Song Xia finally had the chance to visit the pawn store in ' Clear River Valley ' that she had found on the internet a week ago.
Under the pretext that she wanted to do some shopping she convinced Shi Qi that she needed some time alone in addition to that she did not want to distract Jin Yu from her part time job. Jin Yu and Song Xia had already told Shi Qi and Shi Chen about the incident at the mall and their impromptu friendship with Shen Xue. Fortunately Tan Niu did not cause anymore trouble.In order to expand her wardrobe and to get something suitable to wear for the party she told Shi Qi she would go shopping today.
Shi Qi readily agreed and wanted to increase her allowance but Song Xia insisted that she would be fine and had plenty of money. Shi Qi had transfered 500 yuan into the other day and she already had plenty of her own money in there.
Song Xia took the bus to the pawn shop it was in an older are of the city but was less crowded and expensive area.The area consisted out of residential areas with classy boutiques and restaurants.
On the way ,walking a way streets away from the pawn shop she felt something ' summoning ' her.
It was an old bridal boutique . It was must have been a grand site at one time but now was worn and run down. It really did not fit the image of the area. It was a double story store. Painted a cream and brown but the painting was cracking. Elegant , black, ivy metal railing on the veranda on the top floor. The store ' White Silk' looked abandoned by it's appearance.
Skeptically approaching the the ajar door she pushed it open.The interior was once a powder blue.There were piles of gowns , shoes, dresses and jewelry scattered around the floor . There were some racks stacked with clothes . Broken hangers, boxes and packing materials flung in the corners.It was a great mess.
By the till lay a young woman in her mid - twenties on chaise couch . She was attractive but had a wide mouth and an annoying nasal voice.The store owner ignored Song Xia and continued to talk on her cell phone.Thinking that since Song Xia was a young teenage girl and was wearing ordinary clothes that she would not buy anything.Song Xia wore black jeans, white sneaker and a long white turtleneck. In addition she carried her black school bag.It was a trendy look but she wasn't decked out in brands or makeup.
The store managers name was Wan Xiaofan. She was a third generation nova riche and was a spoilt daddy's girl. She had never worked and a day in her life .
The bridal boutique was grandmother's business and located in the old , expensive area of G city . It was prime real estate worth 10 million yuan . Once a well known and prosperous business unfortunately when her grandmother fell ill the boutique suffered losses. This was mostly due to mismanagement and lack of know how in the Fashion industry.After Wan Xiaofan grandmother passed away she left her store to her grand daughter in hopes of receiving the business.
Unfortunately her hopes were dashed.Wan Xiaofan was waiting for the first opportunity to sell or rent out the store just delayed by the stipulations in the will that she needed to work at the store for a minimum of 2 years.
She haphazardly managed the store.Stock management, organization of inventory,even basic cleaning and maintenance was done recklessly.
'' Tan- tan , it's so boring sitting here in this stupid shop all day long. It's that old hags fault - I did not want to run her stinky shop!Couldn't she have be useful like other people's grandmothers and give me a vacation home or jewelry!''
Song Xia was stunned at how disrespectful and ungrateful this young women was. She honestly wanted to leave but her there was an insistent feeling told her that she would find something great in this store.
'' I just want to sell this dumb store but I have to wait till the end of this year! No... really. Oh , I definitely want to buy a new sports car and go to New York with that money . Oh, oh ....yeah.I need a new pair of shoes for tomorrow's party!''
She saw a red glittery mist towards the middle of the shop. There was a suit bag thrown under a built in rack. Gingerly approaching the dress bag she opened it to take a look inside.It was from Little Violette 1989 collection by Russian- Greek designer Antov Kostya. This was his debut collection before he went on to work for Aegal one of the best couture brands in Europe.There were only dresses twenty in the world .
The dress itself was black mini dress with a low back. A jewel neckline giving way to a tight fitted sequenced silver bodice and then a black beaded skirt.It was a cross between a cocktail dress and bohemian inspired design.
It had it's authenticated card and the market price was between 125000- 150000 yuan.Song Xia had seen pictures of this exact dress online so she knew of it's value.The dress was on sale and was only marked for 500 yuan with all the other dresses in the pile.Song Xia was carrying the dress to the till when she felt the summoning again.
Towards the very far end of the store was a gold and red mist beckoning her.Carrying the little Black Violette Dress across one arm she carefully made her way to the back of the shop trying not to trample the clothing or objects lying on the floor.
The back of the shop was so dusty that Song Xia was trying not to sneeze or have a coughing fit.
In a large, dusty almost brown garment bag was a wedding dress. Carefully opening the garment bag she pulled out a wedding dress. It was a olden days romantic style dress:ivory white , puffed sleazes,fishtail ,sweetheart necklace. The bodice was an intricate flower design with lace and genuine pearl embroidery .It came with a delicate mantle veil with elegant pearl beadwork. The skirt was alecon lace which was currently yellowing.
According to the authentication tag it was a 1980's Renard Auclair dress. Renard Auclair was a first tier fashion brand in France and this was the wedding dress in their 1980's collection . The dress was a hand - stitched couture piece and there were only 5 in the world!Renard Auclair had a set stipulations of only making 5 wedding dresses for sale ever since the brand had began.The Renard Auclair wedding dresses could go for 250000 -400000 yuan nowadays.
The vintage 1980's wedding dress was worth at the very least 300000 yuan! Much more if it was auctioned off. But the dress had a price tag for 15000 yuan.
Song Xia was stunned. The pricing in the store was too low . The owner probably didn't realize what treasures were lying around in the mess. Song Xia was a very fair person but not a saint. If the disrespectful store owner didn't have the decency to be filial towards her grandmother ,nor research about fashion industry and kept the store in such a state she did not mind robbing the fortune from under her nose.
''Hello, I want to buy these dresses.''Wan Xiaofan gave a distasteful look and absent mindedness noted that Song Xia gorgeous appearance. She spitefully thought that people couldn't have everything although Song Xia was beautiful she wanted to buy trash that nobody wanted. She looked down on her . Who on earth would want these old out dated dresses. At the end of the day more money was better than nothing . Not even wanting to open the dusty packages she quickly calculated the amount on the price tags and told Song Xia that it would be , ''20000 yuan'', after that she swiped Song Xia 's card . Song Xia lifted the garment bags and left the store.
That wasn't a small amount to spend in one sitting for a girl from a regular family so she tried to recall if she had seen Song Xia from around the neighborhood. Soon she forgot about it and went back to *'Chat- box'to message her friends.
Song Xia went to a female public restroom to put the dresses in the space so it wouldn't hamper her movement. After that she put the purple jade pendant in the front zipper of her backpack and walked to the pawn shop named ''Jin Mei Pawnshop ''.
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*'Chat-box-equivalent to whatsapp or we chat in Song Xia's original world