Through the introduction, Meng Zitao learned that the young man's name was Little Alfonso, and his elder brother was called Big Alfonso.

Alfonso Jr. used the key to open the door of his shop and went in to turn on the light, but the light was too dim.

Speaking of which, this street is depressed and empty, although it is daytime, there are not many pedestrians, and with the thin figure of little Alfonso, it looks a little sneaky in the dim light overhead.

He beckoned Meng Zitao with his left hand, and put his right hand in his trouser pocket, which was undoubtedly a little weird with the surrounding atmosphere.

Meng Zitao knows that New York is a noisy and mixed place, ordinary people will develop the habit of vigilance, if ordinary people see this gloomy shop, it is estimated that they will be a little hesitant to enter or not, go in, this little Alfonso looks very suspicious, if you don't go in, you will feel a pity, I don't know what treasures are hidden in this black antique shop.

However, all this is not a problem for Meng Zitao, after all, he is much more powerful than Little Alfonso, he can poke little Alfonso to death with one finger, and he also has Cao Gang with a pistol by his side, so without hesitation, he and Cao Gang walked in.

As soon as the two of them stepped into the shop, little Alfonso closed the door with a "bang", and then plugged in the latch, and there were only three people left in the store, and one of Alfonso's hands was still in his trouser pocket.

Next, under the leadership of little Alfonso, I took a look at the store, and most of the things here are not antiques, but they are modern handicrafts that are a bit old, and Meng Zitao even suspected that they were picked up by picking up garbage.

Some of the other antique artifacts are also covered with dust, and they don't look very good.

Meng Zitao said: "I'm sorry, sir, there is nothing in your things that I am interested in, I want to go back to the shop just now." ”

"No, don't you go!" said little Alfonso hurriedly, "I still have real good stuff in the basement, and I really don't lie to you." ”

Meng Zitao frowned slightly: "You have a basement here?"

"It's true, I don't believe you came with me. ”

Little Alfonso paused: "You won't suspect that I have any intentions, and I can't do anything to you alone." ”

"It's hard to say. Meng Zitao smiled and looked at little Alfonso's right hand.

Little Alfonso understood what Meng Zitao meant, and said with a wry smile: "I can't put my hand in my pocket." ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand, which was a miserable burning hand, and ordinary people would definitely be shocked when they saw it at first glance.

Meng Zitao understood the distress of little Alfonso, so he asked him to lead the way.

Little Alfonso took the two of them into the back room, there was really a staircase leading to the bottom of the back room, everyone followed Little Alfonso into the basement, the room was not big, only about twenty square meters, and there were some antiques piled up in it.

Under the dim light, Meng Zitao looked at the things in the room, first of all, there were several oil paintings hanging on the wall, which seemed to be some years old, but they were only the works of some small masters.

In addition, there are several kitchen cabinets in the room, which contain all kinds of knick-knacks, such as porcelain, ivory carvings, porcelain, gold and silverware, etc., in addition, there are some large porcelain pieces below, as well as bronze and stone statues. It's just that these things are the same as the ones outside, and the surface is covered with dust.

Meng Zitao muttered in his heart that this little Alfonso really doesn't like to be clean, even if one of his hands is burned, but he can use a feather duster to clean the dust.

Little Alfonso asked Mencius to look at it casually, and Mencius began to rummage through a pile of things, in fact, he had already used his ability to identify the things in the house just now, and he also had a goal, and now he was just doing it for pretend.

In the end, Mencius chose a piece of porcelain, a statue, and an oil painting.

The porcelain is a large blue and white jar, the mouth edge is embellished with back lines, the shoulder is painted with wide lotus petals, the near foot is decorated with sea waves, the main body of the abdomen is painted through the scene to draw the "birthday celebration map", a total of nine figures are painted in the picture, or playing chess, or holding fairy peaches to celebrate birthday, or carrying treasures against the wind, the characters look peaceful and natural.

In the middle, there are cranes and deer mouths of Ganoderma lucidum, shuttling in the meantime, meaning "cranes and deer in the same spring", the background is supplemented by pine trees flowing clouds, mountain rocks and grass, the clouds are in the shape of Ganoderma lucidum, there are layers of circles and dots densely covered, commonly known as "Yuntang hand", which is a typical feature of porcelain in the blank period.

The subject of the statue is the Hu people taming the elephant, this pattern is seen in the artworks of the past dynasties, the earliest can be traced back to the unearthed Han Dynasty "Hu people taming" portrait stone, is the embodiment of cultural exchanges and personnel exchanges between China and the Western Regions. In the Tang Dynasty, Hu was extremely popular, and exchanges with Central Asia and other regions were very frequent, and this kind of Hu elephant taming image has been popular until the Song Dynasty.

This ornament is a Song Dynasty golden silk nan wood carving, exquisitely made, like a lotus flower as a retrospective shape, limbs upright on the four lotus flowers. The elephant's head is equipped with tassels, the back is draped in a saddle blanket, the ornaments are delicately depicted, and the patterns are complex. Like the Hu man holding a whip, the beard is curled, the nose is high and the eyes are deep, and the image is vivid and expressive.

