Dongtai antique market.

One of the most famous antique markets in Shanghai is known as the Liulichang of Shanghai.

Dongtai Antique Market covers an extremely large area. From Dongtai East Road to West Road, there are all vendors. From ancient ceramics, gold and silverware, jades, engravings, calligraphy and painting to modern books and stamps

, currency, daily utensils, arts and crafts are all available.

There are even some of the earliest experts in Magic City who went to the sea to deal in antiques, and they have a pivotal position in the entire Magic City antique world.

The Dongtai Antique Market is overcrowded. In addition to those who come to shop for treasures, there are also many people who come here for tourism.

"Huabao Building, this is the one the master was talking about."

After getting off the driver's car of Liang Qiong's family, Fang Ming went straight to the Dongtai antique market, and finally arrived in front of this two-story antique shop called Huabaolou.

Unlike those vendors who set up stalls in the open air, this Huabao Building not only has a two-story building, but the overall building imitates the architectural style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Unlike many retro buildings, this Huabao Building exudes an ancient atmosphere.

There were two stone drums standing on both sides of the door, with exquisite patterns of unicorns and pine trees carved on them. When he saw these two stone drums, Fang Ming smiled, because he knew that he was not in the wrong place.

These two stone drums have a familiar name: Mendang, which is the so-called Mendang that matches each other.

"Brother, do you want to come and pick out something good? Our Huabao Building has everything from porcelain from the Ming and Qing dynasties to ancient jades from the Han and Tang dynasties. Brother, you can come in and have a look."

In front of the Huabao Building stood two young shopping guides wearing ancient long mandarin jackets. When they saw Fang Ming standing in front of the store, they started soliciting customers.

"Is your boss's name Hua Borong?" Fang Ming asked.

When the two shopping guides heard this, they glanced at Fang Ming suspiciously, then nodded and replied: "Yes, our boss is called this name. Do you know our boss?"

"I'm looking for your boss."

The two shopping guides glanced at Fang Ming suspiciously. If Fang Ming hadn't mentioned their boss's name, they wouldn't have paid attention at all. But if Fang Ming could name their boss, they might actually know their boss.

"You go sit in the store first, and we'll help you ask the manager if the boss is here."

When following one of the shopping guides into the store, Fang Ming suddenly stopped, looked down at his feet, and asked: "Is there a threshold here? Why was it demolished?"

"You're talking about this, because several customers tripped over the threshold, so the boss had it demolished. It's been three or four years."

Those who come to Huabao Building are all antiques buyers, and antiques are valuable items, especially those fragile items such as porcelain and jade, which cannot withstand bumps and bumps. If you accidentally trip over the threshold, you will be fine.

There is nothing left.

Huabao Building is not only a retro building on the outside, but also the entire interior decoration. The antique rattan chairs and the display cabinets placed on both sides are all retro-looking.

Huabaolou, as an old store that has been in the antique business for more than 30 years, has an entire first floor of more than 300 square meters, with everything from jades to calligraphy and paintings.

The two shopping guides did not keep Fang Ming waiting, and soon a young man followed them to Fang Ming.

"This is our young boss." The two shopping guides introduced the young man's identity to Fang Ming and then left. Their task was to attract customers.

"Do you know my old man?" Hua Mingming looked at Fang Ming. Based on his understanding of his old man, the people in the old man's social circle are all elderly, and there are very few people who are so young.

"I don't know." Fang Ming replied truthfully.

Hua Mingming was stunned for a moment. He heard from the shopping guide that someone was looking for his old man and he knew his name, so he came out and looked at it. He didn't expect to get such an answer.

There is a kind of person who can block everything other people want to say in one sentence, and Hua Mingming is in this state at the moment because he suddenly doesn't know what to say.

After taking a deep breath, Hua Mingming continued, "Since you don't know my old man, why are you looking for him?"

Before Fang Ming could answer, Hua Mingming's eyes suddenly lit up, and his eyes fell on the door behind Fang Ming.

"Hey, Mr. Liu, why are you here? What kind of wind has brought you here? Come and sit inside."

Hua Mingming passed directly over Fang Ming and faced the few people who had just come in at the door. The one walking at the front was an old man with white hair who was over seventy years old, and the one following the old man was a hand.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses holding a wooden box.

"I'm here to bring you good things. This is my student. Something happened in his family recently, so he can only choose to sell one thing."

Mr. Liu spoke, and Hua Mingming's face showed joy after being stunned for a moment, "What do you call this gentleman?"

"My surname is Zhang."

"Mr. Zhang, right? Do you want to lend a hand or just go empty-handed?"

Hua Mingming is talking jargon, so to help is to put the thing here on consignment. If it is sold, the store will get 20% commission, and to be empty-handed is to sell the thing directly to the store, of course.

, the price will definitely be lower.

"Empty hands." The middle-aged man in glasses replied.

"Okay, then Mr. Liu, let's go in and talk." Hua Mingming nodded. Generally speaking, if you are not an acquaintance, they will not accept the goods if you are empty-handed, but with Mr. Liu's guarantee, there will be no problem.

Hua Mingming led the old man and the middle-aged man wearing glasses toward the second floor, but when he was halfway there, he remembered that there was someone waiting there.

"Brother, my old man is not in the store today. If you really have something to do with him, come over tomorrow."

