Early the next morning, Fang Jinbo set off for Bingzhou with a pair of dark circles under his eyes and his five thousand yuan in savings, traveling there by car with Tian Sheng. The two places were not far apart, and a little over two hours later, they got out in front of Bingzhou's largest antique market.
They had left in such a hurry that morning they had not even eaten breakfast. By the time they got out of the car, both of them were famished. Fortunately, they spotted a small restaurant near the antique market entrance, so they went in, ordered a couple of snacks, and ate a bowl of authentic hand-pulled noodles with gravy to fill their stomachs before preparing to enter the market and hunt for bargains.
The thought of entering the market immediately excited Fang Jinbo. He felt that once he stepped inside, a huge pile of bargains would surely be waiting for him to pick up. The very thought made him ecstatic!
However, as the old saying went, ideals were plump, while reality was bony. After browsing several stalls, the two of them still had nothing in their hands. Forget finding bargains—they had nearly been conned into buying fakes by the stall owners.
Tian Sheng was so annoyed that he stopped browsing the small stalls altogether and led Fang Jinbo straight into a small antique shop.
Inside the antique shop stood a Han Dynasty green-glazed hunting zun more than fifty centimeters tall. Its glaze was beautiful, and its decoration was exceptionally exquisite as well. Tian Sheng fell in love with it at first sight. When he asked the price, the shopkeeper said eight thousand yuan.
Tian Sheng examined it for a long while and said, "This is a nice piece!"
Fang Jinbo also felt that