"You should be careful, that is the blue and white of the Ming Dynasty, eh! This is Hetian jade, don't knock it!
Oh, officer, is there any misunderstanding here? Look, I really don’t have any illegal cultural relics here.
Three generations of our Ma family have lived here, and all my neighbors can vouch for me, but I don’t dare commit adultery!"
The courtyard of the old house is already filled with pieces of antique calligraphy and painting. Five or six policemen wearing white gloves are counting the items, and experts invited by Wang Zhaoping from the Provincial Museum are identifying these items one by one.
Ma Liang's heart was pounding, but his face remained calm, as if he was more concerned about his antiques.
"Don't you dare commit adultery?" Wang Zhaoping smiled.
"Since you are an expert in this industry, you must also know the relevant laws, right? Tell me, is it illegal to sell the bronze wine statue and pottery bowl you just received today?"
Ma Liang's heart skipped a beat.
It turns out that the problem lies here!
I must have been followed before! Now that I think about it, I seem to have seen the policeman in front of me this morning, no wonder he looks so familiar.
But how did he get targeted?
"Don't take chances, you have already recruited all your accomplices, including the taxi driver and the owners of the two antique shops.
You are responsible for appraising and purchasing the cultural relics on the black market, and then handing them over to the downline and transporting them to the Greater Bay Area, and then taking them to Xiangjiang by trucks to find buyers or conduct auctions. Is this the process?"
According to domestic law, cultural relics unearthed after 1949 are prohibited from being bought, sold, and collected. Cultural relics before the early Qing Dynasty can be collected, but they cannot be bought or sold, let alone exported abroad.
They even explained the smuggling process so clearly, which made Ma Liang even more panicked, but he did not give up his struggle.
"Officer, this is a misunderstanding. I was just entrusted by someone to help my friend find two antiques, and they were imitations. I didn't know that they were genuine pieces that were prohibited from being bought and sold!
I don’t know anything about smuggling!”
Ma Liang knew that if the other accomplices confessed, he would not be able to escape as an accomplice, so now he could only hope to reduce his charges as much as possible.
Although it is a quibble, his remarks are actually in line with the market.
It is difficult to determine the time when an antique was unearthed, its value, and its authenticity. Even the best cultural relic appraisers cannot make a 100% accurate judgment.
Coupled with the chaos of counterfeiting in the domestic cultural relics market, almost 95% of the so-called treasured antiques on the market are imitations.
With modern counterfeiting technology, you can’t even tell whether the treasures and national treasures collected in museums at home and abroad are real or fake, let alone other so-called antiques that are even more inconspicuous.
"It's not smuggling or reselling cultural relics. Why did you prepare so many gold bars? Your family is quite wealthy!"
Wang Zhaoping sneered and pointed at the five or six gold bars that had just been found. These gold bars alone were probably worth hundreds of thousands.
"Haha...haha! As the saying goes, antiques in prosperous times are gold in troubled times. I am also preparing for a rainy day." Ma Liang laughed dryly.
"Then you're well prepared!"
"Police officer, three generations of my Ma family have been engaged in antiques, and they are somewhat famous in this street. If many of them had not been confiscated in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, not to mention these gold bars, my family would probably have one or two billion in wealth now. This cannot be considered a crime.
Illegal income, right?”
Wang Zhaoping was a little funny, there was quite a lot of resentment in Ma Liang's words.
"So for the sake of a fortune of one or two billion, you chose to take risks?"
"No, no, no! I didn't mean that..."
"Old Wang, come here." At this time, a middle-aged policeman with a Chinese character face not far away waved to Wang Zhaoping.
"Old Lin, how are you?" Wang Zhaoping walked over.
"Experts have already appraised it. There are a total of thirty-four antiques here, most of which are from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Although the total value exceeds one million, they are all relatively common items on the market and there are no prohibited items.
"No?" Wang Zhaoping frowned and glanced at the scene.
