Chapter 603: Picking Up a Bargain
Gao Mingcheng's return was welcomed by everyone.
When Deng Wanwan confessed her past to Wang Xun, Gao Mingcheng was a person that had to be mentioned.
If Gao Mingcheng hadn't happened to meet her while driving in a sports car and dared to rescue her from a crowd of people, Deng Wanwan's life would have been ruined.
Afterwards, out of sympathy, Gao Mingcheng and his wife took great care of her. They not only sent her nutritional supplements, but also let her sell clothes in the store.
Of course, Deng Wanwan did not tell Wang Xun about the past when Gao Mingli harassed her. She only said that she could not stand the gossip of her relatives and friends, so she decided to go out and explore the world.
After Deng Wanwan returned to the county, she had been to the clothing store several times, but by chance she did not meet Gao Mingli again. Afterwards, Gao Mingli did not show any inappropriate emotions.
That incident naturally disappeared with the wind, leaving no trace.
After learning about Deng Wanwan's past, Wang Xun became even more enthusiastic towards Gao Mingcheng, because he was his wife's savior!
Seeing Gao Mingcheng, Wang Xun jumped out of the car and said with a smile: "Mingcheng, tomorrow shall we go to visit the scenic area first, or go to Panjiayuan first?"
Deng Wanwan also got out of the passenger seat. In order to make it easier to collect waste from farther places, they bought a pickup truck. Compared with the original bicycles, it was a big upgrade.
The pickup truck's bed was filled with today's collected waste, so Deng Zhiyong stepped forward to unload the stuff from the truck.
Gao Mingcheng also stepped forward to lend a hand, and then said: "I can do anything, but the weather doesn't look very good these two days. Let's go to Panjiayuan first, and then visit the scenic spot when the weather is clear."
Wang Xun nodded: "Okay!"
It is cloudy today, and judging by the weather, it will most likely be cloudy tomorrow as well.
It is still early spring, and the north is famous for its short spring season, so the scenery at this moment must be very ordinary.
With everyone's help, the waste in the truck bed was unloaded, mainly waste paper and plastic bottles, as well as some other miscellaneous items, and even some broken porcelain pieces.
Gao Mingcheng picked up the broken porcelain pieces and found that one of them was the bottom of a bowl with the four big characters "Made in the Wanli Period" printed on it.
Judging from the shape of the characters and the texture of the porcelain, it should be authentic, but the bowl is broken and cannot even be put together as a whole.
Looking at other broken porcelain pieces, Gao Mingcheng discovered that these broken pieces were mainly from the bottoms of bowls and bottles, with only a small number of large pieces from bottles.
He already had some guesses about the purpose of these porcelains.
Facing him, Wang Xun did not hide anything, but said generously: "These rags are also collected by people. If I see them outside, I will pick them up."
The so-called garbage is actually treasures placed in the wrong place!
For ordinary people, what use can broken porcelain pieces have? At most, they can be used to scrape ginger skin!
But for those who counterfeit antiques, a genuine bottom of a bowl or bottle is very important!
At present, when there are not many detection methods, people with good skills can easily make fake things look real by using real bowl bottoms!
In order not to affect the appearance of the bowl surface and the bottle body, the inspection always starts from the bottom of the bowl and the bottle, but these two are real!
Thanks to this, counterfeit goods once flooded the market, allowing counterfeiters to make a fortune.
The next day was indeed a cloudy day. In the north in early spring, there was still a cold wind. Gao Mingcheng was in good physical condition and was not afraid of the cold. He just wore a base layer inside and a coat outside and went out.
Wang Xun couldn't do that, he had to wear a woolen sweater in the middle.
Since we were going to Panjiayuan, I didn’t bring Deng Wanwan and her parents with me.
However, we had agreed before that when we go to the scenic spot, I would take Deng Zhiyong and his wife with me to broaden our horizons.
Besides, when traveling, it is definitely more lively when there are more people.
Wang Xun is familiar with this place because he owns a pickup truck, so he doesn't need to take the bus and can go directly to Panjiayuan.
Gao Mingcheng sat in the passenger seat, looking at the buildings and people of all kinds outside through the car window.
At this moment, there are naturally more vehicles in the capital, but the majority are still bicycles.
From time to time, you can see groups of bicycles on the road. They are all going to work. When they arrive at a factory, the flow of people in the group will begin to split up.
