??7: Chapter 7: Revised Chain Sets
7: Chapter 7: Revised Chain Sets
In just two short years, Wu Xiaoyu had traveled south and ventured north, flown on planes, and seen ships.
By all accounts, he considered himself a worldly person.
But with Zhang Twelve Thousand’s ATM card in his pocket, the only thing he felt was excitent, pure excitent.
He was living the high life and the first thing he wanted to do was rush into a mall, buy new clothes, and then visit his sister in high school.
His sister was now in her second year of high school, with a relatively relaxed workload.
He figured there would still be ti to take her out shopping to buy a few new pieces of clothing.
As he walked to the end of the street filled with antique vendors, he saw sothing amusing—a farr-like old man squatting at the corner of the street with a porcelain vase in his arms.
Glancing at the vase, his first thought was, ‘Whoa!
Fresh out of the kiln last week.’ Could it be that he had the knack for appraising antiques?
Zhang Dadan’s excitent grew.
The old man squatted at the corner for the ti it takes to smoke a cigarette, then a middle-aged man walked over from the street corner, “Can I have a look?”
“Uh!
Boss, be careful, don’t break it.
My wife at ho is relying on this for her life!” the old man said, raising his voice.
The middle-aged man inspected it carefully and said, “Not bad, it’s an antique.
How much do you want to sell it for?”
The old man took a few puffs of his dry tobacco, looking troubled, and said, “This was passed down from my grandfather.
I don’t know how much it’s worth.
If it weren’t for my wife being sick, I wouldn’t be willing to sell it.
If you really want it, offer ten thousand yuan!”
“Ten thousand yuan is too much, it’s not worth the price.
Considering you need the money for dical expenses, how about I offer five thousand?” the middle-aged man countered.
Before the old man could respond, a bald man ca over and took the porcelain from the middle-aged man’s hand, saying, “Let
have a look and appreciate it!”
He pretended to appraise it, turning it over to look at the markings on the bottom, and said mysteriously, “Mister, this vase is an old piece from the Southern Song Official Kiln.
I’ll offer thirty thousand yuan, will you sell it to ?”
Hearing it was a Song Dynasty official kiln porcelain, the passersby crowded around.
The old man put on a completely clueless look and said, “Southern Song Official Kiln?
I don’t understand.
If you can offer thirty thousand yuan, I’ll sell it to you!”
The middle-aged man quickly interrupted, “Sir, I was the first to offer to buy this.
How about this, I’ll offer forty thousand yuan, will you sell it to ?”
The bald man didn’t back off, showing disdain, “Are you dead set on competing with ?”
“What do you an by competing!
I was the first to see it.
Everything should follow the rule of first co, first served.
If anyone’s competing, it’s you competing with !” the middle-aged man shouted.
“You son of a bitch, you’re quite arrogant!
I’ll buy it for fifty thousand!”
“Heh!
As if I didn’t have money, I’ll offer sixty thousand…”
With their escalating argunt, more and more onlookers gathered at the corner, all just there to watch the fun.
No one paid any heed to these people since this trick was too commonplace.
The crowd gathered, just wanting to see if any big fool would fall for it.
Wu Xiaoyu was no exception; he also wanted to see if people still fell for such a routine.
Just when the ‘argunt’ was reaching a climax, a clear female voice ca from outside the crowd, “I’ll buy it for eighty thousand yuan!”
Everyone turned to look and saw a woman of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing a black long dress, holding a red wallet, looking cold and coquettish.
Could this be the legendary cold and aloof queen?
Just that her IQ seed a bit low!
While Wu Xiaoyu mocked, the woman in the black dress had already squeezed through the crowd and co before the old man.
The woman picked up the vase, glanced at it hurriedly, and said, “Is this really a Southern Song Official Kiln porcelain vase?”
“Of course!
I’ve been collecting for over ten years, I have that much expertise!” the bald man said.
“I wasn’t asking you!” The woman gave him a sideways glance and then continued to scrutinize the old man.
The old man, feeling a bit guilty under her gaze, said, “I don’t know anything about official kilns!
Anyway, this vase was passed down from my grandfather’s generation!”
This woman was Bai Yun; her grandfather’s seventieth birthday was coming up.
She had co to this antique street looking to buy an antique calligraphy or painting as a birthday gift for him.
Unfortunately, after roaming the whole street, she hadn’t found anything suitable.
Coincidentally, she encountered soone selling a porcelain vase at this corner.
Her grandfather had always liked ceramics, so she thought he might like this.
However, she didn’t know whether it was genuine or not.
Hearing the old man say it was passed down from his ancestors made her believe it sowhat, but she still had so doubts.
So she said, “How about this, I’ll get soone to appraise it.
If it’s genuine, I’ll buy it no matter the price!”
The old man, middle-aged man, and bald man were secretly pleased—finally, a fool was about to be deceived.
Wanting to get soone to appraise it?
That would ruin their scam, how could they let her have her way?
“You little girl, what are you competing for if you don’t understand?
Well…
mister, I’ll take it for eighty thousand yuan!
If you’re willing to sell, I’ll go get the money now!” the bald man said, putting on a show.
The old man hesitated, looking as if he was afraid of being taken advantage of, and said, “Miss, are you buying or not?
If not, I’ll sell it to this boss here!”
Bai Yun was even more conflicted by his words.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t part with eighty thousand yuan.
She was just afraid of buying a fake and being embarrassed at her grandfather’s birthday celebration.
At this mont, the middle-aged man ca back into the scene.
He said to the bald man, “I can’t offer eighty thousand, but since you spoiled my business, you won’t buy it either!”
Then he turned to Bai Yun and said, “Miss, to determine its authenticity, you don’t need to specifically find soone.
There are so many antique shops next door, just casually ask a shop owner to take a look.”
Bai Yun thought it made sense.
Since they dared to run an antique shop here, they must have so appraisal skills.
Determining whether this vase was from the Southern Song Official Kiln shouldn’t be too difficult, so she said to the middle-aged man, “Then please, big brother, help call a few shop owners over.”
“Sure thing, just wait!” the middle-aged man responded, glanced at the bald man, and muttered, “Spoil my business, huh!
Let’s see if you can buy it now!”
The surrounding onlookers realized that since the woman had asked the middle-aged man to bring soone to appraise, she was indeed about to be deceived.
But no one pointed it out.
As the saying goes, ‘if it doesn’t concern you, keep out of it.’ No one wanted to offend so scamrs for a stranger.
Although the stranger was quite striking, it wasn’t worth worrying over soone they couldn’t benefit from!
Seeing the woman was about to be deceived, Wu Xiaoyu felt a bit of pity for her—was it because she was pretty?
Or because he was suddenly feeling a surge of justice?
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