Chapter 88 Antique Black Market (8)

  Few people were interested in the pen holder, and after looking at it, they were all quite disappointed. After waiting for a few minutes, the auctioneer saw that no one was bidding, so he said: "Gentlemen, this is an ancient pen holder, placing it in your study can also add some interest, if you want it, please bid."

  However, it's clear that nobody is really interested in this thing, and not many people want to be the last fool. The auctioneer isn't surprised by this situation either, but he's also not in a hurry, after all, someone will eventually make an offer, it's just a matter of how much.

  Chu Chen didn't rush to bid either. After waiting for a few minutes and seeing that no one was bidding, he finally spoke up: "Two thousand!"

  Qian Changxing heard that it was Chu Chen who made the offer, and he originally wanted to join in, but looking at this pen holder, he really didn't dare to show interest. Moreover, from Chu Chen's expression, it seemed that his interest wasn't very great either. If he didn't make an offer himself, and Chu Chen didn't take over, then he would truly lose face.

  After Chu Chen quoted the price, everyone was still silent. After all, the pros and cons of this pen holder were there, and anyone who had some knowledge of antiques could judge its value. Everyone just thought that Chu Chen wanted to hurry up and speed up the auction process.

  After Chu Chen got the pen holder, Zhao Qi Rui asked curiously: "Xiao Chu, what's wrong with this pen holder?"

  Chu Chen shook his head and smiled: "It's hard to say, anyway it's cheap, I'll just buy it as a souvenir."

  Zhao Qirui smiled after hearing the words, and didn't say much. The goods hadn't been paid for yet, if they really had gotten a bargain, they couldn't spread it around, who knows, maybe the other party would regret it, after all, this was an antique black market.

  Next, the auctioned items are also very precious, a box of agarwood from the late Qing dynasty.

  Agarwood is the dried heartwood of Aquilaria trees, particularly Aquilaria malaccensis, Aquilaria agallocha and Aquilaria crassna. It is a valuable timber, incense material and medicinal plant. When the tree is wounded or infected by insects or fungi, it produces resin as a defense mechanism to protect itself from further damage.

  In many parts of the world, agarwood is highly valued for its fragrance and is used as incense, perfume, in traditional medicine, or directly carved into decorative items.

  This box contains a large amount of high-quality agarwood, well-preserved and of top grade. What's even more rare is that the box for storing small pieces of agarwood is also made of agarwood, utilizing its natural texture with slight modifications, consuming a lot of materials, uniquely crafted, and extremely rare.

  This box of top-grade agarwood, not to mention Zhao Qirui's infatuation, even Chu Chen couldn't help but want to buy it, unfortunately, Chu Chen didn't have the money, and Zhao Qirui, because he had bought that pair of porcelain bowls earlier, didn't have enough money either. In the end, it was bought by two familiar bosses for 40.8 million.

  "This result made Zhao Qirui quite regretful, he sighed and said: 'Ah, I didn't expect the last thing to be this top-grade old agarwood, if I had known earlier, I wouldn't have bid on this pair of bowls! Ma Tuizi, why didn't you remind me earlier?'"

  Ma Tuzi said somewhat awkwardly: "This, Director Zhao, I also have a willing heart but lack the power. Previously, they only notified me of what was being auctioned this time, and the quality is not bad. As for what the things actually are, I'm just like you all, completely in the dark."

  Zhao Qirui saw his worried and bitter expression, and smiled: "Alright, don't put on this act. To be honest, it's just that you're timid. You've been in this line for over a decade, but you only dare to do some peripheral work. You can't get any core information. If we hadn't cooperated for so many years, and if you weren't competent, I would have replaced you long ago."

  Ma Tuizi's face was full of gratitude and respect, but in his heart he thought, if it weren't for him being so careful all these years, he would have been caught long ago. If it weren't for having a wife and children to support, he really wouldn't want to do this job.

  Of course, Ma Tu Zi just thought about it in his heart. To know that the little thing Zhao Qi Rui took today, he got at least 400,000 to 500,000 yuan, and Zhao Qi Rui would also give him some extra benefits. The money he made for this day alone can offset the annual income of many people in Beijing, and he wouldn't be willing to give it up even if he wanted to.

  Everyone thought the auction was over, but to their surprise, the auctioneer smiled and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, due to some special reasons, this auction has added one more item. This last item is a heavy piece, I believe you won't be disappointed. Please take a look, a Shang Dynasty white jade tripod!"

  Judging by the name, Chu Chen still thought it was a small cauldron, but unexpectedly, this time the people carrying things were not the etiquette group, but two strong men who came out to carry it. Looking at the height of the cauldron's ears, it actually reached above the auctioneer's waist, estimated to be around 80-90 cm. Seeing this, he couldn't help but stare blankly, this was a truly heavy piece!

  As soon as the tripod was lifted up, it caused a commotion on the scene. The heavy object was really shocking! When the white jade tripod was brought to the front of the stage, someone rushed forward eagerly and excitedly surrounded the thing to examine it.

