studied jade?

Did he run into a hard stubble2? !

Shi Yunnan looked around the display cabinet in the store, and sharply hit the nail on the head, “I guess your store has more than just one piece of problematic jadewares, right?”

“Before me, there should have been many other new and inexperienced customers right? I remember that the sentencing criteria for attempted extortion is not low.”

“If it’s 100,000 for one person, then it’s enough to be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of no less than three years but no more than ten years.”

Seeing this inner secret being seen through, the middle-aged boss’s eyes fluttered in panic, and he retorted without thinking, “You, if you have no money to pay, don’t throw mud at other people!”

“This crack should be repairable, I accept my own bad luck having to repair this…”

He paused, and tried to salvage the last chance to extort money, “If you give me 3,000 yuan, you don’t need to be responsible for the follow-up, is that alright?”

From 300,000 to 3,000, what a big dive in price.

Shi Yunnan laughed grimly and taunted him, “A black-hearted businessman like you whose conscience is eaten by dogs, do you think you deserve my money?”

Seeing this fishy touch porcelain situation, people in the tour group immediately supported him, “Young man, don’t worry, auntie has recorded it! When the appraisal result comes out, if he is a liar, we will be your witnesses in front of the police!”

Shi Yunnan was fair skinned, young and good-looking. Compared with the dark and greasy middle-aged boss, he was obviously more liked by the middle-aged women.

“…..”

The boss was shocked by Shi Yunnan’s straightforward words, and his face suddenly became extremely embarrassed.

He originally asked the clerk to attract the tourist group and idle customers to pressure Shi Yunnan with outsiders’ words, and made him compromise to pay money faster, but he didn’t expect that——

At present, the situation was actually reversed. These idle tourists were holding their mobile phones and pointing the camera at him.

If this video was randomly posted on the Internet, other strangers wouldn’t say anything, but in front of those experienced people in the jade circle, he has nowhere to hide.

Probably because the discussion in the store became a bit louder, a lot of onlookers and idle buyers began to gather outside the store.

“If you have nothing to do, don’t block in front of my shop, I don’t deserve it…” The boss had a guilty conscience and was planning to let the clerk drive the guests out.

In the next second, a young and brazen voice sounded from the periphery of the crowd——

“What’s the point of talking so much nonsense? And call the police? According to the rules, if you break something in the store, isn’t it normal to pay for it?”

Shi Yunnan felt that the voice sounded very familiar, and immediately looked sideways, “Yuan Rui?”

The other party wore a peaked cap, a pair of exaggerated sunglasses on his nose, and a black mask to cover his face tightly.

The visitor met Shi Yunnan’s gaze, and took off his sunglasses in disbelief to confirm it.

Both sides looked at each other, and confirmed each other’s identities.

Shi Yunnan caught sight of the bruise at the corner of Yuan Rui’s eye, and he understood——this kid took his beating last night, and he was still in a state of disfigurement.

“Sh*t, enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road.”

Yuan Rui grumbled angrily, and after speaking, he actually planned to go back to the crowd, regardless of the mess.

The boss thought it wasn’t easy to get a free helping hand, so he quickly spoke up, “That’s right! This young man in black is right, he broke something in the store, according to the rules, he should compensate!”

“…..”

Yuan Rui stopped when he was about to leave, he took off his sunglasses and showed a look of disgust.

Surprisingly, he went straight to the edge of the counter, put on gloves and picked up the jade carving, searched for the crack at the bottom, looked carefully, and then directed his gaze at Shi Yunnan.

“You beat me up so hard, but you wimped out when encountering such a thing?”

“What?”

Shi Yunnan frowned slightly, thinking that Yuan Rui would indiscriminately speak for the shop owner.

“According to the rules of Linglong Jade Market, if a customer damages a jadeware, they must compensate according to the marked price; but if the evil seller breaks the rules in a shady way…”

Yuan Rui sneered, and suddenly held the bottom of the jade carving with his hands.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Yuan Rui held it high and violently smashed the jade sculpture towards the side of the cabinet.

“That should also be done according to the rules!”

——Bang!

A big gap was made in the upper part of the jade carving, and even the edge of the cabinet was dented.

