"You better be careful, those are Ming Dynasty blue and whites, hey! That’s Nephrite Jade, don’t knock it!"
"Oh officer, could there be so kind of misunderstanding here? Look, I really don’t have any illegal artifacts.
Three generations of the Ma family have lived here, and the neighbors can all vouch for , I wouldn’t dare commit any cris!"
In the courtyard of the old house, antiques and scrolls were already laid out, and five or six policen wearing white gloves were inventorying the items, and an expert called in by Wang Zhao Ping from the Provincial Museum was appraising each piece.
Ma Liang’s heart was thumping, but his face remained calm, seemingly more concerned about his antiques.
"Dare not commit cris?" Wang Zhao Ping laughed.
"Since you are an expert in this field, you must surely know the relevant laws, right? Tell , do the bronze wine vessel and ceramic bowl you just acquired today count as illegal if you sell them?"
Ma Liang felt a jolt in his heart.
So that was the problem!
He must have been followed earlier! Now he rembered, he had seen this policeman in the morning, no wonder he looked so familiar.
But how did he end up being targeted?
"Stop holding out hope, your accomplices have already confessed, including that taxi driver, and those two antique shop owners.
You’re in charge of appraising and purchasing black market artifacts, then handing them over to another network to be smuggled into the Bay Area, and then transported by truck to Xiangjiang to find buyers or auction, isn’t that the process?"
According to dostic law, artifacts unearthed after 1949 are prohibited from being bought and sold or collected, while artifacts from before the early Qing can be collected but may not be sold or taken out of the country.
With the smuggling process explained so clearly, Ma Liang felt even more panicked, but he didn’t give up struggling.
"Officer, this is a misunderstanding. I was just entrusted by others to help a friend look for a couple of antiques, and they were even replicas. I had no idea they were prohibited genuine items!
I don’t know anything about smuggling either!"
Ma Liang knew that if the other accomplices confessed, he couldn’t escape from being a secondary offender. Now he could only hope to reduce his charges as much as possible.
Although it was an excuse, his claim did align with the market.
The excavation ti, value, and authenticity of antiques are very hard to define; even the most top-level Artifact Appraisers can’t always make accurate judgnts.
With the rampant counterfeiting chaos in the dostic artifact market, nearly 95% of the so-called precious antiques on the market are replicas.
With modern counterfeiting techniques, even in the national treasures stored in museums ho and abroad, you can’t clearly say whether they are real or fake, let alone other less noticeable so-called antiques.
"Not smuggling, but illicit trading of artifacts, what do you need all these gold bars for then? Looks like you have a substantial family fortune!"
Wang Zhao Ping sneered as he pointed at the five or six gold bars that had just been discovered, the value of which was probably in the hundreds of thousands.
"Heh... hehe! As the saying goes, antiquities thrive in peaceful tis, gold in chaotic tis, I’m just making early preparations."
"You’re quite thorough in your preparations!"
"Officer, my family has been in the antiques business for three generations and is quite well-known on this street. If it wasn’t for many being confiscated after the founding of the country, let alone these gold bars, my family’s fortune might be one or two billion now. That can’t be considered illegal inco, right?"
Wang Zhao Ping found it amusing; Ma Liang’s words carried quite a bit of resentnt.
"So, for a family fortune of one or two billion, you chose to take risks?"
"No, no, no! That’s not what I an..."
"Elder Wang, co here for a mont." Just then, a square-faced middle-aged policeman waved at Wang Zhao Ping from a distance.
"Elder Lin, what’s the situation?" Wang Zhao Ping walked over.
"The expert has appraised everything. There are thirty-four antiques in total here, mostly from the Ming and Qing Dynasty era.
Though they are collectively worth over a million, they are fairly common on the market and don’t include any prohibited items.
"No prohibited items?" Wang Zhao Ping frowned and scanned the scene.
Indeed, he didn’t see the gold, silver, bronze, iron, or stone statues that he was looking for.
"How’s the background check on this guy?" Wang Zhao Ping asked sowhat unwillingly.
"We’ve asked the neighbors, and they only know that Ma Liang has always liked antiques and mostly hangs around with people from the sa circle. He rarely goes on long trips and doesn’t show anything suspicious on the surface.
It’s said that the Ma family was a renowned collector during the Republic era, but by Ma Liang’s father’s generation, due to gambling, the family fortune was lost, and many items were sold.
It’s reasonable for his family to still have so antiques."
"Is that so..." Wang Zhao Ping frowned.
Could this have been a false lead?
"Captain Wang!" At that mont, Qin Xiaoru walked in from outside.
"We’ve searched those antique stores; about a dozen artifacts were seized from the two shops, including three-level two artifacts, the rest are three-level artifacts."
"Any suspicious targets?" Wang Zhao Ping asked.
"The expert has looked over them all already, no," Qin Xiaoru shook her head.
Hearing this, Wang Zhao Ping was sowhat disappointed.
"Targets? I say, Elder Wang, you ca here with a specific target in mind?
I must say, it’s quite bold of you to plant spies on my turf without making a sound, you really pulled it off!" An officer nearby caught the drift and couldn’t help but comnt.
"It’s not overstepping boundaries, Elder Lin, you should have received the docunt from the higher-ups too, about that item. I’m here specifically for that," Wang Zhao Ping thought for a mont then explained in a low voice.
Reviews
All reviews (0)