Chapter 39: Royal Gaiwan, Winning the Antique Grand Prize

"I didn’t say it was four hundred thousand either, did I?"

As soon as the shopkeeper said this, the entire room fell silent. Even Lin Jian was dumbfounded. What did the boss mean? Could it actually be worth four million?

"Alright." At this moment, the shopkeeper took a deep breath. "Young man, if you plan to sell it, I can only offer you up to four million. This is my absolute best offer!"

"Ah? It’s really worth four million?" Hearing the shopkeeper’s words, several customers exclaimed in shock. Bought for four thousand, and then multiplied a thousand times? Wasn’t this leverage a bit too massive?

Lin Jian felt a wave of dizziness. This little cup was worth four million? Furthermore, it was obvious that the boss’s price still had room for negotiation. He swallowed hard, then hurriedly hugged the box and said, "I’m not selling it."

"Hey, hey, young man, don’t leave." Seeing that Lin Jian was about to leave, the shopkeeper quickly stopped him. "Young man, how about this? I’ll call over a few experts who love collecting, and we can reappraise it together. There will definitely be higher bids then. The only reason I offered four million is because I only have four million in cash on hand right now."

"Well..." Lin Jian’s eyes darted around. "Sure, call them. I’ll wait." He really needed the money, so if he could sell it today, he would try his best to do so.

"Great, please take a seat upstairs. I’ll make the calls right away; they should all be nearby," the shopkeeper said as he stood up and cupped his hands toward the customers. "I’m sorry, everyone, but that’s all for today. I’m temporarily closing the shop. My apologies, my apologies."

The customers didn’t say much. Those who dabbled in collecting were generally civilized and of relatively high caliber, so after exchanging pleasantries with the boss, they left one after another.

Lin Jian went up to the second floor. There was a tearoom and a tea table there. Without standing on ceremony, he boiled water and made tea himself.

About ten minutes later, two people hurried up to the second floor. As soon as they arrived, they didn’t even glance at Lin Jian, locking their eyes directly onto the box on the tea table.

"Old Zhou, Old Yang, don’t be impatient. Wait until Old Gu and Old Ji arrive, and we can all look at it together!"

"Alright, alright, hurry up and tell them to get here!"

Both of them were middle-aged men in their fifties. One wore a large undershirt and carried a fan, while the other wore an old T-shirt that even had words celebrating the 1997 return of Hong Kong printed on it.

The two men sat down opposite Lin Jian with smiles. The man in the large undershirt took the initiative to ask, "Young man, what’s your last name? How long have you been in the collecting scene?"

Lin Jian quickly brought his legs together, suddenly acting like a well-behaved child. He straightened his back and said, "Hello, sir. My name is Lin Jian. I’ve never dabbled in collecting; I just like to wander around here in my free time."

"Oh, then which university did you graduate from?" the old man continued to ask.

"I didn’t go to college," Lin Jian said, scratching his head.

"Oh." The two men nodded simultaneously.

Then, the other old man smiled. "Little... Lin Jian, right? Don’t be nervous. My last name is Yang, and his is Zhou. Just call us ’uncle’."

"Okay."

Lin Jian chuckled inwardly. "I must really look like a well-behaved kid right now," he thought.

Old Yang smiled and asked, "Can you tell us how you found this... lidded bowl?"

"It just looked quite pretty. The pattern was nice, and its condition was good, so I bought it."

"That’s it?" Old Yang was clearly a bit skeptical. "There are tons of people selling all kinds of tea bowls in the markets and on the streets, and their conditions are quite good too. So, is there anything different about this one?"

"Different?" Lin Jian thought for a moment. "I could tell that the saucer and the bowl weren’t a matching set; they were paired together later. Therefore, I figured that between the two pieces, one should be real and the other fake. Then, I just took a gamble."

"Right, exactly!" The two old men slapped their thighs. Taobao, Taobao, you just have to bet on Luck!

Just then, the shopkeeper led two more old men inside. These two were a bit older, looking to be in their sixties or seventies, and dressed very casually.

