Shadows of Antique Secrets

1

The summer sun was scorching the earth, and the air was filled with unbearable sultriness. Even though it was just after nine o'clock in the morning, there were hardly any pedestrians on the street except for the occasional passing cars.

Tom Myers rode his bicycle, hurrying to Rivertown's antique street. His face was covered with sweat, anxiety and worry. All of his worries stemmed from his father, Greg Myers, being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

"Good people really don't get rewarded!" Tom muttered as he rode his bike.

Greg Myers, 54, was indeed a good man, gentle, never lost his temper easily, dedicated to his work and willing to help others. Anyone who met him would respect him from the bottom of his heart. Because of his excellence, Greg was the first person to be approached when the company was down for the count and needed to lay off employees, and without a word, Greg signed a compensation agreement.

Fortunately, because he was the first to sign the agreement, the company agreed to pay for his social security until his retirement, which is a good arrangement. Greg used to work as a locksmith in a factory, although he was not certified, but his skills are quite good. So, he is not worried about finding a job. Many factories have already invited him.

However, just when Greg was about to start working again, he suddenly felt nauseous and had abdominal discomfort. He went to the hospital for a checkup, but got a shocking result - stomach cancer. The good news is that the cancer is in its early stages and has a good chance of being cured.

However, even at this early stage, the cost of the operation and other treatment costs, a total of 100,000 U.S. dollars. Tom's family is an ordinary working-class, just two years ago to buy a house, after paying off the loan, there is hardly any savings. At once, how to raise this huge amount of money has become the family's dilemma.

Tom's mother made a lot of phone calls to friends and relatives, but except for a few friends and relatives who were willing to help, most of them found all kinds of excuses to shirk when they heard that they were borrowing money. In the end, they were only able to borrow about 30,000 dollars, which, together with the family's savings, amounted to less than 50,000 dollars.

Looking at his parents' helplessness, Greg even wanted to give up the treatment, but he was persuaded by both mother and son. There is nothing to be done about a terminal illness, but this is an early stage cancer with a high cure rate, how can we give up? So, Tom offered to sell the house if there was no other way.

Of course, that was a last resort. How could the family sell the house they had worked so hard to buy for most of their lives? So, the family decided to try to sell a few antique properties passed down from their ancestors. This task fell on Tom's shoulders.

"The so-called rich in the mountains have distant relatives, poor in the city no one asked, really everyone is the same ah." Tom laughed in his heart and parked his bike at the entrance of Antique Haven. He felt the things in his pockets, felt relieved, wiped the sweat on his face, put on a smiling face, and walked into the antique store.

Although the store was small, it was very neatly organized. Two display shelves display porcelain, ancient jade, incense burner, literature and other kinds of antiques, each piece is quite exquisite. However, these things are not very attractive to the insiders, they can see that many of them are high imitations. Even if it is the real thing, the quality is only general, go some pick up the leakage mentality of the people will come to patronize.

Tom from 2004 began to pay attention to this line of antiques, four years down, on a variety of artifacts is considered some knowledge. Because of the shyness of money, he can only patronize the stalls or those small stores. Sometimes he would go to some bigger antique stores, but at most he would just look at them, not dare to buy.

In the store walked a middle-aged man in his forties, ordinary-looking, but a pair of eyes shining, revealing a shrewd. He is the owner of the store, named Peter Gaston.

Tom has known Peter for two years, in general, although Peter is a little slippery, but he and Tom's relationship is quite good. tom has little money, coupled with his caution, so in these two years did not suffer any losses.

Peter was a good talker and would share some antique business gossip and experience from time to time, which was very attractive to Tom, who had no master teacher to guide him, and made him come to the store often. Of course, it was also because Tom bought some things from time to time, otherwise Peter would not be so enthusiastic.

"Peter, how's business?" Tom forced a smile on his face and said hello to Peter.

Peter looked up and smiled, "It's just like that, you know the old saying in this business: don't open for three years, open for three years."

Speaking of which, he asked with concern, "How come I heard that your father's health is not good, how is the situation?"

Tom was stunned, secretly complained, "It must be that guy Rob's mouth is broken, nothing to say in front of Peter!" Rob is Tom's colleague, four years older than Tom, also an antique enthusiast, under his influence Tom began to contact this line. rob that person is enthusiastic, but talk a lot, like gossip, what happened in the company, always in his mouth to spread.

