Chapter 77: Another Dark Horse in the Antiques Circle

Hearing Lin Jian’s words, everyone was stunned. This kid spent nearly 130,000 yuan to buy a fake horse, and now he was asking the staff to help him smash it? What on earth was he doing?

Jiang Xue also looked bewildered, but she felt something was off. Based on her understanding of Lin Jian, it was impossible for him to waste money on a fake horse. There had to be a story here, a hidden agenda.

And now, Lin Jian wanted to smash the horse? Could there be something inside its belly? Everyone else was wondering the same thing. Was there something else inside the horse’s belly that they hadn’t noticed, but this young man had?

"Sir, are you sure you want to smash this Tang Sancai Horse?" Shopkeeper Liu asked from the stage.

Lin Jian nodded with a serious expression. "Yeah. It’s too big, I can’t carry it."

"But if you smash it, this Tang Sancai Horse will be utterly worthless. You should think it over," Shopkeeper Liu reminded him kindly.

"It’s fine. I know it’s worthless." Lin Jian nodded.

"Then may I ask why you want to smash it?" someone in the crowd asked. If he thought the horse was too big, he could just hire someone to deliver it to his house. Why smash it?

Lin Jian scratched his head. "Actually, I don’t have to smash it. I just want to pry its eyes out. But with this kind of porcelain, I’m afraid it will shatter the moment I pry at it, so I might as well just smash it directly!"

"Oh?"

Hearing Lin Jian’s words, everyone was startled. The horse’s eyes?

Everyone present had actually noticed them. However, although the horse’s eyes were blue, they had some stains and scratches on them. True gemstone-quality stones wouldn’t have scratches. That was why they hadn’t paid much attention to the horse’s eyes, assuming they were just made of glass. But now, from what this young man was implying, were the horse’s eyes out of the ordinary?

"Lin, can you bring the horse up to the stage so I can take another look?" Elder Gu asked.

Lin Jian looked a bit troubled. "This... won’t it waste everyone’s time?"

"Not at all. Everyone’s curiosity has been piqued by you. Who would be in the mood to bid on the next item without figuring this out?" Elder Gu then waved at the staff. "Bring the horse out and place it on the table."

Lin Jian nodded and followed the staff to the stage.

Everyone looked curiously at the horse’s two blue eyes. Elder Gu carefully examined them with a magnifying glass but still didn’t find anything unusual.

Just then, Lin Jian grabbed an iron hammer from the corner of the table and smashed it down on the Tang Sancai Horse!

CRASH.

With one swing of the hammer, porcelain shards shattered all over the floor. Everyone showed a look of pity. 130,000 yuan, just gone like that?

Lin Jian, however, sifted through the fragments to find the two eyes. After carefully tapping them with the hammer, two glass-like balls appeared in the palm of his hand.

Elder Gu picked one up and continued to examine it with his magnifying glass. As he looked, he suddenly shouted, "Shopkeeper Liu, bring me some iron sandpaper, sodium-absorbing water, or an iron grinding wheel. Hurry!"

Shopkeeper Liu jogged off to find the iron sandpaper and grinding wheel.

Meanwhile, the Appraiser beside Jiangnan walked over, as did the Appraiser beside Fatty Zhu. They carefully inspected the items using magnifying glasses and high-beam flashlights. However, because the two blue glass balls were somewhat cloudy with dirt, they still couldn’t identify what they were.

By then, Shopkeeper Liu had brought the iron sandpaper, and Elder Gu immediately began polishing one of the balls on the spot. Lin Jian also grabbed a piece of sandpaper and polished the other one.

After polishing for a moment, Elder Gu suddenly shouted again, "Sodium-absorbing water, tweezers, and a water basin!"

Shopkeeper Liu had already prepared two cups of liquid in transparent glasses. One was sodium-absorbing water, and the other was ordinary tap water. Subsequently, Elder Gu dropped the glass ball in his hand into the cup of sodium-absorbing water.

PLOP.

As soon as the glass ball entered the liquid, the dirt immediately separated from it, turning the entire glass cloudy and murky. Lin Jian also tossed the blue ball in his hand into the cup!

After stirring the water for a moment with iron tweezers, Elder Gu immediately plucked the glass balls out and dropped them into the cup of ordinary tap water.

