Lin Yi had been to the antique market a few times, but previously it was just to casually browse the stalls with his dad.
As for the shops, he had never gone inside before, since they didn’t sell the cheap porcelain shards he was interested in.
But today, he wasn’t wandering around the stalls; instead, he parked his bicycle directly at the entrance of the largest antique shop, ’Xuanrui Studio’.
After all, the treasure in his backpack was worth 2.71 million! The small stalls outside definitely couldn’t handle it.
As he stepped into Xuanrui Studio, Lin Yi couldn’t help but pause, muttering to himself:
"Are you sure this is an antique shop??"
The reason for his doubt was because the interior design here was completely different from the antique shop style he had in mind.
Resplendent and golden.
To Lin Yi, it seemed more like a jewelry store.
"Hello sir, welcome to Xuanrui Studio. What can I help you with?"
Seeing Lin Yi walk in, a saleswoman in a qipao, heavily made-up, immediately approached with a professional smile and greeted him.
However, upon seeing that Lin Yi was just a teenager, her interest somewhat waned, since this was an antique shop, and even the cheapest items cost over a thousand yuan.
She wouldn’t have thought this young man was really going to buy something. Fortunately, her professionalism was decent, and Lin Yi was handsome, which made her choose to serve him.
"Yes, hello. Can I ask, do you buy items here?"
Lin Yi glanced at the saleswoman and got straight to the point.
The woman in the qipao was daydreaming about the young man in front of her, thinking, ’If this young man could help me unblock the drain, that would be wonderful~’
Suddenly hearing Lin Yi’s question, she didn’t show any impatience, instead, she flashed what she thought was a charming smile:
"Haha, we do buy things, but since we’re the most upscale antique shop, if your items aren’t ’good’, we don’t take them."
Lin Yi nodded after hearing this, not picking up on the emphasis she placed on ’good’:
"Don’t worry, it’s definitely not an ordinary item. Take me to see your appraiser."
After speaking, Lin Yi took the lead and walked inside.
The saleswoman watched Lin Yi’s tall back, lightly licking her lips, and then quickly followed.
However, before the two had even taken a few steps, a middle-aged man with a leather bag under his arm came walking towards them from the entrance.
When Lin Yi saw him, he was momentarily stunned, surprised at the coincidence of running into him here again.
However, remembering that he’d heard the guy’s company was in Antique City, he became a bit puzzled. Could it be that he worked here?
Sure enough, the next moment the woman in the qipao gave Lin Yi the answer he was looking for:
"Hello, President Sun. Are you heading out?"
The fat man coming towards them was none other than Sun Zhi, whom Lin Yi had bumped into just that morning, the ’capable’ husband of his mother’s colleague.
Sun Zhi lifted his head proudly, not even looking in Lin Yi’s direction, merely lifting his head and letting out a grunt.
Lin Yi was happy that the man didn’t notice him; he really didn’t want to talk to this pretentious guy.
But just after Sun Zhi had taken only a couple of steps, he suddenly stopped and turned back to speak to the saleswoman:
"Oh, Xiao Wu, come to my office later, I have some ’things’ to discuss... Oh? Lin Xiaozhi? What are you doing here?"
Seeing Sun Zhi turn around, this time, he also spotted Lin Yi beside the saleswoman, an expression of confusion flashing across his face.
Having been noticed, Lin Yi felt it would be impolite not to greet him, so he gave a quick hello.
The saleswoman, seeing this, looked at both of them with confusion, then explained:
"Oh, President Sun, you know each other? This young man said he wanted to sell something to us, and I’m about to take him to the appraisal room."
"Oh? Selling something? What are you selling? Don’t tell me it’s those broken porcelain pieces your dad bought. If it is, you needn’t bother; I can assure you we don’t take those things here!"
Hearing that Lin Yi indeed intended to sell something, Sun Zhi instantly showed a disdainful expression.
He knew about Lin Yi’s father’s fondness for collecting broken pieces of porcelain, and he also knew they didn’t have the extra money to buy antiques.
Therefore, he didn’t believe Lin Yi had anything valuable to sell.
Facing the man’s somewhat mocking tone, Lin Yi chose not to respond. Instead, he took off his backpack and pulled out the porcelain cup wrapped in toilet paper.
Seeing the large wad of toilet paper, Sun Zhi immediately sneered:
"What is this? Wrapped so tightly. Someone might think it’s a precious treasure.
Oh, didn’t I tell you earlier, kid? If your grades aren’t good, then stop wasting your time, save your parents some money."
As Lin Yi unwrapped the toilet paper, Sun Zhi adopted a mentoring posture, the commotion drawing quite a few curious looks their way.
Seeing this, Sun Zhi’s voice grew even louder:
"Find a job, save up, and get a car. It’ll help you find a girlfriend. Even if you can’t afford a Porsche Cayenne like mine, at least a little Xiali should be possible."
Especially when he mentioned the Porsche Cayenne, he emphasized the words as if worried others might not hear.
To this, Lin Yi rolled his eyes with disdain, not understanding how such a person ended up being a general manager.
By this time, Lin Yi had unwrapped the toilet paper, revealing an antique-style blue-and-white porcelain cup to everyone’s eyes.
Yet, when Sun Zhi’s eyes landed on the cup, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter:
"Hahaha, Lin Xiaozhi, this really is a ’treasure’! Not to lecture you or anything, but learn more, or you’ll get conned.
And here we are, the most authoritative antique shop in the city. You should at least bring something decent to fool us with. Let me ask, do you know what model your cup is imitating?"
Clearly, with just one look, Sun Zhi concluded Lin Yi had brought a fake. As for the reason, it wasn’t solely because it was from Lin Yi.
Having been in the antique business for over a decade, while not an expert, he certainly knew more than the average person.
So, when he saw Lin Yi take out this ’brand new’ blue-and-white porcelain cup, he identified it as a modern imitation at first glance, a modern replica with no signs of aging!
[To be continued....]