In addition to workers working in factories, staff working in other units also mainly travel by bicycle. After all, the current wages are mostly a few hundred yuan, but a car can cost tens of thousands of yuan!
If it is an imported car, it can cost hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands!
An ordinary worker may not be able to afford an imported car even after working for his entire life.
The capital is huge, so the pickup truck drove for more than an hour before gradually slowing down and stopping in an empty space.
Wang Xun and Gao Mingcheng got off the car one after another. After they got off the car, Wang Xun did not rush to take Gao Mingcheng in. Instead, he took out an iron chain from under the seat, strung the steering wheel and the door together, and then locked it with a lock.
This may seem a bit weird, but it is the only way to prevent the car from being stolen.
The anti-theft function of cars nowadays is very poor. For example, in Hong Kong films, there are often car theft scenes.
And thieves are everywhere!
After Wang Xun locked the steering wheel, he also locked the car door. His car had been modified, and a pair of round holes were welded between the door and the body of the car, which could be used to hang iron locks.
"Let's go." Feeling that everything was safe, Wang Xun took Gao Mingcheng in.
It was morning when they came, but there were already quite a few people here.
Some vendors simply spread a piece of cloth on the ground and place the goods on the cloth for people to choose. Next to them, there are also shops decorated in an antique style. The goods here are naturally more expensive and more authentic.
Of course, it cannot be completely authentic!
Whether you can buy genuine products depends on your own eyesight.
If you don't have a good eye for antiques but want to buy the real thing, you have to find an expert to help you, or go to the Friendship Store, which also sells antiques, but you need foreign exchange coupons.
Wang Xun looked at the antique shops with envy, and said to Gao Mingcheng: "Let's just go shopping at the stalls!"
The things in the store are too expensive, they can't afford them!
Gao Mingcheng deeply agreed with this. He had just bought a small villa and only had a few thousand dollars in his pocket!
Ten thousand dollars may sound like a lot, but in reality it will be spent quickly.
But if he is lucky and can find good things at the street stalls, then he will make money!
There were all kinds of things on the stalls here. Gao Mingcheng saw someone in front of him holding a bag of items covered in mud. He said they were just dug out of the ground. They were treasures from the Song Dynasty. There were some utensils and a scroll painting of "The Yang Family Army" in it.
The man who owned these things looked like an old farmer, but there were several people surrounding his stall, the most eye-catching of whom were two foreigners.
The blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigner naturally attracted Gao Mingcheng's attention.
At this time, the owner of the goods had already started to sell his goods. He opened the yellowed scroll and showed half of the contents.
The painting showed a battle between two armies, and it looked like a very heroic battle. The owner of the goods said while showing the items: "The Yang family army is full of loyal warriors, and the female generals of the Yang family are even more admirable and admirable! Look, Mu Guiying is riding a horse to fight, she is really heroic!"
The corner of Gao Mingcheng's mouth twitched suddenly. Although he was not very good at history, he at least knew that there was no Mu Guiying in real history!
The Yang Family Army and Lady She do exist!
This counterfeiter is so careless!
Or is it to screen out more suitable victims?
For example, some telecommunications frauds in later generations obviously have many loopholes. Many people will feel that something is wrong when they hear it and hang up the phone, but there are still people who fall for it!
The scammers’ tricks are usually very clever, but why are there flaws at the beginning? It is to screen out the victims!
Once the victims have been screened out, it’s time to sharpen your knives and target the pigs and sheep!
Wang Xun has a long history in the antique business. Seeing Gao Mingcheng's expression, he immediately whispered, "Just take care of yourself here, and don't help others fight counterfeiting!"
These people selling goods may look like only one person, but in fact most of them are working in a gang. The others are scattered around, and some even crowd in front of the stalls to ask for prices, which may be their own people.
Therefore, if Gao Mingcheng comes forward to fight against counterfeiting, it will lead to retaliation from the gang.
This person is unfamiliar with the place, there is really no need to get into trouble.
Gao Mingcheng naturally would not do such a thankless task. He nodded, indicating that he knew what to do.
So they walked past this stall and continued looking at other stalls.
Standing in Panjiayuan, you can see many street vendors and goods. They are either trying to attract customers or bargaining with people. The place is very noisy.
The tourists visiting the stalls include local uncles, merchants from other places, and blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners.
Gao Mingcheng and Wang Xun blended into the crowd and were not noticeable at all.