The moment they entered the regular water, the two gemstones—sparkling with blue light and radiating the brilliant, deep blue hue of the ocean—reflected a dazzling radiance!

"Sapphire."

Everyone stood up.

Elder Gu excitedly picked one out with the tweezers. After inspecting it again with his magnifying glass, he suddenly plopped heavily into his chair.

"A pure, natural Sapphire. And it’s the highest quality ocean blue..." There was an indescribable bitterness in his tone. He wasn’t envious; he had truly made a massive oversight.

Jiangnan’s Appraiser was also thrilled. "The Tang Sancai Horse is a fake, anyone can see that. But who would have thought that the eyes of a counterfeit Tang Sancai Horse would actually be pure, natural, High Grade Sapphires? And a matching pair at that! This..."

The Appraiser’s eyes turned green with envy. When he looked at Lin Jian, it was as if he were looking at a stark-naked beautiful woman, looking like he wanted to devour him whole.

Jiangnan swallowed hard. This... was this kid really an expert?

Jiang Xue was also incredibly excited. Was this bastard Lin Jian’s Luck really this good?

Fatty Zhu’s Appraiser had also examined the two Sapphires by this point. He whispered a few words into Fatty Zhu’s ear, and then the mistress beside Fatty Zhu began shaking his arm relentlessly.

"I want these two gems. Name your price, little brother!" Fatty Zhu suddenly declared loudly.

"This..." Lin Jian scratched his head. "Uncle Gu, are these Sapphires valuable?"

"Valuable?" Elder Gu glared at him. "Ordinary ones aren’t worth much, but natural ones with such excellent quality are extremely expensive. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever seen Sapphires of this caliber.

"I’m not entirely sure of the exact price. That requires an Appraiser at a professional jewelry store to make an offer. However, I do know the general market price is between ten thousand and five hundred thousand yuan per carat!"

"How many grams is a carat?" Lin Jian asked, confused.

"0.2 grams."

"It takes five carats to make a gram. Do these two Sapphires of yours weigh twenty grams?" Jiang Xue suddenly said. "But save the gems for me. Don’t sell them to anyone else!"

Lin Jian felt it was inappropriate to make a deal with others on this occasion. After all, it would seem like he was trying to ruin the venue’s business. Couldn’t they see that Boss Liu’s expression wasn’t looking too good? So, he shoved the two Sapphires into his pocket and gave Fatty Zhu an apologetic look. "I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not selling my gems."

"I’ll pay a high price. One million... how about 1.3 million?" Fatty Zhu declared loudly. "Six hundred and fifty thousand per piece, making it a total of 1.3 million. You’re multiplying your investment tenfold! Furthermore, this is a premium price. You won’t be able to sell it for this much outside!"

"1.3 million?" Jiang Xue scoffed. "How can you even have the nerve to offer 1.3 million? Didn’t you hear Elder Gu say that the price for this kind of gem is between ten thousand and five hundred thousand? That’s five hundred thousand per carat!"

"It’s not that expensive. It’s not like I haven’t dabbled in gems and jade before. The prices for these things are all artificially inflated," Fatty Zhu retorted. "If you get a piece of raw ore, the Gem and Jade Association could even appraise it at two billion US Dollars. So, we have to go by the market price!"

"Stop right there, mister. I’m really not selling these. I’m taking them back to give to my girlfriend. Sorry about that! Also, something urgent just came up, so I have to go now. Uncle Gu, Uncle Ji, President Jiang, I’ll be taking my leave. Let’s keep in touch by phone!"

Lin Jian didn’t want to stay here any longer. He had already made a massive profit today. Besides, the two stones tucked in his pocket were probably worth more than ten million. His heart was trembling from the sheer weight of it all. It was best to leave first before doing anything else.

"I’ll leave with you!" Jiang Xue jumped up and chased after Lin Jian.

The crowd was filled with both pity and envy. He had bought a fake horse for 130,000 yuan, but who could have known that its eyeballs were actually natural, genuine gemstones? That young man had struck it rich.

But that kid’s eyes were too damn sharp! When did such a figure emerge in the antique collecting circle? Several master Appraisers had been completely fooled, yet this young man had the foresight to recognize their true value. This could easily become another classic case study in the collecting world.