Chapter Twenty-Five: Gluttony

  Not long after, Zhao Haifeng drove to Bao Guoqiang's house with familiarity, and out of courtesy, he first asked Miao Qian about her well-being before entering the room. Finally, together with Qu Wen, they came to Gu Quan's room and obtained the Hu Kaiwen old inkstone that Qu Wen had bought two days ago.

  Things were brought back by Quwen Tao, Guquan didn't ask much, just told him to come back early in the evening, with a tone as if he was a close relative, showing such care and concern.

  Back at the store, just as he was about to hand over the old inkstone to Yin Chengjun, Bao Guoqiang snatched it away from him and smiled slyly: "The thing is here, if you want to see it, let's go to Quanjude to eat and look together."

  Yin Chengjun glared at Bao Guoqiang, slapping his thigh: "Alright, eat while watching, what's the big deal about roasted duck? As long as I get to see the treasure, ten meals or a hundred meals are nothing to me, just open up your belly and eat with abandon."

  The two of them hit it off immediately and didn't even need the host to say anything. After a while, the four of them arrived at a nearby Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant.

  Quanjude is a world-renowned traditional Beijing restaurant, famous for its unique Quanjude roasted duck, offering "Whole Duck Banquet" and over 400 special dishes, favored by heads of state, government officials, people from all walks of life and tourists from home and abroad, known as the "First Eat in China". If you have time to visit Beijing, Quanjude's roasted duck is a must-try.

  Yin Chengjun is not a petty person, he does what he says, and as soon as he entered the private room, he directly ordered a whole duck banquet, plus two bottles of Maotai.

  The aroma of roasted duck wafted up, making Qu Wen's fingers move involuntarily.

  Bao Guoqiang then took out Hu Kaiwen's old ink, chuckled and said: "Not bad, full duck banquet plus Maotai, let you take a look at this precious old ink."

  Yin Chengjun and Bao Guoqiang took over Hu Kaiwen's old ink, sitting alone at the tea table in the private room, afraid that the heat and greasiness of the dishes on the table would affect this piece of old ink.

  Yin Chengjun looked carefully for half a day, his expression changing again and again, his surprise and excitement beyond description. Finally, he let out a long sigh: "Good ink! How did it end up in your hands!"

  Bao Guoqiang is in the business of ceramics and rare stones, but he also has a good understanding of calligraphy and painting appreciation. However, Yin Chengjun considers himself an expert in the field and often teases Bao Guoqiang about his lack of ink. When he finally found an opportunity to gain the upper hand, he naturally wouldn't let it slip away.

  "Right, such a good piece of antique, how come you didn't discover it? Instead, my junior fellow apprentice found it on his first day in Beijing. What does this represent? Is your eyesight not as good as my junior fellow apprentice?" The implication is that your eyesight is not even as good as my junior fellow apprentice, let alone compared to mine.

  Yin Chengjun's nose was high with anger: "It's just luck, this Pan family garden has so many items circulating every day, you don't know that, do you? I can't patrol each household every day, can I?" Yin Chengjun asked after turning to Qu Wen and asking directly: "Qu brother, are you selling this ink cake?"

  "Ah..."

  Yu De has never been polite when it comes to food, and after watching for half a day, Yin Chengjun had already eaten half a duck, as if he was about to carve on his forehead: I am a foodie.

  "I just got lucky, actually I don't really understand the value of ink."

  Yin Chengjun said it was just a trick to raise the price of Quwen's calligraphy, and then picked up Hu Kaiwen's inkstone and looked at it for a while before saying: "One million five hundred thousand!"

  At the old auction price of Mo, this inkstone was sold for 1.5 million, which is a very high price. Yin Chengjun's willingness to pay shows his fondness for this inkstone.

  Qu Wen sincerely did not know the value of this old inkstone, furrowed his brow and habitually scratched his head, still not making a sound.

  Yin Chengjun saw him silent, and hastily stretched out two fingers: "How about 200,000?"

  This is really embarrassing for Qu Wen, to be honest, putting Hu Kaiwen's old ink on him is useless, it's good if he can make a profit, but he doesn't know the price, so he has no choice but to turn his attention to Bao Guoqiang and ask for his help.

  Seeing Qu Wen's difficult expression, Bao Guoqiang helped to persuade him: "Old Yin, we as seniors can't bully the younger generation. We must be kind and generous. This piece of Hu Kaiwen's calligraphy may not be as good as his later works, but it is precisely because of this that its value is highlighted. Works like this ancestor, one less, destroyed one less, turn around and think about buying again, there won't be any left."

  Yin Chengjun naturally knew this principle, gritted his teeth and said loudly to Qu Wen: "Antiques are all about affection. If you don't understand them, take them to the second-hand market and sell them as old items. But if you meet someone who understands, 350,000 or 850,000 is what it's worth, depending on whether you're willing to give it to a true enthusiast. Qu Wen, my brother, see it in your heart that I'm sincere, and name a price of 2.5 million to sell it to me."

  As soon as the words fell to the ground, Bao Guoqiang immediately winked at Qu Wen, indicating that this price was already very high and could be sold.

  Qu Wen didn't think much and pretended to be very moved: "Since Brother Yin likes it so much, I'll just give this inkstone to you."

  Finally, Qu Wen spoke up, and Yin Chengjun felt like crying with joy, excitedly shouting: "We've finally agreed, Qu younger brother, what's your account number? I'll go out and make the payment to you right away." As he spoke, his hand tightly grasped the Hu Kaiwen old inkstone, as if afraid that Qu Wen would change his mind if he turned his back.

  Qu Wen never thought of such a thing and would absolutely not do it. He smiled faintly at Yin Chengjun, "Brother Yin, rest assured, once I say something, I won't take it back. Let's sit down and finish this meal first, there's no rush to transfer the money."

  He didn't notice that the dishes on the table, including the roasted duck and vegetables, had been devoured by him more than half, leaving nothing for Yin Chengjun and Bao Guoqiang. If Zhao Haifeng hadn't also sat down to eat, his share might have been gone too.

  He glanced at the desktop and muttered: Could it be that after worshipping Zhu Bajie as a master, even his appetite would become like his?

  Scratching his head in embarrassment, he smiled awkwardly: "Sorry about that, two brothers, I didn't notice and ate all the dishes."

  Upon receiving the old ink, Yin Da Ge's heart was exceptionally delighted. He thought Qu Wen was a straightforward person and carelessly laughed: "No big deal, no big deal, I'll just order another table of dishes."

  After three rounds of dishes and five flavors of wine, two hours later, the food on both tables was finally finished by four people, with half of it going into Qu Wen's stomach. Looking at his round belly, Qu Wen wondered if he had really been influenced by Master Baigui, and whether this eating habit would eventually turn him into a fat man with a big belly.

  However, this is indeed related to Zhu Bajie's Gongfa. After absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy, the cells in the body begin to operate at high speed, constantly triggering the body's potential. At first, it was not obvious, and after a period of time, it gradually appeared, so a large amount of food needs to be converted into energy as a supplement.

  Bao Guoqiang said with a smile: "Awen, you can really eat, almost as much as Zhu Bajie in Journey to the West."

  The words hit the heart of the matter, and the bitter thoughts echoed in his mind: Who made me take Zhu Bajie as my master!