Indeed, he did not see the gold, silver, copper, iron or stone sculptures he was looking for.
"How was this guy's background check?" Wang Zhaoping asked reluctantly.
"I've inquired with the neighbors, and I only know that Ma Liang likes antiques. Most of the people he associates with are people from a certain circle, and he rarely travels far. On the surface, there's not much to tell.
It is said that the Ma family was also a famous collector during the Republic of China, but in Ma Liang's father's generation, the family was ruined by gambling and many of their things were sold.
It makes sense that the other party has so many antiques in his home."
"Is that so..." Wang Zhaoping frowned.
Could it be that he accidentally hit the passenger car again this time?
"Team Wang!" At this moment, Qin Xiaoru walked in from outside the door.
"We have searched the antique shops and found a total of ten cultural relics from the two stores, including three second-level cultural relics and the rest are third-level cultural relics."
"Are there any suspicious targets?" Wang Zhaoping asked.
"Experts have looked at it once, and there is no such thing." Qin Xiaoru shook her head.
Hearing this, Wang Zhaoping was immediately disappointed.
"Target? I said Lao Wang, you still came with a goal this time?
By the way, you can stretch your hands long enough, and you have planted spies on my territory without making a sound, you are really good!" The police officer on the side heard the smell and couldn't help but said.
"It's not like I'm overreaching. Lao Lin, you should also have received the document from above. Regarding that thing, to tell you the truth, I came here just for it!" Wang Zhaoping thought for a while and explained in a low voice.
One sentence.
"What?!" Lao Lin was startled, and then his eyes lit up instantly.
Compared to a dozen second- and third-level cultural relics and a small group of reselling cultural relics, if we could find that thing, the credit would be huge.
"I said, Lao Wang, you can't eat alone. You have to count on me for this."
"On your territory, I can still get around you, a local snake!"
"Okay! Where is that thing?"
"Nonsense, I'm just looking for it!"
"Yes, yes! I asked the brothers to continue searching. I will dig three feet into the ground to find out the things!"
Lao Lin got motivated and ordered his police officers to step up their investigation, looking for hidden tunnels and the like.
Ma Liang on the other side saw that the police had no intention of giving up, and instead searched more diligently. His face remained calm, but he felt a little uneasy in his heart. He couldn't help but glance in a certain direction quickly out of the corner of his eyes...
Even if the sentence is two or three years, as long as that thing is still there, the Ma family will still have the capital to make a comeback.
If that thing is found, then everything will be over...
Seeing Wang Zhaoping looking over again, Ma Liang quickly showed a wry smile.
"Officer, you have been searching for half an hour. My house is so big and everything is here. Even if I resell cultural relics, I can't keep the stolen goods in my own house, right?
You see, if I help a friend with his appraisal, that’s just a passing test, right?
There are many precious antiques in my house. If they are damaged, you will have to pay compensation!"
Ma Liang only wanted to end the search as soon as possible.
But to the ears of the experienced Wang Zhaoping, these words sounded like there was no silver in this place.
He was even more convinced that there must be something wrong in this old house!
I just walked around the house several times, and everyone almost dug out the bird's nest, but still couldn't find a single feather.
An hour passed and everyone still found nothing.
"Old Wang, how about I call a construction team to dig up this yard?" Lao Lin suggested.
When Ma Liang heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched, but he didn't express anything, looking indifferent.
Wang Zhaoping had been observing this guy's behavior and frowned when he saw this.
It's a bit unwilling to give up like this.
"Wait a moment, I'll make a call." Wang Zhaoping walked to the corner and took out his cell phone.
If you can't pick out the bones from this egg, you still have to ask the chicken that laid the egg...
Is this considered after-sales service?
"Hello? Who's there?" After a while, a slightly impatient voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Uh... I'm Wang Zhaoping!"
"Oh! Captain Wang, what's going on?" The voice softened slightly.
