二、随便放置的宝贝
3、After her mother-in-law's death, they returned to Anshan, where they lived with their two sons in a tiny two-room flat.
4、However, because their living quarters were so small, there was really no place to keep the one-meter tall vase.
5、Their sons' little friends often came to play and on one occasion, the vase was knocked down by the playing kids.
6、Fortunately it was not broken.
三、廉价出售的宝贝
7、Three years later, the city's Cultural Relics Authority set up an antique shop to purchase heirlooms from the people.
8、Since they really did not have a big enough room for the vase and they needed money badly, Huilan took it to the shop to see where it could be sold.
9、The shop manager offered her 18 yuan for it.
10.Huilan hesitated so the shop manager raised the offer to 20 yuan and Huilan took the money.
四、值钱的宝贝
11、Thirty years later, Huilan remembered her promise to her mother in law and regretted her decision to sell the vase.
12、One day, she read in the newspapers that the provincial museum owned a national treasure, an antique vase, which was said to have an estimated value of 200 million Yuan.
13、A similar vase had been sold at an auction in London for this amount.
14、She immediately recognized the vase from the photo in the newspaper as the one she had sold.
五、难判的案子
15、Huilan called on both the city and the provincial relics authorities to ask for the return of the vase or for a higher compensation.
16、Although the authorities admitted that the vase they have was the one she had sold, they nevertheless refused her request.
17、Huilan then consulted a lawyer, who said that the deal which had happened 30 years ago may be considered a big misunderstanding, so it was still possible for her to get some compensation.
18、Huilan sued the two authorities in court.
19、However, the court found the case very difficult, so both sides were asked to settle between amicably.
20、However both Huilan and the relics authorities refused to settle, so no judgment has been made till now.
