Chapter 3

"What did he just say?"

"The vase… it's fake …, how could it be?"

1 minute... 2 minutes...There's still no answer from George.

The man was sweating while others gossiped. How did this poor rat find out he bought a fake vase? He couldn’t let others suspect him, he had to deny it! Fast!

"Hahahahaha!" George laughed really hard with a shaking voice.

"What did you just say? Fake? What does a loser like you know?" George said while swallowing hard, his mouth was dry.

"I bought it directly from the main shop, not a second- hand-shop like you!

Plus, in case you forgot, I'm an antique collector and also an antique lover so, there's no way this vase is fake!

Next time, try to use a better reason to accuse someone, okay?"

"Oh really? So you are an antique collector and antique lover, huh?" Greg paused for a moment before showing George the vase he was holding. "Can you tell me something about this vase?"

"Pfft!!! Well, that's a piece of cake! It is an antique vase that I bought from China, its origin is from the Yuan dynasty!" answered George, pretending to be confident.

"Hmm, okay... But why did you buy this vase? Aren't there many other types of vases besides this?" Greg asked him.

"Well, because the Yuan Dynasty vase is one of the finest, it is highly sought after and expensive. Just so you know,

What I bought is not just an ordinary one but a royal vase!" George says it with pressure on "royal" words.

He felt too proud and confident that he didn't realize Greg's smirk.

"Oh… So it's a vase from the Yuan Dynasty, and it belongs to the royal family... Wow, I'm impressed! You actually know it very well!" Greg said in shock while nodding his head.

"Of course I am! Now that you already know about the vase, please get your filthy hands away from it before you break it!"

"Nope!" Greg answered briefly, which left his brother-in-law shocked!

"No? What did you mean by no?" George asked, feeling irritated.

"You still haven't answered my first question. Are you sure this vase isn't fake?" Greg asked him again, which immediately made George angry.

"Yes, it is! It's not fake but real! Do you need more proof? Fine, just ask me directly!" said George as he tried to hold back his anger.

"Really? Alright, then! My question is really simple, why is the color of this vase green? Isn't a vase from the Yuan Dynasty famous for its cobalt blue color?"

Hearing that question, George automatically fell into deep silence.

To be honest, he didn't know the answer. He only bought that vase to show it off to everyone and humiliate Greg.

He's actually not even an antique collector! But he didn't want to admit it because that could ruin his image.

So George quickly tried to regain his composure and answered him firmly.

"Uhm…because, just like what I stated before, this is a royal vase, which means it has more color than cobalt blue. That's why I chose this color since it's more unique than cobalt blue. Cobalt blue is just a common color!"

Greg almost laughed when he heard his answer.

"Tsk! He didn't know anything about the vase, huh? Doesn't he know that cobalt blue is the most expensive and popular color in the Yuan Dynasty? Oh boy, this is getting fun!" He thought as he suppressed his smile.

"Oh really? Hmm, I didn't know about that... Alright then! Can you explain why the stamp looks like this?" asked Greg, while pointing to the dragon stamp that was below the vase.

"That's because it's a royal's vase, and their symbol is a dragon!" answered George spontaneously.

At this rate, Greg can no longer hold his laugh and starts to laugh maniacally, making George furious.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked, glancing sharply at him.

"Nothing, it's just… It's pretty funny to hear it from someone who says that he is an antiques collector," He said, wiping away his tears before looking at his brother-in-law mockingly.

"You don't really know about antiques, do you?"

"What do you mean by that! I really know about antiques and—"

"All right, then, if you insist. Uncle Smith?" Greg said to one of their fight's bystanders.

"Yes?" answered the middle aged man.

"If I remember right... You are an antique collector, right?" Greg asked him directly.

"Well, yes I am. I do have a lot of antiques at home," said Uncle Smith.

"Very well then. Uncle Smith, do you know how many dragon fingers were on the royal stamp in the Yuan Dynasty?" He asked the middle-aged man.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be five fingers if you are from the royal family, but four if you are just a commoner."

"Really? Is five a definite number of dragon fingers for the royal family? Not less or more?" asked Greg to make sure, and Uncle Smith immediately nodded his head.

"Yes, I'm sure of that."

"Okay then, um, hey, you're the one next to George, David, right? Come here," Greg called him.

"Wait? Why did you ask David??" George stated diagreely. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about it.

"Nothing, I just want to ask him something. All right, David, count how many fingers this dragon has," Greg said as he moved the vase closer to David.

David, who was asked, seemed to hesitate before starting to count.

"One…Two…Three…Four…Five" David suddenly paused in the middle of his count. His eyes widened so widely, which made Greg smirk!

"Well… why did you stop David? Don't you want to continue the calculations to prove that your friend are right? You haven't counted the other three fingers!"

Hearing Greg's words, all the people in the room were shocked and started whispering to each other.

"Three more fingers? Doesn't that mean it's a fake? There are eight fingers on it!"

"Woah... So George's gift to Grandma turned out to be fake! Oh no... He f*cked up so badly! Grandma will be very disappointed when she finds out!"

"How could this happen? Didn't George say he liked antiques? Is he lying to us?"  

"By the way…How come that poor know about it?"

George immediately walked over to them as his anxiety started to bulge in.

He took the vase from Greg's hand with force and started counting the fingers himself, hoping Greg was wrong.

But unfortunately, that didn't happen. There are really eight fingers on the stamp!

"What... so the vase is really a fake?" thought George, who was turning pale and cursing himself for his stupidity in not researching it first before purchasing it!

Greg, who saw him panic, immediately felt happy.

"Tsk, finally now things are starting to turn around, huh? Now let's see who has the worst gift among us," thought Greg as he smiled wider.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Suddenly there was a shrill scream from a woman who turned out to be Grandma Millen. The birthday girl had arrived.

"Perfect timing," thought Greg as he glared at George, who was starting to get scared.

The old woman hobbled toward them while being led by George's and Georgia's parents.

"Can't you hear me? I asked what was going on here, but neither of you answered me! What other troubles did you guys just have right now?" asked the woman while glaring hard, especially at Greg.

But Greg didn't feel scared at all, in fact, he wasn’t the one who did something wrong!

"Nothing much, Grandma, we're just talking and discovering that the vase George bought you is fa—"

Before Greg could finish his sentence, he felt someone push him from behind, causing him to stagger, and... PRANG!

The sound of loud shattering filled the room, making everyone startled!

Greg, who had realized what just happened, smiled bitterly.

He was on top of George, and the man was moaning in pain due to bleeding from lying on a splinter.  

Yeah, it was from … 

"Greg..." George called him softly as he endured the pain in his back. 

"Why did you drop the vase and push me?"