The World Is Unpredictable

"Hey, kid, don't stand there. That door won't be opening anytime soon."

Just as Chu Chen stood in front of the door, feeling somewhat frustrated, the owner of an antique shop next door suddenly waved at him.

The shopkeeper's words left Chu Chen puzzled. What did he mean, the door wouldn't be opening anytime soon? Could Old Zhou's shop have gone out of business? He hadn't heard anything about that before! So he walked into the antique shop next door, intending to get a clear answer.

"May I ask how I should address you, sir? And could you explain what you meant by what you just said?"

"Hehe, my surname is Feng. You can call me Old Feng. You're that young man who often comes here to get goods from Old Zhou, aren't you? Haven't you heard? Old Zhou jumped off a building and died the day before yesterday." After saying this, Boss Feng shook his head and let out a sigh.

"Old Zhou died? What do you mean? A few days ago, one of my elders even told me that Old Zhou was about to make a fortune. How could he just leave like that?" Chu Chen was first shocked, then felt extremely bewildered.

Old Feng shook his head and sighed. "Hah, who would've thought otherwise? The problem lies precisely in this 'making a fortune.'"

Hearing this, Chu Chen asked curiously, "What happened, Boss Feng? If it's convenient, could you tell me about it?"

"Hehe, sure. It's scorching hot, and there isn't much business anyway. I might as well tell you about it." As he spoke, Old Feng warmly poured Chu Chen a cup of tea.

"Old Zhou must've been possessed by greed this time. He stepped on a 'landmine' and lost a full six hundred thousand yuan. You know, Old Zhou also had a wastrel of a son. That six hundred thousand was practically everything he owned. He couldn't get over it for a while, so he jumped from the building. It was absolutely horrific!" Old Feng let out a regretful sigh.

Old Zhou's real name was Zhou Xicai. There wasn't much wrong with him in other respects, but he was greedy and liked taking advantage of others. He also had a particularly serious flaw: he liked taking advantage of people he knew.

This was the most despised behavior in any trade, especially in the antique business, where reputation and credibility were everything. With things continuing that way, it was easy to imagine how business at his shop had turned out.

Old Zhou's shop had originally been located around Liulichang, where business had been fairly good. But because of this flaw of his, he eventually couldn't keep the shop running there and moved it to Baoguo Temple. After coming here, he had finally learned a few lessons and restrained himself somewhat, so business was merely mediocre.

Uncle Wu and Old Zhou had known each other for many years. They had grown up together, so Old Zhou had never taken advantage of Uncle Wu. Besides, the calligraphy and paintings in his shop were indeed fairly good. That was why Uncle Wu had sent Chu Chen there to get goods. Otherwise, given Chu Chen's personality, once he learned that Old Zhou liked taking advantage of acquaintances, he definitely wouldn't have come to buy from him.

As for how Old Zhou had stepped on the landmine, the story was quite simple. On Tuesday evening that week, Old Zhou had something to attend to, so he closed up a little later than usual. At that moment, a woman led a young boy over to him.

Both of them were dressed like country folk. The woman didn't look very old, but her face was covered in wrinkles, and she looked extremely troubled. The little boy appeared to be around five or six years old. His eyes were tightly shut the entire time, so there was probably something wrong with them.

The woman took a piece of jade from a cloth bag beside her and timidly said to Old Zhou, "B-Boss, I... I have something here. Would you like it?"

"Go... Hm?"

Old Zhou had been running a shop for more than a decade and was an old hand himself. Seeing this situation, he suspected that he might have encountered a "landmine." But when he glanced up and saw the item in the woman's hand, his heart suddenly began pounding. His years of experience with antiques had given him some knowledge of fields besides calligraphy and paintings.

At first glance, the object looked like a jade beast jue from the Hongshan culture—in other words, what people commonly called a Jade pig dragon. The more he looked at it, the more convincing it seemed. Old Zhou's heart began to race. If this Jade pig dragon was genuine, then it would be extraordinary. It was worth at least a million yuan.

The woman's behavior afterward made her look like an honest countrywoman. When she saw Old Zhou wave his hand, she put the Jade pig dragon back into her bag and silently prepared to leave.

"Wait, ma'am."

Since Old Zhou had become suspicious of the Jade pig dragon, he certainly wasn't going to let it go easily. He stopped her. In fact, at this point, Old Zhou had already been ensnared by his greed.

"Ma'am, did you say you wanted to sell that piece of stone?" Old Zhou was rather crafty. He deliberately didn't say that it was jade.

"This isn't a stone. It's jade." The woman raised her voice when she answered, but it was still filled with timidity.

Old Zhou had thick skin. Smiling, he said, "I only took a quick look just now and didn't see it clearly. If you want to sell it, sorry for the trouble, but let me examine it."

Seeing the woman's confused expression, he explained, "I mean, let me take a look at it."

