Xue Chen followed Uncle Shen. The two of them walked leisurely along this street stall street, occasionally stopping for a moment. Like other antique streets in other places, it is basically impossible to find high-value items on the street stalls in Panjiayuan. nice one.
Panjiayuan is even worse than antique streets in other cities because the flow of customers here is so great that every item on the street stalls may have passed through dozens of hands. Even if there is any leakage, it will have been picked up long ago. .
What's more, most of the people who practice stalls in Panjiayuan are human beings, so the chance of being mistaken is very small.
"They are all handicrafts. Basically, as long as they are of a certain age, the asking prices are too high. It is just like robbery." Uncle Shen said lightly.
"Yeah." Xue Chen nodded.
When they were about to reach the other end of the street, they saw a group of people pointing at a stall.
Xue Chen and Uncle Shen also went over to watch the excitement, and saw the thing everyone was pointing at, which was a dark, watermelon-sized thing placed on the stall.
"What is this?"
"I don't know. I've never seen it before. It looks like it's made of metal."
"What a strange thing."
Several people gathered around, pointing and discussing in low voices.
Uncle Shen frowned after looking at it and muttered: "What is this?"
Xue Chen was also a little curious. What could it be that even Uncle Shen didn't recognize?
It is about the size of a human head and has an irregular oval shape with pits and smoky marks on it.
Just when everyone was wondering what it was, the lean stall owner who looked to be in his early forties shouted at the top of his lungs: "This is a treasure, a meteorite!"
Meteorite?!
As soon as the stall owner said this, everyone around the stall was stunned. Even people passing by were surprised when they heard that someone was selling meteorites.
When the stall owner said this, many people felt that it really looked like a meteorite and couldn't help but nod.
Someone standing around asked loudly: "This is a meteorite? Where did you get it? I remember that private trading of meteorites is not allowed."
The stall owner coughed: "This meteorite is from my ancestors, I didn't pick it up. Things passed down from my ancestors can always be bought and sold."
"What the stall owner said makes sense. This is something passed down from our ancestors. There were no relevant regulations at that time."
"Meteorites, this is my first time seeing them."
"Me too, it looks like it really is a meteorite, otherwise it would be something other than a meteorite."
Uncle Shen was also confused. He turned to look at Xue Chen and whispered: "Xue Chen, do you think this is really a meteorite?"
Xue Chen stared at the dark thing on the stall, his eyes flickering: "It shouldn't be a meteorite. As for what it is, I haven't determined it yet."
He can only be certain now that this thing that looks like an iron lump is definitely not a meteorite, but what...
At this time, someone had already asked the stall owner the price of this meteorite. The stall owner raised his neck and stretched out a hand: "One price, 50,000!"
When they saw the stall asking for 50,000 yuan, some people were obviously a little moved. After all, this is a meteorite, which is a star that fell from the sky. If you can collect one for 50,000 yuan, it is still worth it and display it at home and with your relatives and friends. If you say this is a meteorite, that's a big deal.
Just when some people were about to bargain, someone in the crowd of onlookers coughed and said in a moderate voice: "What a meteorite? It's clearly an unrefined iron lump during the steel smelting..."
When the stall owner heard this, his expression changed slightly unnaturally, and he glared in the direction where the sound came from.
The words woke up the dreamer! Immediately, more onlookers also saw the origin of this meteorite.
"I also remembered that this is indeed an unrefined iron lump from the large-scale steel smelting. There used to be another piece in our factory, which was larger than this piece. Later, it was sold as a scrap at two cents a pound!"
"Yes, my grandfather also told me that at that time, earthen furnaces were used for steel-making across the country. However, because the temperature of the steel-making furnace was not enough, the iron put in was not completely melted, and this kind of waste product was produced.
, that should be it, that’s right.”
"Holy crap, it turned out to be that thing, I almost got fooled into it!"
"It's so risky. I already have to pay for it. It's okay, okay.",
The onlookers suddenly realized that they were thankful that someone warned them so they were not deceived. This was not a precious meteorite, but a useless piece of iron. They all looked at the stall owner with disdain.
The stall owner was so angry that he almost sold the piece of scrap iron as a meteorite, but someone messed it up.
This meteorite was the product of large-scale steel smelting, and he naturally knew it. He quietly discovered it in the corner of a scrap collection station and bought it for thirty yuan.
He thought it was a meteorite at the time, but later his buddy who ran a scrap collection station told him personally that it was a lump of iron that had not been refined and was worthless.
After learning the true identity of the meteorite, the people surrounding it turned their heads and left.
"It turned out to be an unfinished piece of iron. This is really the first time I've seen this thing." Uncle Shen laughed. He turned to Xue Chen and said, "Let's go too."