If the original crack at the bottom reduced it to a cheap discounted sale, then now, the smashed jade carving with the gap was completely scrapped.

There was a sound of gasping in the audience.

Shi Yunnan didn’t expect Yuan Rui to turn towards him. He couldn’t hide his surprise, and at the same time, he felt happy with this interesting situation.

He originally wanted to smash this deceitful jade carving clean, but unfortunately the boss was obviously playing tricks on him. He cannot be so reckless before things come to light, lest there be reason to say.

“What are you doing!” The boss roared, his face flushed with anger.

Yuan Rui took the jade carving and retreated half a step. He said in an arrogant temper, “What am I doing? I won’t let you, an unscrupulous merchant, entrap people with defective products! If you want to keep this, can you guarantee that you won’t screw other people! ”

Seeing Yuan Rui smashing his thing and biting him to no end, the boss was really angry now, “You bastard, what the hell are you doing? You don’t even know a damn thing. That’s the new crack! You must pay me!”

“Pei! This young master grew up soaking in the pile of jade objects since I was a child. Why can’t I tell old and new cracks apart?”

Yuan Rui glanced at Shi Yunnan beside him with extreme confidence.

“I protect the crack at the bottom. It’s not damaged at all! Anyway, everyone here is a witness, we’ll take it away for appraisal in a while!”

“If I make a mistake, I’ll pay you the original price for what I smashed! If it’s your fault, you’re going to jail!”

Shi Yunnan looked at Yuan Rui who blew up like a puffer fish, he almost couldn’t help laughing at the occasion, and he almost forgot–

Yuan Rui was the young master of Yuan Jade. He had been influenced by his surroundings since he was a child. Let’s not mention whether he was skilled or not, at least he got some knowledge and knew the trick related to jade.

The boss didn’t expect that Yuan Rui wasn’t here to help him, but to further destroy his stuff.

With anger fueled by shame, he swung his fist at Yuan Rui and took a stance of wanting to fight, “You’re looking for death, aren’t you?”

Seeing this, Shi Yunnan quickly grabbed the boss’s wrist, and then swept his foot horizontally, hitting the other party’s ankle bone.

This kick was ruthless. Shi Yunnan did carry the intensity of ‘avenging person grudge’.

“—Hiss!”

The boss was in pain and shuddered, almost kneeling down with his feet soft.

Shi Yunnan looked at Yuan Rui, who was shivering with fright beside him, and found it funny, “Why don’t you hide? Didn’t you get enough beating yesterday?”

“…..”

Yuan Rui was unconvinced and wanted to argue, but when the words reached his mouth, he pulled at the wound on his lips, which was injured by Shi Yunnan’s punch last night.

He put on his sunglasses, held the jade carving, and hid behind Shi Yunnan without any shame, “So what… if you can fight, you go on!”

The boss recovered from the pain in his ankle, and was just about to pick up the rod and swing at them, but then here was a burst of hubbub from the outside.

“The police are here!”

“Hey, why is Mr. Lu here too? Such a big commotion!”

Soon, a group of people walked in. In addition to the policeman in uniform, there was also a slender man.

Lu Zhao’an looked at Yuan Rui, and twisted his eyebrows slightly. Then he turned his gaze to Shi Yunnan, “Mr. Shi, we meet again.”

The police looked around and asked, “Who sent the text message to the police?”

“Hello, I’m the one who sent the report.”

Shi Yunnan took the initiative to admit and repeated everything that had occurred in the store just now.

After hearing what happened, Lu Zhao’an’s calm eyes became serious, “Boss Chen, where’s the jade carving? Show me.”

Coincidentally, the owner of the store next door whispered to a group of people—

“Have you heard of Yuan Jade? It’s a genuine century-old brand! In our market alone, there are five branches under the Yuan family’s banner!”

“The Yuan family has invested in the establishment of this jade market for three generations. Later, although the government came forward to take over the site, the Yuan family still has shares. The market rules have never changed.”

