Time slowly trickled by, and Qin Fang was merely a bystander, tossing a Scouting Skill at each item to appraise its authenticity before falling silent as others bid for them.

"This auction item is a... Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup!"

When this particular item was brought up, the host didn't unveil it immediately like before. Instead, he was lifting the cover while still introducing the item, deliberately pausing, and then revealing it all of a sudden.

Wow~~

Almost instantly after the seven words were pronounced, everyone's expression in the room changed, eyes unanimously focusing on the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup.

Qiao Zhenfei was no exception; it was nearly his first time to have such a strong reaction since he came to this black market.

"Brother Fei, what's going on? Is it something good?"

Qin Fang was not very knowledgeable about antiques, and although he could cheat with his Scouting Skill, he only knew the authenticity of antiques, not how good or valuable they might be.

It was only seeing Qiao Zhenfei's intense reaction that he asked.

"You don't understand this business. All I can tell you is, if it really is a Chenghua Doucai, then its value is truly inestimable..."

Qiao Zhenfei whispered an explanation into Qin Fang's ear before he walked over to the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup to take a closer look and appraise it himself.

An undoubtedly great piece, but if it's a fake or even a replica, then it truly holds no interest.

While everyone else went to examine the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, Qin Fang stayed put, casually throwing a Scouting Skill over, and the result quickly displayed.

"Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup (Repaired)"

The result was out, it really was a Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, but noted with the words "Repaired," obviously not intact, making it essentially a flawed item.

Soon, Qiao Zhenfei returned, his face bearing a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

"How's the piece?"

Although Qin Fang had his own appraisal result, he still wanted to hear Qiao Zhenfei's more professional opinion, so that if Qiao Zhenfei missed something, he could intercede.

"It's an old piece, and the quality is quite impressive. The only pity is that it's a repaired shard, which affects its value... but that doesn't matter, as long as it's a good piece, it's worth it!"

Qiao Zhenfei's expertise was not to be underestimated. Qin Fang relied on the Scouting Skill to cheat for his conclusion, while Qiao Zhenfei relied entirely on his own judgement, which was almost identical to Qin Fang's result.

This conclusion was enough for Qiao Zhenfei to decide to bid for this item, even if it meant spending all his money and forgoing other potential treasures.

After all, Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cups are extremely rare, a once-in-a-lifetime exquisite find!

"I believe everyone has had a good look, the item is absolutely wonderful, and now the auction begins, with a starting bid of three hundred thousand!"

After letting everyone view it for about three minutes, the host announced the starting price, and the bidding commenced.

"Five hundred thousand!"

The first bid was extraordinarily aggressive, upping the ante by two hundred thousand straight off.

"Eh... can a repaired one sell for so much?"

Hearing the starting price, Qin Fang was already troubled, but the bidding was even more brutal, prompting him to mutter to himself.

"You know jack! If it were a complete Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, do you think they'd bring it to a black market sale? They'd have figured out how to get it into an auction house long ago. Back in April 1999 at a Hong Kong Sotheby's auction, a Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup sold for a sky-high price of 29.17 million Hong Kong dollars, and it's worth even more now..."

Qiao Zhenfei rolled his eyes but still explained briefly to Qin Fang.

While they were talking, the bidding for the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup had already surpassed one million, with most of the bidders choosing to drop out.

The item was indeed good, but the price exceeded what they were willing to pay, as this black market operated on cash transactions and they had limited cash on hand.

"One million two hundred thousand!"

Qiao Zhenfei made his move, raising the bid by two hundred thousand in one go, showing his strong momentum and determination, immediately causing several more bidders to drop out of the running.

"One million two hundred and fifty thousand!"

"One million two hundred and eighty thousand!"

"One million three hundred thousand..."

Still, the number of participants in the black market wasn't small, and there were quite a few powerful ones, too. Qiao Zhenfei raised the bid by two hundred thousand in one go, but there were still three buyers keeping up with him.

"One million five hundred thousand!"

This time Qiao Zhenfei was even more ruthless; he added another two hundred thousand on top of the one million three hundred thousand. At the same time, this figure was also the entirety of the cash he had on hand.

Of course, Qin Fang also whispered on the side that the five hundred thousand he had borrowed was all given to Qiao Zhenfei to use. Originally, that money was Qiao Zhenfei's; now, it had simply returned to its rightful owner.

"One million six hundred thousand!"

"One million seven hundred thousand!"

However, this price hike only eliminated one bidder; there were still two that were relentlessly following.

"One million eight hundred thousand!"

Qiao Zhenfei continued to bid, but his frown grew deeper and deeper.

"One million nine hundred thousand!"

The other buyer was also relentless, not giving any slack in the increment of their bid, which made Qiao Zhenfei quite uncomfortable.

"Two million!"

Qiao Zhenfei went all out this time; the two million was all the cash he had brought with him. If he still couldn't secure the item with that, then he could only say goodbye to the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup with no small regret.

"Two million one hundred thousand!"

Yet, he still ended up frustrated. Such a fine item as the Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup, even with a bit of damage affecting its value, was genuinely undervalued at two million.

"Forget it..."

Watching a somewhat dejected Qiao Zhenfei, Qin Fang was also quite helpless and offered a word of consolation. Facing a situation like this was indeed a bit too disheartening.

"I'm fine..."

Fortunately, Qiao Zhenfei was still able to bear it. He just sat quietly there, watching the other bidders outbid each other, his gaze shifting around, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

In the end, the slightly damaged Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup was auctioned off to a rotund Fatty for two million eight hundred thousand. The guy looked every bit like a Shanxi coal baron, the kind who had so much money it burned a hole in their pocket.

The coal baron decisively paid the money and embraced the small, delicate Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup into his bosom, handling it with extreme care and valuing it greatly, eliciting envious glances from the others.

The auction had to continue, and a new item was brought up.

"This is a set of Song Dynasty calligraphy manuscript, with an unknown provenance. However, the script is bold and forceful with profound skill, likely a work of a master. The starting price is thirty thousand!"

The middle-aged man's tone didn't reveal any excitement from the previously high-selling lot; he introduced this newly brought up item just as blandly as before.

Perhaps due to the previous loss, Qiao Zhenfei was a bit disheartened, hardly even bothering to look at this time's lot.

And Qin Fang...

"A prescription... It's actually a prescription!"

Qin Fang at this moment was incredibly excited. As with before, when a new item was introduced, he used his Scouting Skill, but the result displayed made him almost want to jump up right away.

"Prescription: Heart Nourishing Pill!"

Ever since he killed the Golden Crested Serpent and acquired the Pharmacopeia Skill, Qin Fang had obtained two prescriptions, one for the Detoxification Pill and the other for the Five Poisons Powder. Both prescriptions had come from slaying monsters; hence, Qin Fang naturally assumed that this was the only way to acquire them.

But what he never expected was that a prescription would appear among the auction items, even though, in the eyes of everyone else, it looked merely like a manuscript of calligraphy. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and your support is my greatest motivation.)

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