"What is it? Please speak freely."
Hu Yuan's original purpose in doing all that was to test Cheng Ge again. Now that Cheng Ge has something to ask of him, isn't that even better?
"To be honest, Mr. Hu, I know nothing about antiques, but my dad loves collecting them. Next week is his birthday, so I want to find a valuable antique as a birthday gift."
Cheng Ge doesn't beat around the bush; even when asking for favors, he speaks directly.
"I see. I don't mind helping you, but I don't know if we can find anything good here."
Hu Yuan smiled faintly. This was indeed a good opportunity.
"Then thank you very much, Mr. Hu. Regardless of whether we have any success today, I will treat you to dinner."
Cheng Ge was clearly very sincere in this matter. In order to get Hu Yuan to help him, he even changed how he addressed Hu Yuan and was willing to bow down to Hu Yuan.
This shows that Brother Cheng was probably very afraid of ruining Sixth Master's birthday banquet.
"Looks like you're in luck."
After the two had been strolling together for more than two hours, Hu Yuan suddenly stopped and stood in front of a street stall.
"Found something good?"
Cheng Ge immediately asked excitedly.
Hu Yuan made a shushing gesture, indicating that Cheng Ge should keep quiet and that he would handle the price negotiation himself.
Just kidding, this guy doesn't know anything about antiques, and now that he knows there are good items, he'll naturally offer a high price, which would be a huge loss for him.
It's all the same who makes the money, so it's better for Hu Yuan to just talk it out. That way, he can help Brother Cheng lower the price and also get Brother Cheng to give him money as a thank you. He gets both money and goodwill.
"This abacus isn't anything special, but it's really beautiful. Name your price, boss."
Hu Yuan squatted down and picked up an abacus from the stall.
"Brother, this abacus has been passed down since the Ming Dynasty, and the wood is a special fragrant wood, which is more valuable than sandalwood. It's worth at least 50,000."
The boss held up five fingers, looking distressed.
"It's too expensive, can you make it cheaper?"
Hu Yuan bargained without hesitation, his face showing a troubled expression, and his eyes were fixed on the abacus. Anyone who saw him like this would think that he was really fond of it.
Cheng Ge originally intended to take out 50,000 to buy this item directly. After all, for him, if something bought for 50,000 could shine at Sixth Master's birthday banquet, it would be well worth it.
But he remembered Hu Yuan's gesture earlier, so he refrained from making any further movements.
Hu Yuan held onto the abacus tightly and bargained with the shop owner. The shop owner did make some concessions, but after a long time, he still insisted on a minimum price of 30,000.
"Sigh, it's too expensive. It seems I'm just not destined to own this."
Hu Yuan finally chose to give up, reluctantly putting down the abacus while glancing at the stall.
"Hey boss, can you sell this wine pot to me cheaper? I want to take it back as a souvenir. It's my first time buying something in the antique market, and I don't want to go back empty-handed. That's bad luck."
Hu Yuan, who had already gotten up to leave, suddenly spoke up again.
"Take the three thousand, but don't try to bargain anymore. I won't give you a penny less."
The shop owner glanced at the wine jug in the upper corner of his stall, and said without looking up.
"Three thousand it is. It's better than coming back empty-handed. Pay up."
Hu Yuan immediately picked up the wine jug and asked Cheng Ge behind him to pay.
"Mr. Hu, why don't we buy them together?"
Cheng whispered a reminder to Hu Yuan, because he had always thought that the good thing Hu Yuan was talking about was the abacus.
"No need, I only want this wine jug, you pay me now."
Hu Yuan turned around, afraid that his boss would see his expression.
After the two left the stall, Cheng kept looking back at it, reluctant to part with the abacus.
"Stop looking, this is the real treasure. I deliberately told him I wanted to buy the abacus so he wouldn't know I was after this. Otherwise, I couldn't have bought it for three thousand."
Hu Yuan waved the wine pot in his hand and simply walked out of the antique street.
"Mr. Hu, are you telling the truth? Is this wine pot really Tang tri-color pottery?"
Cheng didn't know what Tang Sancai was, but he had heard Sixth Master mention it once. At that time, his eyes lit up. If he really found Tang Sancai, Sixth Master would be overjoyed.
"Of course, but it's from a later period and isn't very well preserved, which is why it ended up in the hands of this kind of person. Because of the damage and the fact that it's not from a famous kiln, its value might not be very high, maybe a hundred thousand at most. But for someone who truly loves collecting porcelain, its collectible value is unparalleled."
Hu Yuan patiently explained to Cheng Ge.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Hu. I have something to attend to today, so I'll have to take my leave now. I'll definitely treat you to a nice meal in a couple of days to express my gratitude."
After Cheng finished speaking, he prepared to leave alone.
"Brother Cheng, actually I also need your help with something. If it's okay, let me treat you to dinner."
To Cheng Ge's surprise, Hu Yuan said something like that.
"Mr. Hu, you're too kind. You just helped me so much. If there's anything you need me to do, just let me know."
Cheng patted his chest vigorously and said confidently.
"Alright, since that's the case, I won't beat around the bush. Actually, I'm short of money lately. The reason I went to the antique market was to try my luck. I think Brother Cheng should have some money on him. Could you lend me some to tide me over?"
Hu Yuan didn't use any fancy tricks because he knew that Brother Cheng wouldn't fall for them. If he just said it directly, he might actually succeed.
“Strictly speaking, I don’t actually have much money, but I have about two million in debts that I’ve collected recently that I haven’t handed over yet. I can lend you some for a month.”
Cheng thought for a moment and then answered.
Hu Yuan took this opportunity to borrow money from Brother Cheng for two reasons: firstly, he genuinely needed the money, and secondly, he wanted to test how much wealth Brother Cheng actually had.
His relationship with Sixth Master can be seen from his family background.
It now seems that Cheng Ge's family background is not very thick, and cannot even be compared with that of the average rich second generation.
That means that Sixth Master didn't give him much benefit at all.
“Brother Cheng, it’s not that I think it’s too little, it’s just that just as you didn’t expect me to borrow money from you, I also didn’t expect you to only have two million, and that it’s the debt that Sixth Master has been collecting and hasn’t been paid yet.”
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hu Yuan planned to first plant a seed in Cheng Ge's heart, letting it slowly take root and sprout.
"I'm really sorry, I'm not good at managing money, I tend to spend all the money I have."
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