“The person inside is Lu Zhao’an, the current boss’s favorite apprentice! At a young age, he has become a master figure in the domestic jade carving circle, and he has a sharp eye! He can tell for sure when he sees old cracks and new cracks. Now there’s no need to take it to the appraisal center.”

“……”

Boss Chen naturally recognized Lu Zhao’an’s identity, and when he saw that the police were all dispatched, he felt guilty.

Yuan Rui shoved the jade carving into Lu Zhao’an’s hands with a stern face, looking as awkward as the unhappy boss.

Before Lu Zhao’an began to appraise the jade, Boss Chen confessed everything himself, “No, don’t look at it, there is a small misunderstanding among us.”

“Small misunderstanding?”

Shi Yunnan didn’t answer according to the boss’s words. He sneered and mocked, “At first he asked for 300,000 yuan, then he asked for 150,000 yuan. At last he still didn’t give up and wanted 3,000 yuan for repair costs. This is not a misunderstanding, this is called touching porcelain!”

“Comrade police, please take a look at other objects in this store. I suspect that there are other jadewares with cracks. It is not the first time that they have used such a trick to extort money.”

Lu Zhao’an did not speak, he only carefully examined the cracks at the bottom of the jade carving.

Yuan family’s third store in this market opened a piece of imperial green jade with good quality yesterday, and he came over to receive the goods in person today.

As for Yuan Rui, he was forced by his father, Lu Zhao’an’s master, to learn more about the jade business.

Yuan Rui lost interest in jade and was unwilling to listen. He slipped out while Lu Zhao’an and the clerk were busy.

Then, when Lu Zhao’an went out of the store to look for Yuan Rui, he met the policeman who came halfway, so he stopped by to have a look.

“Boss Chen.”

Lu Zhao’an put the jade carving on one of the cabinet and asked, “Do you know the rules of the Linglong Jade Market?”

From the time Yuan Family invested in the establishment of this jade market, a rule was set: that is, sellers must not cheat people.

Later, although the government came forward to take over the site, Yuan family still held a certain amount of shares, and the established market rule has never changed.

The reason why Yuan Rui was violent and smashed things was because he was afraid that the boss would ruin the reputation of the jade market in secret, which would affect the Yuan family.

Every year, the market management will uniformly ask the store owners to sign the contract of “integrity management”, otherwise they have to act according to the rules——

Light punishment is to smash the thing, and the heavy one, they might have to close the store.

“I know, I know, I hope you guys can forgive the unscrupulous and small-minded person like me. There was a misunderstanding, it-it’s me who didn’t look carefully.”

Boss Chen smiled, with a belated remorse in his heart——

It was difficult to do business in the market these days. Like those noncommittal bosses, they will find ways to make profits in private. As long as the Yuan family does not send someone to investigate, everyone will say anything.

It was his first time meeting someone like Shi Yunnan, who was immune to both hard and soft tactics, then came a brutal and unreasonable young man smashing his things, and finally attracted the police and Lu Zhao’an?

He has had eight lifetimes of bad luck today!

He didn’t get the money, but lost the bait along with the fish3!

“Since the police were called, should we follow the normal procedures?” Lu Zhao’an’s tone was calm but unnegotiable.

Shi Yunnan, as the person who rang the alarm, also agreed to follow normal procedures.

When Boss Chen heard this, he immediately broke out in cold sweat.

Usually when he encountered someone who wanted to call the police, he will find a way to settle it privately. In any case, it was a problem of whether to lose money or not. Why did he make it into the police station today!

Unfortunately, no matter how regretful and reluctant the boss was, he was no match for the police’s law enforcement.

The showcases in the store were opened one by one, and many jade carvings had cracks!

Not only that, even in the small warehouse behind the counter, there were ‘Peach Bergamot’ jade carvings with similar appearances, and the location of the crack existed at the bottom.

Great!

It’s a blatant fraudulent item!

The onlookers at the scene became more and more eager to record video, shouting ‘Exposed! ”Black-hearted shop owner! ‘ ‘It must be closed down!’

Boss Chen’s face turned white and red, red and blue, he belatedly felt panic and regret——

After today’s incident, not to mention that his shop may not be able to open, even his reputation in this circle might have fallen into the stinky ditch along with him!