Chapter 79: Family Heirloom Craft, Fire Dragon Burns The Warehouse
“Minister Suzuhara, this is a Yuan dynasty celadon hidden dragon bottle. The market price is at least fifty thousand silver dollars.”
“Do you think this thing can catch Lord Otani’s eye?”
Suzuhara Shingo glanced at the celadon vase in Chen Yang’s hand and slowly nodded. “It is indeed a good thing.”
“However, after work hours, let’s not talk about business.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Chen Yang nodded repeatedly. “It’s me who doesn’t know the rules. After work, we should relax properly.”
“Minister Suzuhara, my family is waiting for me to go back for dinner, so I’ll head out first.”
“Mr. Chen, are you leaving now?” Ino Yusuke quickly stood up. “Sit down and have a drink together. I—”
Before Ino Yusuke could finish, Suzuhara Shingo raised his hand to interrupt him and smiled. “Having dinner with family is more important than anything. Mr. Chen, I won’t keep you.”
“Minister Suzuhara, goodbye.” Chen Yang stood up, bowed to the two men, and turned crisply to leave the private room.
After Chen Yang left, Ino Yusuke said somewhat reproachfully, “Uncle, weren’t you a bit too cold?”
“Mr. Chen didn’t say anything either, and he even brought you such an expensive gift.”
Suzuhara Shingo shook his head at Ino Yusuke. “You, compared to Mr. Chen, are far behind.”
“Do you even know what he wants me to help him with?”
Ino Yusuke was somewhat puzzled. The two of them hadn’t said more than a few words from start to finish, and there was no mention of any specific matter in their conversation. Yet Suzuhara Shingo looked as if he was in a difficult position.
“Uncle, I don’t understand. Didn’t Mr. Chen ask you for anything?”
Suzuhara Shingo sighed. “What he wants is not simple at all. He wants me to cover for him, and moreover, the price he’s offering is not low.”
“I’m certain his hole is not small at all.”
Ino Yusuke was completely baffled and had no idea what the two of them had actually said in their brief exchange. “Uncle, I still don’t understand.”
Suzuhara Shingo took off his glasses, took out the handkerchief from his pocket, and carefully wiped them while slowly saying, “His meaning is very simple. Something happened at the material warehouse. Someone wants to tamper with it. But they are afraid of leaving traces. The inbound and outbound materials don’t match the numbers on the report, so they want to find someone to smooth out the accounts.”
“Mr. Chen is representing these people to find me. He has already offered the price. I need to consider whether this person is hiding something else.”
Ino Yusuke instantly reacted. “Uncle, do you mean someone wants to use this material warehouse explosion to write off some materials that never existed?”
“I understand. This is just the trick the Chinese people always use—fire dragon burns the warehouse.”
“Mr. Chen is a shrewd businessman. He must have taken some benefits for doing this. Uncle, I think you’re overcomplicating it.”
“Is that so?” Suzuhara Shingo smiled faintly, a playful smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. “You only see the surface. I think the matter is not that simple.”
“I suspect the gold lost in the warehouse is not as reported by Major Ando.”
“A problem with the gold? No way?” Ino Yusuke frowned. “Ando-kun checked the scene several times and confirmed that those Loyal Salvation Army members escaped through the sewers. There was only that much gold on site. What do you think is wrong?”
“The numbers, the numbers don’t add up.” Suzuhara Shingo put on his glasses. “According to Major Ando’s report, the Loyal Salvation Army action team had only a dozen or so people.”
“Yet the lost gold amounts to a full eight hundred thirty kilograms, with only three and a half boxes left on site, about one hundred seventy kilograms.”
“If there were really only a dozen people, they would need to load nearly seventeen boxes of gold into special containers and take them away in just a few minutes.”
“The timing doesn’t match, and moreover, a dozen people carrying over eight hundred kilograms of gold would mean at least seventy kilograms per person.”
“That means each person carrying a one hundred forty jin heavy load and still evacuating in a short time.”
