ZS | Chapter 7

"Want some?" Guang Boshi grabbed a pig trotter and slurped it into his mouth.

Gu Zheng frowned. "No."

"You don't eat anything, no wonder you're thin."

"I just don't eat organs."

"This is a joint, a limb, not an organ, okay."

Gu Zheng held his bowl and leaned back. "I really don't want it, don't give it to me."

"Tch. If you don't eat it, I'll eat it."

Guang Boshi was Gu Zheng's sworn brother from middle school. Since the failed bid, Old Gu often cursed him behind Mrs. Li's back. Gu Zheng complained several times, but Mrs. Li didn't want to get involved in the trivial matters of the men in the family, so the next day she bought a plane ticket and was gone for over a month. At home, Gu Zheng was cursed at by Old Gu every day, with heaven not answering and earth not responding, and could only hide at Guang Boshi's house.

"Fuck, why did it drop again!" Guang Boshi was gnawing at the pig trotter and scrolling on his phone, getting grease all over the screen.

"What?"

"The A-shares!" Guang Boshi said. "The week before National Day, the average stock investor made a net 40,000. I figured I'd follow the crowd and throw in a round, but after National Day, ever since I bought in, it started dropping. These past few days I've already got 3,000 sunk into it!"

Gu Zheng didn't understand stocks, so he could only comfort him. "Drink more hot water."

"Fuck, you asshole!"

"Why is it badass when other people buy, but I'm a bear when I buy?"

"Even Zhuo Hang can make 300 million, what am I missing?"

Gu Zheng could only understand the last sentence.

"Zhuo Hang made 300 million from stocks?"

"Yeah, he made 300 million in a week, paid off Zhongjian's debt, and it even made the financial news." Guang Boshi said. "This kid must have been cheating, buying low and selling high, basically matching the time period when A-shares surged, and he picked all ChiNext stocks..."

Since they'd slept once, big data kept pushing him news about Zhuo Real Estate, and Gu Zheng couldn't help wondering, could a phone tell who was in bed by the cries.

Gu Zheng didn't understand the technical terms Guang Boshi used. He could only understand that Zhuo Hang was badass.

But the problem was, Zhuo Real Estate had already reached the stage of bankruptcy enforcement, so where had Zhuo Hang gotten the capital to trade stocks?

The Guang family worked in medical aesthetics, and in Yu City they had two cosmetic surgery shops. The business was neither big nor small. Guang Boshi's father, Guang Wanshu, was not like Zhuo Youzhi, with grand ambitions; he felt it was enough as long as the money was enough to spend, and every now and then he would close the shops and take the employees out to play. Nor was he like Gu Mingyu, who had taken the official path, with a wife decked in gold and silver and a son with a house and a car, earning generously and spending generously, not afraid of others thinking about it.

Gu Zheng felt that this was what a normal family of three looked like.

After Guang Boshi finished the pig trotter and wiped his hands, he talked about Zhuo Hang for more than 10 minutes, and finally changed the topic. "Come with me to Poly later?"

He was the same as Gu Zheng, with no proper job, always helping his family do things.

Guang Wanshu liked collecting antiques, and to curry favor with his boss, Guang Boshi would every now and then bid on things for his dad.

"I don't like moving around." Gu Zheng got sleepy as soon as he finished eating, and slumped his shoulder against the chair.

"Go for a walk, digest your food after eating."

"It's fine, I don't get fat." Gu Zheng took a couple of steps to the bed, lifted the blanket, and prepared to sleep.

"Hey, don't sleep on my bed in your outer clothes, I just changed the sheets yesterday." Guang Boshi cursed and complained, "Seizing the magpie's nest, eating mine, using mine, spending my money, doesn't your conscience hurt?"

"My credit card got cut off by Old Gu. I'm short on cash these few days, brother, understand."

"I understand, but you can't keep plucking feathers from one sheep. You came back to the country and ran to Pingsheng, and every time I asked you to eat, you said you were busy. Why aren't you going to find Shen Yuesheng anymore now?"

Gu Zheng's sleepiness faded by more than half; when they were together, he hadn't told Guang Boshi, and now that he had broken up, he was even less likely to say it.

"With him... it's not convenient to meet recently."

"What's inconvenient about it?"