"Is such that……"
Therefore, Wang Zhaoping briefly introduced the current situation.
"Can't you find something? Wait a minute. There have been too many ups and downs in my life recently, and my mind is a little confused. Let me check the information."
Soon, there was the sound of someone flipping through the pages of a book on the other end of the phone.
Wang Zhaoping was speechless.
The message was just given to me three days ago, right? Life has been full of ups and downs and your mind is a little confused?
What have you experienced?
…
[No. 324, Zhujiajiao, Hangzhou, the shocking secret is hidden in the stone elephant...]
Found it! Sure enough, a good memory is not as good as a bad writing, not to mention someone like me who is an Alzheimer's reserve...
Meng Lang closed the notebook he used to record some key information, and then said to his mobile phone, "Is it convenient for you to start the video over there?"
"Uh...video? Convenient and convenient!"
So Meng Lang hung up the phone, logged into Fetion with his laptop, confirmed that the camera was in submersible mode, and then sent a video communication request to his friend "Archie".
Soon, a communication screen popped up on the computer monitor, with Wang Zhaoping's big face on it.
"Don't face me, show me your surroundings."
"good!"
The screen changed to the courtyard of an old house. As the video screen turned, Meng Lang carefully observed the environment inside.
When Wang Zhaoping cleared the house inside and outside, Meng Lang frowned slightly.
The area of this old house is not small, and there are quite a few stone statues inside. It seems that they were used as a town house. There are various statues of maids, stone lions at the door, and if you count the ones on the eaves of the roof, there are even more.
Do we need to carve out all these statues?
The video screen was still rotating. When the screen passed by a certain statue, Meng Lang was stunned for a moment...
Wait! Stone statue... stone elephant!
That’s right! What is written in the book is not the “image” of a character’s portrait, but the “image” of an elephant!
"stop!"
…
"The person making the call is Lao Wang's informant, right?"
Seeing Wang Zhaoping wandering around the yard with his mobile phone, Lao Lin looked confused.
Can you find something just like this?
"That should be it..." Qin Xiaoru stared thoughtfully at the mobile phone in Wang Zhaoping's hand.
The other end of the communication video was dark. Obviously the other party did not turn on the camera, but... the voice seemed familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere...
On the other side, Ma Liang stared closely at Wang Zhaoping's movements, but his persistence gave him a bad feeling.
"Stop!" Suddenly, a young man's voice came from the mobile phone.
"What's wrong?" Wang Zhaoping asked doubtfully.
"There's something wrong with that stone elephant!" The voice on the phone was extremely determined.
"Stone statue?" Wang Zhaoping didn't react for a moment. When he saw the elephant stone sculpture in front of him, he understood what Meng Lang was referring to.
Hearing the voice coming from the mobile phone, the others were fine, but Ma Liang was sweating from behind!
He suppressed the panic in his eyes and managed to stay calm, but his mind was buzzing.
Does the other party know? Why? Who is he?!
After hearing this, everyone immediately gathered around a pair of exquisite pure white elephant stone sculptures placed in front of the main reception hall.
Everyone looked at Wang Zhaoping's cell phone in astonishment.
A faint voice came from inside, "It's okay, cut it! If it doesn't come out, it's mine!"
this……
Wang Zhaoping's mind was buzzing. This scene seemed familiar?
I forgot that this guy is still a nouveau riche, but this feeling of being squandered with money... is quite refreshing. Why?
Lao Lin on the side was almost envious of him.
Is this an informant or a financial sponsor?
Even if you can find clues and read Feng Shui, you can also provide funds!?
There are such high-quality informants, please give me a dozen!
Ma Liang stood there blankly, completely despairing in his heart.
He only had one thought in his mind at this time...
What kind of cultural relic appreciation should I learn? I should learn Feng Shui and Kanyu!
Ma, who was deceived by "Meng's Feng Shui", let out a cry from his soul...