A Small Windfall

"How about it? Are you interested in this seal? I'm telling you, this really was passed down through my ancestors. If I didn't want my granddaughter to have an easier time paying for college, I honestly wouldn't want to sell it. When my father passed it down to me, he specifically told me that it was quite valuable. Don't try to fool me!" the old man said firmly at the end.

"Yes!" Chu Chen replied decisively. "Sir, give me a fair price. That'll save you the trouble of going back and forth, especially in this hot weather."

"I don't know much about antiques, but this was passed down through my family. My father even passed the county-level civil examination back then, and he said this was a good piece. Sir, how about twelve thousand? What do you think?"

But after naming his price, the old man glanced at the seal again. Perhaps he felt that it really did not look very impressive. Seeing Chu Chen looking thoughtful, he hurriedly changed his offer. "How about ten thousand, then? I won't sell it for any less."

Chu Chen was secretly delighted when he heard the price. The seal had exquisite carving, good material, and was in perfect condition. Even on those merits alone, it could easily sell for seventy or eighty thousand yuan.

Besides, calling it a seal was not entirely accurate, because there was no inscription carved on the bottom. In other words, it was still a seal blank. That alone could add considerably to its value. If he found someone who needed one, he could sell it for a good price.

So Chu Chen deliberately pretended to think for a moment before nodding. "All right, ten thousand. We have a deal. But sir, do you have a box I can put it in?"

The old man said awkwardly, "I'm truly sorry about that. It used to be kept in a brocade box, but back then, it was buried underground along with the box. By the time it was dug up, the box had rotted away. Normally, I wrapped it in a piece of red cloth, but I thought that looked bad, so I just found a newspaper."

So that was how it was. Chu Chen now understood why the seal blank had looked somewhat gray and murky at first glance. It had been buried again after being treated with the antiquing method known as tiyou. No wonder the people at that shop had mistaken it for a modern imitation.

After that, Chu Chen drew up a simple written agreement. The two of them exchanged money and goods, and the deal was completed.

They had spent more than ten thousand yuan on dinner yesterday, so Chu Chen was short on cash today. He had gone to the bank that morning and withdrawn fifty thousand yuan, but before he had even picked up the goods, another ten thousand had gone. Money really doesn't last. Still, one had to spend the old money before new money could come in, and he would be more than happy if his money kept disappearing like this.

The place where he was picking up the goods was not far away. Chu Chen arrived after walking only a few steps.

It was a small antique shop with an inconspicuous location. It did not even have a name, so under normal circumstances, few people would notice it. However, this antique shop operated mainly as a wholesaler, and the owner was not particularly concerned about that.

The inside of the shop was not as small as the outside suggested. It was around forty square meters, and the air conditioner was running. As soon as he walked in, a wave of cool air hit him, instantly dispelling the heat of summer.

Speaking of air conditioning, Chu Chen still felt rather aggrieved. The place he was renting did not have an air conditioner. Winter was manageable because there was heating, but in summer, he could only sit in front of an electric fan as it blew noisily, leaving him dizzy and light-headed.

He had wanted to ask Aunt Zhang to install an air conditioner, but she had said, "What's there to fear about a little heat when you're young? Back when there were no air conditioners, didn't people get through it just the same?" Her words were not wrong, but now that air conditioners existed, why should he suffer through the heat?

Chu Chen had originally planned to install an air conditioner himself, but later decided against it. If he bought a new house, he would not take an old air conditioner apart and move it there. Wouldn't that just leave Aunt Zhang with the benefit? Fortunately, he had achieved some success in Internal Family Boxing. Summer's heat affected him less than it did most people, and he had managed to get through the past few years that way.

The shop's owner was Chen Dewang, who was sixty-five years old that year. Chu Chen always called him Old Chen. At that moment, Old Chen was half reclining in a lounge chair, drinking tea and reading a book, looking completely content.

"Good morning, Old Chen. I'm here to trouble you again today."

"Oh, it's Xiao Chen. Are you here to pick up some goods?" Chen Dewang asked.

Before Chu Chen could nod, Chen Dewang noticed the newspaper-wrapped object in his hand and asked curiously, "Huh? What good thing are you holding, Xiao Chen?"

Chu Chen smiled, gently placed the seal blank on the table, and said nothing else, simply letting him examine it himself.

After a while, having inspected it carefully, Chen Dewang placed the seal blank back on the table and exclaimed,

"Not bad. It's a Ming dynasty green-jade seal blank with an ancient dragon knob. An authentic period piece. Where did you get it?"

Chu Chen then told him the whole story. After listening, Chen Dewang happily said,

"Not bad, Xiao Chen. Your eye is pretty good. That shop you mentioned should belong to Old Zhang. But Old Zhang recently went out of town to buy goods, so his son is watching the shop now. That kid never applies himself. If Old Zhang finds out about this after he gets back, who knows how furious he'll be. By the way, what are you planning to do with this seal blank?"

