The summer sun shone on the earth, making the air around it very hot, although it was just after nine o'clock in the morning, and there were very few pedestrians on the streets except for the passing cars.

At this time, Meng Zitao rode his bicycle to the antique street in Lingshi, his sweaty face was full of anxiety and sorrow. All this is because his father Meng Shuliang was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

"It's really a good person, there is no reward!" Meng Zitao, who was riding a car, sighed.

Speaking of which, the 54-year-old Meng Shuliang really deserves the title of a good person, with a good personality, basically not losing his temper, dedicated, helpful, as long as he has been in contact with people, there is no one who does not praise him for his personality.

But it is precisely because of this that some time ago, the factory was not operating well and needed to lay off employees, so the first one found Meng Shuliang, and Meng Shuliang signed a compensation agreement without saying a word.

Fortunately, because Meng Shuliang was the first to sign the agreement, the factory paid him social security until retirement, which is still in the past.

Meng Shuliang used to work as a fitter in the factory, although he did not have a certificate, but he still had the technology, and he didn't have to worry about finding a job when he was laid off. During this time, many factories have sent invitations to him.

Meng Shuliang already had an intention, but because he was always nauseous in the past few days, his abdomen was a little uncomfortable, so he went to the hospital for examination, but he didn't expect the result to be a bolt from the blue, he actually got stomach cancer. The only good thing is that it is still early and the cure rate is very high.

But even in the early stage, the cost of surgery, plus other treatment costs, adds up to 100,000 yuan. And Meng Zitao's family is only a salaryman, he just bought a house two years ago, and the borrowed money has just been paid off a few years ago, where does he get so much money now?

If you want to talk about borrowing money, Meng Zitao's mother has also made a lot of calls in the past two days, except for a few relatives and friends, as soon as the others heard that they were borrowing money, they started haha, and in the end they only borrowed more than 30,000 yuan. In addition, the family's savings are not even 50,000.

Seeing this situation, Meng Shuliang had the idea of not treating it, but he was persuaded by the mother and son. If you want to say that you have a terminal illness, then you can't do it, but now you can't do it. In the end, it was Meng Zitao who made the decision, and if there was really no way, he sold the house.

Of course, this is no way, after working hard for most of my life, I finally bought a house and had to sell it, how can I be willing to do it?

So, the family could only make up for the idea of a few objects handed down by their ancestors, and wanted to sell them for some money. This task fell to Meng Zitao.

"Therefore, as the old saying goes, the rich have distant relatives in the mountains, and the poor have no one in the downtown area. No matter how good a person is, when it comes to money, it doesn't change his face. ”

Meng Zitao sneered in his heart, and parked his bicycle at the door of an antique shop. Touching his pocket, he saw that the things were still there, and his heart suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and then he wiped the sweat from his face, changed his smiling face, and walked into the antique shop.

This antique shop has a small façade, but it is neatly arranged. On the two Bogu shelves, there are porcelain, ancient jade, incense burners, cultural toys and so on, all of which are quite exquisite.

It's just that these things are not eye-catching to insiders, firstly, many of them are high-quality imitations, and secondly, even if they are genuine, the quality is not very good, and only some laymen and some shy antique lovers will be greedy for cheap purchases.

For example, Meng Zitao, 04 began to pay attention to the antique industry, four years later, although he also has some experience in all kinds of cultural toys, but because of the shyness in his pocket, even if he wants to buy antiques, he only dares to patronize the stalls, and there is such a small shop in front of him.

Although he also went to the slightly larger antique shop, at most he just looked at it, and he would never dare to let him buy it.

At this time, there was a middle-aged man in his forties sitting in the store, although his appearance was ordinary, his eyes were bright, and from time to time there were flashes of essence, as if he was calculating something, and he knew that he was a shrewd person at a glance.

This person is the shopkeeper of this store, named Xue Wenguang.

Meng Zitao has known Xue Wenguang for two years, and in general, although this person is a little treacherous, but Meng Zitao has no money, and he is careful, he has not suffered anything here in the past two years.

Xue Wenguang can speak well, and from time to time he will talk about some gossip and experience in the antique industry, which is very attractive to Mencius Tao, who has no famous teacher to guide him, and often comes here to hang out. Of course, this is also for the sake of Mencius Tao's purchase of his things, otherwise he would not have said this.

"Brother Xue, how is business today?" Meng Zitao forced a smile and said hello to Xue Wenguang.

Xue Wenguang raised his head and said with a smile: "That's it, isn't there an old saying in our industry, don't you open for three years, open for three years." ”

Speaking of this, he asked with concern: "By the way, I heard that your father is not in good health, how is it, does it matter?"

Meng Zitao was stunned in his heart, and secretly complained: "It must be Li Xianle again, what are you talking about to Xue Wenguang, why are you talking about this, it's good now, it's a little troublesome today." ”

Li Xianle is a colleague of Meng Zitao, four years older than Meng Zitao, and he is also an antique lover.

