Chapter 14

This is a set of four ancient books. The label reads that they are fine ancient books from the Qing Dynasty, but according to Jiang Ping's expertise, they should be late Qing Dynasty lithographic word books. Wu Hanqing priced this set of books at 3,000 yuan. However, Jiang Ping knew that this was just his asking price, and if he really wanted to buy them, he could get them for 2,000 yuan at most.

Jiang Ping knew that in 2002, the craze for collecting was not as intense as in later years. Especially for ancient books from the Qing Dynasty, they were not very popular, and their prices were not high. If it were in later years, this set of books would sell for at least tens of thousands of yuan, and even then, it would depend on luck.

Wu Hanqing, being an experienced businessman, immediately saw that Jiang Ping was interested in the books and smiled, asking, "Do you want to take a closer look?"

Since he had already been seen through, Jiang Ping didn't pretend and nodded in agreement.

Wu Hanqing put on gloves and carefully took out the set of books for Jiang Ping to examine. Jiang Ping also put on gloves and flipped through the pages, soon confirming that the late Qing Dynasty books were in good condition and were indeed rare fine editions.

"The condition is fine," Wu Hanqing whispered to Jiang Ping, "I believe with your expertise, you can tell what era they are from, so I won't say more. If you want them, just make an offer."

Jiang Ping put down the ancient books and held up two fingers, saying, "2,000 yuan, how about it?"

The price Jiang Ping offered was not too far from Wu Hanqing's mental price. Plus, he had a good impression of this young man and didn't want to haggle over a few hundred yuan. After some thought, he nodded and said, "Deal!"

Thus, half of the 4,000 yuan Jiang Ping had just earned went back to Wu Hanqing, which made him very happy.

Although it seemed that Wu Hanqing had sold the ancient books for a third less, because there wasn't much of a market for ancient books, he didn't know when he could sell them if he kept them. For a businessman, cash flow is very important. Even though it was just 2,000 yuan, it was still a deal for Wu Hanqing.

While Wu Hanqing was happy, Jiang Ping was also in a very good mood. In this era, ancient books might be hard to sell for others, but not for Jiang Ping.

With the memory of his future life, Jiang Ping knew that there was a collector in Suzhou who started collecting various ancient books from the early 21st century. By 2014, his collection of ancient books had reached an astonishing 120,000 volumes, and he had even established a private ancient book museum.

There were many reports about this collector in the future, saying that he would buy any books with good condition at a high price, regardless of cost. Given the timeline, this was exactly the time when the collector was actively collecting ancient books. Jiang Ping believed that the set of ancient books he had just bought would definitely fetch a good price from the collector.

Today's harvest was indeed significant, and Jiang Ping was ready to go home. He carefully wrapped the ancient books and was about to leave Julongzhai when his gaze was caught by something in the corner of the display cabinet.

It was a piece of wood about a foot long, more than three inches wide, and about two inches thick. The surface color varied from light gray to almost black. The wood had intricate patterns and many pitted scars, indicating a very old age.

To most people, this might just be a piece of ordinary rotten wood, and even Wu Hanqing had placed it in the corner of the display cabinet, seemingly not valuing it much. However, to Jiang Ping, this piece of wood was a rare treasure. He quickly approached to examine it closely and soon confirmed that he had not been mistaken.

Jiang Ping looked at the piece of wood and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This is... agarwood."

With his rich experience from his previous life, Jiang Ping immediately recognized that this was indeed a rare piece of agarwood. From the faint, sweet, and milky fragrance it emitted, Jiang Ping could even determine that it was from the Dajiang region of Indonesia.

Dajiang is a famous agarwood-producing area, and the agarwood from this region is highly sought after. In the future, it was very popular. If Jiang Ping bought this piece of agarwood, even if he did nothing, just waiting for ten years, its value would increase by several dozen times, making it an excellent investment.

Seeing Jiang Ping lingering in front of the display cabinet, Wu Hanqing also approached and asked, "Little Jiang, do you have some knowledge about this?"

"I know a little," Jiang Ping modestly smiled at Wu Hanqing and then asked seriously, "Mr. Wu, how much do you plan to sell this piece of agarwood for?"

Wu Hanqing thought for a moment and smiled at Jiang Ping, "To be honest, I bought this piece of agarwood a few years ago for 1,000 yuan. If you really want it, 2,000 yuan!"

Although the price Wu Hanqing offered was twice the purchase price, it was not expensive. After all, 1,000 yuan a few years ago was worth much more than 1,000 yuan now. Moreover, Jiang Ping really liked this piece of agarwood, so he broke his usual habit of haggling and directly gave Wu Hanqing the remaining 2,000 yuan in his pocket, buying the piece of agarwood that would be worth at least 100,000 yuan in ten years.

Of course, Jiang Ping, who was urgently raising money for his sister's medical expenses, wouldn't wait ten years. He planned to use it for carving.

In his previous life, Jiang Ping was a highly skilled master of art forgeries, and carving on various materials was one of his specialties. Jiang Ping planned to carefully carve this piece of agarwood and then use his skills from his previous life to age it, making it look like an antique. This way, even if the current price of agarwood was not high, Jiang Ping could still make a substantial profit from it.

After receiving the money, Wu Hanqing handed the piece of agarwood, which had been ignored for a long time, to Jiang Ping. As soon as he took it, Jiang Ping's heart skipped a beat. The weight of the piece of agarwood was much heavier than he had estimated. Experts know that the quality of agarwood, besides its origin, is largely determined by its weight.

When agarwood trees are infested by insects or suffer other damage, they secrete resin. Over a long period, the resin permeates the wood, turning the originally white wood into various shades from light gray to dark brown, forming what is known as agarwood.

The more resin in the agarwood, the heavier it is, and the better its quality. The best agarwood has a density greater than one and will sink in water, which is the origin of its name.

The piece of agarwood in Jiang Ping's hand was much heavier than he had estimated, almost as heavy as small-leaf rosewood. Based on his experience from his previous life, Jiang Ping judged that even if this piece of agarwood was not the best grade that sinks in water, it was at least a semi-sinking grade, which was already extremely rare. If he found a knowledgeable buyer, even without any carving, it could sell for at least 10,000 yuan at the current market price. In other words, Jiang Ping had found two bargains at Julongzhai!

Today's harvest was better than expected, and Jiang Ping was in a great mood. He took the two items he had just acquired and rode his bicycle home.

===分割线===

This is the third update today, please vote and follow.

Thank you to the reader "脑残认证合格" for the tip.

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends