My name is Duan Shenxing. My grandfather gave me this name because he said that people in our line of work must be careful with their words and actions.

I asked my grandfather why he didn't name me Duan Jinyan, and he told me that Duan Jinyan was my father.

I was once very curious as to why my grandfather named my father and me in a way that sounded like brothers.

Whenever I ask about my father, this old man, who is usually willing to talk to me about anything, falls silent.

My memories of my father are vague, or rather, there is only one fragment: he took me home and handed me over to my grandfather, and then disappeared from my life.

My grandfather ran a pawnshop called Wangyunzhai, but business was usually not good, and it was difficult to even support my father and me.

Strangely, although the pawnshop's business was extremely poor, luxury cars would always come to its door every now and then.

Those guests all seemed to be rich and powerful, and they would always bring a lot of cash when they visited. They were very respectful to my grandfather and said that he could "discern life and death with sand and differentiate yin and yang with pulse".

At this time of year, my grandfather would always send me away.

I know that Grandpa never accepted money from those people, because no matter how many luxury cars and celebrities came to the store, our lives remained as hard as ever.

The day I received my university acceptance letter, I rushed home excitedly, eager to share the good news with him, only to find him bedridden with illness.

Grandpa held my hand and said he didn't have much time left and hoped I would give up going to university to stay with him until the end.

I didn't understand my grandfather's decision, but I stayed anyway.

My grandfather is my only relative, and for me, this family bond is more important than anything else.

Six months later, Grandpa passed away.

Before he left, he took my hand and made me kneel in front of the bed and swear that I would definitely protect Wangyunzhai, or else he would never be reincarnated.

The moment I knelt down, I saw my grandfather shed tears for the first time. He gave me a broken jade pendant and said that he was sorry to me, but this was the Duan family's inheritance and our responsibility.

After my grandfather passed away, I became the owner of Wangyunzhai.

I, the so-called boss, am actually not living a very happy life.

With the rapid development of society, pawnshops have long become a sunset industry, especially small shops like mine that cannot handle large-scale pawn transactions, which are in dire straits.

If people are short of money, there are plenty of online lending apps, and if all else fails, they can find loan advertisements on telephone poles. Who would still come to a pawn shop to pawn something?

Fortunately, the house in Wangyunzhai is family property, and apart from water and electricity, there are not many expenses. I do some part-time jobs, which is enough to cover my expenses.

My life trajectory changed on my 21st birthday.

That evening, as I saw that it was getting dark outside, I decided to close up shop early and go to do my part-time job.

Before I even reached the door, it was suddenly pushed open, and a thin young man, barely over 100 pounds, smiled at me: "Young Master Duan, are you getting ready to go out?"

The young man's name was Zhao Qinghou, nicknamed "Monkey," and he was my elementary school classmate and best friend.

"Get lost, I don't have time to chat with you today."

When I saw the monkey come to my door, I knew he couldn't be here for anything good.

The monkey's family business is an aquarium in the flower and bird market, a place where people often set up stalls to sell fake antiques.

He failed his high school entrance exam and went to help out at his family's shop. Under the influence of what he saw and heard, he gradually developed a strong interest in these things. He would run to the countryside every day to collect old items, but eight out of ten were fake, and the remaining two were worthless.

Nowadays, although few people pawn antiques at pawnshops, my grandfather taught me a lot about the appraisal of antiques when I was young. When I asked him why, his answer was still the same two words: inheritance.

Whenever the monkeys encounter something they're unsure about, they always come to me for advice.

"Young Master Duan, I've come to see you today with some good news. I've met something wonderful!"

The monkey walked up to me mysteriously, pulled up a photo on its phone, and handed it to me.

"You dare to accept even an Ultraman bronze statue, what good stuff could you possibly have..."

I initially thought the monkey had spotted some copper coins or silver dollars in the countryside, but its gaze was immediately drawn to something else.

The photo shows a blue and white porcelain stem bowl, dating from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.

The stemmed bowl is not in good condition; it is clearly from a folk kiln, and there is a chip on the rim.

What makes this bowl truly remarkable is that the pattern on it is actually a picture of children at play.

Porcelain collections are best when they feature figure paintings, and among these, paintings of children at play are the most expensive.

