On Saturday morning, Lin An woke up to a message from Leng Lin:
"Don't buy lunch. My mom is making pork ribs. I'll bring them to you."
"No need, I'm not home today."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to Mr. Zhou's birthday banquet tomorrow, and I'm planning to go out and buy him a gift." It wouldn't be polite to go empty-handed to someone's birthday celebration.
"Oh, then I'll go with you."
After thinking for a moment, Lin An thought that Leng Lin was articulate, cheerful and outgoing, and it would be good to negotiate prices with her, so he replied with a "okay".
The two arrived at the antique street together. After being enlightened by the "Collection of Life Skills", Lin An could see the items on the street as if he had opened his eyes. He could easily identify which were imitations, which were overpriced, and which were bargains.
They went in and out of several antique consignment shops together, and Leng Lin was quite frightened by the prices that often exceeded one million:
"Lin An, let's go somewhere else. Everything here is too expensive."
"It's okay, we'll find something suitable when we keep looking."
They entered a deserted shop, where only an elderly man, over fifty years old, was carefully examining a celadon bowl in his hand. Lin An immediately noticed the wooden box next to him.
The box has an elegant design with a dark base paint all over, except for a pattern engraved around the bottom edge. The "Collection of Life Skills" records many auspicious totems from ancient small countries.
Lin An judged from the simple pattern that this box was from the Baekje Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty. Wooden items are inherently difficult to preserve, and rarity increases value. The Baekje Kingdom had been extinct for hundreds of years, so the value of this box was immeasurable.
The old man carefully placed the bowl in his hand into the wooden box. Lin An saw that the inside of the wooden box had been lined with the same red velvet cloth as the packaging boxes in the antique street.
It seems that neither the seller nor the buyer recognized the value of the box, treating it merely as an antique-style packaging box. This is not surprising, as such artifacts from small countries are probably only something that expert-level antique collectors would be familiar with.
The old man started haggling with the shop owner:
"How about ten thousand yuan?"
"Mr. Liu, you're a regular customer. We never quote inflated prices here. Sixteen thousand is truly the lowest price we can offer."
Although this bowl is a porcelain piece from the Tang Dynasty, it was not produced by the official kiln. The style is ordinary, and it is just a common item circulating among the people. The normal price would not exceed three thousand yuan. It seems that this Mr. Liu is also a half-baked sucker.
The old man pleaded, "My wife has all the money. I really don't have much money, only 10,000 yuan. Please give me a discount."
The shop owner looked troubled: "I really can't sell them. I pay more for them than this."
The old man took out his phone and showed the shopkeeper the balance of his bank card, which was a little over 10,000 yuan, indicating that he really couldn't come up with any more money.
The merchant nodded helplessly: "Alright, alright, they're all regular customers, I'll just do a loss-making business, ten thousand it is."
"I'll offer you 11,000. Sell it to me," Lin An said after a long silence.
"Are you crazy? This broken bowl is so expensive. It doesn't even look good as a wedding gift. It's not as nice as a gold bowl from a street stall." Leng Lin muttered softly.
Lin An whispered in Leng Lin's ear, "Don't worry, this is worth it."
Upon hearing that yet another sucker had offered an even higher price, the shop owner couldn't suppress the smirk: "Alright, I'll issue you an invoice right away."
The old man flew into a rage, pointing at Lin An: "What are you doing, causing trouble? Do you even have the money to buy it? Do you even know anything about porcelain?"
Lin An remained silent. The shopkeeper had already prepared the invoice: "How will you pay? Alipay or WeChat? This is our shop's payment code."
The old man got impatient: "Boss, I'm a regular customer, how can you do this?"
"There's no way around it, the highest bidder wins; that's how it is with antiques."
Lin An took out his phone and paid quickly. The shopkeeper was efficient; he took out a gift bag, put the box inside, handed it to Lin An, and waved for him to leave, afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, Lin An would change his mind.
