Chapter 95: The Sky-High Price of Five Colors (Part 1)

  He didn't have time to take care of the matter with Tao Jingying, and only called her on the second day early in the morning to ask her to arrive at Rui Lin Jewelry's booth on time to help.

  As for myself, there are still many things to do. The day before the opening of the jewelry exhibition, I solved a high-quality jadeite, so I want to go and try my luck again to see if I can encounter another valuable raw stone.

  After wandering around the rough stone trading area for half a day, apart from absorbing a lot of spiritual energy, there were no other special discoveries. As for those rough stones that contained spiritual energy but not strong spiritual energy, Qu Wen didn't bother to spend money to buy them, otherwise it would be too showy to raise prices whenever he bought something.

  When arriving at Rui Lin Jewelry's booth, it was already noon. What surprised Qu Wen was that Tao Jingying could still persist in staying inside the booth, but her lovely face had long been overcast with dark clouds.

  "How was it? Did you sell any jewelry this morning?" Just by looking at Tao Jingying's expression, Qu Wen knew the outcome wasn't good, but he still came over to ask.

  To be honest, Qu Wen didn't really dislike Tao Jingying. Just like he said before, a man and a woman competing with each other is nothing unusual. It's just that Tao Jingying always intentionally or unintentionally hit his weak spot, so he wanted to play a small trick on her.

  As expected, Tao Jingying's face turned gloomy and she glared at Qu Wen with a fierce gaze: "Not one item was sold, are you satisfied with this result?"

  "Satisfied!? What am I supposed to be satisfied with? You're the one I asked for help, but you didn't help at all. What am I supposed to be satisfied with? Satisfied that you're standing here? Satisfied that you helped drive away customers? Or satisfied with your terrible attitude?"

  It was somewhat unexpected that Tao Jingying could persist in staying on the exhibition stand for half a day. If it were some other rich young lady, she might have thrown things and left long ago. However, Tao Jingying's tone of voice and attitude always made him unacceptable.

  "Do you know that you're a girl, a very pretty girl? Don't look at me with that kind of gaze. I'm telling the truth. But your temper is too bad, and you're too self-conceited, always thinking that just because you have some money, you're superior. If it weren't for the help of your family and friends, see what else you could do? Of course, you don't care about what I say, but if you don't put away your missy attitude, I'm afraid there won't be many people willing to truly befriend you or sincerely teach you things."

  Qu Wen finished speaking and ignored Tao Jingying, sitting down on the appraiser's seat inside the booth, leaving her alone to think. Since she wasn't a relative of his own, why bother wasting energy on her?

  As soon as Qu Wen sat down, more than a dozen people surrounded him, holding various items for him to appraise. It can be said that Hong Kong people have a strong sense of public morality, although they formed a circle around him, there was no sign of chaos, and everyone followed the order of first come, first served.

  "Master Qu, why are you so late today? I've been waiting for you all morning. I just wanted to ask you to take a look at these two silver ornaments and see if they're worth anything?" An auntie walked up, holding two old silver accessories with a slightly yellowish tint.

  In response to this, Quwen could only smile. From the day before, more and more people came to him for help in identifying antiques rather than jewelry. Although this was somewhat at odds with the purpose of the Jewelry Expo, as long as it brought more foot traffic to their booth, Quwen and Shen Jianhai didn't mind.

  After taking over the silver chicken ornament and looking at it seriously, whether it's the workmanship or the style characteristics, it has a very strong late Qing national characteristic. Moreover, there is a faint white mist on top, so it can be confirmed that this is an old silver ornament from the Republic of China period.

  "Auntie, this piece should be an old silver ornament from the early days of the Republic of China, inheriting the characteristics of the late Qing dynasty. In terms of craftsmanship, many intricate techniques were used to make the shape of the object very realistic. However, it's just a folk craft product and the size is too small, so its market value isn't high. I think it can sell for around 10,000 yuan at most."

  When she heard Qu Wen's words, the aunt seemed somewhat disappointed, took back the silver ornament with a simple thank you and turned to leave.

  An middle-aged man walked up, holding a jade Ruyi in his hand, and smiled respectfully at Qu Wen: "Master Qu, I've come all the way from the New Territories to find you. This is a jade Ruyi that I picked up at an antique market two years ago. At first, I thought it was from the Ming or Qing dynasty, but after bringing it back, I felt that the texture on top wasn't clear enough and the color was too deep, so I'm afraid I might have bought a fake. That's why I brought it here today to ask for your help in taking a look."

  Qu Wen heard and smiled again, but whenever he heard that there was a free appraisal, the legs of collectors would always be particularly quick. From the New Territories to Central, even if driving, it would take at least 30 minutes. Along the way, carrying a delicate and long jade Ruyi, I'm not afraid of bumping into anything, nor is it worth chipping off a corner.

  "Congratulations, you didn't buy this jade Ruyi wrong, it's a very valuable treasure from the mid-Qing dynasty." Qu Wen looked at it and replied to the middle-aged man: "The earliest Ruyi can be traced back to the Wei and Jin dynasties, but most of them are from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Especially in the Qing dynasty, people paid more attention to jade, resulting in a large number of Ruyis carved from whole pieces of jade. The craftsmanship of jade products during this period is usually very delicate, with intricate patterns, and the materials used are also very particular. This piece of yours is a typical example of mid-Qing dynasty style."

  "Let's talk about the color of this jade Ruyi. You said earlier that the color is too deep and might be a problem. Actually, it's not. This is a kind of aging technique from the Qianlong period. First, the jade is mixed with iron filings and heated, then soaked in hot vinegar for over ten days before being buried underground for several months. After taking it out, the surface of the jade will have a texture like orange peel, just as beautiful as ancient Han dynasty jade. Because this technique was passed down by a craftsman from Wuxi named Ah Ke during the Qianlong period, it's called 'Ke Rust'. Therefore, I think this is a Qing dynasty Ruyi from the Qianlong period, and its value should be between 600,000 to 800,000 Hong Kong dollars."

  After listening to Qu Wen's slow explanation, the middle-aged man laughed with his mouth wide open, and it seemed that he didn't spend much money when he bought it.

  "Thank you Master Qu, thank you Master Qu."

  "Don't be polite, next one."

  "Next."

  "Next one..."

  In just two hours, Qu Wen helped to appraise forty or fifty pieces of jewelry and antiques, averaging one piece every two minutes, at an extremely fast speed. With Zhao Haifeng's table also having a long line in front of it, the entire afternoon saw Rui Lin Jewelry's booth become the most lively booth in the exhibition hall.

  But the ultra-high popularity did not bring Tao Jingying a good performance, however, after Qu Wen said so, she barely squeezed out a smile on her face and managed to sell two mid-range jewelry.

  Just as I was resting and preparing to appraise the next customer's item, I suddenly heard Zhao Haifeng beckoning me over, saying: "Awen, come take a look at this."

  Qu Wen was very familiar with Zhao Haifeng's ability to appraise, and didn't dare call him a master, but at the very least he was an expert. He was very curious what kind of thing could make him so unprepared. As he walked over, he teased: "What's going on? Is there something that can stump even you?"

  Zhao Haifeng turned back and gave Qu Wen a cold glance: "You'd better not speak carelessly, first take a good look at this brocade before speaking."