Obviously Peter knew about his father's situation, and it must have been Rob who told him about it. Tom didn't want to talk about it, and planned that since he was here, he'd show it to Peter. If the price wasn't right, he would go somewhere else.

Tom casually perfunctory a few words, from his pocket took out a piece of jade pendant and handed it to Peter. "Peter, please take a look for me, this is my family's ancestral old thing."

When Peter saw the jade pendant, his eyes flashed with a trace of amazement, and he took it in his hand with a smile to scrutinize it carefully. This is a piece of red jade carved with four dragons intertwined into a square jade pendant, beautifully carved, four chi dragons with their heads facing outward, their bodies intertwined with each other, coexisting with softness and might, simplicity reveals the atmosphere, which is praiseworthy.

After carefully observing the jade pendant, Peter put it back on the table and commented, "This piece of jade pendant is smoothly carved and finely polished, and it is one of the finest pieces of jade jewelry in the Qing Dynasty. However..."

"Coming!" Tom's heart sank, and asked, "Peter, what's wrong with this jade pendant?"

Peter laughed, and said, "This piece of friendship quadrilateral pendant is good in all other aspects, only the quality of the jade is a little bit poor, otherwise it would be perfect."

Tom said in his heart, "If the quality of the jade is good, why would I sell it?" He asked with a smile on his face, "Then how much is this jade pendant worth?"

Peter pondered for a moment and said, "Tom, we've known each other for a long time, I'm a layman, I'll help you sell this jade pendant for six thousand dollars, what do you think?"

"Six thousand?" Tom's heart was shocked, although he expected that Peter might press the price, but he did not expect it to be so outrageous. His mental price is twelve thousand, even if he is in a hurry to sell, ten thousand is not too much, but he didn't expect Peter to offer only six thousand.

Seeing Tom's expression, Peter said smilingly, "Tom, the color of this jade pendant, six thousand..."

However, before he could finish his sentence, a slightly fat middle-aged man suddenly came in aggressively. He walked directly to the table, threw a box in his hand onto the table, and shouted angrily, "Peter, look at what you've done!"

"Clinking bell!" The box touched the jade pendant on the table, and the jade pendant fell to the floor and shattered.

"My jade pendant!" Tom exclaimed, watching the jade pendant fall to the ground and shatter into several pieces.

Tom painfully picked up the pieces of the jade pendant, looked at the middle-aged man with a gloomy face and asked, "What do you think should be done about this?"

The middle-aged man looked at the fragments on the ground, looked up to Peter again, and asked, "What is this thing?"

Peter replied, "This is a piece of the Qing Dynasty's Knotting Four Square Pei."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man secretly grumbled. But he didn't shirk his responsibility, just looked at Peter and asked, "Then how much is this jade pendant worth?"

Peter laughed dryly, "I bid six thousand dollars just now."

Tom was furious. He has known Peter for two years, although he doesn't often buy his things, but there are some friendships, and he didn't expect Peter to actually press the price like this. He thought to himself, "Even if Peter wants to maintain a good relationship with this customer, he can't set me up like this."

2

The more Tom Myers thought about it, the angrier he became, and the more he hated himself for not knowing enough to make friends with the kind of people who would put something up for sale there in the first place.

So, he said in a bad tone: "That jade pendant six thousand dollars he will not sell, if not, he will call the police, let's go to the police station to solve."

Seeing Tom Myers moved to real anger, Peter Gaston inadvertently made a wink to the middle-aged man, said with a smile: "Little Tom, we have known each other for so long, how can he let me suffer?"

Then, Peter Gaston pointed out several shortcomings of the jade pendant one after another, because at this time the jade pendant was already broken, sounding very serious.

He first said: "Based on the color of the jade pendant, he gave that price is already good, and my father's health is not good, urgent need for money, had to reduce the price, did not expect me ...... hey!"

Peter Gaston long sigh, meaning that Tom Myers some do not know good and bad.

