Chapter 710: Chapter 707: The Enraged Watanabe Yasu

“That’s actually a good idea!”

Wei Yanli’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he took the bid sheet with an annoyingly smug look, reconsidering the prices listed and modifying them.

This time he didn’t block Huo Sining’s view. After changing the prices, he even raised his eyebrows at Huo Sining and threw him another flirtatious wink.

Seeing that guy decisively strike off a zero from the price, Huo Sining relaxed a bit, a slight smile appearing on his face, thinking to himself that although the guy was a bit silly, he still had some clever tricks up his sleeve.

The other buyers who had been paying attention to Xie Wei and Wei Yanli’s actions believed the altered price to be true, fearing that the Tang Sancai would be snatched away by someone else, and hurriedly got new bid sheets from the staff to fill out again.

Watching those people being utterly played by Wei Yanli, Huo Sining couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Wei Yanli–the man’s acting skills were good enough to win an Oscar!

In fact, Tang Sancai works had a significant price gap between the domestic and international markets.

On the international auction market, Tang Sancai was extremely well-promoted, hence highly sought after by foreign collectors.

Sotheby’s International Auction House once sold a Tang Sancai black standing horse figurine in London, England, for 2 million pounds, setting a record for the highest price ever achieved by Chinese pottery at auction worldwide at that time.

However, at an auction held by Christie’s Domestic Auction Company, a Tang Sancai horse that had been repatriated overseas was sold for 800,000 yuan.

Although it was a tri-colored horse with a yellowish-brown tone, which commanded a slightly lower price than the black horse.

But the prices from these two auctions were enough to show that, compared to overseas auctions, the market price of Tang Sancai was still very low domestically, so collectors had to consider the economic value of their collections.

Whether it was Wei Yanli’s last round of antics that led to an inflated price, in the end, that Tang Sancai was bought for an exorbitant price of 16 million yuan.

This price caused a sensation in the entire venue and would probably spread throughout the entire antiques circle soon, sparking a new craze for Tang Sancai horse figurines.

Huo Sining was initially concerned for the buyer who purchased that Tang Sancai horse, but while looking around, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of Watanabe Yasu talking with Hattori Keiko and gesturing something, Watanabe Yasu’s face revealing a smug look of triumph, even viewing Wei Yanli with a disdainful winner’s attitude.

With that, Huo Sining no longer felt conflicted. There was no doubt that the one who had spent a fortune on the Tang Sancai was Watanabe Yasu.

Thinking of the thick layer of black aura shrouding the horse, Huo Sining couldn’t help but look at Watanabe Yasu with pity.

Although he didn’t know the exact nature of that black malevolent aura, Huo Sining was quite sure that whoever bought that horse would definitely not benefit from it in the slightest.

The auction continued, and the next seven or eight items were major pieces. Both Zhou Shitao and Ji Kun managed to acquire a snuff bottle and a jade incense burner respectively, making the master and disciples all happy with their procurements.

Once the auction ended, there wasn’t much left to see upstairs. Zhou Shitao asked for everyone’s opinion, and the group of four prepared to leave together.

At that moment, Liang Jinhong was about to complete the paperwork when he turned his head and caught sight of Zhou Shitao and the others. He couldn’t bother to finish with the staff member and hurriedly made his way towards Zhou Shitao.

“Mr. Zhou, please wait a moment!”

Zhou Shitao was not just anybody. Even if it had been Qin Lianshan there, he might not necessarily have stopped and waited at his request, let alone a stranger like Liang Jinhong.

Liang Jinhong had no choice but to chase after them quickly and, panting, he managed to block their way.

“Mr. Zhou, could you please take a look at this Twining Plum Bottle for me and confirm whether it is Yuan Blue and White or not?”

With that, Liang Jinhong took the Twined Peony Plum Vase that he had bought from Wu Qingshan for eighty million from Watanabe Yasu’s hands and handed it to Zhou Shitao.

Zhou Shitao was the only person among the four who hadn’t seen the Twining Plum Bottle. When he saw Liang Jinhong taking out the bottles, he had no intention of paying attention.

However, he quickly sensed something off. Huo Sining and Ji Kun next to him had extremely odd expressions, and the Wei family’s young man was even forcefully holding back a laugh, even giving Huo Sining a sly wink.

The odd behavior of these three made Zhou Shitao curious, and he couldn’t help but reach out and take one bottle from Liang Jinhong’s hand.

Experience comes with age, and Zhou Shitao was indeed decades older and much more knowledgeable than Huo Sining and the others. Once he had the porcelain in hand, he immediately noticed something amiss. After inspecting it thoroughly, he finally found a discrepancy at the joint between the foot and the body of the bottle.

To his surprise, the porcelain turned out to be a fake. Zhou Shitao’s hand paused, and then he took the other bottle for a closer look.

After only one glance, his knitted brows relaxed, and he directly handed the porcelain back to Liang Jinhong, leaving a few words behind as he turned and walked away.

“The foot is Yuan Blue and White, but the upper half is not. These bottles are worthless.”

Liang Jinhong was dumbfounded, looking at the pair of bottles in his hands, unsure whether to tell Watanabe Yasu the truth.

If someone else had examined the porcelain and called it a counterfeit, he certainly wouldn’t have believed it, but it was Zhou Shitao who had appraised it, and he had to face the issue seriously.

After thinking it over, he decided not to hide the truth from Watanabe Yasu, and bravely translated Zhou Shitao’s words for him.

Upon hearing from Liang Jinhong that the Twining Plum Bottle he had purchased for eighty million was a fake, Watanabe Yasu’s face immediately darkened.

Although Liang Jinhong felt embarrassed, he secretly felt relieved. At the time, he had also thought about spending the money to acquire the pair of bottles; if it hadn’t been for Watanabe Yasu and Wei Yanli outbidding him, he would have been the one filled with regret now.

But as relieved as he was, Liang Jinhong was quick-witted and soon reminded Watanabe Yasu to call the bank and cancel the check.

However, by this time more than two hours had passed since the transaction; it was too late. When Watanabe Yasu made the call, the bank informed him that the check had already been cashed and the eighty million funds had been transferred out.

“Damn it!” Watanabe Yasu cursed, red-faced with anger. Without another word, he threw the Twining Plum Bottle onto the ground, shattering it into pieces.

…

“Hahaha, it’s too funny, did you see that Dongyang man’s face? He spent eighty million on a pair of counterfeits, Watanabe Yasu must be cursing Uncle Wu to death!”

Wei Yanli laughed as he walked, clearly very satisfied with his experience at the Ghost Market.

Huo Sining, however, was speechless. It was funny to him that someone spent eighty million on a pair of counterfeits, but spending four hundred and twenty million on a Bronze Artifact might not be much smarter either.