Chapter 43 (1/2)

The store’s second floor was much smaller as compared to the first, but it stored Fine Grade equipment, and the rest were at least of High Grade. On top of that, Ou Yangming also came across over ten pieces of Attribute Equipment. Of course, they were only of Good Grade, but even then, their value was way above a White Slate Equipment of High Grade.

Ou Yangming appraised more than a hundred pieces of equipment on the second floor, and he really found about ten that did not match Shopkeeper Lin’s description.

Needless to say, the differences were not big, by which the gaps were only one or at most two ranks, so none of them had a difference of three ranks apart. Even so, Shopkeeper Lin had a ghastly expression on his face.

‘A tenth, it turns out that the real attributes of a tenth of the equipment in the store are wrong.’

‘Luckily, this isn’t spread to the public yet, or the store will be doomed,’ he thought to himself.

On the contrary, Zheng Ziwen was not affected upon seeing the situation as if he was already used to it.

Once all the pieces of equipment were appraised, Shopkeeper Lin thanked Ou Yangming sincerely. “Master Ou, thank you for your effort.”

Ou Yangming chuckled. “Shopkeeper Lin, I’ve fulfilled my promise, so…”

“Master Ou, take anything you like, it’s a reward for you from the store,” Shopkeeper Lin quickly mentioned.

“Thank you.” Ou Yangming was elated, but he added, “If I don’t want a piece of equipment, can I pick something from the gems or jewelry?”

After looking around the second floor earlier, he noticed that the store sold pills and jewelry other than equipment.

He could not differentiate the pills, but the jewelry attracted his attention.

Shopkeeper Lin laughed. “I told you, you can pick anything from the second floor.”

With that, Ou Yangming began looking at the jewelry. Plenty of gem jewelry was displayed, such as earrings, headwear, necklaces, thumb rings, rings, bracelets, anklets, and so on.

Ou Yangming pointed at a necklace after glancing around. “Show me this.”

The necklace was smithed delicately, and he liked it very much.

Shopkeeper Lin giggled. “Master Ou, you have good eyesight. If you give this to your girlfriend, she’ll definitely be pleased.”

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old person was at the age of having increasing hormone levels, thus it was not strange for him to find friends of the opposite s.e.x at all.

Ou Yangming blushed as he knew that he picked a women’s necklace. He wanted to pick something else but felt guilty since the others were watching, so he gritted his teeth and decided on the necklace. “I made my decision, I’ll take this!”

When Shopkeeper Lin and Zheng Ziwen sent him off at the door, Shopkeeper Lin told him softly, “Master Ou, about today, it’s best…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a talkative person,” Ou Yangming quickly replied as he was considerate.

Shopkeeper Lin smiled brightly. ‘This young fella’s a sensible person.’

On the other hand, Zheng Ziwen approached him to ask, “Master Ou, if you still have time today, can you make another visit?”

Ou Yangming was surprised. “What’s the matter?”

“We’re going to escort a batch of products to the prefecture lately, but there are some pieces of equipment that I can’t appraise accurately, so I’d like to ask for your help.” Zheng Ziwen grinned, then said to him seriously, “Don’t worry, we’ll reward you generously.”

Ou Yangming paused for a while before he replied, “Okay, I’ll definitely come if I’m free.”

Once he left, Shopkeeper Lin and Zheng Ziwen returned to the private room on the second floor. The shopkeeper then gathered the pieces of equipment picked out by Ou Yangming, and asked, “Master Zheng, is it true that these were appraised wrongly?”

“I think so,” Zheng Ziwen answered without hesitation.

“Master Zheng, this…” Shopkeeper Lin was delighted.

“Did you notice that even though there are errors in the appraisal, the differences were only two ranks apart, and most of them only had a one-rank gap?” Zheng Ziwen sighed.

Shopkeeper Lin was stunned, so he muttered, “If I may ask, why is that so?”

Zheng Ziwen exhaled. “You saw the price I had to pay to use the appraisal art, right?”

The shopkeeper began wondering with a serious face.

“Honestly, the pieces of equipment were not a.s.sessed using appraisal art. They were evaluated by three extremely experienced old masters separately, and conclusions are made once the masters have the same opinion,” Zheng Ziwen explained, then shook his head before continuing, “The three old masters might’ve made some mistakes, but they’re able to keep the differences within two ranks due to their rich experience. Hence, we won’t use our appraisal art unless the debate is huge or if the piece of equipment is extremely valuable.”

Shopkeeper Lin pondered for some time, then finally sighed.

There were more than a thousand pieces of equipment being transported in the world, but there were only very few appraisers. n.o.body in the world could use the appraisal art on every piece of equipment, let alone the appraiser of a store.

Therefore, three appraisers were able to determine an equipment’s quality by looking at it, and even if there was a slight difference, it would not be noticed.

Perhaps this was already the regulation followed by everyone in the equipment industry.

At the very least, that was what Shopkeeper Lin understood as he rarely encountered disputes about this matter throughout his years at the store.

After thinking for a short while, he cast that question aside, and asked something else instead, “Master Zheng, why was Master Ou able to evaluate by just looking at it once?”

Zheng Ziwen smiled bitterly. “Some people are born with the ability. It’s considered a natural gift, and it can’t be learned by others.”