Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 79 Ancestral Craft, Fire Dragon Burning the Granary

"Minister Suzuhara, this is a Yuan Dynasty celadon dragon vase, which costs at least 50,000 silver dollars on the market."

"Do you think this item is suitable for Lord Otani?"

Shingo Suzuhara glanced at the blue vase in Chen Yang's hand and slowly nodded, saying, "It is indeed a fine item."

"However, let's not talk about work after get off work."

"Yes, yes, yes," Chen Yang nodded repeatedly, "It was I who didn't know the rules. I should relax properly after get off work."

"Minister Suzuhara, my family is waiting for me to go home for dinner, so I'll head back now."

"Chen-san, are you leaving now?" Ino Yusuke quickly stood up and said, "Let's sit down and have a drink together, I..."

Before Yusuke Ino could finish speaking, Shingo Suzuhara raised his hand to interrupt him, smiling and saying, "Eating together as a family is more important than anything else. Chen-san, I won't keep you any longer."

"Goodbye, Minister Suzuhara." Chen Yang stood up, bowed to the two of them, and turned to leave the private room cleanly and neatly.

After Chen Yang left, Yusuke Ino said with some resentment, "Uncle, weren't you being a little cold-hearted?"

"Mr. Chen didn't say anything, and even brought you such a valuable gift."

Suzuhara Shingo shook his head at Ino Yusuke, "You're nowhere near as good as Chen-san."

Do you even know what he wants me to do for him?

Yusuke Ino was a little confused. The two of them had barely exchanged a few words from beginning to end, and they hadn't mentioned what they were going to do. So why did Shingo Suzuhara look so troubled?

"Uncle, I don't understand, Chen Sang didn't seem to ask you for anything, did he?"

Suzuhara Shingo sighed and said, "What he wants is no simple matter. He wants me to clean up his mess, and the price he's offering isn't low either."

"I'm sure his hole is no ordinary one."

Yusuke Ino was completely confused and had no idea what the two had said in their short conversation: "Uncle, I still don't understand."

Suzuhara Shingo took off his glasses, took out a handkerchief from his bag, and began to wipe them carefully. As he wiped, he slowly said, "His meaning is very simple. Something happened in the supply warehouse, and someone wanted to manipulate it. However, they were afraid of being exposed because the number of supplies entering and leaving the warehouse differed from the figures on the reports. So they wanted to find someone to balance the accounts."

"Chen Sang came to me on behalf of these people. He has already offered a price. I need to consider whether this person is hiding anything else?"

Yusuke Ino immediately realized what was happening: "Uncle, are you saying that someone wants to use the explosion at the supply warehouse to claim some supplies that didn't actually exist?"

"I understand now. Isn't this just a trick the Chinese have always used? Burning the granary with fire."

“Chen Sang is a shrewd businessman. He must have received some benefits for doing this. Uncle, I think you are overcomplicating things.”

“Is that so?” Shingo Suzuhara smiled slightly, a playful smile appearing on his lips. “You only see the surface. I think things are more complicated than that.”

"I suspect that the gold missing from the warehouse is not as reported by Major Ando."

"The gold issue? Really?" Yusuke Ino frowned and said, "Ando-kun checked the scene several times and confirmed that the loyalist soldiers escaped through the sewers. Besides, there was only that much gold at the scene. What do you think is wrong?"

“The numbers are wrong.” Shingo Suzuhara put on his glasses and said, “According to Major Ando’s report, there were only a dozen or so loyalists involved in the operation.”

"A total of 830 kilograms of gold was lost, and only three and a half boxes, about 170 kilograms, remained at the scene."

“If there really were only a dozen or so people, then they would need to pack nearly seventeen boxes of gold into special containers and take them away within a few minutes.” “This timing is clearly wrong, and a dozen or so people would have to carry away more than 800 kilograms of gold, with each person carrying at least 70 kilograms.”

"That means each person is carrying 140 pounds of weight and has to evacuate in a short time."