Li Xianle has a more enthusiastic personality and is not bad, but he talks a lot, likes gossip too much, and can't hide things in his heart, as long as something happens in the company, as long as he hears about it, it won't be long before the whole company will know.

In addition, Li Xianle also knew Xue Wenguang, and Meng Zitao knew without guessing that Xue Wenguang knew about his father, and it must have been Li Xianle who told him.

It's just that this adds a problem to Meng Zitao, just like doing business in a normal way, the party that is in a hurry to sell and buy will always suffer, and the same is true for Meng Zitao.

"Forget it, since you're here, take it out and show it to him, and if the price isn't right, take it somewhere else to see. ”

So, after a few perfunctory words, Meng Zitao took out a piece of jade pendant from his pocket: "Brother Xue, please help me take a look, this is an old thing inherited from my family." ”

When Xue Wenguang saw this jade pendant, a hint of brilliance flashed in his eyes, and after saying hello with a smile, he took the jade pendant in his hand and observed it carefully.

This piece of jade is carved with white jade, and the four dragons are intertwined into a square, hollowed out. The heads of the four dragons are outward, and their bodies are intertwined with each other, interspersed with knots, containing the meaning of the four directions.

The carved four dragons, winding and curling, the head carving is delicate and vivid, the expression between the eyebrows and eyes is complete, the suppleness and the majesty appear together, it can be said that it is a combination of rigidity and softness, the courage of the dragon and the warmth of the white jade complement each other, which is admirable. Except for the head of the cockroach, the body of the cockroach is almost not decorated, and the face is facing the sky.

Overall, the overall carving of this piece of jade pendant is concise and vivid, with a few brushstrokes, vivid, as Lao Tzu said, "the great beauty is speechless, and the wonderful way is natural". It can be seen that the jade makers of the Qing Dynasty were skilled and had no ingenuity.

After Xue Wenguang looked at the jade pendant carefully, he put it on the table, and couldn't help but praise: "This jade pendant carving is smooth, polished and delicate, meaning to travel widely in Kyushu, make friends with the Quartet, and shock the world, which is a typical jade ornament of the Qing Dynasty." It's a good thing, but it's a pity......"

"It's here!" Meng Zitao secretly said in his heart and asked, "Brother Xue, is there anything wrong with this jade pendant?"

Xue Wenguang smiled and said: "There is no problem with this piece of friendship in other aspects, but the jade quality is slightly worse, otherwise it will be perfect." ”

"Nonsense, if the jade is good, I can still get it to you and sell it?"

Meng Zitao sneered in his heart, and asked with a smile: "Then how much can this jade pendant be worth?"

Xue Wenguang pondered for a moment, and then said: "Xiao Meng, we have known each other for a long time, you are also an insider, I will help you sell this jade pendant, even if you are six thousand, what do you think?"

"Six thousand?" Meng Zitao was stunned in his heart, he thought that Xue Wenguang would offer a low price, but he didn't expect it to be so low. You must know that the psychological price of this jade pendant can be 12,000, even if he is in a hurry, 10,000 is available, but he didn't expect Xue Wenguang to offer an outrageous price of 6,000.

Seeing Meng Zitao's expression, Xue Wenguang said with a smile: "Xiao Meng, just with the color of your jade pendant, six thousand can ......."

As soon as Xue Wenguang's words came to this, he saw a middle-aged man with a round head and a big belly walking in menacingly.

As soon as the boss-like man walked to the table, he threw a box in his hand on the table and shouted angrily: "Xue Wenguang, look at the good things you have done!"

"Lingling should be long!"

It just so happened that the box happened to touch the jade pendant on the table, and with this blow, the jade pendant suddenly slipped off the edge of the table and fell to the ground.

"My jade pendant!" Meng Zitao exclaimed, but because of this incident, he was so surprised that he could only watch the jade pendant fall to the ground and fall apart.

Seeing Meng Zitao picking up the jade pendant fragments on the ground, with a heartbroken look on his face, Xue Wenguang and the middle-aged man couldn't help but look at each other, not knowing what to say.

After a while, Meng Zitao picked up the fragments of the jade pendant, put it on the table, and said to the middle-aged man with a gloomy face: "What do you say about this?"

The middle-aged man looked at the fragments on the table, then looked up at Xue Wenguang again, and asked, "What is this?"

Xue Wenguang replied: "This is a piece of the mid-Qing Dynasty knot Quartet. ”

Hearing Xue Wenguang say this, the middle-aged man secretly said "unlucky", but he didn't shirk his responsibility, so he stared at Xue Wenguang and asked, "Then how much is this jade pendant worth?"

Xue Wenguang laughed dryly: "I offered six thousand just now!"

Meng Zitao glanced at Xue Wenguang deeply, and a wave of anger rose in his heart, thinking that he and Xue Wenguang had known each other for two years, even if he didn't buy many of his things, but after two years, he had some friendship, couldn't he give a normal price?

"Even if you Xue Wenguang thinks that the person in front of you is your big customer and wants to maintain a good relationship between the two parties, you can't use my money to please him!"