Chapter 242: Cloisonné Qilin
Xu Youyou had no trouble at all finding a buyer for the flower-rimmed plate.
Of course, the price was quite high.
Shortly after she acquired the plate, the system updated her task rewards, which were as generous as always.
However, she found herself puzzled and asked the system, “This flower-rimmed plate is extremely valuable, so why didn’t a bargain-hunting task pop up?”
The system responded promptly: [Because this task is not that difficult.]
Xu Youyou was taken aback. She thought back to her process of buying the item, and even the bargaining had been done by Xu Fang. It really wasn’t that hard.
On the other hand, the system’s task had gone on for three days, and the person watching outside the shop still hadn’t brought any good news.
Xu Youyou began to feel anxious, worried that if things continued like this, the task would run out of time.
She even had the impulse to handle things the same way as she did back in China.
“Miss Xu, the landlord of this house is the shopkeeper. We’ve been unable to reach him, and it’s very difficult to convey your thoughts to him.”
Hearing this response, Xu Youyou felt helpless. She had tried to inquire about the shopkeeper before, but according to people familiar with the neighboring shops, the shopkeeper’s personality was such that whenever he had money, he would go off and live freely, and when he was broke, he’d return to run the shop.
“When his money runs out, he’ll come back to open the shop, no matter if it’s a few hundred thousand euros,” one acquaintance had said about the shopkeeper.
Xu Youyou felt that the shopkeeper had an extremely advanced sense of money, and couldn’t help but secretly hope that he would quickly spend all his money and come back to open the shop again.
Perhaps Xu Youyou’s wish was granted, because on the fifth day of the stakeout, she finally received news that the shopkeeper had returned.
Xu Youyou immediately had the driver take her to the second-hand market, rushing there as quickly as possible.
However, when she arrived, she saw the shopkeeper was closing up and putting up a “No Return Date” sign on the door.
“Wait! Wait!” Even the French translator shouted.
But the shopkeeper, with his curly hair like instant noodles, acted as though he didn’t hear anything and continued closing the door without any care.
Xu Youyou didn’t expect this situation and couldn’t help but ask the person who was monitoring the shop.
The person gave a bitter look and said, “Miss Xu, he only returned about an hour ago. Someone came to buy something, paid a few hundred euros, and then he started closing the shop.”
Xu Youyou: …
“Is a few hundred euros really that valuable?” Xu Youyou frowned.
Even though in RMB, it was worth a few thousand yuan, and while that could last some time in a first-tier city in China, she still felt bitter about it.
“Miss Xu, don’t worry. I estimate that the shopkeeper will be back to run the shop in about three days after spending those few hundred euros,” the French translator reassured her.
Xu Youyou didn’t even dare to return to the apartment in the city center and had them arrange another place to stay near the second-hand market.
Just as the French translator had said, after another three days of waiting, the shop finally opened again.
Xu Youyou arrived within ten minutes.
The shopkeeper, looking lazy and wearing sunglasses, was lying on a deck chair outside the shop, with a glass of orange juice next to him. If you didn’t know better, you might think he was on vacation, not running a shop.
When the shopkeeper saw Xu Youyou enter the shop, he didn’t even get up but remained lying there, basking in the sun.
Following the system’s instructions, Xu Youyou found a drum in the shop.
This drum looked ancient, but Xu Youyou still felt something was off.
No matter how much modern products tried to imitate antiquity, the traces of modern manufacturing were still visible.
This drum was no exception.
She picked it up and took it to the shopkeeper.
“This drum sounds very dull. It’s not a good drum,” the shopkeeper said in French.
Xu Youyou paused. She hadn’t expected the shopkeeper to be so honest, but she still said, “I like it. I want to buy it. Please name your price.”
“Five hundred euros,” the shopkeeper said.
Xu Youyou didn’t haggle but asked casually, “Where did this come from? Did you buy it from someone else?”
The shopkeeper, seeing that she was paying without hesitation and that she was beautiful, was willing to chat. “It was inherited from a relative of mine. That relative liked antiques from your country, China. I’m not sure where he got this thing from, but it’s a pity, this drum probably isn’t worth much.”
Xu Youyou didn’t linger at the second-hand market and returned to her accommodation. She couldn’t figure out why this drum could be worth anything. It had no obvious markings or signatures, and as a musical instrument, it had no high artistic value.
She couldn’t help but ask the system, “Can I open it up?”
The system remained silent.
Xu Youyou immediately understood that it was a tacit approval. Without hesitation, she grabbed some tools and started to pry open the drum.
Xu Youyou didn’t know how traditional drums were made, but the interior of this one was clearly strange. She discovered something wrapped up tightly inside.
She had a hunch that the truly valuable item might be inside.
Carefully, she took the object out and unwrapped it. What was revealed was a magnificent cloisonné Qilin figurine.
The Qilin was a deep blue color and looked exquisitely crafted.
Xu Youyou took her phone and searched using several keywords. She quickly got a definitive result.
It was a Cloisonné Qilin.
This treasure had originally been stored in the Old Summer Palace, but during the large-scale upheaval in China over a hundred years ago, it was taken by the French. It had been kept at the Château de Fontainebleau until it was stolen in 2015, and its whereabouts had been unknown ever since.
Xu Youyou thought about the shopkeeper who had sold her this item. He inherited the drum from a deceased relative. The relative was reportedly a retired soldier with no wife or children, and he hadn’t been in contact with other relatives for years.
The shopkeeper didn’t even know about this relative until the lawyer contacted him to read the inheritance, so he didn’t know where this drum had come from.
Xu Youyou was curious if the retired soldier’s relative knew the cloisonné Qilin was hidden in the drum, or if he had been the mastermind behind the theft all those years ago.
Unfortunately, with time passing, no one could extract the truth from the dead.
“It looks like you’ve made quite a harvest in France. Based on the photos Xu Youyou sent, experts in China have preliminarily identified this as the missing Cloisonné Qilin from Fontainebleau,” Lu Jingyao said after consulting with a group of domestic experts.
