Chapter 001 Visiting Prison

  Shingawa City Hei Yuan Prison.

  No. 3 Detention Center's family visitation room, the entire room is moderately sized, about fifty or sixty square meters, with over ten sets of tables and chairs neatly arranged inside.

  The entire meeting room was empty except for two figures, one of whom was a man in his 20s with an ordinary face, not handsome but not ugly either. However, when he put on a pair of black-framed glasses, his slightly weak cheeks seemed to radiate a refined and elegant aura, making it easy for people to feel a faint sense of affection at first glance.

  However, at this moment, the young man was full of anxiety, almost staring eagerly at the road leading to the detention room from the meeting room.

  Tap tap tap.

  In the midst of calmness, a sudden burst of footsteps echoed from the distant road outside the door. From that moment on, the young man's anxious expression instantly turned into joy, and he quickly stood up from his original position, unable to help but want to rush over. However, just then, the prison guard cast an icy gaze in his direction, causing the young man's excitement to dissipate somewhat, and his raised foot had no choice but to be put back down heavily.

  After several breaths.

  The footsteps outside the door became clearer, followed by a man wearing prisoner's uniform, with a scholarly air about him, but the glasses perched on his nose had only one leg left, and the right lens was also broken in half.

  When he saw the man, the young man could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart, and his eyes instantly turned red. He opened his mouth and choked out a "Uncle!"

  The middle-aged man looked haggard and pale, with no obvious scars on his face. However, he walked with a slight limp and even used one hand to press against his waist. It was clear that life in prison had not been easy for him. But when he heard the young man's low call, a wave of warmth suddenly surged up in the middle-aged man's eyes, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Ming Luo, you've come."

  As he spoke, the middle-aged man carefully pinched his waist again and limped to the table. Seeing the other person's difficult appearance, the young man could no longer bear the sourness in his heart, and didn't care about the cold gaze of the prison guard anymore. He directly took a step forward and carefully supported the middle-aged man, "Uncle, how did you...how did you become like this?"

  Yes, in Zhou Mingluo's memory, when did Fang Shu have such a sorry appearance? He had always been a warm and elegant, dignified elder image in front of Zhou Mingluo, when would he be so disheveled and embarrassed!

  Of course, Zhou Ming Luo wasn't unable to imagine how the other person could end up like this. He wasn't an idiot. The days in prison couldn't be easy, especially for someone like Fang Shu Tong who was framed and sent in. It was predictable that his experience would be miserable.

  But as expected, seeing this elder who treated him like his own son suffering so much, Zhou Ming still felt an extreme sense of oppression in his heart at this moment. This oppression was enough to make him not even have the strength to cry.

  "Sorry to trouble you, Officer He." Fang Shu nodded helplessly, but instead of responding directly to Zhou Ming's words, he smiled apologetically at the prison guard who was staring at them with wide eyes.

  This smile, if it were outside the prison, with Fang Shu Tong's appearance and demeanor, would be absolutely full of mature masculine charm. But at this moment, paired with those half-ruined glasses, it is exceptionally comical, as well as heart-wrenching.

  It seemed that even the prison guard couldn't bear to look at Fang Shu's situation, and his originally cold face now had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, before he turned away.

  Just then Zhou Ming Luo sat down beside Fang Shu at the meeting table and he himself sat down across from them.

  "Uncle, is it true that many people bully you inside?"

  After sitting down, Zhou Ming looked at Fang Shu again, suppressing his voice and trying hard not to cry out loud, asking in a low tone.

  It's hard to imagine that Fang Shu, who was once a humble and gentle scholar, is now among a group of ferocious prisoners. How has he managed to survive these days?

  As soon as the question was asked, Fang Shu also looked over directly, carefully staring at Zhou Mingluo for a while. The corners of Fang Shu's eyes gradually became slightly red, but he still didn't answer this question. Instead, he said with emotion, "Mingluo, I really didn't misjudge you. Until today, only you dare to come and see me."

  "Uncle, if it weren't for you all these years, I..." As soon as he heard this, Zhou Mingluo felt another wave of depression. Yes, in the past when Fang Shu was still outside, there were many people who came to visit him, but now those people are probably avoiding him like the plague.

  No matter how others view it, no matter who Fang Shu has offended and what terrible consequences may arise from associating with him now, none of this can affect Zhou Ming's respect and admiration for his uncle.

  He will never change his stance!

  He only knew that when he had just left his hometown in the interior and entered this big world, he was cheated as soon as he arrived in Xinkou, and it was embarrassing to say anything to his parents. In the end, he ended up sleeping on the streets, unable to eat or wear warm clothes, and even almost fainted from hunger on a street corner. It was Fang Shu who appeared at that time and helped him.

  And in these three years, under the care of Fang Shu Tong, Zhou Ming Luo not only learned a lot but also accumulated some value, and can live a relatively comfortable life not only in Xinkai, a coastal city, but also often bring something back to support his parents.

