A Jewelry Deal Without Paperwork

Since Fang Fang handled the jewelry business, she had a trained eye. Otherwise, the losses would have ruined her long ago, and she would never have made department manager.

"Please see yourselves out," Manager Fang said, rising to her feet. She paid no heed to Cheng Hai and Yang Su's stunned, helpless expressions.

Yang Su could not accept it. "Impossible. Impossible. She wouldn't lie to me."

"Why wouldn't she? What do you know about jewelry?" Cheng Hai snapped. Yang Su cared only about keeping up appearances and feeding her vanity. She couldn't tell what was genuine.

"What do we do?" Yang Su was dazed. She had gone too far this time. She might have cost them their company and her future life of luxury.

"We get another appraisal." Cheng Hai had regained some composure. Whatever else happened, they had to establish whether the necklace was real.

They left the pawnshop in a panic. All the arrogance they had arrived with was gone. Like whipped dogs, they could barely lift their heads as they fled.

Gong City was huge, with jewelry shops almost everywhere. But they tried one jewelry shop and goldsmith after another, and every appraisal reached the same conclusion: the necklace was fake.

"Fake!" Cheng Hai seethed.

Yang Su was crushed too. She had never imagined that a necklace bought from someone she knew could be fake. She had trusted her so much.

"The necklace is fake—but it's only the sapphires that are fake. Sorry for the trouble, but could you give us an estimate? What's it worth?" Cheng Hai asked. His thoughts turned to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang, his unremarkable live-in son-in-law, the good-for-nothing he mocked almost every day, had spotted the problem with the necklace just by looking at it.

Zhang Yang had warned them, but Cheng Hai had dismissed it. Even if Zhang Yang had told him outright that day that the necklace was fake, he would not have believed him.

Now Cheng Hai believed him.

Yang Su was thinking of something else. Thank goodness no one had exposed the fake at the birthday banquet. She would never have lived down the humiliation.

The jewelry shop owner weighed the necklace in his hand, then smiled. "Fifty or sixty thousand at most. For a precise figure, I'd have to pry out these pieces of glass."

"Glass?" Cheng Hai was even more shocked. Someone had dared to pass off blue glass as sapphires. They must have been certain Yang Su couldn't tell the difference.

The earlier appraisers had spared Cheng Hai and Yang Su the embarrassment of being told the "sapphires" were glass. But when Cheng Hai asked what the necklace was worth, the shop owner assumed he intended to sell it and answered frankly.

"Glass... That bastard..." Yang Su trembled with rage. How dare that woman sell her a fake?

"Sorry, we can't sell it yet. We need to confront the seller." Cheng Hai snatched the necklace back.

Yang Su had treasured it. Now it was just an ordinary piece of jewelry.

"Go and demand an explanation?" Yang Su burned with anger. It was an insult. A humiliation.

Cheng Hai said nothing. For a moment, he could almost see himself out on the street. With a spendthrift wife like her, any fortune would run out eventually.

Too angry to speak, Cheng Hai headed straight home.

The smell of lunch already filled the kitchen, and Zhang Yang could be heard humming inside.

Lin Xiaofei was helping in the kitchen. When she heard someone come in, she went out to greet them.

"Uncle, Auntie, you're back just in time. Lunch is almost ready," Lin Xiaofei said to Cheng Hai and Yang Su.

She saw the frustration and anger on their faces, then glanced back toward the kitchen. It looked as though Zhang Yang would be mocked and cursed again. How else would they vent their anger?

"Lunch is ready!"

Zhang Yang came out carrying a steaming bowl and called to them with a smile. Cheng Dongxue was not back yet, so he glanced at the clock on the wall. By his reckoning, she should be getting off work and heading home.

Ding-dong...

Just then, the doorbell rang. A key turned in the lock, and Cheng Dongxue came in.

"Dongxue, lunch is ready!" Zhang Yang called again.

"Zhang Yang, the Sapphire Necklace is fake. Are you happy now?" Yang Su did not leap up and shout in his face. She had calmed down and asked him slowly.

Cheng Hai watched Zhang Yang, waiting for his answer.

"How do you know the Sapphire Necklace is fake? You believe my judgment?" Zhang Yang was stunned. There was no way Cheng Hai and Yang Su would take his word for it unless they had gone to someone else for an appraisal.

"What necklace is fake?" Cheng Dongxue asked, completely confused.

Yang Su held back her anger, too ashamed to speak.

Cheng Hai pointed at Yang Su. "The Sapphire Necklace your mother bought for over three million. We had it appraised. It's fake—worth only a few tens of thousands."

"What?"

Cheng Dongxue was shocked too. She frowned as she studied her parents' faces. Both had gone a sickly shade of purple. This was real.

"Let me see." Cheng Dongxue put down her bag, took the necklace from her mother's purse, and held it up, examining it from both sides.

"Yes, it's glass," Cheng Dongxue said with a frown.

Yang Su wanted to ask how Cheng Dongxue could tell, but she was too embarrassed to say it.

"Who appraised it?" Cheng Dongxue asked. Why had they suddenly decided to have the Sapphire Necklace checked? She wondered whether someone had swapped it during the appraisal.

"Gong City Pawnshop, plus several jewelry shops and goldsmiths. They all said the same thing: it's fake." Cheng Hai lowered his head. He was miserable, with anger burning inside him and nowhere to put it.

"A pawnshop? Why did you suddenly go there for an appraisal?" Cheng Dongxue was even more puzzled. She dropped the necklace back into the purse and sat down at the table.

"The company's in financial trouble. We're short by more than five million. Your mother used that money to buy the necklace, and now there's nothing left, so we wanted to pawn it. We never expected..."

Cheng Hai trailed off and lowered his head. He was still furious.

"I used company money? Haven't you done the same? I got cheated—haven't you? What about all those antiques you bought? Didn't you lose money on them?" Yang Su snapped. All her pent-up bitterness poured out as anger directed at Cheng Hai.

For once, that anger had shifted away from Zhang Yang.

"Who sold you the necklace?" Cheng Dongxue asked. She stayed calmer than either of them. Arguing would solve nothing; they needed to raise the money and deal with Cheng Company's financial crisis.

"Your Aunt Xu helped me buy it. Three and a half million!" Yang Su said bitterly.

The Aunt Xu she meant was her close friend Xu Ai. Yang Su had always trusted her.

"Mom, do you have a receipt? An appraisal certificate?" Cheng Dongxue was thinking of taking legal action, but they needed enough evidence. Otherwise, even the Court could not help them.

"Ah..." Yang Su looked up in surprise.

There was no need to ask. The answer was written all over Yang Su's stunned face. She had trusted Xu Ai so completely that she had never had the necklace appraised. She had no certificate—and, worse, no receipt. She had simply handed over the money and taken the necklace.