For the layman, Peter Gaston simply do not know, although Tom Myers on the jade did not have much research, but that piece of jade pendant is after all his family heirloom, there was a period of time when he had time to take in his hands to play, and on the Internet to find out a lot of information, a variety of characteristics as in the palm of your hand. Therefore, he would not sell the jade pendant if he really had no other choice.

Seeing Peter Gaston so shameless, actually reversing black and white, Tom Myers sneered: "Peter, if you say so, then there is nothing to say, let's go to the police station!"

Hearing Tom Myers' rebuttal, Peter Gaston was very surprised, and secretly said: "When did this kid know so much about jade? Oh no, I forgot that this is his family heirloom, he must have studied it for quite some time."

Thinking of this, Peter Gaston was a bit annoyed, and then he saw the mocking color in the middle-aged man's eyes, and couldn't help but be a bit annoyed and angry, and said, "This guy, he helped me, and I was actually laughed at by him!"

Annoyed, let him angry at the middle-aged man can not dare, so all the accounts to the head of Tom Myers.

Looked at Peter Gaston's look a bit wrong, the middle-aged man said: "That brother, then you think that piece of jade pendant is worth how much money?"

"Twelve thousand dollars!"

Seeing the middle-aged man's frown, Tom Myers then said, "This boss, I'm not talking out of my ass, if you don't believe me, you can go to any antique store in Rivertown to see their purchase price. And I'm talking about the purchase price, as for the sale price, less than thirteen thousand four hundred basically no."

Speaking of which, Tom Myers looked at Peter Gaston with a smile on his face and said, "Peter, what do I think?"

Today, he was also angry by Peter Gaston, otherwise, with his usual code of peace for the noble, it would not be so aggressive.

Peter Gaston was choked by this statement, of course he can say "then less than that price to sell", but in the end he is eating antiques this bowl of rice, can not smash their own rice bowls.

The middle-aged man saw Peter Gaston a little stuttering look, his heart immediately had a number, this kind of thing in the antique market is very common, he does not think it is strange. But from Peter Gaston's address to Tom Myers just now, they must have known each other before, and the relationship may be good, this is a little bit wrong.

He wanted to press the price from the beginning to the end, but that's human nature, of course less is better, besides, he did not know that Peter Gaston and this young man is a friend, otherwise we can negotiate with each other in a peaceful way, he is a businessman, and harmony is the most important thing.

Since they were friends, Peter Gaston offered such a low price, which made him think that there was something wrong with Peter Gaston's character. If he were himself, he wouldn't treat his friend like this. Together with his own experience, he thought that he should try to have less contact with this person in the future.

If Peter Gaston knew what the middle-aged man was thinking, he must have cried out in his heart that he was wronged, he obviously helped the middle-aged man, but in return he got such a result, it is too wrong. However, he did not think, his character of tendency, and how many people will like.

Peter Gaston thought for a moment, and said: "Little Tom, I said that the price of 12,000 is indeed available, but that is for those who have the need. Just like him, if he really spends twelve thousand dollars to buy it, in case no one buys it, then it will not be pressed in the hand?"

Tom Myers said, "Now that the jade market is doing so well, he really doesn't believe that his jade pendant will be pressed in his hand."

Peter Gaston smiled lightly and said, "That's just what I think."

Seeing another deadlock, the middle-aged man quickly spoke up and said, "That brother, seeing that you should also be playing antiques, you should know that every piece of antique has a price in everyone's heart. I said twelve thousand, he will not be willing, even to the police station is the same."

"I think this is good, let's take a step back, he offered eight thousand how?"

Tom Myers frowned: "Really too little ......"

Next, the two haggled, and finally settled, the middle-aged man to 10,000 price for compensation.

The middle-aged man to also quick, immediately to Tom Myers transferred the account, as for the jade pendant pieces he did not want, let Tom Myers brought back.

Out of this kind of accident, Tom Myers also did not have the mind of the market, riding a car to the hospital.

On the way, he remembered what Peter Gaston did, and felt very depressed. Recognized for two years, today only know Peter Gaston is this kind of villain, so the old saying is good, the road is far to know the horse power, day by day to see the people's hearts.

Fortunately, this accident happened today, let him recognize the true face of Peter Gaston, or else he might suffer some losses in the future.

