The fat man took the unconscious old man to the train station, bought him a train ticket, put it in his pocket, said goodbye to him, and went back.

Lao Lai naturally woke up a long time ago, but he was still pretending to be dead, and only after feeling that the fat man was gone did he dare to open his eyes slowly, thinking that he had finally escaped.

But while he was happy, he couldn't help but feel a little lost, and there were two main reasons for the loss.

The first point is naturally about the bronze drum, it seems that no matter what, the bronze drum may have nothing to do with himself, although he is still unwilling in his heart, but there is nothing to be done, after all, he has not been back to Changsha for nearly 20 years, and now he doesn't know the situation in Qingshuitang at all, until now, he has always thought that Gao Chao and the fat man are the identities of the towers, and today they can let go of themselves, which is already very lucky, so how dare he continue to play the idea of the bronze drum?

The second reason for the loss is that Lao Lai recalls what happened in the past two days, he was played by two descendants, and he can't help but feel a little angry and sad, he feels that he is really not as good as before, and also doubts whether he is really old, so when he thinks about it, there is a kind of tragic and desolate pride in his heart, as a poem says, "Lao Ji is determined to be thousands of miles, and the martyr is full of strength in his twilight years", although Lao Lai has not read a few days of books, he doesn't know that there is such a poem, But the feelings in his heart at this moment are the same as when Cao Mengde wrote poems.

Lao Lai got on the train and left, although he didn't want to go, but he had to go.

Because he knew that he was no longer a young man, and now he could no longer fight to the death with the young people on the rivers and lakes, so he had to go.

Although he is gone, he is not dead, his person is not dead, and his heart is not dead, because he is still an old man, he is an out-and-out corpse toucher, he still has a body of skills, and a smart head, so he is determined to return to the mountains of Bingzhongluo again, to wait for that opportunity, he seems to have faintly felt the existence of that opportunity, but that opportunity has not yet found him.

-- In the evening, Qingshui Pond, in the inner room at the entrance of the Ten Thousand Golden Pavilion.

The fat man has been back for a long time, he and Gao Chao have been staring at the bronze drum for an afternoon, not so much a discussion, in fact, it is better to say that the two of them are excited to carry out a series of plans for the future of the two of them, if you want to say more straightforward, popular, that is, these two people are in the inner room of the fat man's house, and they are bragging and farting all afternoon.

Now, Gao Chao and the fat man have been full of confidence in this bronze drum, according to their experience, if this bronze drum is really as Lao Lai said, it is a bronze of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, then its auction reserve price in the auction house, conservatively estimated should be about 7 million, but such a thing because it cannot explain its origin, so it is impossible to put it in the auction house for public auction, but even if it is sold on the black market, the value should be around 3 million.

In this way, Gao Chao really picked up the dog's head gold in the wooden house that night, so in this afternoon, Gao Chao and the fat man, the two brothers, have been leaning on the sofa and daydreaming, but this can't be regarded as a daydream, because after all, they are definitely capable of realizing those dreams now.

Needless to say, the fat man's ideal has always been to glorify his ancestors and fight for the re-rise of their old Zhao family for the rest of his life, so he said to Gao Chao that if he has money, it must be to buy the store next door to his house, and then double the area of the hall, and make Wanjin Pavilion the largest antique hall in Qingshuitang and even the country, so that their Zhao family's business can be done all over the country, out of Asia, and to the world.

Gao Chao listened to the fat man's thoughts, but scolded the fat man, saying that he was a mouse's eyes, after the bronze drum was sold, although the money was a lot, but it was not particularly much, if you want to go up a grade in the future, then you must not use money to upgrade the Tangkou storefront, because even if you make the store look good, there is no supply and what is the use of dogs, so Gao Chao's suggestion is that if you have money, you still have to continue to expand your business in Yunnan, and continue to look for folk antiques and antiques in the mountainsTo put it bluntly, it is to go back there and continue to shovel the land.

The fat man was said by Gao Chao, and he seemed to have opened his mind, because this bronze drum was collected in the Bingzhongluo area, that is to say, maybe in the nearby villages, there are some good things that they have never seen, if they spend some money to collect all those things, then he and Gao Chao will not make a fortune.

Thinking of this, the fat man suddenly came to his senses, and immediately thought about going to find a buyer, but Gao Chao was much calmer than the fat man, and he told the fat man to be more cautious, because so far, they had only heard Lao Lai talk about this bronze drum alone, and that Lao Lai was only a corpse toucher, not an authority in this regard, so his words could only be used as a reference.

So Gao Chao and the fat man discussed and discussed, and decided to find an authoritative person in the field of bronze to come out, make a final appraisal of this bronze drum, and give it a good look to see what this thing is.

Now that the decision was made, the two of them thought about it, who they were going to go to, and finally they were thought of by Gao Chao.

Gao Chao's father, Gao Mantian, known as Mantian, once had a number one in Qingshuitang after liberation, and his reputation was very good, and even in Qingshuitang in the past, there was a hymn as evidence: "There is nothing in the ghost market, there is no house in Qingshui, don't open the door, and the treasure comes out of the sky." ”

The meaning of this poem is that there is not a single good thing in the ghost market where the stall is practiced in the middle of the night, and there is no good hall in Qingshuitang that can be trusted, but if you want to buy the open door goods without being beaten, then you have to find Mantianye to ship, because he is absolutely reliable.

From this point, it can be seen that Gao Chao's father Gao Mantian, that is, Man Tianye, has been recognized by people in the industry in Changsha, so Mantianye's reputation is outside, and naturally there are countless friends, and Gao Chao just remembered an old friend of his father, who seems to be an authoritative figure in the study of bronzes.

