Suddenly the young man in front of him said, "You are wrong." The little old man was a little confused. After being stunned for a few seconds, he asked dissatisfiedly: "What did I do wrong?"
"I mean, you are wrong. This carving is not an old monk, at least it wasn't in the past." Xue Chen looked at the bamboo root carving in his hand and said in a rather playful tone, with a smile on his lips.
"Hey, little brother, we can't open our eyes and tell lies. What is this if it's not a monk? You didn't see the bald head and the ring scar on the top of the head. If you said it's not a monk, what else could it be?" the little old man asked.
Keep your mouth shut.
Xue Chen did not rush to refute, but said with a faint smile: "Well, if I can prove that he is not a monk, then brother, you will sell it to me for 30% of the price just now, and you will see how much cheaper others got for me.
, where’s the price of this thing? If I don’t state it clearly, it’s just an item from the late Qing Dynasty. It doesn’t have specific inscriptions on it, so it doesn’t mean it’s from a famous artist. If what I said is wrong, then I’ll buy it at the price just now.
,how?"
"Thirty percent? Impossible, absolutely impossible, too low. For such a good bamboo root carving, you only gave me that little money." The little old man shook his head hurriedly, refusing to agree at all.
"Then if I say that this bamboo root carving is damaged, will its price plummet?" Xue Chen asked rhetorically.
"Damaged? How is that possible? It's damaged there!" The little old man was a little angry. He felt that Xue Chen was just wasting his time. He said angrily, "You said it's damaged there. If you can tell, then I'll give you 30%
It's not impossible to sell it to you at a price. If you can't find it, I can't force you to buy it, and you may not be able to pay that price. So, that's fine. If you take that Guanyin jade pendant before, just treat it as a gift.
Let me apologize."
"good!"
There were quite a lot of people coming and going, so Xue Chen pointed out his findings without wasting much time.
"Brother, look, you said this is a monk, but let's take a look at his clothes. Are they the clothes worn by monks? No! They are linen clothes that look very rough, and there are even holes at the feet of the robe. You see
Have you ever seen a monk wearing linen and rags? No, because whether it is a monk or a Buddhist figure, most of them that appear on porcelain or sculptures symbolize perfection, wealth, and beauty. How can you wear rags?"
Obviously Xue Chen's words made the little old man a little doubtful. He moved his mouth and muttered: "Even though he said that, he is a monk, and there are exceptions to everything."
"No, no, no, Qing Dynasty porcelain pays attention to the fact that the pictures must be intentional and auspicious, and there are never any accidents. There are some rules that craftsmen dare not break casually, and they may be beheaded. Look, what is on his right hand side?
It's a medicine blue containing Ganoderma lucidum, longevity peach and fairy grass. What's on the left hand side, a stick? No, it's not just a stick. There is a chisel-like thing at the bottom of the wooden stick.
Tools, these are the tools used by herb collectors to explore the way to collect herbs, so the carving is not a monk, but an old man collecting herbs."
The little old man obviously didn't notice these problems. He was stunned for a moment by what Xue Chen said. His mouth couldn't help but open half-open, not knowing what to say.
Xue Chen chuckled: "I said he was damaged, but where is the damage? There should be a bun on the old man's head, but the bun should be broken, maybe by accident.
There was no way to make up for the break. In order to make up for it, I had to repair the top of the old man's head, shave off his hair, perm his hair, and add a ring scar, and then he turned into a monk."
"Really?" the little old man asked with a frown.
"Of course, brother, you should bring a magnifying glass. You can look carefully at the location of the ring scar. You will definitely be able to see an irregular dividing line, which is the trace left after the bun was broken, and the time of contact with the outside world.
Different, the color will definitely be slightly different." Xue Chen nodded affirmatively.
The reason why he was so confident was because he had used the newly discovered ability of the eagle eye to see every detail, and he could clearly see the traces left after the stubble was broken and polished.
The little old man swallowed, hurriedly took out a magnifying glass from his pocket, took the bamboo root carving, looked at it, and after a few glances, he exclaimed: "It's really true!"
After confirming that what Xue Chen said was true, the little old man looked at Xue Chen and his eyes immediately changed. He couldn't help but take a breath: "Little brother, I have lived for most of my life, and there are not many times when I look at people and make mistakes.
, but this time, I did make a mistake, you are not only an insider, you are clearly a real expert."
Ignoring the little old man's flattery, Xue Chen looked at him and asked directly if what he just said counted, and if he was willing to sell him the bamboo root sculpture at 30%.
The little old man's expression changed a few times, and finally he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot: "Although I, Sun Manhai, am not a big shot and just work hard, I am not a coward who can't keep his word. I will give it to you at this price.
