A comprehensive overview of tombs: starting with the Yellow Weasel's Tomb

The fat man laughed upon hearing this, looked at Hu Bayi who was drinking tea with a smug expression, and said with a smile, "You're quite something, no wonder you came from a reconnaissance background, your insight is truly exceptional."

Hu Bayi was very pleased with the fat man's praise and immediately smiled and said, "That's right!"

Immediately afterward, the fat man's smile faded, and he said, "This old man, carrying a tattered bag, has been wandering around this market for over a week now, and you're only just realizing it?"

Upon hearing Fatty's words, Hu Bayi immediately sat up and said with some suspicion, "Huh? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Fat man

Hearing this, he was both angry and amused, and said, "Well, you haven't gotten old either, have you?"

Hu Bayi smiled upon hearing this, still staring at the guy, which made the fat man a little puzzled.

The fat man immediately asked, "What's wrong? Is something fishy going on?"

Hu Bayi glanced at Fatty and Bai Jing, then gestured for them to look at the man. He then said, "Look, people who are in a hurry to sell something usually act all mysterious, as if they're afraid of being cheated or robbed. This guy is a typical example. I think he definitely has something to sell."

Bai Jing agreed with Hu Bayi's opinion but remained silent.

The fat man, however, became interested and immediately said, "Shall we go and tease him?"

Hu Bayi frowned upon hearing this, looked at the fat man seriously, and said, "Don't bully honest people."

When the fat man heard this, he thought that Hu Bayi thought this was wrong or something.

He immediately replied, "I was just saying that."

But Bai Jing knew that Hu Bayi was that kind of person.

Sure enough, the next moment, Hu Bayi stood up and walked out of the shop, saying as he went, "Let's go."

The fat man didn't react at first, but he quickly understood and followed after them. At the same time, the fat man also wanted to pull Bai Jing along.

But Bai Jing is, after all, a proud university professor. How could he do something so shameless?

If this gets out, how will others perceive me?

However, he couldn't do anything, but he could still watch the excitement. Bai Jing immediately grabbed a small stool and sat down on the steps by the door to watch the spectacle.

Hu Bayi and Fatty took turns trying to find out the general situation.

This person's name is [name missing], and he comes from the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.

However, this person was too cautious, and Hu Bayi was probably just bored, so he decided to take this person with him to lunch to try and find out what was going on.

When Bai Jing saw Hu Bayi and Fatty arrive, he knew the excitement was over, so he handed the stool to Xiao Wu (a shop assistant in Hu Bayi's shop).

Upon learning that Hu Bayi and Fatty were the owners of this large antique and toy shop, a glint of light flashed in their eyes.

Others didn't notice, but Bai Jing did.

Bai Jing suddenly felt that things were getting interesting.

Upon hearing Hu Bayi introduce this person, some long-forgotten memories immediately surfaced in his mind.

He probably already knows what it is.

However, Bai Jing did not say it directly.

The group arrived at a hot pot restaurant near Panjiayuan. It was clear that the fat man was quite familiar with the owner, as he immediately called out as soon as he entered: "Sixth Brother, bring us four plates of meat, the usual three dishes, and four bottles of beer. We can add more as needed."

Upon hearing this, Brother Liu from the hot pot restaurant cheerfully invited them to sit down first.

Before long, the copper pot was brought out.

Following that, four bottles of beer were served, followed by meat and the so-called "old three dishes".

These three dishes are actually sheep tripe, shiitake mushrooms, and cilantro meatballs.

The lamb tripe and shiitake mushrooms need no introduction, but the cilantro meatballs are a specialty of this old restaurant, and almost every customer orders one.

These three items are actually what Fatty orders every time he comes.

The fat man came to eat every few days, so he naturally became familiar with the owner.

The food was served quickly, and the four people at the table immediately clinked glasses before starting their usual banter.

Chapter 184 Shoes

After eating a simple meal, Hu Bayi spoke first.

"Brother Chunlai, right?"

Li Chunlai put down his chopsticks while he was eating.

Hu Bayi then said, "I've seen you loitering around this market for quite some time now. Is there something you're going to sell? Can you show it to us?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chunlai hesitated for a moment, then tightened his grip on the bag in his arms. But then he thought of his mission and said, "I have a child. I don't know if it's valuable or not."

Li Chunlai had a rather strong accent. Bai Jing and Hu Bayi were fine, being well-informed, but even the fat man was startled when he heard this, as he misheard it as "hai" (孩).

The fat man immediately asked in surprise, "You want to sell your child?"

Hearing the fat man's words, Bai Jing smiled and said, "Not a child."

The fat man finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then the fat man immediately asked, "What is it? Can we take a look?"

Hu Bayi nodded and said, "I see you've been wandering around for days, so you should have a better understanding of the price by now, right?"

