113: Chapter 113 Making Friends for 88,000

"The Son of Heaven guards the nation's gate, the monarch dies for the state; no marriage alliances, no tribute, no ceding of land, no indemnities. Do you understand the value of the last dynasty of the Han people?"

The stall owner's expression returned to that same calm, confident look of someone who had the other party in the bag.

Of course, as a seller, one couldn't be too aggressive all the time. Seeing that the old man's expression had soured due to his words, the stall owner spoke up again:

"Old Pan, I'm really not just throwing out random prices; that's the market rate. How about this—since you're a regular customer, if you want this Qianyuan Zhongbao, you can take it for 4,500 yuan."

"If you're still not satisfied with that," the stall owner pointed to the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao on the stall, "I'll let you have this Qing Dynasty general's waist plaque for 1,800 yuan."

Watching from the side as the stall owner steered the conversation back to the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao, Chen Sheng didn't feel nervous at all.

Nothing to it! With someone who could sell a huabiao as a waist plaque and claim a Tang Dynasty Qianyuan Zhongbao was from the Ming Dynasty, and a buyer who seemed to agree with this logic, he really didn't think the old man would buy the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao.

Of course, Chen Sheng didn't understand these things either.

After all, Shu City wasn't the capital or a place like Jinling where antiques and calligraphy were prevalent. He hadn't seen any of the onlookers step forward to refute the two; most were just watching the spectacle.

But as the saying goes, when in doubt, ask Baidu.

You just need to pull out your phone, open the browser, type in the name of the item you want to search for, and hit enter.

The facts were indeed as Chen Sheng had surmised. When the old man heard the stall owner proactively lower the price of the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao, he didn't even spare it a glance. Holding the Qianyuan Zhongbao, he said, "4,500 yuan is still too high. How about this, can you let it go for 3,000?"

"3,000 won't work. I can only knock off another 100 yuan," the boss countered immediately.

"3,100 yuan."

"4,300 yuan at the very least."

After some haggling, when the price finally dropped to 3,900 yuan, the boss refused to budge any further. The old man wheedled for a while longer, and ultimately, he purchased the Qianyuan Zhongbao—which supposedly came from the Ming Dynasty—for the auspicious number of 3,888 yuan.

The old man packed the Qianyuan Zhongbao into a bag, carefully tucked it into his inner pocket, and left with a happy expression.

Seeing the old man leave, Chen Sheng immediately squeezed in front of the stall and, without a word, grabbed the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao in his hand.

The rule of antiques is that while an item is in someone else's hands, other interested parties can only negotiate for it after that person explicitly declines it or puts it back in its original place.

As for why Chen Sheng was so eager?

It was simply because, after watching the transaction between the stall owner and the old man, he didn't think for a second that the stall owner would try to gouge him. This is called having nothing to fear.

However, what he didn't know was that just as the old man left, a plainly dressed... no, a modestly dressed middle-aged man in the crowd was also preparing to step forward, but Chen Sheng had beaten him to it.

"Boss! Can you lower the price on this Qing Dynasty waist plaque?" Since the boss believed it was a Qing Dynasty general's waist plaque, Chen Sheng would buy it as a waist plaque.

"Young man! Great eye. This is a rare treasure. I can guarantee that whether you go to Roman Holiday, Jinxiu Factory, or even Du Fu Thatched Cottage, you won't necessarily find a second one."

The stall owner continued to praise his own treasure before finally mentioning the price. "How about this, young man, if you're serious about wanting it, you can take it for a flat price of 1,500 yuan."

When saying this, the stall owner was already prepared for haggling, but facing a young person like Chen Sheng, he was confident he could keep the final transaction price at 1,400 yuan.

At this moment, the modestly dressed middle-aged man kept his eyes fixed on Chen Sheng. He felt that under normal circumstances, there was a high probability that Chen Sheng wouldn't buy it.

After all, what young person would spend 1,500 yuan for no reason to take home an ugly piece of iron?

Not to mention it wasn't even the size of a palm.

Wouldn't it be better to spend that money on a life-sized anime figure?

The main reason he was staring at Chen Sheng was to wait for Chen Sheng to leave... no, to wait for him to put the item down so he could immediately step up and grab it; he didn't want to be beaten to the punch a second time.

However, he saw Chen Sheng pause for a moment before saying, "Deal! Where do I scan?"

The stall owner: "WTF! That was fast."

The middle-aged man: "WTF! This guy is crazy."

