4: Chapter 4 Bronze Incense Burner

He concentrated his mind, pushing the scanning range of his Treasure Hunting Radar as far as he could, attempting to penetrate the mottled wall.

Sure enough, through the wall, he vaguely "saw" the items in the neighboring room and the hallway.

However, what met his eyes was still a dead, grey halo, occasionally interspersed with a few dim light spots representing "trash."

It seemed that this old residential building was inhabited by poor people struggling on the poverty line just like him; there were no treasures to speak of.

Hu Tian sighed and, feeling somewhat dispirited, turned off the Treasure Hunting Radar function.

Since there was no hope in the room or the building, he could only go out and try his luck.

Hu Tian put on his washed-out shirt, straightened his collar, and pushed the door open to go downstairs.

The night breeze was cool. He walked south aimlessly, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the entrance of the familiar Antique Street.

Shops lined both sides of the street with neon lights flickering, specializing in all kinds of antiques, calligraphy, paintings, jade, and porcelain.

Usually, when Hu Tian passed by here, he would always walk with his head down, not even daring to glance out of the corner of his eye.

Because the things inside easily cost thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions, which was simply not something a poor loser like him could afford; he felt that even taking a look was a waste of life.

But today was different.

The strange warmth seemed to still linger on his palm, and the cold mechanical voice in his mind was still echoing.

With the heaven-defying cheat code of the "Treasure Hunting Radar," he wanted to see if there were any real treasures buried in this Antique Street filled with fakes.

Hu Tian took a deep breath. Like a soldier about to head into battle, he stepped into the Antique Street with a mix of nervousness and excitement.

As soon as he stepped into the street entrance, the Treasure Hunting Radar in his mind automatically activated as if a switch had been flipped.

All items within a 10-meter radius instantly appeared in his field of vision with colorful halos.

However, reality quickly splashed cold water on Hu Tian.

To Hu Tian's disappointment, what he saw was still large swathes of grey halos, so glaring that it made one feel uneasy.

[Porcelain Bowl: Trash, modern imitation, clumsy aging technique, worthless]

[Jade Pendant: Trash, plastic product, surface coating cracked, cheap street stall goods]

[Calligraphy and Painting: Trash, printed material, impersonating a master's handwriting, fraudulent product]

As Hu Tian walked, he silently scanned with his mind, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter, his expectations slowly fading away.

The waters of this Antique Street were truly deep!

Of the items displayed, nine out of ten were fake, and most were crude fakes made by soaking in chemical solutions or using sandblasting techniques to age them; they didn't even look like proper imitations.

The remaining one was at best a modern craft, yet it was marked with an exorbitant price, openly fooling laypeople.

However, he could occasionally scan a few pale white "Ordinary" halos.

A purple clay teapot displayed at the entrance of a shop showed as "Ordinary Quality," with a system-estimated value of around 3,000 yuan, but the shopkeeper had marked it at 28,000, nearly ten times the price.

A bronze incense burner in another shop was also "Ordinary Quality," with an actual value of 2,500 yuan, but it was priced as high as 50,000; it was simply extortionate.

Hu Tian clicked his tongue in secret, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Real goods marked with fake prices, fake goods sold as real; this wasn't an Antique Street at all, it was a slaughterhouse!

If you weren't careful, you'd be scammed out of everything, not even leaving behind the bone marrow.

He continued walking forward, the Treasure Hunting Radar continuously scanning the surrounding items, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Just then, on a small stall ahead, a different ray of light suddenly flashed!

It was a faint blue halo!

It was much brighter than the ordinary white halos; amidst the dead grey and pale white, it stood out, extraordinarily eye-catching, like a pearl in the night.

Hu Tian's heart skipped a beat, and his breathing instantly quickened.

Blue?

That was "Fine Quality"!

He suppressed the wild joy in his heart, tried to make his pace look as natural as possible, and quickened his steps toward that stall.

Hu Tian's heartbeat accelerated involuntarily, and his palms were slightly sweaty.

He approached the stall step by step; with every step, the radar halo in his mind became clearer.

