Uncle Qiao instantly became furious: "How dare you swear at me! I took your bowl and only walked about ten meters before I realized something was wrong!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Yuan glanced at the stall vendor and asked, "Huh? Shall I take a look?"
The local vendors and antique enthusiasts who frequent the Huating Road secondhand market know Ning Yuan.
Recently, a young girl has been coming every day, offering a high price to help her elders find a Hetian jade longevity lock.
The young girl was well-dressed, generous, and knowledgeable. When she was in the mood, she would even help people look at goods. It was clear that she came from a well-off family.
In just over ten days, she became a familiar face from one end of the stall to the other, and was called "Miss Ning".
The vendor's scalp tightened instantly, and he immediately said to Ning Yuan, "Miss Ning, don't be fooled by this poor fellow!"
After saying that, the vendor looked Uncle Qiao up and down: "I know you too well. You're a poor wretch with hardly any money. You come to the flea market every day hoping to find a bargain. Who knows if you just took the bowl and then switched it with your accomplice!"
The antique enthusiasts who come here are mostly the same people; everyone knows each other to some extent.
For example, Uncle Qiao, even Ning Yuan knows that he really doesn't have much money, but he especially likes antiques.
So whenever he had free time, he would come to touch and look at them. On Sundays, he would spend the whole day here with a tattered copy of "Antique Appreciation". When he got hungry at noon, he would eat the food or steamed buns he brought with him.
Uncle Qiao's square face finally broke, turning bright red as he pointed at him, "You...you can't just spout nonsense! I bought it for 150 yuan!"
Ning Yuan couldn't help but be surprised. Wow, this guy is actually willing to spend so much money to buy goods?
She couldn't help but look at the bowl in Uncle Qiao's hand, wanting to know what good stuff it was: "Uncle Qiao, let me see?"
Uncle Qiao knew Ning Yuan's keen eye, so he immediately and carefully handed her the bowl he was holding.
Ning Yuan took the bowl and examined the inscription on the bottom. Her eyes lit up: "A Qing Dynasty Yongzheng period famille rose enamel bowl with a 'Peaceful Spring Tidings' design. No wonder you were so willing to part with it..."
Let alone 150 yuan, she thinks 500 yuan wouldn't be excessive.
Upon hearing Ning Yuan's mutterings, Uncle Qiao was overjoyed: "Miss Ning, can you help your uncle verify if this is genuine?"
The vendor wanted to say something, but Ning Yuan had already agreed immediately: "Okay!"
She turned the bowl over: "The straight rim, curved belly, and foot are perfectly finished. The porcelain is fine, clean, and dense. The outer wall is painted with plum blossoms, nandina, and daffodils in Western colors. A pair of quails are painted on the lower side of the outer wall. The colors are gorgeous, and the coloring is neat and luxurious."
She paused for a moment: "This porcelain bowl should be a product of the Yongzheng Enamel Workshop. The painting on the outside of the bowl should have an enamel texture, but your bowl has a famille rose glaze effect. Therefore, this bowl is indeed fake."
The surrounding crowd erupted in an uproar.
The vendor's expression changed, and he sneered, "Miss Ning is so skilled that even experts would take a long time to distinguish between enamel and famille rose glazes. You can tell just by touching and looking at them."
Ning Yuan glanced at him and said decisively, "That's because I'm an expert in experts!"
Grandma Xia didn't slack off on teaching her about antiques just because she was busy with her business—
After all, there are still many family heirlooms of Grandma Xia in the cemetery of Sitang Village.
The old lady was still determined to go back and become a master tomb raider; she wouldn't be satisfied until she retrieved the treasures passed down through her family.
Would Ning Yuan and Grandpa Tang let her go? Of course not!
If she were caught, Granny Xia would probably be buried alive by the villagers. Ning Yuan could only comfort the old lady and say that she would find a way to get her family's treasures back sooner or later.
So, whenever Grandma Xia had free time, she would either invent and create snacks or drag her to learn all sorts of antique knowledge and teach her how to appraise treasures.
Ning Yuan showed everyone what she was holding—
"Well, the simplest way to distinguish between the two is that enamel porcelain has a wide variety of colors and the outlines in the surface are relatively clear, like an oil painting; while famille rose porcelain is like a traditional Chinese painting, with lines that have a sense of shading! Which do you think looks more like a traditional Chinese painting or an oil painting?"
The surrounding enthusiasts immediately crowded around for a closer look, and couldn't help but whisper—
"The lines, washes, and color gradations look like a traditional Chinese painting!"
"Yes, enamelware is something that came from the West. When used on Yongzheng's porcelain, it should look like an oil painting!"
"Could it really be a fake...?"
Uncle Qiao's face immediately lit up with joy, and he said to the vendor, "Look, Miss Ning and everyone else are witnesses, you're selling counterfeit goods!"
The vendor's face darkened, and he glared angrily at Ning Yuan: "Mind your own business! Even if it's fake, in the antique business, once it's been handled, it's not returned or exchanged. It just means he has bad eyesight!"
He then scoffed dismissively, "You've come here to look at my bowl more than a dozen times, haggling with me for almost a month. Now you're telling me you didn't realize it was fake until you turned around and walked ten meters away?"
