Chapter 62: The Treasured Darling (4)

  After some deliberation, Qu Wen returned to Wu Ge's side and stretched out five fingers: "Wu Ge, I really like these things, so let's not play around with trivial matters. How about 50,000?"

  "What! 500,000!" Wu Ge originally thought that selling for a little over 10,000 yuan would be good enough, and with some more effort, he could buy himself a wife and no longer be a bachelor who didn't even know the taste of women. He was so shocked that he couldn't even speak fully, and it took him half a day to spit out a few words.

  Actually, the price Quwen gave is not low. Excluding the wooden box, just the garlic bottle and honey wax chain beads, taking them to any market would be about this price, let alone if they were collected. If it were a black-hearted merchant, he would first belittle you and then slowly chat with you, after a while making you think that what you have in your hand is just a pile of worthless junk, finally being able to sell for a few thousand and being overjoyed as if you had gained something, maybe even smiling along with him.

  Qu Wen is not a black-hearted businessman, but neither is he a pushover. He gave a very reasonable price and fell silent, pretending to be embarrassed: "Wu Ge, the price I offered is already quite high. If you don't believe me, take these to the antique market and ask around. If someone else can give you this price, I'll cut off my head and use it as a stool for you to sit on. To be honest, if I didn't really like this pair of garlic-head vases, I would have only given 30,000 at most."

  Wu Ge doesn't know what a garlic bottle is, but Qu Wen just opened his mouth and scared him silly with 50,000. He works hard all year round and only earns 4 or 5 thousand, after deducting food, drink, and other expenses, there's not much left at the end of the year. Now Qu Wen's offer is enough for him to buy a wife, and it's even more beautiful than Er Ma Zi's wife next door.

  "Alright...alright, 500,000...500,000, I'll wrap it up for you right away!" Wu Ge stood up to gather the things in the basket, even his speech was trembling with excitement. He never thought that after being poor for half his life, his ancestors would finally bless him once and no longer let him suffer hardship.

  Seeing Wu Ge's appearance, Qu Wen immediately pulled him over. First, he didn't care how much the small wooden box was worth, and the pair of garlic bottles in the basket were also valuable. If they got broken, Qu Wen would be heartbroken, and Wu Ge would definitely be even more heartbroken, to the point where he might even think of hanging himself.

  "Wu Ge, you just sit there, I'll take care of it myself." Qu Wen said and personally put the things in the basket into a small wooden box. He took out 50,000 yuan from his bag, which was prepared in advance, and they had brought a total of 200,000 yuan, all packed in their bags. After all, there were no card machines in the mountains.

  "Wu Ge, you'd better nod in agreement, if that's the case, then we're even. From now on, all these things belong to me."

  Wu Ge took the money, his hands couldn't help but tremble violently, and he carefully counted it bill by bill. It took him a full ten minutes to finish counting, whereas someone who often handles money could have done it in one or two minutes at most.

  "Alright, alright, from now on all these things are yours. I still have two bottles of homemade rice wine in my room, if you like it, take them together." Wu Ge said and took the money back to the inner room, when he came out again, his hands were holding two bottles of rice wine in cola bottles, which he directly stuffed into Qu Wen's arms, without saying more, he 'invited' everyone to leave.

  As for Wu Ge's approach, Qu Wen is very understanding. In the southwest, there are still many impoverished areas where mountain people live a simple and frugal life. No matter who suddenly has a sum of money that they think is a lot, they will always be on guard against others having bad intentions towards them.

  Received the goods, it was already six o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky had completely darkened. However, Qu Wen's heart was still bright. Fifty thousand yuan for these things, at market price, neither expensive nor cheap, of course, not including the small wooden box.

  "Qu Ge, you're really generous, 50,000 yuan for these things, is there something rare and precious among them?" On the way back, Xiong Wu couldn't help but ask, having brought many people to the Miao village before, he had never seen anyone offer such a high price at once.

  "What's valuable here is just this pair of garlic-shaped bottles and the honey-wax chain beads, everything else I'll just throw to the bottom of the trunk when I get home, treating them as worthless trinkets."