By the time he was a meter or two away from the stall, he could clearly lock onto the item emitting the blue halo in his mind.

It was a palm-sized incense burner.

The incense burner was grey all over, its surface covered with rust and traces of dirt, looking completely unremarkable, even somewhat ugly.

The incense burner was casually placed by the stall owner in the most inconspicuous corner of the stall, surrounded by seven or eight equally unremarkable trinkets, as if it were abandoned trash.

[Item: Bronze Incense Burner] [Quality: Fine Quality] [Era: Late Qing Dynasty Guangxu Period Imitation Bronze] [Description: Due to being buried underground for a long time, a natural patina has formed on the surface; the decoration is a coiled dragon pattern, the casting craftsmanship is exquisite, and it is well-preserved; although there are minor flaws, it does not affect the overall value]

[Market Estimated Value: 50,000 - 150,000 Yuan] Fifty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand!

Hu Tian suppressed his excitement, his heart pounding violently in his chest, as if it were about to break through his ribs.

He tried hard to control his facial expression, not letting himself show even a hint of anything unusual.

He pretended to be strolling casually, walking slowly to the stall. His gaze swept over the items on the stall, but he deliberately avoided that bronze incense burner, as if he had no interest in it at all.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his fifties, wearing a greasy old jacket, his hair a mess.

He was currently holding a cigarette that had almost burned down to the filter, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, chatting away about household trivialities with the boss of the adjacent stall.

Seeing Hu Tian approach, the middle-aged stall owner just glanced at him lazily, his eyes carrying a bit of scrutiny and disdain, and said casually: "Young man, see anything you like? Feel free to look and touch. Everything I have here is an old item, guaranteed authentic!"

Hu Tian sneered inwardly.

Guaranteed authentic?

The radar scan in his mind showed that apart from that bronze incense burner, everything else on this stall was labeled as "trash" level modern imitations.

And this middle-aged stall owner claimed "guaranteed authentic" right off the bat; his skin was thick enough to be bulletproof.

He deliberately picked up a jade bracelet displayed as "trash," pretended to play with it in his hand, and asked the middle-aged man casually: "Boss, how do you sell this bracelet? How much?"

"It's a ming dynasty Hetian jade bracelet. You can see the quality yourself; it's as smooth and warm as water. Three thousand eight hundred, no bargaining."

The middle-aged man flicked the cigarette ash, revealing an attitude of 'take it or leave it,' his tone extremely perfunctory, as if he were certain Hu Tian couldn't afford it.

Hu Tian almost laughed out loud.

A plastic bracelet and he dared to ask for 3,800?

Did he really take him for a sucker, or did he think his brain was waterlogged?

He put down the bracelet in his hand as if nothing had happened and continued to browse the stall. However, his fingers moved intentionally or unintentionally toward the bronze incense burner in the corner, but he didn't dare to get too close.

Hu Tian picked up a porcelain vase full of cracks, shook it, and asked: "Boss, what about this one?"

The middle-aged man glanced at it sideways and said lazily: "Qing Dynasty blue and white, two thousand."

"What about this?"

Hu Tian pointed to a string of tacky-colored beads.

"Agate bracelet, twelve hundred."

Hu Tian picked up one item after another from the stall and asked about them. He asked a dozen times but had no intention of paying at all.

The middle-aged man's voice became noticeably impatient, his brows furrowed tightly, and the look of disgust in his eyes grew increasingly intense.

Hu Tian picked up a roughly made jade pendant again. Before he could even ask, the middle-aged man interrupted him impatiently: "Hey! Are you going to buy or not? Just looking without buying is wasting my time! That one is five hundred; if you want it, take it, don't dilly-dally!"

Hu Tian was secretly happy, knowing the opportunity had arrived.

Therefore, he put on an expression of hesitation and financial embarrassment, stammering: "Boss, these things of yours all look quite old, but I don't know if they are real or fake... I'm not very knowledgeable, and I'm afraid of being scammed."

"If you know your stuff, buy it; if you don't, stop dilly-dallying here! You're delaying my business!"

