Chapter 63: Golden Threads and Jade Fibers

  After walking around in this store for a while, I gave Liangzi a wink, and the two of us slowly prepared to leave.

  The shopkeeper saw us leaving and followed over, saying: "You two, didn't you find anything to your liking in our store?"

  I shook my head at him and didn't want to bother with it anymore. Since this is a ceramics store, we can just switch to another one anyway.

  Unexpectedly, just as we were about to reach the door, that fellow said with disdain from behind us: "Can't you two understand it, or can't afford it?"

  He said this with a very unpleasant tone, I was still okay saying it, but Liangzi couldn't help himself, turned around and said: "It's not that we can't understand, nor is it that we can't afford it, it's just that your family's things are too ordinary, I, the young master, didn't take a liking to them."

  "Wow, with this tone, you must be a master who has seen real treasures!"

  "Of course, you know what we're doing? It's scary to say it out loud, we are..." Liang Zijian was about to continue when I quickly patted him and told him to shut up.

  Liang Zi came back to himself and also realized that he had almost let the cat out of the bag just now. He spat at those people and we two didn't stay any longer, continuing to walk outside.

  Just as one foot was about to step out, a man in his fifties with a smile all over his face blocked our way.

  I thought he was also here to buy something, so I pulled Liangzi aside and prepared to let him pass. Unexpectedly, this middle-aged man not only didn't enter the house but instead looked me up and down on the spot.

  This man looked me up and down from head to toe, then nodded and said: "Young fellow, where are you from?"

  I was stared at by him in a bewildering manner, and I replied: "Excuse me, sir, is there something I can help you with? Do we know each other?"

  "Ah, haha...” The middle-aged man suddenly burst out laughing and immediately said: "You two don't misunderstand, I'm the manager of this store. I heard your conversation with my assistant just now. My assistant is young and doesn't understand things, he offended you two brothers, so I'll apologize first."

  As the saying goes, "Don't hit a smiling face." Seeing this gentleman's refined and sincere demeanor, I quickly put on a smile and said, "Sir, you're too kind. We're just tourists from out of town, passing by and thought we'd drop in for a look."

  "Isn't it that you two really look down on the items in our store?"

  "To be honest with you, sir, it's not that I look down on it, but I really don't understand it."

  "Great, great!" After saying a few words, the middle-aged man seemed very pleased and said again: "Young people, honesty is the foundation of being human, not bad, not bad."

  I just wanted to say something about you overpraising me, but then I felt Liangzi giving me a signal with his eyes, meaning "let's go, don't waste any more words here!"

  Actually from the moment I saw this middle-aged man, I felt that he was very kind and affable, so I said a few more words. Now thinking back, I thought: We are here to sell things, let's hurry up and leave!

  Thinking of this, I made a fist at the man and said: "Sir, you're busy, we won't disturb you." After finishing speaking, Liangzi and I went around him and walked out the door directly.

  Just two steps away, I heard the man shouting from behind: "Two gentlemen, please stop..."

  I stopped and turned around to look, thinking: Why do people here all have the same problem, always liking to talk behind others' backs. Just then I saw that middle-aged man hurrying over.

  "You two gentlemen are too impatient, listen to me: there are five shops in this area that my boss owns. Since you don't like porcelain, and we have a connection, why not let me take you around?"

  I thought that was great! It seems like this is a good place, and since the two of us didn't know where to go, we thanked the gentleman and he took us to another store.

  This middle-aged man introduced us all the way: his boss has antique business all over the country, and can be considered a big antique dealer. The several rooms here are just a branch store, and the middle-aged man's job is to go to various stores across the country to inspect goods, as an assistant to the boss.

  After listening, I felt that this time it was the right person, such a big business, it shouldn't be cheating us, and money is not a problem either.

  We followed the middle-aged man in and out of three antique shops, seeing all sorts of antiques. Because I and Liang Zi were absolute outsiders and weren't there to buy anything, we seemed very distracted.

  I walked to the front of an antique shop, I looked up and saw that the facade was decorated very grandly, it's probably one of the best in this area. What surprised me most was that the name of the store was called 'Wan Bao Ge'.

  I thought to myself: "No way, what a coincidence. When we auctioned off that painting before, the location was also called 'Wanbao Mountain Villa'. Could it be the same boss?"

  As I followed the middle-aged man in, I found that there weren't many things in this store, but they were neatly placed on the counter and shelves. Although I didn't understand the goods, each one looked valuable.

  The middle-aged man turned around and said to us: "This is the largest store in our family here, I dare to guarantee with you two that all things are genuine, if you still look down on it, then this old man can't do anything about it."

  I felt a bit awkward after listening to him, he had been taking us around for so long with great effort, but the two of us weren't actually there to buy anything. If we didn't speak up now, it would be somewhat unkind.

