The Great Era of Siheyuan

Li Wenqiang continued walking along the alley he had walked yesterday. He spent several hours pulling two carts and then quit. Just these pieces of junk were a waste of his time. If he hadn't been lucky enough to pick up a bargain, he would have earned less than 50 cents. They were all glass bottles, rags, and all kinds of waste.

He has to think about how to deal with this job later. He certainly cannot sell the job, but he can find someone to take over. He just has to consider the candidate carefully to make sure that someone else doesn't take his place.

Holding the two antiques in my hand, I rode the tricycle to Liulichang. Liulichang refers to a block located outside Hepingmen, a famous cultural street. In addition to selling various pens, inkstones, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, there are also various foreigners traveling here.

When talking about Liulichang, we have to mention the Dashanlan next to it. Many people may be unfamiliar with Dashanlan, but when it comes to listening to music in Goulan, I guess everyone knows it.

From ancient times to the present, there are probably few people who don’t know the name of the Eight Great Hutongs. These eight short alleys used to be dotted with more than a hundred massage clubs of all sizes, and the young ladies there were as numerous as stars.

Although it has been vigorously rectified, it has only shifted from the open to the hidden side. Now even many decent families with difficult lives have begun to open their doors halfway.

In addition to selling antiques and custom glass bottles, Li Wenqiang came here today to investigate the market. The goods are ready and have reached the packaging stage, so how can they be sold without markets?

Just now he walked around the big shan, and he had a rough idea of ​​the prices. The prices ranged from about 50 cents to 2 yuan, and the quality was worrying. There were very few that caught his eye, just a bunch of crooked and broken melons. But the quantity was not small, and there was great potential in this market.

If they were pretty, they would just find a kind person instead of staying here.

Li Wenqiang was very disappointed and it was another day that he missed Bingbing.

"Beautiful lady, look at my wine. After your customers drink it, they will be able to work like a cow for an hour or two! How about it? Do you want to consider it? As long as you give me a deposit of ten dollars, I will leave this bottle of wine with you. When you sell this bottle of wine, you can receive a commission of two dollars. How about it? Do you want to work with me?"

Li Wenqiang was standing on the street, enthusiastically selling his products to a "beauty" in her thirties at the door.

"You little bastard, you haven't even grown all your hair yet and you're trying to cheat me out of my money! If you want to do it, do it. If not, get out of here! Don't delay my business!"

The "beauty" took a puff of her cigarette, showing her big buck teeth and started swearing at him, and then with a bang, the door was closed!

Asking her to sell aphrodisiac wine to customers, isn't this a disease? Is she asking for trouble?

"It's okay if you don't want it. Let's be friends and leave contact information! Even if the deal doesn't work out, there's still friendship. If you don't want it today, maybe you will want it tomorrow. And if you don't want it, maybe your friends will! You can be my agent and make money even if you have free time!"

Miss, this is not how you do business. We should know how to consider the customers when doing business. Think about it, if a customer spends money and the service ends in two or three minutes, will he come back next time? I..."

Before he could finish his words, a basin of foot washing water was suddenly poured at the door, and Li Wenqiang was so scared that he ran over quickly.

"Get away from me, you bastard! Don't let me see you again!"

The "beauty" stood at the door with her hands on her hips, cursing fiercely.

"Fuck, you dare to splash my foot washing water? You deserve to be out of business, you bitch!"

After saying this, Li Wenqiang ran away on his bicycle. If he didn't run away, people would probably catch up with him.

Walking on the ancient Liulichang Street, his eyes kept looking around.

The people were living in a situation of scarcity, and their clothes were very plain and even shabby. Occasionally, you could see a horse-drawn carriage carrying goods passing by. They all looked like they were facing the earth and their backs were facing the sky, including himself, who looked yellow and black from the sun.

I randomly found an antique shop and saw a man in green cloth standing in front of the counter, playing with a pair of walnuts out of boredom.

Li Wenqiang walked over and took out the copper stove and placed it on the counter.

"Boss, give me an estimate of the price. If it's suitable, I'll sell it to you!"

"A broken copper furnace, about eight or nine dollars!"

The shopkeeper took a quick look and gave a price.

"Well, seeing as you can't recognize what this is, it's a waste of time."

Li Wenqiang said this and picked up the copper furnace and left.

Eight or nine yuan, I might as well sell it to the scrap yard. The quality of this thing is at least one yuan and twenty yuan per pound, which is much more reliable than his.

According to historical records, 640 kilograms of gold and 2880 kilograms of silver were added during the production of Xuande furnaces, which were used to make more than 3000 pieces of utensils. If calculated based on these data, the average weight of each Xuande furnace is 11.72 kilograms, of which the copper content is 10.55 kilograms, the gold content is 2.1 taels (equivalent to 1.8%), and the silver content is 9.6 taels (equivalent to 8.1%).

