CHAPTER 499: 498

Businessmen’s eyes light up habitually when money is mentioned.

"Money is not a problem, as long as I can get the goods. However, I want to hear your method first; otherwise, I might end up paying you for tricking me."

"It’s simple. It’s not here, but we have plenty in our country, and I can easily get you one. But as you know, our domestic policy on this matter is getting stricter and stricter, so our costs are quite high, and costs need to be balanced with money."

"Domestic?" Ye Tian touched his chin, seemingly pondering something. After a while, he waved his hand, "Domestic won’t work, there’s not enough time. I only have two days for you."

"Then that’s definitely not possible, I’m sorry sir."

"Really not possible? Rest assured, money is absolutely not a problem."

"Hehe," Mr. Tang chuckled, apparently having heard this tone from Ye Tian umpteen times, "Sir, I know you are not short of money, but these two days really... sorry, we are powerless."

Looking at the photo pushed back to him, Ye Tian smiled helplessly and slipped the photo into his inner jacket pocket. He was about to get up, but then sat down again, "Mr. Tang, according to what you just said, you can get anything that’s available in this museum, right?"

Mr. Tang uncrossed his legs and spoke emphatically, "Well, yes, but strictly speaking, we’re only intermediaries. The items here can be divided into three qualities: low, medium and high. We can generally acquire items of low quality, and it’s also easy to create replicas – fakes. It’s almost the same for the medium quality, but as for high-quality items, the chances are only about half because they are very sensitive and the success rate for producing replicas is quite low and the process troublesome. If anything goes wrong, the whole chain of interests could be broken, so we usually avoid dealing with these risky items."

"How about the item I’m interested in? What category does it fall into?"

Mr. Tang leaned back in the chair, smiling, "Frankly, sir, although your item is in good condition, it’s not exactly a rare treasure. Honestly, in my view, it falls into the low-quality category. There are plenty of them, but all fakes, so I wouldn’t bring them out to harm our own people."

You’re just afraid, aren’t you? Ye Tian sneered to himself.

"Sir, is there anything else you need? Maybe I can still help."

Having said so much, Mr. Tang really didn’t want to let this man go; after all, people like him usually aren’t short of money. It’s always good to make a profit from these items, which are valuable in our country. If only Nepal didn’t overlook these, how could they possibly be unavailable?"

Ye Tian frowned, putting on a worried expression, "Mr. Tang, could you help me find some high-quality items? I have some high-quality clients interested in items from Asian countries, including some research experts. I have some business discussions planned, so I want to find some items to send over. Please think about it; again, money is no issue!"

Hope was lit once again. Mr. Tang tentatively asked, "What kind of items do you want? Calligraphy, or antiques?"

"I have a few items here, take a look and see if you can get your hands on them? If possible, once again,"

"Money is not a problem!"

"Money is not a problem!"

Both said it at the same time and then chuckled understandingly.

Ye Tian pulled out several pictures from his pocket, including the Yuan blue-and-white photograph again, "Mr. Tang, please take a look, how many of these can you confidently acquire?"

"It seems you came prepared."

Smiling, Mr. Tang took the photos, examined them, choosing some to place on the table while he shifted others to his right hand; among the photos on the table was the Ghost Seal. Ye Tian didn’t know if the photos on the table were ones Mr. Tang was confident to acquire or not.

After inspecting each of the dozen or so photographs, Mr. Tang, having pondered for several minutes, clicked twice, then arranged the photos on the table.

Raising the photos in his hand, Mr. Tang said, "These items are all low-end stuff, we could probably get them, but I guess they won’t impress your partners, so I’ll give them back to you."

After saying this, he placed the photos in front of Ye Tian and picked up the others on the table to organize, saying, "These are the items we can definitely procure, but there are a few tricky ones among them, so don’t blame me for the high price."

Ye Tian nodded knowingly, "Two days, half a million. How about it?"

Mr. Tang shook his head, "No no no, one million dollars. Not a cent less."

"Hehe, a million it is. Not interested in half a million euros? I won’t insist."

Once spoken, words are like water spilled; being able to establish oneself in this field is fundamental. Mr. Tang could only watch as potential money slipped through his fingers.

"Here’s a hundred thousand dollars as a deposit, take it for now. I’ll notify you of the meeting time later. Oh, I forgot to get your contact."

Mr. Tang handed Ye Tian a piece of paper with a phone number. Ye Tian carefully pocketed it, while his counterpart meticulously kept the Swiss Bank check.

"Mr. Tang, you don’t mind, do you? If you’re worried, I can accompany you to the bank to withdraw the money, after all, cash is still handier."

"If you can’t face this much risk, no point in being in this line of business. Alright, sir, wait for my message. Oh, may I have your surname?"

"My surname is Liu."

"Alright, Mr. Liu, goodbye."

...

The hundred thousand dollars was deducted from the funds the old men provided back at home, directly from a Swiss Bank account. Ye Tian admired his own boldness: not spending a cent normally, and now suddenly splurging a hundred thousand dollars, he was even shocked himself. He wondered what those old men back home would think now; they wouldn’t chastise him for being extravagant, would they?

That evening, due to a visit to the Esoteric Master, Ye Tian went back to the hotel. Chu Tianying, however, had gone out at some point. After waiting for a while without his return, he ended up seeing Gui Xiao.