Chapter 17

Translator: Zayn_

“Don’t worry, I’ve never done anything illegal.” Zheng Dagang glanced at his stall. “Brother, none of the items in my stall are to your liking?”

Zheng Dagang wasn’t stupid. He could tell that Su Xiaofan wasn’t interested in the things he took out, but this was already the best batch of goods Zheng Dagang had.

“Brother Gang, I want to see a real magic artifact.” Su Xiaofan didn’t forget why he had come today.

In fact, after he figured out how to use the bug in the repair system, it didn’t matter to Su Xiaofan whether he would partner up with Zheng Dagang in the artifact making business.

With the ability to determine generations, Su Xiaofan would go to the antique markets in various cities from time to time and would more or less get some real stuff.

Furthermore, there were so many cities in the country. As long as he wasn’t too greedy, he could get one or two items from each city, and then deliberately mix them up and buy some fake items, there was no need to worry about his secret being discovered.

fine, I’ll take you to see some good things with this face of mine. Xiao fan, wait for me. I’m going to close the stall.

Zheng Dagang deftly collected all the items on the stall, then turned the table over, folded it on all four sides, and a box appeared on the ground.

Most of the stalls in the market used this kind of thing. They could put it down as a stall and put it away as a box. Once they put their things in, they could leave immediately. Su Xiaofan also had such a thing.

Zheng Dagang didn’t take the box with him. He put it in a familiar shop in the antique market and then took Su Xiaofan to the second floor.

“Brother Gang, where are we going?”

Su Xiaofan knew that the second floor of antique city was where real antique trading was conducted, and the customers were all regular customers. Usually, they would not open for a year, but once they did, they could eat for a few years. He used to like to hang out on the second floor when he had nothing to do, but he was not very familiar with the shop owners there. After all, a street stall owner was far inferior to others in terms of quality.

“Let’s go to Jingxin Hall,” Zheng Dagang slowed down his pace, turned around and said, “Xiaofan, don’t talk so much when you’re there. I’ll see if I can take out the good stuff they’ve kept hidden.”

“Not bad, Brother Gang. You’re familiar with Jingxin Hall too?” Hearing Zheng Dagang’s words, Su Xiaofan couldn’t help but give him a thumbs up. Those who were in the antique market had all heard of the name Jingxin Hall.

It was said that the owner of the Jingxin Hall had been in the antique business since before the liberation. After the liberation, he went abroad and brought all the good things from his house.

More than 30 years ago, the current generation of Jingxin Hall’s descendants returned to the country and were still engaged in the antique business. They opened Jingxin Hall’s storefronts all over the country.

Jingxin Hall’s reputation had once been broken, but it had been rebuilt in the past few decades. They were famous for being honest with the young and the old.

There was nothing wrong with buying antiques in Jingxin Hall, except for the high price. Whoever bought a fake in Jingxin Hall would be rich, because Jingxin Hall promised that the compensation for a fake was ten times the cost.

However, no one had been able to take the compensation from Jingxin Hall in the past 30 years. It was a good place to keep its reputation. It was the first choice for many big collectors in the country to buy antiques.

Since the owner of Jingxin Hall was from Luochuan, when Jingxin Hall returned to China, Luochuan city became its headquarters. Su Xiaofan had seen a picture of the old man in his 30s when he returned to the country and reopened Jingxin Hall. Now, he was in his 60s.

Compared to the first floor of the antique market and the street stalls outside, the second floor was much quieter.

Unlike the counters on the first floor, the second floor was basically full of shops, such as the Buddha Affinity Hall, Agarwood Pavilion, Yixin House, and so on. The storefronts were decorated in an ancient style, and some shops even played Buddhist zen music. So when they went up to the second floor, they were immediately isolated from the noise on the first floor, as if they had come to another area.

Jingxin Hall was located in the innermost part of the second floor. Perhaps it was because of the saying “the smell of wine is not afraid of the deep alley”, Su Xiaofan and Zheng Dagang arrived at the door of Jingxin Hall after passing through more than a dozen shops.

“Uncle Yuan, you’re here today. What a coincidence, I don’t usually see you.” The door of Jingxin Hall was open. As soon as Zheng Dagang entered, he greeted an old man sitting in the outer Hall drinking tea. Su Xiaofan didn’t say anything and followed Zheng Dagang in.

Unlike the usual dazzling antique shops, there weren’t many things in the Jingxin Hall. There were only two round wooden shelves on the side walls with a dozen items on them. To Su Xiaofan, this was more like a tea room than an antique shop, because anyone who entered would be attracted by the tea table made of red sandalwood.

