Chapter 4: Pawnshop

  The next morning, Mo Shaokun hastily ate something and then rushed to the Baihai Road business district. He vaguely remembered that there was a pawnshop of some scale here during his high school days.

  June's Anping had already arrived at the hot time, and the scorching sun was tirelessly baking the earth. Even if there was occasionally a breeze blowing by, it was mixed with waves of heat. Mo Shaokun easily found the pawnshop called Qinyuan after circling around Baihai Road.

  This pawnshop occupies the first and second floors of the entire Jinma Building. The decoration of the hall on the first floor is extremely distinctive, whether it's the pool with various ornamental fish or those khaki-colored circular sofas, all of which show the boss's taste, even in the eyes of this reborn person, not feeling outdated at all.

  On both sides of the hall, there are rows of glass display cabinets on the walls, which are filled with photos. These are all the pledged items in the pawnshop. If you value one of them, just find a staff member to negotiate the price and take it away. Generally speaking, the prices of these pledged items are lower than the market price. Later, many rich people like to go to the pawnshop to dig up treasures, first because they are cheap, second because they are guaranteed, after all, things that can be brought in here have been appraised and their value is guaranteed.

  "Hello, sir." A young woman came up as soon as he entered the door.

  Mo Shaokun grasped the small wooden box in his hand and said to the woman, "Hello, I have something to pawn."

  "Alright, please come this way." The young lady with a professional smile led Mo Shaokun to the sofa and then said: "Please sit down first. Would you mind telling me what item you'd like to appraise? I'll find an expert for you."

  "A piece of ancient jade."

  "Alright, please wait for a moment."

  Before long, a white-haired old man in Tang suit followed the girl down from the second floor. The old man had kind eyebrows and eyes, with a peaceful smile on his face all the time. After sitting opposite Mo Shaokun, he chuckled and said: "Hello little friend, take out your things and let the old man see."

  Mo Shaokun nodded and handed the small wooden box to the old man.

  "Huh?" The old man looked surprised when he saw the small box, picked it up and examined it for a long time, touching and smelling it. Finally, he nodded and said: "Yes, this is top-quality purple sandalwood, and it's been around for some years. The craftsmanship is not bad, it should be made by a famous craftsman. This box alone is worth tens of thousands."

  The old man opened the box and took out the ancient jade inside, Mo Shaokun's heart was slightly tense.

  The old man carefully examined the ancient jade, his face sometimes surprised and delighted, sometimes disappointed. After about ten minutes, he sighed and said: "A fine piece! It's really a fine piece! Young man, are you sure you want to sell it?"

  "Mm." Mo Shaokun nodded and hastily added: "But I'll be back soon."

  "Heh heh, since that's the case, I'll give you an appraisal. This jade should be from the Han Dynasty, with excellent quality and fine craftsmanship. What's rare is that it's in perfect condition. However, there are many Han jades on the market right now, making it hard to sell for a good price. Even if this one is a top-notch piece, I estimate its value at most to be around 700,000 to 800,000 yuan. Adding in the discount rate and including this purple sandalwood box, I can offer you 700,000 yuan."

  "Seven hundred thousand?" Mo Shaokun slightly furrowed his brow, this price was much lower than his psychological bottom line. Originally, he had thought it would be at least ten million or so.

  He actually didn't understand the antique market, so-called prosperous antiques and chaotic gold, in the early 1990s, the domestic antique market had just started to rise and was far from as prosperous as it was later. Even the largest antique market in the country wasn't formed until around 95, and at that time, the price of antiques was not as exaggerated as it was later.

  "What? Not enough? If you can bring the other half together, this value will at least triple!"

  "I only have this one." Mo Shaokun smiled wryly, just about to continue speaking when a sweet female voice cut in.

  "Xue Lao, it's been a long time since you've sat in the hall." Along with the sound of her voice, a stunning woman dressed in a black professional attire walked over.

  "Little Qin is here, haha, Little Zhao had something to do and went out, so I came to take a look for him. Didn't expect to run into something good." The old man smiled at the woman and beckoned her over, saying "Come come come, you take a look too."

  "Being able to enter Old Xue's eyes, it must be an extraordinary treasure." The woman was slightly surprised. Old Xue was the chief appraiser of the pawnshop, and even nationwide, he was a renowned figure in the industry. Something that could win his praise must be exceptional.

  She took the object handed over by Old Xue with both hands, and the woman looked down and couldn't help but pause for a moment. After a while, she looked at Mo Shaokun with some doubt in her eyes: "Little brother, where did you get this thing from?"

  Little brother? Mo Shao Kun suddenly had an urge to die, although he looked young on the outside, his actual age was almost forty. Now being called "little brother" by a twenty-year-old girl made him feel like crying and laughing at the same time. What's even more depressing is that did this beauty not know that "little brother" also represented something else?

  "This thing is passed down from my family." Mo Shaokun said in a low voice.

  "Oh?" The beauty raised an eyebrow and stared at Mo Shaokun for a long time, as if to discern whether his words were true or false.

  "My name is Qin Xuan, I'm a consultant for this pawnshop." The beautiful woman stretched out her hand to Mo Shaokun.

  Mo Shaokun hastily stood up and handed over the dog's claw, and they lightly shook hands.

  "Just as Xue Lao said, this is indeed a rare good thing. Since it's your family heirloom, why do you want to pawn it?" Qin asked suspiciously.

  "Do you have to declare the reason for coming here? " Mo Shaokun said with some dissatisfaction, Qin Xing's gaze made him very uncomfortable, as if she thought he was a thief who came here to sell stolen goods.

  Qin Xuan seemed to have realized something too, and chuckled: "Little brother, don't misunderstand, I was just asking casually."

  She looked at Xue Lao and asked: "Xue Lao, how much do you estimate this thing is worth?"

  "Adding this box for 70,000 is a very reasonable price, but this little brother seems to be dissatisfied."

  "Qin Gu, I'd like to pawn our family heirloom. You must have guessed that I'm in urgent need of money. If possible, I hope you can give me a bit more."

  "How much do you want?" Qin Xuan smiled lightly and looked at Mo Shaokun with a hint of playfulness.

  "1.5 million!"

  Qin Xuan and Xue Lao were both stunned, and after a long while, Xue Lao couldn't help but laugh and say: "Young brother, this item plus the box is worth at most 900,000 on the market. If you give it to us for 1,500,000 and then run away with it, who can we reason with?"

  "I will definitely redeem this item, it has special meaning to me. If you're not at ease, you can send someone to follow me home, do you think I'd run away with my family still here? I wouldn't give up my family for this small amount of money, would I?" Mo Shaokun said.

  "This is not proper." Xue Lao shook his head and smiled, while Qin Xin was playing with the ancient jade in silence.

  After a long while, Qin Xuan raised her head and said: "Little Wang, take him to handle the formalities, and give him 1.5 million as he said."

  Mo Shaokun was slightly stunned, and then a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He just had an attitude of trying it out, but he didn't expect this beautiful consultant to be so easy-going.

  After he followed the store staff to handle the procedures, Xue Lao looked at Qin Ying strangely and said: "Little Qin, I've always thought you were a clever person, but I didn't expect you to have a confused time too."

  "Xue Lao, you can't say that. As the saying goes, 'a thousand pieces of gold cannot buy a smile on one's face'. I really like this jade, even if he does run away with it, I'll just consider it as spending a high price to buy something I like."

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