Gu Zheng had a flash of inspiration and made it up on the spot. "I have some shopping vouchers on hand, I need to buy things first and then cash them out. I handled some at Pingsheng before, Ah Sheng... didn't give me the money."

Every holiday, someone always stuffed shopping vouchers into Old Gu under all kinds of names. Gu Zheng didn't have money now, so he wanted to cash out the vouchers.

"Huh? Shen Yuesheng wouldn't be that kind of person..."

Gu Zheng didn't continue discussing this topic with him, and changed the subject. "Can Haitang help me cash them out?"

Haitang was the cosmetic surgery hospital the Guang family ran.

"Sure, no problem."

Since Gu Zheng had eaten and taken from others, he had no choice but to give up his nap and accompany his benefactor to the auction.

At the auction venue, rows of seats were arranged in staggered order, guests in formal wear came and went in an endless stream, and the walls hung artworks Gu Zheng couldn't understand.

If you had money, why not do something else, why buy paintings, calligraphy, and cups?

Gu Zheng didn't understand, and didn't really want to understand.

After the auctioneer rattled off a bunch of words in two languages, the auction began.

The first lot was a teacup the size of a palm, starting at 5,000, with each raise adding 2,000. With the hammer falling again and again, it was called up to 70,000 in minutes.

Gu Zheng was influenced by the hot atmosphere of the live bidding and took a little interest.

Right after that, the second and third lots started bidding, the atmosphere was still heated, but the final sale price never went over 100,000.

Gu Zheng asked, "Do you have that kind of multi-million-dollar heavy hitter to let me open my eyes?"

Guang Boshi said, "There isn't one in this auction."

There was a pile of collectibles at home that his mother had collected, and the young master had had a sharp eye since childhood, so from the fourth lot onward he was scrolling on his phone.

He didn't know which lot it was when Guang Boshi took part in the bidding, raised his card twice, and didn't get it.

"Fuck, Zhuo Hang bought my wood."

"Fuck?" Gu Zheng immediately turned off his phone screen. "Where?"

Guang Boshi pointed in a direction, and Gu Zheng looked over to see Zhuo Hang sitting not far from the platform in a straight suit. Clearly dressed in the plainest black suit, he still carried an extraordinary air of luxury in every movement, brighter than the crystal chandelier overhead.

Really, really good-looking.

"My dad likes wood and stone, first because they look good, second because there is room for appreciation." Guang Boshi said. "What Zhuo Hang just bid on was huanghuali, a precious material that grew slowly, with demand exceeding supply on the market, and it's been rising these past two years."

He had thought the auction was just a place for middling middle-class people to burn money and expand their social circle, but he hadn't expected the lots up for bidding to have room to appreciate, and even less had he expected his good brother, who looked just as unreliable as him, to actually know the business.

Buying and reselling could make quite a lot of money, no wonder Guang Boshi always ran to auctions.

The auctioneer displayed the next lot, a Hainan huanghuali bead bracelet, starting at 45,000, with each raise adding 2,000.

"They're both huanghuali, why does this bracelet start higher than the one just now?"

"There's a saying in the Hainan huanghuali circle, one burl, two mottles, three ghost faces. This was burl-scar grain, the rarest type of huanghuali." Guang Boshi explained.

"Oh. Zhuo Hang raised his card, why aren't you bidding?"

"Wait. The first few bids at an auction are usually high, and when the increases get smaller and smaller after that, adding a big one directly and calling out the price you expect in your heart is more stable."

Gu Zheng had thought this was just a social place for showing off wealth, but he hadn't expected the lots and the increases to have their own rules, and everyone sitting below the stage was in suits and leather shoes, with only him wearing jeans.

So tacky. Really tacky.

If he had known Zhuo Hang was coming, he should have worn a custom suit.

He should at least have crushed him.

The auctioneer kept calling prices in two languages on stage, and after just three or four rounds, Zhuo Hang bid 100,000. Guang Boshi cursed in a low voice, "fuck!"

"What, what happened?"

"He called out my expected price."

"Then add a bit more?"

"No. Auctions are like this, if you miss it, it's gone, and adding more would be inappropriate." Guang Boshi said. "Zhuo Hang is aiming at the wood, I'm not going to fight him. Later I'll see if there are any good stones, and getting two pieces for my dad would be fine."