May I ask, if a young person doesn't play with anime figures or models, but switches to playing with antiques, is he normal?

The stall owner, who was the first to react, hurriedly flipped over a piece of cardboard beside him, which had a green bubble and Alipay QR code stuck to it, and said with a smile, "Young man, you can scan whichever you like."

Chen Sheng pointed his phone at the green bubble, and soon the boss's phone sounded with a notification: "Ding~ XX Bank, 1,500 yuan received."

"Received." The smile on the stall owner's face instantly became even brighter, and he hurriedly said, "Young man, I can see you're a straightforward person. Let me show you something good."

The stall owner rummaged through a half-old, half-new wooden box beside him and pulled out a horse, placed it on the stall, and said, "Young man, a textbook Tang Sancai piece, fresh from the source. What do you think?"

Looking at the dazzling ceramic horse on the stall, Chen Sheng really wanted to ask the boss, "Are you trying to scam me because you think I'm stupid!"

Setting aside whether it's a real Tang Sancai or not, let me ask, if a Tang Sancai piece had been passed down to this day, could the glaze on it still be so damn bright and shiny? This isn't even a question of whether it was made last week; this thing must have just come out of the kiln, damn it.

However, Chen Sheng still asked out of curiosity, "Boss, how much do you want for this Tang Sancai piece?"

The stall owner held up an eight with his hand, "Just 88,000, and this textbook treasure is yours."

Chen Sheng rolled an eye, "No, boss, you're asking for too little."

"Oh! Then how much do you think I should ask for, little brother?" the stall owner asked with great interest.

"I think you should ask for 888,000 to be worthy of this textbook Tang Sancai piece." Chen Sheng said the latter part through gritted teeth.

"Good!" The stall owner slapped his thigh hard and said excitedly, "Little brother, you have a sharp eye. I've decided to make you my friend today. The original price for this textbook Tang Sancai was 888,000, but I'll give it to you for just 88,000. How about that? Am I a good friend or what?"

Chen Sheng: "..."

The tree of confusion bears the fruit of confusion, and under the tree of confusion, it's you and me.

Was that what he meant to convey just now?

"Heh~" It once again confirmed the saying that people really do laugh when they are speechless. "As the saying goes, a gentleman knows what to do and what not to do. I cannot accept this discount, so boss, you'd better save this textbook Tang Sancai horse for someone destined to have it." Having said that, Chen Sheng turned and left.

Seeing Chen Sheng walk away, the stall owner hurriedly called out, "Young man, don't be in such a rush to leave. If you think 88,000 is too high, how about 80,000?"

It was rare to come across such a sucker, and he didn't want to miss out.

"Don't go! If 80,000 won't work, how about 70,000? 70,000 should be fine, right!"

"Hey, hey, hey~ at least make a counteroffer!"

Watching Chen Sheng walk further and further away, and once his back disappeared from sight, the stall owner slapped his own mouth in frustration. "Why did you blurt that out so fast? Why ask for 88,000? You should have just asked for 8,800!"

On the other side, Chen Sheng had just walked a mile when a slightly breathless shout rang out from behind. "Little brother in front, hold on~"

These words didn't make Chen Sheng stop.

He didn't know anyone here, so he figured they were calling someone else.

Until~

"Handsome Guy in front, please wait a moment."

Once these words were spoken, not only did Chen Sheng stop, but many boys around also looked over in the direction of the voice.

Seeing the person calling out wave at Chen Sheng, the other boys who had turned around couldn't help but snort, "Pfft~ no taste!"

Chen Sheng pointed at himself and asked unsurely, "Are you calling me?"

He looked the person up and down a few times. As he looked, the person seemed more and more familiar, and he quickly recalled that this was one of the people who had been watching from the sidelines at the stall earlier.

Thinking of this, Chen Sheng subconsciously protected the pocket containing the zhong kui marrying off his sister huabiao with his left hand and stared at the person with caution. "It seems we don't know each other, right?"

The middle-aged man walked quickly to Chen Sheng's side and, after catching his breath, said, "Hello! Little brother, my name is Yao Xiu, I'm a teacher. I saw you purchase a Qing Dynasty general's waist plaque at the stall outside Babaozhai earlier, and I'm very interested. I wonder if you could let me take a look at it?"

Chen Sheng subconsciously took a step back. "That's not very convenient."

They were neither related nor friends; he wasn't stupid enough to hand over a huabiao worth tens of thousands in a public place to a stranger. Who knew if the other person possessed any special skills?