25 Decoration Knives

Waiting at his favorite baozi food stand, Wang Ming felt refreshed after getting a good night's sleep. Today was the day that he was going to sign the contract with Meng Hao. Wang Ming felt excited and wanted the time to go faster. Today he only wanted to sign the contract and then go to see the restaurant as soon as possible.

He hadn't seen the restaurant before, but since it was Peng Tong's recommendation, it had to be a great restaurant. He even wore the pink suit he had bought from Aunt Fu's shop today. He felt awkward wearing what some would consider a feminine color, though Wang Ming didn't care too much, he's still unaccustomed to it.

There were many people that looked at him when he moved around, which he found even more uncomfortable, but it was just something he needed to get accustomed too. If he didn't want people to judge him, then he had to wear expensive clothes. Though he would only wear this on special occasions like today, Wang Ming found out that he couldn't bear having people talk, stare and point at him when he was walking in the streets.

Some were good comments, some girls would murmur to each other or whisper to their partner about how nice he looked. But, the boyfriends of said girls all looked at him like they wanted to kill him and said nasty things about him and his family even though they didn't know each other. Of course, most of them also mentioned his crippled legs.

Wang Ming didn't know why men these days were so insecure and jealous. The girls said he looked good, not that they wanted to marry him and break up with them. It's not like men don't find many girls pretty, they just don't talk about it loudly and only look instead.

Strolling around the streets, Wang Ming waited for the time to pass. Wang Ming didn't want to wake up early, but it had become a habit, so he woke up at the latest 7 am every day, which he also did today. It was around 7.30 am, which meant that it was still two-and-a-half hours till the meeting with Meng Hao.

Wang Ming didn't know what to do. Since usually, he would already be at the market and preparing his food. Yesterday he had a purpose, and that was to buy a phone and clothes. But today he had nothing to do until 10 am, meaning he had to move around like a headless chicken.

Wang Ming was going from place to place to kill time, mainly just looking at things people were selling. Though sadly he had found nothing special. But when Wang Ming was passing through a little alley, he saw a small shop that sold antiques. Most of these shops only sold fake antiques, and almost everybody that came to the streets knew that. Even though the sellers know their customers know they sell fakes, they always promote their antiques as authentic.

This small shop though sold mostly knives, which made him intrigued, so he stopped to look at their wares. Of course, as soon as he stepped into the shop, the owner instantly sat up and greeted him.

"Hello, there customer! You are a lucky one. We only sell genuine antiques here, if you like anything I will give you a discount."

Wang Ming didn't want to waste money, but he felt like buying something to decorate his restaurant after he signs the contract. There are antiques known to give good luck, so if Wang Ming chose the right one it would bless him with good luck. It's like how many restaurants have a lucky golden cat in their restaurants.

Wang Ming would instead have a lucky golden knife. He spotted a golden knife when he looked at the shop from the outside. So he wanted to examine them closer.

"Hey Boss, could you please let me look at that golden knife?"

"Sure, but if you break anything, you buy it."

The shop had many knives that had a gold color, but one of them was an old western type knife. Wang Ming wasn't sure how old it was, but was confident that it was at least 50 years old. The knife also had a very intricate design on both the knife handle and sheath. The knife sheath though looked like a scabbard more than a sheath.

It had a beautiful design that was definitely handmade by a great knife smith. The knife looked like something a king from the west would have used. Wang Ming took it in his hand, to look for any blemishes or discoloring, but couldn't find any. The jewels on the knife's hilt also shined at the light looked perfect.

The knife impressed him and its creator even impressed him even more. This was most likely a fake, but the creator was clearly an expert. Which also made it perfect for him to have it as decoration, since it looked good and would be cheap. It looked like to be a set of two, so Wang Ming wanted both.

"Boss, how much for these two knives is 100 yuan enough?"

"I'm sorry but, there was someone that wanted these knives, but he didn't have his wallet, so he ran home to get it. So I can't sell them to you."

When Wang Ming heard the boss's words, he thought that the boss only wanted to push the price up. He didn't want to pay more. But, he really liked the knives, so he increased the amount to 300 yuan, if he didn't sell it then Wang Ming would give up.

"What about 300 yuan Boss, please I really like the knives!"

When the boss looked at Wang Ming's face and saw how sincere he was, he felt like he couldn't say no. He had found these knives in a bag close to a trash can anyway, and also none of his friends could identify them, and they all meant that they were fake. The man that wanted to buy the knives only offered him 50 yuan anyway while Wang Ming offered him 300, so of course, he would sell them to him.

"Ok, boy, 300 yuan and their yours."

Wang Ming didn't know why he felt ecstatic buying a couple of fake knives that probably only were worth a couple of Yuan, but well, he just liked them, and it made him feel good that he gained them.

"Thank you so much, boss!" Wang Ming said as he took the knives. The boss even framed them for him inside a glass frame with red fur in it.

After coming out of the shop looking at the clock, it shocked him to see that it was 9.15 already. So he hurriedly called Louzheng and hoped he was available. Else he didn't know if he could make it to the appointment in time.

As Wang Ming was going to Meng Hao, something happened in the antique shop. A young man ran to the antique shop as fast as he could. He wasn't Chinese, but an American man with blonde hair. When he finally arrived at the shop, the young man was sweating profusely and breathing hard.

"Owner, Owner, I'm here! Please sell me the knives!"

"I'm sorry, but I have sold them already. To a man in a wheelchair, he gave me a better price." The owner of the shop knew it was his right to sell his items to anyone, so he didn't care about the young man.

"What, HOW, could you sell them to another person? You promised to sell them to me! Who bought them? What was his name, where does he live?"

The young man was now speaking in an angry voice. The owner had promised to sell the knives to him, how could he just renege on his promise? Did the person who bought them know of their value and origin? No way, the young man thought to himself, he only knew of their origin since he comes from an American family. There was no way a Chinese person would know.

"I'm sorry I sold them, I only know he has a wheelchair, and I think he said something about opening a restaurant and wanting the knives for decoration."

"If you want to, then you can have any of the other knives" Before the owner could even finish his words, the young American man had already left the store. Running around frantically looking for a man in a wheelchair, though even after looking for the entire day, he didn't see one person in a wheelchair.