DLWAV CH111

When Zhao Cheng came looking for him, Ao Ruize was chatting with Granny Chen and the others who were passing by.

“…By the way, Ruize, do you still have any of those goji berry leaves you gave us earlier?”

They looked embarrassed: “It’s not that we’re greedy… mainly, after my old man ate the goji berry leaves you brought that day, he fell in love with them. He’s been muttering about them every day for the past few days, causing his blood pressure—which we finally managed to lower—to shoot back up again… So how could I not be anxious?”

The little milk dumpling: “…”

In novels, ingredients irrigated with spiritual energy were delicious and possessed astonishing body-strengthening effects.

In reality… people who didn’t know better would think they had given the neighbors poison or even poppies!

They continued: “Later, we went to the market you mentioned to look, but we couldn’t buy the kind of goji berry leaves you gave us.”

They had tried other goji leaves, but the taste just wasn’t right.

Ao Ruize glanced at the goji tree on the windowsill, which was unconsciously swaying its branches, and simply said, “Then I’ll go to the market tomorrow to see if I can run into that vendor again.”

It was just a few goji vines, nothing much.

Besides, Zhang Qingyan seemed to really like eating them too.

“Alright,” Granny Chen said happily. “As it happens, my brother had someone send over an old duck this morning. Don’t go out to eat for lunch today; just come eat at my place.”

Ao Ruize exactly didn’t feel like cooking either: “Okay.”

One could easily imagine how fast their expressions changed when they saw Zhao Cheng coming to the door.

Granny Chen and the others immediately stood up: “Zhao Cheng, what are you doing here?”

The bruises on Zhao Cheng’s face hadn’t even faded yet. It was obvious just thinking about it that him coming to the door now meant he was here to cause trouble for Ao Ruize.

Most importantly, this Zhao Cheng could no longer just be described as ‘no good’. He was a beast, and the old Zhao family was a den of beasts.

Just six days ago, the day after Zhao Cheng was beaten by his ex-father-in-law’s group, Zhao Cheng’s sister brought people to arrest his ex-father-in-law and all his men.

The ex-father-in-law threatened to make the matter known to everyone.

Zhao Cheng’s sister threatened them back: if they dared to cause a scene at the Zhao family’s workplaces, the Zhao family would take them all to court, brand them with criminal records, and ensure their younger generation would never pass political background checks for military academies or civil service exams.

Zhao Cheng’s wife could only swallow her resentment and agree to a settlement and divorce.

In the end, Zhao Cheng’s wife left the marriage with practically nothing.

And she had to take the two kids with her.

Simply because both children were girls.

In Zhao Cheng’s eyes, not only could they not carry on the Zhao family line, but they would also hinder him from finding a second wife, so he might as well discard them.

And his wife hadn’t even finished her postpartum confinement month at the time.

If he wasn’t a beast, what was he?

Almost simultaneously, Zhao Cheng’s voice rang out: “Zhang Ruize, look what good stuff I brought you!”

Then his smile froze.

Why were these old women here too?

Would they ruin his good deed?

But since he had already spoken, taking it back would clearly show he had a guilty conscience.

So he could only continue: “Zhang Ruize, haven’t you been doing antique business lately? I have a treasure at home that I want to sell to you.”

As he spoke, he shoved Granny Zhang and the others aside, directly handing the shoebox in his hand to Ao Ruize.

Ao Ruize hurriedly reached out to support Granny Zhang. He raised an eyebrow and, before Granny Zhang and the others could react, directly reached out and took the shoebox.

Opening the shoebox, he saw a white bowl about the size of an adult’s palm inside. Although it had been washed beforehand, one could still faintly see dirt settled in its patterns.

Zhao Cheng couldn’t wait: “This bowl has been passed down from my ancestors. I had an expert appraise it, and they said it’s a white-glazed dragon-carved bowl fired by the imperial kiln during the Qianlong reign.”

Ao Ruize raised his eyebrow again. He picked up the bowl and began to examine it carefully.

Granny Chen and the others finally snapped back to reality: “What passed down from your ancestors? Isn’t this the bowl your family uses to feed the dog?”

“Did you really think washing it a bit would mean I wouldn’t recognize it?”

“What are you trying to do?”

“Are you trying to scam Zhang Ruize?”

The expression on Zhao Cheng’s face instantly stiffened again.

He hadn’t expected these old women to actually ruin his plan.

He immediately grew anxious: “What dog-feeding bowl? This is my family’s ancestral treasure bowl!”

“What do you old fogeys know?”

Right at that moment, Ao Ruize suddenly put down the bowl and asked, “How much are you planning to sell this bowl for?”

Zhao Cheng’s eyes instantly lit up. He never expected that even after Granny Chen and the others had exposed him to this extent, Ao Ruize would still fall for it.

