Chapter 246: I Might Not Be Short on Money Anymore

This wasn't the first time Li Xian had heard the name Ma Modu.

In fact, even before returning, the name of this big shot in the collecting world was already well known to him. But from Li Chengru's good-natured warning during their first meal together—"Beware of fire, theft, and Old Ma"—to now, seeing the pained expressions on everyone's faces upon hearing this name, Li Xian was a bit confused.

"Brother Ru, what's the deal with Mr. Ma? Why do you all...?"

Facing Li Xian's inquiry, Li Chengru waved his hand, "I'll make a call. You'll understand when he arrives."

Hearing this, everyone in the room let out another bitter smile.

Li Chengru's phone call lasted for more than twenty minutes when there was a knock on Li Xian's door. Or rather, it wasn't a "knock"—the thumping sound was so loud it seemed like someone was using a battering ram outside, scaring everyone in the room.

Chen Dongsheng shook his head, chuckled, and exchanged glances with the others in the room, "He's here."

With that, he stepped forward to open the door. Before the door was fully open, a slightly chubby, round-faced man with eyes so narrow they looked closed barged in.

Without even glancing at the people in the room, his eyes fell on the antiques scattered across the floor, and he exclaimed, "Damn, did you guys rob the Forbidden City?"

Seeing the small crew cut and round face, Li Xian couldn't hold back a laugh.

A young Mr. Ma, judging by his appearance, didn't look any better than he would in old age!

The person in front of Li Xian made the deepest impression on him years later by giving a lecture on antiques on *Hundred Schools of Thought*. From those few episodes, Li Xian thought this person's knowledge and writing skills were quite impressive. At the time, the CCTV program *Treasure Hunt* was extremely popular, and during the national antique craze, Li Xian had searched online for information about Ma Modu and learned that this guy was quite talented.

This guy originally worked as a milling machine operator in a factory, later became self-taught, and eventually became an editor for *Youth Literature*, planning the hit TV series *Stories from the Editorial Department* and *Desire* with Wang Shuo and others. Later, he, Wang Shuo, Liu Zhenyun, Liang Zuo, and Hai Yan formed a film and television creation center, producing *Hippocampus Nightclub*, which made them a lot of money.

After making money with his pen, this guy started dabbling in antiques. From then on, writing became a side job, and collecting became his main focus.

At the time, this was called being a "jack of all trades."

Li Xian had read this guy's famous work *Tonight the Moon is Full*, which was quite well-written. But Li Xian knew that the achievements he would later attain were far greater than writing scripts and producing TV shows—this guy ended up with so many cultural relics that he couldn't even estimate his own worth, so he simply opened his own museum!

That's mind-blowing.

Now, seeing this big-shot figure walk in and start examining the items on the floor, Li Xian walked over, "Hello, Mr. Ma. My name is Li Xian."

Only then did Ma Modu look up and slap his forehead, "Oh, sorry about that. These items are yours, right?"

Li Xian nodded, "Yes, I invited you here because of your expertise in antiques and understanding of the market. I wanted to authenticate the items and get an appraisal."

"Sure, sure," Ma Modu nodded with a smile. As he shook hands with Li Xian, he heard a clinking sound and immediately rolled up Li Xian's sleeve to look at the lapis lazuli prayer beads, then slipped them off, his eyes as bright as an owl's, "Let's start with this piece! These prayer beads are Qing Dynasty royal items, lapis lazuli is associated with water, and these are different from ordinary prayer beads; they were likely used in rituals at the Temple of Heaven. The beads themselves are two or three hundred years old, but the string is relatively recent, probably restrung during the Republican era. Mr. Li, where are you from?"

"Uh," Li Xian looked at Ma Modu in confusion, "I'm from Longjiang."

"Oh," Ma Modu nodded deeply, "In that area, the Dragon Vein of the Qing Dynasty, considering the time and place, and the royal background, this was probably used by Puyi during his re-enthronement in Manchukuo. The beads are old, but the string was added later. Hmm, that's basically it. This item was probably smuggled out by someone close to Puyi after Manchukuo's collapse. If you're looking to sell it, a similar item was auctioned in Hong Kong two years ago for over three million. This one is worth about two million. But I have a set of agate prayer beads belonging to the ninth-generation grandson of Prince Rui, Seiduo. If you're interested, we can trade!"

Faced with this rapid-fire deduction, Li Xian was stunned, then took back the beads, "No, no, Mr. Ma, these beads aren't for sale."

"Oh," Ma Modu glanced at the beads, looking regretful, then turned his attention to other items on the floor. After a brief look, he noticed the square object with circular imprints that Li Xian had previously puzzled over in the cellar.

"Oh, a coin mold! This is rare, look, Xianfeng Tongbao! This is a good find!"

Although not well-liked, Ma Modu's appraisal skills were undeniable. Hearing that this was a valuable item, everyone immediately gathered to ask about the price.

"This item isn't worth much to sell, but it has significant cultural value! Coin molds like this weren't officially circulated and were usually destroyed immediately after a regime change. So this coin mold was likely used for counterfeiting at the time. It's not an official item, but a counterfeit mold for Xianfeng Tongbao coins. This is valuable for studying the living conditions of the people at the time. Mr. Li, I suggest you don't sell it. Leave it with me; I have a shop in Panjiayuan. You can visit anytime, pick out something you like, and we can trade!"

Seeing Ma Modu's eyes shining with excitement, Li Xian and everyone else in the room covered their foreheads.

