Chapter 29: It Was All a Sham

Tong Chuxue smiled mysteriously. "Boss Liao, what if I told you I have a way to obtain more dendrobium officinale?"

Her words thoroughly piqued Liao Hong's interest. Faced with the prospect of enormous profit, he could not help but be tempted. He looked Tong Chuxue up and down, seemingly assessing the veracity of her claim.

Tong Chuxue allowed him to inspect her, confident that she had already swayed him. She knew that, regardless of the circumstances, this partnership would certainly be finalized today.

"What sort of connections do you have?" Liao Hong asked.

"That is my business, Boss Liao." Tong Chuxue calmly set down her teacup.

Just as Liao Hong was about to inquire further, a clamor arose outside. A slight frown creased his brow, though he quickly regained his composure, asking in a cold voice, "What is going on?"

The servant outside was in a difficult position, caught between holding back the person who had barged in uninvited and bearing the brunt of Liao Hong’s irritation. "Sir, there is someone here who insists on seeing you. I could not stop him."

Liao Hong, puzzled as to why anyone would be so insistent on seeing him, offered an apologetic smile to Tong Chuxue and Luo Hui'an. "My apologies, I shall return shortly."

"Since Boss Liao is busy, we should not overstay our welcome." As Luo Hui'an spoke, he stood up, ready to depart.

However, the conversation had reached a point of great interest to Liao Hong. How could he let them leave so easily? He hurriedly intervened, "It is likely nothing of consequence. Please, move behind the screen; I will be back in a moment."

Tong Chuxue and Luo Hui'an exchanged a glance, nodded, and walked behind the screen.

The furnishings in Liao Hong’s room were extremely refined; the screen appeared to be quite valuable, and behind it sat a desk. Tong Chuxue and Luo Hui'an took their seats, and she began idly flipping through a book on the table. Lately, she had been practicing with the *Three Character Classic* at home and had learned many characters, but she still could not fully comprehend the book on the table.

This was precisely why she had insisted on bringing Luo Hui'an; she needed a literate assistant she could trust.

In the outer room, the person being held back by the servant was none other than Lei Haizheng, who had been acting on his own. He was clutching a flowerpot covered with a piece of plain, coarse cloth. Seeing Liao Hong, Lei Haizheng gave a fawning smile. "You must be Boss Liao. Looking at your distinguished air, you truly deserve your reputation as a great merchant from the capital."

Liao Hong was quite displeased and wanted to dismiss the man as quickly as possible. "You insisted on seeing me; for what purpose?"

"Boss Liao," Lei Haizheng stepped forward with the object, deliberately lowering his voice for fear of being overheard, "I have something wonderful for you!"

Liao Hong glanced at what he was holding and asked, "What is it?"

"It is a treasure," Lei Haizheng said, carefully placing the pot on the table and slowly lifting the cloth.

Liao Hong had initially glanced at it with indifference, but upon seeing the object, he leaned in to observe it closely. After a long moment, he spoke. "Is this dendrobium officinale?"

Seeing that Liao Hong knew his wares, Lei Haizheng was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. "Boss Liao, you have a keen eye indeed. Yes, this is the dendrobium officinale I went to great lengths to acquire."

Behind the screen, Tong Chuxue nearly laughed aloud. It was rich of Lei Haizheng to claim he had gone to "great lengths"—he had only managed this by getting Luo Hui'an to help him stage a diversion to draw others away. The man was unexpectedly foolish.

Beside her, Luo Hui'an, hearing Lei Haizheng’s claim, looked at Tong Chuxue with a questioning gaze.

Unable to speak, Tong Chuxue simply mouthed the words: "It’s fake."

In the outer room, Liao Hong sat down. "How do you intend to sell it?"

Lei Haizheng had only heard a vague rumor about the price and did not truly know how to negotiate. Rolling his eyes, he said, "Boss Liao, you are a man of experience, so please don't be offended if I am wrong. Since this item is so precious, I feel that one hundred taels of silver is surely a fair value... perhaps."

Hearing Lei Haizheng name a price of one hundred taels, Liao Hong neither agreed nor disagreed. He took a sip of tea. "How about this? You know the price of dendrobium is very high. For many years, to ensure the quality of the herbs we acquire, the Liao Firm has required a contract for all high-value purchases."

"What kind of contract?" Lei Haizheng had not expected this.

"It is quite simple," Liao Hong explained. "If the herbs you provide are genuine, I will pay the agreed price. If they are fake, you must pay a ten-fold penalty."

Upon hearing that fake herbs would result in a ten-fold penalty, Lei Haizheng’s legs nearly gave way. Ten times one hundred taels was one thousand taels—even if he sold his entire family, they would never have that much money.

"Are you afraid?" Liao Hong asked. "Or do you suspect your herbs might be problematic? Rest assured, as long as the medicine is genuine, you shall receive every single tael. Why be afraid?"

It sounded easy, but that was a penalty of one thousand taels; Lei Haizheng had never even seen that much money in his life. But he was certain the plant in his hands was not fake. He remembered the gamblers at the den had drawn a picture of dendrobium and joked that if one could find a single stalk, one would never have to work again. It looked exactly like the one in the pot.

"Fine, I will sign," Lei Haizheng gritted his teeth.

Once he agreed, Liao Hong had a contract brought out, and Lei Haizheng tremblingly pressed his thumbprint onto it. The contract was drawn up in duplicate; Liao Hong kept one, and Lei Haizheng took the other. Along with the contract, one hundred taels of silver were handed to Lei Haizheng.

Lei Haizheng held the gleaming silver in both hands, his eyes transfixed. It was one hundred full taels of silver! He could buy several acres of fine land with this! He was rich! He was rich!

Lei Haizheng picked up his things and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Liao Hong suddenly called him back.

Lei Haizheng pulled back his foot. "Boss Liao, do you have further instructions?"

"The goods have not been inspected yet," Liao Hong said coolly, signaling for the old shopkeeper in charge of herb procurement to come over.

Lei Haizheng watched as the old shopkeeper arrived and, following Liao Hong's instructions, began to inspect the plant. The old man examined it with extreme care. Only after confirming his findings did he say, "Master, this dendrobium officinale is fake."

Lei Haizheng was completely stunned, staring at the plant on the table, his mind unable to process the news. How could it be fake?

He then heard the old shopkeeper continue, "Master, in all my years of collecting herbs, I have never seen something so similar. At a glance, it is easy to be misled, but upon closer comparison, one can see that the leaves of this fake dendrobium are straight and have a hooked tip, whereas real dendrobium leaves are curved, not straight. While I do not know why this grows so similarly to the real thing, it is definitely a fake."

"Impossible!" Lei Haizheng could not believe it no matter what. "There must be a mistake somewhere! Boss Liao, even if you gave me a hundred guts, I would never dare to deceive you with fakes!"

Liao Hong was indifferent to his pleas. His expression darkened. "Since it is a fake, according to the contract, you must pay a penalty of one thousand taels."

Lei Haizheng looked at Liao Hong in despair, suddenly catching a flash of calculated malice on the man’s face. He had known all along that it was fake!