I lent my brother 500 yuan, and he offered his wife as collateral.

……

Deep within the ghost market.

This place has less of the lively atmosphere of the outside world and more of a chilling, eerie atmosphere.

There were no bright streetlights, only dim, bean-sized lanterns in front of each stall, swaying uncertainly in the night wind and casting long, ghostly shadows.

The air was filled with the musty smell of aged earth; any seasoned shopper could tell from that smell that the food had most likely just been "brought" out of the ground.

"Master Qin, shall we... shall we go inside?"

Yellow Hair swallowed hard, feeling a little intimidated.

He makes a living in this area, but he only dares to wander around outside.

This kind of inner circle has incredibly strict rules: "Don't ask for directions when you're looking at goods, and once you've made a purchase, there's no going back."

He, a nobody, was terrified that if he made a wrong move, he would be buried alive without anyone noticing.

Qin Feng didn't speak, his gaze sweeping across the stalls on both sides like a radar.

Although the authenticity rate here is much higher than outside, most of them are rough porcelain from folk kilns in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, or some ordinary miscellaneous items, with very little value in terms of preciousness.

Even so, the vendors keep their prices very tight, so it's not easy to find a great bargain.

The two walked deeper and deeper until they reached the most remote and secluded corner of the ghost market.

There weren't even any lights here; it was pitch black.

A ragged, blind old man with sunken eyes was sitting cross-legged on a tattered straw mat.

In front of me was a pile of broken tiles covered in yellow mud, with several flies buzzing around.

The pungent stench made you want to vomit even before you got close.

"Master Qin, this place is just a garbage dump."

Yellow Hair pinched his nose and waved away the flies with a look of disgust. "This old man's nickname is 'Blind Zhang.' He's been hanging around here for over a year. His pile of junk isn't even worth using to fill in holes at construction sites. Let's hurry up and leave, so we don't get any bad luck."

Qin Feng paused in his tracks.

In his view, beneath that filthy pile of mud, a clear and pure aura was rising!

This aura is not flashy, but it possesses immense inner strength, exuding a sense of tranquility like "after the rain has cleared."

Qin Feng walked over calmly and squatted down.

"Oh, another greenhorn trying to learn his lesson from Blind Zhang?"

At a nearby stall, a middle-aged man in a long gown was grinning with a sarcastic expression.

He was holding two shiny, bright red lion's head walnuts in his hand.

This man is a notorious conman in the ghost market, known as "Horse Eye Scammer," who makes a living by tricking newbies into finding bargains.

"Young man, listen to my advice." Horse Eye glanced at Qin Feng. "This blind man isn't very bright. He picked those broken tiles out of that ditch and treats them like treasures. If you have too much money to burn, why don't you go ahead and give some to the beggars? At least you'll hear something."

Several onlookers gathered around upon hearing this, shaking their heads and sighing.

"These days, there are so many young people who are desperate to find bargains."

"Exactly, don't they know where they are? They can treat garbage like treasure?"

Qin Feng turned a deaf ear.

He reached out and rummaged through the pile of foul-smelling tiles, finally touching a palm-sized fragment covered in thick mud.

It feels slightly cool to the touch, and even through the mud, you can feel a special warmth.

Golden lettering appeared!

[Item: Fragment of Ru ware celadon glaze (commonly known as "sky blue after rain")]

[Era: Late Northern Song Dynasty]

【Features: Ash-gray body, crab claw pattern, sesame seed-shaped studs. The glaze is lustrous and smooth like piled-up fat, with a color reminiscent of the sky after rain and the breaking of clouds.】

[Value: 50 - 60 (significantly reduced due to damage; a complete piece would be priceless).]

[Note: Even a fortune of immense wealth cannot compare to a single piece of Ru ware! A rare treasure!]

Ru ware!

Qin Feng's heart skipped a beat, and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

This is the foremost of the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty!

Fewer than 100 pieces have survived to this day, and each one is a national treasure!