  He was just a migrant worker from the countryside, can be said to be poor and white, with nothing to his name, but Uncle Fang's support and help for him were really not ordinary.

  Although he and Fang Shu Tong had no blood relationship, Zhou Ming Luo truly regarded him as his uncle in his heart. Apart from his parents, Fang Shu Tong was the most important person to him in this world.

  Now watching Fang Shu fall into this situation, he was powerless and could only stand by anxiously, which made Zhou Ming feel so sad that she wanted to cry.

  And all of this originated from a piece of porcelain.

  Although Fang Shu is gentle and refined, his actions are also upright and have a gentlemanly air, but his true identity is actually that of a businessman, and even more so, a profiteer in the collecting world.

  In short, it's all about searching everywhere for various treasures, buying them at a low price and selling them at a high price.

  In times of chaos, gold is king; in prosperous times, collectibles are treasured.

  This statement contains a truth that has been proven countless times in history. In times of war and chaos, the most valuable things are often gold and silver, but in prosperous times, a collecting craze will emerge. Nowadays, China is also at the beginning of a prosperous era, with numerous people immersed in the world of collecting, even ordinary families may have one or two collectors. Fang Shu, however, has taken a professional path, with a certain foundation and vision. Until he obtained that ceramic piece, he was already a man of some means in the big city of Xinkai, running a jade store on a bustling street that could support his family. But more often than not, he would travel to various places with Zhou Mingluo.

  That piece of porcelain was also discovered during a leak inspection.

  But unexpectedly, Fang Shu Tong also missed the mark. He picked up this leak at the time and only thought it was a Qing dynasty imitation of Song Dynasty porcelain, but later it was confirmed by another expert that there is a 70% chance that it is genuine.

  This is a big deal, originally it was considered a replica because it was a realistic imitation and also a Qing dynasty replica.

  Let's put aside the various evaluations and criticisms of the Qing dynasty, and from a purely artistic perspective, it was also an extremely prosperous ceramic era in history. So even if this porcelain is an imitation from the Yongzheng period of the Qing dynasty, it would be enough to allow Fang Shu Tong to open another branch in Xinkang. And if that were the case, its value would really be immeasurable.

  This value is even a bit too hot to handle.

  Soon after, batch after batch of people came to visit and even many people opened their mouths to buy.

  There were too many people, and many of them didn't even know Uncle Fang before. Faced with the same old questions, plus the fact that there was no consensus on whether the porcelain was genuine or fake, he naturally wouldn't sell it easily.

  As a result, those who are also true collectors or have a certain moral bottom line are fine, even if they are rejected. However, some people will stop at nothing.

  Fang Shu was suddenly arrested for intentional injury and sentenced to five years in prison, and the porcelain also disappeared soon after.

  Before, Fang Shu was also in Xinkiang, although he had some reputation, but that was only a small one, at most it could be said that he was a middle-class person, because his own attainments in the field of antique collecting were only mediocre, and even so, it was still mediocre within Xinkiang city.

  So until now, whether it was Fang Shu Tong or Zhou Ming Luo, no one knew who had actually made the move against him.

  This is obviously a setup. The person who was determined by the court to be the victim of Fang Shuo's intentional harm, I had never heard of this name before Fang Shuo was arrested, nor had I ever seen this person...

  But now, whether it's Fang Shu Tong or Zhou Ming Luo, they have both deeply engraved each other's voices and appearances into their hearts.

  Since Fang Shu Tong was caught, the people who really framed him have not shown up, but some people may have already sensed the wind. In the past, Fang Shu Tong's good friends and brothers who had a good relationship with him have all disappeared like vapor.

  Fang Shu Tong's wife and Zhou Ming Luo, after his arrest, ran countless roads to rescue him, even selling the store, but ultimately to no avail.

  It just shortened Fang Shuo's prison sentence.

  "Heh heh, don't mention those things." Seeing Zhou Ming's depressed appearance, Fang Shu Tong's eyes reddened again before speaking up, "How is your Aunt Xiu doing? Is she still well lately?"

  Mentioning his wife, Fang Shu Tong couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. The once harmonious and beautiful home had been reduced to this state because of a broken ceramic piece, he was truly devastated.

  If it weren't for the accumulation of more than 40 years of life, if it weren't for the thought of his wife to support him, he would have collapsed long ago.

  However, when Fang Shu Tong was finally allowed to be visited, in the face of his wife's request to come together to see him, he refused decisively. He couldn't let her see himself in such a miserable state, so this time he only let Zhou Ming Luo come alone.

  "Xiu Yi is very good." Plop, a large drop of hot tears finally fell from Zhou Ming's eyes, and the next moment, he said in a low voice, "Uncle, if I find out who did it, I'll fight him to the death!"