Period drama: Old Cao's carefree life

Chapter 146 I was so scared I peed my pants.

"You say it's fake, so it's fake?" Cao Weida sneered, curling his lip in disdain.
"What's written above, your father, Old Master Rui, has already admitted and personally signed. How can you deny it?"

"Father, you're getting senile!!" Rui cried out in anger and despair.

"That's just what Father said on his own; it has nothing to do with us!"

After the wailing subsided, Rui sold his father without hesitation, choosing to protect himself in a very 'filial' way.

Cao Wei Da patted his cheek with a forced smile, "You think it has nothing to do with you? Whether it has anything to do with you or not is not up to you to decide. Once I take you back and interrogate you, I will naturally know whether it has anything to do with you or not."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the guys in charge of the interrogation are gentle."

"No, no, you can't arrest me! I didn't do anything! I really didn't do anything!" Rui was so frightened that he took several steps back. The police station's Special Operations Division was specifically tasked with cooperating with Japanese intelligence agencies to arrest Chinese spies. It had an interrogation room, and he had long heard how terrifying it was inside.

Just hearing the names of those torture instruments and the horrific interrogation process is enough to make one shudder. How could he possibly want to be arrested?

"Do you think you can just say you don't want to go and then not go?" Cao Weida sneered. "Do you really think you can just say whatever you want? What's the point of having us patrol officers then!"

Beside her, Rui's eldest daughter-in-law, who was already terrified, ran into the main hall to ask her father-in-law, Old Master Rui, for answers. When she received the definite answer, her vision went black and she almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, the servants nearby reacted quickly and grabbed it, but their faces turned ashen.

Damn it, even the first wife doesn't know how to lose weight.
"Father-in-law, how could you be so foolish?! How could you do such a thing?! You're going to ruin the Rui family!! Ah~~~" The eldest daughter-in-law of Rui, having regained her senses, started crying and screaming the next second. Her wailing was louder than a pig being slaughtered for the New Year.

"Shut up!" Old Master Rui roared, his eyes glaring warningly. Although his eyes were cloudy and his body weak, his authority was undeniable, instantly silencing his eldest daughter-in-law's cries. "You brainless idiot! Do you want everyone around to hear you?!"

"Things have already come to this, there's still room for maneuver. Do you really want to squander this last chance?"

Rui's wife immediately covered her mouth and shook her head. If she were caught and tortured in a cell, she didn't think she could survive.

At that time, not only will their belongings be confiscated, but they will also perish.

Old Master Rui scolded, "If you don't want to get arrested, then you'd better go and bring your man back right now!"

"If Inspector Cao gets angry, you won't have a chance to back out!"

Yes, quickly bring the man back. If Cao Weida regrets it, they're all doomed!

Rui's wife dared not cry anymore. She stumbled to her husband, grabbed his arm, and pulled him aside.

"Let me go! Let me go! Believe me or not, I'll slap you! My darlings, they're all my darlings!" Rui struggled desperately, clearly still unwilling to give up her treasures.

"Damn it, you're really asking for it! You'd rather have money than your life, huh!" Cao Weida was getting impatient. Just because I'm not showing my teeth doesn't mean you can take me for a fool!

He pulled a Browning pistol from his waist, strode over to the man, pressed the muzzle against his forehead, and stared at him menacingly: "You rebel, how dare you be so arrogant! If you dare say another word, there's no need to go back for interrogation, I can just execute you on the spot!"

Grandpa Rui's heart tightened, and he suddenly stood up, but because of his old age and weak legs, he almost lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Ru Qiulan quickly caught him and whispered, "Father-in-law, don't worry, Master Cao is just trying to scare my elder brother."

His eyes were secretly scanning Cao Weida, his gaze constantly flickering.

There is curiosity, shyness, and longing.

Her feelings before and now are completely different; after all, he was the man her father-in-law found for her.

She's right, Cao Weida was just trying to scare everyone, but everyone didn't know that!
Feeling the cold muzzle of the gun pressed against his forehead, Rui felt a sudden jolt, and a surge of heat flowed down his face. His open mouth dared not utter a sound, and he remained motionless as if under a spell.
tick~
Tick-tock~~
The wet liquid soaked Ruijia's trousers, then gathered into droplets and fell to the ground.

"Damn it, what bad luck." Cao Weida took two steps back in disgust. What bad luck! He actually peed his pants in fright.

Seeing that he had already intimidated them, he didn't bother with them anymore and turned to the drivers, saying, "Keep moving!"

Without Rui's obstruction, the moving process immediately went smoothly, and in no time, the eight large boxes were loaded onto the truck.

"Fifth Master, let's go." Seeing that the matter was settled, Cao Weida put away his gun and called to Fifth Master Fan.

Once outside, Master Fan could no longer contain himself and immediately stepped forward to tug at Cao Weida's sleeve.

"Master Cao, what just happened?"

Cao Weida didn't hide anything, "This is a long story, let me tell you. Hehehe, here's the gist of it."

