Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 941: Chapter 937: A Package of Yellow Paper

Of course, Huo Sining didn’t come to Sensoji Temple to admire the divine light, but to hunt for antiques.

There’s a street behind Sensoji Temple filled with small vendors, selling everything from souvenirs to antiques like Buddha statues and the Four Treasures of the Study.

Back in Huaxia, nearly every tourist spot has stores selling jade artifacts or silverware, but items in these stores are mostly junk, deceiving tourists with high prices for poor quality. Most tourists only realize they’ve been cheated once they take home their purchases.

Because of this, Huo Sining was skeptical about Nara Nigawa taking her to such a place to hunt for antiques, but she soon discovered she was wrong. The items sold behind Sensoji Temple were a mixed bag, but each vendor had a sign at their stall clearly indicating whether they were selling crafts or genuine antiques.

Initially, Huo Sining was worried that these so-called antiques were just made-up forgeries. To her surprise, as soon as she squatted down at the first stall, she stumbled upon something good.

This was a stall selling paintings with all kinds of scrolls, primarily landscapes, flowers and birds, figures, and calligraphy works.

Seeing Huo Sining squatting at the stall, Nara Nigawa hurried over to explain to her.

In fact, Huaxia’s paintings have a large presence in Dongyang’s collections, with Qing Dynasty works being especially favored by the Dongyang people.

Works from early Qing artists like Fu Shan, Wang Duo, Zhang Ruitu, as well as calligraphy and seal carving by Ding Jing, Huang Yi, Xu Sangeng, Wu Changshuo, and literati paintings from the Qing Dynasty are primary targets for Dongyang collectors. Modern artists like Zhang Daqian, Huang Binhong, and Qi Baishi also have many works collected in Dongyang.

Moreover, influenced by the aesthetic taste of Dongyang people, elegant and eternal literati paintings are the focus of collections, although more rough and bold works are not appreciated by Dongyang people.

Huo Sining understood roughly and continued to seriously examine the paintings before her. These works seemed skillfully done, and surprisingly among the abstract paintings from abroad, there was Yuan Yao’s ”Epang Palace Picture,” Gu Kaizhi’s ”Picture of the River Goddess,” Hong Ren’s ”Pine and Stone Picture,” and more, covering famous paintings from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Seeing these, Huo Sining couldn’t help but find it laughable.

The works of these artists, just a true piece could sell for astronomical prices at international auctions, how could they be sitting dust-covered in this small vendor’s stall? Seeing such imitations, Huo Sining only had to glance to feel unbearable, so she hurriedly looked away.

However, at this moment, her hand accidentally bumped into a package wrapped in oiled paper. At first, Huo Sining didn’t pay it any mind, but because of the bump, a corner of what was inside the package was revealed. A stack of bright yellow stiff paper suddenly appeared before her.

Huo Sining couldn’t help but be stunned, at first thinking she had seen wrong, she lowered her head to take a closer look, only to confirm she had not seen incorrectly.

Her heart was instantly shocked, and she subconsciously raised her head to glance at the vendor, who was busy attending to other customers and wasn’t looking at her direction. Only then did she feel relieved, reaching out to pick up the oiled paper package.

Although the yellow papers inside the package were stacked together, each sheet varied in thickness; some were single-layer, others several layers. The paper was dark yellow, but both sides were waxed smooth, giving the paper a firm and polished surface.

Huo Sining kept her wits about her, carefully extracting the stack of papers from the oiled paper package. Quickly, on the back of these sheets, she saw the red seal reading ”Jinsu Mountain Buddhist Scripture Paper.”

Seeing this extremely fine seal, Huo Sining’s heart raced, and she swiftly opened her Heavenly Eye to confirm again, reacting excitedly at the strong purple aura on the paper.

Privately suppressing the internal excitement, she put the papers back into the oiled paper package just as they were, subtly placing it back in its spot, and began examining other items at the stall.

Pretending to peruse the stall’s other wares for a while, Huo Sining waited until the vendor finally sent away those customers who were haggling before speaking up: ”Boss, how are things priced here?”

The vendor glanced at Huo Sining and then behind her at Nara Nigawa, asking, ”Which painting are you interested in?”

Feigning bashfulness, Huo Sining shook her head: ”I don’t understand these; why don’t you pick out two authentic pieces for me? I’m looking for Huaxia’s ancient paintings; I’m not keen on the style from Europe and America.”

The vendor’s eyes flashed, secretly amused. Authentic pieces, these are all imitations—if he had authentic ones, he wouldn’t be stuck here, he’d have made it big long ago.

However, upon hearing Huo Sining’s amateur comment, the vendor instantly assessed her as a novice and laughed, ”Alright, I’ll pick out a couple for you.”

Saying this, the vendor began selecting. Not choosing from the stall, he directly leaned down to pull out two scrolls from a wooden bucket beside his feet, opening them while introducing: ”These two paintings are Huaxia masterpieces. What do you think?”

Huo Sining’s thoughts were focused on the oiled paper package, having no interest in pondering the content of the two paintings.

Realizing that the vendor had bent down to pull out two paintings from beneath, Huo Sining inwardly understood these were likely unsellable stock he wanted to pass off to her.

Indeed, the vendor was holding onto a kind of hope; if Huo Sining disliked them and rejected the offer, he would merely put the paintings back without any losses. If he managed to sell them, he’d make a huge profit.

The vendor had not hoped for much, never imagining that just as he had barely unfurled the scrolls less than a third, the girl opposite him had already nodded consecutively in agreement: ”Okay, these two will do.”

The vendor was stunned, looking uncertainly at the girl for confirmation, ”Really, have you made up your mind?”

The vendor suspected perhaps Huo Sining was playing a trick on him, buying so rashly.

Little did he know, Huo Sining’s thoughts weren’t on these two paintings at all; her mind was solely set on buying the package in front of her. To avoid suspicion from the vendor, she had to first buy the paintings as a cover.

She’d already looked through the stall’s paintings, none of which were authentic. Since they were all imitations she’d throw away when she got home, it didn’t matter what she chose, so she didn’t waste time on picking. Whatever the vendor selected was fine with her; she didn’t want to choose anymore.