There was also an incense burner on the table. Su Xiaofan didn’t know what incense he had lit, but he could see the white and light smoke slowly falling down like flowing water, looking extremely elegant.

“Aren’t you talking nonsense? When am I not here?” The old man sitting there didn’t give Brother Zheng a good look.

“Hehe, I’m just saying.” Zheng Dagang walked over shamelessly. “I’m just missing my Uncle Jing. I haven’t seen him for a long time, so I came to see if I could meet him.”

“Gang, why didn’t you call me when you missed me? Why didn’t you come to visit me at home?” Suddenly, a voice came from the inner hall, followed by a middle-aged man who looked like he was in his forties.

“Aiyo, my Uncle Jing, you’re getting younger again.” When Zheng Dagang saw the person, he quickly ran over and reached out to help him, but he was pushed away by the person with a smile.

“A toast to Shizhen!” A name popped up in Su Xiaofan’s mind because he knew the man. He was the owner of Jingxin Hall.

The surname Jing was rare in China. When Su Xiaofan knew that the surname of the owner of Jingxin Hall was Jing, he thought that the name should be Xiangyin. Perhaps it was called Jingxin Hall before.

Su Xiaofan remembered it so clearly because when he first saw Jing Shizhen at the antique market, he thought that the man was Jing Shizhen’s son. After all, he was in his sixties and looked like he was in his forties. But Zheng Dagang told Su Xiaofan that the man was Jing Shizhen. He looked young because he took good care of himself.

At this moment, Zheng Dagang also knew why Uncle Yuan didn’t give him a good face. He said in front of the boss that the shopkeeper was often not in the store. Wasn’t this making things difficult for Uncle Yuan? it was already good enough that uncle Yuan didn’t hit him with the sole of his shoe.

“Gang, why are you here today?” Jing Shizhen wasn’t very tall, about 1.7 meters. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and a Tang suit with two lapels. She looked very refined.

“Uncle Jing, I just missed you.” Zheng Dagang chuckled and said, ” my dad said that he hasn’t played chess with you for a long time. He asked when you were free. He came to play chess with you.

“Okay, but I have to go out in a few days. When I come back, I’ll ask your dad to come to the shop. I’ve recently collected some good tea.”

Jing Shizhen walked into the inner hall, looked up at Su Xiaofan, and smiled. Pointing at him, he said, “I’ve seen this young man before. He’s the one who set up the stall with you, right? The bronze wares at his stall are pretty good. They’re from our Luochuan Bronze Ware Village,” the young man said.

“Yes, Elder Jing, my surname is Su.”

Su Xiaofan remembered that Zheng Dagang had told him to speak less, so he gave a simple reply. However, he was a little surprised. When he met Jing Shizhen last year, he had only stopped in front of his stall for a short while. He did not expect that not only did he remember him, but he also knew the origin of his bronze wares.

“Eh? Su? No wonder the successor disciples of the bronze village are all in your Su family.” Jing Shizhen smiled and nodded, saying, “Come, sit down and have some tea. Gang Zi, how is your father’s health? I remember that he has a cold leg, so I brought a few plasters from Xinjiang this time. I’ll bring some for your father later.”

Jing Shizhen waved at Zheng Dagang and Su Xiaofan, and Uncle Yuan, who was originally sitting at the head of the table, gave up his seat. Jing Shizhen personally boiled water and made tea for the two.

“Ah, thank you, Uncle Jing.” Zheng Dagang quickly agreed. “Uncle Jing, I don’t have to ask to know that your body is in great condition. If we walk together, people will definitely say that you are my brother.”

“You little brat, you’re taking advantage of me. I’m more like your dad’s brother.” Jing Shizhen burst into laughter.

Sitting on the side and listening to Jing Shizhen and Zheng Dagang’s chat, Su Xiaofan could tell the relationship between the two. The two’s families were actually friends for generations.

From their conversation, Su Xiaofan could tell that Jing Shizhen’s father, the founder of the Jingxin Hall, had a close relationship with Zheng Dagang’s grandfather. After Jing Shizhen returned to China, she went to Zheng Dagang’s house first, but unfortunately, Zheng Dagang’s grandfather had passed away by then.

It had to be said that the fate between people was also predestined. After a few interactions, Jing Shizhen actually got along quite well with Zheng Dagang’s father, who was a professor. He even recognized Zheng Dagang as his nephew. Zheng Dagang had set up a stall in the antique market because of Shizhen’s guidance.

“Brother Gang’s mouth is really tight.” After understanding the relationship between the two, Su Xiaofan couldn’t help but look at Zheng Dagang. The two of them had known each other for several years, but he had never heard Zheng Dagang mention this relationship.