Chapter 70
Grandma Chen's eldest son, the one in the suit, immediately stood up and extended his hand to Yang Ye. "Hello, Boss Yang. My last name is Chen, and my given name is Cheng. This is my younger brother Chen Ming. We apologize for disturbing your rest in the middle of the day."
He said this sentence completely, without any mistakes or omissions.
Chen Cheng's reaction was immediate, and the person he was talking about was equally quick. He immediately stood up and said to Yang Ye, "My mom told me that you're a very good expert here. We have something we'd like you to take a look at and see if it's any good."
Yang Ye raised his hand and motioned them to sit down. "I don't dare to call myself an expert. I just run a grocery store. I can't say I know much about this business."
"Boss Yang, you're too modest." Chen Cheng hadn't even sat down yet, but he had already started talking. "You can't run a shop without skills. Besides, we're from the same village. It takes at most ten minutes to walk from your place to my house. It didn't even take us ten minutes to get here just now."
"No, seven or eight minutes at most," Chen Ming said immediately. He glanced into the room again and said, "Boss Yang, how many years have you been running this store? My mom told me there was a grocery store in our village a long time ago."
"About thirty years."
"Thirty years, that's a long time!" Chen Cheng pretended to be surprised. "You look like you're only in your early twenties. I remember when I was a kid, I used to come here to play with Ah Ming. The owner of this shop was also surnamed Yang. Come to think of it, you look a bit like Mr. Yang back then, especially your eyebrows and eyes. You look so familiar."
As soon as Chen Cheng finished speaking, Zhou Yiheng, who was polishing the porcelain in the living room, suddenly slowed down. He listened for a few seconds, then slowly raised his head and quietly looked at the person who had just spoken.
Yang Ye picked up the teacup on the table. She still had that peaceful smile on her face and her voice was flat. "That's my aunt. She used to run the shop, but then she got sick, so I took it over."
"So it's your aunt, hello, niece is just as beautiful as aunt." Chen Ming clapped his hands exaggeratedly, suddenly realizing. He still wanted to continue to get closer to Yang Ye, "Boss Yang, you said we meet each other every day. If something catches your eye, please don't bother us. Let's be open and honest and come to it happily."
Yang Ye glanced at the two brothers who were singing the same tune, and didn't respond to them. He just turned his head to look at Grandma Chen and said calmly, "You brought the things, right? Let me take a look first."
"I brought it, Mom. Where's the stuff?" Chen Ming hurriedly urged Grandma Chen, even raising his voice slightly, "Hurry up and take it out. Don't make Boss Yang wait anxiously."
Grandma Chen was a bit flustered by her son's urging. She trembled as she ripped open the zipper of her backpack, only to find it was wrapped in a layer of cloth and tied with several loops of rope. Grandma Chen was slow to untie it. Chen Cheng, who was watching from the side, wanted to help, but Chen Ming stopped her with a look.
The rope in her hand became more and more tangled, and the two ends of the rope were tangled together, and she couldn't untie it for a long time. Her two sons were sitting next to her, and neither of them wanted to help. Instead, they kept urging her. Seeing that Grandma Chen was so flustered that her hands were shaking, Yang Ye quickly said, "Take your time, I'm not in a hurry."
Grandma Chen's hands trembled as she gripped the rope's end, not daring to exert any force for a long moment. She slowly twisted the knot, just untied. Inside was a small wooden box. She opened the lid and revealed a blue-and-white glazed bowl with carved flowers. The curve of the open mouth flowed gently down the rim, highlighting only the deep belly, which then closed in at the foot. The shape, the patterns, and the gold thread carving all evoked the exquisite refinement typical of antiques.
"This is something my old man left behind," Granny Chen said softly. Her rough palm rested lightly on the bowl's surface, her fingertips slowly rubbing across the carved patterns. Her movements were gentle, and she was worried that the calluses from decades of washing and cooking would damage the bowl's precious porcelain.
She carefully held out the bowl, and her cloudy eyes scanned the patterns on it inch by inch.
Grandma Chen just watched quietly, her eyes fell on the porcelain bowl, and it seemed as if she saw another person through the porcelain bowl.
"The old man told me that this thing was passed down from the older generation and has been in the family for decades." She paused and swallowed. "My two sons are very good to me and always persuade me to move to the city to live with them. I can't take the things in my hometown with me, so I want to sell the valuable things at home and get some money to keep with me, so that I can help them if they need it."
When Chen Ming heard Grandma Chen say this, he immediately interrupted, "Mom, what are you talking about? It is only natural for my eldest son and I to respect you."
"Yes," Chen Cheng followed suit, glancing secretly towards Yang Ye, fearing that the other party would notice something.
Yang Ye turned around and took the pair of freshly opened white gloves handed to her by Zhou Yiheng. She put them on slowly, picked up the porcelain bowl, and first took it to the table lamp next to the tea table. She turned it twice in the light, touched the wall of the bowl with her fingers, and then she leaned closer to look at the carvings on it.
"The body looks quite fine, the glaze color is even, the carving and lines of the patterns are smooth, not the stiff ones of later times." According to her previous habit, she would mutter a few words while looking at the bowl, but when she turned the bowl over and saw the few lines of small words on the bottom that were left at an unknown time, her expression suddenly changed, her brows slightly furrowed, and her eyes darkened.
Chen Ming was getting impatient waiting. He leaned forward and said, "Boss Yang, what do you think of this bowl?"
Yang Ye took off his gloves, and she sat back down in her seat, her tone calm, "It's hard to say right now. I need to send it to a specialized institution for further testing and identification."
"Can't you see that?" Chen Ming asked.
"Whether you can see it or not is one thing, whether the price satisfies you is another," Yang Ye said, his eyes sweeping over the two brothers in front of him. "If this bowl is real, what is your ideal price range?"
