Reborn As Super Heiress

Huo Sining was busy feeling the items, while the Heavenly Eye was scanning the entire stall. Unfortunately, after half a day, she still hadn’t found anything with Spiritual Energy.

Huo Sining felt a bit disappointed, and her legs were getting numb from squatting. Just as she was about to stand up for a break, unexpectedly, a strange brownish jar suddenly rolled out from the pile of things Yang Xiaohan was rummaging through. It brushed past Huo Sining’s right wrist and stopped at her foot.

Huo Sining was slightly taken aback. As the strange jar touched her right wrist, she noticed the jar was covered in purple energy. She quickly picked up the strange jar. Sure enough, the jar was something good. Although the purple energy wasn’t very abundant, it could be judged that it was definitely an old object.

This brought a hint of unexpected joy to Huo Sining’s eyes. Even though she hadn’t expected to find any antiques on the street, since something had literally landed at her feet, she wasn’t going to throw it back. Free stuff is free for a reason.

The strange jar wasn’t large, and she could wrap her entire hand around it. The opening of the jar was no bigger than a one-yuan coin, and the depth was only four to five centimeters, making it look small and adorably quaint.

The jar was entirely brownish, with a pair of ears on the left side. On the brown surface of the jar, there was a large peony painted in golden color, looking extremely opulent.

Next to the peony, there were leaves painted in varying shades. In the blank spaces, a sentence was outlined with a black brush: ”Only the peony is truly the national beauty; it stirs the capital when it blooms.”

The whole jar looked vivid, not at all monotonous or stiff.

Huo Sining found it a little strange. She searched her mind but still couldn’t figure out what the jar was used for.

She turned the jar over and looked closely but found no markings at the bottom. The base was gray and very thin.

The sound of the jar when tapped was very fine and crisp, suggesting it was porcelain. From the concentration of purple energy detected by Huo Sining’s Heavenly Eye, it could be inferred that the jar wasn’t very ancient, likely less than three hundred years old, probably a mid-Qing Dynasty object.

”Boss, how much is this item?”

Huo Sining played around with the jar for a long time but couldn’t guess its use. Since it was authentic, she decided to buy it first and figure it out later.

Seeing Huo Sining asking for the price, Yang Xiaohan turned around and saw the jar in Huo Sining’s hand, feeling a bit strange: ”Huh, what’s that in your hand?”

Huo Sining was also puzzled, not knowing the origin of the item, so she just shrugged and said, ”I don’t know, just a porcelain jar. I guess it might be for warming wine. I think the peony painted on it is pretty good.”

These words made the stall owner’s mouth twitch slightly. He had noticed Huo Sining pick up the bird food jar early on.

That jar was something he had picked out from a junk pile at the Flower and Bird Market, and it had been on his stall for months without anyone buying it. Apparently, nobody recognized what it was used for.

Now seeing Huo Sining pick it up, he initially thought she was versed in antiques, but to his surprise, she said it was a wine-warmer, which left him speechless.

”That jar is five thousand yuan, non-negotiable.”

The old stall owner could tell from Huo Sining’s accent that she wasn’t a local from Xi’an. If he didn’t take the opportunity to overcharge a tourist now, when else could he?

Huo Sining showed no particular surprise at the price. Even though she didn’t know the jar’s purpose, being something from the Qing Dynasty, five thousand yuan wasn’t too expensive.

However, upon hearing that this broken thing was priced at five thousand, Yang Xiaohan immediately became agitated and burst into a flurry of Xi’an dialect:

”Five thousand, are you kidding? Just this junk, at anyone else’s stall, it would be thrown in as a freebie, and here you are asking five thousand, do you really think we’re suckers? Bully my friend because she’s not from around here, right? I’m telling you, I frequent this area every day, I know the market. This thing cost you how much, I won’t expose it, but we offer five hundred, take it or leave it.”

Huo Sining couldn’t help but want to laugh, seeing Yang Xiaohan’s fierce tigress stance, hands on hips, and the stall owner’s face full of suppressed frustration and helplessness.

”Miss, even if you’re bargaining, don’t knock off so much at once. You want me to sell a five-thousand-yuan item for five hundred? I won’t even get my cost back!”

The owner put on a bitter face, extending three fingers, ”Three thousand yuan, how about that?”

Yang Xiaohan didn’t even blink, pulling Huo Sining to turn and leave through the crowd.

The owner panicked, shouting, ”One thousand, one thousand, really can’t go any lower, Miss, at least let me make some soup from this.”

Yang Xiaohan’s lips curled slightly, but she turned back with a stern face: ”It’s one thing to cheat someone who’s not local and doesn’t know the rules, but my friend came with me. How could you try to scam her? I visit here often, do you think I’m unaware? I’m even taking a loss at a thousand, but since my friend likes it, I won’t haggle any further.”

As Huo Sining dug a thousand yuan out of her bag, she thought to herself how sharp Yang Xiaohan was despite her youthful appearance. She managed to cut four-fifths off the original price, impressive indeed.

The owner accepted the money from Huo Sining, got a matching little cardboard box, packed the jar, and handed it over to Huo Sining, then said:

”Miss, this jar isn’t a wine-warmer. If I’m not wrong, it’s supposed to be a bird food jar.”

The owner’s comment jolted Huo Sining’s memory. With his reminder, she realized it was indeed a bird food jar. Moreover, being from the mid-Qing Dynasty, Huo Sining became more certain of its background. The Qing Dynasty was a Manchu dynasty, and the greatest hobby of those bannermen was hanging out with birds, wasn’t it?

”Thank you for the reminder, boss. If you hadn’t told us, we really wouldn’t have guessed it’s a bird food jar. It would’ve been a joke.” Huo Sining thanked the stall owner sincerely.

The place was crowded, and the three of them moved slowly through the stalls. As they reached a small alley, someone suddenly grabbed Huo Sining’s clothing from the darkness.

Feeling cautious, Huo Sining quickly turned around and saw an old granny of about sixty holding onto her sleeve with a pair of withered hands and looking at her with a smiling face.

Seeing Huo Sining turn around, the old granny’s face crinkled with a kindly smile: ”Girl, do you collect Ancient Jade?”

Collecting Ancient Jade? Huo Sining felt a bit bewildered and instinctively glanced at Yang Xiaohan, as if to ask what the old granny meant.