He immediately said: “I already had an appraising expert estimate its value. They said this bowl is worth at least 500,000.”

“Seeing as we are old acquaintances, and since I’m in urgent need of money recently, I can give you a 20% discount.”

Ao Ruize said straightforwardly: “Fifty thousand.”

Zhao Cheng’s eyes brightened even more. He hadn’t expected Ao Ruize to directly offer such a high price of 50,000.

What did this mean?

It meant he had truly been fooled.

Who knew Ao Ruize was so easy to scam!

Zhao Cheng was thrilled, but he forced himself to calm down: “Fifty thousand, no, that’s way too little.”

“Three hundred and fifty thousand, no less.”

Ao Ruize: “Sixty thousand.”

Zhao Cheng: “Three hundred thousand.”

Ao Ruize: “Sixty-five thousand, not a penny more.”

Hearing this, Granny Chen and the others were in an uproar. They immediately grabbed Ao Ruize: “Ruize, you’re crazy!”

“Do you still not know what kind of thing Zhao Cheng is? If this bowl were real, how could he possibly sell it to you for hundreds of thousands cheaper?”

Seeing Ao Ruize’s expression actually hesitate for a moment, Zhao Cheng instantly panicked: “Sixty-five thousand it is! This bowl is yours!”

Ao Ruize smiled. He stopped Granny Chen and the others: “Granny Chen, I know you’re doing this for my own good, but my intuition tells me this bowl is real, so I want to take a gamble.”

Then he turned back to Zhao Cheng: “Deal. But we must sign a contract so you can’t go back on your word in the future.”

“Also, I can only give you five thousand now. I can only give you the rest later.”

Zhao Cheng almost laughed out loud on the spot.

He was originally a bit worried: what if Ao Ruize regretted it later and came to make a scene at his door, just like his ex-father-in-law?

Although he wasn’t afraid, who would want to deal with such things?

To think Ao Ruize was now actively proposing to sign a contract—

What else did he have to worry about?

Zhao Cheng immediately said: “Deal.”

As for Ao Ruize saying he didn’t have that much money on hand right now…

Of course he knew Ao Ruize had basically no money.

But Zhang Qingyan did.

“But you have to write me an IOU.”

With an IOU, was he afraid Zhang Qingyan wouldn’t help Zhang Ruize pay off the debt?

A few minutes later, Zhao Cheng left, satisfied, holding the contract and the IOU.

Looking at Zhao Cheng’s ecstatic retreating figure, the little milk dumpling couldn’t help but open its mouth.

Mainly because it hadn’t expected a cannon fodder to be double-killed like this.

Also, the novels hadn’t lied to it—the protagonist in a treasure-appraising novel could literally sit at home and have rare treasures deliver themselves to his door.

Granny Zhang and the others, however, were completely dumbfounded.

“Ruize, you’re crazy—”

Because five living, breathing adults standing right here had actually failed to stop Ao Ruize.

Ao Ruize merely smiled: “Ladies, do I look like a fool to you?”

Granny Zhang and the others were stunned.

They looked at Ao Ruize, then looked at the bowl on the table.

Judging by Ao Ruize’s tone, this bowl was actually real?

Ao Ruize didn’t explain further. He directly picked up the bowl: “Alright, please make yourselves at home. I’m going to the antique street right now to sell this bowl.”

Granny Zhang and the others: “…”

With that, he took the bowl and went out the door.

Ao Ruize went straight to the largest shop on the antique street, Qibao Pavilion.

Upon first learning of Ao Ruize’s intentions, the boss’s tone was very calm.

After all, he received who knows how many customers like Ao Ruize every month.

But when he saw the shoebox, the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

In his view, if Ao Ruize had really brought a treasure, how could he use a shoebox to carry it?

So Ao Ruize was probably just another person who found an old-looking item at home, thought it was an antique, and couldn’t wait to bring it to the antique shop to see if he could strike it rich.

However, the second he opened the shoebox, his pupils suddenly shrank violently.

—If Ao Ruize’s gaze wasn’t so sharp, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

The boss calmly picked up the bowl and examined it over and over again.

Only after a good while did he put the bowl down, then said impassively: “This bowl does look like a white-glazed dragon-carved bowl, but it’s too plain. I can’t be completely sure.”

“After all, who doesn’t know that Qianlong loved flashy, colorful things? So after he ascended the throne, the imperial kiln hardly ever fired plain-colored items.”

“But I’m willing to take a gamble. How much is mister planning to sell it for?”

Ao Ruize smiled: “Boss, your eyes have deceived you. This is no white-glazed dragon-carved bowl, but a Xiaofen Jade Bowl from the Qianlong era.”

