"Spare my life, boss, spare my life!"
Yang Wei never expected that his actions today would completely turn him into a good-for-nothing.
If he left the antique world, all his livelihood would be cut off, and he would never be able to earn money from antiques again. This was a disaster of destruction for him.
"Why aren't you breaking your own arms? Are you waiting for me to find someone to do it?"
Lou Dong's face was gloomy, his anger towards Yang Wei had reached its peak. He still needed Li Yang's help, but his subordinate was so ungrateful and caused trouble for him outside. He deserved to die!
As soon as he finished speaking, a bodyguard behind Lou Dong threw a knife at Yang Wei's feet, waiting for him to mutilate himself.
He slowly picked up the knife from the ground. After hesitating for a long time, he suddenly got up from the ground, turned his hand, and first slashed Qin Kun's arm.
"Ah!"
Qin Kun let out a piercing scream!
He never expected that Yang Wei would deal with him first.
After slashing him, Yang Wei angrily pointed at him and said, "It's all your fault, you useless piece of trash! You don't know the immensity of heaven and earth and caused this catastrophic disaster for me, dragging me down with you. I'll kill you."
"Master Wei, no, don't!"
Qin Kun, terrified, quickly tried to escape backward, but Yang Wei was fast. The moment he turned around, Yang Wei's knife struck his back again. Qin Kun immediately fell to the ground in pain, his body convulsing.
A moment later, Yang Wei came to his senses, knelt on the ground, and respectfully said to Lou Dong, "Boss, I am willing to plead guilty for today's events. I promise not to step into the path of treasure appraisal again, but I hope the boss can leave me a sliver of room to make a living by selling antiques at a street stall."
"Are you bargaining with me?"
Lou Dong stared at him coldly and said, "You've followed me for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am?"
"Boss, I have a large amount of mortgage and car loans to pay. If I really leave the antique world, I will starve to death. I hope you will spare me, considering my hard work even if I haven't contributed much." Yang Wei kowtowed repeatedly on the ground.
"Hmph, dreaming in broad daylight!"
As Lou Dong's voice fell, he directly turned his head aside.
At this moment, Li Yang stepped forward to speak for him, "Boss Lou, your subordinate is quite pragmatic. Although he made a mistake today, he doesn't deserve to die. Why don't you grant his request and let him set up a street stall, but with one condition: he must not cheat people."
"If he dares to sell fake goods, then it won't be too late to punish him when I see him next time."
"This... alright, since Mr. Li himself is pleading for him, I'll give this good-for-nothing a chance."
Lou Dong nodded in agreement, then turned and glared at Yang Wei, "Useless trash, why don't you thank Mr. Li quickly."
"Thank you, Mr. Li, thank you."
After Yang Wei kowtowed to Li Yang several times on his knees, Lou Dong then sent him away on the spot.
At this time, Li Yang's gaze swept over Qin Kun on the ground, and he slowly walked over and said, "Qin Kun, do you know where you went wrong now?"
"I know, old classmate, I will never dare to be arrogant again. Please spare me."
Qin Kun trembled all over in fear and quickly pleaded with Li Yang.
He originally thought Li Yang was still the same frail young man as before, but he didn't expect him to be so familiar with the boss of the Tong Jian Tie Ma Ge now, which showed that he was not simple.
"Alright, considering you are somewhat sincere, I'll let you off today. Don't harass Zhou Yi again. If you dare to show any disrespect, I will make sure you can't survive in Jiangcheng." Li Yang patted his shoulder and commanded.
"I know, I will obey you."
Qin Kun nodded decisively, then got up and crawled out of the antique shop.
However, the moment he went downstairs, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he clenched his fist, saying indignantly, "Li Yang, you dog, just you wait. Don't think you can bully me just because you know Boss Lou."
"My uncle is not someone to be trifled with. I will definitely make this shop of yours go bankrupt."
After speaking, Qin Kun endured the pain and walked out.
"Mr. Li, I am truly sorry. I express my deepest apologies to you for what happened today."
After Lou Dong followed Li Yang into the office, he said to Li Yang very respectfully.
Li Yang smiled and said calmly, "Boss Lou, you don't need to be so polite. You have a large business, and it's common for your subordinates to act recklessly. I won't blame you."
"Boss Lou, you were so eager to find me to appraise a treasure today. What kind of item is it?"
"This item, Mr. Li, you will be amazed after seeing it."
Lou Dong returned to the main topic, and as he spoke, he took out a treasure from his person.
He took out a very exquisite hairpin. This hairpin was made of white mutton-fat jade.
But the most precious thing was not the jade itself, but the carving on it.
Although the jade hairpin looked small, less than the size of a palm, it was carved with hundreds of small figures and dozens of houses, looking lifelike and breathtaking.
Even Li Yang, upon receiving the hairpin and seeing the carving, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This is actually the 'Fu Shou Shan Ju Tu' (Picture of Longevity Mountain Residence)."
"This is the first time I've seen this painting, and ancient books say that the difficulty of painting this picture is harder than climbing to the sky. The skill required to carve this picture and then carve it onto a hairpin is likely possessed by only one person."
"Mr. Li, are you referring to the famous sculptor Chen Nan from the Three Kingdoms period?" Lou Dong asked eagerly.
"That's right, it is indeed him. He only created two paintings in his life: one is a picture of Guan Yu's life, and the other is the 'Fu Shou Shan Ju Tu'."
"This painting first appeared on a piece of fine paper, said to be a birthday gift for Lord Liu. However, no one has found the original work to this day, although many imitations have appeared."
"But I never expected to see a hairpin carved with the 'Fu Shou Shan Ju Tu' here today. It is truly a peerless masterpiece of this era."
Li Yang couldn't help but praise it.
Lou Dong's expression also became extremely joyful, and he continued to ask, "So, Mr. Li, do you mean this item is genuine? What is its value?"
Because Lou Dong usually dealt with metal objects, he was not skilled in appraising jade and similar items.
He didn't trust other appraisers, so he specifically came to Li Yang, hoping to get an accurate appraisal.
After carefully observing it again, Li Yang asked seriously, "Boss Lou, where did you get this hairpin? Such an unprecedented item would never appear on the market casually."
"To be honest, I collected this hairpin from my shop. An old man sold it to me, saying it was an ancestral item. Seeing that his asking price was not high, I bought it for thirty thousand." Lou Dong explained.
"So that's how it is. What I'm about to say next might surprise you, Boss Lou. You should brace yourself." Li Yang said seriously.