Today's intel, written history: At the twelfth stall on Antique Street in Jin City's Ning'an District, three ancient books are on sale. Buy for less than five thousand yuan, and you'll score a great deal.
"It's this old man again."
Chen Yiyang saw today's bargain intel while having breakfast and checking his phone.
His focus was immediately drawn to the specific stall mentioned in the report.
The twelfth stall on Antique Street isn't that the one where he'd scored great deals twice already?
Going to fleece the old man's sheep again, huh.
Chen Yiyang didn't feel too embarrassed about it.
Although he always found bargains, the price the old man charged him was definitely higher than what he had paid for those items.
The old man earned what he perceived as a fair price, and Chen Yiyang profited with a stroke of luck.
It's quite fair.
But this time the bargain items are ancient books, and they probably won't come cheap.
Maybe it's because he was too harsh on Hans the day before yesterday.
It made Hans unwilling to go out today.
Seeing this, Chen Yiyang gladly gave himself a day off.
So he played some games and only ordered a ride to Antique Street after having lunch.
"You, kid, stop dawdling, come over quickly!"
As soon as Chen Yiyang arrived at Antique Street, he hadn't reached the old man's stall before he was spotted by the keen-eyed old man.
So he immediately called Chen Yiyang over.
"Old man, good to see you again." Chen Yiyang greeted warmly.
"You, kid, scored a big one, aren't you going to show some appreciation?" The old man spoke sharply today, his gaze piercing.
Was the fact that he sold a painting he bought here for a few dozen yuan for hundreds of thousands discovered?
Chen Yiyang was startled.
If this got out, it wouldn't be long before the whole Antique Street knew. If he wanted to buy anything here again.
Estimating things, either the stall owners would charge a sky-high price or directly have their items appraised instead of selling.
After all, turning several dozen yuan into hundreds of thousands is enough to make any stall owner's heart flutter.
"Didn't you sell that camera you bought from me over a week ago for a high price?" The old man questioned Chen Yiyang.
Luckily, it was the camera issue.
Chen Yiyang was relieved.
"I kept it to play with." Chen Yiyang replied with a grin, "I like doing some photography when I'm bored, so I kept it for taking photos myself."
"So you know what you're doing! Pretended not to know to fool me that day." The old man pointed at Chen Yiyang and said, "That camera is worth over three thousand yuan, you bought it from me for five hundred, you scored big."
"Well, that's quite a statement." Chen Yiyang immediately spoke to the crowd watching, "Isn't the rule of Antique Street that whoever has a good eye deserves the earnings? The old man made money, I made money too. I earned more because I had a keen eye, not because I took advantage of him."
"Exactly, here it's all about making money with a good eye. The old guy can't act unfair just because he earned less." The crowd jeered along.
"I'm not being unfair." The old man said, his face flushed,
"I'm just upset that this kid found a deal here and didn't tell me afterward. I'm not envious of your earnings, but shouldn't you tell me so I know how to sell next time I get such things?"
"Old man, it's all about expertise. I made money because I'm knowledgeable. If I tell you how to make money, you might buy a bunch of similar but worthless trash and then blame me again if you lost money, right?"
"Forget it, I won't argue with you young folks."
The old man was reasonable. Under Chen Yiyang's few words, his anger gradually subsided.
But he remembered something else.
"Oh, the painting you bought from me that day, was it a big deal too?"
"Yeah, a super big deal. I sold it for five hundred thousand, and the buyer even owed me a favor." Chen Yiyang, being honest, spoke the truth.
"You're just fooling an old man like me." The old man rolled his eyes at Chen Yiyang and then seriously analyzed.
"After you bought my painting and the painting tube, I felt something was off.
The painting definitely wasn't worth much; selling it to you for twenty was like I was already making a profit.
But that painting tube is worth only forty-nine new, why would you buy an old one for the same price?
Honestly, is that painting tube used by a notable artist and holds commemorative value?"
"Old man, your analysis is quite good, just don't analyze next time." Chen Yiyang said speechlessly, "That painting tube was worth less than forty-nine. But that camera was worth over three thousand, and I spent that money as compensation for you."
"Makes sense." Chen Yiyang's explanation left the old man half-doubtful.
"By the way, how did you know that camera was sold cheap?" Chen Yiyang asked curiously.
The old man didn't seem to be someone who might have connections in the small photography enthusiast circle, how did he suddenly know the real value of that classic FM2 camera?
"Didn't I tell you, I got that camera from an old buddy. It was originally bought by his son who worked abroad.
