noveltune Chapter 16: The Changing Landscape
Chapter 16: The Changing Landscape
Cheng Xiaojin was squatting under the tap in her rented room washing her face, her face covered in cold water, when her phone rang.
The number displayed is that of Master Qi.
He shook the water droplets off his hands and held the phone between his ear and shoulder to answer the call.
"Third Master, is tomorrow's matter settled?"
"It's settled, but the rules have changed."
Qi Sanye's voice was very low, and there were birds chirping in the background, as if he were strolling in a park.
"Sun Bingde spoke with Boss Lin on the phone this afternoon and insisted on one thing: the seller cannot meet the buyer directly; all matters must be handled through him."
Cheng Xiaojin wiped his hands on the towel twice, but didn't say anything.
"Little Goldie, did you hear me?"
"I heard that. What gives him the right to set this rule?"
"Because he's the middleman."
Master Qi took a breath, his voice tinged with helplessness.
"Sun Bingde has been working with Boss Lin for seven or eight years, and this rule has always been in place."
"Sellers never see buyers, and buyers never see sellers; the middlemen pocket the price difference without a care in the world."
"No one could get past him to directly contact Boss Lin before, and it will be the same this time."
Cheng Xiaojin threw the towel onto the bed and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Third Master, how much will he pay me?"
"When he spoke to me today, he said it was 25,000, cash on the spot, cash on delivery."
Twenty-five thousand.
Boss Lin's bottom price was 300,000, but Fatty Sun easily pocketed 275,000.
Cheng Xiaojin clenched her teeth and then loosened them.
"Third Master, what do you think I should do about this?"
"You're asking me?"
Master Qi chuckled.
"I'm just a middleman, making a living by relaying messages between the two sides. You want me to make decisions for you? I wouldn't dare."
"But let me just say this: you can't afford to offend Sun Bingde. Twenty-five thousand may be a bit little, but it's better to have it in your pocket."
Cheng Xiaojin did not respond.
"That's fine, Third Master. Let me think about it some more."
"Okay, think it over and give me an answer."
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Xiaojin sat on the edge of the bed for a good ten minutes, taking out cigarettes from his pocket and putting them back in, repeating this three or four times.
He didn't expect Fatty Sun to pull this stunt.
If we don't talk to Boss Lin face-to-face, we can't expose the fact that Fatty Sun is pocketing the difference in prices, and the core logic of the whole scheme will collapse.
He walked around the room barefoot twice, pulled out a bicycle pump from under the bed and used it as a walking stick to poke the ground, and finally grabbed his canvas bag and went out the door.
The lights in Master Ma's courtyard house are still on.
When Cheng Xiaojin pushed open the half-closed courtyard gate and went in, Master Ma was sitting on a rattan chair under the eaves, looking at a calligraphy book with a magnifying glass, while a thrush hopped around in its cage.
"Master Ma, something's happened."
Mr. Ma didn't move his magnifying glass away, nor did he raise his head.
"What is it?"
Cheng Xiaojin recounted the contents of Qi Sanye's phone call verbatim, including Sun Pangzi's insistence on not allowing the seller to meet the buyer, and the asking price of 25,000.
After listening, Mr. Ma put the magnifying glass on the coffee table, picked up his enamel mug, and took a sip.
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid if I don't get to see Boss Lin, all this planning will be for nothing."
Master Ma used the lid of his teacup to scrape away the tea foam, making a clinking sound.
I have a question for you.
"Please speak."
"Why did Mr. Lin fly all the way from Malaysia to Beijing?"
Cheng Xiaojin opened his mouth, but couldn't answer.
"Why didn't he just make a phone call from Kuala Lumpur and have Sun Bingde send the items by courier? Why did he have to make the trip himself?"
Cheng Xiaojin paused for two seconds, then a thought struck him.
"Because he no longer trusts Fatty Sun."
"right."
Master Ma nodded.
"The fragments of the Dragon Locking Well are not ordinary feng shui items; they are hard currency that can fetch astronomical prices in the Southeast Asian market."
"He didn't trust Sun Bingde to handle such a big deal alone."
"His purpose in flying over was to see the goods with his own eyes and inspect them personally."
"Do you think a buyer who doesn't even trust his own middleman would be willing to make the deal without a middleman?"
Cheng Xiaojin tapped his fingers twice on his knee.
"How can I get him to ask to see me?"
Master Ma put down his teacup and leaned back in his rattan chair.
"You have something that Sun Bingde can't give to Boss Lin."
"What?"
"story."
Cheng Xiaojin frowned slightly.
"The one Zhou Banxian made up?"
"This whole story has a legitimate source, but can Sun Bingde explain it? No, he can't."
"When Emperor Yongle moved the capital, Yao Guangxiao supervised the construction of water defenses, and nine strongholds were erected to lock down the waterways of North China."
"Boss Lin is an expert in feng shui and talismanic objects. He doesn't just buy the objects themselves, but also the lineage behind them. If you can explain why this piece of iron is valuable, where it came from, where it was buried, and what it was used to lock, he won't be able to get past you."
Cheng Xiaojin stood up and took two steps under the corridor.
"Let Fatty Sun brag to Boss Lin first, deliberately making mistakes in his account of his origins, leaving many loopholes."
"Boss Lin could tell at a glance that Fatty Sun was only a half-baked expert, and he himself would ask to meet someone who truly understood this stuff."
Master Ma didn't say anything, but picked up his teacup and took another sip.
"Mr. Ma, what do you think of this approach?"
"Haven't you already figured it out? Why are you asking me again?"
Cheng Xiaojin chuckled and turned to walk towards the courtyard gate.
"Don't rush."
Master Ma called out to him from behind.
"When you reply to Master Qi, don't directly say that you want to see Boss Lin, that's too blatant."
"Tell Master Qi that the thing you have has a complicated origin. You can have Boss Sun talk to Boss Lin first, but only tell Boss Sun one-third of it. The rest has to be told to him in person."
"In this way, it's Sun Bingde's own explanation that's unconvincing, and Boss Lin's own suspicion. You didn't break the rules, but the rules will break on their own."
Cheng Xiaojin stopped at the gate of the courtyard, turned around and gave Master Ma a thumbs up.
"No wonder you're Master Ma, you can walk around Panjiayuan with your head held high."
"Get lost."
After leaving Master Ma's courtyard, Cheng Xiaojin rode his bicycle and called Master Qi back, repeating the same sales pitch that Master Ma had taught him.
Master Qi chuckled on the other end of the phone.
"Little Jinzi, you've really gone around in circles. Okay, I'll pass it on as you say."
After hanging up with Master Qi, he dialed Master Zhou's number.
"Master, you need to revise that story."
"Why change it? I've already memorized the lines."
"Don't change the content, just prepare two versions. One is a simplified version for Fatty Sun to relay the message, omitting all the key details so that his delivery will be full of loopholes. The other is a complete version for you to deliver in person, to impress everyone present."
On the other end of the phone, Zhou Banxian took two puffs of his pipe, making a snoring sound.
"How exactly is the simplified version simplified?"
"Just tell Fatty Sun that this thing is a water-suppressing iron artifact cast in the palace during the Yongle era, which came from the Beixinqiao area. Don't say anything else."
"Hey, you're really cunning."
"That's called strategy, it has nothing to do with cunning."
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Xiaojin's phone vibrated again as his bicycle turned into the alleyway of Huguosi Street.
It was a text message from Tong Kexin.
He took out his phone with one hand and glanced at the screen under the streetlight.
"Fatty Sun took six men to Houhai. They had several boxes in their car, so it didn't look like they were going to eat."