Suddenly, voices of greeting were heard from the front, and several stall owners nearby greeted a man wearing an old-style robe.
"Boss Wang, are you out shopping? Come and take a look at my goods!"
"Look at me, look at me! I just got a new batch of goods!"
"What's so good about your stuff? Look at mine! I received a batch of rare goods a few days ago. I have been hiding them and no one has seen them yet! Boss Wang, come here and I will let you be the first to see them!"
The stall owners were extremely enthusiastic and wanted to call the young man in the long robe over to see their goods.
Gao Mingcheng looked at it curiously. Wang Xun had been here several times before. He immediately said to Gao Mingcheng, "That Boss Wang in a long robe is a well-known figure here! It is said that he was born in poverty, but he has a good eye. A few years ago, he found a great treasure on a street stall. Later, I heard that he won the bet on stones and cut out a fine emerald from the raw stone he bought!"
"With these, he opened a shop here and became Boss Wang!"
Wang Xun knows all about these famous figures.
He even found several people with backgrounds in the crowd and told them quietly to Gao Mingcheng.
Gao Mingcheng's eyes swept over them, and there were two familiar faces among them, which surprised Gao Mingcheng.
The two familiar faces, one is an antique dealer and the other is a tomb robber.
These two people walking side by side, did they know each other? But didn't the antique dealer run an antique shop in Jinling?
As an ancient capital, Jinling has many antiques.
Gao Mingcheng quickly looked away. He was not familiar with these two people in his previous life, so naturally there was no intersection between them in this life.
His gaze returned to Boss Wang.
Boss Wang is in his early thirties, holding a pair of walnuts for ornamental purposes. Judging from the color of the walnuts, they are already covered with patina.
He kept fiddling with the items in his hands, looking extremely skilled, while his eyes were looking at the goods on the stall.
He looked at it quickly, almost in one glance.
"I'll go somewhere else." Boss Wang's attitude was gentle and his voice was quite pleasant, but he left without any hesitation.
It can be seen that these stalls did not have what he wanted.
But just because Boss Wang doesn’t want them doesn’t mean that these goods are all fake. At most, they are of limited value, so they don’t catch Boss Wang’s eye.
The stall owners were quite disappointed, but they still had to do business as usual, so they tried to attract other customers.
Gao Mingcheng walked all the way and finally stopped in front of a stall, then squatted down and reached out to pick up a bowl.
The stall is not big, and there aren’t many things on it, and they don’t look very valuable.
"This bowl is baked. How much do you want for it?" Gao Mingcheng asked straight to the point.
The bowl in his hand looked like a whole piece, but it was actually broken. If you look closely, you can see traces of baking on it.
When the stall owner saw someone asking for the price, he immediately said, "This is a bowl from the Tang Dynasty..."
Gao Mingcheng glanced at him and said, "I know this is ancient porcelain, but it is not from one of the five famous kilns, so it is not valuable."
Wang Xun was also watching and said, "This antique is not only about age, but also about quality and market. These days, ancient porcelain is worthless. Porcelain from the Tang and Song dynasties can only fool people who don't know much."
Hearing what they said, the stall owner immediately knew that they were experts, so he held up two fingers and said, "Take it if you want it."
Gao Mingcheng then gave him two dollars and took away the baked Tang Dynasty bowl.
Two yuan is not expensive, but Wang Xun still didn't understand. He said, "Why are you buying it? A good ancient porcelain can only be bought for ten yuan at most!"
Gao Mingcheng said: "In the past, people used things carefully. If an iron pot was broken, they would mend it, and if a bowl was broken, they would bake it. But as more and more factories were built and people's living standards improved, pot menders and bowl bakers will disappear in the future. I bought this bowl because it has been baked. The craftsman's skill in baking the bowl is quite good."
It's certainly good to find bargains, but in life, you can't find bargains everywhere, so Gao Mingcheng will buy some things that he thinks are good and meaningful.
After the baked bowl maker disappears, I am afraid that many people will not know that baked bowls ever existed.
This baked bowl is a mark of an era.
After spending two dollars to buy a bowl, Gao Mingcheng and Wang Xun continued to look forward. They walked slowly and looked slowly. They could not pick out the best products by just taking a quick look like Boss Wang.
Anyway, there is plenty of time, Gao Mingcheng and Wang Xun are not in a hurry, just take your time!
(End of this chapter)
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