Since he put it that way, Chu Chen said, "I was planning to find a suitable opportunity to sell it. Since you like it, Old Chen, I'll let you have it."

"All right. How about one hundred and twenty thousand?" After saying that, Chen Dewang saw Chu Chen hesitate and asked, "What? Do you think that's too little?"

Chu Chen hurriedly shook his head. "No, no. I just feel it's worth less than that."

Chen Dewang laughed. "All right, then. It's settled. Do you really think I'd let myself take a loss?"

After hearing that, Chu Chen scratched his head and gave a foolish grin. The two quickly signed a transfer agreement, after which Chen Dewang wrote him a check for one hundred and twenty thousand yuan and handed it over.

Chu Chen had previously asked someone how to identify whether a check was genuine. One glance was enough for him to know that this was a real check. After accepting it, he asked curiously, "Old Chen, since when did you start using checks?"

Chen Dewang said smugly, "We're citizens of modern Huaxia, so of course we have to keep up with the times. Unlike your Uncle Wu and Old Zhu, who are so stuck in the past. Your Uncle Wu is a little better—at least he studies computers. But Old Zhu has truly become an antique."

Naturally, Chu Chen could not comment on that. He could only nod and agree with a foolish smile.

Chen Dewang waved his hand. "All right, don't keep an old man company any longer. Go inside and pick out whatever goods you need yourself."

Most of the goods in Chen Dewang's shop were modern imitations, and they were somewhat more expensive than those elsewhere. The good thing was that they were all fairly well made. Some were especially exquisite, and that was precisely what attracted Chu Chen.

As mentioned earlier, Chu Chen was quite principled in business. Although he did not tell people whether something was an antique when he picked through roadside stalls, the goods he sold were all in decent condition. He never sold some ugly, damaged object, or something that was simply an imaginary imitation.

Chu Chen had always believed that if a customer bought something from him, then even if it had no cultural value, it should at least possess a certain degree of artistic value. That was a form of respect for his customers. It was also a simple belief of his—or perhaps the bottom line he followed as a person.

People often said that good people received no good returns, but that saying might not actually be accurate in business. As the saying went, harmony brought wealth. Although Chu Chen perhaps did not make as much on each individual item as others did, over time, he gained more and more regular customers. In the end, he earned even more than they did.

After browsing and sorting through the goods for a while, Chu Chen had already selected most of what he wanted. Influenced by Uncle Wu, he had previously focused mainly on porcelain, so most of what he picked up this time consisted of various exquisite modern porcelain imitations. The rest were jade pieces, bronzeware, and similar items.

As for calligraphy and paintings, Chu Chen did not buy them here. Instead, he purchased them from an acquaintance in Nancheng. After all, every profession had its specialty. Although Chen Dewang also carried calligraphy and paintings, either Chu Chen could not afford them, or they simply failed to catch his eye.

"Huh!"

Suddenly, Chu Chen was drawn to a piece of jade. It was a jade pendant carved from black-and-white jade.

Black-and-white jade was actually black jade with a white jade base. On the market, it was also called blue-and-white jade.

Blue-and-white jade referred to black specks, cloudy patches, or banded black patterns appearing in white jade or bluish-white jade. All of these could be called blue-and-white jade. When the black or gray and white were sharply contrasted, people called it black-and-white jade.

At first glance, the surface of this jade pendant looked gray and murky, not particularly bright, giving off a dull impression. But upon closer inspection, one could still see that it was extraordinary. Chu Chen took it into his hand without hesitation. The moment the pendant touched his palm, his supernatural ability began to stir restlessly. Without a doubt, this was an old piece of jade.

Chu Chen set aside the other questions for the moment, raised the jade pendant in his hand, and began examining it carefully.

This jade pendant was a round, openwork piece. Its border was decorated with scrolling-cloud patterns, while the openwork inside depicted two chi dragons playing with a pearl. The overall lines were smooth, and the carving was powerful. Clearly, the craftsman had possessed a certain level of skill.

Overall, it should have been a jade pendant carved during the mid- or late Qing dynasty. As for why Chu Chen could not determine the exact period, it was because he was not as proficient with jade as he was with porcelain. He then used his supernatural ability and confirmed that this was a mid-Qing openwork chi-dragon-patterned pendant.

As for why the jade pendant looked somewhat dull, it was probably because it had not been worn for a long time. After being worn for a while, it would look completely different. Still, Chu Chen was puzzled. Why had Old Chen placed this pendant among the imitations? With his eyesight, that should not have happened.

Unable to figure it out for the moment, Chu Chen set the question aside. There was a strange phenomenon that had caught his attention.

The feeling of being drawn to the jade pendant just now had left him somewhat confused. Moreover, this was not the first time he had experienced it today. He had felt the same thing when he discovered that seal blank earlier. At the time, he had not paid attention to it, thinking it was merely an accidental phenomenon. But now, it seemed certain that there was something going on—something he had yet to discover.