Chapter 83 Zhou Family

The two were whispering when Du Ruo's phone rang. It was Ji Bailin who called.

He said, "Sister, I'm getting engaged next month, would you like to come and sit with me?"

"Let's wait and see. If I have time, I will definitely go there."

She had a good impression of this younger brother, but they were not very familiar with each other and had only known each other for a few days.

Du Ruo glanced at Fan Jun who was sitting next to her. She was not yet familiar with this adopted brother of hers.

Ji Bailin paused and said, "I mainly want to ask my sister to do me a favor. My family lacks female elders. You know what my mother is like. I'm afraid she can't support it.

You may not understand the situation, but my mom is quite fragile and always has problems. I want you to help me look after her. Normally I can look after her by myself, but now that I’m engaged, I’m really afraid that I won’t be able to take care of her.”

Du Ruo thought about her biological mother's appearance in her heart and felt sympathy for her adopted brother for a second, but she still said, "I will try my best to get by."

Ji Bailin was very happy. He finally found a reliable person: "Sister, you must come, right?"

Du Ruo said vaguely: "Try your best, try your best."

Ji Bailin seemed to suddenly remember something. He whispered, "I met Mr. Yuan at the banquet yesterday. He mentioned you to me in a very familiar tone. Sister, you and him..."

"We are friends, ordinary friends."

Ji Bailin didn't know whether to believe it or not. He said "Oh" and hung up the phone.

Fan Jun heard the person on the other end of the phone calling him "sister" all the time, so he asked, "Who is this? She's quite sweet-talking. She calls me "sister" all the time, which sounds very friendly."

There is nothing shameful about this. Du Ruo said, "My younger brother. He is born to the same mother as me."

Fan Jun's eyes widened: "Your mother gave birth to the child? Wasn't your mother dead? How can a dead person give birth to a child?"

Du Ruo looked at him speechlessly: "So she must not be dead."

This time Fan Jun was really surprised. He had heard people tell him since he was a child that his aunt-in-law had died, so how could she still be alive?

The fire of gossip was burning in Fan Jun's heart. He looked at Du Ruo eagerly with a strong desire for knowledge.

Du Ruoyi threw up his hands: "Don't ask me. I don't know either."

Seeing Fan Jun's expression that said "just deceive me", Du Ruo said she felt wronged. She only met her biological mother once and watched her biological mother show their affection, and she really didn't have the time to ask anything.

As the two were talking, Zhou's mother came over with a few people carrying a long tray. Du Ruo took a closer look and saw that there were quite a lot of things on it, and they were made quite realistically.

Du Ruo picked them up one by one and looked at them carefully. Although she couldn't be completely sure, most of them were imitations of the Republic of China period. She put the things down without interest.

Fan Jun, however, picked them up and looked at them one by one with great interest. A hint of disappointment flashed across Zhou's mother's eyes. Fan Jun didn't have much money. Her main purpose today was to cheat Du Ruo, but now she had no interest in Du Ruo.

Since I can't cheat, I can just sell something. Zhou's mother smiled and said, "I still have some fine products in my warehouse. Ruoruo, do you want to take a look?"

Now that they were here, Du Ruo nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take whatever I like."

Zhou's mother happily led her people back into the warehouse.

Fan Jun picked up this and that, and suddenly, Du Ruo became interested. It was a scroll, and judging from the mounting technique, an expert would know that it was from the Republic of China period, but...

Du Ruo glanced at Fan Jun. When he took the painting just now, the horizontal line on his head fluctuated a bit.

Du Ruo rolled up the scroll and threw it on the table, pretending to be completely uninterested.

She directed Fan Jun with a smile on her face, picking up the inkstones one by one and looking at them. Sure enough, one of the inkstones had movement, which was interesting.

Du Ruo didn't reach out either, she pretended to have no interest.

This time, Zhou's mother brought over a tray herself, which only had four items on it.

A Qing Dynasty enamel box in the shape of a crabapple with flowers and birds. The box is so exquisite that the feathers of the birds on it are clearly visible.

A sword guard, also known as a sword chamber, refers to the part between the sword body and the hilt. Its original function was to protect the palm and wrist and control the sword's unsheathing and resheathing. Later, it gradually became a symbol of social status and nobility. This jade sword guard is very delicately carved, light and elegant, crystal clear, and is indeed a fine product.

The other two items are an inkstone and a piece of paper weight.

Fan Jun's eyes widened, and he kept saying, "Oh my goodness, this is a really good thing, isn't it? Ruoruo?"

This time he has opened his eyes, this is indeed a good thing.

Zhou's mother said proudly: "You have good taste, this is the treasure of our store."

This is a bit hypocritical. If the Zhou family regarded this kind of thing as the treasure of their store, they should not have opened a shop in Antique Street.

Seeing Du Ruo smiling but not saying anything, Zhou's mother asked, "What do you think, Ruoruo?"

Du Ruo didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I'm quite interested in that jade sword guard."

Mother Zhou picked up the teacup with a hint of smile on her lips: "This is a good thing, the price is 50,000, no bargaining."

Du Ruo laughed: "Are you kidding me? If you want a complete set of sword head, sword guard, sword sheath, and sword guard, let alone 500,000, there will be people who want it even if you want 500,000. But this thing is not as simple as one plus one equals two. You only have a single sword guard. I will give you 10,000. What do you think?"

Zhou's mother smiled and said, "This price is too low, girl, you can't take it away."

Du Ruo smiled and said, "Then I don't want the sword guard. I want these two inkstones."

As she spoke, she pointed at the inkstone in the tray, and then pointed to the other side on the desk.

Zhou's mother was a little stunned by her. Anyone could see at a glance that the performance of the two inkstones was very different. How could she say that?

Du Ruo smiled and said, "You also know that I invested in a construction company with others. These days, people are coming and going. My office is empty and looks bad.

I don't deal in antiques, so I don't know if it's real or fake. I heard about the sword guard from someone a few days ago. I've been looking into it these past two days. I want to get something that's not worth much, but not too embarrassing, and put it in the office to scare people."

Zhou's mother understood that it didn't matter whether this thing was real or not, as long as it looked real.

This is not a good deal. It's too expensive, and the girl can't accept it. She thought about it and said, "The buyers are very careful. You can't hold on to the real thing. Let's do this. I'll sell you the sword for 30,000 yuan, and the inkstone for 20,000 yuan. You can give me 50,000 yuan in total, and you can pick any of the things on the table, three or five will do."

Du Ruo hesitated a little: "That's too expensive. How about this? Your enamel is from the Qing Dynasty, and the paperweight doesn't look worth much. I'll give you 80,000 yuan, and you give me these four things and the things on the small table."