Chapter 9: 'The Follower'

After coming out of Taiyi Pavilion, Liu Dong's bicycle back seat was tightly tied to the large wooden box, and there was already a precious gloomy wood wrapped in thick old newspapers.

At this time, it was almost ten o'clock in the morning, and the street that was still a little deserted when he came had already become full of life, and the stalls on both sides of the street were full of jade, bronze, coins, wood, porcelain, bamboo and wood ivory carvings, calligraphy and paintings, villain books, old newspapers, etc., as long as you can think of old things, there are some for sale here.

In the past, when he came to the antique city, he would always look for these antique stalls with great interest, although he only saw and did not buy, but he had gained a lot of knowledge, which was also very helpful to the progress of his carving skills.

After all, now his carving from the initial selection and design, to the final polishing is almost all done by himself, not like the current jewelry shop or workshop, in order to improve efficiency, the jade carving or wood carving process has been broken down, each has a special person responsible for the design or carving, the whole process is like a modern industrial assembly line. However, in this way, it also stifled the creative power of jade carvers, so that most jade carving practitioners became craftsmen who only engaged in carving, and there were fewer and fewer truly skilled jade carving masters. It has caused a certain danger to the entire jade carving industry.

Of course, these are not Liu Dong's concerns, and what he wants to do most now is to hurry home and carve out this precious wood of gloomy wood. Therefore, Liu Dong, who is in such an urgent mood, naturally has no mood to go shopping. Moreover, the piece of material in the box on the back seat of the bicycle is too precious to him, in case he loses it in this antique city where dragons and snakes are mixed, although Uncle Long will not say anything, but he may not forgive himself lightly in his own heart.

"This big brother, I'm a bit of an old thing, do you want to take a look?" Just when Liu Dong pushed the car, passed through the dense flow of people, and came to the gate of the antique city to get in the car and go home, someone behind him pulled his sleeve.

"You're calling me?"

Liu Dong stopped, turned around, and looked at the person who grabbed him with some inexplicability.

What appeared in front of him was a young man, about twenty years old, about the same age as him. The body is thin and weak, and it looks like there is not much flesh at all except for bones. A pair of eyes are a little small, and when they smile, they are almost invisible. He was wearing a pair of old-fashioned sandals with a toe on his feet, the pants on his legs were crumpled and stained with black and yellow stains, as if they hadn't been washed for a long time, and the red shoulders on his upper body were also a little worn, plus the snakeskin bag on his back, all over his body, from the inside to the outside.

"Yes, big brother! Seeing that you came to visit the antique city today, you must also be a connoisseur, I don't know if you are interested in some things here? The thin man patted the snakeskin pocket behind him and smiled flatteringly.

"I'm not interested, you better go find someone else!"

After three years of mixing in the antique city, he has seen a lot of such people. In the antique shop, this kind of person is called 'follower', and they specialize in engaging in some fake antiques to deceive tourists, and they are the most ruthless in killing people and stabbing people. However, generally this kind of person is an old fritter in the antique city, and there is basically a gang behind him, with a bit of underworld nature, although Liu Dong is not afraid, he doesn't want to provoke these people.

"Big brother, don't! You haven't even seen it, how do you know you don't like it! When Liu Dong just turned around and was about to leave, he hurriedly took two steps forward to block the front of Liu Dong's car, and grabbed the handlebar of Liu Dong's bicycle with his left hand like a bird's claw.

Seeing him like this, Liu Dong's face immediately turned cold, and his eyes became sharper.

Obviously, the thin young man is also a visionary master, seeing Liu Dong's height of nearly one meter eight and his sturdy body, he knew that although the person in front of him was young, he was probably not easy to provoke, so he quickly let go of his left hand, and the flattering smile on his face was even better, "Big brother, don't be angry yet, I was also in a hurry just now, you can take a look at things first!" ”

As he spoke, he took the snakeskin bag from his back, gently placed it at his feet, and then opened the knot on it.

