Chapter 12: Auction House Invitation
Hearing what the yellow-haired boy said, Xu Youyou felt a sense of relief.
She didn’t know how he got hold of the doucai cup, but no matter how she looked at it, the source didn’t seem entirely legitimate.
“Ding, WeChat payment received: 40 yuan!”
With that sound, the yellow-haired boy confirmed the transaction, slumped his shoulders, and left in disappointment, muttering under his breath, “What bad luck… I need to be more careful next time…”
Xu Youyou casually placed both doucai cups into her bag, put on a bored expression, and stood up to leave.
Seeing his big customer leaving, the squinty-eyed man grew anxious. “Miss, take a look at my other treasures—I’ve got a lot of good stuff here!”
Xu Youyou shook her head and said, “I can’t carry any more. I’ll come back next time.”
She walked away in a slightly hurried manner.
The squinty-eyed man watched her back with suspicion. “Why is she leaving in such a rush? Anyone would think she stumbled upon a real treasure.”
The shop owner at the next stall chimed in, “Maybe she really did find something valuable and is afraid you’ll realize it.”
The two of them burst into laughter. After all, despite selling antiques on this street, they shared an unspoken understanding—there were no real antiques here.
Everything they sold was modern replicas, barely worth anything. Tricking a fool was just a lucky break.
Back in the car, Xu Youyou immediately urged Xu Fang to drive off.
Although Xu Fang found her boss’s anxious behavior a bit odd, she kept her thoughts to herself to avoid upsetting her.
Once the car returned to the main road, Xu Youyou glanced behind to make sure no one was following. Only then did she relax.
“Boss, are we heading back to Tomson Riviera?” Xu Fang asked.
Xu Youyou was about to agree when her phone buzzed with a message from Ouyang. He informed her that the production team was fully assembled and ready to start shooting as early as tomorrow.
Thinking that no good photographer would be unfamiliar with their own equipment, Xu Youyou said to Xu Fang, “After we get back to Tomson Riviera, take some things to University Town, and then you can get off work.”
Xu Fang’s eyes lit up. Working for Xu Youyou was unbelievably easy. Back when she was a private driver, she had to work all day non-stop just to make a living.
Although Xu Youyou was a bit eccentric, she wasn’t difficult to please. Some days, Xu Fang barely had to work, and even when she did, the hours were reasonable. It was a far easier job than anything she’d had before.
“Thank you, boss,” Xu Fang replied gratefully.
When they arrived back at Tomson Riviera, Xu Youyou finally took out the camera equipment she had earned from the system.
The equipment was packed in several large cardboard boxes, and Xu Fang had to make multiple trips to load them into the car.
Once Xu Youyou was alone in her apartment, she pulled out the two doucai cups from her bag.
At first glance, the two cups looked identical, but on closer inspection, there were subtle differences.
The cup from the yellow-haired boy had a smooth, glossy surface. The painted designs of peonies, rocks, and hens with their chicks were elegant and lively, with the chicks appearing particularly energetic.
In contrast, the cup from the squinty-eyed man seemed clumsy and rigid in its craftsmanship.
Xu Youyou opened her laptop and began researching “doucai cup.”
It didn’t take long for her to find the famous doucai cup that had fetched 280 million yuan at an auction in 2015.
As she stared at the photo—an exact match to the cup in her hand—her breathing quickened with excitement.
[Congratulations, Host! You have completed the hidden treasure task and earned a reward: An auction house invitation.]
Xu Youyou blinked in confusion as a giant question mark seemed to float above her head.
She had just completed the task—shouldn’t the reward be cold, hard cash? Why was the system inviting her to spend money instead?
