Chapter 4

Stepping out of the small house, Liu Yiyang unexpectedly found that Lin Feng was not outside.

The warehouse door was tightly locked. After a moment's thought, Liu Yiyang also locked the door of the small house from the inside and walked out.

There was another security door outside, which was not locked. Liu Yiyang's eyebrows involuntarily twitched. Lin Feng usually managed the warehouse strictly and would not leave during working hours unless there was something urgent.

"Great, great, really great, all good stuff! I was just worried about the shortage of goods, and the timely rain has come. Old Huang, this batch of blue-and-white porcelain has really solved my urgent need, hahaha!"

As soon as he walked out of the security door, Liu Yiyang heard a hearty laugh. The voice came from the VIP reception room, and he recognized it as Lin Liang's voice.

"Not at all, this time it was just good luck. I happened to meet someone selling a large batch, so I bought it all!"

This time it was a stranger's voice, also filled with joy.

As the voice faded, Liu Yiyang also walked to the hall outside the second floor, just in time to see Lin Feng standing at the door of the VIP room.

Lin Feng had not left; he had just come out. Thinking about the conversation he had just heard, Liu Yiyang immediately understood what was going on.

Business had been good in the store these days, and some of the goods were already in short supply. Although he did not participate in sales, he could tell from the maintenance that the inventory was getting lower and lower.

Especially for porcelain. Usually, most of what he maintained was porcelain, but now the number of porcelain pieces was less than half, which clearly showed the problem.

With new goods arriving, Lin Feng needed to check and store them, so he naturally had to come out and take a look.

Seeing Lin Feng, Liu Yiyang immediately turned and walked towards him, smiling and said, "Brother Lin, I've finished today's work. I didn't touch anything inside!"

Lin Feng smiled and nodded, but before he could speak, someone came out from inside, slightly surprised to see Liu Yiyang, and immediately said with a smile, "Little Liu, you came just in time. Come in and take a look at this new batch of goods!"

The person who came out was Lin Liang, who was very happy, and it was clear that his mood was excellent.

"I, it's not convenient, right!"

Liu Yiyang was also taken aback for a moment, then said hesitantly, with a bit of hesitation on his face.

Xuan Ya Zhai, though just an antique shop, was managed like a company, with strict rules. Everyone had different roles and only did their own work.

His job was to maintain antiques, and he had nothing to do with sales or procurement.

"What's inconvenient about it? Come in and take a look, it will broaden your horizons!"

Lin Liang laughed loudly, not waiting for Liu Yiyang to react, and pulled him directly into the VIP room, instructing Lin Feng to call the finance department to prepare for inventory registration and payment.

Antique shops pay cash on the spot when they receive antiques.

The VIP room was large, with sofas and coffee tables on both sides, and a spacious glass table in the middle.

This table was mainly used to display large or multiple antiques for appreciation. The glass was transparent, allowing a clear view from all angles.

Lin Liang was very happy today and directly led Liu Yiyang into the VIP room.

In the VIP room, there were three other people besides Lin Liang. Liu Yiyang recognized two of them, but not the fat man in a floral shirt.

These two were the appraisers in the store. Liu Yiyang only knew that one was surnamed Zhang and the other was surnamed Ye.

On the glass table were about ten pieces of blue-and-white porcelain of various sizes. When Liu Yiyang entered, the two appraisers were bent over, examining each piece with magnifying glasses, ignoring everyone else.

"Old Huang, let me introduce you to my maintenance technician, Liu Yiyang. Don't look at him being young, but his skills are quite good!"

Lin Liang laughed heartily, introducing Liu Yiyang to the fat man in the floral shirt, also revealing his identity.

This man was surnamed Huang, a traveling antique dealer who specialized in finding goods for antique shops. Because he had been in the business for a long time, Old Huang was an experienced hand and had business dealings with many antique shops.

This time, he had bought a batch of goods from the south and called Lin Liang before getting off the train, delivering the goods to Xuan Ya Zhai first. When Liu Yiyang arrived, Lin Liang was about to go to the train station to pick him up.

Liu Yiyang had just extended his hand when Old Huang turned around, as if he hadn't seen him, making Liu Yiyang's young face show a hint of embarrassment.

Lin Liang was also slightly taken aback for a moment, quickly pulling Liu Yiyang and smiling, "Little Liu, come, take a look at these items. Old Tian is preparing to return to his hometown in the south, so you might have to take care of all the items in the store in the future!"

Lin Liang was too happy today and had forgotten that Old Huang had a peculiar temperament.

A man who had been in the business for twenty years, traveling all over the country, would be strange if he didn't have a peculiar personality. They spoke differently to different people, and Liu Yiyang, as a regular maintenance technician, was not worth their attention, so they naturally ignored him.

