Chapter 370: Arrogant

"No, no, we're just looking; we don't have money." The Astrologer waved her hands repeatedly and looked at Yun Shuying with some resentment: "Besides, our boss doesn't let us buy this junk back."

Upon hearing this, the corners of Xu Tian's mouth twitched. He thought to himself: Even if it's impossible for all the antiques displayed in this lobby to be genuine, in an antique shop of this scale, even the fakes are high-quality imitations. Now, they were all being dismissed as junk by Yun Shuying.

He suddenly recalled the first time he met Yun Shuying; she had casually spread a piece of coarse cloth on the ground to set up a stall for business. Although the things she sold looked unremarkable and weren't priced high in the antique circle, he hadn't expected that there were actually priceless treasures among them.

This made Xu Tian even more curious about the identities of Yun Shuying and the others. Clearly, these people looked like they were very short of money, yet they had broad horizons and were completely uninterested in those priceless antiques.

Most importantly, Xu Tian saw that their attitude toward the antiques in the shop wasn't because they couldn't afford them and were disparaging them, but because they genuinely looked down on the antiques displayed in the shop.

This sense of disconnect made Xu Tian put a big question mark over the identities of these few people once again.

However, now was not the time to dwell on these things.

Less than five minutes after the young clerk went upstairs, a middle-aged man in a suit with a potbelly walked down. Judging by his airs, he should be Chen Sanping, the owner of this Linglong Zhai.

After Chen Sanping came downstairs, he immediately walked up to Jiang Yan and the Tang expert team with a smile.

"Manager Jiang, esteemed experts, long time no see. I've been busy with the auction and couldn't get away; I hope you all will forgive me for not welcoming you sooner."

Jiang Yan also greeted Chen Sanping with a smile and said politely: "We are all old acquaintances; Boss Chen doesn't need to worry about those formalities."

The other members of the Tang expert team also stood up one after another to greet Chen Sanping.

Everyone sat down again. Afterward, Chen Sanping looked around, his gaze finally landing on Xu Tian. A flash of confusion crossed his eyes before he turned to look at Jiang Yan and asked: "Why don't I see Gu Xiansheng?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan pointed to Xu Tian beside him and said: "Gu Xiansheng didn't come this time. The one who came with us is Mr. Xu Tian, Mr. Xu. Boss Chen, don't look at Mr. Xu as young; he is currently affiliated with the Tang Group's General Manager's Office and is a favorite of Tang Zong."

Then, Jiang Yan introduced Chen Sanping to Xu Tian: "Mr. Xu, this is the vice chairman of the Y Country Antique Association and the owner of the largest antique shop in Pawa, Chen Sanping."

"Boss Chen, hello." Xu Tian didn't stand up; he just nodded at Chen Sanping, which counted as a greeting.

Upon hearing this, Chen Sanping looked Xu Tian up and down carefully again. Afterward, his face sank, and his tone became somewhat stiff: "Manager Jiang, I have always dealt with Gu Xiansheng before. Why did you suddenly change to someone else this time?"

"The set of Song dynasty blue-and-white porcelain in my hands has many buyers who want to trade with me privately. The reason I still kept it for your Tang Group is entirely out of respect for Gu Xiansheng."

"Mr. Li, who often patronizes our shop, came to beg me several times, and I didn't agree to give that set of porcelain to him. Now you just send a wet-behind-the-ears kid to fob me off. Is this not taking me, Chen Sanping, seriously?"

Hearing Chen Sanping's words, the expressions of Bai Lu and Su Jinchen beside Xu Tian both sank.

Xu Tian was the Tang family's son-in-law and the husband of Tang Zong Bingyan. If coming to negotiate business with Chen Sanping with such an identity was considered fobbing him off, then did Tang Zong Bingyan herself have to be present to be considered giving him face?

Bai Lu was straightforward and immediately said to Chen Sanping in a cold voice: "Boss Chen, this Mr. Xu Tian is the future Tang family son-in-law and also the most important person by Tang Zong's side. If you feel we are fobbing you off now, does it mean we must have Tang Zong personally come forward before you are willing to trade?"

Although Xu Tian and Tang Bingyan had already registered their marriage, it hadn't been made public, so Bai Lu only said that Xu Tian was the future Tang family son-in-law.

However, this word "future" carried a lot of water in Chen Sanping's eyes.

What's more, he had already discussed the transaction details with Gu Beicheng and supported Gu Beicheng more. Now that a pretty boy had suddenly parachuted in, it really made him quite annoyed.

Facing Bai Lu's questioning, Chen Sanping not only didn't compromise but instead said with an arrogant face: "I naturally wouldn't dare to trouble Tang Zong to come forward personally, but at least it should be a high-level executive with prestige in the group coming to talk to me."

"Moreover, regarding this set of vases, Gu Xiansheng had always been the one to negotiate with me before, and I only relented to keep this set of vases for you out of respect for Gu Xiansheng. Now that you've changed people temporarily before the transaction, I don't agree."

They hadn't officially registered their marriage, so he couldn't be considered a Tang family son-in-law at all. Furthermore, he had long heard the rumors coming from the Tang family side.

This pretty boy Xu Tian was just relying on his youth, his good looks, and his sweet talk to fool Tang Bingyan, even breaking the rules to insert him into the group's General Manager's Office.

How could a wimp who relied on eating soft rice to get ahead have any real ability? He couldn't even compare to the connections and resources that Gu Beicheng and the Gu family could bring him. Therefore, from the very beginning, Chen Sanping had firmly stood on Gu Beicheng's side.

Everyone knew that Gu Beicheng and Tang Bingyan were childhood sweethearts, and the Gu family was also a big family with status in Huaxia. Compared to such a big backer, if Chen Sanping chose this pretty boy Xu Tian who had no background and no strength, then his brain must be unclear.

What's more, in the antique circle of Pawa, he, Chen Sanping, had absolute say. Besides being the vice chairman of the Antique Association, anyone who wanted to mix in this line of work had to look at his face. Even the Tang family, which was famous in Huaxia, had to show him some respect when they arrived on his turf.

As long as it was an antique handled by him here in Pawa, if he didn't nod in agreement to a private transaction, it could only go through the formal auction process.

He knew very well the relationship between the Tang family and the high-level cultural departments in Huaxia, and naturally knew that the Tang family's purpose in coming to Pawa to attend the private auction this time was to retrieve treasures that had once been lost all over the world for the high-level officials.

It could be said that if they didn't have his nod, and the Tang family failed to complete their task this time, they wouldn't be able to answer to the high-level officials in Huaxia. That was why Chen Sanping dared to be so arrogant and put on airs in front of Xu Tian, assuming he wouldn't dare to do anything to him.

Seeing Chen Sanping's attitude was so tough, Jiang Yan looked at Xu Tian with some resentment. If it weren't for Xu Tian's insistence on stealing Gu Beicheng's credit, they wouldn't be getting a hard time now.

And the several experts representing the Tang Group were even more anxious, running around and trying to persuade Chen Sanping with kind words to trade privately as they had agreed beforehand. ===== CHAPTER 371 =====