Chapter 47: The Ever-changing World

  "Hey, little brother, don't stand there, that door can't be opened for now."

  Just as Chu Chen was standing in front of the door feeling a bit frustrated, the owner of an antique shop next door suddenly waved at him.

  The boss's words made Chu Chen feel very puzzled, what is meant by temporarily unable to open, could it be that Old Zhou's store has gone bankrupt? He hadn't heard about it before! So he walked into the antique shop next door, ready to ask for clarification.

  "Excuse me, sir, I didn't catch your name, and could you also repeat what you just said? I'm afraid I didn't quite understand."

  "Haha, my surname is Feng, you can also call me Old Feng. Young brother, aren't you the young man who often comes to Old Zhou's place to pick up goods? Haven't you heard? Two days ago, Old Zhou jumped off a building and left." After finishing speaking, Boss Feng shook his head and sighed again.

  "Old Zhou died? How can that be? Just a few days ago, I heard one of my elders say that Old Zhou was going to make a fortune, how could he just leave like that?" Chu Chen was shocked at first, and then felt extremely surprised.

  Mr. Feng shook his head and sighed: "Hey, who says it's not? The problem is, it's all about making a lot of money."

  Chu Chen heard this and asked strangely: "What's going on, Mr. Feng? If it's convenient, can you tell me about it?"

  "Heh heh, okay, anyway it's a hot day and there aren't many customers, so I'll chat with you for a bit." After saying that, Old Man Feng enthusiastically poured Chu Chen another cup of tea.

  "Old Zhou, this time he's lost his mind, stepped on a 'landmine' and lost a full 600,000. You know, Old Zhou has a good-for-nothing son at home, this 600,000 is basically all the family's savings. Old Zhou couldn't take it, jumped off the building in an instant, what a terrible sight!" Mr. Feng sighed regretfully.

  Lao Zhou's real name is Zhou Xicai. He has no other shortcomings, but he is greedy and likes to take advantage of others. Moreover, he has a very big problem - he likes to kill the familiar.

  This is the most annoying thing, no matter what industry it is, especially in the antique business, which values reputation and credibility. If this continues, you can imagine how his store's business will be.

  Lao Zhou's store was originally located on the other side of Liuli Factory, and business was not bad. It was because of this habit that he couldn't open a store there anymore, so he moved his store to Baoguo Temple. After coming here, he learned some lessons and restrained himself a bit, and the business is barely passable.

  Wu Shu and Old Zhou have been old friends for a long time, the two were childhood friends who grew up together, so Old Zhou has never killed familiar with Wu Shu. Moreover, the books and paintings in his store are indeed not bad, that's why Wu Shu let Chu Chen come here to pick up goods, otherwise, knowing Chu Chen's personality, he likes to kill familiar, he would definitely not come here to pick up goods.

  As for the process of Lao Zhou stepping on a landmine, it was very simple. On Tuesday evening of this week, Lao Zhou closed the door late because he had something to do. At that time, a woman led a little boy in front of him.

  These two people were dressed like country folk, the woman looked quite small but her face was full of wrinkles and she looked very worried, while the little boy looked about five or six years old, his eyes were tightly closed, he must have had eye problems.

  The woman took out a piece of jade from a cloth bag beside her and said to Old Zhou in a timid manner: "Old... boss, I have something here, do you want it?"

  "Go... uh?"

  Lao Zhou has been running his shop for over a decade and is an old hand in the business. Seeing this situation, he thought to himself that things might not be going well and that he might have stumbled upon a "landmine". However, when he glanced at the object in the woman's hand, his heart skipped a beat. His many years of experience with antiques had given him a good understanding of various aspects beyond just paintings and calligraphy.

  At first glance, it looks like a red hill culture jade beast buckle, also known as a jade pig dragon, and the more you look at it, the more it looks like one. Old Zhou's heart is excited, if this piece is a real jade pig dragon, then it's worth no less than tens of millions.

  The woman seemed to be a honest person after all, she saw Old Zhou's waving action and put the jade pig dragon back into her pocket, silently preparing to turn around and leave.

  "Hey, sister, wait a minute."

  Lao Zhou had already been suspicious of the jade pig dragon, so he wouldn't let it go easily. He stopped her, and at this point, Lao Zhou had already fallen into his own greedy trap.

  "Big sister, you said you want to sell that piece of stone?" Old Zhou was also quite cunning, first he didn't say this thing was jade.

  "This is not a stone, it's jade." The woman replied in a raised voice, but her tone was still filled with trepidation.

  Lao Zhou's face was also thick-skinned, and he smiled as he said: "Isn't this just a glance at what you've seen? If you want to make a move, please let me get familiar with it first."

  Seeing the woman looking somewhat bewildered, he explained: "Just hand it over and let me take a look."

  "Oh, let me take a look for you, it's no problem, but boss, don't say it's a rock again."