"
The asking price just now was 60,000, and 30% was equivalent to 18,000. Xue Chen put his hand into his pocket, and when he took it out, he already had a stack of hundred-yuan bills in his hand. He handed it over: "Count it."
"Hey." The little old man Sun Manhai borrowed the money, quickly checked both sides to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the money, and carefully stuffed it into the lining pocket of his arms.
Although the stall owner looked very distressed, Xue Chen knew in his heart that he must still have made money, but just a little less. This bamboo root carving may have been obtained at a low price.
"Brother, see you later." After getting this bamboo root carving, Xue Chen was quite satisfied. He could tell that it had been modified, but not everyone has his eyesight, and the repair was pretty good.
When you go to an antique store and meet a customer you like, it's easy to pay 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. If you can confirm which bamboo carving master's work it is after you go back, the price will be doubled.
But why are the items sold at stalls cheaper than in antique stores? There are many reasons. The biggest reason is that not all buyers have the vision to distinguish authenticity and do not dare to sell easily.
Secondly, antique shops are never in a hurry to sell things. They would rather leave them on the cabinet and gather dust than wait for a buyer who really likes them and is willing to pay a big price. However, these small stall vendors pay more attention to the immediate interests and take the money.
The money you get is yours.
Although the overall income is indeed not much, just tens of thousands of dollars, which is completely small money to him, which is a bit insignificant, but he enjoys this process very much. Some things cannot be measured by money. If everything goes towards
If the money is worth it, then why would he waste time opening an antique shop? He has other ways to make more money.
The most eye-catching thing was naturally the red hundred-yuan bill. When Xue Chen took out the money, there were many stall owners around who saw it. They just didn’t see what the transaction was, but they all saw it.
The young man was a wealthy man, so when Xue Chen stood up and was about to leave, he shouted loudly and even directly called Xue Chen to come and have a look at his stall.
As one of them, Sun Manhai naturally knew what those stall owners were thinking. He sneered in his heart and thought to himself, these guys would be really blind if they slaughtered this little guy as a fat sheep, but he forgot,
He also wanted to kill Xue Chen...
Xue Chen squinted his eyes and walked towards the stalls that greeted him.
This antique exchange meeting is always so lively. From early morning to noon, people keep leaving and people keep coming in, making the whole pedestrian street bustling and noisy. The discerning stall owners are trying to find bargains.
We are also waiting for the big fat sheep. This is a contest of eyesight and intelligence. The winner returns home satisfied, while the loser can only smile bitterly and lament that his skills are inferior to others.
It was busy at noon, the sun was bigger and rounder, and the temperature of the air was a little hotter. Everyone's face was sweating more or less, and the floating ash stuck to it, leaving a trace on the face.
Got some dirt.
At this time, Xue Chen had already left the pedestrian street. He found a small restaurant nearby and went in. He ordered a salad with three shredded shredded vegetables and pork head with soy sauce. He also ordered a few bottles of beer and ate slowly.
As soon as his mind moved, he glanced at the space inside the jade pupil. There were many things inside, including a change of clothes, stacks of cash, various documents, etc. In addition, there were three more antiques, which he had spent all morning.
The spoils of time.
The three items cost him a total of more than 80,000 yuan. They were all pretty good. According to his estimation, they could be sold for at least 300,000 yuan in an antique shop. Although he didn't make much, he enjoyed it and felt
good.
While Xue Chen was dining in a small restaurant, an acquaintance, Wang Ke, the host of Beijing TV Station, was sitting in a private room of a nearby good-quality hotel. Accompanying Wang Ke was the organizer Tianyi Ge’s Antique City
a deputy manager.
"Mr. Wang, nice to meet you." The deputy manager of the antique city said politely, holding up a glass of wine.
Wang Ke socialized casually. His purpose in Pingyuan City this time was very simple. He just wanted to come to this antique exchange meeting to exercise his eyesight and gain some experience. The experience in the tea house gave him a lot of stimulation.
Coincidentally, Pingyuan City is not far from the capital. Coincidentally, one of his college classmates was the director of the nearby subdistrict office, so he met someone from Tianyi Pavilion, the organizer.
Knowing that the purpose of Wang Ke's visit was to increase his experience, everyone sitting with him praised him repeatedly. Wang Ke's college classmate even did not hesitate to praise him: "Old Wang, you are really dedicated, even though I am in the plains."
, but everyone has also heard about your accomplishments in antiques. In the entire capital, there is no one of our age who can compare with you."
The corner of Wang Ke's mouth twitched. If it was in the past, he would have smiled modestly and waved his hands, but now, when he thinks of that person, he feels very depressed. (To be continued)