Chapter 21

Old Qin coughed and said, "Congratulations to you all, you have now become true appraisers. Our town hasn't seen such young appraisers for many years. Both of you are rare geniuses."

Young Master Liu listened to Old Qin's words and felt uncomfortable. If it weren't for the young man beside him, he would feel very proud to be called a genius. But now, the young man beside him was even younger and was already a master appraiser.

To be called a genius in front of him like this, wasn't it slapping his own face?

Young Master Liu glared at the young man beside him, his heart filled with resentment. If it weren't for this young man, he would be the most prominent person today. But with this young man, what was he?

When it came to young geniuses, others would only think of that young man, and he would be the green leaf!

In Young Master Liu's resentful gaze, Old Qin changed his tone and continued, "It's quite embarrassing, actually, in our Appraiser Alliance, there is an annual young appraiser competition. Any appraiser under thirty can represent their town's Appraiser Alliance in the competition. But our town hasn't had a young appraiser for many years. In recent years, we haven't participated in any of the young appraiser competitions."

"Fortunately, this year, you two have finally emerged, and we can finally hold our heads high. There are ten months left before the next young appraiser competition. I want you two to represent our town. Do you have any objections?"

Lin Yiming didn't say anything, but Young Master Liu nodded with a difficult expression. There was only one spot for the competition, and the Appraiser Alliance said they were both prepared. Now, he was being used as a backup.

If it weren't for that young man, would he be a backup? Without a doubt, if it were just him, he would definitely represent the town in the competition. If he could get a good ranking in the competition, his name would surely spread throughout the town.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Old Qin, who was looking at the form Lin Yiming had filled out, let out a light exclamation, looked up, and asked Lin Yiming with surprise, "Your name is Lin Yiming?"

"That's right, my name is Lin Yiming." Lin Yiming's face also showed a hint of confusion. There was nothing special about his name, right?

The two appraisers beside Old Qin also looked puzzled.

"Old Qin, what's wrong? Is there something special about the name Lin Yiming?"

The moment the two spoke, they seemed to realize something.

"Lin Yiming, is that the appraiser?"

The moment Lin Yiming heard their words, he immediately understood. These people must have heard of his name. Although he hadn't joined the Appraiser Alliance before, he had appraised many things and was somewhat well-known. These people were all appraisers, his peers, so it wasn't strange that they knew him.

"Indeed, it's you." Old Qin held the form Lin Yiming had filled out and laughed out loud. "We've heard of your reputation for a long time. We just never met you, and we even considered visiting your village to invite you to our town to take the appraiser exam. We didn't expect you to come on your own. We've known about you for a long time, but we never imagined you were so young. It's truly astonishing."

Young Master Liu's face turned increasingly dark as he listened to Old Qin's praise, eventually turning iron gray.

Suddenly, as they were talking, a knock came from the door.

Old Qin glanced at the door with dissatisfaction, put away the form Lin Yiming had filled out, and said, "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and a man dressed in auction house attire walked in.

"Old Qin," the man immediately showed a somewhat fawning smile to Old Qin, "Our chairman asked me to check if everyone is resting well and if we can start the appraisal."

Old Qin's face fell. "Resting well? With such a short time, how could we possibly rest well? We can't appraise for you today. If you want an appraisal, it will have to wait until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? That's too late," the man said urgently. "This treasure is about to be auctioned at our auction house, and we're waiting for the appraisal. If we can't get it appraised today, our auction house's reputation will suffer greatly. Old Qin, can you please help us? Just one treasure."

"No, not even half a piece," Old Qin said firmly, looking at the man's pleading face. "We appraisers just finished a joint appraisal yesterday, and we're still recovering. If we force ourselves to appraise, it would be like asking for our lives."

The man knew that Old Qin was serious. However, the auction house really needed someone to appraise the treasure. With no choice, he continued to plead, "Chairman, you have many connections. Can you think of any other way or recommend someone to appraise the treasure? This treasure is very urgent."

"Let me think..." Old Qin pondered, and his eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Lin Yiming sitting opposite him. He immediately put Lin Yiming on the same level.

"Yiming, I saw you recover very quickly during the test. You must be well-rested now, right?"

The moment Lin Yiming heard Old Qin's words, he understood what Old Qin wanted to do. However, he didn't want to lie, so he nodded. "Yes, I'm fully recovered."

