"Old Qi!" I shouted in the courtyard, "Come out here. I know you are inside. Do you think you can hide if you don't answer my call?"
I think Lao Qi really didn't expect that I would go straight to the door to look for him, but he was startled, and when he heard my voice, he ran out in panic. But when he saw that I was really here, he hurriedly tried to close the door, intending to keep us out.
I'm here, how can I let this old boy succeed? He strode forward, blocked the door, and cursed: "You old thief, I'm really blind. I should have known you were so blind to money." My Lord, I won’t make friends with you at all.”
Lao Qi felt ashamed of me and said with shame: "Li Rui, just spare me this time. I am also forced to have no choice."
"Forced? Who forced you? Mu Yunhe?" I asked.
"Oh, this is not as simple as you think, so don't ask." Lao Qi pushed the door hard, trying to drive me out.
I felt that something must have happened to this old boy, so I pushed Old Qi away from the door with all my strength. Seeing that the situation was over, Lao Qi stopped struggling, sighed, and let me in.
At this time, Lin Xiaoyu also walked in. She nodded politely to Lao Qi and said, "Sorry, Uncle Qi, I came to you without saying hello. I hope you don't mind."
Lao Qi nodded awkwardly and said, "Miss Lin, please come in."
Lao Qi poured two glasses of water, then sat back on the chair with a sigh and said, "I know you will definitely come to me."
"Now that you know, let's be lenient if we confess."
"Yes, Uncle Qi, didn't you tell me personally that Li Rui had the "Picture of the King Sending His Son Off" in his hand? Why did you lie to me?" Lin Xiaoyu also asked.
Lao Qi shook his head and said, "Miss Lin, I'm sorry, I lied to you, but I really have something to hide about this matter."
"What's so unspeakable?" I asked.
Lao Qi glanced at me and then said: "It's Mu Yunhe. Two years ago, he set up a trap for me. He took advantage of me, so..."
"I tricked you, what's going on?"
Lao Qi sighed and asked: "Do you still remember my Yuan blue and white Zhaojun Chuchu pattern jar?"
"Remember, isn't it your pet peeve?" I nodded.
"Forget it, it was this big jar that caused me so much trouble." Lao Qi said regretfully, "Mu Yunhe asked people to find me many times and said he wanted to buy this big jar, but I refused many times. But some time ago , I fell in love with a celadon cup. Because the other party's price was higher and I didn't have enough funds, I reluctantly sold this big jar. At first, Mu Yunhe was very happy and directly took out five million. I was anxious. To raise funds, I didn’t pay much attention to him. Unexpectedly, two days later, Mu Yunhe came to his door with someone and said that the Yuan blue and white Zhaojun jar with plug pattern I gave him was a fake, and he also took out the appraisal certificate from the auction house. , said he wanted to go to the TV station to expose me."
Lao Qi paused and said: "I, Qi Guozhong, have been upright and upright in my life. I have never sold a fake, but I don't want to break my halberd on this Yuan blue and white Zhaojun Chuchu pattern jar. A tree wants skin and a person wants face. I know this. If the incident was revealed, my Qi Guozhong's reputation would be completely ruined, so I was blinded by lard at that time and begged Mu Yunhe not to expose it. I was willing to bear all his losses."
In the antique circle, it is the most normal thing to make mistakes. Even if you are a national treasure expert, you may make mistakes sometimes. However, there is a particularly bad atmosphere in this industry, which is malicious competition among peers, and they may even resort to any means to bring down each other. The most effective and common method is to know the fake and buy the fake, and then discredit the other party and completely lose their foothold.
Lao Qi fell into Mu Yunhe's trick of "knowing the fake and buying the fake", and Mu Yunhe was a cunning man. He knew Lao Qi's character very well, he was a face-hungry man, and he would definitely compromise with him in order to preserve his reputation. It was like taking hold of Lao Qi's destiny and becoming a tool that he could use at will.
After listening, I couldn't help but sigh: "Lao Qi, you are confused!"
Lao Qi regretted his mistake and said: "Li Rui, Mu Yunhe is a very cunning person. He must have an ulterior motive in designing to harm me. If I guessed correctly, he was so diligent in setting up connections for Miss Lin and giving instructions." I deceived Miss Lin, and it must have been an unjust act to bring trouble."
I glanced at him and asked: "Since you know that he is harboring trouble, why did you try to trick me into it again and make me provoke you?"
