usenovelgroup Chapter 5: The Intrigue Within an Intrigue in the Antique Street
Chapter 5: The Intrigue Within an Intrigue in the Antique Street
Ruili's antique street, hidden behind the bustling wool market, is like a time tunnel.
There's no brilliance of jade here, only the mottled marks left by time. The air is thick with the mixed smells of aged wood, Xuan paper, and cheap copper rust. The stalls are filled with so-called "Shang and Zhou bronzes," "Tang and Song porcelains," and "Ming and Qing jades," so genuine that it's hard to tell the difference; you have to rely entirely on your eyesight.
Lin Yu walked on the bluestone path, and the system interface on his phone had already refreshed.
[Task: Locate high-value cultural relics (Rating: Rare or above).]
[Reward: Intermediate "Eye of Treasure Appraisal" (can see through antique artifacts and unlock historical traceability features).]
"Above rare quality..." Lin Yu smiled wryly. This requirement was much harder than gambling on rough stones. At least with rough stones, you could look at the outer skin and the patterns on the surface, but antiques were a much more complex and unpredictable market. One wrong move and millions could be lost.
He stopped and looked at a row of "Song Dynasty Ru Kiln" porcelain shards displayed on a stall. The system's message was: Modern imitation, value: 0.
"You really can't get by in this line of work without decades of experience," Lin Yu sighed.
"Don't go to the antique street if you don't have real skills, or you'll get ripped off."
A cool, clear voice came from the side.
Lin Yu turned his head and saw a girl in a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses squatting in front of a stall, holding a small flashlight and carefully examining a jade pendant. She was Su Yuqing, his childhood friend and a jewelry appraiser, currently interning at the provincial museum, and the most knowledgeable about cultural relics among them.
"Yuqing?" Lin Yu was pleasantly surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Su Yuqing looked up and saw it was Lin Yu. The coldness in her eyes softened slightly, but she still said irritably, "My supervisor is having an academic exchange here, so I came along. But you, Lin Yu, I heard your family had some trouble. How come you still have the mind to come here?"
"I'm here to..." Lin Yu pointed to the stall, "to try my luck."
"Luck?" Su Yuqing stood up, walked to his side, and lowered her voice, "Luck here isn't so easy to come by. I saw you staring at those 'Ru ware' porcelain shards for a long time. They were machine-pressed, and even the antiquing solution was just soaked yesterday."
Lin Yu awkwardly touched his nose. Although the system could see through the deception, he still had to pretend to be an amateur.
"I don't understand this, I'm just looking around," Lin Yu said.
"Don't buy things you don't understand." Su Yuqing sighed, her tone softening. "I know you're in a hurry to pay off your debts, but you can't rush into anything. In the antique business, there are ten times more fakes than genuine ones."
"That's not necessarily true."
Lin Yu's gaze was suddenly drawn to a stall in a corner.
The stall was inconspicuous; the owner was an old man wearing a straw hat, and several tattered items were displayed in front of him. But under the system's view, one item among those items emitted a faint golden light!
It was a "bronze artifact" that looked like scrap metal, but under Lin Yu's "beginner's eye for treasures," its internal structure was clearly visible—it wasn't bronze at all, but a jade plaque wrapped in a special process!
"Yuqing," Lin Yu pointed to the stall, "come with me to take a look at that one."
Su Yuqing frowned, but still followed.
"Boss, how much is this?"
Lin Yu pointed to the "rusty bronze" object and asked. The object looked like a paperweight with strange patterns engraved on it.
The old man looked up, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing Lin Yu: "Young man, you have a good eye. This is my family's heirloom, a Warring States bronze scepter. Although it's heavily rusted, it's still in good condition. Give me a discount, 100,000 yuan."
One hundred thousand yuan?
Su Yuqing almost burst out laughing: "Boss, you've gone too far with this joke. The rust is just on the surface and can be easily scraped off; it's clearly been corroded with strong acid. This is a fake made just last week, and you call it the Warring States period? I think it's 'last week'."
The stall owner's face darkened: "Young lady, don't talk nonsense if you don't know. This has been passed down through generations."
"Inheritance?" Su Yuqing took out a magnifying glass and pointed to a mark under the rust. "Look here, this is a spiral pattern left by modern industrial polishing. Where would they have such machines in the Warring States period?"
The stall owner, having been exposed, was somewhat embarrassed and angry, and was about to retaliate.
Lin Yu suddenly spoke up: "Boss, this thing isn't worth 100,000, but I like it. How about this, I'll offer 1,000. If you sell it, I'll keep it to play with; if not, I'll leave."
The stall owner's eyes flickered, as if he was hesitating. He glanced at a few people not far away, who were staring in their direction.
"Alright! A thousand yuan it is!" The stall owner, as if having made a huge decision, shoved the item into Lin Yu's hands. "Take it, take it!"
Lin Yu paid the money, picked up the "Bronze Town" and stood up.
"Why would you buy this junk?" Su Yuqing asked, puzzled. "It's clearly fake."
"You'll find out when we get back," Lin Yu said with a mysterious smile.
He had just noticed that although the stall owner had sold some items, his eyes kept glancing at a few people not far away. Those people were wearing vests and had tattoos on their arms; they didn't look like they dealt in antiques at all.
Sure enough, Lin Yu and Su Yuqing had only taken a few steps when those people surrounded them.