Out of curiosity, Liu Dong couldn't help but take a look, but there were indeed a lot of things inside, ceramics, bronzes, jade, and even a very shabby looking calligraphy and painting scroll, but these things all had a characteristic that they were covered with mud and looked dirty and old! Even with his shallow appraisal eye, he can see that these so-called old things are basically fake and shoddy modern goods, especially rough craftsmanship.

However, none of this had anything to do with him, Liu Dong was originally going to take a look and leave, but what he didn't expect was that he really found something that interested him in this snakeskin bag.

"There's something to look at, let's go talk to the side!" There were too many people at the gate of the antique city, and there were already a lot of people standing around them to watch the excitement after a while, obviously this is not a good place to talk about business.

"Hey, come on." Hearing his words, the thin young man was overjoyed in his heart, and couldn't help but agree with a smile on his face.

In his opinion, as long as Liu Dong promised him to look at things, then today's business is basically gone. Thinking that there will be money in the pocket after a while, the thin young man is naturally very willing.

"Alright, that's it. It's cooler here, too! Under the willow tree outside the gate of the antique city, Liu Dong parked the car.

"Big brother, what do you like?"

"I want this, give a real price!" As he spoke, Liu Dong took out a small and exquisite, only about ten centimeters high from the snakeskin bag in the young man's hand, the tower is divided into three layers, octagonal, the top of the tower is like a black monk's hat, and the texture of the upturned cornices is also very clear.

Rubbing the soil on the top of the tower, Liu Dong can clearly see the black lacquered tower body underneath, but the pattern depicted by the Yin carving technique on it is covered by the soil, and the volume is too small, Liu Dong didn't see what was engraved on it. In addition, just by the touch of his hands and his own experience in wood carving, he was sure that the materials used in this small wood carving tower were the same as those in the trunk in the back seat of his car, which were all carbonized wood formed by golden silk nanmu.

Looking at Liu Dong couldn't stop looking at the octagonal tower in his hand, the light in the thin young man's eyes flashed, and then he said with a generous face: "Big brother is really good eyesight, this object is what I just received yesterday, the material of the serious small leaf red sandalwood, please ask the shopkeeper of the Agarwood Pavilion to do the identification, the old thing of the Ming Wanli Dynasty!" I don't ask you for more, just make up a whole amount of 5,000 yuan and you can take it. ”

After listening to his words, Liu Dong couldn't help but shake his head, Agarwood Pavilion he knew that it was a well-known antique shop in the Quancheng antique shop, the shopkeeper Li Renfangzi inherited his father's business, and had a clever appraisal ability.

However, Liu Dong didn't believe that this thing had really been identified in the Agarwood Pavilion, otherwise with other people's eyesight, this thing would not have been dusted in this dirty and dilapidated snakeskin pocket and discovered by him.

"Five thousand dollars? Then you might as well keep it for yourself! With that, Liu Dong turned around and prepared to push the cart and leave. Liu Dong, who has been here for three years, naturally knows what is going on in the antique city. Although I knew in my heart that this gloomy wooden carved tower was far more than five thousand yuan, I couldn't agree too happily. Otherwise, if the guy in front of him sees the clue, it will be impossible to say whether it will be five thousand at that time.

"Big brother, big brother, don't be in a hurry to leave. If you really can't, then you can make a price! The young man said with a look of urgency on his face.

After listening to his words, Liu Dong couldn't help but have a smile on his face, but he quickly disappeared after turning around.

There is a saying that 'asking for a price all over the sky, and paying back the money on the ground', just now he didn't really want to go, just a gesture, and now that the goal has been achieved, he naturally wants to borrow the slope to get off the donkey.

"If you want me to say it's only fifty yuan, I don't want it if it's more!"

"Fifty?" Hearing this, the young man was a little dumbfounded, and immediately smiled bitterly: "Big brother, you killed too hard, and when I received this thing, it was more than fifty!" You'd better add more, otherwise we really won't be able to close this deal! ”

Looking at his face, Liu Dong knew that the price was indeed a little low, and after pretending to groan for a while, he said with a painful face: "Then add another fifty or one hundred yuan to you, if you don't sell it again, I will really leave!" ”