Lauters, who was already stunned by the Qingming Scroll and Emperor Huizong's manuscript, now felt that the three pieces of porcelain on the table were extraordinary and priceless no matter how he looked at them.
"Wow, Mr. Chen, these three things of yours are truly eye-opening!" Lautes exclaimed in admiration.
Chen Ke exclaimed, "I deeply admire Mr. Lauters's foresight."
"...Could Mr. Chen sell me these three items?" Although he wasn't interested in these Chinese porcelains, their general manager loved collecting them. He hadn't done a good job on this mission, so giving the items to him might save him from a scolding.
Chen Ke hesitated again, "...Mr. Lauters, you know that while these three porcelain pieces aren't quite the crown jewels of my antique shop, they are still incredibly valuable—"
“Of course I know Mr. Chen.” Lautes interrupted Chen Ke, putting on an arrogant expression. “There is nothing in the world that money cannot buy. Mr. Chen, just name your price.”
Chen Ke: ······
Is that even a requirement?
We have to give him whatever he wants today!
"Although these three porcelain pieces are my most prized possessions, since Mr. Lauters likes them so much, I have no choice but to part with them. And since we are friends, I will sell them to you at a low price of 9,999 silver dollars."
Lauters, who had initially thought it would be no more than 1,000 dollars, exclaimed: "!!! What?!"
Chen Ke: "What's wrong? Mr. Lauters, why are you so surprised? Could it be... could it be that you think my price is too high? No way, no way? Someone as discerning and knowledgeable as you couldn't possibly not know its value, right? And this amount of money shouldn't be much to Mr. Lauters, right?"
After a series of questions, Lauters, who was discerning, knowledgeable, and wealthy, began to feel that he might have underestimated the value of these antiques.
Moreover, he wasn't spending this money for himself, but to please the general manager.
The more money he spends, the more valuable the antiques he buys must be, right?
Thinking about it this way, Lauters felt that 9,999 dollars wasn't so unacceptable, since it wasn't more than 10,000.
"Okay, I'll buy it."
"Mr. Lauters is so generous!" Chen Ke said with a look of admiration, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect.
"Haha, Mr. Chen, you're too kind. If you have any good stuff in the future, don't forget to introduce it to me. I'm very interested in your country's historical artifacts."
Chen Ke gave a forced smile, "Definitely, definitely."
Finally, Chen Ke took the check written by Lauters, picked up his small leather suitcase, nodded to Manager Li, and stepped out of the room.
Manager Li was stunned after witnessing the entire transaction.
For some reason, he always had the illusion that Mr. Chen was picking money up from the ground...
"Manager Li, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and find something to carefully put these three treasures away for me." Lauters resumed his previous arrogant and domineering manner.
Shopkeeper Li greeted them with a smile, "Coming, coming." But inwardly he couldn't help but think: What's with the attitude? They spent 9,999 silver dollars to buy three pieces of porcelain, and the seller didn't even leave them a small leather suitcase to store their belongings. They think they're so great!
Chen Ke returned to his cabin with satisfaction, took out the checks to admire them, hummed a little tune, and then selected three antiques to print out and put in his small leather suitcase.
Opportunity favors the prepared mind; if you happen to encounter such a sucker at the next stop, you certainly can't miss it.
However, Chen Ke was not so lucky after that, and he did not encounter such a sucker again until his last stop in Nanjing.
Upon arriving in Nanjing, Lauters no longer had to "compromise" as the car that was there to pick him up was already waiting at the dock.
He warmly invited Chen Ke to come along, but how could Mr. Chen, who was also wealthy and owned thirteen antique shops, not have his own car?
“My car will be here soon, Mr. Lauters. You don’t need to be so polite. We can meet again when we get back to Shanghai.”
Lauters was just being polite, and he didn't mind being rejected by Chen Ke. He smiled, nodded, and then led Manager Li into the car and drove away.
The wealthy Mr. Chen turned around and hailed a rickshaw, "To the train station."
Why take a car? Since there's a train, of course we should take the train.
After transferring the money to Zhou Shanhuai, Chen Ke boarded the ship. He didn't know if Zhou Shanhuai had withdrawn the money for his own use. If he remembered correctly, the original owner's younger brother, Chen Zhuo, was about to start school. In his previous life, Chen Zhuo had given up his studies so as not to burden his adoptive parents.
Of course, he didn't want Chen Zhuo to give up his studies. He hoped that Chen Zhuo could study hard, have his own direction in life, and no longer have to bear the guilt towards his adoptive parents because of his older brother's selfishness, and that his tender shoulders would bear the burden of the family too early.
"Master...Master, have you seen the ending of the original owner's younger brother and his adoptive parents in their previous life?" The system, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up.
Chen Ke: "Under those circumstances, the original owner also absconded with all the property. It is easy to imagine that their lives must have been extremely difficult and arduous."
System: "That's true, but the original owner's younger brother joined the army after dropping out of school, and quickly rose to the rank of general. By the time the original owner died, he was almost a major general."
Chen Ke: ······
"Well, everyone has their own ambitions. As for this book... let him choose for himself."
Chen Zhuo was able to rise to the rank of major general solely through his own efforts; the blood, sweat, and tears he endured are probably unimaginable to ordinary people.
Just as Chen Ke boarded the train to Shanghai, Chen Zhuo had just discovered the true source of the money Zhou Shanhuai had spent a few days earlier, based on subtle clues.
Chen Zhuo walked out of the bank in shock. He couldn't understand why Chen Ke, with his selfish and heartless nature, would suddenly send them such a large sum of money.
Moreover, Chen Ke has always been a big spender, so how come he still has money to send back after running away with the money for so long?
They had roughly calculated the amount of money he had absconded with; selling everything would have yielded approximately 2,000 silver dollars. And this time, Chen Ke had sent back 1,000 silver dollars all at once…
Chen Zhuo's face darkened, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that Chen Ke was plotting something again.
After listening to Chen Zhuo's analysis from behind the bench, Zhou Shanhuai and Song Xiaowen were so surprised that they couldn't recover for a long time.
When they first heard that Chen Zhuo had discovered that the money was sent by Chen Ke, they thought he would be furious and make them send the money back. After all, Chen Zhuo had always hated Chen Ke, and they were worried that he would not be willing to use the money that Chen Ke sent back. But they did not expect that Chen Zhuo's focus was entirely on the purpose of Chen Ke sending the money back.
“…Um, Chen Zhuo, you…” Zhou Shanhuai carefully chose his words, “Aren’t you overthinking this? What if, what if your brother, ah, no, Chen Ke, what if Chen Ke simply has a change of heart and wants to return the money?”
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