Upon hearing this, the surrounding shoppers couldn't help but cast strange glances at Uncle Qiao and began to whisper among themselves.
Who would look at something countless times, pay for it, and then claim it's fake? Could it be that they secretly switched the goods?
Uncle Qiao's face flushed red and then turned pale in an instant, filled with humiliation.
"Ah... I didn't! I didn't switch!! I am... I am a person with a legitimate job and status, I swear on my integrity that I would never do anything that violates my conscience!"
He couldn't explain what happened. He had clearly looked at it so many times before, and he was sure he was right when it came to the transaction before he finally made the tough decision to take out all his savings to buy it!
But how come after he got it, he looked at it carefully, thought about it and felt something was wrong, and it turned out to be fake?
Did he misjudge the situation before?
Seeing the support of those around him, and even Uncle Qiao's embarrassed expression, the vendor's eyes flickered, and he spoke with conviction—
"You penniless wretch, all you want is to find a bargain, right? We've seen it all in the antique business, it's all about having a good eye!"
"It's like gambling on jade. You buy a stone at a high price, cut it open, and it turns out to be a brick. Can you then ask for a refund and say that what they sold wasn't jade but a stone?!"
Everyone was discussing it. Indeed, the antique trade, like jade, is a business where once a product is sold, it cannot be returned or exchanged.
Some people advised Uncle Joe to let it go, while others mocked him for being blind and shameless.
Uncle Qiao's square face was full of embarrassment and frustration as he tugged at the hem of his patched-up shirt.
The money he painstakingly saved by living frugally...
Ning Yuan, having observed the situation coldly enough, suddenly spoke up: "Indeed, in our antique business, just like with jade, even if you get a fake, you can only say that you lack the expertise..."
The vendor immediately became smug, while Uncle Qiao lowered his head in frustration and turned to leave in a hurry.
But then Ning Yuan continued, "If a seller shows a customer the real product, and then switches it with a fake one at the last minute, that's breaking the rules of the trade, that's fraud, and they should be reported to the police!"
These words caused a moment of silence. Uncle Qiao and the vendor froze, one suddenly understanding, the other flustered.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ning Yuan leaned forward and grabbed the black cloth bag that the vendor had hidden under the stool, and was about to take it and open it.
The next moment, the vendor reacted quickly, grabbing the black cloth bag and glaring at Ning Yuan: "Let go, you bitch!"
Ning Yuan raised an eyebrow: "What, feeling guilty? Why won't you open it? Open it up and show everyone what's inside!"
The vendor already resented Ning Yuan for interfering and ruining things, so he suddenly punched her with his other hand, yelling, "Get out of my way! I told you to let go!"
Ning Yuan instinctively tried to dodge, but then suddenly remembered something and froze in place.
Then a fist came flying at her from the vendor's face; she dodged it, but the fist landed on her shoulder.
Ning Yuan fell backward with the force of the fall, screaming, "Ah—!"
Seeing this, Uncle Qiao quickly helped her up, then roared at the vendor, "How could you lay a hand on a young girl!"
The vendor sneered at him: "She dared to steal my things, she deserves to be beaten to death. I'll not only beat her, I'll beat you too!"
As he spoke, he snatched the bag back from Ning Yuan's hand and shouted behind him, "These guys are being unruly, trying to steal our goods. Teach them a lesson!"
As they were talking, three men suddenly appeared out of nowhere, wielding sticks and surrounding them.
Uncle Qiao was shocked: "You dare!"
The surrounding vendors and buyers either quickly packed up and left or watched the spectacle from the sidelines.
Ning Yuan clutched her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the vendor: "You're really used to this kind of job where if you can't scam someone, you resort to violence!"
The vendor was about to speak in anger when suddenly a figure flashed by, and then he felt a hard punch to the stomach.
The punch was so powerful that he immediately screamed in pain, "Ah!"
The black cloth bag in his hand slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.
But the next moment, a hand deftly grabbed the black cloth bag and handed it directly to Ning Yuan.
Ah Heng simply said, "Here you go."
Ning Yuan immediately took it and opened it.
The vendor, whose stomach was churning from the beating, frantically roared, "Cough cough...you bitch...don't think you can be so arrogant just because you have a lover, beat him up!"
Ah Heng sneered, "Knowing she's my woman, you still dare to lay a hand on her? You fucking want to die!"
Seeing the three men rushing towards her, she leaped into the air, sweeping her long leg—"Bang!"
He kicked the one charging at the front of the pack so hard he flew away!
Then, she punched the second man in the nose, breaking his nasal bone and causing him to bleed profusely.
Finally, he delivered a vicious elbow strike to the last man's chin followed by a brutal knee kick, and the sound of bones shattering was immediately heard!
In just a few moves, all three of them collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain, clutching their wounds and unable to get up.
Ning Yuan's teeth ached from watching; he's really ruthless! But he's undeniably handsome!
As for Ah Heng's nonsense about his woman, they were just pretending to be a couple here anyway, so it doesn't matter.
In an instant, everyone present was stunned and moved away from Aheng.
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