"This is just like the old saying of Confucius, only women and small people are hard to raise. After tearing my face off with Peter today, I don't know if that guy will come after me!" Tom Myers frowned lightly, then smiled and said, "He will definitely not go to his place to buy things in the future, how can he find me trouble? It's not like he's in charge of the antique market."

Ten minutes later, Tom Myers arrived at the city's first hospital, parked his car and walked towards the inpatient department.

Into the ward, Tom Myers saw his father on an IV drip, while his mother Emily was accompanied by the side, both silent, seemingly not in a good mood.

Seeing the original tall and robust father, only a few days work has already lost a circle of thin, Tom Myers heart is very uncomfortable. He hurriedly walked up and greeted his parents, and whispered to them that the jade pendant had been sold for 10,000 yuan.

Since Tom Myers had not told his parents about the price of the jade pendant, the couple was surprised to hear that the jade pendant, which was not even as big as the palm of their hand, had been sold for 10,000 dollars.

However, when they thought that they still had almost half of the money left, they were worried again.

Tom Myers quickly said, "Mom and Dad, don't worry, big deal, I'll go to the company and advance the second half of my salary."

"Hmph!" Greg Myers snorted coldly: "Your little salary, but what use!"

Tom Myers laughed dryly, his father's opinion of him is normal, who said he has been uninspired, in this company for four years, but a small staff, a monthly salary of only two thousand out of the first point.

Speaking of which, Tom Myers brain is actually quite smart, elementary school, language and math have not been less than ninety percent of the exam, when parents and friends and relatives, all think that he will be able to at least get into a good point of the university.

However, in junior high school, Tom Myers became addicted to video games, his grades fell drastically, and he eventually enrolled in a vocational school to study computer technology.

After graduating from the school, he changed several jobs and failed to learn anything, but finally, with the help of his father, he joined the company he is now working for and has been doing so ever since.

In fact, Tom Myers is just like any other person, he also has the dream of making a lot of money in his heart.

In the beginning, he learned the stock market, but the result was that he bought down, sold up, and lost thousands of dollars instead of making any money.

Later, he saw online news that hackers are very lucrative, and then bought a computer and related books, learning hacking skills, the result is that the computer is full of viruses, the hard disk is broken, and ultimately did not persist.
It went on and on, over and over again, all ending up the same way, so Tom Myers simply gave up on those unrealistic dreams and stuck with his current job, getting by.

As for antiques, probably because of fate, four years ago, he also held the same idea of picking up leaks to get rich, followed Robert Lee to learn antiques, during the period of time, also looked at the wrong eye, lost a few thousand dollars, the thought of relying on this rich, but has not given up, but as a hobby, more and more like it.

Back to the topic, Tom Myers scratched his head and said: "Dad, although the company's money is not much, but it can still solve the urgent need. Plus, don't we still have a few things we haven't sold yet?"

Greg Myers turned his head and said, "Just a few broken pieces of metal, how much can they be worth?"

Tom Myers patiently said, "Dad, you're wrong, although the appearance of the antiques is important, more important is the heritage. I've seen it before, although those things are a bit worn, but no matter what, a few thousand dollars can always be sold."

"What's a few thousand dollars worth?" Greg Myers snorted.

Tom Myers' mother, Emily, spoke up, "Old Greg, you know it's hard for me to have this problem, but what's the point of talking about it all the time? I have a mission now, stay in the hospital, cooperate with the doctors, and let them take care of the money, I don't have to worry about it. I don't want to worry about the money. I'll just sell the house."

(End of chapter)

3

Tom heard his wife Emily's persuasion, Greg shook his head and said, "He doesn't agree with that one, without the house, Tom will have a hard time finding his other half!"

"Dad," Tom tried to persuade his father, "Nowadays, there are many people who get married in their thirties, he is only twenty-four years old, it is not too early to find another half. Besides, will not finding a partner delay your treatment? Instead of that, he might as well not get married!"

Greg looked at his son's firm expression, remained silent for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh, closed his eyes and stopped talking.

Seeing this situation, mother and son also feel heavy hearted. After a while of silence, Tom called his mother Emily out of the hospital room, asking about his father's condition.

"The doctor said, found early, as long as the step-by-step treatment, the probability of cure is very high." Emily said, "These days I'm at ease in the classroom, my father's side of the care, I'm relieved."