  Chu Chen's eyes were sharp and she noticed some details, exclaiming in surprise: "The top seems to be a high-relief dragon pattern, it looks like the real thing!"

  A Chao followed Zhao Qirui for a long time, and he often went to the black market. He had never seen such a heavy machine before, and was shocked, saying: "I don't know if it's true or false, but if it's true, then this group of people really have too much guts, daring to bring out such things!"

  Zhao Qirui nodded after hearing this and said, "This group of people are indeed too reckless. This thing looks like it was unearthed not long ago, and it might be related to a big case. I'm telling you, Ma Tuzi, you're not afraid of getting into trouble."

  Ma Tuizi cried with a sad face: "I really didn't know about this, no one revealed that there was such a thing to be auctioned beforehand. If I had known, I wouldn't have participated in this auction."

  Zhao Qirui pointed at Ma Tuzi and laughed, saying: "Look at you, what a sight! You didn't even participate in the organization, how big of a deal can you be? Are you still pretending to be a local tyrant?"

  When they were laughing, Chu Chen occasionally saw Yu Guangjie's smile was a bit meaningful. Thinking of the Warring States jade dragon in the afternoon, he hesitated and said: "Zhao Ge, do you think that jade pendant this afternoon will come out of the same earth?"

  Zhao Qirui heard this and fell into deep thought. After a while, he looked at Yu Guangjie and said, "This matter is really hard to say for sure."

  "That thing about the investigation..." Ma Tuizi asked with some trepidation.

  Seeing his appearance, Zhao Qirui knew it was because of something, and the matter might involve a group of reckless and arrogant local bullies. Ma Tuzi's worries were not unreasonable, so he opened his mouth and said: "Alright, just help me make some discreet inquiries about this afternoon's incident, whether it succeeds or not doesn't matter."

  Ma Tu Zi felt a great relief in his heart, he couldn't afford to offend Tufu Zi, and Zhao Qirui was the same, to some extent, Zhao Qirui was even more terrifying than Tufu Zi.

  "Zhao Ge, let's not get involved in something like this," Chu Chen said softly.

  Zhao Qirui nodded and said, "Of course we won't join in, besides, our little money can't afford to join in. But going up to appreciate it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

  Chu Chen nodded and then the two of them came together in front of the White Jade Cauldron.

  This white jade tripod is also carved from Hetian white jade. Just this large piece of Hetian white jade material is enough to show its uniqueness. Moreover, hollowing out such a large piece of jade material and making it into a tripod is even more extraordinary. This alone is enough to make people marvel in admiration.

  Most of the Ding is covered with a brownish-gray patina, while the jade is translucent and crystal clear, dazzling to the eye, extremely pleasing to the eye. This Ding has a flat mouth, a drum-shaped abdomen, and symmetrical double ears protruding from both sides of the Ding, with three animal feet at the bottom carved with taotie patterns.

  The mouth and ear of the white jade tripod are carved with curl patterns, the outer wall is high-relief carved with dragon patterns, string patterns, and gluttonous patterns. The pattern decoration is extremely fine and vivid, reflecting the superb craftsmanship of the carving master.

  Judging from the style of the patterns, carving techniques and coloration, this is indeed a white jade ding from the Warring States period. And judging from the marks on its surface, it is indeed a newly unearthed item.

  This Warring States white jade ding is magnificent, with beautiful and majestic patterns, exquisite shape, and can be said to be quite rare. To say the least, Chu has never seen such a similar white jade ding from now on, whether it's artistic value, economic value, or cultural value, this ding can be considered a national treasure.

  "How was it?" Zhao Qirui asked hastily after they returned to their seats.

  "From my point of view, in every aspect, this tripod should be a white jade tripod from the Warring States period, and its quality is also top-notch. From its appearance, it indeed looks like a newly excavated item."

  "Hehe." Zhao Qirui smiled and said, "This kind of thing is a hot potato, even if I have the money, I wouldn't dare to buy it back home. Let's just focus on watching the excitement."

  "Two million!" The first person's bid was so high, Chu Chen thought it was likely that the competition below would be very fierce. However, he couldn't understand how these people could afford to buy it and still dare to show off in public.

  "Twenty-four million!"

  "Three million!"

  As expected by Chu Chen, the bidding price of this tripod skyrocketed and the competition was extremely fierce. Before long, the bidding price broke through five million.

  However, Chu Chen also discovered a detail that one of the middle-aged men who often quoted prices should be a decoy. In previous encounters with seemingly good items, the middle-aged man would always unreservedly raise the price to a certain level and then stop bidding.

  But this is also normal, let alone the black market for antiques, even in regular auctions, such bidders also exist.

  But in the end, it was a joint report of the price, after all, this is a black market antique, and everyone's money is limited. In the end, this white jade tripod was bought by an old boss who looked like a nouveau riche for 62 million yuan.