166: Antique Street Shopping

However, he always felt something was missing, because their characteristics were too similar, and none of them particularly caught his eye.

So, he decided to wait a while longer, and when more people applied, he would screen them properly.

Having made up his mind, Chen Xiangbei shut down his computer, changed his clothes, and went out.

He went to the underground parking lot and drove his newly bought Maybach. As for the Great Wall Cannon, the 4S store staff had already driven it back, and the car key was in the security room, which he picked up on his way back yesterday.

Driving to the community gate, he saw that the Security Captain was on duty. After greeting him, he gave him 500 yuan to thank him for keeping the car key.

Holding the 500 yuan, the Security Captain was overjoyed. He had earned two days' wages first thing in the morning. This was faster than picking it up!

Thus, amidst the Security Captain's repeated words of thanks, Chen Xiangbei drove away from Galaxy International.

Today, he was going to the Antique Street in Linhai City to try out his newly acquired appraisal ability.

Because Linhai City is in the south, and due to historical reasons, there are not many treasures originating from Linhai City; some are merely circulated here from other places.

Therefore, Chen Xiangbei did not have high expectations for this trip; he was just trying to get familiar with his new skill.

Approaching noon, Chen Xiangbei arrived at what was called the Antique Street in Linhai City, which was actually just a newly developed street.

Some ancient-style buildings were built on both sides, and with a decent sign hung up, it became an Antique Street.

This is a common problem in all cities without historical depth; they like to imitate everything. Any building built with red bricks and green tiles can be claimed to be an ancient building with a hundred or even a thousand years of history.

Things that even laymen can see are fake at a glance are constantly being hyped, unaware that many people are laughing at them behind their backs.

Chen Xiangbei parked his car and stepped into this "historic" Antique Street.

The first thing he saw were various antique shops with grand names. At the entrance, there were either two iconic stone lions, or two large vases as tall as a person, or two large potted plants.

The names of the antique shops were all uniformly customized plaques, hung above the doors, as if having this plaque made it a very famous and old shop.

Chen Xiangbei walked into an antique shop called Baibaozhai, and the first thing that caught his eye was a treasured sword hanging high on the wall.

He slowly walked forward to the sword, but before he could take a closer look, he was interrupted by a Middle-aged man with a belly that could hold a boat.

"Mr., you have a great eye! You immediately spotted my shop's most prized possession - the Nine Dragon Sword. This is my ancestral sword!"

"Back in the day, my great-great-grandfather spared no expense, spending tens of millions of taels of silver, to hire the royal sword-maker to forge this Nine Dragon Sword. It took eighty-one days to create."

"If you like it, I'll reluctantly part with it and sell it to you cheaply. How about just 30 million?"

"I'll pay at most 3,000..."

"Deal!"

Before Chen Xiangbei could finish speaking, the Shop Owner grabbed his hand and said he agreed to sell it to him.

Chen Xiangbei's mouth twitched. He thought, 'I was careless! I wanted to tease this Shop Owner, but he didn't play by the rules!'

Helplessly, he had to buy it. Although the sword was fake, the sword body was made of real materials, worth over a thousand yuan.

As long as it was sharpened back home, it could also be used as a weapon and kept in his spatial storage for emergencies.

After paying, Chen Xiangbei left Baibaozhai with the "Nine Dragon Sword." He had just taken a rough look at the items inside.

Good heavens, they were all obviously fake. He didn't know which factory they were mass-produced in; some even had the labels still attached. This Shop Owner was also quite something.

Speaking of the Shop Owner, he was currently restocking. He took out an identical Nine Dragon Sword from a cabinet by the wall and hung it back in the same spot.

He thought to himself: I made a sale as soon as I opened. Maybe I can make a few more sales today. Something bought for 1,500 is sold for 3,000, doubling the profit.

Chen Xiangbei continued walking further into the Antique Street. He entered several shops during this time and discovered something very interesting.

These shops, named things like Baibaozhai and Gubaozhai, all had a treasured sword hanging on the wall inside, with very cool names like Heavenly Dragon Sword, Peerless Sword, and even Shang Fang Sword!

However, not all items were modern fakes; there were also some genuine pieces. But those few genuine items were extremely expensive, almost two to three times, or even more, their actual value.

Naturally, Chen Xiangbei wouldn't be taken for a fool. When he encountered such unscrupulous shop owners, he would just glance around and leave quickly.

He visited over a dozen shops in a row and found that the tactics of these Bosses were all the same: talking about family heirlooms, non-sale items sold cheaply, and shop's most prized possessions.

Have you ever seen a shop's most prized possession sold for 500 yuan? Chen Xiangbei did!

In an antique shop called Wanbaoge, he met a young man who was inexperienced in the world and was tricked by the Shop Owner into selling a Imperial Seal for 500 yuan!

The Shop Owner almost convinced that young man to ascend the throne on the spot!

Perhaps that young man had read too many novels and thought that getting the Imperial Seal meant he was the Son of Heaven, the Emperor, with all nations coming to pay tribute, and then he would shout: 'We are back!'

Chen Xiangbei didn't meddle; he just let the young man enjoy being the Son of Heaven for a bit. He, meanwhile, quietly observed a pile of ancient coins nearby.

He found that this pile of coins were all Qianlong Tongbao issued during the reign of Emperor Qianlong.

Due to the extremely large number of Qianlong Tongbao in existence, their price is not high, ranging from a few yuan to tens of yuan on the market. Even those well-preserved and in excellent condition can only sell for a little over a hundred.

The reason he was studying this pile of Qianlong Tongbao was that he noticed one coin in the pile had a subtle difference from the others.

While the young man and the Shop Owner were chatting enthusiastically about the dream of ascending the throne, he took a careful look. When they completed their transaction, he opened his mouth and asked.

"Shop Owner, how much for this pile of Qianlong Tongbao?"

The Shop Owner's face lit up when he heard another potential customer. He said with a smile, without blushing or his heart pounding, "These are coins personally minted by Emperor Qianlong. They are extremely rare on the market. Seeing how much you like them, I'll sell them to you for 2,000 yuan each!"

Chen Xiangbei didn't say anything, just looked at him with a smiling expression, as if saying: 'Keep blowing.'

Seeing this stance, the Shop Owner knew he had met someone knowledgeable, so he stopped trying to fool him and said directly.

"It seems you're also an insider, young Mr. I won't beat around the bush. I have 400 Qianlong Tongbao here, 10 yuan each. How about 3,500 yuan if you take them all?"

"10 yuan each is too expensive. The condition of these coins is not very good; they are not well preserved, and some are only half left."