"Good." Tom nodded. He knew that his mother had already applied for retirement, he had thought that she could relax a bit after retirement, but now that this happened, he thought that she would have to work hard for a few more years.

After eating a bowl of noodles at the snack bar next to the hospital, Tom rode his bicycle back to the hospital. Along the way, his mind was filled with thoughts about how to make money, but he couldn't think of any good ideas.

"If I could pick up a leak and make a hundred thousand dollars or so, that would be great!" Tom thought wildly, and then shook his head with a bitter smile. He stepped into the antique line has been four years, during which a leak has not picked up, where will be so easy to pick up the leak?

Twenty minutes later, Tom rode his bike to his own neighborhood. This is a nearly ten years of history of the neighborhood, due to proper management, the environment is quite good.

Tom parked his bike and walked home with a heavy heart. When he got to the door, he reached into his pocket and took out the key to open the door, "Hiss!" Suddenly, a sharp pain hit him, making him suck in a breath of cold air. He hurriedly took his hand out of his pocket, and found that his middle finger was bleeding, and it looked like the wound was very deep.

At that moment, he remembered that just now, because there was nothing to wrap, he put the jade pendant fragments directly into his pocket. But those fragments don't look very sharp, how could they have stabbed such a deep wound?

"What a bad luck!" Tom heart depressed beyond measure, carefully took out the key to open the door, came to the bathroom to clean and disinfect, in order to avoid infection problems.

"Huh! Did you see a ghost?" Tom's face showed an incredulous look. Originally, after he cleaned the blood on his finger, he realized that there was no wound on the surface.

After a careful inspection, there was indeed no wound at all, which made him a bit dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what was going on.

Froze for a moment, Tom shivered, thinking to himself, "Could it be that he really encountered something unclean?" He remembered the downstairs Jack Wilson said, before this family had a few incidents, because of this, the house is much cheaper, is there really something dirty in the house?

Tom couldn't help but think about it. When I bought this house, the house is a second-hand house, decoration is almost brand new, furniture is complete, but the transaction price is much lower than the market price. Although I heard about the strange things in this family, they did not take it seriously.

However, today's strange events, coupled with his father's sudden illness, Tom could not help but think of these. The more he thought about it, the more scared he got, muttering, "No, this kind of thing is better to be believed than not, we have to go to the hospital to persuade mom and dad to sell the house."

But when he thought of selling the house, he was worried again. Who would buy such a house? Couldn't they sell it cheaply? This is obviously not what he wants to see.

"Forget it, I'll just figure it out, we'll see what happens." Tom went into the living room with a worried frown, and took out the pieces of jade pendant from his pocket. After all, the jade pendant was an ancestral heirloom, although it was broken, it was still a souvenir.

Seeing the blood stains on the not-so-sharp piece of jade pendant, Tom remembered the strange incident earlier, which made him shiver, and made him even more sure that he should sell the house. With this in mind, the family heirlooms are definitely not for sale.

Thinking of this, Tom put his hand into his pocket and took out two other things, one was a bronze mirror and the other was a silver coin. The bronze mirror was a Han Dynasty bronze mirror with the pattern of the Rui Beast, with a diameter of less than thirteen centimeters. The silver coin is a Qing dynasty silver coin from the third year of the Xuantong era. Both items are in very good condition, and the market price should be 500 or 600 dollars, but if he sells it, it will probably be about 400 or 500 dollars.

Habitually put these two things in his hand, Tom suddenly changed his face, his body hit a jolt.

"Am I dreaming?" Frozen for a moment, Tom came back to his senses, his face full of unbelief. Because he felt a kind of warmth flow, as if flowing into his body from the bronze mirror, and immediately after that, an understanding of the bronze mirror was born in his mind, confirming that it was indeed an authentic piece of artifact from the Han Dynasty.

Tom looked stupidly at his hand, completely confused about what had happened. Is there really a ghost in the house?

"No!" Tom suddenly flashed a thought, could it be that the jade pendant was not a mortal object, causing a series of strange events to occur after he was injured?

He took out the sharp piece of jade pendant again, gritted his teeth and stabbed his other hand hard, after a moment of pain, blood gushed out. He hurriedly went to clean it, and found that the wound was still there, and there was no strange thing that happened just now.