"Li Rui, I know I'm sorry for you, but I can't help it. Who told Mu Yunhe to ask me by name to tell me that "The Picture of the King's Delivering a Son" is in your hands, but if I have other candidates to choose from, I won’t bring trouble to you either.”
Lao Qi's words were astonishing.
I was stunned for a moment and asked, "What did you say? Mu Yunhe told you to say that?"
"Yeah, I'm still wondering, wondering if there's something going on between you two."
"What's the problem between me and him? He's a big boss in the antique circle, and I'm just a small owner of an antique shop. I can't do anything like that."
"That's weird. When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. What does Mu Yunhe want to do?" Lao Qi also frowned.
I pondered my thoughts and followed Lao Qi's words, "It seems that Mu Yunhe is here for me, but what is the connection between me, the Lin family and "The Picture of the King Sending His Son Off"?"
After saying that, Lao Qi and I looked at Lin Xiaoyu at the same time.
Lin Xiaoyu was a little embarrassed by the two of us, and said awkwardly: "I probably understand what you are saying, but I really don't know what this matter has to do with Li Rui. I want to buy "The King Sends a Child", purely I want to use it to pay off my father’s debt.”
"That's all!" After finishing speaking, Lin Xiaoyu may have felt that it was not enough, so she added another sentence.
"Ms. Lin, don't get me wrong. We don't believe you. It's just that the circumstances and consequences of how things have developed so far are a bit bizarre."
Lin Xiaoyu nodded and said: "Yeah, I also think what you said is quite incredible. I really didn't expect that this old Mu is such a scheming person. It's a shame that I still trust him so much."
"Ms. Lin, can you please tell me how you met Mu Yunhe?" I asked.
"What's the inconvenience? Mu Yunhe is a friend of my dad's. At that time, he heard that my dad was asking about the whereabouts of "The Picture of the King Sending His Son", so he took the initiative to come to the door and said that he knew a friend who might have something in his hand. There is this painting. Then, I contacted him and was introduced to Uncle Qi through him. You all know what happened next."
"That's weird. I had no grudges with Mu Yunhe in the past or recently. Why would he make fun of me?" I wondered.
Lao Qi glared at me and asked: "Hey, I said you kid didn't catch someone else's clams, did you? I heard that Mu Yunhe eats a lot of meat, and he has countless mistresses."
"Go away, the more you talk, the more outrageous you are. I won't catch anyone else's clams. Besides, you don't know what's going on with me. I can barely feed myself, but fishing for clams is no better than catching ghosts."
Hearing our conversation, Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh. But seeing us looking up at her, I felt embarrassed and said awkwardly: "I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay, I've long been used to it." I said nonchalantly.
Immediately, I said to Lao Qi: "Lao Qi, Mu Yunhe will definitely not end this matter so hastily. He will definitely come to you again. You must be careful this time no matter what. You must take him Find out the true motive."
"Don't worry, I know what to do." Lao Qi nodded.
"Okay, we'll leave if there's nothing else. You have to be careful, lest Mu Yunhe trouble you." I warned.
After saying that, Lin Xiaoyu and I got up and left the ancient house.
In the narrow old alley, there is a lonely sky, a few alleys scattered with broken monuments and broken stones, weeds scattered at the base of the walls, and a few familiar shepherd's purse trees spreading their green leaves and swaying in the wind.
The dust of history has long obliterated the scenery of the past, but now, Dataimen is unwilling to be left alone and has traveled through thousands of years of time, exuding many fascinating and daydream charms, allowing future generations to recall endlessly...
When we left the ancient village, looking back, the smoke rising from the mountains, the loud braying of cattle and sheep, the cries of chickens and ducks competing for food, and the gurgling stream of Xiaoshun Jiangnan disappeared in our eyes again.
As I got on the bus back, my thoughts became confused again.
Although I have always been reluctant to think about this, the clues I have so far have given me a vague feeling that Mu Yunhe is here for me, and how can he, a well-known big shot in the antiques circle, treat me like a little There is probably only one reason why the owner of the antique shop is so interested, and that is that he may have figured out the true identity of my Dragon-seeking Taibao. He brought me into the game because he probably wanted me to do some shady business for him.
I involuntarily pinched my left ring finger, as I always do when I'm upset. Because this is a memory engraved in our genes, as long as you pinch your fingers, your heart will calm down.
