Quick Wear: I am the shopkeeper at the Merit Pawn Shop

When the words on the golden plaque appeared inside, Shen Mo was completely stunned.

The words written on it are all golden, which is poured with melted gold.

It can be seen what kind of writing style the owner of the plaque used.

No wonder when he pulled out the plaque, he felt it was heavier than mahogany.

He originally thought that he had made a mistake, but now when he saw the words written in red gold, he instantly understood.

Shen Mo came to the old lady's house again.

This time when I came here, I saw that a white banner had been hung in the old lady's house.

From the villagers who were handling the funeral, they learned that the old lady died the next evening after they left.

When the old lady died, she was wearing a new dress and her hair was combed meticulously.

The old lady’s relatives were not around, and the village could not contact her daughter, so after stopping the body, they prepared to bury it.

The coffin was prepared by the old lady earlier.

Elderly people in rural areas have prepared their coffins early on.

Although cremation was already available at that time, no one would choose cremation for an old lady whose family had prepared a coffin.

Shen Mo was silent all the way, and he and the villagers sent the old lady up the mountain. They burned incense and paper money for the old lady before leaving.

"Village chief, are the funeral expenses for the old lady sufficient?" Shen Mo thought that if the village chief said it was not enough, he would pay for it.

"That's enough. The old lady left a letter, sold the pigs at home, and left some money, which is enough for the funeral.

"That's good." Shen Mo then left with peace of mind.

After returning, Shen Mo told Jin Qiang about the old lady.

Jin Qiang sighed.

"The old lady must have known that she was dying, so she said that to you that day."

Shen Mo nodded. He knew what was going on, but he still felt bad seeing the old lady leave.

Whenever he sees the plaque, he thinks of the old lady.

"Shen Mo, come and see what's behind this plaque?" The golden characters on the front of the plaque had been cleaned up, and Jin Qiang was now cleaning the back.

You won't know what's happening if you don't clean it up, and you'll be shocked when you restore it.

In addition to the densely packed names, there are also things that look like pictures.

"This is not a picture, it's a map, an ancient sea chart." Shen Mo stared at the small piece of pattern that had been cleared and had a guess.

"Hiss." Jin Qiang took a breath. This ancient sea chart can be said to be extremely precious. It was created by the predecessors at the cost of their lives.

Although it is of little use to people in later generations, people can use this nautical chart to see the tip of the iceberg of ancient maritime trade.

It can be said that the research value is greater than the significance of the entire nautical chart.

Shen Mo helped to clean up.

He guessed in his heart that the old lady's ancestors must be a remarkable family. They hid this plaque and instructed not to sell it to foreigners. They must have guessed the research significance behind the plaque, otherwise they would not have said such a thing.

When the two of them finished cleaning the entire plaque, they all gasped.

"If it weren't for this plaque, I wouldn't have known that we had such a glorious past."

"Who said it wasn't?" Jin Qiang also felt proud after seeing it.

"How about I go ask my uncle? I think he will accept it."

"No, your uncle is from overseas. You can't bring back the things once they are shipped abroad. These are not ordinary antiques. They are of research value."

"Do we have to hand it over?" Jin Qiang frowned.

It's not that he didn't have this awareness. Even if he had, he would have to starve while others were well fed and well-dressed, and he hadn't done any business yet, but had to hand it over. To be honest, he wouldn't be willing to do that.

"I don't have such awareness." Shen Mo did not sell it to overseas people because of his promise to the old lady. As for handing it over to the country, he had never thought about it.

He came to complete the mission, not to be a saint.

You have to know that the plaque was also bought with money.

Seeing that Shen Mo didn't say he would hand it over, Jin Qiang felt relieved.

"But we have to find a buyer for the plaque. We don't want it to be a waste of money."

"Don't worry about it. Now that we have entered this circle, we will gradually build up our network of contacts."

Soon such an opportunity came.

This is also about Shen Mo and Jin Qiang going to the countryside to collect old items. This time they received a mahogany frame screen from the early Qing Dynasty.

A few days later, someone found Shen Mo and Jin Qiang. It turned out that there was someone else who was interested in the screen just like them.

It’s just that the person wanted to lower the price, so he didn’t buy it.

Shen Mo happened to go to collect it and offered a price that the other party could agree to.

By the time the previous buyer went to that household to collect the screen with confidence, someone else got there first. He was so angry.

Finally, after asking around, they found out that it was Shen Mo.

Seeing that Jin Qiang was unknown in this industry and Shen Mo was a young man, he half coaxed and half deceived them into selling the screen.

Shen Mo was no match for these people, and he accurately told the age and wood material of the screen.

Those people sneered at Shen Mo. How could they believe what Shen Mo said? It was still early in the Qing Dynasty. This kind of screen was said to be from the Daoguang period.

A few days later, those people invited a so-called expert in the field to make Shen Mo admit defeat, but of course he was slapped in the face.

After looking at the screen, the expert expressed the same conclusion as Shen Mo, and he greatly appreciated the ability to accurately determine the age of antiques.

In small places, there are relatively few people who can identify wood, let alone those who can identify the age of antiques. Most of them can only tell an approximate year based on the style of the antique. But Shen Mo is different. He can tell the exact period, which is amazing.

The more that person communicated with Shen Mo, the more they appreciated each other. In the end, he invited Shen Mo to participate in several gatherings of their industry.

It was at such gatherings that Shen Mo got to know quite a few second-hand and third-hand dealers, as well as some buyers who were genuine collectors.

Shen Mo finally realized that in this business of antiques, you don't have to buy and sell them. If you like them but don't have enough money, you can exchange them.

In the previous few gatherings, Shen Mo looked more than he talked, but he also helped a few people point out fake antiques.

In particular, a set of huanghuali chairs from the Ming Dynasty that was faked in the late Qing Dynasty was pointed out by Shen Mo.

You should know that this set of furniture has been identified by many parties as Huanghuali furniture from the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Shen Mo pointed out from a small detail that this set of furniture is not from the Ming Dynasty, but from the late Qing Dynasty.

The seller was unwilling to give up and spent a large sum of money to invite an authority in this field from another place to appraise it.

The appraisal result was exactly the same as Shen Mo's conclusion. The man could only reluctantly throw the furniture in his hands. Of course, those who didn't know about this could still fool him and continue to sell the Ming Dynasty furniture, but it was impossible to sell it to local buyers.

Since we have invited an authoritative expert, it is unlikely to sell it to some famous domestic collectors, because such an identification matter will definitely be spread very widely.

At least the friends of this authoritative master will be warned not to accept such counterfeits.