Chapter 35
Tea and snacks were served, and Shen You curiously tasted an ancient osmanthus cake.
It wasn’t bad, just a bit harsh on the throat.
The texture wasn’t as good as modern improved versions, nor as refined.
The tea, however, was good tea.
She asked: “Do they sell tea leaves here?”
“Mm.” Wen Zhi nodded.
Shen You immediately found the shop assistant and bought a pound of tea leaves.
“The iron flower show is almost over.” The experience card time was almost up too.
Shen You looked at the person across from her, who was himself scenery just sitting there, and said seriously:
“You coming to my shop must have other purposes.”
Wen Zhi’s lips curved, “Yes, to confirm whether the business you’re doing will affect the stability of this world itself.”
“And it’s been confirmed. There’s no problem, unless you bring nuclear bombs or firearms to ancient times.”
Three question marks appeared in Shen You’s mind, “You really think highly of me.”
Could she get hold of such things?
“My shop also has rules – I won’t sell things that can’t be traded.”
Then seeing that it was about time, Shen You prepared to return. Under Wen Zhi’s puzzled gaze, she opened the burlap sack and put all the large and small packages inside.
With her outfit as a gentle ancient woman, holding what seemed like a woven bag from a different layer was quite a sight.
“I could also help you find things.”
Wen Zhi had also guessed that she probably couldn’t come to Great Qi anytime.
But Shen You shook her head, “I need to experience the joy of shopping for goods myself.”
The entire street was filled with traditional craft items, every brick and tile meaningful to someone studying her profession.
“I’m leaving.” Shen You said, then silently counted down.
The experience card time reached zero.
The scene before her suddenly disappeared, and when she opened her eyes again, she was standing in her own courtyard carrying the burlap sack.
Shen You couldn’t wait to push open the door, enter the shop, first extinguish the rabbit lantern, then take out the good things from the bag.
She sorted and placed them by category. The head ornaments and wooden carved boxes all had market value and could sell for good prices, unlike the previous precious traded items that were too conspicuous.
Much of the remainder was for her own interest, not intended for sale.
The silk products could provide insight into ancient techniques, also helping with restoring ancient objects that had deteriorated to fragments.
Yesterday she had time to visit the museum, where Professor Li discussed ancient silk weaving methods with her.
Providing help to them also benefited her.
Ordinary antique shop owners couldn’t produce so many precious artifacts, but it would be reasonable if they were established collectors within the circle.
Shen You took out the pearl box and first attached them to the phoenix hairpin.
One inlay took more than an hour.
Over the next few days, Shen You didn’t even open the shop, and the [Great Qi] side also had the system put up a sign.
She needed to speed up the restoration because the Collectors Association had news about an auction.
At the Xilu Study.
This was a garden preserved from ancient times, sometimes open for visits, with a special place inside for auctions.
Participants were basically people from the circle, while outsiders needed internal recommendations.
Shen You had asked about it. Although she lacked credentials, she had the reputation of donating Ru kiln porcelain, and so could send items for auction.
Items needed to be examined by appraisers, confirmed as genuine, and valuable enough to be auctioned there.
Commission was determined by transaction price.
Cheap items had maximum 20% commission, while expensive ones were 10%.
She needed to bring items before the auction, so she had to quickly finish Gu Shaoyu’s matter.
Li Heng sent Liu Zheng to the shop again, however it still wasn’t open.
“Perhaps Shopkeeper Shen has matters to handle recently, which is why she left notice of temporary closure.”
Liu Zheng saw His Highness wasn’t in good spirits and added, “This time Shopkeeper Shen also left the time for reopening – five days from now.”
Li Heng’s hand holding the brush stopped.
Although he didn’t speak, Liu Zheng had followed him for quite some time – how could he not notice anything?
“Your Highness, regarding the Zhao family…” Liu Zheng hesitated.
Those women sent into the residence were easy to handle, but to get the Zhao family to take sides required some gesture.
He dared not say that a capable woman like Shopkeeper Shen would never be willing to remain in Great Qi’s palace.
Li Heng raised his eyes, as if he had already seen through Liu Zheng’s unspoken words.
“Say what you want to say directly.”
Liu Zheng hesitated briefly, then spoke: “Since that day at the temple fair, Your Highness seems unhappy.”
“Your Highness, you’ve become different toward Shopkeeper Shen.”
That day His Highness first went to Shopkeeper Shen’s shop.
Later he suddenly sent people to investigate the teahouses and restaurants across the bridge. Shopkeeper Shen and a handsome man were too distinctive.
When they heard that the two had gone to the teahouse together and sat in the best viewing seats, His Highness’s expression became poor.
Not to mention that they couldn’t find any identity information for that man afterward.
Li Heng smiled silently, “Yes.”
He had never met such a woman, so it was normal to be moved.
With her help, whether the Zhao family supported him didn’t matter.
**
After staying up another night, she finally finished restoring the hairpin.
She called and arranged with Gu Shaoyu to pick it up the next morning.
After receiving the news, Gu Shaoyu immediately canceled all his drinking appointments, afraid he might oversleep and miss the appointment.
The next day Shen You made herself a bowl of noodles and waited for Gu Shaoyu and his group to arrive.
The appointment was for 10 o’clock. Gu Shaoyu arrived on time, while his sister arrived at 10:30, bringing along a man in his thirties who she said was an expert to help evaluate.
When Gu Shaoyu arrived, he had already apologized to Shen You, saying his sister had some matters and would be late.
Shen You didn’t say anything. She wasn’t in a hurry either.
However, that expert immediately began examining her shop upon entering, claiming that the vases on the shelves were all fake.
“Yes, those are fake – didn’t you see Peppa Pig right next to them?”
Shen You’s single sentence silenced the man.
With everyone present, she directly brought out the box.
“It looks exactly like before!” Gu Shaoyu gave Shen You a thumbs up, “Your craftsmanship is incredible!”
Gu Yue, who had been half-doubting, also exclaimed in amazement the moment she saw it.
The item had been broken so badly that she had thought being able to restore it reasonably well would be good enough, with its value certainly greatly reduced.
She never expected it could be restored so perfectly.
Although she still felt somewhat bothered about Cao Xianpeng’s claim that 10,000 could fix it, she still thanked her politely, “Thank you, Miss Shen.”
The self-proclaimed expert Cao Xianpeng ceremoniously put on gloves and took a magnifying glass to examine it.
He found it somewhat unbelievable – he had seen photos of how broken the item was. How could it be repaired so well?
Could it be that someone had made a high-quality counterfeit?
Current counterfeiting technology was already very advanced – including gold prices, it could be made for tens of thousands.
It had to be this way.
“Something seems not quite right about this item?” Cao Xianpeng spoke up.
Shen You scoffed, “Fine, tell me what’s wrong.”
“If this were the original antique hairpin, there would always be some traces where the original fractures were repaired. I don’t see any on this one.”
He spoke as if he knew what he was talking about.
Hearing this, Gu Yue’s expression changed slightly.
She thought it looked like her original piece, but Cao Xianpeng was supposedly an expert after all.
Antiques were one-time deals – in other words, once she left the shop with the item, even if it were fake, she’d have to accept it.