In the past, the photos that Monkey showed me were all obviously fake imitations.

At first glance, this photo seems to have no flaws; judging from the picture, it appears to be an authentic piece from the period.

Seeing that I was staring at the photo without saying a word, the monkey's eyes became somewhat excited: "Young Master Duan, what do you think? Did I not make a mistake this time? You said that Ming dynasty pieces were blue and white porcelain, while Qing dynasty pieces were polychrome porcelain. This is from the Jiajing period of the Ming dynasty, right?"

I zoomed in on the photo, examining the details of the stemmed bowl: "Where did you take this photo?"

“It’s a rural village in Shenbei. I was going to collect copper coins in the afternoon, but after I entered the village, someone found me and showed me this stemmed bowl.”

The monkey looked smug, even a little arrogant: "The other party is just an ignorant old farmer who lost money gambling in the village, so he's trying to sell this to me."

"Just an old farmer?"

Hearing the monkey say that, I frowned, and a sense of unease crept into my heart.

Back in the 1980s and 90s, many antique dealers would go to the countryside to collect antiques. Taking advantage of the farmers' lack of knowledge, they would buy old items from them at low prices and then resell them to make a lot of money.

Antiques acquired by going from street to street, to the countryside, or by scavenging are called "wild goods" and are the mainstream of the antique market. They are often mixed with genuine and fake items.

Nowadays, people are very shrewd. The more rural the item, the harder it is to collect. Farmers generally don't have much knowledge of appraisal, but they know through various channels that antiques can fetch high prices.

Even for Northern Song Dynasty coins and Qing Dynasty Guangxu Tongbao coins sold by weight on the market, they dare to ask for tens of thousands of yuan for a single one.

If the farmer who came into contact with the monkey really had antiques, it's impossible that he wouldn't check online himself, but would just find a stranger who collects antiques and try to sell them.

Many people, like monkeys, believe that goods bought from farmers are genuine. Some counterfeit gangs have taken advantage of this mentality and specifically target farmers to sell their goods, a practice known as "planting landmines."

Although my family runs a pawn shop, we also deal with antiques, so I'm considered a semi-insider.

My grandfather once told me that the worst thing in the antique business is not being fooled, but being greedy.

When people become greedy, they fall into a well-set trap.

The word "fake" has ruined countless lives over thousands of years.

Antiques are not just about appreciating history, but also about appreciating the human heart.

The monkey seemed to read my mind and explained, “Shenxing, I’ve learned a lot from you this past year, and I really think this time it will work. The quality, cobalt material, style, and painting of this stemmed bowl all match the details you taught me. The glaze on the bowl is a bluish-purple, which is a typical characteristic of Jiajing blue and white porcelain!”

I held the monkey's phone and examined the pictures repeatedly, but I couldn't find anything suspicious: "How much did they ask you for this stemmed bowl?"

Two hundred thousand!

The monkey held up two fingers: "I have 100,000 yuan in savings. If I sell the car, I can raise that money! I've already inquired, and this stemmed bowl can fetch at least 320,000 yuan according to the market price!"

I didn't expect the monkey to go this far: "Two hundred thousand, that's no small sum."

"The cost is high, but the returns are also high! That's why I wanted you to come with me to take a look, precisely because I'm unsure!"

Monkey grabbed my wrist: "Buddy, you don't want to see me get scammed, right? Come with me. If we can confirm this thing is real, I won't let you work for nothing. We'll split the 120,000 we earn, and half of it will be your authentication fee! We're brothers, you can't just stand by and watch me die!"

"Let's go to the village you mentioned, we'll talk about it after we see the goods."

Knowing monkeys as I do, he was already completely obsessed. Even if I didn't go with him, that bastard would definitely go and buy that stemmed bowl anyway.

Although I couldn't see anything special in the photos, antiques are something that needs to be handled; I wouldn't dare to make any conclusions without seeing them in person.

The monkey may not be very good at observation, but he's a reliable person. He's helped me a lot in life over the years. Since he's come to me, I can't just stand by and watch him jump into the fire.

Most importantly, winter is just around the corner, and I still haven't settled the heating and other miscellaneous expenses for the shop. I'm really short of money. If I can help Monkey, it would be a win-win situation for everyone.