According to the weight of his Xuande furnace, the gold content of this Xuande furnace is about 68.4 grams and the silver content is 307.8 grams. If we calculate again, gold is about 5 yuan per gram and silver is cents. The material cost alone is nearly yuan. What are you thinking about with just a dozen yuan! I can't even sell it to Jia Dongxu to burn incense at home. It must be a disaster now, otherwise he would at least ask for yuan, and it would be no problem to exchange it for a courtyard house.

"Hey~ Wait! I'll give you some more, fifteen is ok?"

When the boss saw him pick up the things and leave, he hurriedly chased after him and said anxiously.

"Boss, you are being dishonest. You look like you know what this thing is, but you're offering me this price?"

Li Wenqiang stopped and turned to look at him with a sneer.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't pay attention just now, can you let me take a closer look?"

The boss didn't feel embarrassed at all and bowed with an apologetic smile on his face.

Li Wenqiang didn't say anything when he saw this, but just pointed the stove base towards him.

"Do you see clearly? See what this is?"

On the bottom of the copper furnace, it was clearly written "Made in the Xuande Period" and four large seal characters were engraved on the bottom of the furnace.

"Wow! If this thing of yours is real, it's incredible. Let me take a look!"

As the boss spoke, he circled around the copper furnace, looked left and right, and observed it carefully.

The behavior between the two attracted the attention of a middle-aged man who looked like an old scholar nearby.

"Hi, can I take a look?"

Li Wenqiang looked over and saw a middle-aged man wearing glasses and looking very bookish standing beside him, looking at him with burning eyes.

"Look if you want. I'm ready to sell it. If you can afford it, just take it!"

Li Wenqiang took a look and said casually, then he put the copper furnace directly on the car and let them look at it themselves, saying that it would be tiring to carry it by himself.

It doesn't matter who he sells it to. If this party can't afford the price, he will sell it to someone else. If this person doesn't buy it, the worst that can happen is that he will just go to a few more stores.

"Little brother, I won't say much. How about I take the six hundred dollars? Six six is ​​a good luck. It's good for you and it's good for me too!"

When the boss saw that there was competition, he no longer cared about lowering the price and immediately offered a high price that he thought was good.

"not enough!"

Li Wenqiang said casually that he refused the price without thinking.

"Then how much do you want? Just tell me the number. If it's suitable, I won't say much. Just take it, okay?"

The boss became anxious when he heard this. Although this thing looks ugly, its actual value is not low at all, far beyond the imagination of most people.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Isn't there someone next to you? Uncle, have you finished reading it? If you want it, just name a price. If you don't want it, just leave it at that."

Li Wenqiang sat in the car, crossed his legs and asked the old scholar who was leaning over to watch.

"I can offer 800 yuan for this thing. I can't offer more than that. Do you think it's okay?"

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and said.

"Okay, take the money!"

Seeing that the price he offered was just at his desired price, Li Wenqiang was too lazy to continue bargaining and gave the price on the spot.

"Little brother, why don't you ask me? How about I offer 820, which is 20 yuan more than him?"

The boss got anxious when he saw that he had decided on the owner so easily. If he had the stove, he could sell it for at least a thousand yuan, so how could he give it up so easily?

"not so good!"

Li Wenqiang said without thinking.

"Why? Would you be stupid not to make money if you have it?"

The boss asked in confusion, it is really strange that some people do not want the products even if they have too much money, but only sell them to those with less money.

"You are the fool! You are dishonest in business. I don't want to sell to you. It's that simple!"

Li Wenqiang said with a smile, his eyes full of contempt! He just found a bargain, and now he wants to cheat him out of it. He must be overthinking it!

"Yes, if you like!"

Seeing that he had made up his mind, the boss returned to the store disappointed.

"What are you still looking at? Aren't you going to pay for the things you buy?"

Li Wenqiang said to the middle-aged man who was standing there stupidly.

"Well, I'm sorry, I don't have that much money on me. How about this, you come back with me to get it?"

The man said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Where is your home? Is it far? If it's too far, forget it. I'm too lazy to run!"

"Not far, not far. It's just in front of Zhengyang Gate. We'll be there in two steps!"

When the middle-aged man heard this, he spoke hurriedly, fearing that he would leave.

"That's fine! Wait for me, I'm going to buy something!"

Li Wenqiang walked to a nearby state-owned glass shop and, after discussing his requirements for bottle packaging and size with the owner, he directly ordered 1,000 bottles at a price of 1.5 cents each.

Originally he wanted to order only 100, but unfortunately the quantity was too small and the boss wanted 30 cents each, so he simply ordered more since he would need them sooner or later anyway.

With these thousand bottles, I estimate they can last for a month or so.