  After finishing speaking, he took out the jade pig dragon from his bag again and handed it directly to Old Zhou.

  Lao Zhou took one look at the woman's appearance and knew that this was not the behavior of someone from their line of work. As mentioned earlier, if she were indeed from their line of work, she would have put the items aside first before letting him take them. However, if he had known about Chu Chen's situation, he wouldn't have thought so.

  Lao Zhou took the jade pig dragon and examined it carefully, looking at the glaze, workmanship, degree of corrosion, color, etc. The more he looked, the more he was convinced that it was a genuine piece. He thought to himself: "This jade pig dragon looks like it should be a genuine piece from the Qing dynasty, and judging by its quality, it could sell for at least 10 million yuan. If I put it up for auction, it could easily fetch 20 million yuan."

  Thinking of this, his heart was burning with anxiety, and he hastily asked the woman: "Sister, how much do you want for this thing? I'll take it."

  The woman furrowed her brow and thought for a moment, then spoke in a low voice: "Boss, I don't understand what price this thing is worth either. How about you give me eight thousand?"

  "Eight thousand!"

  When he heard the price, Old Zhou was truly shocked. This is heaven wanting me to get rich, this isn't picking up a bargain, what is picking up a bargain? At this moment, he was already fantasizing about his wealthy life in the future.

  However, this made the woman think that her opening price was too high, so she began to cry and complain: "Boss, I really have no choice. Look at my child, he's been blind since he got sick as a kid. His dad went out to work to pay for his medical bills but got into an accident, now it's just me supporting the whole family. We don't even have any money left for his treatment."

  "Earlier, a scholar from our village reminded me that if we have any old things at home, they might be worth selling for a good price in the capital. That's when I remembered that we have an ancestral jade piece at home, which the older generation said was quite valuable. I don't know if it's really worth 8,000 or not, but please, considering my child's face, just do me a favor and buy it."

  The little boy also opened his mouth and begged: "Uncle, please be kind to me, pity me. When I grow up, I will definitely repay you."

  Lao Zhou looked at them and became even more certain that the jade pig dragon in his hand was a genuine article. Just as he was about to agree, a voice suddenly came from beside him.

  "Big sister, I'll take this jade pig dragon for 30,000." Old Zhou was taken aback by the offer and stared at the speaker, a middle-aged man dressed in exquisite attire who had somehow appeared beside them.

  "Hey, what's wrong with you? Are you trying to intercept a deal?" In the antique business, there was an unwritten rule that if one person was looking at something or negotiating a transaction, others had to wait on the sidelines until the first party lost interest before they could take over.

  If you don't follow the rules and arbitrarily quote prices, that's disrupting the order. This behavior of raising the price to grab a deal ahead of others is called "intercepting".

  The man's behavior of breaking the rules was naturally unbearable for Old Zhou, and more importantly, it also involved his opportunity to make a lot of money, so at that time he got anxious.

  The middle-aged man smiled faintly and said, "This boss, haven't you bought it yet? I also like this thing very much, just let me have it. And for a piece of jade pig dragon, do you think 8,000 yuan is not taking advantage of people?"

  "Alright, you're ruthless! I'll give 500,000!" Old Zhou gritted his teeth and raised the price again.

  This opening price, and then what happened afterwards everyone knows, next was 100,000, 150,000, 300,000, finally rising to the middle-aged man's bid of 550,000.

  At this time, Old Zhou had completely gone mad. After calculating his family's assets, he steeled himself and shouted loudly: "I'll put up 6 million! Hah, if you have the guts to outbid me with more than 6 million, I won't want it anymore!"

  The middle-aged man let out a long sigh and turned to leave, while the woman was left standing there with a stunned expression. Old Zhou saw this and said to the woman with a smug look on his face:

  "Come on, let's go sign the agreement."

  And then came the tragic events I mentioned earlier.

  Lao Zhou's lesson actually tells people that if they want to enter the antique business, there are a few key points to remember: "learn more, look more, buy less" and most importantly, "overcome greed". Lao Zhou has mastered all of these.

  First of all, Lao Zhou is clearly an expert in calligraphy and painting, although he knows a thing or two about Hongshan jade, it's far from being precise. Despite knowing that counterfeit Hongshan jade is rampant, he didn't even bother to consult others' opinions and made a unilateral judgment on the authenticity of the Jade Pig Dragon, which is quite arrogant.

  Moreover, if he could observe more carefully, it would not be difficult to see the flaws in this jade pig dragon. Firstly, the corrosion of this jade pig dragon is completely done by chemical means, with uniform and consistent pitting and staining. In contrast, naturally formed corrosion will have varying degrees of severity, with both local and overall differences.

  In addition, there are perforation and polishing. The Hongshan culture is a primitive culture of 5-6 thousand years ago, so at that time, the hole was made with animal bones, often not centered, leaving what is called a "tier mark". Moreover, the holes show an external large internal small honeycomb shape.