Even a single fragment is a rare and highly sought-after item in the world of collecting!

"This thing," Qin Feng suppressed his excitement and said calmly, "I want it."

Blind Zhang didn't even blink, his voice as hoarse as a rusty saw blade: "No retail, take it all, 100,000. Not a penny less."

"One hundred thousand?!"

The blond-haired man was so frightened he almost bit his tongue; his blond hair stood on end. He grabbed Qin Feng's arm tightly: "Master Qin! My dear sir! This is just a bunch of rotten bastards! He's treating you like a guilty innocent victim to be slaughtered!"

"This is absolutely insane!"

Horse Eyes, standing nearby, was laughing so hard his walnuts almost flew off his cheeks. "Ten thousand for a pile of household garbage? Young man, I'm truly impressed by your audacity. That blind man is treating you like a pig to be slaughtered, without even letting you bleed!"

The onlookers burst into laughter, their eyes fixed on him as if he were a hopeless spendthrift.

"At least throwing that money into the river would make a splash, why buy this? Are you after its stench?"

"I heard this afternoon that a young man made money by finding a bargain. Could this be him?"

"That's him! He's gotten too cocky! All the money he just earned is going to be lost!"

"Master Qin, let's go..." Huang Mao was so anxious he was almost crying.

Qin Feng did not hesitate at all.

He pulled out his bank card and waved it at the blind man, Zhang: "Do you have a POS machine? I'll swipe my card."

Blind Zhang's cloudy, lifeless eyes twitched, and he pulled a dirty POS machine from his tattered cotton-padded coat.

"drop--!"

As the notification sounded that the transaction was successful, the entire room fell silent.

One hundred thousand yuan.

I actually bought it!

Horse Eyes froze for a few seconds, then burst into a maniacal laugh: "Hahahaha! Unbelievable! I've really seen something amazing today. This ghost market hasn't seen such a sucker in five or six years! Ten thousand yuan for a pile of broken tiles, this story will be all over the antique world tomorrow!"

Huang Mao covered his face in despair, suddenly feeling that following this "Master Qin" would lead to a bleak future.

Qin Feng put away the card, ignoring the taunts around him.

He picked up the fragment he had already chosen and turned to look at Ma Yanzi: "May I borrow a bottle of water?"

"Here you go! Here you go!" Horse Eye casually tossed over a half-empty bottle of mineral water, watching with schadenfreude. "Wash! Wash hard! Let's see what you can do!"

Qin Feng unscrewed the bottle cap.

Clear water cascaded down, washing over the filthy fragments.

The dark yellow silt slid slowly down with the flow of water.

A splash of color was revealed.

That wasn't ordinary cyan, nor was it a tacky blue.

It was a color that defied description—elegant, subtle, and warm.

It's like the purest color of the sky when the clouds crack open after a storm.

"This is……"

The mocking smile on Ma Yanzi's face suddenly froze, as if someone had grabbed his neck, rendering him unable to utter a sound.

As the grime completely disappeared, the true appearance of the fragments was fully revealed in the dim light.

The glaze is warm and rustic, with faint, fine crackles that spread out naturally like crab claw marks.

That azure hue seemed to glow in the darkness, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Heavens...celadon glaze?!"

Someone in the crowd gasped.

Ma Yanzi's hand trembled, and the lion's head walnut he had been playing with for seven or eight years fell to the ground with a "thud".

His eyes widened as he stared intently at the fragment in Qin Feng's hand, his voice trembling: "This glaze...this crab claw pattern...and these sesame seed-shaped studs at the bottom..."

"Ru...Ru ware?!"

boom!

The moment those two words were uttered, the crowd erupted in chaos.

The onlookers, who had been mocking him, were now breathing heavily, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets, desperately crowding around Qin Feng, afraid of missing a single glance.

"It really is Ru ware! My God! The color is absolutely stunning, like the sky after rain and the clouds breaking through!"