"Tsk, every family has its own troubles. I'd heard that Rui's eldest son and daughter-in-law were quite domineering, but I thought it was just hearsay. Turns out it's true. Rui's second daughter-in-law is also a pitiful person." "Who says otherwise?"

"Hey, but in the end, it's still you, Master Cao, who benefited." Master Fan laughed gleefully, then added, "But they didn't lose out either. Old Master Rui was farsighted. Knowing that his eldest son couldn't establish his own household, he found a backup plan for the Rui family early on."

"Tell me, why didn't my deadbeat father think of that?"

Cao Wei Da glanced at him sideways, finding it amusing. "Are you implying you're just like the eldest son of the Rui family, unable to establish your own household?"
After walking about two miles, Cao Weida took out a check for a thousand silver dollars and a large yellow croaker from his pocket and handed them over.

"Fifth Master, this is a check for a thousand silver dollars and a large yellow croaker. It's a reward for the porcelain vase. Please don't think it's too little."

"Oh my, Brother Cao, this is too much, too much!" He pushed the check away, but his eyes were fixed on the check and the big yellow croaker, which were shining brightly.

He's been busy all day, and all he's doing is getting these nice things.

"Okay, take these back and give me five hundred, no, four hundred silver dollars will do!"

Generally speaking, for low-value antiques and collectibles, the commission rate is about 10% to 20%. These transactions have thin profit margins and fast turnover, so brokers mainly rely on volume.

For high-value antiques and collectibles, the commission rate is relatively low, generally between 5% and 10%.

That piece of blue and white porcelain from the Ming Yongle period of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln is naturally a high-value collectible, and in theory, it should only fetch a broker's price of 900 silver dollars at most.

Cao Wei Da was very generous, not only giving away a thousand silver dollars in banknotes, but also a large yellow croaker!
Based on the current exchange rate in Beiping, a single large yellow croaker could be exchanged for several hundred or even a thousand silver dollars!

It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted, but Master Fan was a man who cared a lot about his reputation, so how could he not understand the rules?

"Oh, not much at all. In fact, I'm the one who got the better deal." Cao Weida laughed and shoved the check into the other person's hand.

"Putting aside the matter of you introducing me to a concubine, just look at these treasures, how much of a bargain have I made?"

"Master Cao, this is really going too far," Fifth Master Fan hurriedly waved his hand. "That's a matter between you and Old Prince Rui. By doing this, aren't you just slapping me in the face?"

He was uttering words of refusal and pushing his hands away, but somehow his body bent slightly, and by sheer coincidence, his right pocket ended up next to Cao Weida's hand.
Cao Wei Da chuckled and casually put the money and the large yellow croaker inside.

"Oh dear, Master Cao, this isn't right. How can I, Fifth Master, accept this money? You should take it back."

You say that, but why don't you take it yourself? Do you expect me to reach in and take it out again?

His affected manner amused Cao Wei, who patted his pocket and said:

"Alright, Fifth Master, I know you are kind and righteous, but I, Cao Weida, am not the kind of person who doesn't know how to be grateful after taking advantage of someone."

"Besides, if you don't think about yourself, you should at least think about Mohe. She works hard all day selling cigarettes and only earns a pittance. Don't you, as her brother, feel sorry for her?"

Now that he had a way out, Fifth Master Fan stopped pretending. "Alright, it was my fault. Then I'll thank you on behalf of my sister."

"That's right. Well then, thank you so much, Fifth Master. In the future, I'll have to trouble you to help me arrange these good things again."

"Of course, don't worry. I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."

"Then that's settled, Fifth Master. I'll be going now."

After the two parted ways, Master Fan, now emboldened by the money, immediately swaggered forward, his belly protruding, hands on his hips, looking around with a disdainful gaze.

Money gives men courage; with money, one gains boldness.

He walked up to a stall selling melon seeds, casually tossed over a hundred-yuan banknote, and said, "Give me a bag of melon seeds, the five-spice kind."

"Alright." The shopkeeper finished packing the melon seeds. "Fifth Master, here's sixty-eight silver notes in total. Here's your change."

"Alright, alright, stop looking. This little bit of trash is embarrassing. I have nowhere to hide!" He said with a pretentious "yo-yo," as if afraid the people around him wouldn't hear him.

He grabbed the bag of sunflower seeds, tucked it under his arm, said "I'm leaving," and turned away with a flourish.

The melon seed stall owner took the Lianyin banknote and looked at it, clicking his tongue in amazement: "It seems that Fan Wu has made a fortune somewhere. If it weren't for the fact that these Manchu nobles' broken ship still has three pounds of nails, who knows where he might have found another good thing."

"That spendthrift son, I reckon he'll be eating coarse grains and wild vegetables again in a few days."

This kind of situation is often seen among these Manchu nobles. When they have money, they act like devils and dogs, and when they don't have money, they still have to pretend to be respectable. In reality, in the eyes of discerning people, they are just a group of clowns entertaining themselves.

(End of this chapter)