Then, he picked up the silver coin and held it in his hand, the warmth appeared again, and accurately pointed out the age of the coin. After some experiments, he guessed that maybe the jade pendant could only work once, or he already had this ability, so the strange thing just now would not happen again.

In any case, Tom decided not to tell this secret to others. After all, "a man can't be held responsible for a crime", and their family has no background, so they should be more careful.

This kind of ability might help him to gain a foothold in the antique trade. Thinking of this, Tom couldn't help but dance with joy. He has always been worried about money, now with this ability, picking up leaks will be possible.

Considering the flow of warmth in antiques, Tom guessed that it might be the product of the combination of people's spirit and time in the past. He also found out that this kind of ability doesn't consume one's spirit, but it can sweep away the body's fatigue, so there shouldn't be any side effects.

Unintentionally obtaining the ability to appraise antiques, Tom was full of joy. Originally he was worried about money, now with this ability, picking up leaks is no longer a dream.

After some tests, Tom estimated that he could only use the ability for one minute at most. At the same time, he found that the value of more than one thousand dollars of antiques, warmth flow obviously, identify the age of the accurate and incomparable. But for things worth more than fifty years, the warmth flow is negligible, and it is difficult to judge its time.

Tom couldn't wait to try out his new ability, his mind spinning with life-changing possibilities. But everything has to start small, and he intends to gradually develop his talents in his current job as an antiquarian, a promising start to a new life.

4

The new book is published, hope you all support, if you think it is interesting, please remember to add it to your bookshelf, thank you!

Tom Myers used his new ability carefully, guessing that he might pass out immediately. It was a very unpleasant state to be in, not only did it cloud his judgment, but it could also attract the attention of someone with an axe to grind, and while that was highly unlikely, he didn't dare take it lightly.Tom Myers' new ability was to use his new power carefully, and he guessed that he might pass out immediately.

This meant that, while his new abilities could help him recognize authenticity, his own eyesight was still indispensable. Fortunately, he had been studying antique appraisal for four years. Although he can't compete with seasoned antique enthusiasts, he's good enough to spot fakes in general, which certainly increases his chances of picking up a good deal.

After repeated trials, Tom realized that he could control the activation and deactivation of his new ability. Although the control is a bit rusty now, with a few more practice sessions, he should have no problem.

Although there are limitations to this new ability, Tom is never greedy, and the unexpected acquisition of this ability has already made him very satisfied. He decided to give that warm current a name, called "aura", and his new ability is simply called "picking up treasures", which fits the reality, but also has a good meaning.

After a good night's sleep, the next day, Tom woke up at 6:30, the first time he called his mother. He was relieved to hear that his father's condition was stable.

When he heard his mother's concern, he couldn't help but want to tell her that he had gained new abilities. Fortunately, reason prevailed, and the mother and son ended the call after chatting for a few moments.

Then, Tom simply ate something, dressed up, ready to go to work. Although the company does not start work until 8:30, but because of the distance from home, the bus needs to transfer, a trip down to forty to fifty minutes, plus may encounter traffic jams, he must go out early.

At first, Tom was not used to it, but because there is a girl he likes always take the same bus, let him insist. A year later, Tom finally got up the courage to confess his love, but he didn't realize that the girl had suddenly disappeared. When he sees her again, she is pregnant, which breaks his heart.

When Tom walks out the door, he sees Ms. Quinn from next door carrying a basket of vegetables. When he said hello, Ms. Quinn asked, "Tom, do you want to go to the hospital?"

Tom replied, "No, Mom's at the hospital. I'm going to work."

Ms. Quinn was a bit puzzled and asked, "Isn't it Sunday? Is your company still working?"

Tom stared, slapped his head, and laughed dryly, "Thanks for reminding me, I didn't realize tomorrow was Sunday."

Ms. Quinn smiled slightly, thinking that Tom's behavior was not strange. After all, after such a big event happened in the family, it is inevitable that there will be some confusion.

After saying goodbye to Ms. Quinn, Tom was at the door thinking about today's arrangement. After a moment's thought, he decided to go to the antique market.