"According to the report sent back by the investigation team, the traces they left in the tunnel show that each person carried a maximum of about 30 kilograms, so as not to affect normal operations."

"Therefore, I think the figure for the missing gold is incorrect."

Ino Yusuke asked, somewhat confused, "Uncle, do you think the gold is related to Chen Sang?"

"But Ando-kun's speculation is that someone was helping them in the sewers, or perhaps the gold was taken away by someone else?"

“Perhaps that’s possible,” Shingo Suzuhara chuckled. “However, if I were Mr. Chen, and I had some gold that I couldn’t keep hidden, I would definitely find a suitable reason to divert the Special Higher Police’s investigation team’s attention, such as the supplies.”

Yusuke Ino frowned, drank several cups of tea, and then his eyes lit up: "Uncle, I understand."

"You mean to say that there wasn't a single ton of gold in the supply warehouse from the beginning, that Chen Sang kept a small amount and then framed the Loyal Salvation Army who raided the warehouse?"

"Now that the supply warehouse has exploded, some people want to use the explosion to their advantage. Mr. Chen invited you to meet ostensibly to help them, but in reality, he wants to use this as a diversion to shift the focus of the investigation."

"After all, the loss of gold can be blamed on the Loyal Salvation Army, but for the loss of supplies, they will definitely cause trouble for the Special Higher Police."

"The Special Higher Police investigation team focused on the supplies, so naturally they didn't have time to investigate the exact amount of gold that was missing."

"Uncle, if we speculate like this, do you think Chen Sang might also be in cahoots with the Zhongjiu Army?"

Shingo Suzuhara shook his head: "If he were with the Loyal Salvation Army, he would still have three and a half boxes of gold left. He wouldn't have needed to go through all this trouble. He could have coordinated from the inside and outside to rob the gold when it arrived in Shanghai."

"I think his goal was to fish in troubled waters. Now it seems the waters are murky enough, and he's managed to take the big fish."

"The remaining small fish were what he used to distract the eye."

"Tsk tsk tsk, this person can be said to be the most amazing young person I have ever met. He is so cunning that he can trick everyone without making a sound. He is not simple."

"Yusuke, you must learn from him. I don't ask for anything else, as long as you can learn even a fraction of his skills, I can retire in peace."

Yusuke Ino was clearly unconvinced by Shingo Suzuhara's assessment: "Uncle, you said Chen-san is so amazing, yet he only prepared this wine vessel as a gift for you. Besides, it doesn't look real to me at all."

“You’re right,” Suzuhara Shingo chuckled. “This thing is obviously fake, and it’s so fake it’s beyond belief. The person who made it didn’t even bother to cover it up. I’m sure you could buy three of this kind for a dollar at a street stall in the old town.”

"Huh?" Ino Yusuke's expression changed: "Uncle, what does Chen-san mean by doing this? Are you saying he's playing you?"

“Foolish. Whether the item is real or fake is not important. What matters is the note.” Suzuhara Shingo pointed to the note from Wanxiangju in the brocade box: “Take this note to Wanxiangju. When the owner sees the note, he will give you 30,000 silver dollars without saying a word.”

"At this point, do you still think it matters whether this wine vessel is real or fake?"

Yusuke Ino was stunned for a moment before cautiously asking, "Uncle, according to you, the vase that Chen gave us is also fake?"

"No wonder it looked like the one by the toilet entrance."

The words had barely left her lips when the door to the private room was pushed open, and the proprietress walked in carrying a beautifully arranged meal. Seeing the vase on the table, she muttered, "Ino-kun, I was wondering where the vase by the restroom was. Ino-kun, what are you doing with this vase? It's just some cheap stuff from a street stall, it's worthless..."

Before Yusuke Ino could speak, Shingo Suzuhara said calmly, "Yusuke, you'd better take good care of this vase. It's worth fifty thousand yen now."

"What?!" As soon as Suzuhara Shingo uttered those words, Ino Yusuke and the landlady almost simultaneously covered their mouths in shock.
(End of this chapter)