Gu Anran thought Wu An was a bit of a genius.
How did you figure that out?
She didn't recognize it.
She felt that the old man was speaking Mandarin, and quite fluently at that.
Unlike them, whose Mandarin is always tinged with an accent, which they can't easily change even if they want to.
The old man said, "When I was young, I went to Tianjin to make a living and stayed there for decades."
"When people get old, they think about returning to their roots."
"The person is back, but we're still having trouble getting used to their way of speaking."
Upon hearing this, Wu An realized that the old man must have a story to tell; no wonder he was able to open a shop in this place that didn't seem to be making any money.
He looked at the piece of wood in the old man's hand and asked, "Sir, is this also an antique?"
The old man nodded: "I guess so."
Agarwood.
"Alas, it was my negligence."
"Come, sit here."
As the old gentleman spoke, he walked toward the tea table beside him.
Wu An was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but take a few more glances at the wood. He knew that agarwood was a very precious spice.
I didn't expect him to look so unremarkable.
In fact, it is quite valuable.
No wonder the antique business tests one's eye for quality; even if a treasure is right in front of him, someone like him wouldn't be able to recognize it.
When the sea turtle spat out ambergris, he thought it was trash. Luckily, Old Fu reminded him, otherwise he would have lost the treasure.
Gu Anran pulled him to sit opposite the old man.
The old gentleman poured tea.
Wu An and Gu Anran quickly said there was no need to be so polite. The old gentleman poured tea and said with a smile, "You're here to sell items, right?"
Wu An countered, "How do you know?"
The old man said, "I guessed."
"Not many people your age come to antique shops."
"Judging from your quick glances, you don't seem like you're here to buy anything."
Wu An complimented, "Old sir, your eyes are like torches."
The old gentleman smiled and said, "Come, have some tea first."
Wu An picked up the teacup and drank it all in one go.
He put down his teacup, wiped the sweat from his hands, and took out the ambergris: "I'd be so kind as to take a look at it."
Upon seeing the ambergris, the old gentleman's eyes lit up immediately. He quickly called out to Wu An, telling him to take the ambergris and not place it directly on the tea table.
Then he brought over the wooden tray next to him and let Wu An put the ambergris on it.
He examined it carefully, even bringing it close to his nose to smell it. He took a small piece of it, scraped it off, rubbed it in his hand, and said, "It's ambergris."
"The quality isn't top-notch, but it's above average."
"Rare indeed, very rare."
"You're really lucky. This piece of ambergris is the rarest. It's been floating in the sea for decades."
He seemed a little excited, holding it in his hands and looking at it over and over.
Upon hearing this, Wu An felt much better.
Of all the stores I've visited, only this old man's words were truly insightful.
The old man weighed it and said, "68 grams."
"This is still wet material."
"If it's dry ingredients, I estimate it will be reduced by one-third."
Wu An nodded: "You seem like an honest person, so please give me a price."
The old man put down the ambergris incense, looked up and asked, "Young man, what's your name?"
Wu An introduced himself as Wu An, and also introduced Gu Anran, as did the old gentleman.
His surname is Zhang, and his given name is Li Zao Zhang.
After thinking for a moment, Mr. Zhang said, "I'll give you 60,000 yuan for this piece."
"Although ambergris is used as a fixative in perfumes, it is actually more suitable for collection."
"Since it's a collectible, the price can fluctuate a lot."
“Your piece is rather small. From a business perspective, if it were for collection, investment, or resale, I wouldn’t offer such a high price.”
"But I was so excited by the sight of the hunt that I decided to keep it for myself."
Upon hearing the price, Gu Anran tried her best to restrain herself, but her eyes revealed excitement. It was hard to tell whether Old Zhang's words were true or false, but she personally felt that the old man's words were very credible.
However, she didn't say anything.
Wu An has to make the decision himself.
Wu An didn't reply immediately, but he knew the old man wasn't lying.
Why?
He did his homework before coming; he searched online for information about ambergris auctions.
The situation may be true or false, but it can be used as a reference.
The prices of ambergris at auctions vary.
Some prices are outrageously high, with one gram of ambergris reaching several thousand yuan.
Some cost several hundred yuan per gram.
Generally speaking, the smallest ambergris that can be put up for auction is measured in kilograms. This piece is too small to be auctioned.
The price Mr. Zhang quoted was approximately 1,000 yuan per gram.
That's pretty good.
This exceeded his expectations; he had originally thought that selling three pieces of ambergris for 150,000 to 160,000 would be quite good.
Judging from the current situation, he might be able to get a small two hundred thousand.
That's more than enough to buy a car for commuting.
Wu An asked, "How long can such a small piece last?"
Old Zhang said, "If we use it sparingly, it can last for a while."
Wu An took out the remaining two pieces of ambergris and said, "It seems you're not short of money."
"If you have good stuff, it's no fun to be stingy with it."
"You agree, right?"
Old Zhang's face lit up with surprise: "There's still some!"
"Haha, you're right."
"Put it down quickly, let me see it."
Wu An put down the two pieces of ambergris and said, "If you can use them, we'll stick to the previous price; if you can't, we'll go with the purchase price."
"I won't hide it from you, we arrived a long time ago. The antique street is full of traps, and we stumbled our way to your shop."
“You are different from other antique shop owners.”
"I trust you."
These kind words are no less than heavy-handed flattery; anyone who hears them will feel pleased.
Old Zhang was no exception. He picked up two pieces of ambergris, examined them, and said, "These two pieces are of the same quality as the previous one."
"It looks like it was broken off from a large piece of ambergris."
"These three pieces of ambergris were originally one piece!"
After he finished speaking, he stared intently at Wu An.
Wu An waved his hand: "No, I didn't, Elder Zhang, how could I possibly do that?"
"That's how it was when I got it."
Old Zhang said, "It's a pity. If it were a larger piece, the price could have gone up by at least a third or even more."
Wu An remained expressionless.
It seems that Mr. Zhang has no intention of making money through business.
It's purely for entertainment.
I don't know if I was trying to get him to raise the price or to make him uncomfortable by talking to his face.
Mr. Zhang weighed each item one by one.
One piece weighing 73 grams was given for 65,000 yuan, and another piece weighing 85 grams was given for 80,000 yuan.
The three pieces of ambergris together sold for 205,000!
Wu An wasn't excited. If it were two million, he might have given them some face.
But I'm also quite happy.
After all, it was unexpected wealth.
and.
Although there was no basis for it, he just felt that he could obtain ambergris from sea turtles in the future.
Old Zhang looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and said, "Thank you for your help."
"I don't have that much cash in my shop."
"The banks are closed at this time too."
"How about this, you come here again first thing tomorrow morning."
Wu An nodded.
That's okay.
Fortunately, he and Gu Anran had ample reason to stay in the county town.
Good.
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