Old Chang and Zhao Xueyi were both famous brokers in the capital's Antiques world. In Old Chang's eyes, however, there were only two kinds of people: the rich and the poor. The rich were those from whom he could regularly earn substantial profits. Everyone else was poor.
Old Chang's strategy for dealing with the rich was to cast a long line to catch a big fish. As long as they kept buying things from him, he would offer them a certain discount on top of guaranteeing authenticity. Of course, the discount was never very large, but with his silver tongue, buyers felt that even a small discount made their purchases worthwhile.
As for the poor, Old Chang simply fleeced them whenever he could. Many buyers who had sought him out because of his reputation but lacked substantial resources had suffered small losses at his hands. Still, he did not dare go too far. Even when he sold counterfeits, he tailored them to the buyer, while with the rest, either the price was too high or the item had some flaw—enough to make it difficult for anyone to cause trouble.
That was why, although Chu Chen had heard of Old Chang, he had never bought anything from him. Even with Uncle Wu's connections, Old Chang would not have dared cheat him, but Chu Chen still did not want to deal with someone like that.
Old Chang's home was also a secluded courtyard, located near Panjiayuan. It was only a little over ten minutes away on foot.
As luck would have it, when Chu Chen and the others' car stopped outside Old Chang's home, Old Chang happened to be seeing a customer carrying something out.
Old Chang looked to be in his fifties or sixties and had a simple, honest-looking face. If