It's already 2026, how can we still talk about having many children and having many blessings?

Chen Mo pretended to flip through it, looking it over from all angles.

"Sir, how much is this box?"

The old man glanced at him, slowly flicked his cigarette ash, and said, "Hainan rosewood, an antique from the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, twelve thousand."

Chen Mo picked up the box and rummaged through it. The huanghuali wood was indeed genuine, but the outer layer of lacquer was applied later, and the carving was mediocre.

This box alone is worth at most two or three thousand.

"Three thousand." Chen Mo put the box back.

The old man shook his head. "At least eight thousand."

"four thousand."

The old man glanced at him and said, "Young man, this box is made of genuine Hainan rosewood. Smell the wood; it hasn't faded even after hundreds of years."

"Sir, the Hainan rosewood is genuine."

Chen Mo patted the dust off his hands. "But this is a plain box from the Republic of China era, not from the late Ming Dynasty. The copper clasps on the huanghuali boxes from the late Ming Dynasty are shaped like ruyi heads, but yours is round. Four thousand is the maximum."

The old man took a drag of his cigarette, looked him up and down, and said, "You're an expert. Alright, take the four thousand."

Chen Mo scanned the QR code to pay, tucked the box under his arm, and quickly left.

As he walked, he used his X-ray vision to observe what was inside the hidden compartment.

I became increasingly excited.

Holy crap, it's genuine, and it's an unprecedented bargain.

That's incredibly lucky!

No rush to go back, let's continue exploring.

Yu Linglong leaned closer to examine the box. "Mr. Chen, is this box... worth four thousand?"

"It doesn't seem worth it." Chen Mo smiled.

He didn't explain much and wandered around for another half hour.

I picked out two more small items from the street stall. They were decent-quality Qing Dynasty folk kiln pieces, not expensive and not very profitable. They were just for practice.

After leaving the street vendor area, he began to sweep the shops along the street.

The owners of these shops are on a completely different level from the old men selling goods on the street.

They were all as cunning as monkeys.

Chen Mo went into four or five stores, but couldn't find anything decent to buy.

A painting of bamboo by Zheng Banqiao is priced at 1.2 million.

He used his X-ray vision to examine it; the bamboo was indeed real bamboo, but the year of the inscription didn't match Zheng Banqiao's chronology, indicating it was written by someone else.

There was a piece of ornament that was said to be made of Hetian jade, priced at 300,000 yuan. He could tell it was Russian jade just by touching it. It was white enough but lacked oiliness, and the price was several times lower.

After visiting several stores, Yu Linglong watched from the sidelines, becoming increasingly convinced of their superiority.

She grew up in the antique street and knew roughly what the owners of each shop did.

Chen Mo could figure out what was going on with these seasoned veterans in just one round, and after a couple of glances, he could point out the tricks and flaws of their stuff. The bosses' expressions changed from disdain to vigilance, and then to fear.

But he didn't spend a single penny in those stores.

"Let's go to the jade market."

The jade market is located at the westernmost end of the antique street.

Several large stalls lined up side by side, each selling a dozen or so pieces of raw jadeite. Piles of dark and yellowish raw stones were stacked at the entrances, some with windows cut in, others completely covered.

People gambling on stones squat in front of the stall, shining powerful flashlights on the rough stones.

Yu Linglong stopped in her tracks at the market entrance.

"Mr. Chen, here... I..."

"What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath and pointed to the largest stall in the middle, "That owner is a friend of my dad's from before."

"That's perfect, it's easier to negotiate a lower price if you know someone there."

"Not that kind of friend." Yu Linglong shook her head.

"After my parents had their accident, he kept trying to seize Jubaozhai's distribution channels, which forced every store to close down. A few years ago, he even tried to buy our family's signboard for 50,000 yuan."

Just then, a middle-aged man walked out of that stall.

She was in her fifties, slightly overweight, and wore a jade Guanyin pendant around her neck; the quality looked quite good.

"Oh, isn't this Linglong?" The middle-aged man smiled broadly. "What's wrong? Running out of money? Came to beg your Uncle to buy your Jubaozhai?"

Yu Linglong's expression was icy. "It's already been sold."

"What?" The middle-aged man's expression changed. "Sold to whom?"

"none of your business."

"Linglong, why won't you sell it to me? You're wasting your family's wealth! You're ruining your family's heirloom brand!"

Yu Linglong glanced at Chen Mo, "Mr. Chen, I'll be leaving now."

"What's the rush? We're here to gamble on stones."

Yu Linglong turned around and lowered her voice, "Mr. Chen, you shouldn't buy from here. Their materials are full of pitfalls..."

"Yu Linglong!" The middle-aged man's face darkened. "Don't you dare slander me and ruin my reputation!"

Chen Mo smiled and patted Yu Linglong's shoulder. "Don't go yet, let's take a look."

He didn't ask Yu Linglong about the specific grudges between her and the boss.

It's probably not a good thing.

Since they dare to bully him, let's teach them a lesson.

"What's your surname, boss?"

"My surname is Ma, Ma Debiao. May I ask your name, sir?"

"Mr. Chen, how much are these materials for you, Boss Ma?"

Ma Debiao sized him up. "Boss Chen, you don't look familiar. Is this your first time here? Take a look around first, and we can talk about the price if you see something you like."

Chen Mo didn't stand on ceremony. He walked to the pile of materials in front of the stall, squatted down, and started picking.

X-ray vision activated.

The pile of raw materials, varying in size, with different patinas and marked with numbers, became transparent to him.

The internal structure is fully visible.

Some are completely white stones without a trace of green; some have only a thin layer of green on the surface, with blemishes and cracks underneath; some do have color, but the texture is too immature and the water content is too low, so they are just low-grade goods after being cut, barely breaking even.

He flipped through them one by one.

A few gamblers were squatting next to the stall, picking out stones one by one as he did with watermelons, and they exchanged glances.

A young man wearing a baseball cap muttered to the person next to him, "Does this guy even know what he's doing? Who picks out fabric like that?"

Chen Mo ignored them.

After rummaging through most of the pile, his hand stopped on a palm-sized piece of black sand.

The pelt is shiny black with several thin python stripes on the surface. There are no windows, but you can see inside with X-ray vision.

Wow, apple green, glutinous ice type, can yield two or three full green bracelets, and the rest can be made into pendants, selling for millions is no problem.

Moreover, Chen Mo had already come up with a way to help Yu Linglong take revenge.

"Boss Ma, this one."

Ma Debiao glanced at it and said, "This one, a black jadeite, has a good patina. Twelve thousand."

"Five thousand."

"Boss Chen, you're not being sincere. The skin of this black wusha is so fine, 12,000 is already a very fair price."

"The outer skin is indeed quite good." Chen Mo turned the material over and pointed to a dent on the back. "But there's some pine flower pattern falling off in this area, so there's a high risk of it changing. I'll give it five thousand."