Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 864: Chapter 860: Li the Big Bluffer

These words weren’t just Li Quan talking nonsense. He had been wandering around Liulichang Dashilan Panjiayuan in his free time and collected a lot of calligraphy works. There were quite a few such works in the market, not very expensive but highly in demand. So he collected some to cater to all sorts of customers when the new shop opens.

As for the genuine pieces by famous artists, those are hard to come by and not something he could easily obtain by luck, so he didn’t insist on those.

Hearing Li Quan’s mocking words, the man’s face turned alternately green and white. He glanced at the countless paintings in the wooden barrel and finally couldn’t bear it anymore. He said, ”Can’t you add a bit more? This is a set of three, after all, and the price you offered is too low.”

”Alright then, although they’re made of the same material, they’re not from the same person’s hand, so they can’t be counted as a set. The most valuable should be this inlaid tortoiseshell ’Lotus Mandarin Ducks’ Eight-Sided Lid Box. For this box, I’ll add five thousand more for you. This price, you won’t get it anywhere else!”

Li Quan saw the struggle in the man’s eyes and felt confident, so he spoke slowly.

”This... It’s still a bit too little. Your five thousand is too little.” The man hesitated, gritting his teeth, and offered his price, ”One hundred thousand, I’ll sell for one hundred thousand. What do you think?”

Li Quan had a bright smile on his face as if he had heard something funny: ”Eighty-five thousand is not too little. Why don’t you try another shop?”

The man’s expression changed slightly and he gritted his teeth, ”Ninety thousand! I won’t go higher. The price is already below my expectation. It’s my grandfather’s stuff. If I weren’t in urgent need of money, I would rather keep it as a keepsake than sell it cheaply!”

Such words, not to mention Huo Sining and Li Quan not believing them, even the man himself might not believe them. If he truly had a bit of conscience and affection for his grandfather, would he be so eager to sell the items right after his grandfather’s passing?

But these words were said anyway. Li Quan didn’t intend to expose him, as he was too lazy to haggle over five thousand yuan. Nodding, he said:

”Alright, ninety thousand then. Don’t raise the price anymore, my shop hasn’t even opened yet. I just want to make friends. If you have good stuff in the future, remember my little shop.”

Hearing Li Quan give in, the man breathed a sigh of relief. His tense face relaxed a lot, but before he could rejoice, Li Quan spoke again, ”I haven’t finished yet, don’t be so quick to be happy.”

Li Quan gestured to Jiang Xiaoqin, who immediately understood, turned to the storage cabinet in the back hall, and pulled out a stack of printed contracts, taking out two and handing them to Li Quan.

Li Quan smiled as he received them and pushed them in front of the man, ”You just said these are your grandfather’s legacy, rightfully inherited, but these are just your words. Our antique shop here is open to all, and if any problem arises, I can’t just move out. For the sake of peace of mind, we need to sign a contract.”

To run a shop, one has to deal with all kinds of people and things. Previously doing business on Antique Street in S City, Li Quan had seen lots of people who regretted selling things, so with these experiences, he learned a lot about running a shop and became cautious. For customers like these, he directly proposed such requirements to avoid future troubles.

Upon hearing this, the man did not immediately respond. Li Quan added, ”My shop is small, if we don’t sign a contract, even if you give it to me for free, I wouldn’t dare to take it.”

Although the man was reluctant to sign a contract, fearing Li Quan might back out and not wanting to lose the ninety thousand already agreed upon, he reluctantly agreed after hesitating for a few seconds: ”Alright, let’s sign.”

After signing the contract, Li Quan transferred ninety thousand to the man’s bank account. Once confirmed, they exchanged the items, and the man left the shop without further delay.

After the man left, Huo Sining picked up the items and weighed them in her hand.

Seeing Huo Sining staring at the three items without saying anything, Li Quan couldn’t help but anxiously ask, ”So, did I get cheated? Did I lose money or make a profit with the ninety thousand?”

It was, after all, Li Quan’s first big-money transaction, so he was a bit nervous and uncertain, very much wanting Huo Sining’s confirmation.

Seeing Li Quan’s eager eyes on her, Huo Sining found it amusing, ”So, do you want to hear the truth?”

Li Quan felt a chill in his heart but nodded resolutely. He knew the shop would encounter such things often if it continued operating. Whatever the result, he couldn’t avoid it.

”The truth is, you’re really ruthless, certainly a natural for shady business. It’s my first time seeing someone so good at fooling others. The guy was practically fooled into another world, cheated and still counting money for others. If he knew the true value of these things, he would probably cry!”

Huo Sining had the Heavenly Eye, able to see much more than Li Quan. As soon as she got the three tortoiseshell items in hand, she felt the rich Purple Spiritual Qi emanating from them.

Tortoiseshells, being turtle shells, come in varying ages. Though Huo Sining had never seen how a living tortoiseshell looked, judging from the dense Purple Spiritual Qi in these three items, the tortoiseshell material used must have been at least eight hundred years old.

While tortoiseshells are said to be thousand-year turtles, very few actually live that long. Surviving a thousand years without falling ill, meeting with accidents, or being hunted by humans, and living to natural old age, such tortoiseshells are extremely rare. Living to eight hundred years could already be considered a long-lived turtle.

This round brushpot, eight-sided box, and folding fan are all made of the same material. From the golden speckles and light brown patterns on the pieces, these three items came from the same tortoiseshell.

Made from nearly thousand-year-old tortoiseshell organic gemstones, whether or not they’re real antiques, these items are definitely valuable, far exceeding a hundred thousand or even eighty thousand in worth.

As for what Li Quan mentioned about legalities, that wasn’t even an issue. The items themselves didn’t contravene any regulations, and with Zhou Shitao around, getting legitimate provenance for them was simple; a word from the old master could settle it.