Upon hearing Hu Bayi and Fatty's words, Li Chunlai first looked at the plates of meat and vegetables on the table and concluded that Hu Bayi and Fatty must be big bosses, meeting the target requirements.

After hesitating for a while, Li Chunlai said, "Okay, then I'll show it to you guys."

As he spoke, Li Chunlai unzipped his bag, revealing one of the bags with an antique design. However, before Hu Bayi and Fatty could see what it looked like, Li Chunlai zipped it up again.

Then Li Chunlai looked at the meat and vegetables that had been mostly scooped out of the pot.

Goodness, these four people are all big eaters. Four plates of meat plus three plates of vegetables were still not enough for them.

To be honest, only Hu Bayi and Fatty Wang have the strength to do this now, otherwise they really couldn't withstand such abuse.

Upon seeing this, Hu Bayi immediately shouted, "Sixth Brother, add two more plates of meat."

Before long, the shop owner, Brother Liu, brought out two plates of "chuck," which is the essence of lamb, a piece of meat located behind the neck, on both sides of the spine, and in front of the ribs.

The meat in this cut is very tender, with fat and lean meat evenly interwoven to form a marble-like pattern.

Normally, restaurant owners would serve this kind of meat to regular customers; ordinary customers wouldn't get this treatment.

It's because Fatty and Hu Bayi are really rich now, eating out every few days, so naturally they've become familiar with the restaurant owners.

As soon as the meat was served, the fat man put it into the pot and said with a smile, "Sixth Brother, the meat slices are pretty good today."

Once the meat was in the pot, Hu Bayi continued his charade.

"Brother Chunlai, if there's anything special about this, it could definitely fetch a good price. You could eat meat every day from now on without any problem."

Upon hearing Hu Bayi's words, Li Chunlai was clearly intrigued. He seemed to be envisioning a bright future, first swallowing hard, then dreaming, "Eating meat every day? I doubt I could manage. My ideal is to sell these shoes for a good price, and then I can go back to my hometown and get married."

"Auntie, have another baby, then my life will be perfect."

Upon hearing Li Chunlai's words, Hu Bayi quickly chimed in, "I remember you all say that women from Mizhi are as good as men from Suide? If your shoes can fetch a high price, you could easily marry a woman from Mizhi."

Hearing Hu Bayi's words, Bai Jing and Fatty both laughed.

Now this Hu Ba is even using PUA (Pick-Up Artist) techniques on people.

However, it was obvious that Li Chunlai had really been manipulated. He seemed to have imagined this wonderful scene and smiled with anticipation in his eyes.

Seeing this, Hu Bayi also felt there was a chance, and immediately pointed to Bai Jing and said, "This is Bai Jing, a friend of mine, a professor at Beijing University. He is very knowledgeable about antiques and curios. Have him take a look, so he can give you an offer, right?"

Hearing this, Li Chunlai was clearly conflicted.

Seeing this, Hu Bayi could only continue to persuade him: "You have to let us take a close look at this thing, otherwise we can't offer you a price, right?"

After hesitating for a moment, Li Chunlai finally took it out and handed it to Hu Bayi. Hu Bayi couldn't figure it out either, so it was passed on to Bai Jing.

Bai Jing took a look but showed no interest.

That's all? It's too cheap. I don't even want it.

But Bai Jing also knew that Hu Bayi and Fatty's shop needed these inexpensive but genuine items to attract customers.

He immediately said, "These are simple in style and unique in design. If I'm not mistaken, they should be common civilian funerary items from the Northwest around the mid-Ming Dynasty. If you want me to make a price, I really don't know how."

Upon hearing this, Hu Bayi looked at Bai Jing and asked, "What do you mean?"

Bai Jing handed the shoes back to Li Chunlai, who was already impatient, and then said, "This thing is too worthless. I don't have anything of such low value in my collection. It's hard to say how much you want me to name a price."

Hu Bayi and Fatty remained silent in response to Bai Jing's words.

Bai Jing is absolutely right.

Many of Bai Jing's collections can even be considered national treasures; any one of them could be worth thousands or tens of thousands of yuan.

Although Bai Jing could date items, he wasn't actually in the antique business, so his pricing decisions weren't very accurate.

The transaction price of high-end items is easy to find, but it's harder to say for these relatively low-end items.

After thinking for a moment, Hu Bayi looked at Li Chunlai and said, "Brother Chunlai, can you tell me the origin of this?"

After putting the shoes away, Li Chunlai glanced at Bai Jing and the other two and said, "Our place is called Gulan County. It hasn't rained much in the last few years, and we've been suffering from a severe drought. At this time, our village chief said that we need to fight the drought demon, because only by fighting the drought demon can it rain."

Upon hearing this about drought demons, the fat man was puzzled, realizing his lack of knowledge. He immediately asked, "What is a drought demon?"