CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: THIS BRONZE BELL LOOKS WAY TOO FAKE

Although I assured the manager that the clearance process would be hassle-free,

Chen Yiyang still thought he’d better go see the situation himself.

The intelligence only mentioned a possible bargain, but didn’t specify how to find one.

Could it be that the elderly resident over eighty suddenly passed away after the house transaction went through?

The pawnshop manager might blacklist me, and never dare to meet with me again.

So that evening, Chen Yiyang bought a bag of fruit and a carton of milk, went to the house and rang the doorbell.

The house wasn’t large, and the neighborhood was quite old.

But as long as it’s a school district house near the school, the price only relates to the school’s quality.

"Who is it?" An old man’s voice came from inside.

"We’re from the community outreach program. There’s a recent initiative to care for elderly citizens living alone." Chen Yiyang shouted.

The door quickly opened.

An energetic old man stood behind the door.

Chen Yiyang awkwardly chuckled twice, then gestured to the two bags he was carrying.

"Grandpa, can I come in?"

"Come in." The old man invited Chen Yiyang inside.

The fifty-plus square meter apartment was kept very tidy, indicating the old man managed well despite living alone.

Elderly, yet physically fit, with no issues regarding self-care.

No wonder no one dared to buy this house.

Even if you shut off the utilities, he’d somehow manage to keep living here.

Chen Yiyang sat on the sofa in the house, pondering how he should converse as someone visiting an elderly person on behalf of the community.

Suddenly, the old man asked, "Is it you who bought the house the day before yesterday?"

"Ah? Uh, yes, it’s me." Chen Yiyang quickly gave up on denying.

"No armband, and no camera crew following — yet claiming to be community staff." The old man easily spotted Chen Yiyang’s flaw.

"Bought the house first, then found out the situation, got shocked, so came over to check?" The old man continued questioning.

Chen Yiyang could only admit it.

"You look like a sincere person. Rest assured, I’ll fetch the house key for you now."

The old man’s words completely baffled Chen Yiyang.

"I’m not here to evict you, just came to see how things are." Chen Yiyang quickly explained.

"It’s me who wants to leave." The old man took the key and handed it to Chen Yiyang.

"I didn’t leave earlier because I was worried my son would come back with nowhere to stay."

"What about now?" Chen Yiyang carefully inquired.

"Dead, finally dead. He was overseas, hit by a car. No need for me to wait anymore." The old man’s face showed no signs of grief but his speech had become shaky.

"Condolences."

"Alas, he died too late. If he’d died before his mother, she wouldn’t have been worried sick about him every day.

Now it’s fine, I can finally return to my hometown. I no longer need to shamelessly stay here, worrying about him having nowhere to stay."

Chen Yiyang pocketed the house key, thought for a moment, then said, "If you have any difficulties, feel free to tell me. If it’s financial, I can give you some travel money."

"It’s him who had no money; I, the old man, am well-off myself. Now no need to leave it for anyone else, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

After chatting a bit more, the old man handed the key to Chen Yiyang and urged him to leave.

"You can come and tidy up the house tomorrow afternoon. There’s nothing here I want to take, leaving everything for you."

Today’s intelligence: This Bronze Bell looks too fake: Someone selling a ship’s Bronze Bell from the Dutch East India Company, dating back to 1602, on Temple Fair Street in Guan City District of Jin City. You can snag it for less than ten thousand yuan.

The next morning, as Chen Yiyang ate breakfast downstairs, he saw today’s bargain-hunting intelligence.

Temple Fair Street is right next to his shop. Last time, Chen Yiyang went over to have a look, and it’s basically full of scammers.

However, for ordinary people looking to sell their antiques, Temple Fair Street is indeed the easiest place to inquire.

A bronze bell from the Dutch East India Company?

Cher Yiyang did some online research and figured out why such an obvious antique would remain unsold among store owners on Temple Fair Street, despite being scammers they do have an eye for collectibles.

It’s because this Bronze Bell was cast by the world’s first company, the Dutch East India Company, to celebrate its founding.

These Bronze Bells were placed on the Dutch East India Company’s ships, accompanying them to colonize India and Southeast Asia.

At that time, during Wanli’s reign, Great Ming had great influence in Southeast Asia.

This Bronze Bell was likely taken by Southeast Asian natives from a shipwreck and presented to some Great Ming official, eventually ending up in Jin City.

Now it’s reappeared, and someone’s trying to sell it on Temple Fair Street.

For Europeans and Americans, this item is probably a very niche collectible, let alone domestically.

The store owners probably dismissed it as a fabricated counterfeit after a glance, even though it looked like an ancient piece.

Chen Yiyang planned to buy it after breakfast.

It’s not easy to sell domestically, but he happens to know an appraiser in United States Chinatown.

Moreover, Silver City Pawnshop in Macao will likely be very interested in this piece.

"Look at this, it’s definitely an antique. Such a big Bronze Bell, might even be from the legendary Xia Dynasty."

Temple Fair Street.