Although Old Qin had expected Lin Yiming to be mostly recovered, hearing him confirm it made him marvel at the recovery speed, which was truly enviable.

Turning to the man from the auction house, Old Qin said slowly, "The young man beside you has just passed our Appraiser Alliance's exam. He can go and appraise the treasure."

"Him?" The man turned to look at Lin Yiming, hesitated, and then said with some distrust, "He looks so young. Can he do it? This treasure is a major item in the auction."

"What do you mean!" Old Qin's mustache twitched, and his white eyebrows shot up. Lin Yiming was his recommendation, and questioning Lin Yiming was questioning him.

"He can't? If he can't, you won't find anyone in the entire Maple Bridge Town who can appraise this treasure. He is a master appraiser. If a master appraiser can't appraise it, you'll have to go to the city to find someone."

"Master appraiser!" The man was stunned. The young man in front of him was a master appraiser? How old was he? He looked only fifteen or sixteen. To be a master appraiser at such a young age? The only master appraiser in the town was Old Qin, who became one in his fifties.

For this young man to become a master appraiser at such a young age was truly shocking.

If someone else had told him this young man was a master appraiser, he wouldn't have believed it. But Old Qin, as a representative of the Appraiser Alliance, wouldn't lie. If Old Qin said he was a master appraiser, then he must be.

A master appraiser held a very high status, especially in the auction house, which needed to maintain good relations with appraisers. Without good appraisers, the auction house couldn't operate.

The man bowed to Lin Yiming, "Master, I was rude just now. Please forgive me."

Lin Yiming smiled at the man, indicating that he didn't mind. Being doubted at his age was normal. He had been doubted many times before when he appraised for others.

Seeing Lin Yiming's expression, Old Qin inwardly admired him. At such a young age, to be a master appraiser, to remain calm when others doubted him, and to accept their apologies with grace, truly showed his composure. To achieve this at such a young age was truly remarkable.

Old Qin looked at Lin Yiming kindly and said, "What do you think? Will you go and help them with the appraisal?"

Lin Yiming shook his head with a smile. He had come to the town to exchange for food. He had already been delayed by the exam, and another appraisal would delay him even more, so he refused.

Old Qin was slightly taken aback by Lin Yiming's refusal but then said, "Yiming, for this appraisal, our Appraiser Alliance won't take any commission. All the appraisal fees will go to you. This is our fault, after all. We have a large house in the auction house, and we should do our part."

The auction house's treasures were always appraised by them, and the auction house would pay them. Now, because they had appraised a treasure together yesterday, they couldn't appraise today, which made him feel very guilty. So, he wanted to make up for it by waiving the commission.

As for Young Master Liu, a newly minted junior appraiser, he couldn't be relied on.

Lin Yiming still shook his head.

Seeing this, Old Qin paused for a moment, looked at Lin Yiming's clothes, and continued, "Yiming, this treasure is a major item in the auction. The appraisal fee won't be low. Although I haven't seen it, I can guarantee that the appraisal fee will be at least two hundred taels of silver."

"At least two hundred taels?" Lin Yiming perked up. If it was really two hundred taels of silver, that was a significant amount. It could buy a lot of food and even allow them to take the official road back. Also, the two hundred taels could support Guoguo, the little foodie, for a while.

Seeing Lin Yiming's interest, Old Qin strengthened his tone, "That's right. If it were an ordinary treasure, they wouldn't go through so much trouble."

"Alright, if that's the case, I'll go." Lin Yiming nodded in agreement.

Seeing Lin Yiming agree, Old Qin smiled and took out a jade pendant and two red robes, handing them over. "These are the clothes and jade pendant symbolizing your status as a master appraiser."

Lin Yiming took the clothes and jade pendant and glanced at them.

The jade was just an ordinary piece, which was normal. Although the number of appraisers was small, the total number in the entire Great Peng Dynasty was still considerable. If they used high-quality jade pendants, the Appraiser Alliance would have to spend a lot of money.

The jade's quality was ordinary, but the carving was very intricate. On one side was the emblem of the Great Peng Dynasty, a soaring Kunpeng bird. On the other side was the emblem of the Appraiser Alliance, an eye that seemed to see through everything, with the words "Master Appraiser" beside it.