Once everyone had gathered, the shopkeeper first poured tea for the group. Then, he introduced himself to Lin Jian, rattling off a slew of his own titles—a member of the Jiang City Antique Association, the Shopkeeper of Pinxuan Studio, a member of the Ancient History Research Association, and so on.

The shopkeeper’s last name was Wang.

"Speaking of teacup culture, it goes back a long way, but it reached its peak Xingsheng in the early Tang Dynasty. Later, by the Song Dynasty, through the improvement of porcelain, it also reached the world’s top level of that era.

"However, from ancient times to the present, our Huaxia has constantly been plagued by wars. Well-preserved porcelain is very scarce, and perfectly preserved royal porcelain is even rarer."

The group was in no rush to examine the lidded bowl. Instead, they took turns talking about culture and history.

Lin Jian put on a show of listening attentively, but in reality, he hardly understood a word. Still, this was all knowledge, and there was no telling if it might come in handy in the future. Because of this, he didn’t let his mind wander and listened carefully.

A moment later, the five old men started talking about the Emperor. Emperor Xuan De was named Zhu Zhanji, the fifth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. During his reign, the people of the Ming Dynasty lived and worked in peace and prosperity.

"Old Wang, there are exceptionally many high-quality fakes of Xuan De porcelain. Now, please bring it out and let us have a look!"

As the old men reached this point in their conversation, it was finally time to inspect the item.

Old Wang took out his gloves, opened the box, and took out the tea bowl, the lid, and the saucer one by one. He placed them on a white towel, seemingly terrified of bumping them.

Of the four old men, one picked up the bowl, one picked up the lid, and another picked up the saucer, while the last one, Elder Ji, continued to drink his tea. The three of them took turns, examining all three pieces thoroughly. Finally, they placed the tea bowl upside down on the table and stared at the four characters on its base.

They were four traditional Chinese characters, and in any case, Lin Jian couldn’t see anything special about them.

After staring at them for a long time, Old Gu suddenly sighed. "To think that items from the royal family are still circulating among the common folk. Lin’s Luck..."

"This Luck..." Old Yang also shook his head repeatedly. Wasn’t this Luck a bit too ridiculously good?

If it were an ordinary folk tea bowl, it wouldn’t be worth much—perhaps thirty to fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, or maybe several hundred thousand for a more expensive one! However, the bowl placed before them had been used by the royal family of the Great Ming Dynasty! This was evidenced precisely by those four characters.

"Lin, how much did Old Wang offer you?" Old Gu asked with a smile.

"Four million!" Lin Jian quickly answered.

"Oh, and what are your thoughts?" Old Gu continued to press.

"I definitely won’t sell it for four million!" Lin Jian shook his head firmly.

Old Wang pointed at Lin Jian and laughed as he scolded, "This kid is sly. Don’t think he’s easy to fool."

"Haha." Hearing Old Wang’s words, the others all started laughing.

"If you took this thing to auction, eight million shouldn’t be a problem," Old Gu suddenly dropped a bombshell.

Lin Jian suddenly felt his heart tremble, THUMP THUMP, accelerating its beats significantly.

His Luck...

He even felt that his Luck was just too explosive!

"I’ll take it for eight million."

Just then, the one who hadn’t touched the item yet, Old Ji, smiled. "Young man, Old Gu has spoken with absolute certainty. If he says eight million, no one else will offer a higher price. Moreover, even if you took it to an auction house, the absolute maximum would be eight million. Then there are all sorts of handling fees and taxes. By the time it reaches your hands, you’d get a little over six million, or perhaps not even six million!

"Therefore, eight million. Give this cup to me, how about it?"

Old Ji looked at Lin Jian very seriously. Furthermore, when he said eight million, he didn’t even bat an eyelid, as if eight million was no different from eighty bucks.

"COUGH, COUGH. Thank you, Uncle Ji. Whatever you say goes!"

Lin Jian hurriedly thanked him and called him Uncle!