A rough-skinned, wrinkled farmer brother holding a Bronze Bell over half a meter tall went around asking store owners if anyone wanted to buy it.

"There’s absolutely no way it’s from the Xia Dynasty, but it looks like it’s from the Shang-Zhou period." A shopkeeper joked.

"Is it really from the Shang-Zhou period?" The man immediately believed him.

"What he meant was ’last week’!" Another person shouted. Then everyone nearby burst into laughter.

No wonder everyone found it funny.

The main reason was that this Bronze Bell was quite ridiculous.

Although Huaxia had mastered iron casting technology early on, bronze artifacts were created in various dynasties, primarily used as ritual objects.

Huaxia’s bronze bells were very distinctive because, as ritual objects, their patterns and designs were more important than practicality.

However, the bronze bell in front of them leaned more towards practicality.

As for whether it was privately made by the folks?

That’s even more impossible. In ancient times, if there was so much copper, they would melt it down to make money, enough to buy ten of these bells.

So in everyone’s eyes, wasn’t this obviously fake?

"Don’t say that, if this thing is placed in the shop as a decoration, it might look quite nice."

At this moment, Chen Yiyang suddenly chimed into the conversation.

"It could be sold as a display too." The owner of the Bronze Bell looked at Chen Yiyang with hopeful eyes.

"Why don’t you buy it and take it back as a decoration, maybe it could attract wealth?"

"How much?" Chen Yiyang asked straightforwardly.

He didn’t even reach out to take the Bronze Bell when the man tried to pass it to him for closer inspection.

He seemed not particularly interested in this object.

"Ten thousand, how about that?" The man held out one finger.

"Then you better find someone else," Chen Yiyang turned his heels to leave.

The man quickly stopped him, "Then name your price. I brought this thing from the village with great effort. If I sell cheaply, I can’t keep face when I go back."

"One thousand bucks, and you send it to my shop, it’s not far from here."

"Add a bit more, please." The man began to plead again.

Chen Yiyang simply started walking away.

Seeing everyone was simply there for the spectacle, the man gritted his teeth and followed Chen Yiyang.

He directly followed Chen Yiyang to his shop’s entrance.

Seeing someone tagging along with Chen Yiyang, Zhou Jianjun and Hans guarding the shop rushed out.

The man saw a burly guy holding a baseball bat, accompanied by a fierce-looking dog, charging out.

He was immediately scared to stop.

"One thousand, then it’s one thousand," the man shouted.

"Nine hundred."

"Okay, nine hundred!"

Hearing this offer, Chen Yiyang finally smiled satisfactorily.

Then he said to Zhou Jianjun, "Carry this Bronze Bell into the shop."

Once he finished speaking, he also entered the shop and counted nine hundred cash in the spot where he usually kept his money.

Once outside the shop, the man waited at the doorway peering inside.

After Zhou Jianjun placed the Bronze Bell properly and came back out.

Then Chen Yiyang handed the nine hundred bucks to the man before turning his head to instruct Zhou Jianjun again,

"He said he came from the village, it’s not easy. Later, drive him back. Oh, he might as well buy some liquor, milk, and stuff on the way. Spend two hundred bucks and give it to him."

"Alright," Zhou Jianjun nodded and agreed.

After Zhou Jianjun left with the man.

Chen Yiyang went back inside to carefully clean the Bronze Bell, then took a photo with his phone and sent it to the manager of Silver City Pawnshop.

The Pawnshop quickly contacted Chen Yiyang.

After the appraiser viewed the Bronze Bell remotely via video, they offered a price of fifteen thousand US dollars.

Chen Yiyang chatted for a bit but found that price was hard to negotiate, so he proposed taking it to Macau himself wasn’t convenient, asking Silver City Pawnshop to send someone to help transport it over the customs.

However, the manager informed Chen Yiyang that Jin City local pawnshops recently happened to have a batch of goods going to Macau, allowing Chen Yiyang to bring it to a local pawnshop in Jin City for handover.

Then, the local pawnshop in Jin City would be responsible for transporting the item over the customs.

Since there was no truck in the store, all previous shipments relied on Zhou Jianjun’s van.

Chen Yiyang paid some vehicle allowances and shipping fees, considering it as using his store’s vehicle.

Now the car was taken by Zhou Jianjun to deliver items, and the Porsche 911 obviously couldn’t transport such a large Bronze Bell.

Chen Yiyang could only call the manager of Jin City local pawnshop, asking him to find a vehicle to transport it back.

Meanwhile, he also invited the manager to a place.

"Mr. Chen, are you planning to strengthen our relationship, taking me to some entertainment venue?"

The manager joked when boarding Chen Yiyang’s Porsche.

After all, he had no personal ties with Chen Yiyang; they interacted in business only.

From the manager’s perspective, his own boss and Chen Yiyang were working as fixers for certain figures in Jin City, responsible for helping them make money.

For personal safety reasons, the manager had no intention of deepening his relationship with Chen Yiyang.