Chapter 31: The Wasteful Heir

After returning to the Recycling Station, Feng Kuang once put on an act and carefully studied the painting he had unrolled.

However, ancient paintings emphasized artistic conception. This particular painting featured mountains that didn’t look like mountains, water that didn’t look like water, and people with oversized heads. It wasn’t even as attractive as the New Year pictures pasted at home during the holidays. He immediately lost interest in it and tossed it together with those old books.

Of course, Feng Kuang hadn’t completely lost hope in it. When he met Ye Tian and his father that morning, the ‘antique’ he mentioned having received was this very painting.

After hearing Feng Kuang’s story, Ye Tian didn’t feel much about it because he didn’t yet have a full understanding of antiques. But Ye Dongping was dumbfounded. He muttered to himself in disbelief, “This… this actually worked?”

After deciding to go into the antique business, Ye Dongping had written letters to some classmates he was still in touch with and conducted some research on antique markets across different regions.

Compared to the early 1980s, about four or five years ago, the domestic art market had already begun to recover slowly. Some forward-thinking individuals were aggressively acquiring various categories of antiques.

For example, there was a bed miller in Beijing surnamed Ma who started dabbling in antiques several years back. At that time, hardly anyone cared about such things. Excellent Huanghuali hardwood tables and chairs could all be bought for five yuan apiece at the second-hand market, with delivery included.

Although that Mr. Ma didn’t have much money, over a few years he managed to acquire quite a few good pieces. Ye Dongping knew about this because one of his classmates lived right across from this Mr. Ma.

For any commodity, if there is market demand, the price will naturally rise. Antiques were no exception. Things that were practically worthless a few years ago were now worth a hundred times more.

Moreover, as people’s lives gradually stabilized, coupled with the principle that “antiques flourish in peaceful times, gold in chaotic times,” the antique market had slowly revived over these years. It was almost impossible to find bargains everywhere like in previous years.

“Uncle Ye, how much do you think this antique is worth then?”

Seeing Ye Dongping lost in thought without speaking, Feng Kuang grew a bit anxious. He only knew his uncle said antiques were valuable, but he was completely in the dark about how valuable they were.

“I can’t say for sure how much it’s worth, but… the minimum should be around this number, right?” Upon hearing Feng Kuang’s question, Ye Dongping held up three fingers.

Based on information his classmate in Beijing had gathered, well-known, authentic Ming Dynasty paintings could fetch at least three thousand yuan in the market now. That meant the item Feng Kuang bought for one yuan had increased in value by three thousand times.

“Thirty? Hey, that’s a thirty-fold profit! Totally worth it.” A look of joy appeared on Feng Kuang’s face. The antique business was indeed profitable. Something bought for one yuan could actually sell for thirty.

Hearing this, Ye Dongping curled his lip and said, “Kid, that’s all the ambition you have? Thirty yuan? That’s not even enough for the small change. Let me tell you, if you took this painting to Beijing to sell, you wouldn’t even show it to someone for thirty yuan…”

After Ye Dongping explained everything he knew to Feng Kuang, the young man’s drunkenness instantly vanished. He stared in disbelief at the somewhat shabby scroll in front of him and stammered, “Un… Uncle Ye, you… you’re not fooling me, are you? What you… you said is true? This… this old painting is worth three thousand yuan?”

“How surprising is that? Would I make up a lie just to tease you?”

Looking at Feng Kuang’s stunned expression, Ye Dongping laughed. Although this kid could barely read, his luck was really good. His first attempt had landed him a huge bargain.

Suddenly, Feng Kuang slapped his forehead, let out a strange shout, and tried to run outside.

“Feng Zi, where are you going?” Ye Dongping grabbed his arm.

“No, Uncle Ye, let go quickly! I need to find that old lady again. Maybe she has other good stuff at home.”

“Alright, alright, such good fortune doesn’t come twice. Be content with the one bargain you got.”

Ye Dongping smiled and held onto Feng Kuang, saying, “Let me tell you another story that happened in Beijing. That person was even more unlucky than this old lady…”

“There’s someone more unlucky than throwing away three thousand yuan for nothing?” Hearing Ye Dongping’s words, Feng Kuang’s attention was immediately captured.

“Of course. That person threw away several million for nothing.”

Ye Dongping had also heard this story from a classmate. There was a family in Beijing surnamed Bai. Their ancestors were major collectors in Sijiu City, specializing in porcelain, and they were quite famous in the field.

In the early 1980s, a famous Hong Kong director named Li Hanxiang was filming a movie in Beijing. He found an acquaintance to visit the Bai family and bluntly stated he wanted to buy some porcelain.

At that time, the head of the Bai family said that the good pieces had all been destroyed in previous years. Only a small foundation was left, a few dozen items. According to the owner’s wish, he only wanted to sell one or two pieces, keeping the rest as mementos.

However, the owner had a son who greatly admired the famous director Li Hanxiang. The son tried every possible way to persuade his father to sell the items. In the end, the elder Bai couldn’t withstand his son’s persuasion and sold over forty pieces of ancient porcelain to Li Hanxiang.

After getting the money, the son again urged his father to buy the “three major items”: a refrigerator, a color TV, and a tape recorder. At the time, he thought it was an incredibly good deal—some old porcelain had been exchanged for so many modern things.

Who could have known that in 1983, Li Hanxiang sent a postcard and a magazine from Hong Kong to the Bai family’s son. The young man flipped through the magazine and found an article introducing Li Hanxiang’s antique collection. The title was “The Little Forbidden City of the Great Director Li Hanxiang.”

Looking at the accompanying pictures, the Bai son saw that over twenty of the displayed items were from his family. The prices listed below ranged from several hundred thousand to several million Hong Kong Dollars. He was instantly stunned. Only then did he realize to what extent he had been a “wasteful heir.”

However, that Bai son knew shame and later found courage. He specifically went to study porcelain appraisal knowledge and also made quite a name for himself in the field. Of course, those were things that happened later.

This incident was basically known to everyone in Beijing’s antique circle. And since this event, people paid more attention to the antique art market. Similar incidents, however, rarely happened again.

News in small County Towns was relatively isolated. An old lady selling an ancient painting for one yuan could still happen in this era. But such opportunities were truly rare and couldn’t be sought out; even if you looked for them specifically, you might not find them.

“Uncle Ye, so you mean, we might still run into something like this?” After listening to Ye Dongping, Feng Kuang’s small eyes shone brightly. He wished he could pull the Handcart and go collecting scrap right now.

“Feng Zi, this… this money, sigh… if you encounter something like this again, give the seller a bit more money.”

Ye Dongping was a man with higher education. Thinking about taking such advantage of people always left a knot in his heart. However, business was business, and he couldn’t really blame Feng Kuang for it.