"Oh, you want to take a look? That's fine. But Boss, don't call it a stone again."

With that, she took the Jade pig dragon out of the bag again and handed it directly to Old Zhou.

From the woman's behavior, Old Zhou knew that she wasn't someone from the trade. As mentioned earlier, if she had been in the business, she would definitely have set the item aside before letting him pick it up. However, if he had known about Chu Chen's experience, he wouldn't have thought that way.

Old Zhou took the Jade pig dragon and examined it carefully: its patina, workmanship, degree of corrosion, color of the surface deposits, and so on. The more he looked, the more genuine it seemed. He thought, This Jade pig dragon looks like an authentic period piece. Judging by its condition, it could sell for at least a million or so. If it went through an auction house, it could easily reach two million.

At that thought, his heart burned with excitement. He hurriedly asked the woman, "Ma'am, how much do you want for this? I'll take it."

The woman furrowed her brows and thought for a moment before speaking humbly. "Boss, I don't really know what something like this is worth. How about you give me eight thousand?"

"Eight thousand!"

When he heard the price, Old Zhou was genuinely stunned. Even Heaven wants me to get rich! If this isn't finding a bargain, then what is? By then, he was already fantasizing about his wealthy future.

But the woman thought her asking price was too high, so she began sobbing. "Boss, I truly have no other choice. Look at my child. His eyes were damaged after he fell ill when he was little. His father went out to work to pay for his treatment, but he was in a traffic accident. I'm the only one supporting the whole family now, and we don't even have money for my child's treatment."

"A while ago, a scholar from our village told me that if we had anything old at home, we might be able to sell it for a good price in the capital. That's when I remembered that my family had a piece of ancestral jade. The elders said it was quite valuable, but I don't know whether it's really worth eight thousand. Still, for my child's sake, please be kind and buy it."

The little boy also pleaded, "Uncle, please be kind. Take pity on me. When I grow up, I'll definitely repay you."

Seeing them like this, Old Zhou became even more certain that the Jade pig dragon in his hand was genuine. Just as he was about to agree, a voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Ma'am, I'll buy this Jade pig dragon for thirty thousand." Old Zhou was furious when he heard this. He glared at the speaker and saw a middle-aged man dressed in extremely refined clothes. He had somehow come to stand beside them without anyone noticing.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Are you trying to cut in?" The antique trade had a rule: if someone was examining an item or conducting a transaction, others had to wait nearby until that person was no longer interested before taking over.

Quoting a price out of turn and ignoring this rule meant disrupting the proper order. This kind of behavior—raising the buyer's price and snatching the item away before the transaction was complete—was called cutting in.

Old Zhou naturally couldn't tolerate the man breaking the rules. More importantly, this involved his chance to make a fortune, so he immediately flew into a rage.

The middle-aged man didn't seem to care. He smiled faintly. "Boss, you haven't bought it yet, have you? I happen to like this piece as well, so why not let me have it? Besides, for a Jade pig dragon like this, don't you think trying to buy it for eight thousand is a little insulting?"

"Fine, you're ruthless. I'll offer fifty thousand!" Old Zhou gritted his teeth and raised the price again.

Once he made that offer, everyone knew what happened next. The price went from one hundred thousand to one hundred fifty thousand, then three hundred thousand, and finally rose to the five hundred fifty thousand offered by the middle-aged man.

By then, Old Zhou had completely lost his mind. After calculating his assets, he steeled himself and shouted, "I'll offer six hundred thousand! Ha, if you can go higher than six hundred thousand, then I won't buy it."

The middle-aged man let out a long sigh, turned around gloomily, and walked away. The woman also appropriately put on a look of shock. Seeing this, Old Zhou proudly said to her:

"Come on, let's go sign the agreement."

And that led to the tragedy mentioned earlier.

Old Zhou's lesson also told people that if they wanted to enter the antique trade, there were several points they had to remember: "Study more, look more, buy less." The most important point among them was to "guard against greed." Old Zhou had violated every one of these principles.

First, let's talk about studying more. Old Zhou specialized in calligraphy and paintings. Although he knew a little about Hongshan jade, he was nowhere near an expert. He clearly knew that counterfeit Hongshan jade was rampant, yet he didn't seek anyone else's opinion and immediately judged the Jade pig dragon's authenticity. That was simply too arrogant.

Moreover, if he had examined it more carefully, it wouldn't have been hard to spot the flaws in the Jade pig dragon. First, its corrosion had been created entirely through chemical means. The pits and spots were extremely uniform. Natural corrosion, however, would vary in intensity and would affect some areas more heavily than others.

Then there were the perforations and polishing. The Hongshan culture was a primitive culture from five or six thousand years ago. At that time, holes were drilled using animal bones, so the centers were often misaligned, creating what were known as stepped marks. The holes also had a honeycomb shape, wider on the outside and narrower inside.