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The Antique World is Not for Amateurs
墨書 Inktalez
It was during my first year in the city for work that I encountered this incident. My expertise lay in being a homebody, focusing on chores like washing dishes and sweeping floors.
Upon arriving in the city, people looked down on me for my lack of education and the meager wages I earned. I often ate at a beef noodle shop next to the factory, and over time, I became familiar with the owner.
I called him Brother Ping, and one day, I was particularly happy after getting a good deal on the street.
When I entered the shop, I ordered extra beef and drinks, which caught Zhang Ping's attention.
He asked me if I had found a treasure today, why I seemed so cheerful.
I took out an antique I had bought cheaply from a migrant worker and showed it to him. It looked as if it had just been dug up from the ground and had some age to it.
Brother Ping glanced at it and said that it was made of fake resin, worth only a few dozen yuan wholesale. This made me look foolish as I insisted that I had paid 400 yuan for it.
Brother Ping told me I had been scammed; both the seller and the antique were fake, and now the person had already run off. He suggested I consider the 400 yuan as a lesson learned.
Curious, I asked him how he knew so much about it.
He sighed deeply and said he had done something similar in the past.
Back when he was in his early twenties, he mingled around society and learned those tricks. He would dress up as a migrant worker, sell fake antiques covered in dirt, claiming they were excavated from construction sites. He would squat at bus stations or hospitals where there were crowds, selling to those looking for bargains.
They would put on an innocent facade, approaching those who seemed gullible. Meanwhile, his accomplices would pose as bystanders, asking questions to draw in onlookers.
Zhang Ping had two accomplices: one named Liu Rentou and another named Liu Shangtian.
Liu Rentou blended into the crowd, pretending to be knowledgeable about antiques, while Liu Shangtian chimed in beside him, claiming that the fake antique was genuine and worth a fortune. Anyone who bought it would be considered lucky.
Zhang Ping took the opportunity to quote a price, as their intention was clearly focused on an old man, and the words were directed at him. The old man was holding a bag that clearly contained money. After selecting their target, Liu Rentou began negotiating with Zhang Ping, and they eventually settled on a price of 5,000.
However, Liu Rentou would use the excuse of not having enough money to persuade Zhang Ping to follow him to retrieve it. Zhang Ping would act hesitant, unwilling to go along, and then hurriedly put the items back into his bag and leave.
Liu Rentou would then deliberately whisper in the old man's ear, lamenting how unfortunate it was that if this item were taken to the Antique Market, it could easily fetch seventy or eighty thousand.
The old man fell for it, chasing after Zhang Ping to buy what he had in hand.
Zhang Ping pretended to be meek as he negotiated with the old man before selling him the items.
After the old man left, looking as if he had struck gold, Zhang Ping turned and ran to meet up with Liu Rentou and the others. The three of them quickly divided the money and went off to indulge themselves.
Zhang Ping spent the night drinking at a bar until he was completely intoxicated. Stumbling home, he noticed someone approaching from ahead. As he got closer, he realized it was the old man they had deceived earlier, now covered in blood and reaching out his hands toward him.
Startled, Zhang Ping fell onto the ground. To him, the old man looked more like a ghost than a living person.
In a panic for his life, he scrambled to his feet and ran away, but the old man pursued him with a broken leg dragging behind.
Just as Zhang Ping dashed out of the alley, a train suddenly came barreling down the tracks. He had no time to dodge; the car couldn’t stop in time and crashed right into him.
Zhang Ping tumbled several times before hitting the ground. In his dazed state, he saw the old man lunging toward him before everything faded to black.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a hospital.
He lay in bed for quite some time before calming down. Although his body ached all over, it didn’t hinder his movement.
He leaned against the wall and decided to head to the Nurse Station to ask how he ended up in the hospital.
As he walked to the Nurse Station, he overheard two nurses discussing a troubling matter. They mentioned that a patient's family member had used the money meant for his granddaughter's medical treatment to buy an antique. When he inquired at the Antique Shop, he discovered it was a fake, leaving the elderly man without the funds needed to treat his granddaughter.
In tears, he returned to the hospital, initially thinking he could sell the antique to cover her medical expenses, only to realize he had been deceived.
After leaving his granddaughter's hospital room, the old man jumped out of the window, dying instantly upon impact.
Zhang Ping felt a chill run down his spine as he listened; he knew the old man would come back for him in spirit.
After much hesitation, he went to see the gravely ill little girl and paid all the remaining money for her medical fees. Then he turned himself in at the police station and was sentenced to three years in prison.
During Brother Ping's time behind bars, Liu Rentou was robbed and stabbed three times in the abdomen. He was found only after bleeding out in a narrow alley.
Liu Shangtian also met his end in a traffic accident.
Zhang Ping believed that it was his change of heart that allowed the old man’s spirit to finally let him go.
Upon his release from prison, he turned over a new leaf, engaging in honest work and advising me to dispose of the fake antique so it wouldn’t cause harm to anyone else.
After leaving the noodle shop, I found a secluded spot and tossed the fake antique into the river.
As for whether Zhang Ping saw the old man's ghost seeking vengeance or if he was simply haunted by guilt, I could not say.
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