Chapter 185: Privately Selling Red-Crowned Cranes? You’re Not Cut Out for This, Kid

Speaking of which, Yang Jiao pointed to an old man sitting and selling things near the end of the bridge.

"There are so many other stalls around. Why do you think he’s always trying to set up in the corner?"

Gu Shengsheng watched as a crowd swarmed his stall. He looked like an old man who had been setting up shop here for a long time.

"It’s the Ghost Market, after all," she said. "Maybe he’s just trying to create an air of mystery."

With that, Gu Shengsheng pulled Yang Jiao over. A man was there holding a small, red, bird-head trinket, turning it over in his hands with a grave expression.

The vendor was going on and on. "This piece is truly excellent. It’s an heirloom passed down in my family. Absolutely nothing wrong with it."

"Now, in the Ghost Market, we don’t usually disclose an item’s origins. But I’m telling you this because I trust you. Understand?"

The potential buyer was still conflicted. "This little bird head is beautiful, and it looks antique, but it’s just too expensive."

At that moment, a slightly older man was standing next to the buyer.

"That’s not expensive," the man said. "I’ve got my eye on their ox-head storage jar, and they’re asking for a million. I’m still on the fence about it myself."

"But I’ve checked out a lot of stalls, and theirs seems to be the most trustworthy."

The buyer looked at the other man, who seemed just as torn as he was. He sighed and said, "I guess good things really do cost more."

"Buddy, that’s a great deal. You can get it for a little over five hundred thousand. Who knows, you might be able to flip it for millions. Haven’t you heard about that young girl who scored a huge find at Pan Garden?"

"She found something for just a few bucks and sold it for a fortune. Imagine what you could do with this! You’ll definitely make money!"

Gu Shengsheng and Yang Jiao exchanged a glance, a cold glint in Shengsheng’s eyes.

’These black-hearted merchants are actually using me as a stepping stone.’

Sure enough, after a few more rounds of persuasion, the buyer nodded. "You have a point. But I still don’t know if it’s real or fake!"

"Isn’t there an appraisal center right across Shuanglong Bridge? Worst case, you can even take it to one of those appraisal shows on TV."

"If you don’t want it, I’ll take it! If it weren’t for the Ghost Market’s first-come, first-served rule, I’d definitely be making an offer."

Sure enough, despite his hesitation, the buyer eventually spent over five hundred thousand.

Yang Jiao, standing a short distance away, asked curiously, "Shengsheng, is that thing real or fake?"

"I don’t know," Gu Shengsheng said. "We’re too far away. We can only see its general shape. We’d have to get closer to know for sure."

"I’m not sure if the item is real or fake, but that vendor and one of the ’buyers’ are definitely up to no good."

Once Shengsheng said that, Yang Jiao understood. "That makes sense. Why would a total stranger keep pushing him to buy it? Their methods really aren’t that sophisticated."

The viewers in the livestream were watching it all for entertainment. Scams like this were a dime a dozen.

After following Gu Shengsheng’s streams, nothing seemed surprising anymore!

It even felt normal. They had been through all sorts of things with Sister Gu. They were now busy explaining the situation to the new fans in Gu Shengsheng’s stream.

Yang Jiao found the atmosphere in the stream chat amusing as well.

"Shengsheng, are these some of the basic scams in the antiques world?" she asked.

"...Mmm, yes and no. Look, has the antique vendor disappeared?"

As soon as she said that, Yang Jiao looked over and saw that the stall was indeed empty. All the items had been wrapped in cloth and cleared away!

Then Yang Jiao said, "That’s weird. What’s he planning?"

"We’ll just wait and see," Gu Shengsheng said. "But he probably only makes one sale a day from this stall. And that one sale is enough to live on for half a year."

Gu Shengsheng and Yang Jiao stood in the middle of the bridge. About half an hour passed before the man who had bought the red bird-head artifact came rushing back to the stall’s location.

Just then, Gu Shengsheng pulled Yang Jiao along. "Let’s go watch the show."

The two went over, just in time to see the man who bought the artifact pacing back and forth anxiously.

He said to the other man who had been standing next to him, "Why are you still here? Where’s the vendor? Where did the vendor go?"

"Buddy, you shouldn’t buy anything from this vendor. This thing isn’t ’clean’ at all."

The other man replied, "You spent over five hundred thousand on it, and you’re worried about whether it’s ’clean’? Isn’t its authenticity what matters most?"

"I just walked down the street and asked about this thing. It’s a Class-I nationally protected cultural relic! Another vendor down there told me it’s a Crane Top Red!"

"These things are made from helmeted hornbills. Who knows how many birds had to die to make it into an artifact. Buying and selling this stuff is illegal in the first place. I must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to get tangled up with this seller."

"You can go to jail for this!"

Just then, the other man said, "The vendor already packed up and left. Who are you going to find now? Even if you did, who would help you sort this out?"

After saying that, the other man continued, "This thing of yours... since owning it can get you thrown in jail, what do you think would happen if I reported you right now? You’d go straight to prison, wouldn’t you?"

"And I personally watched you buy it from the vendor. That makes me an eyewitness, and we both know the physical evidence exists. So, what are you planning to do now?"

For the other man to say something like this now stunned the man who had just spent over five hundred thousand.

"You set me up!"

"Buddy, give me another hundred thousand yuan, and I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone. That way, you can just toss this thing and nobody will ever know."

Now the buyer was furious! "I spend six hundred thousand on something just to throw it away? You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re just taking advantage of my desperation! You think I’m an easy target, don’t you!"

"You must be in cahoots with the vendor."

The other man chuckled. "In cahoots? How could we be? If we were partners, I would’ve been long gone. Why would I wait around for you to come back?"

"Buddy, I’m not trying to lecture you, but you need to use your head when you buy things. See? Now you’ve just brought a disaster down on yourself."

"Look at it. This Crane Top Red even has an inscription on the side. It was obviously dug up from an ancient tomb. When it comes to illegal dealings like this, if you don’t get into trouble, who will?"

The man clenched his fists, his face contorted with rage.

’But deep down, he was terrified. It would be impossible not to be.’

’None of these people around here were any good. He kept trying to convince himself: maybe one hundred thousand yuan was all it would take to make this all go away.’

Just as he was starting to waver, Gu Shengsheng led Yang Jiao to the front of the now-empty stall.

She smiled at the other man. "I was watching you two talk when the vendor was still here. And I also saw you help him pack up his things and run away."

"It seems to me you and the vendor are partners, aren’t you?"