Chapter 1 The Scale of Jian Guo Holiday Jade Market

The Jian Guo Holiday Jade Market was already large, so the probability of finding good stuff wasn't low.

Every year at the Port City Asian Special Auction, many treasures flowed from here. Especially as the mainland became wealthier, the price of antiques soared. It's said that some descendants of former officials were rummaging through their homes and found quite a few rare items.

One of the Western Zhou bronze ding (a type of ancient Chinese cauldron) in the hands of Grandpa Tang had a string of inscriptions on it. The seller was from around here.

The overall artistic and cultural environment on this island is relatively mature, and it's about the same in Port City.

Just look at the display cases, and you'll know that most items are clearly priced. If you buy fakes, you can come back and seek responsibility. It's a departure from the "no business for three years, but enough to eat for three years when you finally get one" and "no refunds for misjudgments" clichés.

After all, while it seems that ripping off customers can make money, it actually lacks a fair transaction environment between buyers and sellers, so antique exchanges are only concentrated in a small circle.

Outsiders are worried about being deceived due to a lack of discernment, so they will never easily get involved, which prevents the market from growing. For antique dealers, it's counterproductive.

Su Yehao stood in front of a shop, staring at a dragon head sculpture in the display case for a while.

He wasn't just shooting in the dark.

He suddenly remembered a remarkable person from his previous life who spent a high price to bid for the Yuanmingyuan's rabbit head and rat head, but refused to pay in the end. The reason was that he didn't agree with the way of buying back stolen goods at sky-high prices.

This incident caused a great uproar and even reversed the attitude of Chinese people towards the return of overseas cultural relics to a certain extent. Su Yehao certainly had an impression of it.

Among them, what impressed him deeply was that the dragon head collector on the island originally planned to auction off the Yuanmingyuan dragon head, but the rabbit head and rat head bids were retracted, which interrupted the appreciation of the animal heads. In the end, it fell through.

That's why Su Yehao associated the dragon head in the display case with the Yuanmingyuan animal heads.

It's only March of 1999. The fame of the Yuanmingyuan animal heads hasn't been hyped up yet. Few people know about them, and the price might not be more expensive than Jeff Koons' stainless steel balloon dog. It's not unlikely that they're being sold as ordinary objects.

With this in mind, Su Yehao pretended that nothing had happened and said to Linda Yun:

"This store rents three shops and has a second floor, so it must be quite strong. Let's go in and take a look, enjoy the air conditioning. It'd be best if no one recognizes me. You pretend to be my sister and act accordingly. If you see something you like, you can ask the price."

To avoid getting ripped off, Su Yehao put on sunglasses and took off his Patek Philippe watch worth more than two million US dollars and put it in his pocket.

It's always good to be careful. These antique shop owners all have sharp eyes and love to size people up before quoting prices.

When buying the *Wan Shan Hong Bian* landscape painting at Liulichang, Su Yehao suffered a lot. The price couldn't be lowered, and the other party would say things like "such a big boss, surely you don't care about this little bit of money" when he tried to bargain, which was infuriating.

Linda Yun made an okay sign and said with a smile, "Leave it to me, little brother Ahao. Give your big sis a smile first?"

"...I asked you to pretend to be my sister, not a hooligan. There are many old men on this street. You're a bit too eye-catching. Just say you're buying a gift for an elder."

Su Yehao is usually quite low-key. If he didn't often read newspapers, especially financial and gossip ones, he would easily be treated as an ordinary person when he went out alone without the bodyguard aura.

Today, he's wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, plus slippers from the hotel. His outfit isn't eye-catching.

Linda Yun nodded and took the lead in pushing the door into the store.

Inside the glass cabinets against the wall were blue and white porcelain and famille-rose porcelain. On the tables made of unknown wood, sandalwood was burning, and small turtles were crawling around in the bathtub.

When Su Yehao went to auctions, he could see detailed descriptions and reserve prices directly from the auction catalogs, so he didn't have to worry about whether they were real or fake. If he bought fakes, it would mean he was getting rich, so he was more at ease.

Now he's completely in the dark. Apart from the more distinctive Tang tri-color glazed pottery and copper-red glazed porcelain, he basically can't tell the origin of anything else, let alone whether they're real or fake.

Fortunately.

The store's genuine products generally have a price tag and are written with the name in traditional Chinese characters. As for those without tags, they're probably modern crafts, such as the Tang tri-color glazed pottery camel.

After looking at the other items in the store, with prices ranging from tens of thousands to millions, Su Yehao initially thought there were some good things, but then he remembered that the currency here is Taiwan dollars. Divide by four point something to get Hong Kong dollars, which is even less valuable when converted to US dollars.

As a result, many things that originally seemed pretty good instantly became insignificant.

The ancestors left countless objects over thousands of years, totaling as many as ten million. The vast majority are not highly collectible. At Su Yehao's level, of course, he doesn't care about them.

He only wants to buy some fine pieces to fill his small building in the yard, so it won't be empty. Even if there's a Van Gogh worth forty million US dollars hanging on the wall, it seems unimpressive.

This made Su Yehao set his sights on Grandpa Tang's small treasure trove, but his maternal grandfather regarded the collection as a treasure. He had said before that he would only give him those things when he was buried in the ground one day.

Wearing sunglasses to look at the objects looks a little silly. To avoid being recognized, Su Yehao had to be a little more careful.

Probably because they were too young, no one came to greet them.

This was exactly what Su Yehao wanted. He quietly came to the display case with the dragon head sculpture, lowered his sunglasses, and carefully observed it. The appearance is copper, without rust, but with many bumps and scars.

The traces on it didn't disappoint Su Yehao, but made him feel more and more that it might really be the long-lost Yuanmingyuan dragon head.

Back then, a gang of robbers plundered property. How could they be expected to be careful? Except for being careful with porcelain and calligraphy, it's said that many treasures were directly smashed and ruined, and the rest were all burned.

Staring at the dragon's mouth, he saw a water outlet.

After looking around it, he found that the price tag said the selling price was 16.88 million New Taiwan dollars, which is about 4 million Hong Kong dollars. The introduction card only had six words: "Qing Dynasty Lang Shining Royal Sculpture."

Seeing this, Su Yehao had a slight idea in his mind. For example, the shop owner probably knew its origin and its value.

He had seen several pieces of porcelain from the Ming and Qing dynasties just now, but they weren't as expensive as this.

He winked at Linda Yun, and she immediately waved and called over a female clerk, asking with a smile: "I study sculpture, and this artwork is so interesting. Is it from the Forbidden City? Why is it so expensive? Can you introduce it to me?"

"...Not the Forbidden City, it's the Yuanmingyuan, the emperor's resort. The famous Italian artist Lang Shining designed twelve zodiac fountains, and this is one of them. It is said that he originally planned to design it as a naked goddess sculpture, but the plan was not approved, so he made it like this."

The female clerk continued in a soft voice:

"The price is not high. Ten years ago, the horse head of the same series was auctioned for 250,000 US dollars. It's placed here by our boss' friend. Because it's a dragon, it will be a little bit more expensive. If you like sculpture, we also have an ancient Greek stone carving portrait, which only sells for more than two million..."

After listening, Su Yehao felt the hairs on his back stand up.

Although Yin Liuli's voice is also nice, it's definitely not so coquettish, it's a bit deliberate.

However.

Considering that most of the customers here are rich old men, they probably like this type, which can be regarded as accurate marketing...