Chapter 17: Appreciate It at Home

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Alright, if you say so,” Gao Chengwen responded with a chuckle and didn’t argue with the young man. He took the scroll and spread it out on a nearby table.

“Is this Wu Daozi’s painting, Hundred of Beasts?” asked Gao Chengwen, his gaze sharpened.

“What do you think, is it real?” the young man asked eagerly.

“It’s a counterfeit. This painting is blurry. Whether it’s Wu Daozi’s figure, landscape, or animal paintings, they are all very clear. This one appears quite blurry, clearly a counterfeit,” Gao Chengwen offered his appraisal.

“A counterfeit? That can’t be! This is my family heirloom,” the young man protested.

“Young man, don’t play the family heirloom card here. As I just said, everyone who comes to my shop claims their items are family heirlooms. They bring in broken bowls and call them family treasures,” Gao Chengwen shook his head and chuckled.

“How much can you offer for this painting?” the young man asked.

“Although it’s blurry, the craftsmanship is excellent. It suggests that the imitator is highly skilled. I won’t undercut you; I’ll offer you 5,000 yuan,” Gao Chengwen stated.

Gao Chengwen claimed not to undercut, but in reality, the only flaw in this painting was its blurriness. Everything else was impeccable. If he sold it, it could easily fetch over 50,000 yuan, maybe even hundreds of thousands for those who couldn’t afford an authentic piece and cherished Wu Daozi’s work.

“Could you consider a bit more? If I didn’t need money urgently, I wouldn’t be selling it,” the young man hesitated.

5,000 yuan fell short of the young man’s expectations.

“Young man, why don’t you name your price, and I’ll see if I can accommodate it? If I can, I’ll buy it; if not, you can try elsewhere,” Gao Chengwen proposed.

“50,000 yuan,” the young man offered.

“Young man, you’re asking for a lot. Let’s compromise; I’ll give you 10,000 yuan. If you want to sell it, I’ll take it; if not, that’s fine,” Gao Chengwen suggested.

The painting was indeed impressive; that’s why Gao Chengwen offered such a high price.

The young man hesitated, contemplating whether to accept.

At that moment, a voice rang out, “50,000 yuan, I’ll take this painting.”

Everyone turned to see a young man in his twenties entering the shop. Both Zhao Yulu and Chen Guanglei were taken aback.

“Xu Yang, why are you here?” Zhao Yulu asked.

The newcomer was indeed Xu Yang. He had rushed over despite traffic delays. Fortunately, the painting hadn’t been sold yet. Upon entering, he saw the painting on the table—Wu Daozi’s painting, Hundred of Beasts. Clearly, that young man in his late twenties was Guo Shan.

If Xu Yang hadn’t arrived in time, the painting would have been sold to the shop owner for 10,000 yuan, and buying it from the owner would have been more challenging.

Offering 50,000 yuan now should satisfy Guo Shan’s request, and he would likely sell it to Xu Yang. As for the owner, he probably wouldn’t argue. After all, the owner believed the painting was fake; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been willing to sell it for 10,000 yuan.

“I had some free time and decided to look around here. I saw this painting and thought it was nice, so I want to buy it and hang it on my wall for appreciation,” Xu Yang casually explained.

Xu Yang couldn’t reveal that the painting was an authentic piece worth 50 million yuan.

“Do you know anything about art? Just buying it for wall decoration?” Chen Guanglei sneered.

Seeing Xu Yang, Chen Guanglei felt extremely annoyed. He thought, ‘This guy had played both sisters. It was something even I, a rich heir, couldn’t achieve. He was just a poor kid from a small county. It really made people extremely unhappy to have such good fortune.’

“Even though I know nothing about paintings, can’t I buy one?” Xu Yang questioned as he glanced at Chen Guanglei from the corner of his eyes.

“Guanglei, do you know each other?” Gao Chengwen asked.

“I’ve seen him before, but I’m not familiar with him,” Chen Guanglei said.

Then, Gao Chengwen basically understood the relationship between the two. He thought, ‘They were just acquaintances, not even friends. Moreover, it could be seen from Chen Guanglei’s attitude that the relationship between Chen Guanglei and Xu Yang was not good. ‘

Thinking of that, Gao Chengwen said, “Young man, My advice is not to buy them randomly if you don’t know anything about paintings. Otherwise, you will regret it later.”

Xu Yang said, “I just think that this painting is worth 50,000 yuan. There is no problem with buying it randomly. You are the boss here, right? Do you want to buy it for 50,000 yuan?” If you don’t want to buy it, I’ll buy it.”

“Are you really willing to spend 50,000 yuan on this painting of mine?” Guo Shan asked.

If Guo Shan could really sell it for 50,000 yuan, he would make a huge profit. He bought the painting from a street stall and only spent 500 yuan. When he offered 50,000 yuan, he didn’t expect Gao Chengwen to agree.

Guo Shan thought about the bargaining between the two parties, it was already considered not bad if it could be sold for about 30,000 yuan. Now, it was even better that Xu Yang was willing to spend 50,000 yuan to buy the painting.

“It’s true. I think your painting is really good. It’s totally worth the price.” Xu Yang nodded.

“That’s great. I’ll sell this painting to you.” Guo Shan smiled.

Gao Chengwen’s eyes flickered. In fact, he even suspected that Xu Yang was Guo Shan’s underling and the two of them were acting and lying to him.

This kind of thing had happened to Gao Chengwen before. He had been tricked once and lost tens of thousands of yuan.

“Do you own this shop, sir? I understand it might not be right for me to jump in like this, but in these situations, the highest bidder wins. Don’t you agree?” Xu Yang inquired.

Upon hearing that, Gao Chengwen grew more suspicious that Yang and Guo Shan were conspiring, ‘This painting was just a fake. 50,000 yuan was really too high. Perhaps he wouldn’t lose out, but without good luck, he wouldn’t earn much.’

Thinking of that, Gao Chengwen said, “If you want to buy it, then buy it. I don’t want it.”

“Do you think that this painting is real?” Chen Guanglei sneered. “My uncle had appraised it, but you thought you got a treasure?”

Xu Yang looked at Chen Guanglei and said, “I don’t think so. I have already said that I think this painting is good. I will buy it and hang it on the wall to admire it.”

It was only then Xu Yang found out that the owner of this shop was Chen Guanglei’s uncle. Of course, that was not Xu Yang’s concern. He only cared about whether he could buy the painting.

Chen Guanglei sneered again. “Stop pretending. I think you just want to take advantage of it. Have you ever thought about what makes you think you are good at it? My uncle has already appraised it and it is a fake. If you think you got a treasure, you’ll end up losing money.”

It was very difficult for an individual to sell such a counterfeit. Only antique shops had a greater chance of meeting people who were willing to buy. The others deemed that Xu Yang would definitely lose 50,000 yuan for nothing.

Zhao Yulu coldly added, “Xu Yang, I admit you’ve had some luck with futures investments, but thinking you can find hidden treasures in antiques is overly optimistic.”