Then, turning the bottle over, the inscription below indeed reads "The seventh year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty!"
The reason Zhou Xuan didn't use his ice-energy ability to probe first was that he wanted to see how Zhang Laoda and he himself would perform without their abilities.
These words do show some real skill; his years in the antique trade haven't been for nothing. If you called him Zhou Xuan, he certainly wouldn't be able to explain these differences.
After looking at it more closely, I was genuinely excited. I hadn't expected to find such great items before even going to the store. Having these items would definitely make the shop more impressive and prestigious!
He tried to calm himself down, then turned to look at the girl and asked, "Miss, what are the prices of these items?"
"Please don't call me 'Miss.' In our area, 'Miss' has a different meaning. My name is Li Qing. You can call me Xiao Li or just my name Li Qing, but please don't call me 'Sister.'"
The girl said with a grin, "You guys are really experts. I won't comment on the quality of the items, but that bronze pot is from the Sui Dynasty, a fixed price of 60,000. The early Ming blue and white plum vase is 650,000. The dragon-patterned vase is 1 million!"
To be honest, he didn't think the price was high at all; he knew the true value of blue and white porcelain very well. He had also carefully examined the authenticity of both pieces, and based on all the details, there was a more than 95% chance they were genuine.
With proper handling, the price of these two porcelain pieces could easily exceed 2.5 million. A single resale would yield a profit of over 100%!
He was excited by the thought, and Li Qing's price also tempted him; he was currently considering and hesitating.
Zhou Xuan caught a glimpse of a barely concealed smile when Li Qing saw ** deep in thought. Although it was fleeting, Zhou Xuan caught it!
I got carried away!
Zhou Xuan immediately thought of Boss Zhang's problem. Boss Zhang had acted rashly, and there was probably a trap involved!
Thinking about the trap, Zhou Xuan gradually calmed down. As he considered it, something suspicious began to surface. How could Li Qing, a young girl, casually pull two strangers on the street to discuss a deal worth hundreds of thousands? Even if she were soliciting customers, she wouldn't negotiate such a price, unless it was outrageous. Perhaps people might fall for a few thousand or tens of thousands, but hundreds of thousands or millions? It wasn't that simple!
How could Li Qing have known they could afford such a high price? Did he know their background?
Zhou Xuan immediately leaned close to **’s ear and asked in a very soft voice, “Boss, what’s the name of your friend from Yangzhou?”
He paused for a moment, then whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Fang Zhiguo."
Zhou Xuan nodded, then looked up and smiled at Li Qing, extending his icy aura.
Upon this investigation, Zhou Xuan realized that it was indeed a trap!
The bronze, the wood carving, and the two blue-and-white porcelain pieces were all counterfeit, especially the blue-and-white porcelain. The craftsmanship was indeed superb, and the vase itself was indeed made in the early Ming Dynasty, but it was a defective product, a piece of waste.
Generally, defective pieces from official kilns, or those that were flawed during the early glazing process, were usually broken and discarded. Complete defective pieces are as rare as genuine articles. But they are not absolutely impossible to find. The finest porcelain pieces, those that are made to look the most authentic and can almost fool a discerning eye, are almost always the latest products made using high-tech methods. Zhou Xuan has seen such pieces before.
If old porcelain fragments are glued together and then re-fired with old glaze, even if they are tested with high-tech instruments, the result will still be that they are genuine antiques!
Volume 1, Chapter 123: Counterfeits
It's not surprising that the two couldn't tell the difference. They couldn't distinguish the real from the fake. Over the years, many veterans have fallen victim to this!
If it weren't for his ice-energy ability, Zhou Wang would be far inferior to **, but once he could tell it was a quality item, no matter how he looked at it, he felt there were flaws everywhere.
Moreover, Zhou Xuan increasingly felt that Li Qing seemed to be specifically targeting them. Because being able to casually discuss business deals worth tens or hundreds of thousands with strangers was something only someone who knew their background could do.
But then I remembered that when I came here with **, he mentioned it to me, but I hadn’t told his friend about it. But then I thought, since his friend had worked in Beijing before, he must have some acquaintances and friends there. If he just asked someone to keep an eye on them for a little money, how could they not know where they were?
In the past, Zhou Xuan would have found such things strange and unexpected, but now he is no longer a complete novice. For money, many people can do many unexpected things, so if you think about it this way, Li Qing's matter is not surprising.
Zhou Xuan recalled the jade pendant Li Qing had taken in the old street earlier. It was genuine, though not particularly valuable, but it was the only real one. Furthermore, judging from the effort put into these other items, Li Qing's scheme was definitely not something an ordinary person had orchestrated; he must have been a master in the trade.