Rivertown's antique market is not big, but it has everything. On Sundays, there was a fair on the street, where many vendors came to set up their stalls, and the chances of finding something good were greatly increased.

Tom even heard of a senior in the market picked up millions of dollars worth of big leaks. Therefore, he often went to the bazaar, but he never got anything good, only a few times to be cheated, let him once discouraged.

But now it's different, Tom has the ability to recognize the authenticity, so full of confidence ready to go to the antique market.

After going downstairs, Tom rode his bicycle and left the neighborhood in a hurry, and inadvertently saw a few old people exercising in the small square, one of them was practicing taijiquan, and Tom's heart was moved, he had read the introduction of taijiquan, which said that this kind of boxing can make one's mind peaceful and concentrated, and at the same time, the breathing regulation can improve the amount of oxygen of the various organs of the body.

Tom wondered if practicing Taijiquan could prolong the use of his new ability. He decided to try it out, even if it was useless, it could still strengthen his body.

Decided, Tom accelerated the speed, more than ten minutes later, he saw the bustling antique street.

He parked his bike at the car park, and the car parker was Jack Wilson, Tom greeted him, and then walked towards the entrance of the street with great excitement. When he reached the street, he took a deep breath to calm down his excitement. Trading antiques is not a good place to show your emotions, and Tom had suffered from this a few times in his youth.

As he entered the arcade, he met many familiar faces. As the news of Greg Myers' recent hospitalization spread throughout the community, many people came up to him to say hello, and Tom responded patiently, thinking to himself, "When I get back to work, I'm going to have to settle the score with Rob, who sent me the message!"

After a little chatting, Tom started today's "picking up" trip. Although the ideal is very plentiful, but the reality is very bone-skinny. From the beginning to the end of the shopping, there are many good things, but the price is almost always prohibitive.

Even if they were bought, they used to earn a few dozen to a few hundred dollars at most, and they might not be able to sell them right away. For someone like him, who doesn't run an antique store, such an investment is obviously not worth it.

After an hour and a half of driving around, Tom came to the end of the antique street, looking at his empty hands, he could not help but smile bitterly. With the new ability does not necessarily find good things, this is still related to personal eyesight.

Without the guidance of a famous teacher, Tom can only learn on his own, and constantly improve himself through physical observation. He often went to museums, looking at exhibits, comparing descriptions in books, and sometimes looking up information or consulting old-timers. Although Peter Gaston was willing to show him some simple things, but he was not willing to disclose the deeper knowledge, Tom still needed a better eye.

Now that many of the sellers have started to close, Tom hesitates for a while, but finally decides not to go any further. Although there are good things in the antique store, but the chance of picking up the leakage is very slim, coupled with the shyness of the money, can not afford to buy it is better not to see, to save the heartache.

(End of chapter)

5

Tom Myers sighed. There was nothing to be gained, and he planned to visit his father in the hospital. Because he wanted to think about his future, he did not go back the way he came, but he was going to go around the alley on the right, and go back to get his bike.

Although there was no loot today, with the help of Aura Energy, Tom found some opportunities to buy low and sell high. He didn't buy them because he was short on cash. If he had more money, he could have bought them and sold them for a profit. It is better to open an antique store to maximize the profit.

"It seems like we should open a curio store, but it's not easy to open a curio store." Tom frowned and thought.

The antique market is very exclusive to newcomers. It usually takes a long time to get into the business, and you have to be recognized by everyone. If the other side thinks you don't know what you're looking for, you'll either be treated like an idiot, or you won't be able to do business at all. Therefore, to open a curio store, not only need money, but also need to be recognized by the industry. Only the circle of people recognize you, they will introduce business to you.

After all, the reason why antiques are valuable, the main point is scarcity. Even if the antique store is big, can not have everything. This requires friends to recommend each other items. For example, store A has a customer needs a piece of the Qing dynasty pink color nine peaches heavenly ball vase, and he does not have, but store B has. Because the two are friends, A store will recommend the customer to B store.

Also, if Shop B comes across a good item, but is not interested or has insufficient funds, and Shop A happens to be interested in that type of item, Shop B will inform Shop A. These two examples show how important contacts are in the antique circle.

