Although Ye Zhiqiu was the first to use the clairvoyant eye to discover it, Fatty was kind to his family and was his good friend, so he didn't bother to compete with him.
The fat man chuckled: "Let's look around again! If we can find new treasures with a price of more than two million, I will give them to you!"
"If it's still less than two million, the price of this inkstone will still be divided equally!"
Ye Zhiqiu said no more. The two of them walked to the east end of the village and saw various furniture and electrical appliances placed in the courtyard.
An old couple in their sixties were throwing all kinds of waste at the door.
The fat man whispered: "Zhiqiu, I watched some treasure appraisal programs. Many collectors collect old furniture from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. They are all very valuable! Take a look at his furniture. Are any of them valuable?"
Ye Zhiqiu had just quietly scanned it with his clairvoyant eyes. He shook his head: "These are ordinary solid wood furniture. They can be sold for some money at the flea market, but they are not antiques!"
Suddenly, a dazzling red light flashed in front of him on the right. Ye Zhiqiu followed the light and saw a dark red gourd placed on a light yellow standing cabinet.
The gourd exuded a vermilion light that only Ye Zhiqiu could see.
Authentic!
The gourd is more than ten centimeters high and six or seven centimeters wide. On the gourd cover are two lions carved in white marble fighting for a hydrangea.
[Name: Two Lions Grab Hydrangea and Cricket Cage]
[Era: Xuanzong period of Ming Dynasty. 】
[Market value: 15 million. 】
Ye Zhiqiu was slightly surprised, it turned out to be the cricket cage belonging to Zhu Zhanji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Zhanji is known as the generation of wise kings after Ming Renzong. He has done many practical things for the people, but he has a hobby, like fighting crickets.
Cricket is also known as "weaving promotion". Zhu Zhanji was obsessed with promoting weaving, so the world gave him the title of "the emperor of promoting weaving".
He is so fond of weaving that there are many kinds of cages for weaving.
Someone once counted that he had used as many as 20 to 30 cricket cages.
Last year, someone auctioned a cricket cage made of Zhu Zhanji's bamboo tube inlaid with ivory and gold on Hong Kong Island. It was already a bit dilapidated, but it was still worth as much as eight million.
The gourd cage in front of me, whether in terms of shape, craftsmanship, or preservation integrity, is far superior to that ten times, and the price is doubled, so naturally it is no problem.
"Two little brothers, who are you looking for?"
When the old couple saw Ye Zhiqiu and the other two, the male host spoke.
Ye Zhiqiu smiled slightly: "Old man, we are here to collect antiques. I wonder if you have anything valuable?"
Although the old man was dressed in ordinary clothes, he was polite and elegant. Ye Zhiqiu felt that he might not be able to deceive him through his elegance. It would be easier to win his favor by telling the truth.
Hearing this, the old man took a step forward, looked around at his furniture, and said with a smile: "Little brother, do you think these furniture are worth anything? Are they old items from the Qing Dynasty, or are they from the Ming Dynasty?"
Ye Zhiqiu shook his head: "Old man, I don't understand furniture, so I don't dare to accept it! I think this cricket cage is good, it should be worth some money, right? Can I sell it?"
The old man called himself Xue, with a meaningful smile on his face.
"I didn't expect you are young and have some knowledge! This cricket cage is indeed an old item. How much do you want to spend?"
The fat man took a step forward, stared at the gourd cage carefully, and said with some surprise: "This gourd only costs as much as the jade carving on top, and the rest is worthless!"
Old man Xue glanced at him disdainfully and looked directly at Ye Zhiqiu.
Ye Zhiqiu pondered for a moment: "This cricket cage is an object from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. It is well preserved. The current market price should be around 100,000!"
Old Man Xue looked at him without blinking and shook his head.
"Young man, you are so unrealistic! This is something that Emperor Qianlong played with. How come it has become something from the late Qing Dynasty and the turn of the Republic of China?"
"The price is too low at 100,000, isn't it? Although you antique dealers just want to pick up the missing pieces, you can't be so bottomless!"
Ye Zhiqiu looked calm. He knew that since he was in this business, he had to be bold, careful and thick-skinned. He didn't know how many players he would encounter who knew the market in the future. Only if he was better than them could he be sure of victory.
"Senior, with my eyesight, I can at most see that the items are from the Emperor Xianfeng's period, definitely not the antiques from the Qianlong period! I'm not just trying to lower the price!"
Old man Xue nodded.
"If it is really a cricket cage from the Xianfeng period, the price is more than 100,000, which is indeed not low!"
"But this belongs to Emperor Qianlong. One hundred thousand yuan is too low! How do you think this compares to those cricket cages in Sanhe Liu?"
"The things left by an ordinary folk artist in Sanhe Liu are worth 100,000 yuan! How can I, the imperial belongings of Emperor Qianlong, have the same price as him?"
"Not to mention more than ten times, it's about the same."
Sanhe Liu was a folk craftsman named Liu in Sanhe County, Hebei Province in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The cricket cages he made were so unique that dignitaries and wealthy people from the DPRK and China at that time rushed to buy them.
The remaining items are now being auctioned for one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand, with the top ones even reaching one million.
"Ten times? Isn't that one million?" The fat man opened his mouth.
"A million dollars to buy such a broken gourd? Zhiqiu, don't buy it, it's not worth it!"
Ye Zhiqiu seemed to have never heard of it.
Old Man Xue glanced at the fat man and said disdainfully: "You don't understand antiques, so naturally you think it's not worth it! This friend of yours is like a mirror in his heart. Now he takes back one million, collected it for three to five years, and sold it for ten million That’s a lie!”
"But three to five million is easy!"
The fat man was stunned and looked at Ye Zhiqiu closely. If this was really the case, even one million would be worth it.
Old Man Xue glanced at Ye Zhiqiu: "Young man, if you don't want to pay so much money, you'd better leave quickly. In the past few days, I have met more than a dozen waves of antique dealers every day, so I don't have to worry about selling!"
"If it doesn't work out, I'll keep it for myself. It won't reach 10 million in ten or eight years!"
Ye Zhiqiu was a little hesitant. One million was indeed not much, but he made fifteen times the profit after changing hands. This was considered a huge profit. But he was worried that once he really wanted to pay one million, the old man would take the opportunity to raise the price again.
He turned around and was about to leave. Suddenly, he saw Old Man Xue suddenly covering his chest, his face turned pale, and his whole body was trembling. He couldn't help but squat down, and big beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"Old man! Old man!"
Upon seeing this, his wife hurriedly ran out of the house, holding a bottle of medicine in her hand, opened the bottle cap, and gave Old Man Xue two pills under his tongue.
The old woman breathed a long sigh of relief when she saw her husband taking the medicine.
Ye Zhiqiu sighed: "Old lady, taking medicine can only temporarily control the complications caused by Uncle Xue's diabetes, but cannot cure it!"
“As I take the medicine for a longer time, my condition becomes more and more uncontrollable!”