“According to the report from the investigation team, the traces they left in the tunnel show each person carried at most about thirty kilograms, so as not to affect normal movement.”
“So, I think the number of lost gold is wrong.”
Ino Yusuke was somewhat confused. “Uncle, do you think the gold is related to Mr. Chen?”
“But Ando-kun speculated that someone in the sewer was providing support for their action. Maybe the gold was transported out by other people?”
“That possibility exists.” Suzuhara Shingo laughed. “However, if I were Mr. Chen and had some shady gold on hand, I would definitely choose a suitable reason to divert the Special Higher Police Affairs Investigation Team’s attention, like materials.”
Ino Yusuke frowned tightly, drank several cups of tea in a row, and suddenly his eyes lit up. “Uncle, I get it.”
“What you mean is, the gold in the material warehouse never amounted to one ton to begin with. Mr. Chen skimmed some off, then framed the Loyal Salvation Army that raided the warehouse.”
“Now with the material warehouse explosion, someone wants to make an issue of the warehouse explosion. Mr. Chen invites you to meet under the pretext of helping them, but actually wants to feint to the east and attack to the west, diverting the investigation target.”
“After all, the gold loss can be blamed on the Loyal Salvation Army, but for material losses, they will definitely come after the Special Higher Police Affairs.”
“Once the Special Higher Police Affairs Investigation Team focuses their work on materials, they naturally won’t have time to check the exact numbers on the gold loss.”
“Uncle, if we speculate this way, do you think Mr. Chen might be in cahoots with the Loyal Salvation Army?”
Suzuhara Shingo shook his head. “If he were with the Loyal Salvation Army, he wouldn’t have left three and a half boxes of gold. He could have simply done an inside-outside collusion and robbed it when the gold arrived in Shanghai.”
“I think his goal is still to fish in troubled waters. Now it seems the waters are muddy enough, and the big fish has been caught by him.”
“The remaining small fish are just to distract attention.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, this person can be said to be the most formidable young man I’ve ever seen in my life. Perfectly calculated, able to draw everyone in without a sound. Not simple at all.”
“Yusuke, you must learn well from him. I don’t ask for much—if you can learn even one percent of his ability, I can retire with peace of mind.”
Hearing Suzuhara Shingo’s evaluation, Ino Yusuke was clearly unconvinced. “Uncle, you say Mr. Chen is so formidable, yet he prepared just this wine vessel as a gift for you. And no matter how I look at it, this wine vessel doesn’t seem real.”
“You’re right,” Suzuhara Shingo chuckled lightly. “This thing is of course fake, and fake to the extreme. The person who made this didn’t even bother to disguise it. I’m sure, for goods like this, you can buy three on the ancient street stall for one silver dollar.”
“Ah?” Ino Yusuke’s expression changed. “Uncle, what does Mr. Chen mean by this? Are you saying he’s toying with you?”
“Foolish. Whether the thing is real or fake doesn’t matter. What’s important is the slip.” Suzuhara Shingo pointed to the Wanxiang Ju slip in the brocade box. “Take this slip to Wanxiang Ju. The boss will see the slip and without a word, immediately give you thirty thousand silver dollars.”
“At this point, do you still think whether this wine vessel is real or fake matters?”
Ino Yusuke was instantly stunned. After a long moment, he cautiously asked, “Uncle, by your reasoning, the vase Mr. Chen gave is also fake?”
“No wonder it looks just like the one at the toilet entrance…”
Just as he spoke, the private room door was pushed open. The boss lady came in carrying exquisite dishes. Seeing the bottle on the table, she muttered, “Ino-kun, I was wondering why the vase at the toilet entrance was gone. Ino-kun, what are you doing with this vase? This is stall goods, not valuable…”
Before Ino Yusuke could speak, Suzuhara Shingo said faintly, “Yusuke, you must watch this vase carefully. It is now worth fifty thousand silver dollars.”
“What?” As soon as Suzuhara Shingo spoke, Ino Yusuke and the boss lady almost simultaneously covered their mouths in shock.
