Antique Market

The late spring wind scattered fresh green leaves and flowers from trees. A whistling sound flitted past Song Xia's ears when she hopped of the bus. Monday morning but she was away from the hustle of central G City.Today was the first day of her modeling classes and by chance it was about half an hour away from G City's antique market.

G City's Antique Market was the 3rd largest in the country so it received countless visitors from all over the country. Tourism of one of the largest sources of income in G City because of this market and some of the famous ruins in the city.

The Antique Market was quite large that spanned about a block from one end of the street to the other.It was divided into 3 parts the entrance consisted out of stalls, the middle part which took up 2/3 of the area where shops were located and the last and the last section was the G city Antique Alliance and the appraisal center . The Antique Alliance was an organization dedicated to preserving Huxian history. Most members were qualified historians or enthusiasts and were wealthy having their own antique collections. Working together with museums ,the cultural and tourism government departments.

The antique business was one of extremes it could make you a millionaire overnight or a beggar.

There were not many young people around so Song Xia did look a bit out of place. The majority of the people in the antique market were elderly and middle aged men.

Song Xia tried looking for antiques by walking from stall to stall but there where hundreds of stalls to go through and she felt no summonings.

In G City's huge antique market she should be able to find one genuine antique.After about twenty minutes later in the middle section stalls,the 2nd to last stall Song Xia felt a summoning .In the 'Renshu House' a stand that dealt with vases, tea sets , ceramics and jewelry.

There she saw a clay teapot and cups. The clay was purplish but obscured by a layer of dust and one of the four cups we're chipped. However it was covered in a dense golden mist that indicated it was authentic.

The stand owner was busy giving a pitch to sell a vase to a couple so he ignored the teenage girl who had probably come with her parents and wouldn't buy anything.

After a successful sale the stand owner was quite happy and noticed that Song Xia was still there.

Song Xia inquired about the clay teaset and he was a bit surprised. He thought maybe a young girl like her would ask about a pretty porcelain cup or vase and not a fake Yixing tea set.

He had in fact gotten the tea set for free from a store that had went out of business but no one wanted to buy a damaged tea set so it had been lying around his store for a couple of months.Since the girl liked it and it was probably worth around 5000 yuan he decided to get it off his hands than it lying around collecting dust.

Song Xia paid ;carefully held the box that contained the tea set and bubble wrap before making her way over to the the appraisal center. She had learnt from her mistake at the pawn store with Mr. Yuan and would always authenticate anything she would want to sell in the future.

Usually there were many people in the appraisal center but it was only 11:00 a.m. so it was not overly busy.

In the appraisal center there were private and public appraisals.In private consultation it was only the owner of the antique ,appraiser and a third party who served as a witness. Most of the time these private consultations were done by wealthy people who wanted to confirm doubts about expensive antique or the wanted to find a bidder from the antique alliance.

Public appraisal were open to the public and bidders were free to bid for an authentic antique. This was great because you could easily find a buyer for an antique but on the other hand you could be setting yourself up for theft.

When she entered the Appraisal Hall she walked to the desk with a sign stating 'Information Desk' where a well dressed middle age woman dressed woman was currently writing in a file.

Song Xia politely greeted her and inquired how to make an appointment for a private consultation.

"Hello ,Ma'm how can I make an appointment for a private appraisal?"

The woman was well- educated and did nothing look down on Song Xia because of her age. She looked through the appointment book and saw that Mr .Ma was currently free so Song Xia was in luck to have an appointment at the moment.

"Miss , there is currently an opening. Would you please fill in your name on this form and deposit 500 yuan at the account's table.

Following filling in the form and paying the consultation fee at the account's table Song Xia was lead into a well lit room that served as an office.

Ma Lan was in his late forties and a historian professor who worked part time as an appraiser at Antique Alliance.

When he entered the room was slightly startled when he saw Song Xia alone . She looked even younger than his son who was a high school senior.

" Good day ,Miss Song ."

He greeted her before sitting down and inquired which object she wanted appraised.

Song Xia greeted him before taking out the clay tea set.

Ma Lan looked over the dusty ,discolored tea set before telling the assistant to bring a clean cloth and warm water .

He cleaned it diligently and soon the true colours shown through.

The shape of tea pot rounded but not fat and the colour a deep purple- brown . There was an enchanting image of cranes flying in the sky above a mountain range. Elegant calligraphy decorated the teapot and 4 cups that together made up a poem.

Ma Lan was mesmerized but continued his job of checking the authenticity of the tea set.Checking the wear in tear of the pot, the handle , the lid and the texture inside the pot before positively bursting with excitement.

"This is a Qing Dynasty Yixing tea set!" He said to Song Xia before asking her permission to invite another appraiser in .

Song Xia agreed and the assistant dashed out of the room.

Shortly ,entered a man in his early seventies ,with glasses which enlarged his big eyes that took up most of his face . Currently his eyes took on an animated and eager look .

Ma Lan quickly made way for Master Gu who gently examined the tea pot taking in the symbols and markings embedded in it.

" Yixing Zisha Teapot probably from Shuren Scholar Association and painted by Tang Zhenyun ."

"Girl, do you want to sell it ? I will give you a higher price than market price?"

The elderly man looked at Song Xia eagerly and she couldn't even think of refusing, so she nodded her head and agreed.

"Girl, the tea set is worth 3.5 million yuan. Is the price okay? I can give up up to 4 million yuan if it's not acceptable."

Master Gu wouldn't pay an obscenely high pricer for an antique that was higher than market price but he really did love the antique tea set. Honestly for him money was just a number so he didn't mind splurging a little.

However Song Xia was not a greedy person nor did she want to exploit Master Gu so she agreed on 3.5 million.

Again she was surprised at how valuable and expensive the antique was. In her last life the most she spent on an antique was 50000 yuan.

Master Gu invited Song Xia to dine with them so she agreed. After a delightful meal with good conversation Master Gu, Mr. Ma and Song Xia became friends.

"Girl , you can call me Grandpa Gu !You must definitely come visit me in F City . I will introducing you to my grand children and wife they will be delighted to meet you."

Grandpa Gu was a very passionate about antiques, was very cheerful and lively personality. In her mind she thought thought the elderly man had a very cute personality.

It was now 13:15 p.m. and the bus ride to her modeling classes were thirty minutes away so she should reach before her class began at 2 p.m.