Hua Mingming greeted Fang Ming, but Fang Ming's eyes were always on the wooden box held by Mr. Zhang at the moment. Although Hua Mingming and Mr. Liu didn't speak loudly, he heard everything clearly.

Chu, a chill flashed through his eyes at that moment.

"You can't take this thing." After a moment, Fang Ming withdrew his gaze and said to Hua Mingming.

As soon as Fang Ming spoke these words, Hua Mingming was stunned, and Mr. Liu was also stunned. Only Mr. Zhang's body trembled slightly.

"Brother, are you confused? This is my Huabao Building. It's my business whether I accept the things or not. What does it have to do with you?"

After waking up, Hua Mingming glared at Fang Ming angrily. You must know that Mr. Liu is the person that even his old man wants to have a relationship with. Even if Mr. Liu, a student, brings out a scrap of copper and iron, he will regard it as a sign.

The cultural relics of the Qing Dynasty were collected, not to mention that it was impossible for Mr. Liu to do such a thing.

"I advise you to contact your father when you collect this thing." There are some things that Fang Ming cannot say in such detail, at least not in this hall.

"You don't need to contact me, I can still accept it. I am the young master here, there is nothing I can't accept."

Hua Mingming was very happy with Fang Ming, because he felt that the tone of the guy in front of him seemed to have switched identities with his, making him look like he was the young master of Huabao Tower.

Facing Hua Mingming's attitude, Fang Ming frowned. If it hadn't been for his master's instructions, he would have turned around and left at this moment.

Good words can't persuade a damn ghost.

"What's the relationship between this young man and Boss Hua?" Mr. Liu spoke up at this time, asking with some confusion.

"Mr. Liu, I don't know what his relationship is with my old man. He knows my old man's name, but he says he doesn't know my old man." Hua Mingming replied from the side.

"I said can you please stop making trouble? Believe it or not, I will ask the security to kick you out." Hua Mingming glared at Fang Ming, then looked at Mr. Liu with an apologetic smile, "Mr. Liu, let's go to the second floor to talk."

"That's all, I have completed the master's instructions."

Seeing Hua Mingming's attitude, Fang Ming shook his head and said nothing more, but turned around and walked directly out the door.

"When your father comes back, tell him that our old friend from Miaohe Village has been here since then."

"ill."

Hua Mingming rolled his eyes at Fang Ming's leaving figure, and then led Mr. Liu and his students towards the second floor.

Less than an hour after Fang Ming left Huabao Building, a Mercedes-Benz S400 parked at the door of Huabao Building. A middle-aged man with a Chinese character in his fifties got out of the car.

When the two shopping guides at the door saw the middle-aged man getting out of the car, the laziness on his face immediately disappeared, and he became energetic, and quickly shouted: "My boss."

This middle-aged man is none other than Hua Borong, the owner of Huabao House.

"Mr. Liu, I haven't seen you for a long time. I heard from my family that you are here, so I came here specially."

In a tea room on the second floor, Hua Borong opened the door and greeted Mr. Liu. Over the phone, he had already learned from his son that Mr. Liu had brought his students to sell an antique.

In the tea room, in addition to Mr. Liu, his students and Hua Mingming, there was also an old man in his sixties wearing glasses.

"Obviously, since you are Mr. Liu's student, that thing is definitely not fake. Why did you ask Teacher Li to come up?"

A look of displeasure appeared on Hua Borong's face. This old man was the appraisal expert hired by Hua Bao House and was responsible for appraising jade antiques.

"Boss Hua, this is what I asked for. There must be a rule in doing business. You can't break the rule because of me. The appraisal still needs to be appraised," Mr. Liu said with a smile.

"Where does Mr. Liu still need to be appraised? Who doesn't know Mr. Liu that you have a pair of piercing eyes?" Hua Borong flattered.

"The field of antiques is too deep, and I don't have much in-depth research on jade. Besides, if you don't appraise it because of me, Boss Hua, then I will pick up a lot of porcelain from the craft market and send it to you, Boss Hua, another day.

Did you collect them all too?”

"Haha, as long as Mr. Liu sends it, I will definitely accept everything. Regardless of whether it is true or false, I will tell those buyers when the time comes that this is an item that Mr. Liu bought. I think it can be sold at a higher price."

"You really have the brains of a businessman..."

Mr. Liu smiled and waved his hand, but there was also a look of pride on his face. Although Hua Borong's words were very flattering, they also showed his reputation and status in the antiques circle.

The process of antique appraisal is very complicated, but for jade it is a little simpler. After all, the first point of jade appraisal is to determine the authenticity of the jade. Generally speaking, as long as it is real jade, there are very few fakes, because real jade can be fake.

The cost is a bit high, and many counterfeiters won’t do it.

"Oh, this is Yu Ruyi."

Hua Borong took a look at the jade that Expert Li was appraising at the moment. They were a pair of Ruyi jade, which were both top-grade jade in terms of patina and transparency.

"My boss, this is high-quality Qingtian jade. Judging from the coating, it should be from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. But what is strange is why one of the pair of Ruyi jades has red threads but the other does not."

After hearing what Expert Li said, Hua Borong also walked over and took a look. Indeed, the two Ruyi jade styles were the same size, but one of them had a looming red thread inside.

"Could it be impurities?"

Hua Borong put forward his own opinion, because many jade are not of the same color, which is caused by the distribution of minerals during geological movements. After all, jade is also a kind of stone.
To be continued...