So Gao Chao hurriedly called his dad and wanted to confirm, but his dad told him that he did know such a person, his surname was Xia Mingqiu, and people called him Xia Lao, but he hadn't contacted him for a long time, if he wanted to come, this person should be not young, not ninety but eighty, I don't know if he is still alive now, and his father also said that this person has a strange personality, does not understand the world, has been dealing with bronzes all his life, rarely goes out, and does not even have a phone call, if he wants to find him, I can only go directly to his house to look for it and try my luck.

In this way, Gao Chao got an address from his father, Yuelu Villa, No. 19, Shimenlou Street, Yuelu District, Changsha City, this address was only given to this villa area, but there was no house number, Gao Chao's father explained to him that he had never remembered the house number, but when he got to that villa, you would naturally be able to find his home, because his villa must be the oldest, the most dilapidated, and the most impressive, so you go to find it, if you really can't find it, it means that he is no longer there, The house must have been sold to someone else.

Speaking of which, Yuelu Villa is still the first villa area to be built in Changsha after the reform and opening up, the villa is surrounded by mountains and rivers, taking harmony, surrounded by bamboo forest mountain paths, Graceland Bitan, even today, it is definitely an outstanding high-end villa area.

So Gao Chao and the fat man looked at this address, they already had a spectrum in their hearts, thinking that Xia Lao must be a master-level figure, so he can have the strength to live in that kind of villa area, it seems that as long as this Xia Lao has not traveled west, then it must be right to find him, he must be able to give them the most authoritative appraisal of this bronze drum.

However, Gao Chao is also wondering about a question, since this Xia Lao is so rich, why is his villa the most dilapidated villa in that villa?

The fat man disdainfully told Gao Chao that people nowadays pay attention to being low-key, and they didn't listen to a popular saying that says so, low-key is the most gorgeous show-off.

After listening to the fat man's explanation, Gao Chao had no choice but to nod and admit it, but he still felt a little strange in his heart.

After deciding on this matter, it was already time for dinner.

Gao Chao and the fat man soaked in the hall of Wanjin Pavilion for a day, and at this moment both of them were also a little tired, Xiaoxue closed the door of Qibaoxuan, and also ran over to find the two of them.

As soon as she entered the door of the back room, she saw Gao Chao lazily leaning on the sofa with his eyes closed, looking like he was being beaten, so she ran up and grabbed Gao Chao's ear and said, "Okay, you are superb!" I'll show you the storefront in your house, but you're so good, you are hiding here and my brother is so idle! ”

Although she was angry and pinched Gao Chao's ears in her hands, her voice was not loud, but it sounded a little delicate, and she didn't have any strength in her hands at all, how could she pinch Gao Chao's ears hard? She was simply reluctant.

However, Gao Chao was pinched by her like this, so he had to sit up straight, pretending to beg for mercy: "Xiaoxue, you are the best, thank you for showing me the storefront, but you really wronged me, I have been studying business with your brother all afternoon, and I definitely have no intention of being lazy, I don't believe you can ask him!" ”

Gao Chao pointed at the fat man with his hand, Xiao Xue also looked at the fat man, and the fat man quickly sat up straight, pretending to be serious and said: "Xiao Xue, let him go quickly, he is not an ordinary person now, you can't treat him like this!" ”

After hearing this, Xiaoxue really let go of Gao Chao's ears, then blinked her big eyes and looked at Gao Chao, then looked at the fat man, and said, "Brother! How is he not ordinary now? ”

Gao Chao sat on the sofa, also crossed Erlang's legs, and then put his hands on the back of the sofa, pretending to be invincible.

Seeing Gao Chao like this, the fat man hurriedly picked up the teacup and sent it to Gao Chao, and then turned to Xiao Xue and said: "Xiao Xue, you don't know, your super brother is no longer the little Chaozi he used to be, he is now worth nearly 10 million, even your brother and I have to work for him!" ”

Gao Chao heard the fat man say this, Mei Zizi took the teacup in the fat man's hand, and then took a sip of tea and said: "The fat man works hard, and I will follow you and me in the future, and the future is bright!" ”

Xiaoxue watched the two of them sing and harmonize, and didn't know which tendon was wrong with these two out-of-tune brothers, why did they still daydream, so she said to Gao Chao angrily: "Brother Chao!" Why are you not reliable with my brother, tell me, what the hell is going on with you? ”

Gao Chao saw that Xiao Xue's face was really wrong, so he quickly put down the teacup in his hand, and said with a wronged expression: "Xiao Xue, who said that I am unreliable, I ......"

Before Gao Chao's words were finished, the fat man also said on the side: "Yes, who said that I am unreliable?" ”

When the fat man said this, Xiaoxue and Gao Chao looked at him at the same time, and said in unison: "You are not reliable!" ”

When the fat man saw this, he had no choice but to bow his proud head and stop making a sound.

Gao Chao told Xiaoxue what happened in Yunnan again, and also made it clear about the bronze drum, so Xiaoxue understood, it turned out that this time they went to Yunnan to shovel the land together, and the receipt was so big.

So Xiaoxue shouted happily: "Brother Chao, great, since you have made a lot of money, is the big meal you said tonight going to be upgraded?" ”

Xiao Xue mentioned the big meal, and Gao Chao remembered that he had promised Xiao Xue a big meal in the hall of Qibaoxuan one morning, but he suddenly became embarrassed, because they still had something to do tonight.

Gao Chao had no choice but to nod with Xiaoxue and said: "Upgrade, you have to upgrade, you have to upgrade, it's okay to eat whatever you want, but I'm afraid it won't work tonight, tonight the fat man and I have to meet a very important person, which is directly related to our bronze drum." ”