Liu Yiyang did not pay much attention, nodded, and followed Lin Liang to stand in front of the glass table.

Lin Liang's words made him pay more attention. Old Tian was the master who maintained valuable antiques in the store and had taught him everything.

From Lin Liang's words, it seemed that Old Tian was leaving, which explained why Lin Feng had assigned him a valuable jade piece today, clearly to train and test him.

If he were to maintain all the items in the store in the future, Liu Yiyang was both surprised and excited. More maintenance work would mean a higher salary. Old Tian's weekly salary was over two thousand yuan, and he worked much fewer hours than Liu Yiyang. Even if Liu Yiyang didn't reach Old Tian's level, a few hundred yuan more would not be a problem.

A few hundred yuan might not seem like much, but it would help a lot, especially for his younger brother's education and living expenses.

Gathering his thoughts, Liu Yiyang carefully examined the blue-and-white porcelain in front of him. These pieces were covered with a bit of dust and would need a thorough maintenance once they were brought into the store.

Thorough maintenance was different from regular cleaning. The store both sold and bought goods, and the sources of the goods were varied. Besides collectors who came to sell their treasures, most of the goods were bought from antique dealers like Old Huang or people sent by the store to acquire them.

Many of these acquired items were not completely clean and required a thorough cleaning to restore their original appearance. This was thorough maintenance, which was much more complicated than regular maintenance. Liu Yiyang did not do much of this type of maintenance, so it was a good opportunity to examine these items first. If he were to maintain them, he could prepare in advance.

On the table, there were eleven pieces of blue-and-white porcelain of various sizes and shapes.

Most of them were Qing dynasty blue-and-white porcelain, with some marked with reign marks, but all were from the Guangxu period, which was the late Qing dynasty. Such porcelain was quite valuable, with a single Guangxu-marked blue-and-white vase likely worth tens of thousands of yuan, and the better ones worth hundreds of thousands.

The eleven pieces of porcelain, all placed together, looked very beautiful. The two appraisers continued to examine the porcelain, occasionally whispering to each other and nodding in agreement.

From their expressions, it was clear that this batch of goods was really good.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Yiyang's expression became more focused. He compared his recent work experience and the information he had read in books, carefully appreciating the blue-and-white porcelain.

Fully concentrated, Liu Yiyang completely forgot about other distractions.

In less than a minute, Liu Yiyang's fingers trembled slightly. In his focused state, the bottle he was examining, like the items he had maintained before, emitted a red mist, which all entered his forehead.

The comfortable feeling returned to his body.

Liu Yiyang quietly turned his head, looking at Lin Liang with concern. Lin Liang was talking to Old Huang and did not notice him.

The two experts on the opposite side did not even look up.

This made Liu Yiyang feel a bit more relaxed. He had been so focused that he had temporarily forgotten that these items might also emit red mist.

But it was a good thing, as it confirmed his previous guess that only he could see the red mist.

Otherwise, these people would have turned around. Such a large amount of mist would be impossible to miss, even if they were not paying attention to him.

This confirmation made Liu Yiyang secretly pleased. If others couldn't see it, he could openly absorb this 'spiritual energy.' The comfort he felt when it entered his body was something he missed, and he also noticed that the more 'spiritual energy' he absorbed, the better his mental state became.

Liu Yiyang had come to believe that the red mist was the so-called spiritual energy.

After examining one blue-and-white vase, Liu Yiyang quickly turned to another.

This time, it was a pair of small bowls. Liu Yiyang tried to focus his attention directly on the pair of bowls.

Soon, both bowls emitted a red mist, and after absorbing the mist, Liu Yiyang's lips curled into a smile, and he laughed foolishly.

This experiment showed that he could absorb from multiple items simultaneously. The more items, the more spiritual energy was produced, and the more comfortable the absorption process was.

This comfort was indescribable, like a hungry person suddenly getting a feast or a traveler in the desert finding a spring. In short, it was incredibly comfortable.

After the red mist from the small bowls had all emerged, Liu Yiyang focused his attention on two bottles nearby.

One of these bottles was the one the experts had just put down and praised highly.

Focusing his attention, Liu Yiyang concentrated all his spirit on the two bottles.

Soon, one of the bottles began to emit red mist, which quickly entered his forehead, while the other showed no reaction.

After the mist from this bottle had all dissipated, Liu Yiyang turned his attention to the other bottle.

This was a dragon-patterned cylinder bottle, a type Liu Yiyang had rarely seen. At least, he had never maintained such a bottle in his time working here.

Focusing his spirit again, he concentrated for over a minute, but the cylinder bottle showed no change, forcing him to temporarily give up on this bottle.