Chapter 74: Ghost Market (Continued)

  Hou Yuanming took over Chu Chen's words and said, "I've encountered such things many times. In my opinion, it's still the young people's own problem. This ghost market can have all sorts of things happen, and there are many scammers too. It's surprising that he dared to follow others alone without any vigilance."

  Zhou Wenping also nodded: "However, as Xiao Chuan said, those people don't dare to be excessive, at most that young man will only spend some money. Besides, this place is a ghost market, with many unsavory characters, if you want to manage it, it's really not convenient with your girls around, if today was just Xiao Chuan alone, he might have been able to manage it."

  Chu Yulan and the others thought so too. After all, in this dark and chaotic place, if they encountered a few vicious villains, even with Chu Chen's skills, he couldn't take care of them alone if there were many opponents. However, from Zhou Wenping's words, it seemed that Chu Chen had indeed handled such matters before, so Chu Yulan curiously asked:

  "Chu Ge, have you ever educated someone like this before?"

  Chu Chen said with some embarrassment: "It's true that I've been in charge, but it's not like I'm in charge of everything. I only step in when things get out of hand. Alright, let's drop this matter for now. Xiao Lan, judging from your expression earlier, you seem to be particularly interested in chapter materials and such. Do you have a need for that?"

  "Chu Ge, you should also know from my uncle that my grandfather's birthday is coming up soon. I wanted to give him a piece of jade as a gift, but after searching for a long time, I couldn't find anything satisfactory. If I go to an antique store, it would be too expensive for me, so I can only look around this market and see if I can find something." Chu Yulan's face looked somewhat worried.

  "How many more days until your grandfather's birthday?" Chu Chen asked.

  "Counting today, there are still four days."

  Having heard that there were only four days left, Chu Chen frowned slightly: "The time is indeed a bit tight. In this case, Xiao Lan, don't rush either. Let's take a look around here first. If we can't find any, I'll help you ask around when we get back. We won't mention the expensive ones, but there's still hope of finding some mid-range or above-average materials."

  Chu Yulan heard this and immediately smiled with joy, saying: "Brother Chu, thank you so much."

  When they were about to continue their journey, the young man from earlier walked over with a listless expression on his face. He didn't seem to have suffered any harm, and judging by his expression, it was likely that he had spent money to get rid of the trouble.

  Seeing this, Chu Yulan and the others also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, they had not yet truly entered society, and in their hearts, they still had a childlike innocence. If young people were physically harmed, they would also feel uneasy at heart.

  Then everyone continued to visit dozens of small stalls, and basically everyone gained something.

  Chu Yulan was quite lucky and finally got what she wanted, spending 17,000 yuan to buy a piece of Changhua chicken bloodstone material. The material was fine and smooth, with a bright red color that seemed to drip like flowing clouds and water. At the normal price in an antique shop, this material should be worth around 50,000 to 60,000 yuan.

  However, Chu Yulan still preferred Tian Huang chapter materials in her heart, so she still troubled Chu Xuan to help her find some suitable Tian Huang chapter materials after he returned.

  At this time, the sky was slightly bright, Chu Chen looked at the thing in his hand, and his expression was slightly disappointed.

  He also bought two things, one is a good quality inkstone and the other is a Qinglong Jiaozi jade belt buckle. Both are top-notch items, which cost him 15,000 yuan in total. This price is only slightly lower than the usual wholesale price, after all, the antique business is not always easy to make a profit.

  Chu Chen now has enough money to open an antique shop, and the storefront is temporarily not a concern. However, not all items in the antique shop can be crafts, so those antique goods need to be prepared in advance, which is why he bought the two items in his hand.

  It's not easy to come to the Ghost Market in Xijing, and Chu Chen was somewhat dissatisfied with just these two small items. However, when he lowered his head to take a look, he found that on the small vendor's stall in front of him were arranged a circle of bronze Buddha statues.

  Buddha statues in our country have a long history, and the ancient bronze Buddhas and Buddhist objects that have been unearthed are mostly gilded Buddha statues from the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods. The handed-down products are mostly from after the Sui and Tang dynasties, with Ming and Qing dynasty Buddha statues being the majority.

  Most of the Buddha statues here are in the style of the Tang Dynasty, with a small number of Ming and Qing Buddha statues, and they all look pretty good. The Buddha statues of the Tang Dynasty generally have a plump face, proportionate body shape, reasonable structure, full and plump figure, natural and relaxed posture, strong sense of dynamics, etc., with distinct era characteristics.

  Associated with the rich historical and cultural heritage of Xijing, Chu Chen immediately became interested in seeing these Buddha statues, regardless of their authenticity. He squatted down to observe them closely. After a rough glance, he found that the quality of the Buddha statues here was not bad, although most of them were new imitations, but there were also some old imitations and high imitations, which looked quite good.

  However, after Chu Chen's selection, these statues were either poorly made or damaged, and not one was satisfactory, instantly making him feel somewhat disappointed.

  Just as Chu Chen thought of standing up and leaving, a glance at the corner caught his eye on a relatively new Buddha statue, which instantly sparked his interest. This was because his treasure awareness reminded him that this Buddha statue should be an old object.

