Chapter 12: Venus with Arms

Returning to the living room, Xiao Ran reentered the livestream room. This time, he appeared on screen holding his phone. Just as he settled on the sofa, he got straight to the point.

“Have you all reached a decision? Who’s going to buy the LV saddle bag and the Hermès Birkin?”

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone responded immediately.

“Xiao Ran, I want that LV saddle bag. Once the price is confirmed, I’ll transfer the money to you right away,” Yan Zi said excitedly.

Then another beauty chimed in.

“The Hermès Birkin is mine. Xiao Ran, make sure you don’t lose the receipt. Keep it in the bag and send it back to China together,” she added.

Seeing they had made up their minds, Xiao Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had truly feared these ladies might quarrel and tear each other apart on livestream. This outcome was certainly the best.

He then brought up another matter.

“Alright, let’s talk about how you plan to get these items back to China.”

At these words, Big Dog immediately gave an answer.

“No worries, Xiao Ran, we have it all arranged. My brother’s company has a branch in Los Angeles. You just need to pack everything up. Someone will contact you to pick up the items at UCLA.”

“Then the branch will ship everything back to China, and I’ll arrange for someone to deliver them to all of you!”

Xiao Ran nodded and asked,

“Min Jie, Yan Zi, have you agreed on this? If so, I’ll hand the items over to Big Dog’s people to take back.”

Min Jie responded promptly.

“No problem, Xiao Ran. You can trust Big Dog’s people—I know him!”

“Even if he had the nerve of a dog, he wouldn’t dare scam me!”

“Alright! That’s settled then!” Xiao Ran smiled.

“How should we pay you? Xiao Ran, should we transfer to your account in China or the U.S.?”

“If we transfer to your Chinese account, we can avoid paying taxes here, which would save some money,” Min Jie asked.

Before she finished, Xiao Ran hurriedly shook his head.

“Don’t get me in trouble, Min Jie. It’s better to transfer to my U.S. account.”

“I’m in America, and these items were bought and sold here. How could I dare evade taxes?”

“Here in the U.S., I’d rather mess with the FBI than the IRS wolves!”

“I still want to return to China someday—I don’t want to be arrested for tax evasion and thrown into jail!”

Laughter erupted in the livestream room. Everyone chuckled.

After the laughter died down, Big Dog jumped back in.

“Exactly, never mess with the IRS in America.”

“They’re everywhere and have their own enforcement powers.”

“If you dare dodge taxes, you won’t just be fined into bankruptcy—you’ll end up behind bars!”

After chatting a bit more, Xiao Ran announced the prices for the LV saddle bag and Hermès Birkin. As he had said before, both prices were based on secondhand market values with a 10% discount.

Yan Zi and the others accepted the prices readily. After receiving Xiao Ran’s private message with his bank details, they immediately transferred the money and sent him proof of payment.

Having dealt with each other many times before, they trusted each other completely without any doubts.

Once the transactions were complete, Xiao Ran packed the items to be sent back into two LV suitcases and sealed them in front of everyone.

During this process, he told the group that although he couldn’t act as a purchasing agent, he could attend auctions like this one. If he found anything valuable, he would bid on it.

If fans in the livestream room liked the items, they could offer to buy them but would need to arrange their own shipping back to China.

Hearing this, everyone became interested.

This lost luggage auction had piqued their curiosity and excitement, and they wanted to experience attending such auctions again.

Since they were all in China and couldn’t come to the U.S., they couldn’t participate in person.

But Xiao Ran could.

They eagerly requested that Xiao Ran attend more auctions like this one and use a high-definition camera to bring everyone along to play these “blind box” games.

Xiao Ran naturally didn’t refuse. He had been worried about how to sell the items he bought; this was a ready-made sales channel.

If done well, this online sales channel could expand rapidly—far better than him running around offline trying to sell goods to secondhand shops and individuals.

As long as the livestream room wasn’t capped on viewers, there could be as many as he wanted, and all fans could potentially become customers.

Through this method, he might quickly make a fortune.

Even if he didn’t earn much, it was fun enough!

