Chapter 245: The Antiques Maniac

By mid-September, the weather had started to cool down.

Seeing that the lingering heat of late summer seemed to be dissipating, Li Xian felt anxious.

With autumn approaching, winter was no longer far away. After discussing his plan to sell the batch of antiques he had on hand with Chen Dongsheng, Li Xian decided to bring Xu Mao and a few of his buddies who were eager to make a fortune with him back to Bangye.

They didn't stay overnight in Bangye. Instead, they immediately packed up the antiques in Li Xian's house and hurried back to Harbin. Originally, Li Xian planned to buy a plane ticket directly to Beijing, but a mishap occurred at the last moment—among the inheritance he received from Gaosan, there were a large number of ancient weapons and blades that couldn't be taken away.

Helpless, Li Xian had to split up with Xu Mao. Xu Mao took a younger brother and went by land, while Li Xian took the relatively valuable antiques and flew directly to Beijing.

Chen Dongsheng, who had already received Li Xian's phone call, had everything arranged. However, Chen Dongsheng was busy with his auction house affairs during this period. Today, he informed Li Xian in advance that someone else would meet him.

After getting off the plane and leaving the airport, Li Xian saw Li Chengru's dazzling Mercedes-Benz.

"Brother Ru."

Seeing Li Chengru's shiny bald head under the sun, Li Xian waved his hand while dragging a large suitcase.

"Hey!" Seeing Li Xian's gesture, Li Chengru hurried over and took the suitcase from him. "Brother Xian, what's up? I heard from Dongsheng that you need money and want to sell the items in your hand?"

Although the words sounded a bit awkward, that was the situation.

Li Xian nodded without beating around the bush. "Yes, I need some money in a while, and my funds are a bit tight."

Li Chengru rubbed his bald head. "How much do you need?"

Although Chen Dongsheng hadn't mentioned how much money Li Chengru had, Li Xian knew this guy was now very wealthy. You could tell from his mannerisms; he made tens of thousands of dollars a day selling special clothing. It was said that a batch of goods turned over could easily amount to three to five million. From this perspective, the future third-tier actor should have a floating capital of one or two thousand yuan.

He had only met Li Chengru for the second time. Although he felt this person was okay, he had only spoken a little and was reluctant to be deeply involved. Li Xian just smiled. "Over 10 million."

Hearing this funding gap, Li Chengru secretly hissed. "Okay, your business is very big, let me think about it, take your beads as collateral, and you can move them for me. Now that the antiques are not like those in the past, thirty to fifty were left for the years. Many old items have been sold in the past two years, and it is difficult to meet again in the future. You are still trying to keep these old things as much as possible. They say that in troubled times, Golden Age antiques are now good, and these old things can be raised. You have to regret what you have sold."

Hearing these sincere words, Li Xian reassessed Li Chengru.

Through the previous meeting, he knew that Li Chengru also liked antiques, and he could hear that there was a chance to take advantage of the opportunity.

Li Xian knew that this person was worth associating with.

While he was thinking this, Li Chengru waved his hand and said, "Alright, I'm just giving you a heads-up. Dongsheng might also be worried that you'll suffer a loss, so he didn't bring in any outsiders this time. All the people you'll meet are friends from within the circle. Check the prices when the time comes. If you think they're fair, sell; if not, we'll talk. The hotel has been arranged, and Dongsheng will come over after he's done with the auction house matters tonight. I'll take you there first."

Li Xian nodded, calling over Xu Mao and his subordinate, Mingzi, who were following behind him, and they all got into the car.

Chen Dongsheng had booked a room for Li Xian at a hotel near Guomao Street called Donglai Hotel. There weren't many cars on the streets of Beijing in those days, so there wasn't much traffic. It didn't take long for them to arrive.

The hotel wasn't large, but its location, frontage, and environment were all quite good.

At around six o'clock in the evening, just as Li Chengru finished arranging dinner for Li Xian and Mingzi, Chen Dongsheng arrived with a group of people.

Li Xian had assumed that someone like Chen Dongsheng, a future bigwig, would have connections with plenty of talented people. But surprisingly, Li Xian didn't recognize any of these people; they were all strangers to him.

Since Li Xian had a relationship with Chen Dongsheng and was planning to sell his antiques, his relationship with these people was purely transactional. Perhaps worried that getting too familiar might complicate negotiations, these people exchanged pleasantries with Li Xian after being introduced by Chen Dongsheng, but didn't say much more.

