Chapter 7621
This is extortion
After carefully examining the porcelain fragments, Xiao Chen stood up and looked at Boss Fang: "Boss Fang, I came here to support your business, but you're trying to rip me off?"
Mr. Fang was taken aback, his face turning somewhat grim: "Mr. Xiao, I don't understand what you mean by that? Are you planning to renege on your debt just because this lady broke my antique?"
Xiao Chen chuckled: "This piece of junk is worth only a few dozen yuan even if I compensate you. You want fifty million? This thing is a fake!"
Upon hearing this, Boss Fang immediately lost his composure, a fleeting hint of panic even flashing in his eyes, but it instantly turned into anger: "Mr. Xiao, are you really planning to renege on your debt? I've been in this antique street for so many years, I'm a big shot, how could I possibly try to fool people with fakes? Don't try to smear my reputation!"
"Really?" Xiao Chen's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Should we have someone come and appraise it?"
“There’s no need for that!” Boss Fang shook his head directly. “I bought this porcelain vase at an auction overseas. It has a proper certificate of authenticity and complete auction records. You can’t possibly call it fake!”
Xiao Chen said calmly, "The real thing can't be faked, and the fake thing can't be made real. Anyone can forge a few certificates, but the item is here, so it can't be faked."
"Judging from the body, glaze, and blue-and-white color of this bottle, it looks exactly like a genuine official kiln porcelain, which shows that the imitation technique is quite good. Even an experienced collector might mistake it for a genuine piece."
"But you, Boss Fang, shouldn't be mistaken, right? You're a seasoned antique dealer, not just an ordinary player!"
"Take this sole, for example. It looks quite decent, but it's still different from the real thing. The genuine sole is neatly finished, the clay is fine, the color is white with a slight gray tinge, and it feels warm and smooth to the touch, without any roughness!"
"But if you look closely, you'll see that the body is coarse and loose, the color is yellowish, and the texture is very rough and grainy. It's clearly a high-quality imitation from modern times, and it could never be an authentic piece from the official kiln!"
As he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on Boss Fang, and he noticed that Boss Fang's face was truly a whirlwind of emotions. Perhaps Boss Fang hadn't expected that Xiao Chen would be so familiar with genuine official kiln pieces from the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.
His expression changed several times, but Boss Fang ultimately decided to stick to his guns. He gritted his teeth and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Even if you're an expert, you can't just spout off like that. I'm sure I haven't offended you!"
"No matter what you say, this bottle is absolutely genuine. If you don't believe me, I can easily hire an expert to take a look. If it's fake, I won't make you pay for it."
Xiao Chen smiled and said, "It's fine to invite experts, but you can't just invite them. How about we both choose an expert that we can both accept? But I bet you'll be crying later."
"I'm giving you face now. Just admit it obediently and you won't lose anything. But if you're not convinced by what I just said, have you noticed that there's a bigger problem?"
"What problem?" Boss Fang was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting that Xiao Chen would find another flaw.
Judging from Xiao Chen's confident demeanor, he didn't seem to be lying.
Xiao Chen pointed to the bottom of the porcelain bottle and said directly, "Actually, I had already carefully observed this bottle before it broke. Its bottom has very obvious and regular polishing marks. The edges are too smooth, and there are really no traces of artificial repair."
"So what?" Mr. Fang asked, puzzled.
Yun Yuyan was also completely bewildered.
Xiao Chen continued, "What's wrong? Doesn't Boss Fang know that the bases of Yongle imperial kiln porcelain were all hand-finished, with natural and smooth lines, and there would never be such neat machine polishing marks... This forger is not doing a good job either, actually using machine polishing, it's a bit shameful."
Mr. Fang's face turned pale. He really didn't expect Xiao Chen to know so much about the official kiln porcelain from the Yongle period.
Even this small flaw was discovered.
But now that things have come to this, it's absolutely impossible to get him to admit his mistake. We have to be firm to the end, otherwise not only will we not get the 50 million, but we might also be extorted.
"Hmph, no matter what you say, it's just your side of the story. These polishing marks could be from a collector who thought the bottom looked bad and added them unnecessarily. You can't say it's fake just because of that." Boss Fang stuck his neck out and refused to admit that there was anything wrong with his item.
Xiao Chen's face showed a sneer: "You really won't shed tears until you see the coffin. The treasure that cost fifty million to sell at an overseas auction, the crown jewel of your store, is just casually displayed there, and the bottom is usually suspended in the air. I even suspect that you are deliberately trying to extort money, no, this is fraud!"
"Besides, in such a clean antique shop like yours, there's a puddle of water under that display shelf. Does that make sense?"
"Finally, I should remind you, have you looked at the broken surface of this bottle?"
He paused, squatted down, picked up another piece of shard, and handed it to Boss Fang:
"There's one more thing, look for yourself... where the bottle is broken, at the cross-section, between the glaze and the body, there's a layer of white substance mixed in, it's quite obvious."
"Do you know what that is? That's a kind of cosmetic clay commonly used in counterfeit products. It's used to cover up the roughness and imperfections of the base material, making the base material look more delicate and shiny, and closer to the texture of the genuine product!"
As Xiao Chen recounted his story, exposing his lies step by step, Boss Fang became quite alarmed.
He thought he had been careful and cautious enough, but he never expected that everything he did was so utterly incompetent in front of Xiao Chen, and he was exposed one by one.
To be honest, he was extremely panicked at that moment.
Lian Yunyuyan finally understood: "You, Boss Fang, I knew it! Everything else is so clean, but there's a puddle of water here. That's so strange. So you did it on purpose? You think we're rich and should be your suckers?"
Boss Fang's expression changed drastically, even turning fierce: "Enough nonsense, you have to pay up today. No matter what, this is a genuine product, and you're the one who broke it. If you don't pay up, don't even think about leaving here. Do you really think that I, surnamed Fang, am someone to be trifled with?"
The fiercer he became, the more it revealed his inner tension.
Yun Yuyan finally understood. It turned out that she had fallen into someone else's trap from the very beginning, starting as soon as she went up to the second floor.
"You bastard, Mr. Fang! What's the difference between this and outright robbery? I'm calling the police!"
Yun Yuyan cried out. If Xiao Chen hadn't been there today, she would have really been fooled by this old man, which would have been so unfair.
She looked at Xiao Chen, somewhat apologetic, and said, "Xiao Chen, this is my fault. I shouldn't have been so curious. If I hadn't come near the antique shop, this wouldn't have happened. I..."
“You’re not wrong, he’s the one who’s wrong! Even if you don’t get into trouble today, someone else will. We’ve run into this situation, so we have to deal with it.”
At this point, Xiao Chen was already somewhat angry.
He hadn't originally intended to make a big deal out of it. If Boss Fang apologized and admitted his mistake, the matter would be over.
But the other party was so aggressive that they even dared to threaten him, which made him very unhappy.
The first thing this person absolutely cannot do is suffer a loss!
He immediately took out his phone, intending to call the police.
Since Boss Fang is determined to go down this dark path, Xiao Chen will play along to the end. (End of Chapter)