Chapter 241: Does Adding “yongle” Make It Valuable?
On the other side, after returning to the courtyard house and storing his night-walking clothes in the space, Cao Weida was in a good mood as he lay back down in bed.
Tonight he had killed so many little devils, which finally relieved his depressed mood.
Sleep, sleep!
He slept until broad daylight, and after the special wake-up service ended, he ate a little food and immediately rushed to the police station.
Such a big incident happened last night, so today’s gossip must have spread like wildfire!
Sure enough, while he was reporting for duty, he heard the surrounding patrolmen all discussing the matter.
“Cao’er, have you heard? It was lively last night!” Duomen came over, excitedly saying:
“You wouldn’t believe it, but the Bamboo Agency was attacked last night. A team of little devil patrolmen was wiped out, and more than ten special agents from the Bamboo Agency were also killed. It was horrific.”
“It’s not just the Bamboo Agency.” Little Ear also came over, his face full of excitement, and anyone could tell he was in a good mood.
“You know the East Asia Academic Research Association, right? It was attacked last night too. I even went to check it out. The bullet holes were the same as those at the Bamboo Agency—one look and you could tell they were bullets from a Type 92 heavy machine gun.”
“I reckon these two attacks were done by the same group. Maybe the little devils are fighting among themselves!”
The East Asia Academic Research Association and the Bamboo Agency were some distance apart, so no one would think the attacks on both places were done by the same group.
After all, a Type 92 heavy machine gun weighs quite a bit, a full 55.3 kilograms!
That’s over 110 catties!
Who could carry a heavy machine gun weighing over 100 catties, evade layer after layer of search and arrest, and in just ten minutes run to another location to commit another crime?
That’s simply impossible!
From the start, they automatically ruled out the most correct answer.
“Where did you get that conclusion from? How did you even think of little devil infighting?” Cao Weida had a strange look on his face. Where did that come from?
That was too imaginative!
“Big Brother Cao, isn’t it obvious?” Little Ear looked around and whispered: “The assassins used Japanese-style hand grenades and Type 92 heavy machine guns!”
“Besides the little devils’ regular troops, who else could have those weapons?”
“Plus, with so many patrol teams searching last night, they didn’t find a single hair. Isn’t that too suspicious?”
“A heavy machine gun that big isn’t something you can just hide easily! Only their own people could pull that off.”
“Maybe it’s because of disagreements over internal profit distribution, so they took the opportunity for revenge!”
This line of reasoning left Cao Weida speechless.
If he hadn’t done the deed himself, he might have almost believed it.
He couldn’t help but curiously ask: “Who came up with this theory? Who else knows?”
“Hey, basically all the patrolmen at the police station know. Everyone’s been talking about last night’s incident.”
In any era, there are no shortage of clever people, and everyone has the vanity of wanting to be worshipped and thinking they’re smarter than others.
Just like that, an incident with no leads, after a few rounds of discussion, gradually led to them deducing the ‘truth’.
“Alright, it’s fine to talk about it privately, but don’t go blabbing to others.”
Just as he was about to enter the office building, he spotted a familiar face walking in from outside.
“Yo, Patrol Officer Lu, what happened to you?”
The person who came in was none other than Patrol Officer Lu Ju. Patrol Officer Lu’s originally somewhat dark face was now pale as a ghost, and anyone with eyes could tell something was wrong.
It seemed like he had been scared?
Seeing it was Cao Weida greeting him, Lu Ju forced a smile, wanting to say something but holding it back.
After the two entered the office building, Lu Ju didn’t go to his own office but followed to Cao Weida’s office.
As soon as they went in, he closed the door and then words came pouring out.
It turned out that last night, Lu Ju had been ‘on duty’ near the Bamboo Agency. Though he didn’t see the massacre in the second half of the night firsthand, he was the first to see the horrific scene at the site.
After seeing the state of those devils, he was utterly terrified.
“Cao Ye, you wouldn’t believe it. We only just finished processing the scene this morning. That horrific sight…” Lu Ju spoke with fear, his voice trembling:
“The more than ten who rushed out the door were still the lucky ones—at least their corpses were somewhat intact. But the Taijun nearby were blown to bits, and from twenty people, they couldn’t even piece together three complete corpses.”
“We hadn’t even finished here when someone reported that the East Asia Academic Research Association had been hit too…”
At this point, he paused, looking at Cao Weida with a hint of admiration in his eyes, and sincerely said:
“Now I finally understand what you told me before. What you’re doing is the right way—not bullying the people in your jurisdiction, not doing wicked things.”
“They’re killing their own people so brutally, let alone what they’d do to us…”
“Isn’t the massacre at the East Asia Academic Research Association the best proof?”
Cao Weida quickly made a hush gesture and whispered: “Keep it down! Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“It’s fine to say this to me, but if the Taijun find out, that’ll be the end!”