Of course, you can say that nowadays it is a free market, and you can open any shop you want, but the antique business is nasty enough. If you have a conflict with another store or customer, and you are not recognized by everyone, even if the other party is in the wrong, no one will help you to speak.

Therefore, before Tom opened his store, he had to integrate into the circle, otherwise, if the small-minded Peter Gaston came looking for trouble, who would a common man look for support?

After thinking for a while, Tom decided to accumulate more contacts in this period of time, in order to prepare for the future opening of the antique store. However, the most important task right now is to pick up money and solve his father's medical expenses first. Besides, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to open an antique store. If the store is bigger, plus the decoration and supplies, at least a million dollars.

For some rich people, these millions of dollars are nothing, but Tom's family can't even come up with 10,000 dollars, millions of dollars are simply astronomical.

"Forget it, take your time, even with Aura Energy you can't get there in one step."

At this time, from the side of the alley suddenly came out a middle-aged man, blocked in front of Tom, "Brother, want to order something?"

Tom was startled by him. The antique business is a mixed bag, coupled with his own body nearly two thousand dollars, he was really afraid of the other side of the plot to do harm, and quickly backed up a few steps.

Tom fixed eyes, found that this person looks obscene, a mouth of yellow teeth, dressed in a sloppy, hand carrying a snakeskin bag, eyes constantly flashing, it is clear that it is not a serious businessman, either gangsters or crooks.

The other side while Tom has not reacted, from the snakeskin bag took out a bowl of blue and white flowers handed over, smilingly asked: "Brother, see how this thing?"

Tom on porcelain research is not deep, but a glance can see in front of this is only the late Qing Dynasty kiln blue and white bowl, this kind of thing is not worth much money." No need!" Tom shook his head, inwardly alert, really is the antique market pit is too much, accidentally fall in may lose a lot of money.

See Tom turned to go, the middle-aged man quickly stopped him, "brother, since this blue and white bowl you do not like, I will get you another treasure, this is a real treasure." He said, and took out a pen holder from the bag and handed it over.

Tom just got his hands, eyes bright. Brush pot is cylindrical, flat mouth square edge, light vegetarian no work, to win the natural texture, simple and elegant. He felt that this brush pot is likely to be made of Huanghuali.

"Brother, what do you think of this thing? If you like it, let's discuss the price." The middle-aged man saw Tom interested, his eyes showed joy." Do you want to get your hands on it?"

Tom really want to take a closer look, but afraid of the other side of the trick, hesitate. At this time he saw that there is a surveillance camera on the opposite side of this side, the heart a little more comfortable. He said lightly, "Boss, isn't this a bit unorthodox?"

Middle-aged man slightly stunned, immediately reacted, dry smile: "Hey, brother, really sorry, just a rush forgot the rules." Said to put the quill on the stone steps for Tom to see.

Tom walked up and looked at the pen container. Although the bottom has a flaw, but should be a early Qing dynasty Huanghuali brush pot. So he asked, "Boss, how much is this brush pot?"

The middle-aged man grinned, gestured and said: "A look know brother is a connoisseur, such a good thing usually I can not afford to take out. Since the fate, a discount, five thousand how?"

Tom laughed coldly in his heart, this brush pot is less than two thousand dollars, and there is a flaw at the bottom." Since you are so insincere, forget it." After that, he was ready to leave.

The middle-aged man quickly said, "Don't worry, brother, how much do you think is suitable, we can discuss it."

"Do you agree with my offer of two hundred dollars?" Tom sneered.

The middle-aged man smiled dryly, "Two hundred is too little, my purchase price is more than that. If you are sincere, how about one thousand eighteen?"

Tom is not interested in continuing to talk nonsense with him, turned to go, the middle-aged man suddenly took out something: "800, plus this thing how?"

Tom was about to refuse, but a look at the object, froze.

That thing gray, although dirty but can see the luster of the white glaze, shaped like an inverted bowl. tom looked closely, found that it is a white porcelain storage slag cans, the industry said slag bucket.

Although the slag bucket in the foreign market is not well known, but this is obviously a historical value of antiquities. The middle-aged man saw Tom interested, "want to see?"

Tom nodded, picked it up and looked at it carefully. In the end, he used Aura Energy, and the result made him almost scream.

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