  Jian Quwen didn't want to say anything, and Xiong Wu didn't ask any more questions. He returned to the city, received a commission of 500 yuan, thanked him several times, and then drove away alone.

  As soon as Xiong Wuyi left, Qu Wen excitedly carried the wooden box back to the hotel room, plopped down on the bed, and took out everything inside. After looking at it for a long time, he asked Zhao Haifeng: "Haifeng, what kind of wood is this?"

  In order not to arouse Wu Ge and Xiong Wu's suspicion, Zhao Haifeng didn't examine the wooden box carefully either, but seeing Qu Wen attach so much importance to it, he couldn't help but become curious, taking it in his hands and examining it from top to bottom for half a day.

  "This is truly one of the top ten good people reborn!" After a long time, Zhao Haifeng rarely burst out a foul language, his eyes wide open like copper bells.

  "This should be a Ming dynasty purple sandalwood carved box with three friends pattern."

  In just a few days after arriving in the southwest, Wei heard many stories about antique collecting. Although his interest was not very deep, he was attracted by Zhao Haifeng's exaggerated expression. A small, dark yellow wooden box could be worth several thousand dollars.

  "Brother Feng, what's so special about this box that it's worth your astonishment?"

  After the surprise, Zhao Haifeng was like a defeated rooster, helplessly letting out a long sigh: "It's said that people have different fates, I didn't believe it before, but now I do. How come this guy always picks up good stuff everywhere he goes! First of all, let's talk about the carvings and era of this box. Although only one side is carved, it's a carving of the Three Friends of Winter - pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms. Because in winter when all trees wither, only pine, bamboo, and plum blossoms remain standing, they are also known as the "Three Friends of Cold Years". This motif symbolizes eternal friendship that remains unchanged year after year, month after month. It's one of the patterns most favored by ancient scholars. From the carving technique, the pattern is intricate yet not overly elaborate, simple yet elegant, and extremely characteristic of the Ming dynasty. Adding to that the outer layer's glaze, color, and the shape of the lid, I deduce that it should be a genuine Ming dynasty piece."

  "As for the material of this box, it's even more impressive. Although it looks very dark, it's actually high-quality small-leaf sandalwood. The wood is hard and dense, with fine grain and texture, and a color that resembles rhinoceros horn. If exposed to air for a long time, it will turn purple-black, making it one of the most expensive types of wood in the world. Due to its rarity and scarcity of large pieces, it's considered a treasure among woods."

  "In ancient times, this type of wood was generally used by emperors, generals, and wealthy merchants. I recall a pair of purple sandalwood cabinets made during the mid-Qing dynasty, with an inscription on the inside of the cabinet door: 'Made in the autumn of the 26th year of the Qianlong reign, at a cost of over 300 taels of silver.' Think about it - back then, a county magistrate's monthly salary was only six taels of silver. Three hundred taels could buy an entire estate! In modern times, collectors have been wildly enthusiastic about ancient purple sandalwood, and the price has risen exponentially year after year, doubling every year. So the value of this Ming dynasty purple sandalwood box with three friends pattern... is extremely high! If I had to put a price on it, I'd say it's worth over 200,000!"

  "Two hundred thousand!!!” The order almost fell off his chair, Qu Wen spent only 50,000 yuan and brought back a large pile of things. If it's really like this, wouldn't he have made a huge profit?

  "Wen Ge, you've really hit the jackpot this time!" Yu Dan turned to look at Wen Ge with a gaze that seemed to hold a hint of reverence.

  "I bought these small things, this purple striped box is a waste of money, barely considered a big bargain."

  "Come on!" Zhao Haifeng punched heavily on Qu Wen's shoulder: "Don't ever say this out loud, otherwise ninety percent of the people in the antique market will come to fight you to death. Honestly, you're being too stingy, we're all brothers, when are you going to lend me some good luck?"

  Although the data isn't great, I've already received three recommendation letters from Sanjiang and will definitely be on the Sanjiang leaderboard next week. I won't say anything nice, but next week I'll add an extra update every day to repay everyone's support. Of course, votes, collections, the more the better.