Chapter 456: Chapter 456: Didn’t You Ask Me to Come with You?
Chapter 456: Wasn’t It You Who Told Me to Follow You?
“How much for this?” Mengyu picked up a cow carved from ivory.
The old stall owner glanced at Mengyu, the girl didn’t seem like a real buyer, but he still answered: “Two thousand yuan!”
Mengyu put down the ivory cow and picked up a brush holder: “And this?”
The old stall owner glanced at it: “That’s a Yuan Dynasty brush holder, twelve thousand.”
Mengyu once again put down the brush holder, then picked up a nose snuff bottle: “And this?”
The old stall owner glared at Mengyu: “Qing Dynasty nose snuff bottle, five thousand yuan.”
Mengyu put it down again, then picked up a Black Tortoise Snake: “And what about this?”
The stall owner lost his patience: “Miss, if you’re not buying, stop asking.”
Mengyu gave him a cold look: “Who says I’m not buying?” She quickly glanced around and said in a low voice to the stall owner: “These are Ming Dynasty Items, aren’t they?”
First, a look of panic flashed in the old stall owner’s eyes. Then, it was replaced by a fierce glare: “Young lady, are you here to smash my stall?”
At this time, Tomb Robbers, when caught, would be sentenced to prison.
The Crime of grave robbing, those who commit this crime, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall be fined; if the circumstances are relatively minor, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or control, and shall be fined.
Under any of the following circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment, or death, and in addition be fined or have property confiscated: (1) Graverobbing national key cultural relic preservation units and provincial-level cultural relic preservation units’ ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs; (2) The principal offender in a group that robbed ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs; (3) Habitual offenders of grave robbery of ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs; (4) Graverobbing ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs, and stealing precious cultural relics or causing severe damage to precious cultural relics.
Therefore, the second Mengyu mentioned that he was selling Ming Dynasty Items, the old stall owner immediately resented her.
Mengyu shook her head: “I’m not a Judge, I’m just here to buy things.”
Grave-robbing is against one’s moral integrity, but she was no Judge.
Her blunt statement only had two intentions, one was to make the other party reduce the price, and the other was, there were only a few Ming Dynasty Items mixed on the stall, there certainly were more items at home.
The old stall owner asked: “What do you want?”
“First, give me a fair price, I’ll take everything on this stall, second, you must have more stuff at home, I want all of that too.”
The few Ming Dynasty Items weren’t very valuable, she guessed, the valuable ones must be kept at home.
The old stall owner was taken aback: “Are you serious?”
Mengyu nodded: “Seriously.” After a moment’s thought, she added: “Not just what you have here, but also the things at your house.”
The old stall owner started to pack things, took out a piece of sturdy rough cloth, put all the items on it, tied the four corners together, and made a bundle.
He put the bundle on his shoulder and said to Mengyu: “Follow me.”
Mengyu was not afraid of him and followed him to the wall.
Only after descending the city wall did she hear the voices of discussion from atop the wall:
“Do you think that girl is a real buyer?”
“She must be, otherwise why would she follow Old Man Tu?”
“Looks like it, the few items she took out were all Ming Dynasty Items from Old Tu’s house, it shows she’s got a real eye for this.”
“For such a young girl to have this eye for antiques, it’s really not easy.”
“That girl, what a pity.”
“A pity for what?”
“Pity that she’s too bold, actually daring to follow Old Man Tu alone, I’m afraid she—”
“Shh, quieter, do you want to die? If Old Man Tu hears you, you’ll…”
…