Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 371: It’s Too New—Can It Be Real?

"Damn it, where the hell does the auction house hire these so-called experts from? They’re all a bunch of crook-eyed frauds who can’t even recognize genuine pieces."

As soon as Chen Yiyang arrived at the restaurant, he heard a loud man complaining incessantly.

Chen Yiyang glanced over and noticed that at a table in the restaurant’s corner, two dark-skinned middle-aged men were eating and chatting loudly.

Chen Yiyang simply sat down next to them and ordered a small stir-fry dish as he listened to their conversation.

Their chat was unguarded, but they weren’t discussing anything illegal.

They were just complaining that they had a batch of antiques that they sent to auction houses, only to find that two major auction houses in the Imperial Capital had both appraised them as fake artifacts.

People around them were not particularly curious about their conversation.

After all, there were too many National Treasure Gang members nowadays, and many people claimed even a calendar was an ancient masterpiece.

So, people just assumed these two were crazy with dreams of getting rich.

After listening for a while, Chen Yiyang signaled the waiter for two bottles of beer and then walked over.

"Hey brothers, care for a drink?"

"Who are you?" The two men looked at Chen Yiyang with suspicion as he suddenly appeared.

"Here’s my business card." Chen Yiyang immediately took out his wallet and pulled out a business card.

He had multiple identities now, with lots of business cards printed for different occasions.

To these two, he naturally gave the card of the first pawnshop he started.

"You run a pawnshop?"

"Sure do," Chen Yiyang said with a grin, "But I mainly deal in various cultural relics and antiques. Pawnshops just sound a bit more legitimate."

Hearing this, the two men instantly showed a look of understanding.

They assumed Chen Yiyang was also into the grey market, using a pawnshop to cover up rather than an antique shop.

"I heard you guys saying you have genuine goods, is that true?"

Chen Yiyang didn’t really give off the vibe of someone in the illegal antiquities trade, but he was young, so the two men just thought he was a second-generation rich kid starting to dabble in the business.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have recklessly approached them in a restaurant.

"Kid, let me tell you, my brother and I only deal in the real stuff, you got it?"

"Got it, got it," Chen Yiyang feigned an understanding look, "You guys deal straight from the source, there’s no way it could be fake."

"As long as you understand." After saying this, the two men scrutinized Chen Yiyang again before saying, "But the goods can’t be viewed here, how about you come to our place to check them out?"

"No way." Chen Yiyang immediately refused, then added, "We just met and aren’t familiar with each other; going directly to your place would be too forward. Why don’t I arrange for a private room at a tea house, and you can bring the goods there for me to see?"

Chen Yiyang would never risk his life for a few antiques by following these two, who were obviously involved in illegal tomb raiding, back to their place.

However, after Chen Yiyang spoke, the two exchanged a glance and slightly nodded, becoming even less suspicious of Chen Yiyang’s identity.

Because if Chen Yiyang were a cop, he would definitely choose to follow them home to catch them in the act.

But since Chen Yiyang refused to go, it suggested that he genuinely intended to buy something.

So, they set a place to meet.

The two brothers went to fetch the "goods," and Chen Yiyang called a bodyguard to accompany him to the tea house, guarding against any possible ill intent in a confined space.

Two hours later, they met again at the tea house.

"Kid, prepare to be amazed." One of the men spread out a scroll in front of Chen Yiyang.

New, damn it, so new!

Chen Yiyang glanced at the two men, then focused on the scroll for a long time.

To be honest, if it weren’t for his insider information, Chen Yiyang wouldn’t believe what they brought was genuine.

Because this should be a document from the Southern Song period, yet the ink looked fresh and completely intact.

Particularly the paper used for writing felt as tough as modern kraft paper.

If an untrained person saw it, they would definitely believe someone wrote it on kraft paper.

But with his knowledge of cultural relics, Chen Yiyang judged that this should be ancient Xuan paper.

Its excellent preservation made it look brand new.

The text on this Song Dynasty Xuan paper was likely an official document belonging to a Song official called Xu Weili.

An official’s document, which served as a testament to an official’s identity during the Song Dynasty.

The document’s meaning was clear: only one copy existed, and if damaged, it would be hard to get another, so officials copied one for their records.

These copied documents, verified and stamped by relevant departments, held the same authority as the original and were recognized as effective copies, known as recorded official documents.

The document in front of them was a recorded official document, written in small script, easily understandable even to modern readers.

The text and content appeared identical to those from the Song era.

But it was just too new.

No wonder two authentication agencies both deemed it fake.

Had Chen Yiyang not had prior knowledge, he would also think it was fake at first sight.

Xu Weili Document Illustration, illustrated as recorded official decree yellow.

"It’s too new." Chen Yiyang couldn’t help but remark after examining it.

"Yeah, that’s exactly what those auction house people said. We were thinking of getting someone to age them artificially to see if they’d sell better."

"Don’t." Hearing this, Chen Yiyang’s heart skipped a beat.

The newness is what holds the value.

This Song Dynasty document, preserved as if freshly written, was something not even Chen Yiyang had seen or heard of.

The value transcended anything imaginable; any damage would make scholars regret it deeply.

"The auction house people may not recognize it, but I know some experts who specialize in these. They can definitely tell if it’s genuine. How many do you have? I want them all."

"All of them?"

The two men pondered for a moment.

Honestly, selling all their tomb-raided items at once was appealing but risky in terms of exposure.

However, given the unusual nature of these documents, being too new for most people to believe in their authenticity, selling all to Chen Yiyang didn’t seem impossible.

So, they came clean.

"We’ve got seventeen scrolls in total. They say each page of Song Paper is worth a tael of gold. How about we sell them at that price?"