Lin An carried the things out, but the old man followed closely behind. He had been eyeing the bowl for months and had finally saved up enough money to have it snatched away, which made him very unhappy.
"Hey, don't go! Do your parents know how much money you're wasting? You'll be crying when you get a beating at home."
"Kids these days are really outrageous, spending their parents' money so extravagantly."
Seeing Lin An quicken his pace, the old man suddenly pounced on Lin An's feet, grabbed one of Lin An's legs, and started throwing a tantrum: "Everyone come and see! He's bullying an old man! I saw it first, and he snatched it away!"
Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Lin An couldn't bear to see this old man save up some money to be ripped off, but seeing his cursing and swearing, he could only respect the fate of others: "You really want this bowl that much?"
"Of course, I've been looking at this for months."
"I'll sell it to you for ten thousand yuan, do you want it?"
The man's anger turned to joy. He brushed the dust off his clothes and stood up: "Alright, alright, I'll transfer the money to you right away."
"Actually, I like this box, but I'll sell you the bowl." Lin An took out the porcelain bowl and handed it to the man.
The man carefully held the bowl, as if he had found a treasure. He had finally gotten what he wanted, and his eyes crinkled with laughter. He thought to himself that this young lad was really stupid and didn't know anything. He spent money to buy the packaging box, but this thing was a free gift.
Lin An watched the man's departing figure and sighed, "Idiot."
Leng Lin looked puzzled: "What are you doing? Don't you want the bowl anymore? Why give a wooden box as a gift?"
Lin An said calmly, "President Zhou will know its value."
Not to mention that Zhou Shengren himself is a collector with considerable knowledge, he also runs an antique auction house, and top appraisal expert Lei Dong works exclusively for Zhou Shengren. It's impossible that he couldn't see the value of the box.
"Hey, look, isn't that a member of the Lin family?" Leng Lin had seen Lin Rou and Lin An arguing at the school gate and had a deep impression of her.
Lin An looked in the direction Leng Lin pointed and saw Lin Wan and Lin Rou picking out calligraphy and paintings in a high-end art store. The two were dressed exquisitely, especially Lin Rou, who wore eye-catching jewelry on her wrists and neck, clearly a rich young lady.
“You and they really don’t look like you come from the same family.” In Leng Lin’s memory, Lin An always wore a school uniform, which he washed at night and wore during the day. She watched his school uniform being worn out from being new to being washed again, while the sisters who used to live under the same roof as him were always dressed in fine clothes and looked very elegant.
"I have nothing to do with them anymore, let's go." Lin An pulled Leng Lin away.
"Lin An, there will definitely be many tycoons and celebrities at President Zhou's birthday banquet. You should go and buy yourself a new outfit."
Lin An thought Leng Lin's words made sense; clothes make the man, and this was a good opportunity for him to build connections.
The two went to the mall, where Lin An bought two pairs of pants, two shirts, and a jacket, spending a total of two thousand yuan. Although they weren't expensive, they were much better than his school uniform.
Wearing well-fitting clothes, he looked much more energetic and spirited. Leng Lin's big, watery eyes could hardly leave Lin An's body.
"Lin An is so handsome."
"I shouldn't have reminded him to buy clothes. That would have made him more popular at school, and I hope he won't be noticed by any rich girl at tomorrow's banquet."
As Leng Lin was lost in thought, Lin An looked up and met her gaze, seeing her shy and timid eyes.
Leng Lin blushed instantly and looked away, saying, "Um, let's go back quickly."
Lin An sensed the admiration in the girl's eyes and thought of his previous life, when only Leng Lin had always cared about him.
When he was dating Jiang Mian according to the marriage agreement set by his grandfather, it was Leng Lin who reminded him that Jiang Mian and his younger brother Lin Zhe had an unusual relationship. At that time, he was only thinking about currying favor with Jiang Mian, the young lady, and mistakenly thought that Leng Lin was jealous and sowing discord. In order to please his fiancée, he actually cut off all contact with Leng Lin.
Lin An secretly resolved that he must protect this friendship in this lifetime.
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