Chen Ming quickly replied, "We don't understand either. You are an expert. Just give us a definite answer."
Chen Cheng also nodded, smiling, "Just give us a fair price. Besides, we are from the same village, how can you harm us? Of course, we will definitely not let you suffer any loss. Do you think this sincerity is acceptable?"
"Of course," Chen Cheng changed the subject, smiling innocently twice, but his eyes showed calculations and plans. "But the other day, when I was browsing my phone, I saw an auction online. A bowl similar to the one we have was sold for over 600,000 yuan at an appraisal meeting in Hong Kong last year. Ours looks better than it, but it was sold for over 600,000 yuan. Our price can't be lower than its price, right?"
Yang Ye's hand fell on the edge of the table, and he looked up at him. "It's hard to say for sure right now. I'll help you contact a specialized appraisal agency for further testing and analysis. But there's one thing I need to make clear to you first. In addition to accepting the commission for appraisal, the appraisal agency I'm looking for will also help you choose a suitable buyer. In other words, once this item is authenticated and you don't raise any objections within three days of receiving the appraisal certificate, it means you're tacitly authorized to sell it to them. The total appraisal fee and commission auction fee are 5%-10% of the total transaction price. Is that acceptable to you?"
Granny Chen's eyes were a little dazed, and her voice tightened. "So, once it's confirmed to be authentic, you'll sell it directly?"
"Yes, that's the process," Yang Ye nodded. "Of course, you can also choose private channels."
"What private channel?" Chen Ming asked.
"You are conducting the transaction yourself offline and not entrusting an auction agency," Yang Ye explained, "but you still need to pay for the relevant appraisal fees."
Chen Cheng immediately responded, "Then this is a private transaction, we will sell the bowl to you."
Yang Ye raised his eyes, tapped the edge of the table with his fingers, and said calmly: "You can sell it to me, if you can find a private buyer who can pay higher than me, I have no restrictions."
When Chen Ming heard this, he immediately went to Grandma Chen, put his arm around her shoulders, and said in a tone full of intimacy, "Mom, look, Boss Yang has said this, and we agreed before that we would sell our things and then you could move to the city with us."
Chen Cheng also walked over and said, "Yes, Mom, didn't you say before that my house is nice? I asked Xiaotao to clean up the east room for you, and you can live in it when you come."
They looked at each other, and Chen Ming paused, then added with more emphasis, "When this thing is sold, the boss and I won't take the money. We'll save it all for your retirement. You can buy whatever you want and travel whenever you want. How wonderful!"
"Oh, okay, okay." Grandma Chen had some concerns just now, but after hearing these two sentences from her son, she immediately felt comfortable in her heart. Her cloudy eyes smiled into slits, and she looked happily at her son beside her and opposite her.
Less than two seconds after Grandma Chen nodded, Chen Cheng frowned again. He looked at Yang Ye and said, "Boss Yang, what if the price given by the appraisal agency is not appropriate, lower than what we want? You said we don't understand these things either, and you can't let us suffer a loss at that time, right?"
Yang Ye picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of hot water, and patiently explained, "Don't worry, the appraisal agency will give you a range of quotes based on the current market conditions. If you feel that the range price is lower than what you expected, you can negotiate with them. In the end, whether to sell it or not, and how much to sell it for, is still up to you."
"That's true, but we don't know anything about the market for this thing." Chen Ming scratched his head, a little hesitant in his eyes. He looked at Yang Ye and asked her curiously, "Boss Yang, you have a lot of experience. Why don't you give us an estimate of how much this thing is worth if it's real? That way we can have a better idea of what it's worth."
"If it is confirmed to be authentic after identification, according to the current market price, it will be around 400,000 yuan."
"Four hundred thousand." Chen Ming was immediately unhappy when he heard this number, and his voice became louder. "Boss Yang, you are not lying to us, are you? I saw it online a few days ago, and theirs didn't look as good as ours. They can get six hundred thousand, how come ours is two hundred thousand less?"
Yang Ye didn't rush to refute. She just smiled calmly and said, "I'm just a dealer in antiques. I look at things based on market conditions and experience. I don't need to lie to you. Four hundred thousand is the most attractive price I can offer. Of course, if you are worried, you can take it to other institutions after the appraisal results come out and compare them with a few more."
Chen Ming was stunned by her words and didn't ask any more questions. He just said, "When can you get the result as soon as possible? We also want to settle the matter as soon as possible."
"The identification process needs to go through, and it will take at least a week," said Yang Ye.
"So late" Chen Ming frowned, obviously thinking that this time was a bit too long
"This is the time required for identification, and there is no rush," Yang Ye said. "Going slowly is also to ensure the accuracy of the results. You can't just take a quick look and make a conclusion. That would be irresponsible to you and the collectors."
Chen Ming was silent for a few seconds, looked at Granny Chen next to him, then exchanged glances with Chen Cheng across from him. He sighed, "Okay, one week is just one week."
Yang Ye nodded, stood up and walked to the antique shelf on the tea table. She took down a document from the shelf, took out the power of attorney and the warm-keeping commitment information inside, and took out a pen from the pen holder next to her. She filled in the relevant information, signed her name, pressed her fingerprint, and then handed the information to Chen Ming. "Please take a look at this power of attorney. It states the appraisal process, custody responsibilities, and fee instructions. If you have no problem with it, please sign it, and after pressing your fingerprint, I can arrange for the subsequent appraisal."
"Sign my mother's name. My mother can't write. Can't I sign mine?" Chen Ming asked.
"No," Yang Ye refused. "According to the regulations, I need the signature of the owner of the item. Relatives cannot do it on their behalf."
"Okay." Chen Ming had nothing else to say.
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