The remaining oil painting is a landscape work by a native American painter of the 19th century, the author is not a famous artist, and the value of the work is not high.

Meng Zitao asked Little Alfonso to estimate the price, first of all, the porcelain, Little Alfonso quoted two thousand US dollars, this price is really good, Meng Zitao nodded subconsciously.

Seeing Meng Zitao nodding, little Alfonso looked at him suspiciously, and then looked carefully at the blue and white jar, and then, he actually said grandly: "I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention just now, the figures on this jar are very delicately painted, it should be worth four thousand eight, not two thousand." ”

Meng Zitao was a little happy, from the contact with antiques to the present, he has dealt with countless antique dealers, it is the first time he has encountered this situation, and he can use it as his face regret.

Alfonso Jr. was very calm, he didn't think there was anything wrong with this, and seeing him like this, he still had the possibility of continuing to regret the price.

Meng Zitao sneered: "Mr. Alfonso, in fact, there are cranes and deer on this jar, as well as all kinds of fairy grass and fairy fruits, should you count them before bidding?"

Little Alfonso showed his slightly lewd smile and said: "Sir, four thousand eight hundred yuan, it is very cost-effective to buy a beautiful Chinese porcelain, you see this jar, it is flawless from the inside out, very good." ”

In fact, 4,000 and 8 bought this blue and white jar, and Meng Zitao had already made a lot of money, but he just hated this guy's face, and if he didn't lower the price, it was likely to be the same as just now.

Meng Zitao decided to put it aside for a while, and first set the price of the other two things, and then said: "How much is this statue and this oil painting?"

Alfonso Jr. hesitated for a moment: "Statue...... Even if you're 800 fine, and this country is a masterpiece, you can't get it without 7,000 dollars. ”

The price is about the same, because the value of the oil painting is still easy to see.

Meng Zitao said: "Are you sure this time? Do you want to count the characters above?" ”

Alfonso Jr. was unimpressed by the sarcasm, and said, "That's the price I just said." ”

Meng Zitao said: "If the two things are reduced by another five hundred, I will buy them." ”

Alfonso Jr. was silent for a moment, then agreed.

"Okay, let's talk about this piece of porcelain. ”

Meng Zitao said: "You offered two thousand at the beginning, and then it rose to four thousand eight, and you didn't do this business, which makes me doubt your sincerity." ”

Little Alfonso smiled: "The price of such a beautiful piece of Chinese porcelain, the price I said is really not expensive, like the auction at Sotheby's, there are tens of thousands of millions of Chinese porcelain." ”

Hearing what little Alfonso said, Meng Zitao knew that this guy didn't know much about the market, and he didn't know much about porcelain identification, otherwise he wouldn't have said such a thing.

Meng Zitao said with a smile: "I also have a few pieces of porcelain in my hand, can I put them here to sell them on your behalf? I don't want four thousand eight or two thousand, just one thousand, and the rest is yours." ”

Alfonso Jr. smiled: "So how much are you willing to pay?"

"Two thousand, I promised this price, and I won't regret it. Meng Zitao replied.

"This jar is sent to auction and it makes even more money. Alfonso Jr. didn't let go.

Meng Zitao smiled: "In this way, if you take this jar to Chinatown and sell it, you can sell it for five hundred, even if I lose, I can give you another five thousand yuan unconditionally." ”

"Three thousand five, the bottom three thousand five!" Alfonso Jr. relented.

Meng Zitao looked at him, and when he would not regret it anymore, he agreed, asked him to calculate the total price of a few things, and then paid and left.

As for the big Alfonso, Meng Zitao only went in for a while, and used his ability to identify everything in the store, and found that there were no good things, so he left.

Walking out of the street, Cao Gang asked, "Do you want to go around somewhere else?"

"No, I'll deal with this thing first. Meng Zitao pointed to the statue and said.

Cao Gang was stunned: "What's wrong with this statue?"

Meng Zitao said: "There may be something in it. ”

"Huh?"

Seeing Cao Gang's puzzled look, Meng Zitao explained simply: "Its weight is wrong." ”

The two returned to the hotel, and Meng Zitao asked Cao Gang to buy some tools, and then began to work on the statue.

The statue is obviously in the belly of the elephant, and if you look closely, you can see a small gap, scrape off the paint with a knife, and then pry it off, and you can take out the contents of it.

The thing was wrapped, and after Meng Zitao opened the package, Cao Gang next to him was startled and exclaimed: "It's actually all oracle bones!"

Tortoise shells and animal bones used in ancient divination in China. Among them, the tortoise shell is also called the cloth armor, and the belly armor of the turtle is mostly used; the animal bone is also called the cloth bone, and the shoulder blade of the cow is mostly used, and there are also sheep, pig, and tiger bones. Bujia and Bu Gu are collectively called oracle bones. As for what's on the oracle bone, everyone must be familiar with it.