Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 910: Chapter 906 Dongyang Antique Shop

Ginza in Dongdu is said to be one of the most prosperous places for luxury consumption in the world, and that’s what Huo Sining had always heard, so she came to this place full of enthusiasm.

However, she didn’t know whether it was because the things she was exposed to lately were increasingly precious, or because this place naturally clashed with her aura, but after just visiting a few shops, Huo Sining felt her enthusiasm fading.

She always felt these luxury items weren’t as impressive as the rumors claimed; all these things were available domestically, some even more exquisite and luxurious. She even had a feeling that this place couldn’t compare to Wangfujing in the Imperial Capital. Yet, year after year, countless people from her country flock here.

But it was when Huo Sining was bored out of her mind that she stumbled upon a shop named Nara Grocery Store at the corner of an alley. Inside, the shop was entirely retro Huaxia style, resembling a domestic antique shop with rows of curio shelves. On these shelves, whether lacquered food boxes or teacups, even small incense burners exuded a strong Huaxia flavor.

Huo Sining instantly found herself intrigued, took a few steps into the shop, and wandered in front of these curio shelves, carefully examining the items on the racks.

At that moment, a middle-aged man walked towards her, slightly surprised upon seeing Huo Sining, then examined her from head to toe, and tentatively asked, ”Miss, are you a Huaxia person?”

The man spoke in Mandarin; Huo Sining was somewhat surprised, raised an eyebrow, looked at the man, and with a smile, asked, ”How can you tell?”

After saying this, Huo Sining didn’t wait for the man to speak first; she laughed herself, thinking such refined language could only roll off the tongue of a true Huaxia person.

Generously, she nodded, admitting, ”I am a Huaxia person; are you the owner of this shop?”

The middle-aged man nodded, ”Here to travel?”

Huo Sining shook her head, ”Studying, traveling along the way.”

The middle-aged man immediately laughed, ”It seems your family background is pretty good.”

Huo Sining shrugged, neither admitting nor denying, but looked at the owner and smilingly asked, ”Is the owner a Huaxia immigrant or a local?”

The middle-aged man smiled, ”I am local, but my mother is Huaxia, originally from the East Three Provinces.”

Huo Sining turned her head to look at the items on the shelves but was a bit dazed upon seeing the price tags on the bottom.

A general jar from the Qing Daoguang year, with a luck character, belonged to a third-rate grade; such items were numerous in the domestic antique market, with transaction prices topping at three or five hundred. Yet the general jar before her had a marked price of two hundred thousand in Dongyang Currency, equivalent to fifteen thousand RMB. Such a price was indeed ridiculous.

The owner seemed to have noticed Huo Sining’s doubt and smilingly explained that in Dongyang, aside from domestic antique porcelain, European porcelain and South Korean porcelain were very abundant. But by comparison, Huaxia porcelain was very scarce, making the saleable Huaxia porcelain on market expensive.

This explanation instantly reminded Huo Sining of the day she spent eight million RMB to buy a pair of Twining Plum Bottles from Watanabe Yasu at the Imperial Capital Ghost Market. At that time, she found it strange why Watanabe Yasu, a Dongyang person, was so intrigued by Huaxia porcelain, and now the reason was clear.

If that pair of Twining Plum Bottles were genuine, when Watanabe Yasu took them back to Dongyang, their value could increase tenfold. No wonder even though the price exceeded the market value, Watanabe Yasu was relentless in insisting on buying them.

Unfortunately, his perfect plan went wrong; those Plum Vases were fakes with swapped bases; and so his eight million was wasted. Thinking back to how Watanabe Yasu, after the Ghost Market concluded, angrily smashed those two Plum Vases on the ground, his face grim, Huo Sining couldn’t help but find it amusing.

Due to his mother being Huaxia, this middle-aged man held an inexplicable affection for Huaxia, prompting him to study Mandarin diligently, research Huaxia history and civilization, and eventually exhaust his savings to open this Huaxia antique shop in Dongdu.

Seeing Huo Sining apparently knowledgeable about Huaxia antiques, the owner was both surprised and delighted, instantly liking her, dragging her along to chat enthusiastically.

It was then that Huo Sining learned from the owner that there were also regular antique markets akin to Huaxia in Dongyang.

In fact, Dongyang culture is inherently deeply connected with Huaxia civilization; from the Dongyang antique market and collectors’ preferences, one can see the intricate and omnipresent relationship with Huaxia traditional culture.

In Dongyang, cultural circulation includes mutual transfers among collectors and other forms, one of which is the morning market akin to Huaxia’s early market.

The dates of the morning market vary, though locations are fixed; generally held on Sundays, with most transactions concluding around lunch.

Items at the morning market are diverse, including general merchandise, antiques, fruits, flowers, pets, religious goods, etc.

However, antique transactions mainly feature local Dongyang items, while Chinese items are rare, leaving Huo Sining somewhat uninterested.

The second is antique shops, equivalent to Huaxia’s antique shops.

Dongyang’s antique shops are scattered across urban and rural areas, ranging from small shopkeepers with just a few square meters of selling space to larger ones with several staff and nearly a thousand square meters of substantial stores.

In antique shops, the variety of cultural relics greatly exceeds those at morning markets, encompassing all aspects extensively. Items from Asia, Africa, Europe, America across various periods are available, with Huaxia relics among them.

Upon hearing this, Huo Sining’s eyes sparkled; though her visit to Dongyang wasn’t voluntary, if there were some bargains to be found, she wouldn’t mind using her three-month stay on this small island country to treasure hunt extensively.

The third is the antique festival, the largest antique transaction event in Dongyang.

The antique festival is generally held in medium or large cities, with sellers comprised of local or regional antique vendors from morning markets and antique shops, attracting numerous participants, offering a wide variety, and creating a grand scale. Locations typically include exhibition halls and large venues.

Take the venue of Dongdu’s antique festival, for example—held on the first, second, and third floors of a massive building, with an area no less than four thousand square meters. Touring all stalls takes at least half a day even if one is just browsing, with the variety of cultural relics alone being exhilarating and tantalizing.

However, such events are only held once or twice a year, so Huo Sining was unsure if she could catch one in time and temporarily refrained from considering much else, opting to explore the big and small antique shops first.