"Wait, Uncle Shen." Xue Chen walked forward and came to the stall.
The stall owner was squatting on the ground, sighing, scratching his head and head, preparing to close the stall. The thought of leaving with this piece of scrap metal weighing more than 20 kilograms on his back made him a little depressed, but he threw it away and felt a little distressed. After all, it cost thirty yuan.
Didn't you buy it?
"Hello, are you selling this piece of iron?"
When the stall owner heard someone asking about the price, he raised his head unexpectedly and looked at Xue Chen standing in front of him.
"You want to buy this meteorite... no, iron lump." The stall owner smiled awkwardly and asked doubtfully.
"Yes, I want to buy it." Xue Chen nodded, looked at the stall owner's uncertain eyes and continued, "That's right, I heard that this is the product of large-scale steel smelting? I just happen to be interested in things from that era.
I’m very interested, so I want to buy it.”
The stall owner yelled, rolled his eyes, grinned and said, "That's great, you can take the one thousand yuan."
Xue Chen chuckled and said: "I sincerely buy it, and I hope you can also sincerely buy it. You and I both know how much this thing is worth. I'm afraid no one will buy it except me. I turned around and left, and you still have to work hard."
Shouldn't you carry it away? That's fine, if you sell it for three hundred yuan, I'll take it away. If you don't sell it, forget it."
The stall owner heard that it was 300, and it was considered a pretty good price. Once it was resold, the profit would be ten times that. Although it was still not much money, it was better than losing money. There was no need to take it away, so it was easy.
"Okay, deal!"
Xue Chen gave three hundred yuan to the stall owner, and the ugly iron lump left over from the great steel-making period belonged to him.
Uncle Shen on the side did not interrupt, but he had a strange look on his face. He couldn't understand why Xue Chen bought such a thing and found out the leaks? But is there any possibility of finding out the leaks? Isn't it just a failed iron-making product?
"Xue Chen, are you buying it?" When Xue Chen wrapped the piece of iron lump with a piece of cloth left by the stall owner and held it in his hand, Uncle Shen couldn't help but ask.
"Uncle Shen, do you think it is worthless?" Xue Chen asked happily, squinting his eyes with a smile.
"Haha, you kid is trying to get along with me. I really don't believe that this piece of iron has any value. Could it be that there is a piece of gold wrapped in it?" Uncle Shen said with a cheerful smile.
Xue Chen's eyes moved and the corners of his mouth raised: "It's impossible to wrap it with gold, but it might be wrapped with something else."
"Pack something else?!" Uncle Shen's smile faded.
After reaching the other end of the street, the two people hailed a taxi and prepared to go back to the hotel.
Coincidentally, the taxi they stopped was the same one they came from. There must be 60,000 to 70,000 taxis in the capital. This is almost the same as the probability of winning the first prize in a lottery.
The taxi driver was a typical Beijing native. When he saw Xue Chen and Shen Wanjun again, he called out what a coincidence and offered them a 20% discount on their fare. He also asked about the purchases they had made at Panjiayuan. Nothing.
Xue Chen didn't hide anything and directly showed the driver the iron bump he bought.
After the driver took a look at it, he sighed: "Why did you buy this thing? This should be the iron lumps made during the great steel smelting period. You were fooled. The makeshift earthen stove at that time was not warm enough, so you made such a thing." Damn, there were two of them at home when I was a kid."
Shen Wanjun glanced at Xue Chen with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He knew that Xue Chen's character was definitely not the kind of person who did things without purpose. Since he bought this iron lump, it meant that he must have a reason.
When they arrived at the hotel and returned to their double room, Uncle Shen said, "You can talk to me now."
Xue Chen placed the iron lump wrapped in the cloth pocket on the bed, making a big hole in the soft mattress. He looked up at Uncle Shen and said, "Uncle Shen, I said there is a good thing wrapped in this. Do you believe it?"
Shen Wanjun suddenly smiled: "I don't trust others, but how could I not trust you? But, what's in it?"
"I think it's not difficult to guess," Xue Chen said with squinted eyes.
"Bronze?!" Shen Wanjun blurted out fiercely.
Xue Chen smiled and said nothing.
This piece of iron was wrapped with a piece of bronze! At that time, he was also curious about what was going on at this time, so he took a look inside through perspective, and happened to see that this piece of iron was wrapped with a piece of bronze.
It’s easy to understand. When steel was being smelted back then, even the pots and pans at home were used for smelting. It’s not surprising that an ignorant person donated a bronze vessel. Fortunately, this bronze vessel didn’t It was refined, but instead it was wrapped in iron slurry!
He also felt incredible and surprised. He didn't expect that he could encounter such an incredible thing. If he hadn't had clairvoyance, he would never have thought that such an ugly lump of iron contained a good thing. !(To be continued)