Upon hearing Qin Fu's words, Feng Ji nodded.
"It's best if he's not interested. He's blind, so buying blood coral wouldn't be of any use to him."
Seeing that Feng Ji finally had some free time, Sun Fugui quickly poured him a cup of tea.
"Mr. Feng, I've heard so much about you. Please try the tea I brought."
Sun Fugui had long heard of Feng Ji's reputation, but had never had the chance to meet him.
Feng Ji's name wasn't actually that famous in his early years. There were many people in Beijing who loved antiques, and many of them grew up surrounded by antiques.
Feng Ji was this kind of person. His ancestors were all antique collectors, so when Feng Ji was five or six years old, he dared to go to Panjiayuan alone to hunt for treasures.
And without exception, every single item I found was genuine.
Customers in the market sometimes ask him to help watch the goods because he is young and interesting.
This person has always had a sharp tongue, and when he encounters counterfeit goods, he doesn't hide anything and exposes the stall owner's secrets.
Once, he encountered a stall owner with a bad temper. If it weren't for Ning San passing by, he would definitely have been beaten up by the stall owner's gang.
That's how Ning San met Feng Ji.
The two were about the same age and quite capable. However, just as they were beginning to gain some fame, war broke out, and Master Ning went blind and was sent to the countryside. Later, after being exonerated and returning to the capital, he gradually handed over all his business to Qin Fu.
Feng Ji, on the other hand, chose to hide away in the small city of Longhai and open a small antique shop after his wife and children went abroad.
If it weren't for Feng Ji's brother's persuasion and Fu Wan's guidance over the past year, Feng Ji would never have given up his aimless life and agreed to join the cultural relics restoration institute.
Sun Fugui had been collecting inexpensive antiques since he was young, and naturally admired Feng Ji, who could tell the authenticity of antiques at a glance.
He never expected to have such good luck today, not only meeting Fu Wan, who supplies his family, but also meeting his idol Feng Ji because of Fu Wan.
Furthermore, Feng Ji and Fu Wan have such a good relationship. After taking a sip of the tea, Feng Ji exclaimed that it was good tea, which made Sun Fugui's excitement surge again.
He even started stuttering when he spoke.
"Mr. Feng... Mr. Feng, what brings you here today..."
After a long while, Sun Fugui finally found a topic to chat with Feng Ji.
Feng Ji made no attempt to conceal his purpose.
"I came here today specifically for the blood coral. To be honest, this is a national treasure, and we're going to take it back and put it in a museum."
Feng Ji looked serious, while Fu Wan and the others exchanged bewildered glances.
This thing is actually a national treasure?
How did it end up at this auction?
With no one else around, Feng Ji quietly recounted the origins of the blood coral.
"This blood coral was originally an ornament in the Qing Dynasty palace. Before the Eight-Nation Alliance stormed into the Forbidden City, Li Lianying sent people to hide it in a wooden box."
They planned to dig it up and exchange it for money when the bandits returned.
However, after Li Lianying died tragically, only a few eunuchs under his command knew about the Blood Coral.
Over the past few years, the authorities have been sending people to search for this thing, but they haven't been able to find its whereabouts.
Unexpectedly, news about blood coral suddenly surfaced at this auction. We rushed over to check it out as soon as we received the news.
After saying a few words, Feng Ji glanced at the audience.
This is now the fifth item up for auction.
Although five people had already bid on the first five items, the number of people in the venue was still increasing.
The seats below the stage were packed with people, and the VIP seats on the second floor were also full.
It seems that many people came for the blood coral.
Feng Ji sighed, "With so many people, I don't even know if we have enough funds."
Fu Wan couldn't help but ask curiously, "Uncle Feng, how much money did you bring with you?"
Feng Ji held up three fingers.
Thirty million?
"What are you thinking? Three million!"
Feng Ji said irritably, "What does this girl take us for? Although we deal with cultural relics every day, the institute is very poor. This three million was scraped together by being extremely frugal."
"Three million? That's a bit far-fetched."
Qin Fu interjected. Although he hadn't seen what the blood coral looked like yet, he had a feeling that something that could attract so many people to come and watch was definitely not cheap.
As the saying goes, coral lasts a thousand years and remains red for ten thousand years; blood coral is an even rarer species among corals.
Moreover, corals grow extremely slowly, perhaps only growing an inch or two every few years. Sun Fugui previously said that corals are half a person tall. Based on the growth rate of corals, it would take at least several hundred years or even thousands of years to grow to half a person tall.
From this perspective, the value of the coral becomes apparent.
The piece of oxblood red coral that Fu Wan had previously received, which was only about the size of a palm, sold for three million, which is why Qin Fu said that Feng Ji's three million was not enough.
Feng Ji knew perfectly well that there wasn't enough money, but since the organization didn't have any funds, there was nothing he could do.
Although he brought his savings account with him, he didn't want to risk his life savings unless absolutely necessary.
Hopefully, not many people will be scrambling for the coral later!
More than an hour passed quickly, and after more than a dozen auction items, it was finally Fu Wan's turn to get the golden needles.
"Next up is the Nine Mysterious Golden Needles. This is a set of twelve medical acupuncture needles, with a starting bid of ten thousand. Each bid must be at least five hundred."
As soon as Wan Jinlai finished speaking, Fu Wan raised her card without hesitation.
"Eleven thousand!"
Before Fu Wan could even put down her sign, a young man immediately raised his sign in the first-floor seating area.
"Fifteen thousand!"
"Sixteen thousand!"
Fu Wan followed, and then another voice rang out.
"Eighteen thousand!"
The tone was a bit strange. Fu Wan looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the person was wearing a black hat. Qin Fu frowned and whispered, "This person is from Japan."
"Islanders?"
Fu Wan was surprised. At the same time, Wan Jinlai had already started hammering.
"Eighteen thousand once, eighteen thousand twice..."
"Twenty thousand!"
Fu Wan raised her paddle again. The man from before had given up, but the Japanese man Qin Fu mentioned had added another two thousand.
Fu Wan didn't want to get entangled with him, so she directly raised her paddle and called out her final psychological price.
"Twenty-five thousand!"
Twenty-five thousand is her limit; if it's more expensive, she might consider finding another pair of gold needles.
If they raise the price to 25,000, it would be a great deal for the Japanese to buy it.
However, as soon as she said that number, the Japanese on the first floor immediately turned pale.
He wanted to continue raising his sign, but someone next to him pressed his hand down and whispered a few words of advice.
"25,000 once, 25,000 twice, 25,000 three times."
Sold! Congratulations to this lady!
Wan Jinlai made the final decision, and Fu Wan did not miss the sinister look in the eyes of the person on the first floor.
She raised an eyebrow and gave the man a provocative smile.
"That person's name is Yamamoto Jiro, and his family is in the medical field."
I heard he studied acupuncture, which is based in our country. He probably wants to buy these gold needles to study.
Sun Fugui also glanced down. Yamamoto Jiro had business dealings with the Sun family, and he recognized the guy at a glance.
"Pah! They stole our ancestors' things and made them great, it's disgusting!"
Comrade Xiao Fu took excellent photos! Even if you hadn't, I would have arranged for someone to take them; we absolutely cannot let them take our golden needles away!
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