After hanging up, Shen Qiang sprung up from his seat. After all, both Boss Ma and Sun Kaiping were old-timers who had been mingling on the street of antiques for decades, and the big deal in his eyes was definitely not a matter of just one or two million.

What was more important was that opening a store on the street of antiques in Provincial City without considerable capital was impossible. Each store there had its store treasure, and not just that—even the simplest inventory would involve dozens of items at the very least.

If there chanced to be a few rare items, the profits would undoubtedly skyrocket.

Besides that,

Shen Qiang had also planned to properly explore the antique market and Wanxin Hesheng.

Because he had already promised the Golden Cicada to make clothes for her.

But now,

the Golden Cicada was originally a Spirit Corpse Golden Cicada, which followed the principle of coming and going at will.

So, making clothes for her was definitely not about casually picking a few outfits off an online shopping platform.

To meet her needs,

the materials for making the clothes must meet several criteria.

1, They must be able to come and go at will.

Only in this way could it be ensured that, no matter what state the Golden Cicada was in, she would always have clothes on, which would undoubtedly enhance her sense of security.

2, High plasticity.

Clothes are always worn on the body, and if wearing them looks as bad as wearing a sack, it's better not to wear any at all.

3, Functional in terms of defense.

Hard defense isn't very important, but the basic function of clothes is to warm and protect against the cold. If they can't even do this, then it would be better to just pick up some stickers.

And the only material that could meet these three criteria was something even more precious than the Nine-transformed Heavenly Silkworm Silk that Shen Qiang was wearing: the Illusion Butterfly Silk.

This material was extremely rare.

Shen Qiang had already checked the Dragon Group's marketplace and Wanxin Hesheng's auction items, and neither had it, but what about the street of antiques?

If luck was on his side, he might come across it.

Thinking of this,

Shen Qiang flipped over and sat up immediately.

He quickly got dressed, tidied up a bit, and after greeting Ye Xiaolei and Qian Shanxue, he immediately left the house.

He moved quickly to the street of antiques.

Shen Qiang called Boss Ma.

Following his guidance, Shen Qiang immediately spotted an antique shop located on the eastern side of the antique market, near the old goods market.

Treasure House.

At that time, the shop was still operating normally, with no signs of intending to liquidate.

As Shen Qiang approached the entrance, Boss Ma had already come to greet him, pulling Shen Qiang aside and whispering nervously, "The owner of this shop died in a drunk driving accident a few days ago. His wife and brother are novices, so they have decided to sell the shop."

"In this street of antiques, almost all the competent owners have arrived. Our biggest competitors are the owners of Ancient Moon Pavilion and Yaqu, and Sun Kaiping is currently dealing with them. But there are so many items in this shop that it would take a week to look at each one."

"Moreover, the owner of this shop had been in business here for over twenty years. His eye power was good, but he was not very honest. His wife and brother have no idea which items in the shop are real and which are fake."

"Because there are many competitors, they are demanding that anyone who wants to buy must sign a contract and pay a deposit today."

"Right now, this shop, including the real estate and items inside, has a lump sum price of 170 million, but in fact, the items that have been verified as genuine and the real estate combined are worth about 90 million based on our purchase price."

Following Boss Ma upstairs, Shen Qiang was stunned and frowned, "Worth 90 million, asking for 170 million, wouldn't buying it mean a loss of 80 million?"

Boss Ma lowered his voice and said, "This estimate does not include those items of unknown origin that have yet to have their authenticity confirmed. If the value of those items, based on our purchase price, exceeds 60 million, then 170 million would be worth buying. If not, it's not necessary to buy."

"The reason I called you here is partly because we need your quick treasure appraisal skills, and partly because both Sun Kaiping and I think you are a reliable person to cooperate with. If possible, the three of us could collaborate, acquire the shop, and share the profits equally."

Shen Qiang frowned. Currently, at 90 million, adding another 60 million only reaches 150 million, which clearly still results in a loss of 20 million, yet Boss Ma actually said it's worth buying.

How is this accounting done?

But thinking it over carefully, there seemed to be no problem. After all, Boss Ma was speaking about calculating based on the purchase price, and usually, the antique industry is highly profitable. If the purchase value is 150 million, the actual selling price reaching above 200 million is not out of the question.

Just this profit margin might not even match what Shen Qiang could make by refining a few potions himself.

So Shen Qiang just smiled and said noncommittally, "Let's go upstairs and see the situation first."

The two of them went up to the second floor.

By then, the large hall on the second floor was already filled with people, with three seated around a mahogany table in the middle.

Two of them looked to be in their fifties, clearly experienced masters at a glance.

The third person was Sun Kaiping.

Just then, sitting not far from them, a stout middle-aged man laughed and said, "Sun Kaiping, I'm actually very curious whether you've come here to compete with us or to become an appraiser."

Hearing this, Boss Ma's expression grew colder, and he lowered his voice to Shen Qiang, "That guy is the owner of Yaqu, our number one competitor."

Shen Qiang was slightly surprised as he looked over at the stout middle-aged man, because the largest shop on Antique Street was Yaqu, which not only had a good reputation but had a scale unmatched even by the combined efforts of Boss Ma and Sun Kaiping."

"If Sun Kaiping wants to be an appraiser, he should come to our Ancient Moon Pavilion. We take a special view of talent," said a man sitting opposite the owner of Yaqu, swinging his crossed legs and smirking coldly.

"That guy is the eldest son of the owner of Ancient Moon Pavilion. He also has been mingling on Antique Street for over twenty years. His eye power and financial strength are slightly inferior to Yaqu's owner, but not by much. He's also one of our strongest competitors this time."

Watching Sun Kaiping seriously examine a porcelain vase, Shen Qiang frowned slightly and lowered his voice, "It's strange. Given the strength of Yaqu and Ancient Moon Pavilion, it seems unnecessary for them to come in person."

Boss Ma awkwardly lowered his voice and whispered in Shen Qiang's ear, "Foolish boy, they're not here for the antiques! In Antique Street, the real money isn't in the antiques themselves but in flipping the shop locations."

Upon hearing this, Shen Qiang's eyes suddenly brightened.

He abruptly remembered, when he had come to this street and had immediately found this shop after receiving a call from Boss Ma, it was because this shop has an exceptionally good location. It is on the east side of the antique market, with the market's east gate directly behind and the main gate just a few doors down to the right.

The first store visitors from town see when they want to browse the antique market would never be Ancient Moon Pavilion or Yaqu, but this shop...

Treasure House!

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