"That won't do!" The young master was most afraid of being provoked. He snatched the card and said, "I'll buy it for you."

Guang Boshi immediately snatched it back. "Your pockets are even emptier than your face right now, and after you raise the card you'll still be spending my money."

Gu Zheng made as if to snatch it again, and Guang Boshi said, "There are so many people watching, save some face for your brother."

The next lot was still huanghuali, and the auctioneer on stage was chattering like a tally counter. This time Guang Boshi raised his card first. Zhuo Hang suddenly looked back in front, and met Gu Zheng's eyes.

Gu Zheng received the first message Zhuo Hang sent.

"Rimu: You like huanghuali too?"

"G: Came with the fat guy"

Guang Boshi had been fat in middle school, so Gu Zheng called him Fatty. Now Fatty wasn't fat, but Gu Zheng was used to calling him that.

Zhuo Hang looked around and didn't see Fatty, so he continued bidding. At this moment, he absolutely would not have thought that because he hadn't replied to the message, he had nearly caused a tragedy.

The lots on stage and the bidding below could no longer stir Gu Zheng's interest, and he only stared at his phone. Ten minutes passed, and he still didn't see a reply.

When normal people ran into a classmate they hadn't seen in a long time, they would usually exchange a couple of pleasantries first, and then talk business. Zhuo Hang hadn't made any pleasantries, had started the conversation, and then ended it one-sidedly.

Hooking my attention, and then not talking to me.

Are you polite?

Making me lose the bid, getting blamed by Old Gu, having my credit card cut off, and still fuck wanting to sleep with me.

The young master had never suffered this kind of anger before, and in shame and fury, he came up with a nasty idea.

"Do you think, at an auction, they could bid on fakes?"

Guang Boshi's eyes flickered slightly, and he said softly, "Yes."

"If you know someone at the auction house, you can replace the real goods with fakes, commonly known as..."

"Doing a setup."

The two had known each other for many years, and with one glance they understood who they were going to set up.

Guang Boshi lowered his voice. "Doing a setup has to meet three conditions. First, there has to happen to be a copied lot. Second, the buyer has to be unable to tell. Third, there has to be an inside man."

"Zhuo Hang doesn't look like he knows the business, as for the inside man and the copied lot..."

"That has to be asked to my dad."

Gu Zheng's eyebrows shot up high with excitement. "Then ask him. When the bidding ends, Zhuo Hang will already have the item in hand. Ask now, ask immediately!"

Some people lived darker than male ghosts, they just couldn't stand seeing others live better than them.

The two quietly left along the wall and came to a secluded place.

Guang Boshi put the phone on speaker and dialed his father's number, then after exchanging greetings he explained the purpose.

Guang Wanshu said, "If you don't learn something good for one day, what are you studying setups for, I'll beat you to death!"

"I'm just asking, why are you so excited? I came today to help you hunt for goods, why do you still want to beat me to death?"

Guang Wanshu snorted and said, "What you're talking about can't be used for a setup. First, 100,000 yuan isn't even enough to pay the middleman's kickback for a setup. Second, the genuine item's value is too low, and even counterfeit makers wouldn't be willing to forge it. Third, Cheng Shun is my buddy in Zhongyan, and even if there were goods, he couldn't possibly do a setup for his nephew!"

"Oh, then it's fine. I'll go bid on stones for you." Guang Boshi didn't see the young master's instructions for a long time, so he had no choice but to hang up.

Gu Zheng took a long time to come back to himself, and all the focus was on the last sentence.

Nephew?

The intermediary Cheng Shun from the last bid was Zhuo Hang's uncle?

Gu Zheng opened Cheng Shun's Moments, and half a year ago he had posted information related to Zhongyan Insurance.

Excluding the possibility of a namesake.

An uncle absolutely could not drug his nephew.

Besides, the institution that matched the two sides would also not possibly let the intermediary use improper means.

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

He had wanted to set up Zhuo Hang, but unexpectedly he had already been set up by the other side.

Gu Zheng was in the setup and realized it only after the fact.

So Zhuo Hang's "I just ate with the intermediary, the wine was mixed with something, I don't have any strength now" was fake.

Why had Zhuo Hang lied?