Liu Yihang put on a mask and a dog-skin hat, and then a military overcoat, making sure even his own mother wouldn't recognize him, before heading straight for the antique street.
Before even entering, I saw many young people wandering around, some even listening intently to the stories told by the vendors, their foreheads seemingly bearing the words: "I'm easy to fool."
Liu Yihang couldn't help but chuckle.
Many of these young people are freshmen this year who are studying practical tasks. Those who can study this are not from poor families, and they have become the targets of these vendors.
Liu Yihang randomly picked a stall and walked over. There he saw a man wearing a dog-skin hat just like him, who was telling two students, "I collected this from the countryside. It's a jade bowl from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It's a genuine piece. Look at the mark on the bottom and the workmanship. Take a look."
The two students, being ignorant of the craft, reached out and grabbed the jade bowl from his hand.
Upon seeing this, the stall owner, unfamiliar with the trade, was even more delighted. These were two little lambs!
The two students held the jade bowl in their hands, turning it over and over, comparing it with what they had learned, and found that it was pretty much the same as what was described in the book.
The two exchanged a glance and both agreed it was true. The stall owner said he had collected it from the countryside, so it must be genuine.
Liu Yihang chuckled inwardly. This boss's acting skills were truly superb. If he didn't know anything about antiques, he would probably believe it was real.
This Qing Dynasty Qianlong jade bowl is a mass-produced product, found everywhere on street stalls. It's made of inferior white marble and looks very real, but it costs less than a few dollars to make. It's just a way to fool people who don't know anything about jade.
One of the taller students asked, "How much is your jade bowl?"
Seeing that they couldn't spot the problem, the vendor was secretly pleased, but said with a pained expression, "If you really want it, I'll give you this price."
After saying that, he held up a five.
The tall student certainly wasn't stupid enough to think it was only fifty yuan, so he tentatively asked, "Five hundred yuan?"
To everyone's surprise, the stall owner shook his head and said with a look of astonishment, "What are you thinking? Five thousand yuan! This is a jade bowl from the Qianlong era. You can't possibly buy it for five hundred yuan. If I were to sell it to you for five hundred yuan, you'd better think twice about whether it's genuine or not."
The price of five thousand yuan was frightening, but the boss's unconventional thinking made them even more convinced that the item was genuine.
After all, you get what you pay for; good things are always expensive.
The two began to discuss it in hushed tones.
Liu Yihang pretended to look at the items on the stall, thoughtfully observing the two people's movements.
He had thought that if the boss made a few dozen yuan, he wouldn't be so annoying as to expose him, and he would teach them a lesson so they could learn from their mistakes.
I never expected the boss to be so heartless, treating two students so cruelly. Five thousand yuan is a lot of money these days.
However, the boss had a good eye and recognized that he had found a real easy target. The tall student must come from a well-off family, as evidenced by the watch he was wearing.
The two students discussed it and finally pooled their money together, managing to raise five thousand.
They're really rich!
Seeing that the two sides were about to make a deal, Liu Yihang had no choice but to step in.
He pretended to know nothing and leaned over to the two of them, saying, "I just saw an identical jade bowl over there for only two thousand. This shopkeeper is overcharging; it's not worth the price!"
The stall owner was furious: "Get out of here! Don't you know the rules? This is the real deal! What are you looking at?!"
As he spoke, he picked up a feather duster and chased Liu Yihang away.
Distracted by this, the two students began to suspect they might have been tricked. They quickly put away the money, stopped mentioning the jade bowl, and turned to leave.
The boss was furious, pounding his chest and stamping his feet. Five thousand yuan! His fat sheep just ran away like that! It's all that crazy guy's fault!
A nearby vendor sneered, "Serves you right. Who told you to be so ruthless? The two kids look like students, and you asked them for five thousand dollars in one go. People around couldn't stand it anymore."
Although their line of work is considered low-class, they are still people with a sense of morality, and we cannot ruin their livelihood.
The two students walked down the street, observing carefully this time and no longer making hasty decisions. Sure enough, they soon saw other shops selling similar jade bowls, with similar styles, and they all said they were genuine, as genuine as could be.
However, the prices they quoted were only two or three hundred yuan, far less than the price quoted by the man just now.
Then I recalled the eight characters engraved on the stone tablet at the entrance of the antique street: "Cash and goods settled, no refunds or exchanges."
The two were instantly terrified; this market was far too treacherous.
If they really did spend five thousand yuan to buy that jade bowl, they should be crying now.
The tall man then realized that he had just encountered a master who had saved him.
Although both of them came from wealthy families, five thousand yuan represented all of their living expenses and savings.
This time, I spent all my money on buying antiques in order to complete the task assigned by the teacher in a good way.
The two then gave up on buying antiques, fearing they would be scammed again, and began searching for the expert who had helped them in the garden.
Meanwhile, the expert Liu Yihang was standing at a small stall.
The stall owner was a tall, strapping young man in his early twenties. His business didn't seem to be doing too well; the stalls next door all had customers, but his stall was deserted.
Because his stall had very little stuff, and nothing interesting to look at.
Liu Yihang was attracted by an item on his stall.
It was shaped like a pen holder, about 20 centimeters high and 7 or 8 centimeters in diameter, with two holes on it, looking somewhat like a strange hybrid.
Actually, this is a yellow-glazed pottery water clock from the Han Dynasty, used as a timekeeping tool.
This type of vessel is extremely rare, and it was only because of his experience with Xiang Yizhai that he was able to accurately identify it.
Xiang Yizhai was erudite and knowledgeable, and had seen this type of vessel at the Hanyangling Museum.
Liu Yihang just happened to use it.
He walked over and glanced at it. This was the only thing on the stall that was worth a few coins; the rest were all worthless old things, which looked like they had been collected from the countryside.
"How much does your brush washer cost?" Liu Yihang asked, pointing to the brush washer next to the timer.
"Fifty yuan, no bargaining," the young man said curtly, his face expressionless.
No wonder business is bad; this personality isn't suited for business, and he doesn't know how to flatter or fawn.
He then pointed to the timer: "And what about this pen holder?"
The young man replied, "It's fifty, no bargaining."
Liu Yihang laughed. This guy was quite interesting; he seemed afraid that people would try to negotiate the price with him.
"Then please wrap both of them up for me!"
The young man's expression relaxed slightly when he heard that he wanted both: "Okay."
Liu Yihang handed over one hundred yuan.
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