During the casual chat, someone asked another question.

“Xiao Ran, why don’t you enable the livestream tipping function?”

“You helped us find these great items; shouldn’t everyone show some appreciation?”

Xiao Ran joked,

“I can earn money through purchasing or auctioning—that’s honest work, and I feel good about that!”

“As for the top contributor thing, forget it—I just can’t do it!”

The livestream erupted with laughter again.

“Haha, you know yourself well—you realize your looks won’t attract the top donor’s attention!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a healthy appetite! Xiao Ran, if you enable tipping, I’ll be your top supporter!”

After finishing business, Xiao Ran prepared to end the livestream. The others in the room were also getting tired.

At that moment, Xiao Ran reached for his water cup but his hand accidentally brushed against a Venus statue on the side table.

The next second, the statue toppled off the table and crashed onto the stone floor.

“Bang!”

With a dull thud, the statue shattered into pieces.

Immediately, a smaller statue was revealed on the floor.

This smaller sculpture had been hidden inside the plaster Venus statue, and only came to light when the plaster shattered.

Who created this smaller statue, its value, and why it was concealed within the Venus statue remained unknown.

It depicted a nude woman—a beautiful goddess, perhaps.

Curiously, this goddess resembled Venus closely but had both arms and a different pose.

The statue was carved from a smooth, delicate marble rather than plaster. Protected inside the plaster figure, it had survived the fall intact.

The goddess was entirely nude, wearing only a white veil draped over her right arm.

The veil fluttered gently in the wind, just covering the most sensitive area.

Her face was dignified and beautiful, skin full and supple, curves exquisite, seeming to radiate dazzling light.

The appearance of this goddess sculpture startled everyone.

“Ah! What is that? There’s actually a Venus hidden inside that plaster statue—it’s incredible!”

“This Venus has arms; maybe it’s a different goddess!”

“Who cares which goddess? For it to be hidden so deliberately, it must be valuable—a top-tier antique artwork!”

“Wow! Xiao Ran’s luck is unbelievable—he bought junk for five dollars and ended up with a priceless masterpiece!”

As everyone exclaimed, Xiao Ran stepped forward and picked up the small statue.

The moment he held it, he immediately sensed the marble’s exquisite texture, almost like jade.

He examined the statue carefully and then said with delight,

“This is Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, one of the twelve Olympian gods.”

“Born from the sea, she is sometimes worshiped as the protector of sailors.”

“Aphrodite and Venus are actually the same deity—just called Venus in Roman mythology. The Greek and Roman versions differ slightly in style.”

“At the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, there’s an Aphrodite statue similar to this one, so I recognize it!”

“But that marble statue isn’t as beautiful as this one, even though this one is small!”

Before he finished, Big Dog eagerly interrupted.

“Let me have this Aphrodite statue, Xiao Ran. Name your price—I won’t argue!”

“I want this goddess statue too! She’s absolutely stunning,” a female fan immediately jumped in. She clearly had deep pockets.

Xiao Ran shook his head with a hint of pride.

“This might be my first big antique find. I can’t just give it away!”

“I plan to have someone appraise it to determine its origin and value before considering selling it.”

“You’re so stingy—you won’t take any loss!” Big Dog joked helplessly, then changed tone.

“Once you get it appraised and know its worth, sell it to me, alright?”

Xiao Ran thought for a moment and agreed.

“Sounds good. I’m in the U.S. now and it’s not suitable for me to keep such things.”

“I’ll have it appraised. Meanwhile, everyone else can do the same.”

“Take screenshots of the goddess statue so you can have it appraised.”

“We’ll compare appraisal results in the next livestream.”

Saying this, he zoomed in on the statue with his phone and filmed all the details from every angle.

The fans busily took screenshots, preparing to get it appraised.

After everyone finished, they chatted a bit more, admiring the goddess statue, and then Xiao Ran ended the livestream.

As soon as he signed off, he grinned triumphantly.

He had deliberately knocked over the Venus plaster statue to reveal the hidden goddess statue inside.

He needed witnesses to prove the statue’s provenance and avoid any trouble!