Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

"Give me back the seal!"

"Okay, here you go. If the old man still has this material, I'll buy it at a high price. I actually like this thing very much."

"I actually have such a stone on me, which is similar to the material of my seal. Come and have a look."

After the old man finished speaking, he handed over a stone and carefully put away the Biyong inkstone and ink box.

Seeing this, Xu Damao didn't say anything. He took the fist-sized stone handed over by the old man and began to examine it.

"Master, this piece is much bigger than your seal!"

"That's not true. Isn't this stone made of the same material as my seal? I won't give you the money for the Biyong inkstone and ink box. You still have to pay me a lot of money!"

"Hehe, old man, you have a good plan. The abacus beads jumped out and hit me in the face!"

"This stone of yours looks similar in color to the previous one, but the texture and price are worlds apart!"

"How to say?"

"Old man, the seal you just used is made of genuine Tianhuang stone. It has a dense and fine texture, is warm and smooth, has a stone skin, has fine carrot patterns, has a clean texture, is exquisite and clear, and is slightly transparent."

"This fist-sized stone is called Shoushan Stone. Although its appearance is good, it cannot be compared with Tianhuang Stone at all."

"Old man, this Shoushan stone of yours can only be exchanged for the blue and white ink box from the mid-Qing Dynasty, one of the two pieces I have. You still have to give me the twenty yuan for the Biyong inkstone."

"You have a good eye, young man. Who is your teacher? Although my stone is Shoushan stone, it has reached the level of lychee jelly. This stone must be worth more than 30 yuan."

"I have no school or sect, no master, and I am self-taught. Since the old man said so, I will give in and give him fifteen yuan. If the old man doesn't want to, then take the stone back."

"Okay! Fifteen dollars is fifteen dollars."

The old man swiftly took out fifteen yuan and handed it to Xu Damao, then left the stall holding the lantern.

"Brother, although you may not be very old, you are really knowledgeable. How much is this fan?"

After seeing the old man finish the transaction and leave, the middle-aged man next to him took the box containing the fan and asked Xu Damao about the price.

"Brother, just because you praised me for my profound knowledge, I have to give you a very reasonable price. Take it for one hundred dollars!"

Xu Damao was praised for his extensive knowledge and happily gave a reasonable price.

"Okay! Thanks, brother!"

The middle-aged man did not bargain, but directly took out ten Great Unity Banknotes and handed them to Xu Damao, which made Xu Damao a little surprised.

"Ah - even if you're a shill, you still have to chat with me and bargain for a few minutes!"

Xu Damao said with a smile to the middle-aged man's back.

The middle-aged man holding the lantern turned around and waved, indicating that he had no shortage of money for the things he liked, and walked into the crowd.

The fan in question was a work of the Thirteenth Line during the Qianlong period. The fan bones were extremely delicately carved, and after being painted in gold, it became even more magnificent.

The figures and flowers on the fan are all cut out from brocade and carefully pasted on, making them lifelike.

The copper work, material, and tassels on the bottom of the fan are all meticulously crafted, embodying the style of a scholar!

If Xu Damao wanted to sell it for an extra 10 or 20 yuan, it wouldn't be a big problem, after all, it was bought back for 50 cents...

An hour later, all the fish in Xu Damao's basin had been sold out, but more than half of the things on the straw mat were still left. Although they were all genuine items bought at extremely low prices, they were not fine luxury goods after all.

In addition, Xu Damao’s asking price was not low, so more than half of them were not sold.

The best-selling items are those with exquisite and beautiful appearance, followed by those with a long history. Finally, the ones left are those that do not look good, are not long in age, and have a very confusing price.

The piece of sand pear skin Xinjiang Hetian jade seed material is also among them.

"Close the stall!"

Xu Damao yawned. Although it was still early, he had earned nearly a thousand yuan. He would use the rest of the time to visit other stalls to see if there were any bargains to be found.

Xu Damao pushed his bicycle and started strolling around the ghost market. He didn't come across any rare items, but there were many small exquisite items. He was so busy picking up bargains that his hands were full.

I came to the stall where I bought the bicycle before, and saw the stall owner wiping a bicycle with a rag.

"How's business going lately?"

"It's OK, but it's hard to sell these big items. Small parts are selling OK."

The stall owner pointed to the neatly arranged bicycle parts on the ground, which included bicycle chains, wheel steel bars, pedals, rear seats, rattan baskets and other bicycle accessories.

"Brother, are you still selling these things at your stall?"

Xu Damao pointed at a bamboo-carved pen holder on the ground and smiled happily.

"I saw that most of the stalls here were selling all kinds of useless things, so I collected some strange-looking things from my village and put them on display. I'll sell them for as much money as I can."

"Brother, how much did you pay for this pen holder?"

"If it were someone else, I would definitely not tell him. Who asked you to buy my bicycle? I exchanged the pen holder for a few breads. What? Do you want it, brother?"

"It looks pretty good. I like it very much. How much is it?"

"Give me five dollars, please? After all, it's not easy for me to come all the way here."

"Good brother, you sold me ten pounds of first-class pork for a few pancakes? I am your old customer!"

Xu Damao pretended to be indignant and looked like he was really angry.

"Hey brother, I'll quote you a price. If you think it's too high, you can bargain. Isn't that the same thing at other stalls selling these items?"

"And I'm just a car mechanic. I'm not very good at talking, unlike those stall owners who are eloquent and can introduce something like telling a story."

The stall owner saw that Xu Damao was a little angry and hurried to explain.

"Five dollars is fine. I'll pick one more thing."

Xu Damao put forward his conditions and took out a five-yuan coin and handed it to the stall owner.

"Okay, take your pick from these random things, brother!"

The stall owner readily agreed. After all, these things were just randomly collected from the village and he didn't spend any money on them.

Xu Damao picked up the stall owner's lantern and began to rummage through the pile of miscellaneous items. After a few minutes, he took out two things.

"Brother, this is not very authentic. We agreed to take one more thing. Isn't it inappropriate for you to take two?"

The stall owner looked unhappy when he saw Xu Damao holding a fist-sized green jar and a small mirror slightly bigger than his palm.