Filed to story: Disdained Son-in-Law, Destined Riches >>
“Two hundred thousand dollars?”
“That’s not right either!”
Joe glanced at the pair of celadon cups in his father-in-law’s hand and he instantly knew that the cups were fake and only worth a few hundred dollars.
Just then, Jacob smiled as he exclaimed excitedly, “Haha! I bought it for only three hundred dollars! Isn’t that amazing?”
Claire’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked at him in disbelief. “Are you serious?! These cups only cost you three hundred dollars?”
At this time, Elaine walked out of the kitchen, attracted by Jacob’s excitement and joy. “Are you sure these cups are so valuable and that they are not fake?”
Jacob patted his own chest as he replied, “Don’t worry! The person who was selling these cups was not an expert in this field. Therefore, I already got someone to check and verify the cups for me. He said that it was a genuine and authentic product!”
“Is that true?” Elaine asked as she picked one of the cups up in her hand, smiling from ear to ear.
Joe stood aside as he nodded with a calm expression on his face.
He knew that the cups were fake, but he did not want to expose the truth since it was rare for the old man to be so happy.
Jacob was overjoyed and looked like a cat that had just stolen a fish! As he continued to celebrate, Jacob spoke once again, “The seller also told me that this is not the complete set. In fact, he said that his boss would bring the rest of the cups to the shop tomorrow. I will head over to his shop to have a look again tomorrow. I want to try and buy the whole set! If I have the whole set of celadon cups in my hand, the value of the cups will be multiplied several times! If we are lucky, we can even sell the whole set for six million dollars!”
Joe frowned before he quickly stopped Jacob. “Dad, you should not be too greedy when you are trading in antiques. I think that it is enough to own two of these celadon cups. Let’s talk about this…”
Jacob glared at Joe before reprimanding him. “What gives you the right to teach me anything about antiques? Are you trying to stop me now?”
Joe quickly replied in an apologetic manner, “No, no, you can do whatever you like.”
After saying that, Joe could not be bothered anymore.
After all, even if the old man was cheated, it was not his personal money anyway.
Claire also spoke up and said, “Dad, why do you want to buy so much? We can’t eat or drink with these cups anyway. Besides, there is such a huge difference between the price of the cup and the value of the cup. We have yet to determine whether the cups are authentic.”
Claire did not believe that a pie would just fall from the sky. If her father could just buy the cups for three hundred dollars and sell it for five hundred thousand dollars, wouldn’t everyone be rich?
When Jacob saw that they had doubts about his purchase, he said contemptuously, “You guys do not understand this at all. This is definitely an antique, and only a person with insight would be able to pick it up!”
Jacob then continued admiring his celadon cups as he spoke to Claire, “Don’t worry too much about this. There were also several other people who were fighting with me to buy the cups today! I might not even be able to buy the cups tomorrow.”
Elaine hurriedly cut in, “If the cups are so valuable, you have to make sure that you find a way to get them tomorrow!”
The two elders continued admiring the cups while Claire quietly pulled Joe to the side.
“I don’t think that this seller is very reliable. Somehow, it feels like a scam to me. Dad will definitely try to go back there tomorrow, can you accompany dad to Antique Street tomorrow to make sure that he does not get scammed?”
Joe nodded immediately. Honestly, if Claire had not said anything, he would not be bothered at all. However, since his wife had already spoken up, he could not just sit by and watch his father-in-law get scammed.
The next day was already the weekend.
Jacob dragged Joe out of the house and they drove to Antique Street early in the morning.
The old man looked very refreshed and energetic, and upon stepping out of the car, Jacob waved his hand at Joe as he said, “Come! Let me show you how you can pick up a good product!”
After that, both of them started walking down Antique Street.
Joe had to walk quickly to keep up with Jacob. Regardless, he continued to look around him as he walked along the street.
Since it was the weekend, there were a lot more people on Antique Street as compared to usual.
Antique Street was very dense on both sides of the street as there were many vendors who came out to set up their stalls during the weekend, and so, the whole street was very packed.
Many vendors simply placed a plastic sheet on the ground as they welcomed guests and customers to check out all the various kinds of antiques and jades placed on the ground.
Joe looked around casually and realized that there were barely any genuine products in the entire market. In fact, most of the vendors here set up their stalls to trick laymen, tourists, and foreigners.
Most of the tourists who bought the antiques did not know the value of the item, and they would often be grinning as they held the imitation product in their hand, thinking they had gotten a good bargain for themselves.
“Over here!”
Jacob stopped in front of a simple stall, his face filled with excitement and expectations.
A few tourists were standing around the stall at this time, looking through the variety of antiques. Jacob quickly joined the crowd because he was afraid that he might lose out on a good deal.
Joe took a good look around the stall. The stall was nothing more than a piece of oiled paper that had been spread over the ground with several dozen mud-stained antiques placed on it. There were blue and white horses, some copper coins, copper wine cups, jade bracelets, and yellowed calligraphy paintings.
Even though there was a dazzling array of items, Joe could tell that it was all fake just by glancing at the items.
The owner of the stall was a skinny and dark-skinned man who was dressed in a simple and casual dark blue t-shirt. His hair was very greasy and disheveled, and yet, he had a straightforward and honest appearance.
“Look at this!” Jacob said to Joe excitedly as he pointed at a colorful bottle that had a big mouth. He then spoke in a low voice, “This is the wine bottle that will complete my celadon cups! If I buy this wine bottle today, I can make my celadon cups a set so that the price can be doubled!”
Joe glanced at the wine bottle before picking it up and turning around to face the owner of the stall.