Chapter 152: Tsar's Antique Porcelain Egg
"Haha, there have indeed been some bad rumors about Southeast Asia lately." Huang Yuqiu reacted quickly.
He hadn't mentioned anything yet, but Chen Yiyang refused so straightforwardly, which could only mean he was influenced by recent news and didn't dare to go to Southeast Asia.
And the security situation across Southeast Asia, except for Singapore, is more or less the same.
So Huang Yuqiu continued,
"How about we meet in Singapore? You can fly directly to Singapore, and I'll introduce a friend to you."
"What friend?" Chen Yiyang asked.
"The CEO of Le Shi, Yue Ting," Huang Yuqiu said.
Mentioning Yue Ting, he was truly well-known, especially for his notorious claim that he would return to the country next week.
This person had a significant reputation in the entertainment circle, and his video platform was initially as famous as the three major platforms Aiyouteng.
He later ventured into making mobile phones and cars.
He attracted hundreds of billions in investments, but ended up going overseas and saying he'd return next week.
He hasn't come back yet.
Chen Yiyang felt a bit puzzled. Why was this person looking for him?
However, since Huang Yuqiu vouched for him and the meeting place was relatively safe, plus in Chinese-dense Singapore,
Chen Yiyang decided to go.
He decided he wouldn't leave the city center of Singapore, complete the business talk, and then fly back immediately.
So he arranged to meet the following day.
Because of this, Chen Yiyang decided not to go around these two days, stay peacefully in Beijing City for a day, and then fly to Singapore the day after.
Coincidentally, Xu Xiaosheng was still in Beijing City, so Chen Yiyang simply spent a few days with her.
The next morning, Chen Yiyang woke up from the bed in Xu Xiaosheng's dormitory.
Looking at the lovely figure beside him, tired from the late-night antics.
Chen Yiyang wrapped his arms around her from under her neck and started using his phone.
Today's information: Dusty Tsar treasures: Inside a ceramics shop on Nanping Road, Sunset District, Beijing City, a Tsar's antique porcelain egg from Elizabeth's era in Russia is for sale. Buying it for under ten thousand yuan would be a great bargain.
Relevant photos and location are attached on the second page.
A Tsar's antique porcelain egg?
Chen Yiyang thought to himself, how come he was in the Imperial Capital, and he didn't get a priceless treasure from his ancestors?
Instead, something belonging to a Tsar appeared.
The name Peter the Great was quite famous; Chen Yiyang knew he was the emperor who initiated reforms in Russia.
He also knew about the eggs.
The most famous ones were the Tsar Eggs.
The Tsar Egg was an artistic treasure from the period of Tsarist Russia, commonly recognized to originate from 1885, created by Tsar Alexander III for his queen.
Every year after that, a Tsar Egg was created until the revolution in 1917 when the Tsar family was executed, ceasing the practice.
Every Tsar Egg was considered extremely valuable, fetching billions at auctions abroad.
However, Tsar Eggs were typically crafted from gold or various jewels; it was the first time Chen Yiyang heard of one made from porcelain.
So he searched for some information online.
That was when he discovered that Peter the Great I—a famous Tsar and the husband of Empress Catherine—was a porcelain enthusiast.
Influenced by him, his third daughter Elizabeth also loved porcelain immensely.
This third daughter was formidable, having lived through the reigns of Catherine, Peter II, and Anna I before decisively launching a coup to seize the throne.
During Elizabeth's rule, the quality of porcelain in Tsarist Russia was already quite notable.
Modern Russian historians believe this was thanks to a Lieutenant named Aleksey from Catherine's time, who brought back many porcelain secrets from Huaxia.
Afterward, the Russian royal porcelain factory continued making various porcelain items for the Tsar family and has been operational to this day.
Having understood the context,
Chen Yiyang also discovered that there were very few news articles about Tsar's antique porcelain eggs on the internet.
He estimated that these treasures were extremely rare, plus the difficulty of crafting porcelain into egg shapes made them scarce.
This antique porcelain egg was a rare treasure even during the Tsar's era.
As for why such a treasure ended up in the domestic Imperial Capital,
It was probably brought over by exiled Tsar nobles after the Tsarist regime fell.
This is truly a valuable item.
Chen Yiyang immediately thought of Gena.
He had a channel to sell such treasures.
Currently, Russia also had a fervent pursuit of Tsar-era treasures, and this antique porcelain egg from Elizabeth III would surely fetch a good price there.
Chen Yiyang gave Xu Xiaosheng a few pinches and saw she continued sleeping soundly.
So he got up, dressed, and left.
He arrived at the ceramics shop mentioned in the information.
Chen Yiyang found that the shop mainly sold creative ceramics rather than antique ones.
In other words, most of the ceramics here were made in the modern period.
There were a few from the Republic period, which were already considered quite old.
And the Tsar's antique porcelain egg mentioned in the bargain information was displayed among the row of contemporary creative ceramics.
So Chen Yiyang promptly called over a shop assistant to ask for the price.
"It's currently on a 30% discount, so it comes down to four thousand yuan," the shop assistant said.
"Can it be any cheaper?" Chen Yiyang asked, pretending to be in a difficult position.
"No, we have fixed prices here."
Fixed price my foot, Chen Yiyang thought, he'd just seen someone negotiate a two-thousand-yuan ceramic piece down to eight hundred.
So Chen Yiyang said, "My girlfriend would really like this piece, but I don't have that much money. If it's below a thousand, I could consider it."
"Lowest is two thousand eight," the assistant replied.
Chen Yiyang knew that further negotiation could probably bring the price down even more.
However, he had offered a price mainly to avoid being suspected by the shop as a big spender.
Seeing the other party compromise, he agreed, albeit reluctantly.
Then he scanned the code and made the payment.
The item was now his.
The antique porcelain egg, made during Tsarist Russia, would have more embellishments than the photo as part of royal usage, being more exquisite.
Since antique porcelain eggs are fragile, after purchasing, Chen Yiyang carefully took some photos, then packed it in a box and deposited it at a well-reviewed bank in Beijing City that offered safety deposit box services.
He sent the photos to Natasha, asking her to forward them to Gena, saying he bought something that seemed to be an antique from the time of Tsar Elizabeth III, and asked Gena to have it looked at by antique experts in Russia.