“Legend has it that not long after Qianlong ascended the throne, his biological mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian, fell severely ill. After the imperial physicians diagnosed her, they said the medicine they prescribed had to be used in conjunction with jade vessels to achieve the best efficacy. Qianlong therefore ordered artisans overnight to rush-produce a set of jade vessels, including jade bowls, plates, cups, and vases. Because of this, this set of jade vessels was praised by the world as ‘Qianlong Xiaofen’①.”

He certainly didn’t have such an eye, but the little milk dumpling was different. As a system, it only needed to scan it once to deduce its origins based on similar antiques that had already appeared in the world.

Hearing this, how could the boss not know that Ao Ruize had already completely figured out the origin of this treasure, and knew that he couldn’t pick up this bargain on the cheap.

He personally poured Ao Ruize a cup of tea: “So, mister is planning to sell this bowl?”

Ao Ruize nodded.

It was impossible to say the boss wasn’t tempted: “In 2013, Sotheby’s auctioned a Qianlong Xiaofen jade cup, and the final selling price was 8.8 million.”

“The 8.8 million from back then would definitely be worth over 10 million now. But considering auction prices are inherently inflated, and if you put it up for auction, a large sum would be deducted for commission… I can offer you 8 million at most.”

Most importantly, he had to make a profit of at least a few hundred thousand.

“Moreover, I can’t come up with this much cash by myself, so I have to find a few friends to buy it together.”

But he was actually still a little suspicious. After all, if Ao Ruize sent this jade bowl to an auction house, although the wait might be a bit longer, it could definitely sell for a higher price.

Yet he specifically chose to sell this jade bowl to him…

Ao Ruize said, “No need for such trouble.”

“I only want 860,000 in cash. As for the rest, I’m very interested in the three shop treasures of Qibao Pavilion.”

Ao Ruize wanted to do an exchange with him?

Qibao Pavilion had three shop-stabilizing treasures: one was a complete set of Liao Dynasty reign-title coins, with a market value of around 5 million.

One was a paperweight once used by Su Shi, bearing his personal seal, with a market value of around 1.2 million.

One was the painting Busy Farming created by Tang Bohu in his early years, perfectly preserved, with a market value of around 2.2 million.

The boss suddenly understood. It must be that Ao Ruize had taken a fancy to one of his shop treasures, which was why he had the thought of selling this jade bowl to him.

In his view, these three items combined still couldn’t compare to the jade bowl Ao Ruize brought.

After all, this was a supreme palace treasure that both Emperor Qianlong and Empress Xiaoshengxian had used.

So the boss immediately agreed: “Deal.”

“But I must invite a few more experts to appraise it for me first.”

After all, this was an 8 million transaction. If his eyes had deceived him, even if he didn’t go bankrupt, he would still be severely fleeced.

“Alright.”

Ao Ruize didn’t care who had used the antique. He only knew that the older the antique, the greater its spirituality, making it more suitable for crafting magical artifacts. So every single one of Qibao Pavilion’s three shop treasures was actually no worse than this jade bowl.

Calculating it this way, he had also made a profit.

“However, if anyone asks, you can only say I sold this bowl for 860,000.”

The boss: “No problem.”

That afternoon, the boss called over all the expert friends he could summon.

They examined the jade bowl repeatedly and ultimately confirmed that it was indeed a Xiaofen Jade Bowl from the Qianlong era.

So, an hour later, Ao Ruize returned to the urban village with a hot 860,000 in cash.

At that time, Zhao Cheng was feasting and drinking at home.

He had specifically asked Mother Zhao to cook a massive table of dishes.

All to celebrate the fact that he had swindled 65,000 yuan out of Zhang Ruize in one go.

“Come on, drink, drink, drink!”

Zhao Cheng’s sister-in-law couldn’t help but frown: “Second brother, isn’t it a bit wrong for you to do this?”

After all, their family’s reputation was already foul enough.

Eldest Brother Zhao immediately frowned as well: “What’s wrong with it?”

“Zhang Ruize dared to offend our Zhao family. What’s wrong with teaching him a lesson? Besides, we even got a free 65,000 out of it.”

“Otherwise, other people would think our family is easy to bully.”

Zhao Cheng was even more smug: “Besides, can scamming in the antique world really be called scamming? That can only be considered Zhang Ruize’s own poor judgment.”

“I just have to let him know exactly how deep the waters of the antique world are. Maybe after suffering this lesson, he’ll realize his errors and turn back! So the Zhang family should actually be thanking me! Hahahaha.”

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng’s sister-in-law didn’t dare to say anything more.

Right at that moment, Zhao Cheng’s phone rang.

Raising his glass to take another sip of wine, Zhao Cheng pulled out his phone.

The next second, the expression on his face completely froze.

Because just now, Ao Ruize had transferred 60,000 yuan to him in one go.

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