After Mingjing finished speaking, the man paused, looked the group up and down, and said seriously, "We don't want ordinary coral."
"Would you like some baby noodles?"
Mingjing didn't dare to reveal too much; she reached into the basket and took out a little creature.
The man was stunned when he saw that glimpse of pink light. He stepped forward, took a magnifying glass, and examined it under the light for a long time, his brows furrowed.
After hesitating for a while, I picked up the phone on the table and dialed.
"Master, come here for a moment, there's something I'm not sure about."
Mingjing carefully examined the small workshop. Although it was small, it was fully equipped and filled with various carved jade and wood carvings, each one lifelike.
One of the red corals caught Mingjing's attention. A light-colored bird, similar in texture to the coral, was perched on the red coral tree.
Not long after, an old man holding Buddhist prayer beads appeared at the back door.
"Master, can you tell if this is baby's face?"
The old man took the magnifying glass and examined it carefully, his expression grave. "That's right."
After saying that, he looked at the three people in front of him. They didn't seem to know anything about the business, and they were all penniless.
"However, the texture is not good. You can see that there are many fine lines inside. Although it is baby face, the price is greatly reduced."
"How many?"
The old man's eyes darted around, and he said regretfully, "Never mind, seeing that you've had a tough time, coming all this way in the typhoon, how about a hundred yuan?"
Hearing that such a small piece of coral could make money, Mingdahai and Mingliang were overjoyed and planned to go back and dredge up all the coral to sell, since there was so much of that stuff in the seabed.
"One hundred? Forget it, I'll go look at other stores." Mingjing put the coral in her basket and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute, young lady, a hundred isn't a small amount. How many of these tiny things, the size of a fingernail, do you want? Don't be greedy."
The old man advised.
"Boss, you're the greedy one. Even if the quality of the baby's face coral is poor, it's worth more than a hundred yuan. I'll go ask around at other stores."
After Mingjing finished speaking, she turned to leave.
"Wait a minute, how about five hundred?"
The boss hurriedly spoke up.
The coral was of top quality. He said that because he thought the three of them were clueless and wanted to rip them off, but he didn't expect to run into a tough opponent.
He's the only one on this street who buys coral and jade, but once you leave this street, it's hard to say.
Seeing the shopkeeper haggle, Mingjing's lips curled into a smile.
Something the size of a fingernail costs 500 yuan; it seems the price could go up further.
"Mingjing, it's five hundred, sell it now," Ming Dahai said anxiously.
Five hundred yuan for such a small amount of food is equivalent to several small yellow croakers.
"Don't worry, Dad."
Ming Dahai was extremely anxious, fearing that his boss would change his mind.
"Let's go check out other places."
The shop owner wasn't honest, but she could tell that the coral was quite valuable, so it was good to compare it with other shops.
"Wait a minute, young lady, there's something wrong with this item. This is already the highest price I can offer. Don't be greedy; you won't find this price anywhere else."
The boss wanted to try and fool them one last time, but Mingjing didn't answer and pulled her father away.
"Young lady, think about it again." The shopkeeper chased after her, but Mingjing still ignored him and walked into the alley.
There weren't many antique shops on this street, so Mingjing inquired around and came to another street. There was a pawn shop selling antiques, so he went straight in.
The shopkeeper was behind the counter, rapidly pressing buttons on a calculator, calculating the value of the newly acquired snuff bottles.
"Boss, do you buy coral here?"
"Coral? Let me see it." The man stopped what he was doing and craned his neck to look into Mingjing's hand.
Mingjing picked up the cloth wrapped around the coral, took a small piece, and handed it to the shopkeeper.
The owner was a middle-aged man with a jade thumb ring on his thumb. He took the coral from Mingjing and examined it carefully.
"Baby's face? Little girl, this is a rare find even in the world. Do you have any more?"
The man carefully examined the coral, then used a flashlight and magnifying glass to examine it closely, confirming that there were no impurities or cracks, and he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
"Boss, how much do you think this piece is worth?"
The boss thought for a moment, then remained silent for a long time before saying, "This small piece would cost at least three thousand yuan now."
"Three thousand?" Ming Dahai thought he was dreaming when he heard the price. If such a small piece costs three thousand, wouldn't that big thing cost seventy or eighty thousand?
“We still have one, we still have a big one,” Mingliang blurted out without thinking.
Mingjing glared at him and handed over all the coral fragments in her hand. "Boss, I still have quite a few broken ones here. Can you tell me how much they're worth?"
The boss was taken aback when he saw the bag of baby coral in Mingjing's hand.
"You still have so many?"
The owner took all the corals and examined them one by one, his smile gradually spreading across his face.
The coral on the table was divided into two parts: one part was of high quality, and the other part was of inferior quality with cracks and impurities.
"This pile is of good quality, worth at least tens of thousands, while that pile of poor quality is worth three or four thousand."
Mingjing clearly hadn't expected this thing to be worth so much money, so she didn't need to haggle at all.
"Girl, baby's face is a rare item. Are you planning to give me all of these?"
The boss's eyes gleamed; he knew she had so much, and he shouldn't have impulsively quoted a price earlier.
"See how much you can afford, because I have a bigger one. I trust the boss won't rip me off. Give me an estimate."
Hearing that there were larger ones, the shop owner wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, stepped out from behind the counter, and asked, "Where are they? Let me see."
Ming Dahai and Ming Liang went back to the car to retrieve the large coral. When the coral was neatly placed on the table, the boss's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Heavens! Such a big baby face?"
He excitedly took a flashlight and a magnifying glass and went forward to examine every inch of the room.
After studying it for a moment, he nodded solemnly, “Indeed, it is a baby’s face, with a complete posture, beautiful shape, and translucent texture.”
"If sold as a whole, the price would be immeasurable."
After saying that, the boss turned to Mingjing and asked, "Young lady, how much are you planning to sell it for?"
Mingjing was a little confused; she didn't really understand this stuff. She estimated a number and said with a half-smile, "Two million for the whole thing?"
Upon hearing that it was two million, Ming Dahai frowned and tugged at Ming Jing's sleeve. Two million was too much; he was afraid the boss wouldn't accept it.
The shopkeeper turned and went behind the counter. He took out paper and a brush, dipped the wolf-hair brush in ink, and wrote a line of beautiful calligraphy on the rice paper.
"Alright then, little girl, let's calculate the smaller one first."
Mingjing nodded, and each piece of coral was clearly priced. For each piece marked, Mingjing wrote a number and placed it under the coral.
There are 31 small corals in total. The most expensive one costs 26,000 yuan, and the cheapest one costs only 1,000 yuan. Basically, good quality and poor quality corals each account for half.
Ming Dahai was pressing the calculator on the side; the total was 280,000.
"This big one, two million is way too much, how about one million five hundred thousand?"
The shopkeeper stopped writing and stared at the piece of baby noodles. He continued, "My pawnshop is a century-old establishment. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever received so many pieces of baby noodles."
"Baby face is precious, but it is also very difficult to carve. If you are not careful, you will ruin the piece. Generally, a carved piece will be worth hundreds of thousands."
"The risk is too great; two million is simply not worth it."
"Boss, to be honest with you, I came to you first after I got this stuff. You're a good person, and I trust you."
“I’ve heard that this thing is not simple. Actually, I could send it to Hong Kong or Beijing for auction, and the price would definitely be higher than here, but I urgently need money right now.”
"My family is in debt, and we need money for everything from food and drink to basic necessities. Otherwise, I could wait and have it auctioned off, but there's no other way."
The boss nodded, understanding that Mingjing wanted to raise the price.
"How about this, 1.8 million?"
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