"Kid, leave your stuff here."
A bald man, who was in the lead, blocked their path and reached out to snatch their weapon.
"Why should I?" Lin Yu shielded the items behind his back.
"Why should I?" the bald man sneered. "This item is consigned by our 'Cloud Top Pavilion,' and you bought it for a thousand dollars? It's our store's prized possession! Give it back right now, or don't blame us for being impolite!"
Su Yuqing's face flushed red with anger: "You're robbers! That was clearly a fair trade!"
"Fair trade?" The bald man grabbed Lin Yu by the collar. "Kid, don't you know the rules of this antique street? If you've been fooled, you have to accept the loss! Hand over the item, and compensate us 99,000 yuan, and we'll call it even. Otherwise..."
Lin Yu looked at the bald man so close to him, but his eyes remained unusually calm.
"Yundingxuan? Is that the magnificently decorated shop over there?" Lin Yu asked.
"You do have some good judgment," the bald man said smugly.
"Okay." Lin Yu suddenly released his grip. "Here you go."
The bald man was stunned, not expecting Lin Yu to give in so easily. He snatched the "Bronze Town" and was about to laugh triumphantly when Lin Yu suddenly made his move.
Lin Yu's fingers precisely gripped the bald man's wrist and squeezed it hard.
"Ouch!" The bald man cried out in pain and loosened his grip.
Lin Yu seized the item and shoved the bald man, causing him to stumble.
"You dare to lay a hand on me?" the bald man roared, waving his hand to summon his men.
"stop!"
A sharp shout rang out. Several plainclothes police officers rushed out from the crowd and pinned the men to the ground.
"Suspected of fraud and extortion, come with us!"
The lead policeman walked up to Lin Yu and saluted: "Mr. Lin, right? Comrade Acha instructed us to keep an eye on this area. This 'Yundingxuan' is a fraud gang that specializes in setting up scams. They specifically target tourists from other places, first selling counterfeit goods at low prices, and then impersonating the victims or police officers to extort money from them."
Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Su Yuqing: "Looks like we're in luck."
"You figured it out a long time ago?" Su Yuqing looked at him in surprise.
"Just a little bit." Lin Yu smiled. "Let's go back and open our presents."
Back at the hotel, Lin Yu found some tools.
"What are you going to do?" Su Yuqing asked.
Peel it.
Lin Yu carefully tapped the surface of the "Bronze Town" with a small hammer. The thick layer of rust and clay began to peel off.
As the outer shell was peeled away little by little, a warm, white jade pendant was gradually revealed.
"This is..." Su Yuqing's eyes widened as she took out a magnifying glass to examine it closely. "Ming Dynasty Hetian jade? The craftsmanship... it's in the style of 'Zi Gang' brand!"
Lin Yu remained silent; his "Elementary Eye of Treasure Appraisal" had already seen something deeper.
There was a hidden compartment in the middle of the jade pendant!
"Yuqing, get me a small knife."
Lin Yu took the knife and gently pried at an inconspicuous corner of the jade pendant.
With a soft "snap," a small piece of jade on the back of the jade pendant was pried open.
Hidden inside was a piece of parchment folded very small.
Lin Yu and Su Yuqing exchanged a glance and carefully unfolded the parchment.
It was a hand-drawn map. It was marked with complicated latitude and longitude coordinates and some strange symbols.
Su Yuqing looked at the map and suddenly gasped: "Lin Yu, look at this mark... This is a marker for the Hpakant mining area in Myanmar! This location marked on it... if I'm not mistaken, is an abandoned ancient mine! And..."
She pointed to a red dot on the map: "This is marked 'Jade King,' the legendary most mysterious high-quality jade vein in the Hpakant mining area! If we could find it..."
Lin Yu's heart began to pound.
A system notification sounded in his mind: [High-value artifact (Ming Dynasty Zigan plaque) and hidden clue (mineral vein map) detected. Mission completion: 120%.]
[Reward Distributed: Intermediate "Eye of Treasure Appraisal" has been unlocked.]
A warm current, stronger than before, flowed through Lin Yu's body, and he felt his vision become clearer, even able to see the floating dust particles in the air.
He looked at the map in his hand, his eyes becoming deep.
"Zhao Kun, aren't you here to collect a debt?" Lin Yu smirked coldly. "Soon, I'll have something to give you."
Looking at Lin Yu, Su Yuqing suddenly felt that this once familiar playmate had become somewhat unfamiliar. It seemed that an unseen power was awakening within him.
"Lin Yu, are you going to Myanmar?" Su Yuqing asked.
"Of course." Lin Yu put away the map. "Not only are we going, but we're going to go big. Yuqing, this time, are you brave enough to gamble with me?"
Looking into his confident eyes, Su Yuqing nodded almost unconsciously: "Okay, I'll bet with you."
Outside the window, the night in Ruili was deep and dark. Lin Yu knew that this map was not only the key to wealth, but also the beginning of his counterattack.
He has acquired the "Intermediate Eye of Treasure Appraisal," and from now on, antiques and jade will all be playthings in his hands.
"System, what's the next task?"
[Mission: Travel to the mining area in Myanmar to verify clues about the mineral vein.]
[Reward: Unlocks the "Language Proficiency" (Burmese, English) and "Junior Negotiation Expert" skills.]
Lin Yu clenched his fist. Myanmar, here I come.