"That Van Cleef & Arpels on your wrist is a fake, too. You're a high-society heiress—you shouldn't be letting people trick you."
Gu Shengsheng was shocked.
'This… a perfectly fine heiress, and not a single thing she's wearing is authentic.'
Gu Rongrong retorted, "What did you just say, Gu Shengsheng!"
She looked furious, but deep down, she was faltering. The bracelets and necklaces suddenly felt like they were burning her skin...
'The family company had run into trouble, so she hadn't been abroad in a long time. Lately, she'd been using personal shoppers, which saved her half the cost…'
'She had no idea if they were real or fake... Now that Shengsheng had said it, she was starting to panic too.'
'But Gu Shengsheng had spent her entire life in some dilapidated village. How could she possibly know about this stuff?'
She hurried after her, wanting to demand an explanation. Gu Shengsheng turned her head and gave her a cold look. "Stay away from me."
"Stupidity is contagious."
She remained perfectly calm and composed, which only made Gu Rongrong stomp her foot in frustration.
'She felt more and more like she was acting like a common shrew throwing a tantrum in front of Gu Shengsheng!'
'Her fists clenched weakly. 'She's just a country bumpkin, and she's still the one who has to marry in my place. How could she possibly be a threat to me?''
Gu Rongrong told herself not to panic. 'As long as Mom and Dad are on my side, I can't lose.'
Gu Shengsheng didn't realize her placid demeanor could drive people to distraction. As for herself, she just took things as they came.
Meanwhile, the carefree Gu Shengsheng slept soundly.
The next day, she got up and headed straight for the market. She wasn't seeing Madam Lu until that evening anyway, which gave her plenty of time to pick up a gift.
Gu Shengsheng went straight to the Four Directions Antiques Market. Since Rui City was on the border with Myanmar, it had a high output of jade.
As a result, jadeite dominated the market. The other stalls—selling old bronze coins, various Porcelain pieces, and other trinkets—had far less business.
Only a few scattered people were browsing their wares.
She casually walked up to an old woman's stall.
The old woman smiled and said, "Take a look, little lady. See if anything catches your eye. If it does, take it home!"
"Everything here is top quality!"
Coincidentally, she had just unlocked the Nephrite Jade stats panel yesterday, so her eyes fell on a Nephrite Jade Ring.
Item: Nephrite Jade Ring
Era: Modern
Description: Made from scrap Nephrite Jade just a few days ago and subsequently processed. It's trash. Purchase not recommended.
Market Value: 30 yuan
Buyback Price: Not accepted
Emotion Value Harvested: 999
Gu Shengsheng turned it over in her hand. The vendor said, "That one's not expensive. Just five thousand yuan for you."
"It's a real treasure from the Tang Dynasty. You've got a good eye, missy."
Gu Shengsheng: "..." 'The old woman sure has some nerve,' she thought.
'These days, if you can't spin a tall tale, you wouldn't dare open a shop. You'd probably end up getting scammed yourself.'
Her fans got excited too:
"That thing looks so cool! It looks really smooth. Is it really from the Tang Dynasty?"
"There's a little bit of chicken-blood red inside, does that make it special?"
"Streamer, are you gonna buy it!"
She wasn't in a hurry, but the netizens were dying of anxiety.
That feeling of seeing a great find but not being able to buy it yourself was just too agonizing.
Gu Shengsheng shook her head and moved on to look at the next item.
She handled several more jadeite and Nephrite Jade trinkets, but they were all worth around a hundred yuan.
Just as she was about to move on to another stall, she froze.
'What just happened?'
'Did the market value on the stats panel just jump to three hundred thousand?'
'She had already given everything a cursory look; there shouldn't be anything here worth three hundred thousand.'
She went back, picking up the items one by one to inspect them again.
Finally, her gaze landed on a small, transparent teacup sitting on the table. Tea leaves floated inside—it looked like the cheap 6.8-yuan Biluochun tea the vendor had bought from the supermarket, the leaves not even fully steeped.
Soon, the System's mechanical voice sounded:
Item: Ten-curve Long Cup
Era: Tang Dynasty
Description: A tribute from the Persian Sasanian Dynasty, passed down and used within the imperial court. Exquisite craftsmanship, a masterpiece among jade artifacts. It is not perfectly preserved and has blackened in many places, but it possesses extremely high collection value.
Market Value: 300,000 (after restoration)
Buyback Price: 280,000
Emotion Value Harvested: 999
...
'Gu Shengsheng was speechless. The old woman was using such a priceless artifact just to brew her tea?'
Seeing Gu Shengsheng's surprised look, the old woman found it amusing.
"Well now, little lady, I thought you were a sharp one! What's wrong, scared to drink from this cup? It's perfectly clean!"
"I poured a cup especially for you."
Gu Shengsheng picked it up and turned it over in her hands. "Is this cup supposed to be vintage-style?"
"Hahaha, I bought it specially! I'm in the antiques business, after all. I've got to have something that looks the part, right?"
"It's a replica of a Nephrite Jade cup, but it's really from Putian. I've got a whole bunch of them. Replica antiques, you know?"
The old woman chuckled as she spoke. Besides, Gu Shengsheng looked so sweet and harmless, it made her feel like chatting.
"I see." Gu Shengsheng watched as the woman brought out a whole pile of similar cups, sighing inwardly at the sight.
'There were plenty of identical ones, but the genuine antique just looked a bit more worn.'
Gu Shengsheng had a very indifferent look, not showing any interest in this cup at all.
She continued, "About that Jade Ring from before, can you go any lower on the price?"
As she spoke, she picked it up again to examine the design. It was carved with a rather exquisite-looking dragon, but the characters next to it were simplified Chinese. They read: "Life is hard enough."
...
Gu Shengsheng held back her laughter, held it up to the camera, and let the netizens have a look too.
"I'm dying! See, I told you time travelers exist! They brought our simplified characters back to the ancient world and carved them on a Jade Ring!"
"That poor Jade Ring, how tragic! 'Life is hard enough'! HAHAHAHA."
"The antiques market is a real minefield, I'm laughing so hard I could puke. What is this nonsense."
The old woman continued her spiel, undeterred. "This is a Jade Ring once worn by Emperor Qin Shi Huang himself! Just ignore the writing."
"What if it really did come from Emperor Qin Shi Huang? I even got a text message once saying Emperor Qin Shi Huang had been resurrected and needed me to wire him some money."
Gu Shengsheng said with a smile, "Don't tell me you actually sent the money?"
The old woman said, "I blocked and deleted the number immediately, then reported it to the anti-scam hotline for good measure, hehe."
She had a look on her face that said, 'Aren't I clever?'
"Alright, alright, I won't banter with you anymore. It's just a little trinket. Fifty yuan, and it's yours. We can call it the price of making a new friend!"
The old woman waved her hand, looking very casual.
'This little girl's pretty sharp,' she thought. 'Looks like I can't scam her.'
'No matter. With so many tourists and customers around, I'm bound to get the next one.'
Gu Shengsheng said, "Granny, you paid less than ten yuan for this Jade Ring, didn't you? But since we're making friends, I won't haggle over a few dozen yuan."
"So, how about you throw in this teacup you're using? The tea's pretty good, I can drink it on my way out."
"Deal."
'It was just a worthless cup, anyway. She'd never given it a second thought.'
'If she wants it, she can have it. It's no big deal.'
Then, as she watched Gu Shengsheng walk away, the old woman called out jokingly, "That thing's a fake, by the way, so I won't bother lying that some Imperial Concubine drank from it!"