Ye Fan couldn't help but be stunned as he looked at the table in his hand, not expecting the work of this forgery factory to be so meticulous, even detailing the things to pay attention to when imitating.
No wonder the Heavenly King's Mansion valued it so highly.
He called over a worker and had that batch of items sent to the cleaning workshop. Under Ye Fan's personal supervision, after this batch of goods was cleaned, it was sent over.
During this time, Ye Fan went to find Fatty Chen and asked him to transfer that middle-aged man to him.
After all, Ye Fan's status was different now, so he had the right to make requests, especially after being recognized by Manager Hu, his words carried more weight.
Even though Fatty Chen was a little displeased, he couldn't do anything about it.
However, while agreeing to Ye Fan, Fatty Chen still asked coldly, "You said before that you have a way to improve the quality of these imitated items? What is that method?"
This was what he truly cared about, as once the quality of the items here improved, the benefits he would receive would be countless.
The Heavenly King's Mansion had several such factories in Jiangnan, and as the overseer, they had annual evaluations, which were directly linked to their interests.
For the past few years, Fatty Chen had been at the bottom in the evaluations, all because the quality of the imitated items here was too poor.
Therefore, Manager Hu had been dissatisfied with him for the past few years, and if this continued, he might lose his position as overseer.
Hearing Fatty Chen's inquiry, Ye Fan smiled slightly, "I still need to discuss this matter with Old Wang and Old Li. After we come up with an excellent solution, I will tell you. After all, this is a matter of great importance."
Ye Fan did not tell him directly but played a trick.
This made Fatty Chen grit his teeth in anger.
But he had no way to deal with Ye Fan, so he could only snort coldly and turn to leave.
Watching Fatty Chen leave in anger, the smile on Ye Fan's face gradually disappeared, replaced by a cold killing intent.
This Fatty Chen, by abetting evil, truly deserved to die.
The middle-aged man soon arrived at Ye Fan's place. His name was Liu Huadong, and everyone called him Dongzi. He was originally from Jiangnan, and his ancestors had been involved in the antique business. Later, his family declined, and by the time it reached him, he had nothing but his family's inherited skills. To make matters worse, his child was seriously ill, and he was forced to borrow a huge sum of money. Unable to repay it, he was sent here.
Transferred here by Ye Fan, Dongzi was full of excitement and kept thanking Ye Fan.
However, Ye Fan raised his hand to stop Dongzi.
"Brother Dong, I know you are a kind person, and kind people will always be rewarded in the end. So, you don't need to thank me. If you really want to thank someone, it's me who should thank you. If you hadn't taken care of me those few days, I would have probably lost my life." During those days, it was Dongzi who endured Fatty Chen's beatings and kicks, buying Ye Fan time to recover from his injuries.
Therefore, Ye Fan was very grateful to Dongzi.
Dongzi, however, shook his head.
"In this day and age, good people don't live long and remain poor and down all their lives. On the other hand, those great villains and scoundrels live freely and happily. Brother, let me tell you the truth, I just couldn't bear it, otherwise, I would rather be a bad person."
Dongzi sighed incessantly. Ye Fan could see the bitterness on his face when he said these words.
If it weren't for the hardships of life, who would be willing to go against their conscience?
Damn life!
With Dongzi as his helper, Ye Fan became much more relaxed. He asked Dongzi to arrange these items neatly on the appraisal table.
Then, Ye Fan began to appraise them one by one.
He didn't know where they acquired this batch of goods from, but overall, the quality was quite good.
Three of the porcelain pieces were of upper-middle quality. Although they couldn't be called treasures, if placed on the market, their value would be around five to six hundred thousand.
The remaining porcelain pieces were much worse, with fakes and modern pieces. Some were even severely damaged and could not be repaired at all, so Ye Fan set them aside.
In the antique trade, worthless antiques are no different from garbage; there's no regret in discarding them.
However, at this moment, Dongzi spoke in a low voice, "Brother Ye, although those few items are damaged, it's clear at a glance that they are from the Two Song Dynasties. If they can be pieced together, they would definitely be considered a treasure."
Hearing Dongzi's words, Ye Fan was slightly taken aback, and then an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
"Brother Dong, you can tell the era of those items?"
He wasn't shocked by Dongzi's suggestion, but rather that Dongzi could recognize the origin of those porcelain pieces.
One must know that antique appraisal is not like other things; one cannot be called an appraiser just by looking a few more times or listening to more related knowledge.
To be called an appraiser, one must undergo extensive practice. This is why many people, seeing how young he was, thought his appraisal skills were not good.
If it weren't for his two lives and the help of his divine eyes, at his age, being a third-class appraiser would already be considered talented.
Dongzi smiled honestly, "My family used to be in this line of business, so I learned by osmosis. For items with obvious characteristics and distinctive styles, I can recognize some of them."
Looking at Dongzi's honest appearance, Ye Fan smiled. As expected, one cannot judge a person by their appearance. Who would have thought that someone as honest as Dongzi would also understand appraisal?
"Brother Dong, since that's the case, please put those damaged porcelain pieces into a bag first."
Glancing around, Ye Fan suddenly lowered his voice.
"Although we work here, we are forced to. There's no need to make them a lot of money. Take these items away. If they don't want them, you keep them. When we get out later, we can piece them together again, and then the money we earn will belong to us."
Ye Fan's voice was very low, and there was no one around, so their conversation could not be heard by a third person.
At this moment, hearing Ye Fan's words, Dongzi's eyes suddenly lit up.
Ye Fan's meaning was very clear: they were going to get out.
He nodded heavily, "I'll listen to you."
Saying that, he took a bag and put the valuable damaged porcelain pieces into it.
By the afternoon, all these items had been appraised.
In fact, with Ye Fan's eyesight, he could have appraised all these items in half an hour.
But he couldn't be too high-profile here. If he was astonishing, it would easily attract the attention of those with intentions.
Therefore, Ye Fan acted according to the rules.
He placed the recorded table on Old Li's desk.
Old Li looked at his watch, "Five hours, thirty-two items. The speed is a little slow. Let me see the appraisal results."
He opened the table and compared it with the items in front of him, looking through them one by one.
Out of thirty-two items, not a single one was appraised incorrectly. Moreover, the characteristics, imitation difficulties, and improvement methods of each item were clearly marked on the table.