"The texture, the sheen—it's amazing!"

"My God, I just mistook a national treasure for trash?!"

Huang Mao was completely dumbfounded, staring wide-eyed at the incomplete porcelain shard in Qin Feng's hand, only two words echoing in his mind:

It's out!

Qin Feng gently flicked the water droplets off the fragment, his expression remaining calm.

[Ding! Host has successfully snagged a bargain! Treasure Points +20. Current Treasure Points: 25.]

75 points to go.

Qin Feng frowned.

You'd need at least 400,000 to get a bargain, but only 20 points of treasure value?

Just then, the crowd was suddenly parted by a powerful force.

"Get out of the way! Everyone get out of the way!"

Several burly men forcibly pushed aside the crowd of onlookers to make way.

An elderly man dressed in a plain cloth robe and holding a sandalwood cane walked briskly, supported by two assistants.

The old man had white hair and beard and a refined demeanor, but at this moment he appeared unusually anxious, walking so fast that even young people couldn't keep up.

Upon seeing who it was, a more intense low growl erupted from the crowd.

"It's Gu Yunfeng, the master of the 'Hidden Ancient Pavilion'!"

"This represents half of the Southwest China's art collecting world; even he was alarmed?"

Gu Yunfeng had no time to pay attention to the discussions of the crowd. He rushed straight to Qin Feng, his cloudy but sharp old eyes fixed on the fragment in Qin Feng's hand.

"Young brother..." Gu Yunfeng took a deep breath, his voice trembling with the fervor of someone seeing a priceless treasure, "This thing... may this old man have a look at it?"

Qin Feng generously handed it over: "Be careful not to slip."

Gu Yunfeng first took out a clean white silk handkerchief and placed it in his palm, then carefully took the fragment.

He took out a magnifying glass, held his breath, and examined it carefully for a full five minutes.

From the body to the glaze, from the crackle pattern to the spur marks.

The more he looked, the more his hands trembled.

At last.

Gu Yunfeng suddenly raised his head, his face flushed, and shouted excitedly, "Authentic! Northern Song Dynasty Ru ware with sky-blue glaze! This is the legendary 'sky-blue glaze'! If it's a complete piece, it's worth at least two hundred million!"

The audience was silent.

Even the ancients have confirmed that this thing is real!

Ma Yanzi's face turned deathly pale, and he wished he could slap himself twice.

This thing was right under his nose for a whole year, and he treated it like trash!

"Young man!"

Gu Yunfeng held the fragment in both hands, his eyes burning as he looked at Qin Feng: "Could you part with this?"

Qin Feng smiled slightly at Gu Lao's anxious expression: "Gu Lao, what's your price?"

People around were whispering: "Even though it's Ru ware, it's just a fragment. At most, it's worth 200,000 yuan, right?"

"Yes, he bought it for 100,000 and doubled the price on the spot. This young man has incredible luck."

Gu Yunfeng took a deep breath and held up two fingers.

"Two million!"

Gu Yunfeng's voice was loud and clear, resounding: "I have cash on hand, I'll transfer it right now! As long as you nod, the money will be in your account immediately!"

Quiet.

Upon hearing this number, everyone forgot to breathe.

"Two...two million?!"

Huang Mao felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Buying junk for 100,000 and reselling it for 2 million?

It increased twentyfold?!

Those who had just been mocking Qin Feng for being wasteful now felt as if their faces had been slapped a hundred times with the sole of a shoe.

However, Qin Feng showed no elation; instead, he frowned slightly.

The system's valuation was only between 50 and 60.

A master of Gu Yunfeng's caliber couldn't possibly be ignorant of the field.

Two million for a fragment? That's an outrageous premium.

"ancient."

Qin Feng looked directly at this titan of the antique world and said bluntly:

"It's just a fragment, worth at most 600,000 on the market. You're offering 2 million... that premium doesn't seem right, does it?"