Next, Ma Modu examined each item on the floor. Li Xian finally understood why this guy was so disliked—almost every item, he had seen or had a similar or even better-quality piece in his own collection. This guy's collection was top-notch, and while appraising your items, he couldn't help but brag about his own, which was infuriating to listen to.

Not only that.

After going through the items on the floor, Li Xian clearly saw that Ma Modu quietly set aside some of the better, more interesting pieces, shielding them as if he were protecting his own children—his attitude all but said, "These are mine, don't even think about touching them."

In just a short while, he had appraised all the items on the floor.

According to Ma Modu, the miscellaneous items were decent, with high cultural value, but cultural value doesn't equate to monetary value, so they weren't worth much. The old jades, due to poor preservation and lack of frequent handling, wouldn't fetch a high price either. Only the Buddha statues were valuable, but unfortunately... perhaps because Gao San was devout, they had been cleaned too thoroughly, reducing their value.

"Look at this gold Buddha. What makes it valuable? The outer black patina! But you've polished them so much that the gold is shining brightly—someone who didn't know better might think they were made last week! You can't treat antiques like this!"

Holding a gold Buddha, Ma Modu was pounding his chest in frustration.

Li Chengru couldn't stand it anymore and sneered, putting his hand on Li Xian's shoulder, "Brother, let me tell you, Old Ma is all about this. When we were writing scripts in the editorial department, he'd polish anything he saw. Ge You once told me that they had a cleaning lady in the editorial department who thought Ma's filing cabinet was too dirty, so she cleaned it over the weekend.

And guess what? When Ma came in on Monday, he was furious! He said he'd been polishing that iron filing cabinet for over two years, and the cleaning lady had wiped away its cultural value, demanding compensation. What kind of character is that? Old Ma, looking at how crazy you are now, you've been handling a lot of good stuff recently, haven't you?"

Ma Modu waved his chubby hand, looking annoyed, "Don't even mention it! Just the other day, I saw a huanghuali table, hey! Two meters long, one and a half meters wide! Have you ever seen such a big huanghuali table?"

Li Chengru shook his head, "Did you buy it? How much?"

"Buy my ass!" Ma Modu sighed, "I had the price negotiated—140,000. But guess what? My wife wouldn't let me buy it! She said there was no place to put it at home. I told her to throw away that broken spring mattress and use the table as a bed, but she refused, and wouldn't give me the money. By the time I borrowed the money and went back in the afternoon..."

Ma Modu slapped his thigh, "Someone else had already bought

 it for 180,000! So mad, I was so mad!"

Seeing that everyone's eyes were wide in disbelief, Li Xian suddenly couldn't help but chuckle.

Seeing his reaction, the group exchanged glances, Li Chengru and Chen Dongsheng burst into laughter, and the whole room was filled with laughter.

Indeed, Li Xian had never encountered someone with such a strange obsession.

"Mr. Ma, thanks for your hard work today. The items you've set aside are all yours!"

Having lived another life and learned more about Mr. Ma from the internet, Li Xian wasn't stingy at all. Since Ma Modu liked the items, he was more than willing to give them to him as a token of appreciation. After all, the future Ma Modu would open a large museum, which was much more respectable than trading gold and silver.

However, hearing Li Xian's words, everyone in the room was stunned.

Old Ma, who had a discerning eye and had selected the most valuable items among them, now had his eyes wide open, his usually narrow eyes as big as goose eggs, staring at Li Xian in disbelief. "Mr. Li, you're... giving these to me?"

Li Xian nodded, and Li Chengru was the first to pat his forehead, "How can you be so generous?"

Chen Dongsheng and Li Xiaohua also shook their heads, smiling wryly. They couldn't believe that Li Xian was giving away such treasures so easily.

"Oh!" Ma Modu slapped his forehead, "Mr. Li, when you were speaking just now, it seems like I missed something important. The Buddha statues aren't worthless. To tell you the truth, this stuff may not be worth much at auctions, but in the private market, those who believe in Buddhism are willing to spend a fortune on them! A while ago, I met a rich guy in Yanjing who spent 14 million on a golden Buddha statue!"

Fourteen million!

Chen Dongsheng's heart skipped a beat.

Although he was well-off, 14 million wasn't pocket change. Ma Modu was claiming that the Buddha statue, which they hadn't given much thought to, was worth a fortune. Seeing his serious expression, it was hard not to believe him.

But why did Li Xian feel that something was off? It was clearly just polished gold!

"Mr. Ma, what are you trying to say?"

"Well, Mr. Li, I'm not going to lie. I love the items you've selected, but I know they're valuable. How about this? You give me one of the Buddha statues, and I'll exchange it with items of equivalent value from my collection."

"You're serious?"

"Absolutely!" Ma Modu nodded his head like a drum.

Chen Dongsheng stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Li Xian's face.

Li Xian finally came back to his senses. He looked at Chen Dongsheng, smiled, and asked, "Brother Chen, just now, was that person from Baoan Group, Li Wei?"

Chen Dongsheng was stunned for a moment. "That's right, do you know him?"

Li Xian shook his head. "No, I've only heard of him. Oh, by the way, Brother Chen, everyone. These items, I won't be selling them."

"Huh?" Chen Dongsheng, Ma Modu, Li Chengru, and the others were quite surprised when they heard that he wouldn't be selling them.

"Xianzi, are you not satisfied with the price?" Li Chengru walked up and asked.

Li Xian shook his head.

Looking towards the door, and thinking about the keywords "Li Wei," "Baoan," "Yanzhong," "9, 12, 48" in his mind, he smiled.

"It has nothing to do with the value of these items. It's just that I… might not need money anymore!"