  As soon as the Bodhisattva statue was in his hands, Chu Chen felt a weight in his hand, with a coppery texture. Just this alone made him feel good, and upon closer inspection, he was shocked.

  This is a gilded bronze statue of Manjusri Bodhisattva, about twenty-five centimeters in height.

  Manjusri is the phonetic translation of the Sanskrit name "Manjushri", which means "Wonderful Virtue" and "Wonderful Auspiciousness". Among all Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, he is renowned for his wisdom, ranking first among all great Bodhisattvas. In Buddhist scriptures, he is called "Prince Manjusri, the Dharma King".

  The image wears a five-petaled crown on its head, with a high bun on top and long ears that reach the shoulders. The face is square and solemn in expression. The shoulders are broad and thick, the waist is slender, the body is soft and slightly bent in a three-folded branch-like shape, sitting on a lotus platform.

  Upper body wearing a bare right shoulder cloak, both shoulders draped with a scarf, lower body wearing a long skirt, the texture of the clothes flowing naturally, the leg texture symmetrical and neatly arranged, especially beautiful. The whole body is also decorated with jade beads and ornaments.

  With both hands placed in front of the chest, forming a mudra seal, each hand holds a lotus stem. The lotus flowers are open to the shoulders, with a Buddhist scripture on the left shoulder and a precious sword on the right shoulder. The scripture and sword are important symbols of this deity's image, both having profound meanings. The scripture represents wisdom as vast as the ocean, while the sharp sword can cut through all troubles and afflictions.

  The lotus seat is a semi-circular waist, with lotus petals all over the top and bottom. The lotus petals are neatly arranged, full and powerful, and the head is decorated with rolled grass. On the lotus seat, there are six characters "Da Ming Xuan De Nian Shi" engraved in relief, indicating the casting date, and the base of the seat is well sealed.

  The whole Buddha statue is well preserved, with a dignified shape, proportionate and exquisite craftsmanship, which is a model work of the palace sculpture in the Ming Dynasty during the Xuande period.

  This Manjusri Bodhisattva statue, in terms of its shape, craftsmanship, and glaze, is identical to the characteristics of Buddhist statues from the Xuande period of the Ming dynasty. After using his extraordinary abilities, Chu Chen's mind was even more shocked.

  "Boss, name a price." Such an exquisite statue, and it's from the Xuande period, how could Chu Chen let it go.

  The boss of this stall is also a young man, with a chubby face that looks very kind, but don't be fooled by his appearance. He saw Chu Chen looking carefully and still looked very young, so he thought he was a newcomer. When Chu Chen asked the price, he opened his mouth and wanted 800,000.

  Chu Chen immediately knew that the price was 80,000 and thought that this person must be a novice. If the boss thought it was genuine, he wouldn't have taken it out to show him. However, quoting such a price, he also knew that the boss took himself for a fool.

  Chu Chen hated it when people thought he was a fat sheep, although this thing was indeed genuine, but the boss wanted to take advantage of him, that was definitely not going to happen, so he directly lowered the price back to five thousand.

  The boss was taken aback when Chu Chen offered 50,000 yuan. He thought to himself, "Does this guy know that I bought this statue for 30,000 yuan?" As soon as he thought of this, his spirits lifted, and he thought, "If I can sell it for 70,000 yuan, I'll make a profit of 40,000 yuan. What a great deal!" So, with a smile, he lowered the price to 700,000 yuan again.

  Chu Chen saw this and was also straightforward. He put the Bodhisattva statue back in its original position, then pretended to want to leave.

  The boss saw this and became anxious, how could he let a fat sheep run away like that? He hastily said: "Brother, your price is really too low, add some more, just add a little bit."

  Chu Chen was delighted when he heard the music, made a "one million" gesture with his hand, and then said: "Boss, I'll just offer this price. If it's a deal, it's a deal; if not, forget it."

  "Alright, it's settled then." The boss decided immediately to avoid a long and sleepless night.

  After the transaction was completed and Chu Chen and others walked away, the boss couldn't help but hum a little tune, thinking to himself: "Hey, old dad said I'm not cut out for business, look at this, 7,000 yuan just fell into my hands so easily. For the next few months, I'll be worry-free about food and clothing. The more of these young fools, the better."

  At this time he would never have thought that his old man was rummaging through things at home.

  "Hey, girl, did you see that Buddha statue I brought back yesterday for 30,000?"

  "No, wait for Xiao Kun to come back and ask him if it's with him."

  "This scoundrel, I was thinking of inviting someone to give him a good beating today, but it can't be that he's actually at his place, can it? If so, he'd better not try to cheat me, or else I'll definitely break his legs!"

  "Huh? Chu Ge, why did you think of inviting a Bodhisattva statue?" Wen Yuting looked at Chu Chen holding the Bodhisattva statue with some surprise.

  "Ha ha, let's go, we'll talk about it when we get back."

  As the sky grew brighter, everyone had their own gains and lost interest in wandering around the ghost market. Moreover, they were all curious about the Bodhisattva statue in Chu Chen's hand, so they quickly left the ghost market.