Of course, Zhou Xuan was only guessing and couldn't be sure whether Li Qing was in cahoots with Fang Zhiguo, that friend of Li Qing's, but in his imagination, it was highly likely that they were connected.
After pondering for a while, he stopped looking at it, put the dragon-patterned bottle back in the box, pulled Zhou Xuan back to his seat, and looked at Li Qing, pretending to be indifferent, and said: "The item looks alright at first glance, but we can't be sure. It's just that there's no guarantee for this transaction, and your price is too high."
Even Zhou Xuan could tell from her words that she didn't want the item, but simply wanted to lower the price. It would be strange if she didn't fall for such a trick!
Sure enough, Li Qing smiled slightly and said, "Judging from your skills and insight, I know you two are experts in this field. Since you are experts, you must know the true value. You understand perfectly well whether the price I mentioned is high or low, expensive or not. Hehe, what we're doing is trying to save a lot of tax money, and the origin of some items can't be made public, so the price is much lower than the market price. I don't need to explain this. You two are sensible people, so of course you understand." He stroked his chin, looked at Zhou Xuan again, and then vaguely said, "This... the total price, those three items, the bronze pot and the two pieces of blue and white porcelain, what's the minimum total price you want?"
Li Qing smiled and said, "The price has already been agreed upon. Business is negotiated; if there's a selling price, there will naturally be a bargaining opportunity. If you two are sincere, let's negotiate first, and then discuss further if it's suitable."
At this moment, Zhou Xuan realized that Li Qing, who initially appeared to be a simple college student with a clean and delicate appearance, was actually quite remarkable. He spoke with profound insight and without leaving any room for error.
"One million!" ** clenched his fist and said the price. Looking at Li Qing's expression, he himself felt the price was still a bit outrageous. Let alone three pieces, just those two blue and white porcelain pieces alone were worth over two and a half million each, totaling over five million. Even if they were bought at Li Qing's price, it would only be a little over one million six hundred thousand, meaning a profit of over three million upon resale. This money really came fast!
It's truly difficult for the poor to find money! But for the rich, money can be used to make more money, and that money isn't really money anymore; it's like paper—they can keep coming back no matter how hard they try!
Zhou Xuan understood that if these items were genuine, a price of one million was indeed a bit steep. However, since the items were fake, Li Qing was just pretending to whet people's appetites and try to make more money.
"This... a million is too harsh." Li Qing frowned, looking somewhat troubled, but a hint of joy was hidden deep in her eyes. This expression did not escape Zhou Xuan's notice.
"I'll compromise a bit more and give you a fair price, 1.55 million. What do you say?" Li Qing hesitated for a moment, then added, "Any lower and it won't work."
He immediately said, "One million five hundred and fifty thousand is a bit too much. I think we should go with one million five hundred thousand. Why don't you and I do the same?"
Li Qing gritted her teeth, tilted her head and made a charming gesture, then sighed and said, "Alright, let's call it getting to know you two and becoming friends. We can have more dealings with each other in the future."
We need to interact more!
Zhou Xuan was certain that once the transaction was complete, Li Qing would disappear without a trace. This car was probably just a fake license plate, and it would be difficult to see her again!
"Check, bank transfer, or cash?" he asked.
Li Qing smiled faintly, "Of course it's cash. For what we do, cash is still the safest option!"
If they needed cash, they could withdraw it from the bank using both of their bank cards. Most importantly, Zhou Xuan was a platinum user, receiving special treatment for large cash withdrawals. Besides, a few hundred thousand yuan was a huge sum for ordinary people, but for billionaires, it was just a normal small expense. "Then have the driver find a large bank to stop at, preferably China Merchants Bank, so we can withdraw the money," said Fan. He glanced out the window, but the curtains blocked the view. Even if he could see, he wouldn't know where they were; Yangzhou was completely unfamiliar to both of them.
Li Qing smiled and pulled back the curtain in front of him. He said to the driver, "Drive the car to the China Merchants Bank branch in the Qianmen area."
After saying that, Li Qing took out a travel bag from behind the seat cushion, pointed to the items and said, "We have hard-box packaging, but after you get the money and get on the bus and check the goods, you can pack them yourselves. It's a fair transaction, cash on delivery!"
"Okay, we're all straightforward people!" he said with a smile, feeling quite excited. This trip had really gone smoothly. What an unexpected turn of events! He hadn't even contacted Fang Zhiguo yet, but he had already encountered such a good thing. The matter had been resolved, and it was as satisfactory as he had imagined. He would treat Fang Zhiguo to a meal tomorrow and then head straight home.