A few days ago, his son returned and found the camera missing. Upon asking, he found out his father sold it to me cheaply, and that's how I learned about the camera's real worth."
"Quite unfortunate for that buddy." Chen Yiyang felt deep sympathy for this buddy. How could someone still have their things sold as junk by their dad even after growing up and working?
"We're not done here." The old man said as he grabbed Chen Yiyang, "Last time you bought stuff for only a few dozen yuan, this time how about buying more to balance things out for me."
"Don't worry, old man. I'll definitely buy more today." Chen Yiyang assured, letting the old man release him, and then he began looking at the items on his stall.
"These things today are still collected from that family compound last time. They're good stuff used by cultured people. This time, there are even antiques."
The old man said as he handed a few ancient books to Chen Yiyang.
"Take a look at these books, all of them are Qing Dynasty ancient books. Buy them and place them at home; they're worth collecting and give you face."
"Qing Dynasty books aren't worth much, right?" Chen Yiyang had done his homework before coming.
Qing Dynasty books really aren't worth much because there's such a large number that have survived.
Unless they are particularly famous ancient books, someone might buy one to collect.
But a lot of Qing Dynasty books were printed and written by literati themselves, filled with various essays.
These books have neither collection value nor research value.
So, most Qing Dynasty books are very cheap, you can buy one with the price of a few bowls of noodles.
"Don't say whether they're worth money or not. Can a scholar's matters be measured with money?"
The old man was determined to get some money from Chen Yiyang.
He patted his books and said, "Who knows, maybe these books were written by the celestial star of literature. Buy them for your child to read, they might suddenly wise up and become smart."
"Well, grandpa, I'm still single," Chen Yiyang said, embarrassed.
"You young folks are getting married too late." The old man criticized Chen Yiyang briefly, then continued, "But you can let your relative's children read them."
"You're definitely planning to sell these books to me."
As Chen Yiyang spoke, he glanced at the ancient books on display.
There were eight in total, and three of them were suggested by the treasure-hunting app as worthwhile finds.
So Chen Yiyang directly offered, "Let's do grandpa a favor today. I'll take all your books, just name a price."
"Two thousand!" The old man offered.
Chen Yiyang decisively stood up to leave.
"Don't." The old man quickly grabbed Chen Yiyang.
"One thousand, one thousand!"
Chen Yiyang instantly exerted strength in his thigh to break free from the old man.
It wasn't that Chen Yiyang couldn't afford it.
The problem was those books, at a normal price, were probably worth around three hundred yuan in total.
If he bought them at a high price, he would definitely raise the old man's suspicions.
Forget it, better to take a walk first.
Chen Yiyang circled around the booths on Antique Street, then spent five bucks on two grilled sausages.
He munched on them as he returned to the old man's stall.
"Grandpa, let's renegotiate the price."
"Forget it." The old man was so played by Chen Yiyang that he lost his temper. "You say how much, it's your call."
"Three hundred and twenty yuan." Chen Yiyang offered a price.
"Add twenty more, I'll go home tonight and buy my grandson a chicken chop." The old man replied.
"Add forty more so you can buy one for yourself."
"Deal."
Chen Yiyang scanned three hundred sixty yuan to the old man, then placed the eight ancient books in the plastic bag the old man gave him and left.
Back at the rental house, Chen Yiyang placed the five worthless books on a bookshelf.
Then, he carefully perused the remaining three ancient books.
He found that he couldn't discern any valuable points about them.
Although he looked up a lot of information on the computer, no matter how he looked.
The three books in his hand were all ordinary miscellanies.
The contents recorded inside could be found online, with no rare articles.
These kinds of books, even in ancient times, were just common books for literati to pass the time or to educate children.
In ancient times, they wouldn't have any collection value either; you read them and threw them away.
The saying in the antique world goes, "If it wasn't worth money in ancient times, it's not worth money now."
This means not all antiques are valuable.
Especially those things that weren't valuable in ancient times, used in large quantities by common folk.
Those that survived to modern times and became antiques aren't collected either, with rather low prices.
These three books in hand are just like that.
Then why did the treasure-hunting app say these three books were worthwhile finds?
Chen Yiyang didn't doubt the information was wrong; instead, he felt there was some secret he hadn't figured out.
For this part, he needed a professional to help him analyze and consult.
Chen Yiyang first thought of Zhang Yuling, whom he just met yesterday.
This girl was at least in the art and calligraphy circles, probably knowing relevant experts.