  Thinking of this, I smiled and said: "To be honest with you, sir, we didn't come here just to buy things. Do you accept antiques here?"

  "Huh?" The man was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Could it be that the two of you have something to sell?"

  "Not bad, there is an item, and I'd like to ask you to take a look at it, sir."

  "Alright then, you two follow me." The middle-aged man led us to the back hall and into a room that looked like a study.

  Right behind him, a waiter walked in with a tea tray. The middle-aged man waved his hand to let the waiter out and said while pouring us tea: "You two young men, what can be taken out now?"

  I think it's time, so I got up and lifted my own clothes.

  The middle-aged man was confused by my actions and stood stupidly on the spot.

  I immediately reacted and stretched out my hand pointing at my waist saying: "What I want to sell is this thing wrapped around my waist."

  The middle-aged man looked at my waist and immediately widened his eyes, as if he had seen something terrifying. The teapot suspended in mid-air also stopped there, and all the water poured onto the tea table.

  "Sir, sir, tea! Tea!" I called out hastily.

  He immediately came to and didn't even bother with the water on the tea tray, but instead put down the teapot and came over to me, bending his waist to observe carefully.

  I just feel really uncomfortable now, a big man, lifting his shirt and standing here, another man staring at his waist to take a look, this scene is simply too evil.

  I saw that middle-aged man completely disregarding the current atmosphere, only circling around to stare at my waist, so I said to him: "Hey, sir, why don't I take it off and let you have a closer look? It's too inconvenient this way."

  The man listened to me finish, then immediately got up and slapped his own forehead, saying: "Oh dear, oh dear, I'm really rude. I was in a hurry and forgot that you were still standing here."

  I saw him speaking without leaving my side, and quickly stretched out his hand to untie the jade stone waistband.

  He saw me acting somewhat hastily and nervously said: "Slow down, slow down, don't rush."

  In the brief moment when I was unfastening my belt, a middle-aged man quickly pulled out a piece of suede from a drawer and after pushing aside the things on the tea table, simply wiped it with water and then spread the suede on top.

  I took a look and indeed they were quite generous, putting everything on the fur, seeing the material of the fur was probably top-notch, I sighed quietly twice, then put the jade stone waistband I had taken off onto the fur.

  It wasn't until my hands had completely left the tea table that the middle-aged man hastily sat down, his hands slightly trembling as he carefully examined the waistband.

  I saw him so tense and I felt a bit relieved. It seems that this thing should be worth some money, at least it's not fake.

  I exchanged a glance with Liangzi, who also looked excited, and he winked at me before reaching out to touch the fur toy.

  He turned his head to look at the man again, and saw that his face was changing expressions constantly, one moment this expression, another moment that expression, taking a deep breath, then sniffing with his nose, it was just like he had mental illness.

  The middle-aged man looked at it for a long time, then gently put down his waistband, calmed himself down, and smiled at me: "May I ask, young brother, where did this thing come from?"

  As soon as I heard this, it was time to haggle over the price. Earlier he had called me "young brother", but now he's calling me "little brother". So, with a straight face, I replied: "If I said this was passed down from my ancestors, would you believe me?"

  "Ah, hahaha... It's all my fault, this is an occupational disease!"

  The young man smiled self-deprecatingly for a moment, then said: "Does that younger brother know what this thing is?"

  I thought to myself: This guy is really infuriating, what's with all these one-sentence questions? I'm telling you, this is a substitute for 'Wan Chong Shou' wanting to revive the dead, can you believe it?

  However, I thought to myself that the truth was something that could not be said no matter what, so I put on a very devout expression and said: "This thing is something we came across by chance, and it's really not easy to get, as for what it is, please enlighten me, sir."

  The middle-aged man listened to me and nodded with a smile: "Don't worry, you two brothers. No matter where this thing came from, it's safe here."

  "Excuse me, sir, do you know what this thing is?"

  A middle-aged man saw me and asked back, wiping his face a few times: "It's really embarrassing, I've been in the antique business for some years, but this object can't be identified as to its age or material. However, there is a rule in our antique circle that if an object has no name, we can give it one."

  I also became interested and continued to ask: "What name does Mr. think is good?"

  "This object is made of some ageless jade pieces linked together with golden threads. As I am not talented, why don't we just call it 'Golden Threads and Jade Strands'? In my wild imagination, only the legendary 'Jade Dress with Golden Threads' can be compared to it."

  I'm rich! I've heard of that Golden Silk Robe before, it's a priceless national treasure!

  "Then, sir, how much do you think this thing is worth?"

  "This..." The middle-aged man listened to me talking about money, and after considering for a while, he said: "Excuse my straightforwardness, this item is too valuable, it's priceless, I'm not in charge of the price, we need to ask our boss to discuss."

  As soon as I heard him mention his boss, I thought of something and asked: "May I ask, is your boss surnamed Wan?"