"You're talking nonsense!" The middle-aged man glared at Gu Mian.

  "I'm not talking nonsense, this senior sister of mine can tell. " Gu Mian smiled slightly and continued: "Of course, just take a look."

  The middle-aged man rolled his eyes and stared at Gu Mei without speaking, but there was a clear rejection in his expression.

  Guan Tong first looked at Gu Mei's movements with a confused expression, but as she listened to the conversation between the two, she felt more and more that there was something wrong here.

  Especially now, a middle-aged man just agreed to let her replace Gu Biyan for appraisal, but changed his mind in just a short while.

  Gu Meng didn't react strangely to the middle-aged man, but instead calmly pointed in Xia Jun's direction: "That's our leader. Since you won't let us two appraise it for you, then please ask our leader to do so. Our leader's level is far higher than mine. If I can determine that this jade incense burner isn't from the Qing dynasty just by looking at it, then our leader will definitely be able to as well."

  "What kind of appraisal is this, just by looking at it? You're not professional at all. I've never heard of appraising antiques with just a glance and being accurate." The middle-aged man neither agreed nor disagreed.

  "What do you mean, sir?" asked Gu Ming.

  "It's no use just looking." The middle-aged man quickly raised his head and glanced over, seeing the team leader Xia Jun walking towards them.

  Gu Meng nodded: "Sir, I somewhat understand what you mean, but there's still something I don't quite get. Would you be able to explain it to me?"

  "What's unclear?" The middle-aged man looked at Gu Mian with a vigilant expression.

  "Since I started appraising it just now, sir, you've been emphasizing the need to touch it with your hands, but this jade incense burner hasn't reached the point where it's necessary to touch it to appraise it. Yet, because of this, you keep saying that I don't have real skills and can't appraise things. This makes me wonder, are you so anxious for me to touch it because... is there something wrong with this jade incense burner?" Gu Yan said loudly on purpose.

  The person in front of her, who was holding a counterfeit item for appraisal, didn't care whether they knew the thing they brought was fake or not. She let them all go without making a fuss, using a very gentle tone to send those people away.

  The middle-aged man in front of her was clearly up to no good, she had already given him a chance before, and since he didn't cherish it, then don't blame her for not being polite.

  Don't think she's easy to bully just because she looks young and inexperienced, she wasn't raised by fear, how could she be intimidated by a middle-aged man's roar?

  The middle-aged man's pupils suddenly constricted, and he forced a smile: "My jade incense burner is fine, what could be wrong with it?"

  "If there's no problem, then why do you keep wanting me to touch you, but after putting down the jade incense burner, you haven't touched me again?" Gu Mei looked at the middle-aged man with a hint of mockery.

  The people around heard Gu Mei say that and started whispering to each other, while Guan Tong stared at the middle-aged man with a serious face.

  If it wasn't for Gu Mian stopping her just now, she would have already touched that jade incense burner.

  "I've heard that sometimes people will deliberately disguise damaged goods as intact and have them appraised, then when the item develops a problem after it's been sold, they'll start making a fuss and demanding compensation from the buyer. At that point, regardless of whether the item is genuine or fake, if it's damaged, you have to compensate - this responsibility can't be shirked." Gu Xiang finished speaking without looking at the middle-aged man, instead picking up the camera she had placed beside her earlier.

  "You mean I'm a swindler?" The middle-aged man was furious.

  "I didn't say anything, don't wrong me." Gu Mian smiled at the middle-aged man.

  "You, you, you..." The middle-aged man's breathing suddenly became urgent, and after saying several "you"s, he calmed down and shouted at Gu Mian: "My son is an officer!"

  "Even if you're an officer, that doesn't mean what you say goes." Gu Mei raised her head and waved the camera in her hand: "You haven't forgotten that I took a picture of you just now, have you? From this photo, it looks like one leg of your jade incense burner has a problem. Although it's been disguised, if you look closely, you can still see signs of cracking on the surface. If you insist that we appraise it in person, please confirm it in front of everyone; otherwise, we don't dare to take it lightly."

  "Sir, it's better to confirm first." At this time, Xia Jun, who had been listening for a while beside him, walked in front of Gu Mian and turned sideways to face the middle-aged man.

  The middle-aged man glared at Xia Jun with a fierce gaze, without any intention of moving, his expression filled with unspoken irritation.

  "By the way, I forgot to mention that fraud is a crime punishable by law. There are many soldiers in our camp who might know your son, would you like me to ask around and see what he has to say about this matter?" Gu Mei casually threw out this sentence.

  The middle-aged man slightly moved his body, his eyes flickering as he looked at Gu Mian and Xia Jun: "Don't scare me, my son..."

  "I'll go get someone." Guan Tong saw the situation and volunteered himself, lifting his foot to run towards the camp.

  "Whatever, I won't bother with you people anymore. I'm not going to appraise it. I'll definitely call my son and complain about you." The middle-aged man quickly wrapped the jade incense burner in cloth again, hugged it tightly, and ran away swiftly, as if a ghost was chasing him from behind.

  Onlookers who saw the commotion couldn't help but guess what was going on. Some people let out disdainful snorts at the middle-aged man's back, while a small number of people remained silent, their faces not looking good either. Some even didn't bother to identify themselves and just took their things and slunk away with their tails between their legs.

  "Gu Mian, awesome! If it weren't for you stopping me, I might have gotten burned. Guan Tong gave Gu Mian a thumbs up and said: "I didn't expect that you, who usually look so elegant and refined, would speak with such vigor."

  "It's not a big deal, this scammer is not even skilled, and if they want to cheat people, they should put in more effort. Sister, you're just anxious to protect me and didn't notice. When dealing with this kind of person, you can't show weakness, or they'll take advantage of it and bother you endlessly." Gu Mian smiled slightly, not taking it seriously.

  "Anyway, thanks to you, it seems that scoundrel was premeditated. I should have caught him earlier." Guan Tong said indignantly.

  "That old fox is not easy to catch, if we accidentally touch him while struggling, he can say that we broke his jade incense burner and it's hard to explain. Let's go talk to Yu Xiao's people later, they must have a plan in mind. I forgot to tell you, I not only took pictures but also recorded what happened just now." Gu Xiang handed the camera to Guan Tong, smiling: "Being prepared is always right."

  "You're really cunning!" Guan Tong exclaimed as he looked at the camera in his hand, which was playing back the scene of him confronting the middle-aged man just now.

  Gu Mei shrugged and calmly accepted Guan Tong's evaluation of her, then turned to Xia Jun who had been blocking her way earlier: "Thanks for just now."

  "You're welcome." Xia Jun nodded and, seeing that the matter had been settled, turned around and dispersed the onlookers who were still gathered nearby, maintaining order at the scene.

  "This Xia Jun doesn't seem too bad either." Guan Tong gently bumped against Gu Zhen's body.

  "It's okay." Gu Mei winked at Guan Tong.

  The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.

  Just as Gu Mei's smile had not yet been withdrawn, she saw Du Hao standing not far behind Guan Tong.

  Du Hao didn't know how long he stood there, until Gu Mian noticed him. He didn't make any movement, but his eyes were dim and quietly fixed on Gu Mian, as if thinking about something.

  Gu Mei didn't dodge or evade, nor did she glare at Du Hao like last time. Instead, she gave him a calm and polite smile, then turned around and continued her work, receiving the next person who needed appraisal, without giving Du Hao another glance.

  Thanks to Tian Fei for the mooncake, thanks to everyone for their support~~~~~ One update today, will try to update more tomorrow~~