“You, just don’t overthink it. Taking care of yourself is the right path.”
“Yes, yes, you’re right. With just that little salary a month, why risk your life?” Lu Ju answered irrelevantly, his mind clearly a bit off.
Cao Weida understood this; it was clear he hadn’t recovered from the fright yet.
Lu Ju was the slippery type by nature. Calling him a good person wouldn’t be accurate—he’d done plenty of taking bribes, extorting, and colluding with crooks before, pocketing quite a bit of dirty money.
But saying he was really bad wouldn’t be fair either.
After all, in these times, that kind of thing was completely normal. Everyone did it; not going along with the flow would make you stand out.
It was also because Cao Weida was brought in by Duomen, and Duomen was quite popular in relationships.
Plus, later Cao Weida latched onto Ono Shiota’s thigh, so he wasn’t squeezed out. Otherwise, his days might not have been so easy.
Now, with Lu Ju ‘turning over a new leaf’, even if it didn’t help the War of Resistance much, it was a big benefit for the people in his jurisdiction.
Next, Lu Ju ‘blah blah blahed’ asking for advice on how he managed his jurisdiction, then eagerly ran back to convene his sergeants and start ideological work.
In the afternoon, as Cao Weida lazily planned to head back for some rest, the telephone rang.
“Hello, who is it?”
“Cao Ye, it’s me, Lou Zhenhua. The item is ready. When are you free to take a look?”
“So fast?”
Cao Weida was a bit surprised. It had only been a day, and he’d already found something good?
“General Manager Lou, I’m telling you, don’t try to fool me, or I won’t be able to account for it.”
“Oh come on, Cao Ye, how could you say that? I’d never dare fool the Taijun!” Lou Zhenhua’s voice on the phone sounded very aggrieved.
“Ever since you mentioned it, I’ve called in a lot of favors. Only through a friend’s introduction did I get this from his friend’s collection. Hearing is believing, seeing is truth. Why don’t you come take a look yourself?”
Cao Weida had no objection. Anyway, he had nothing else here, so he agreed.
About twenty minutes later, it was the same sedan as last time, driver still Xu Wude. They drove straight to the Lou Mansion, exchanged brief pleasantries at the door, and everyone went inside the room.
Lou Yaozu, Lou Zhenhua, and Cao Weida went into the study room and closed the door. On the desk in the study room was a square box.
Lou Zhenhua went over, opened the box, and said, “Cao Ye, please take a look!”
Inside the box lay a blue and white porcelain cup about the size of a tiger’s mouth, the kind generally used for drinking tea.
He curiously picked it up, looked left and right, but didn’t see anything special about the cup.
It was pretty, sure, but nothing standout; it looked quite ordinary.
“This is…???”
If he didn’t know, he’d just ask. He didn’t think there was any shame in that.
Being shameful would be pretending to know and getting called out—that would be truly embarrassing.
He already thought his own life was ordinary; even the porcelain in his siheyuan, all new pieces fired in the Republic of China era, looked stately and nice.
（Those interested can search for Republic of China imperial porcelain, Republic of China famille rose new art porcelain, and Republic of China daily porcelain—they’re absolutely stunning.）
“Cao Ye, let me introduce this. This cup is called a Ming Yongle Blue and White Hand-pressing Cup. Surviving examples are extremely rare. If I hadn’t called in a huge favor with that friend to persuade the seller, he wouldn’t have been willing to part with it.” Lou Yaozu’s eyes showed rarity, his gaze reluctant.
“If it weren’t for the factory, I absolutely wouldn’t let go of such a fine item.”
“Oh?” Cao Weida was quite surprised. Was a small cup like this so valuable?
He directly asked the price: “So how much is this worth?”
“…” Though he found it a bit crude, Lou Yaozu still told the truth: “Since it was all through connections, no extra markup. It cost a total of 8000 silver dollars.”
“?!?!!”
So expensive?!
This broken little cup actually matched the price of that Yongle blue and white porcelain he bought?
Could it be that any antique with ‘Yongle’ on it was especially valuable?
Whatever, as long as he confirmed this thing was worth 8000 silver dollars!
He put the cup back in the box. “I’ll take this for now. Wait for my news.”
With that, he picked up the box and walked straight out.
After leaving the Lou Mansion, Cao Weida declined Xu Wude’s offer to drive him and hailed a rickshaw to head to Professor Luo’s address.
Professor Luo was from Yanjing University faculty. In this era, his salary wasn’t low.
Especially since his family was a scholarly lineage, his family circumstances weren’t bad.
Though not a grand mansion, it was quite respectable.
Especially the couplet on the main gate: “Spring spirit of growing flowers and trees, wondrous heart from reading and savoring incense.” Reading it brought a wave of scholarly air.
“Truly worthy of a scholarly family!”
He praised inwardly, confirmed it was the place, walked up to knock, but unexpectedly the door opened by itself—and it was a girl.