Understanding the reasoning behind this, Li Xian didn't push the conversation further. Without wasting time, he pulled out two large suitcases from the wardrobe and placed them on the bed.

These two large suitcases were filled with miscellaneous antiques from Gaosan's cellar, including jade, Buddhist statues, and other items. Besides the fragile items, which were separated and cushioned with tissue paper and newspapers, everything else was casually wrapped in old clothes and brought along.

When the group saw the two large suitcases full of antiques presented in this way, they were stunned.

"Brother, those who understand will know you're selling antiques, but those who don't might think you're just setting up a stall under the bridge! Couldn't you at least arrange them properly?" one of the people who had come with Chen Dongsheng joked, laughing as he teased.

Li Xian chuckled and didn't bother explaining further. He thought to himself that he had been on edge the whole way, fearing they would be checked. If he had wrapped everything up nicely, did they think he was living in 2018?

The group clearly didn't care much about the presentation. As Li Xian started laying out the items from the suitcases one by one on the floor, they gathered around, curiously inspecting each piece.

The scene really did resemble a stall under a bridge.

But there were so many items that before long, the entire floor was covered with various antiques, and even then, there was still about half a suitcase left unopened.

Faced with this sight, the group was in a dilemma.

There's a saying in the antique world: "Never buy in bulk." This is because the antiques market is so complex that it's safer to buy items individually to avoid mixing fakes with genuine articles.

Among the group Chen Dongsheng had brought, only Li Chengru, who had gained some experience over the past few years playing with antiques, could barely be called an expert. The rest were novices.

Confronted with such a large quantity of diverse antiques, the group was stumped.

"Brother Ru, are these items all genuine?" asked one of the group, a thin man in a white suit who looked like he could play Sun Wukong with a furry face and a thunderous mouth, pointing at the pile on the floor.

In the antique world, people don't talk about authenticity, only about age.

Li Chengru looked at the items on the floor, grimaced, and said, "I'm also a bit overwhelmed. But I'll tell you this: even though I haven't known Xianzi for long, I can vouch for his character."

Hearing this, Li Xian felt grateful.

"Brother, how did you acquire all these items, if you don't mind me asking?" It was clear that some people didn't fully trust Li Chengru, so another person from Chen Dongsheng's group asked.

"I know the story!" Li Chengru said, grinning. "Xianzi has a friend named Hu Bayi..."

"Alright, alright," Li Xian quickly interrupted with a suppressed smile. "Don't listen to Brother Ru's nonsense. Actually, these items were picked up."

Now that Gaosan's assets had all been burned in the funeral pyre, and the family property dispute had ended with his brothers fighting and eventually selling the house cheaply to an out-of-town businessman, Li Xian no longer had any concerns about telling the truth in Beijing. So he told them about Gaosan's rise to wealth and how he had accidentally inherited Gaosan's estate.

Although this story wasn't as bizarre as the tale of "my friend Hu Bayi," it was still full of twists and turns, which intrigued the listeners.

After explaining the whole story, Li Xian spread his hands. "That's how it is. All these items were collected by Gaosan, and I can't really tell if they're genuine or not. I brought them here this time because I thought Dongsheng, who runs an auction house, could help me authenticate them, separate the genuine items from the fakes, and sell the good ones. I didn't expect Dongsheng to be so eager and bring you all here right away. I understand that everyone came out of respect for Dongsheng, so rest assured, if there's any problem with these items, I'll take full responsibility. I won't let anyone take a loss."

Chen Dongsheng was worried about his own recklessness, but hearing Li Xian's words, he felt greatly relieved. Li Xian had essentially absolved him of any responsibility, making him grateful.

"What did I tell you, everyone?" Li Chengru clapped his hands. "Regardless of the items, Xianzi's character is impeccable. Not to mention, these items are too numerous and varied. My eyesight is limited, so I can only identify some of them. And even for the ones I can identify, I'm not confident in estimating their value."

"Then how are we supposed to buy them?" someone immediately asked.

Li Chengru rubbed his bald head, suddenly seeming to remember something.

"It seems there's no other option; we'll have to call that guy."

Seeing Li Chengru's helpless tone and wry smile, everyone shuddered.

"You don't mean..."

"That's right, call Ma Modu! He's the only one who can handle this!"