‘Maybe this is what they mean… every genius has their quirks.’

Then, Gu Shengsheng tested the waters. “You’re not even willing to join such a bold plan?”

“I don’t believe you fought for a reduced sentence and came back to your hometown just to waste your life away.”

“Besides, you haven’t been back for years. The first thing you do when you return is wander around this forgery village. Isn’t that because you want to get back in the game? But since no one invited you, you were too embarrassed to ask.”

The old man flew into a rage out of shame. “You little brat, you’ve got nothing better to do than tease an old man like me?”

“Tell me what’s really going on. I’m not here to fight. If you can’t even make this interesting, why should I help you? Just ‘I went to jail’ is too boring. Even a prison sentence needs to have some class.”

Gu Shengsheng watched him, looking like she was actually enjoying this.

She remained perfectly calm. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

‘There’s always a way to convince you.’

「The next day:」

Gu Shengsheng had a pile of delicious food sent over, having her delivery service buddy, Zhao Han, get some guys to help bring it. The old man clearly liked it and ate quite a bit, but he just picked his teeth and still refused.

So that evening, Gu Shengsheng went ahead and made a table full of “dark cuisine,” making him suffer for it.

On the second day, Gu Shengsheng changed tactics. She decided to appeal to his reason and emotions, lecturing him with grand principles all day. In the end, he just snoozed away, sleeping soundly. He even said that at his age, he hadn’t slept so well in a long time and thanked Gu Shengsheng for the lullaby.

And so, the second day was also a failure.

On the third day, Gu Shengsheng grabbed the tools she had brought and started repairing his house, looking every bit the construction woman.

But it wasn’t to please the old man. She simply couldn’t stand seeing someone barely scraping by like that.

On the fourth day, the old man finally showed some reaction, looking at Gu Shengsheng, who was standing there like a post.

“Miss Gu, I’ll give you one more chance to convince me.”

Gu Shengsheng had figured him out—this man didn’t play by the rules.

The more she got angry and went after him, the happier he seemed.

In that case, she wouldn’t hold back. She’d say whatever was on her mind.

“The Da Ying Museum has many of our country’s stolen artifacts. A fellow countryman of ours has now recovered one, but getting it back into the country won’t be easy. So, I want to create a bunch of fakes to pass off as the real thing.”

“When the time comes, I’ll buy them all back at a low price and flood the market with our fakes. If we lose, the blame is on me. If we win, it’s a victory for everyone.”

“That’s pretty interesting. In all my years, you’re the first rookie I’ve seen with this kind of nerve,” the old man laughed.

“It’s somewhat interesting, but not enough.”

Gu Shengsheng continued, “Your skills must be rusty! After all, these will be going up against the Da Ying Museum. They’ll have to pass expert scrutiny.”

“The village chief also just told me you haven’t done this in years and have gotten rusty. It’s okay, I understand. Being out of practice is a real handicap. I don’t blame you, really.”

The old man flicked a peanut at her.

“Hah! Your plan to provoke me has succeeded. I’ll make one for you right now, just to show you! But you have to take care of things with the villagers for me. I can’t possibly make so many pieces by myself.”

“Also, the conditions in the village are poor. With such a large batch, the biggest fear is rain. The environment here is just not good enough.”

Gu Shengsheng said, “I’ll handle it. I’ll handle all the difficulties. As long as you’re willing to do it.”

“But why should I believe you can pull it off?” His face was full of haughty pride, and his eyes were filled with contempt for Gu Shengsheng.

To be honest, he really did look down on Gu Shengsheng.

Gu Shengsheng smiled. “To prove I’m worthy, my husband and I just took down Jack, the director of the Da Ying Museum. He’s now been dismissed, and the Da Ying Museum is suffering losses and is deep in debt.”

“Isn’t that a good enough start?”

Gu Shengsheng showed him the news.

The old man also kept up with the news, so he searched for it. Then he burst out laughing. “That Jack! What a petty villain enjoying his moment of glory! I’ve met him before. He’s a real piece of work! And an idiot to boot!”

“So, with such a great opening move, would you, sir, be willing to join us for a wild ride? There are so many things that need to be done. We’ve been in the appraisal business for so many years; don’t we also need to stand up and find our own worth? The worst-case scenario is we all go to jail together.”

Most people would have been scared off by Gu Shengsheng’s words. But when the old man heard them, his blood even started to boil with excitement. He said, “Alright, then.”

He had been locked up before for making too many fake artifacts. The reason he was released was because he had invented something patentable.

So… doing this kind of thing was a thrilling challenge.

“From what I’ve seen, you probably don’t have enough manpower. This is a huge project. I’ll ask Beijing City to help send some people over.”

After Gu Shengsheng said this, the old man just laughed. “It’s not that we don’t have enough people. It’s that you haven’t seen our true strength yet.”

Then, Gu Shengsheng followed the old man to see the assembly lines set up all over the mountain.

Many of the villagers had even moved into caves on the mountain to make the work more convenient. The caves had been converted into living quarters.

What’s more, Gu Shengsheng found them quite comfortable when she went inside.

‘This is truly rare…’

Then she saw them—a chain of eighteen mountains, all covered with assembly lines, with people in charge of each section.

‘No wonder… With this level of skill and effort, it’s no wonder they can make money.’ In any case, Gu Shengsheng was incredibly excited now, as if she had just witnessed something wonderful.

“You, little lady, you must be pretty skilled at making replicas too, right? For now, you’ll work with me on the first prototype. After that, we can roll out production and continue from there. We should be able to finish a batch in about a week. Then it’s another week for them to dry.”

“All in all, it will take more than half a month.”

“Can you wait that long? This business also requires complete trust. If you don’t trust us enough, things will definitely go wrong.”

“I can,” Gu Shengsheng said. “Do I look like the kind of person who can’t handle the pressure?”

…

As the half-month deadline approached, everyone was waiting in anticipation. Lu Shijing had already called several times to ask if Gu Shengsheng was alright.

Gu Shengsheng laughed and said, “It’s almost ready. We can pack it up and ship it out tomorrow. Then we’ll head to Eagle Country. Is everything okay on your end?”

“Very good,” Lu Shijing said with a laugh. “With me here, I’ve already stirred the pot and made a mess of things. Their museum is on the verge of collapse. I’ve also uncovered the crimes of several other nearby museums. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Shijing started thinking about coming over to Huaxia to see Gu Shengsheng. After all, it had been a long time since they’d met. He wondered if she had lost weight.

Although Lin Kai sent him videos every day, she looked much thinner in them.

So he bought a plane ticket to come back and give her a surprise.

On Gu Shengsheng’s end, there were no surprises. She was meticulously protecting her information, keeping an eye on the weather, the climate, and the character of the people around her, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

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