The middle-aged man blew out a thick smoke ring, the smoke spraying onto Hu Tian's face. He clearly already regarded Hu Tian as that kind of poor loser who loved to put on airs but had no money in his pocket. "Anything on my stall is an old item, ancestral! If you believe me, buy it; if not, forget it, don't block the way!"

Hu Tian took the opportunity to reach for the bronze incense burner in the corner. The movement looked casual, but it was actually extremely precise.

He picked up the incense burner and weighed it gently in his hand, feeling its heavy historical weight.

He pretended to ask nonchalantly: "Boss, how do you sell this little burner? It looks quite old, just a bit dirty."

The middle-aged man glanced at the bronze burner in Hu Tian's hand, a clear look of disgust and contempt flashing in his eyes.

He remembered that this thing was just dug up from a scrap collection station this morning. At the time, he saw it was dilapidated and thought if he couldn't find a sucker, he'd just sell it as scrap copper for cigarette money. Anyway, he hadn't spent much on it—just twenty yuan.

Seeing Hu Tian ask for the price, the middle-aged man rolled his eyes, thinking that this kid had been asking for a long time, so he probably didn't have much spare cash; he was just a naive youth trying to pick up a bargain.

Earning a little is better than nothing; after all, he hadn't made a sale today, and even a mosquito's leg has meat.

"This one..."

The middle-aged man flicked the cigarette ash and said with feigned generosity: "Five hundred, take it, don't complain that it's expensive. This is the real price for scrap copper! If you bargain any further, I won't sell it; I'll just keep it at home as a decoration!"

Hu Tian was wild with joy. Five hundred yuan?

It was practically a giveaway!

But he put on an extremely troubled expression, his brows locked, teeth gritted, and after hesitating for two seconds, he nodded slowly, looking as if he had made a very difficult decision: "Boss, five hundred is too expensive... Can you do two hundred? I really can't pay more than two hundred; if I pay any more, I'll have to eat dirt."

The middle-aged man, with his cigarette in his mouth, looked Hu Tian up and down.

Seeing this kid looking heartbroken over the money, his eyes full of struggle and hesitation, he was instantly overjoyed.

This was just a naive youth who didn't know anything, a typical newbie, trying to act tough and learn to pick up bargains, only to get himself trapped.

This kind of person was the easiest to trick; give them a little sweetness and they'd take the bait, and with a little pressure, they'd pay up.

A sly smile curled at the corner of his mouth. He put on an extremely reluctant look, as if he had suffered a huge loss, and waved his hand: "Fine, fine, fine! Two hundred it is! I really give up on you, let's just consider it making a friend! But don't you regret it, kid. Although this burner is in poor condition and black as soot, it's still an old item. Once you leave this door, I won't handle returns or exchanges!"

Hu Tian nodded slightly, squeezing out a grateful smile: "Then thank you, boss. You're really a stand-up guy, a very straightforward person."

As he spoke, he took his phone out of his pocket and, with slightly trembling fingers, scanned the code to pay two hundred yuan.

"Beep. Payment successful."

Hearing the payment notification, the middle-aged man was in a great mood, the wrinkles on his face blooming with a smile.

He had only spent twenty yuan to buy this broken burner from a scrap station, and he had made ten times the profit on the resale; it was a massive gain!

He could add an extra dish tonight.

"Young man, why not take a look at others? I have more good stuff here."

Seeing Hu Tian pay, the middle-aged man started to greet him enthusiastically again, as if the previous impatience had never existed.

Hu Tian shook his head, quickly grabbed an old newspaper from the stall, and clumsily yet carefully wrapped the bronze burner in his hand layer by layer, fearing it might get a scratch.

He showed a simple and honest smile on his face to hide the wild joy in his heart: "No need, thank you, boss. This is enough, this is enough."

Holding the incense burner wrapped in layers of newspaper, Hu Tian turned and walked away quickly.

Not until he had walked more than ten meters away and confirmed that the stall owner was not following him did he let out a long sigh of relief, his tense nerves finally relaxing.

"Phew... I did it!"

He shouted silently in his heart, his heart still pounding uncontrollably.

Two hundred yuan!