"Ding, ding, ding!"
The sound of a bell ringing rang in Fang Yuan's ears, jolting him awake and causing him to open his eyes.
"Is it that dream again?", he asked, but he didn't expect any answer, as he was talking to himself.
Although he was unable to remember the exact contents of the dream, the face of a beautiful woman remained engraved on his mind and served as a reminder that he had indeed been dreaming.
"Has it been a month since the nightmares started?", Fang Yuan thought, when a discordant voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Boss, do you buy antiques in your little shop?"
Hearing these words, Fang Yuan quickly forgot about the dream and raised his head to look at very first customer of the day.
The person who spoke was a young man that had a small scar on his chin, and he was wearing gray clothes that were filled with holes and patches.
His body was covered in dust and dirt and he looked as if he just had walked out of a chimney.
Still, Fang Yuan didn't show any contempt towards on the surface, but warmly welcomed him in.
"Customer, you've chosen to come to the right place! Not only does our shop collect antiques, but we offer the best prices in the whole town!", he said with a smile and knocked on the wooden counter in front of him with his knuckles.
A smile appeared on Duan Wu's face when he heard this and he stepped forward, while his right hand reached into his clothes and took out a rolled-up piece of cloth.
Facing Fang Yuan's strange eyes, he didn't mind, but slowly unraveled it, revealing the item inside.
Duan Wu held the item carefully with his two hands and placed it on the counter, as if he was afraid that he would drop it and cause it to break.
As he placed it on the counter, the item's appearance became clear.
It was a small golden vase, with a few images painted on its surface with red ink.
"This is the family heirloom that my parents entrusted to me before they passed away."
"According to my mother, this vase is an antique that has been passed down in my family for countless generations. It used to belong to one of my distant ancestors, who was once a famous noble."
As he spoke, Duan Wu's eyes alternated between a look of sadness and pride, showing his complicated emotions.
"One gold coin! It only takes one gold coin for you to obtain this rare item!"
"If it were not for the fact that I'm currently in dire need of money, I wouldn't choose to sell such a precious thing for such a low price.", he said and slapped the counter with his right hand.
When Fang Yuan listened to his words and looked at his serious expression, he couldn't help but become speechless.
He had been running this antique shop for almost half a year now and this was the first time that since he took over that he had seen someone so shameless.
In his eyes, although there were some traces of time on the golden vase, it was fairly obvious that it had been less than fifty years since its creation.
Moreover, the images on its surface were very crude, as if they had been painted by a naughty child.
The more he looked at the golden vase, the more he felt that something was wrong.
Finally, a look of realization appeared on Fang Yuan's face and he brushed his index finger against the vase, causing a layer of dust to attach to his skin.
Just when Duan Wu was imagining the feeling of gold coins in his hands, Fang Yuan's next words poured cold water onto him.
"From the dirt on the vase, it can be seen that this thing has just been dug up."
"Judging from the wear on the material, it should have only been buried for only a few years."
"Moreover, it is clear that whoever created this was not skilled, but was merely an amateur. It is impossible for such an item to belong to a wealthy person, let alone a noble."
Saying this, Fang Yuan looked at Duan Wu and nodded his head in understanding: "It seems that you're a tomb robber. Did you just dig this up?"
As if he was a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Duan Wu's expression quickly changed, from shock and disbelief to fury.
"Boss, it's okay if you don't want to buy my family heirloom, but you shouldn't slander me for no reason!"
"It's fine if you don't want to buy it, I can just take it to someone who is able to recognize its value!", Duan De snorted angrily and he reached out to grab the vase, prepared to run away.
However, before he could do so, Fang Yuan grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand back.
Frightened, Duan Wu's body became tense and he cursed inwardly that he was unlucky enough to meet such a shady shop owner.
He had already imaged the next scene, the scene of Fang Yuan attacking him.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan seemed to notice his nervousness and spoke quickly: "One bronze coin. This vase is only worth one bronze coin."
"If the price is any higher, I won't be buying it."
When Duan Wu heard this, his body relaxed and he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, but then, he became furious.
How could he not realize that he had been tricked?
Clearly, the reason why this young man said so much was because wanted to undermine this vase's value!
Duan Wu wanted to take the vase and leave this place, but despite what his previous words would suggest, he knew that what Fang Yuan said was correct and this vase had indeed just been dug of from a tomb.
He hesitated for a few seconds but in the end, he felt that one bronze coin was better than nothing.
Although it was a lower price than what he was originally hoping for, it was just enough to make him satisfied.
With this in mind, Duan Wu nodded his head: "Deal!"
----
A few minutes later, Fang Yuan watched Duan Wu leave the shop and he couldn't help but let out a sigh in emotion.
"It's already been half a year...", he thought and by now, he had become used to life in this strange world.
That's right, Fang Yuan wasn't originally a person from this world.
The memories of his past life were still very fresh in his mind, and he could still remember living as an ordinary person back on Earth.
Fang Yuan didn't know how or why, but one day, he suddenly lost his memories and was reincarnated as a baby in this completely different world.
It was only half a year ago, when he turned 18 and his parents went missing, that he awakened his past life's memories and remembered who he truly was.
Thinking of his parents in this life, Fang Yuan couldn't help but want to complain secretly.
What kind of parent chooses to abandon their only son and leaves without any prior notice, only to never appear again?
"Fortunately, they still left me this antique shop before disappearing. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to survive in this ancient world.", Fang Yuan thought and he was obviously trying to convince himself.
Of course, what he was saying was not necessarily wrong.
Compared to Earth, this world was devoid of most technological products that Fang Yuan was used to, making him realize just how good the life of a person that lived in the 21st century was.
The be more accurate, this world was quite similar to the times on Earth before the industrial evolution, when only a few traces of technology existed.
Thankfully, Fang Yuan had lost his memories for the first 18 years in this life, otherwise, he would have gone crazy if he suddenly was thrown into this world with his memories and had to adapt.
After all, this was a massive change and it would be almost impossible for most people to adapt.
"Of course, being able to obtain one more chance in life is already good enough.", Fang Yuan thought and he turned his head to look at the golden vase that he had just purchased from Duan Wu.
There were many images of various animals painted on the vase's surface and although they were crudely drawn, when these animals came together, they possessed a strange beauty and charm.
After he admired these images for some time, Fang Yuan grabbed the vase and examined it closely, as if he was searching for something.
In fact, from the moment Fang Yuan's eyes landed on this vase, he felt a strange attraction to it, as well as a sense of longing that came from his body.
This feeling was very strange and if he had to describe it, he would compare it to a person that hadn't eaten for days seeing food or a thirsty person meeting the sea.
This was why he was willing to buy this antique even though it could be argued that it was not worth the price of one bronze coin.
"Let's see what's going on."